Tweaching -- Twitter for Teaching is no April Fool's joke!

Twitter provides a multi-device communication platform for us to interact with each other. For those of us living in the 21st Century, it was a logical step from using Twitter to communicate with friends and acquaintances to applying Twitter in the global learning environment. Unfortunately, someone pranked this trend, and (I think) credited one of the least likely Universities with the idea. Nick Carr reported a new development at the University of Phoenix, where:

Most of the instruction in the Twitter courses will be done through the 140-character "tweets" for which the service is famous, though instructors are also expected to occasionally refer to longer online documents by including "short URL" links in the tweets. "

The Chronicle of Higher Education did some follow up and reported this: Sorry Twitter lovers, no online courses yet. “University of Phoenix is not going to deliver courses via Twitter,” wrote Wendy Paul, executive director of public relations for the university.
So does that mean Twitter for Teachers isn't going to work?

Not even! I do think it's more of a tool than a platform for teaching, though I can see a use for the latter. For use of Twitter as a Tool (I suspect we would call this a Tweaching Twool), I posted earlier on David Parry's use of Twitter in the learning environment (http://tinyurl.com/tweach (I know, cool custom URL -- think it'll catch on?).

And then I learned about Twitter for Teachers, where teachers from all over the world are gathering and writing an eBook to help tweachers use Twitter. The e-book is intended for use by teachers from primary, elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools.


Is it possible the abbreviated lecture notes could be used to enhance the learning environment? Check out Twitter University: The lecture series.

If you are reading this close to the posting time, now would be a good time to check out TFT, as EDUCHAT #3 is coming up soon!

Should we even consider "Teaching With Twitter"?

I saw a nice overview of Twitter in the learning environment by David Parry, a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, who talks about using Twitter for his courses.



More at Chronicle Multimedia.

What do you think?

So, how did you get started... and what difference has it made?

The road to wherever here is . . .

So I was on my Google Reader, minding my own business in the passive reading mode, when I was provoked . . . in a good way.

Tony Karrer did a pass-along inquiry for Karyn Romeis and I just had to respond. The reason I am answering here is three-fold. First, posting on a blog allows links and that makes the post less cluttered (and, ultimately, shorter). Second, I have two blogs that relate to this topic and maneuvering between them would make me (and probably you, the reader) dizzy. Third, I noticed it's been a while since I posted here (though my other blog has been pretty active lately), so I figured I'd kill 3 birds with 1 stone.

And the ability to spread link-love helped push me over the edge . . .

Hi Karyn,

Here's my answers to your basic questions:

* How did you get started with social media?

I started this adventure for very basic reasons, which I detailed a while back in a post entitled How I got started on Social Networking (MySpace, LinkedIn, and Facebook edition. The short version is that I had teen sons & college students in the space and I wanted to know more about it. The exposure to (or increased use of) YouTube and Google Video, Twitter, and Skype seemed to come naturally.

* What was your introduction, and how did the journey unfold?

I started out slow, focusing more on LinkedIn for professional reasons. If it wasn't for the brilliance of the embedded follow-up, I think that sight might have lost me. As you see from the previous answer, I felt that a MySpace presence was required, and Facebook seemed like a great way to get to know my students.

I began getting a feel for how these sites were fitting into my life here, and began thinking about how business could be done in this new market - documented initially here. I documented other parts of the journey in my initial thoughts regarding a police-only networking site here.
I once (well, maybe more than once) got a little overzealous while growing my network and got a serious warning from the friend police at Facebook. I have since matured, and shared my findings in two organized academic presentations (in 2007, and 2008), and on LinkedIn.

I've gotten more creative in my "thinking out loud" and posted a couple of quasi-fables (actually recreations - here and here - the first is my favorite, but it's a bit longer than average). Some of my thoughts on how social media can enhance business are here.

* What difference has it made in your professional practice?

I consider things differently. Never before did I (in the middle of a conversation) say, and think, "That would make a great blog post!."

I hadn't yet written a book (paper here, free e-book here), I hadn't created a global police cross-platform network, and I didn't blog before social networking enticed me (and now I can't quit). I also wasn't previously involved with a global collaborative project like Link To Your World, and I hadn't yet figured out the need to assist those in business with understanding social media, so Link To Your Education wasn't even a thought . . .

And I've met and conversed with some really great people!

I, am in the beginning phases of my dissertation, as well, and intend to post it for access wherever, whenever. I haven't yet decided whether blog or wiki is the better media . . .

What do you think?

And we wonder why more people don't teach!

If you ever wondered why faculty in higher education sometimes act like they are stuck in a rut? It may be because they are . . .

Where else can you go to school for not less than 23 years (K-12, 4 college, 3 graduate, a minimum of 3 for the doctorate), potentially amassing hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, only to be paid a little better than an auto mechanic of a police officer (not that the technology revolution hasn't made those jobs more difficult).

See the recent release of Faculty Median Salaries - HigherEdJobs.com: "results of the 2007-08 National Faculty Salary Survey conducted by The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR). Figures are based on salary data of more than 211,400 faculty members at public and private institutions nationwide. Salaries were reported by 838 institutions, including 499 private institutions and 339 public institutions."

You'll see that a business professor makes more than an economics professor, and you'll probably wonder why math and nursing professors don't make more than law and engineering professors . . . or maybe you won't. So how do they do it?

