FacProfDev Summer 2013 - Day 8
by Varun Khanna
Do you facebook?
Do you linkedin?
Do you google+?
Up until a few years ago words like tweet, facebook, google, linkedin were not exactly used as verbs in our everyday vocabulary. Today, most people could not go 12 hours without using at least one of these big social media brands in a sentence as a verb.
How many times have professors heard their students say "But, I googled it and Google says....?" Or, "I read it on Wikipedia!" That's right! Once a Wikipedia page says it, that's the end of the research. It can now be published. At least, that's what students would have you believe!
It's a whole new world out there. A whole new language. And, keeping up with generation Z, mandates (did I just say "mandates?") we all speak the same language or at least parts of it.
See any similarities between the keyboard shortcuts and the photographs below?
Strangely, I do!
=:o] is a keyboard short cut for Bill Clinton
7:^] is Ronald ReaganWould you like to be a history teacher in a large classroom filled to capacity with 175 students tweeting keyboard shortcuts with #BluePresident or #RedPresident @PepHist101?
Well? The big question came up during Day 8 of FacProfDev Summer 2013. Can educators can use social media before, during or after class to further engage today's student?
Dr. Sharyl Corrado, Assistant Professor of History and Dr. Lynn Newman, Practitioner Faculty in Organizational Behavior, both believe that social media can play a successful role in today's teaching and learning environment, when used judiciously.
Social media platforms are being used during intense three day business simulations at Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business & Management for the rigorous MBA program as a gateway for real time reporting between student simulation teams and four supervising professors located in different rooms.
Dr. Stella Erbes, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, leading the FacProfDev 2013 Summer workshop series on social media and the role it can play in a classroom and educators stressed:
- Use the @ symbol to follow people who are leaders and trendsetters in your area of teaching expertise.
- Resources from following these experts can be shared with your students by retweeting or sharing knowledge articles, podcasts, videos etc.
- Encourage students to follow subjects that could be trending within the topics of your syllabus or curriculum by using the # symbol in Twitter. # symbol is now also being used by Facebook.
- An educator might consider encouraging students to post on Twitter or todaysmeet.com as back channel platforms for a face-to-face, blended, or an online classroom discussion that could provide insight as to what students have learned about a particular class topic.
