Six Ways to Use Social Media in Education

Repost of a blog post from Lynne O Brien, Ph.D., Director of Academic Technology and Instructional Services for Perkins Library at Duke University.

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Faculty and students routinely use Facebook, Twitter and other social media in their personal lives, so how might those same tools be put to academic use? Here are some uses of social media for teaching and learning that I’ve been following.

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Educational Silos

One of the main functions of an LMS (learning management system, AKA Moodle) is the creation of a course silo, or stack. That is, the LMS creates a place where students, faculty, and associated others connect with course materials and participate in classroom activities, a place where only enrolled or invited people can work. The silo exists while the course is in session and usually is deactivated shortly after the semester is ended.

There are some excellent -- even some essential -- reasons for creating this course stack. One obvious requirement is copyright law, which restricts the open posting of some course content, be it text or media. One particular advantage is maintaining the privacy of discussions of potentially controversial or embarrassing topics.  Perhaps less obvious in the privacy arena is maintaining the long-term privacy of even non-controversial topics -- former students may find that old, non-controversial but still-public blog posts are not in keeping with their current views or those of their employers.

The silo fits less well in the overall concept of an ongoing personal educational process, where course content, student submissions, and other materials may be (should be?) relevant to one's growth during a four-year evolution. A seminal paper in the silo for Course I is likely to retain relevance in Course II, and may even have important meaning in unrelated Course B. Yet it is stuck in the Course I silo.


So this course silo which is so convenient in many ways is in other ways antithetical to what we want our students to become; life long learners. What are the alternatives? Open courses in Moodle? Moodle courses need not be restricted to a semester's length.  Other open systems? An environment which is open at least to the Colgate academic community (without some copyright-restricted materials, of course) might be used to facilitate this more open learning. But even these tools can't make students want to participate, and then actually participate, in this more broad, developing learning process.

More reading on the topic...

• Learning Management Systems: Hub or silo? 
• Learning Silos — the biggest barrier to learning in post-secondary
• Course Management Systems: Trapped Content Silos or Sharing Platforms?

...dan wheeler

Poll Your Students Using Their Cell Phones

Poll Everywhere is a popular polling application that enables one to post a question and have everyone in the class post their answer via a smartphone, an iPad, or any type of computing device that has access to the web.  It uses a simple text messaging system so even a flip-phone can be used to submit an answer.   The poll is displayed to the audience, they can then vote by sending SMS messages to a special short number.  Participants’ responses can be displayed in real-time on a large screen in your class. Additionally, you can import your results into PowerPoint or Apple Keynote without any additional software. You can also download your results as an Excel file.

The free version is limited to an audience of 40 participants.

Note:  since cell phone network access is spotty in some of Colgate’s classrooms, you should definitely run some tests prior to attempting to use in your course.

http://www.polleverywhere.com/

Digital Posters

Digital posters share the same goals as printed posters: to provide text and visual content in an informative, attractive and concise manner. The digital/virtual posters that we have done so far have been held in the library.  We do need a specialized room that is equipped with computers and additional projectors, (we are currently limited to Case-Geyer 501 and 560). Some of the benefits to the digital poster approach include: no submission limitations to printing, it's much greener, and we can display more than just powerpoint slides. One additional advantage that can be consider moving forward is the ability to include movies/ animations int he poster as opposed to static images. Click here for more information on the digital/virtual posters.

We just wanted to make everyone aware of this option so that if you decided that you would like to have your students do a poster you are not limited to the poster printing schedule. If you would like more information about posters please visit our academic poster site or contact itshelp@colgate.edu and request more information. 

Flipping/Inverting the College Classroom

Inverting the classroom is a form of blended learning which encompasses any use of Internet technology to leverage the learning in a classroom, so a teacher can spend more time interacting with students instead of lecturing. This is most commonly being done using teacher created videos that students view outside of class time.

The traditional pattern of college education has been to have classroom lectures, in which the professor explains a topic, followed by homework, in which the student does exercises. In flipped or inverted teaching, the student first studies the topic by himself, typically using video lessons created by the professor or shared by another educator, such as those provided by the Khan Academy.

In the classroom, the pupil then tries to apply the knowledge by solving problems and doing practical work.  The role of the professor is then to tutor the student when they become stuck, rather than to impart the initial lesson. This allows time inside the class to be used for additional learning-based activities.

Inverting the classroom allows more hands-on time with the instructor guiding the students, allowing them to assist the students when they are assimilating information and creating new ideas (upper end of Bloom's Taxonomy).


Robert Talbert, PhD, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Grand Valley State University presents a seminar on how he implements the inverted classroom.  "AMATYC Webinar: Flipping the College Classroom"

Watch in YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nRCeZh0sMQ