Social Media Education

Submitted by John McArthur on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 8:15am

Entertainer Cee-Lo Green's cat, Purrfect, has become a mouthpiece for NBC's The Voice, a singing competion which this past Tuesday crowned its second winner. With 63,000 followers on Twitter, this feline certainly has a voice of its own - one that meows to promote the television show that led it to fame.

If a cat can do it, we all can.

But to what end?

The insertion of social media in education has the potential to advance core aims of our society: to teach students how to engage with their families, neighbors, and communities in a new way.

The combination of social media and education requires that we teach students how to become literate in a digital world. The skills of literacy are no longer just about reading and writing, but about abilities that surround our responsibilities as authors.

Submitted by Terry Eberhart on Fri, 05/04/2012 - 11:41pm

Part of my work is managing communication among a diverse group of social media enthusiasts from both academia and the professional world. As a group, we can be found on a multitude of platforms and use a plethora of programs, services and applications. The challenge I face is how to accomplish various tasks without making it a burden, especially since we are all volunteers. Adding another program/application/service/etc which someone is not already using is such a burden.

Sometimes we have used email for topical conversations or project work. Sometimes we just want to share articles related to something the group is working on, or perhaps for the group to file away for future use. Our emails accounts are barraged as it is and not the tools we use for real time conversations. A lot of us share stuff on twitter, but natively, it is not the best option for maintaining a discussion thread and archiving material for later use (while maintaining privacy to the group.)

Submitted by Terry Eberhart on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 11:44am

#SMEDU Chat May 2^nd “The EDx Announcement by MIT / Harvard & broader implications” Tonight 9 pm EDT 6 pm PDT.

In tonight’s #SMEDU Chat we will take a look at the announcement by Harvard and MIT of EDx, the MOOC initiative, research, related industry developments and further implications in higher education. We use the Twitter hashtag #SMEDU for chat which begins at 6 pm PDT, 9 pm EDT Wednesdays, which is 1 am GMT,11 am Eastern Australia Thursdays.

Submitted by Terry Eberhart on Wed, 04/25/2012 - 2:29pm

Today TED announced the release (in beta) of their new open platform TED-ED. The evolution (perhaps revolution) of social media tools and use in education continues. Join us at 9 pm ET / 6 pm PT tonight, Wednesday, April 25^th, on twitter for #SMEDU Chat as we take a look at the new platform, capabilities, potential usage and implications.

From TEDChris: The thinking behind the new open platform of TED-Ed
From the TED Blog: Flip this lesson! A new way to teach with video from TED-Ed
The TED-Ed website

Submitted by Terry Eberhart on Sun, 04/15/2012 - 6:55pm

As part of our continuing evolution, we have opened a G+ page and are closing our “Social Media Education Connection” Ning Group. The Global SMC Education Connection Chapter home continues to be on the Social Media Club website, as is our Social Media Education blog.

You can also participate with the SMC Education Connection at our:

LinkedIn Group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3641968 ,

Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/groups/smcedu/ ,

our just opened G+ page at https://plus.google.com/107181231875527864752 ,

Submitted by Terry Eberhart on Sun, 04/15/2012 - 5:47pm

Out Twitter chats will resume on Wednesday, April 25^th. We will be holding one Twitter chat each week and starting at 9PM ET / 6PM PT. The hashtag we use is #SMEDU.

Submitted by Hillary Till on Mon, 01/16/2012 - 11:36am

The whole month of January is a month filled with hope and ambition for the New Year. Everyone makes New Year’s resolutions and the gyms are usually packed and the produce at the grocery store flies off the shelf. Having a fresh start is great in theory but usually by February the gyms are clear and the healthy foods are overstocked. Somehow we lose our motivation and the goals we set disappear. Here are a few tips that will help you stay on track and meet your 2012 goals.

Submitted by Hillary Till on Fri, 12/23/2011 - 10:06am

Hilary Till previously served as the Social Media Club student chapter liaison after graduating from University of Texas at Austin in 2011. She recently started her first social media job and continues to write for Social Media for Education blog to share her insights as a new graduated pursing a professional role in social media.

Submitted by Terry Eberhart on Tue, 12/06/2011 - 1:03pm

Social media has become an important element of the gaming experience, including entire games built around social interactions and exchanges. Join this #smedu chat to talk about how games and social media can be used together to engage students.

The Early #smEDU Chat will be led by Andy Petroski at noon ET / 9 am PT.

The Late #smEDU Chat is at 9 pm ET / 6 pm PT.

#smEDU chat is open to anyone with an interest in social media and it's use in or by higher education. We invite educators, students, staff, administration, SM professionals and SM enthusiasts to join us.

Submitted by Terry Eberhart on Tue, 11/29/2011 - 3:51pm

Digital Dilemma – FERPA and Education on the Web

Background: What’s a FERPA?

FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. It is US Federal legislation passed in 1974 to protect various forms of student data in both k-12 and higher education. It eliminated behaviors like posting exam results with student names and scores in a public place (hallway, door, etc.) It governs what data is protected and who can be given access to it among other things.

Fast Forward to 2011: Educational activities have been taking place on the web for decade and by now there is widespread use of Web 2.0 tools across all grade levels and institution types. The implementations are numerous. There are widely recognized benefits from sharing information, learning experiences, what has been learned, etc. via Web enablement and Web 2.0 tools.