A WORKSHOP FOR ONLINEAND HYBRID EDUCATORS

Incorporating Social Media

into the Classroom

Amy Moorehttp://blog.fscj.edu/socialmedia

Original By: Hector Guerra. Remixed under Creative Commons License

Let’s Talk

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Use Twitter hash tag: #edsocmed

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E-mail: ammoore@fscj.edu

This Presentation at a Glance

I. What? Social Media DefinitionsII. How? Some StatisticsIII. Why? Questions and ConcernsIV. Giving It a Try. Description of Tools and UsesV. The Payoff. Classroom ExamplesVI. Talk Back. Conversation

THE NOT-SO MAGICAL MYSTERY OF SOCIAL MEDIA

What?

What Is Social Media?

Social: refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and their collective co-existence.

Sharing

Media: the storage and transmission channels or tools used to store and deliver information or data. 

Information

Original By: Hector Guerra. Remixed under Creative Commons License

Intro to Social Media ToolsWhat Is Social Media, Really?

Social Bookmarking – Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious

Blogging – FSCJ Blogs, Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr, Posterous

Twitter – Social Networking and Microblogging

Location-Based Social Networking – Foursquare, GoWalla, Facebook Places

Social Profile Networks – Myspace, Ning, Linked In, Facebook

HOW IS HIGHER ED USING SOCIAL MEDIA?

How?

Culture Shift: A Necessity in Online Education

Some Findings from Pearson’s new survey, “Social Media in Higher Education” (2010)

1. Nearly 25% of the 1000 respondents had accounts on four or more social networks;

2. A reasonably high number, more than 30%, communicate with students using social networks*.

3. Just over half use video, podcasts, blogs and wikis as part of their classes.4. Social media use is higher among faculty in the Humanities and Social Sciences

than those in Mathematics, Science, Business and Economics.5. Facebook was the most widely used social media service, with more than 60% of

respondents having a Facebook account. However, YouTube was most commonly used for communicating with students*.

6. Despite the high take-up, 25% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement that social networks are valuable for communicating with students.

7. Survey respondents use most social media tools between 10%-50% more often for personal rather than class use.*

Portions of survey findings excerpted from Stephen’s Lighthouse.

Ripe for the Picking!

Swapna Kumar “The Net Generation’s Informal and Educational Use of New Technologies.” ineducation.ca. 2010.

Students are almost universally using social media informally, so why not exploit that built-in knowledge to close the gap between personal and educational use, thus improving their learning experiences?

I ’M BUSY. WHY IS THIS WORTH ANYTHING TO ME?

Why?

Social Media in the Classroom:Questions and Concerns

Does it cost anything?How much extra time

will it take for me to do this?

Is this just a distraction from what I should be focusing on?

Do I need to keep track of student work outside the LMS?

How should I grade students on their use of social media?

Is social media just a passing fad?

Why should I use social media?

What are the benefits to students?

Some Answers

A: Most social media platforms are free

A: Your social media efforts only have to take as much time as you prefer. Ideally, it can integrate into your existing time online

A: This is not a distraction but an effective way of reaching students.

A: Think of students’ time outside the LMS in the same way you think about the time they study together in libraries or speak on the telephone. You don’t need to track it, yet you know it’s valuable.

A: You don’t grade students on phone calls or social interactions on campus; you encourage those interactions, but only grade on the outcomes they create.

A: Social media has already insinuated itself into nearly every aspect of life. If anything, it will grow more pervasive.

A: Only you can answer this question.

A: The benefits to students are: more communication with you and with one another. More opportunities to learn outside the classroom, to gain context, some degree of integration of academic and personal lives.

Intersection and Integration

Image from http://mchabib.com/2006/10/05/digital-library-as-third-place

We have an opportunity to reach students in that rich area between socializing and formal learning – why would we ignore that opportunity for engagement?

HOW TO GIVE SOCIAL MEDIA A TRY IN YOUR CLASSES – IF YOU’RE SO INCL INED

Giving It a Try

A Caveat:Cart before Horse = Bad

Rather than pursuetechnologies just becausethey’re the new hit in theblogosphere, think in termsof desired outcomes first,and then find technologiesthat can aid in reachingthose outcomes.

So – what are some of yourdesired learning outcomes?

*

Some Options for Online Instructors(How to Help Students Reach Desired Learning Outcomes)

Conduct Office Hours via Skype or Elluminate

Use Twitter hash tags to organize weekly discussions

Use Social Bookmarking to Note Important Sites for Learning

Create a Class Group Page on Facebook

Use Google Docs for Group Work and Collaboration

Use Skype to Bring in a Guest Speaker (and record the talk)

Use Foursquare for students to check in at assigned locations

Create Foursquare educational scavenger hunt

Create a college Wiki Send Video Messages (via

Eyejot) rather than Standard E-Mail

Use Google Earth or Google Maps to Explore Cities or Regions of the World

Have students create blogs to journal and display work

What’s This “Twit” Business?

From Twitter.com –“Twitter is a real-time information network powered by people all around the world that lets you share and discover what’s happening now.”

1. Visit Twitter.com to create an account.

2. Create a username that is simply your name, or some variation on it.

3. Share your username with students, ask them to follow you, and follow them.

4. Start a conversation – using a prompt of 140 characters or less, with a topical “hashtag.”

5. Watch the conversations collect around that topic!

Google What? Google Docs.Some Features and How to Start

Upload and convert Word, rtf, txt, xls, and Open Office docs and spreadsheets, or create from scratch.

Edit documents with whomever you choose.

Make comments on documents for others to see.

Share documents with anyone you choose.

Chat in real-time with others as you edit and collaborate on work.

1. Sign up for a free Google account.

2. Visit docs.google.com

3. Create or upload documents, spreadsheets, or forms, and share!

4. Watch the collaboration in real-time.

Skype and Elluminate

These services are free; why not give them a try for virtual office hours? Online students’ number-one complaint is lack of communication with professors; this is a great solution. Simply commit a couple of hours per week (preferably timed to accommodate those in different time zones) to make yourself available for synchronous chat.

1. Visit skype.com or elluminate.com(Use free “VRoom” option in Elluminate)

2. Create your account.3. Share your account info with students.4. Set a schedule of times you’ll be logged in.5. Offer regular synchronous sessions as a

supplement/alternative to regular LMS-constrained communications.

SOME REAL EXAMPLES AND OUTCOMES

The Payoff

Backchannel Conversation

University of Texas at Dallas History Professor, Monica Rankin, has foundan interesting way to [engage students] using Twitter in the classroom.

Rankin uses a weekly hashtag to organize comments, questionsand feedback posted by students to Twitter during class. Someof the students have downloaded Tweetdeck to their computers,others post by SMS or by writing questions on a piece of paper. Rankinthen projects a giant image of live Tweets in the front of the class fordiscussion and suggests that students refer back to the messages laterwhen studying. ..[while individual levels of engagement are mixed] it isclear that more students are participating in classroom discussions thanthey used to.

Marshall Kirkpatrick. “How One Teacher Uses Twitter in the Classroom.” ReadWriteWeb.com. June 1, 2009.

“As Good as Face-to-Face”A Case Study of Ning Implementation

“there was a positive shift in student perceptions as evidenced in…end-of-course evaluations.” “the students wrote about the importance of Ning and the social environment” “personalization and knowing others increased their enjoyment, sense of involvement, and the friendliness of the course, all elements typically accorded to the attitudinal domain of learning, particularly motivation and engagement. “ “A few noted that the interactions were as good as face-to-face classes…On the rating of preference for distance learning over classroom learning, two-thirds now rated distance learning as good as or better than F2F, a significant increase from earlier evaluations in classes without Ning.”

Ellen Hoffman. “Social Media and Learning Environments: Shifting Perspectives on the Locus of Control.” ineducation.ca. Issue 2. May 2010.

“The Ultra-Collaborative Composition Classroom”A Case Study of GoogleDocs Use

Julie Meloni. Washington State University. 2009.

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Talkback