From what I've seen, it's either an intense desire to share what they've learned (hopefully by first-hand experience, not just from reading about those from another) or the opportunity to have a relatively steady, full-time position where you only have to work 2/3 of the time. That either allows a bunch of time off for sharing ideas at conferences, traveling the world, or doing something else to make money.

Sometimes plans like the above work, and sometimes they don't, but the potential for feeling like you are in a dead-end job is still there. Many college professors have a variety of classes that they have taught many times to many students. They have the lecture memorized, and if they use multimedia, it's often dated. And then, to top it all off, they get very little thanks from their students, and nothing but committee work and research requirements from the administration.

By the time they figure out that they don't enjoy the work any longer, it's way too late to change career fields (or so it appears), so there appears to be no incentive to learn more or even keep abreast of recent developments. That's when you know you need a break . . . or maybe it's time to retire?

So the next time you see a college professor stuck in a rut, help them get out by giving them a push!

What do you think?

time to process, unpack, and apply!

Just finished @itconference08, now to make sure all that learning doesn't get wasted.

Things I learned before, during and after (not necessarily in order of priority or importance):

- you can claim your Twitter account on Technorati

- I take notes better with a laptop

- Twitter Vision is cool to watch -- like a game of ping pong

- what many in education 2.0 (two-way communication) are doing is really education 3.0 (collaborative group communication)

- the world really is flat.

- wireless mobile devices (WMD) are just something I think will take over the learning environment

- PowerPoint slideshows are not teleprompters

- we need to shift the locus of learning (.pdf link)

- FirstMonday.org moved to the U of I-C

- Facebook has 25 Apps That Are Perfect for Online Education

- there are simple ways to add friends on Twitter

- CrunchBase is a new (free) directory of technology companies, people, and investors that anyone can edit.

- digital ethnography is powerful



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g

What do you think?

Hi-tech Mid-South educators

OK, so I'm at the13th Annual Instructional Technology conference here in Nashville and the featured speaker is about to begin and I see an @itconference08 on the screen. Hey -- that looks like a Twitter address, I think silently (in case I'm the only one that speaks Twitter). Right after that was instructions on how to get on the WLAN, so I slide out my PPC phone and hit the site and they have (now that I'm following them) 5 followers. Not good, I think.

And then I see that they aren't following anyone back. And then I see that the last 4 (actually first four, as well) posts were April 6, March 19, March 18, and March 18. And there are hundreds of people here -- on April 7th!!!

OK, so I am not in Silicon Valley . . . but shouldn't we have like some fairly regular posts just to see if someone responds. There admittedly are only a few Twitterers within 20 miles of Murfreesboro (the home of MTSU) according to TwitterLocal, but . . .

Help me out -- there's still tomorrow -- check out http://twitter.com/itconference08 and follow them!

If you'd like to make sure they get the message - @itconference08 and @carterfsmith and I'll make sure to pass it on.

What do you think?

21st Century Roman video

Just now getting this finished -- sometimes the to-do list gets overwhelming.

This is the video of the recorded presentation of When in Rome - teaching 21st century students using 21st century tools, posted previously, complete with interaction (the only way to present).



It's from the 12th Annual Instructional Technology conference last April. The 13th starts tomorrow -- so I figured it was time to get this completed (since I just figured out how).

What do you think?

Can we learn without being comfortable?

As I noted in a recent publication:

The optimal zone in which adults learn is referred to as disjuncture— when time seems to stop. . . when our biographical repertoire is no longer sufficient to cope automatically with our situation. . . where we have a tension with our environment (Jarvis, 2006).

Without entering this zone, we are simply stacking up our experiences on top of things to which we can relate. This action often leads to an unnecessary compromise, where we settle for what is readily available to us, rather than what is actually the best fit.

With disjuncture, we are forced to build a completely new structure of learning. While in the disjuncture zone, though we usually will experience discomfort, we are ultimately able to establish a strong foundation for real learning.

(p. 182)

What do you think?

Jarvis, P. (2006). Towards a Comprehensive Theory of Human Learning. New York: Routledge.

Yesterday's technology today -

I just finished an educational session for those interested in engaging the social space for a variety of reasons.

If interested, check out Link To Your Education.


And I've finally figuring out how to take a PPT, record narrative, and then add to slideshare, embedded Gvideo, and podcast. I feel so Web 1.0 :-(

I've redone the audio for the last presentation (below). It's available on Archive.Org.

My link to the audio is here.

And I've been playing around with Twitter. It's neat, and so "tech."

A friend recently asked (on Twitter, of course), "Why Twitter? Why now? Couldn't we have done this in a chat room 5 years ago? Is mobile what makes it different? Answer in <140>."

My first thought (while at a stop sign in my car receiving messages on my phone) was:
Twitter, now because it's new but familiar and crosses platforms. We couldn't do opt-in asynchronous chat in 2002.

If you just have to know more about Twitter, check out their Frequently Asked Questions.
Twitter also has a blog . . . and Patricia Mayo does a good overview.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, feel free.

And to automate your posts (if you blog regularly), check out Twitter Feed! If you just can't get enough of Twitter, add it to your Firefox browser with TwitBin.

And I'm wondering how much is too much when we engage for learning purposes in the online world. Does it really help to provide reading, audio, visual (presentations) and a combination (like video)? If so, here's the video (presentation with audio in a video format) for the Retrofitting The Learning Environment Presentation.



There's a VCast link coming . . .

What do you think?

Retrofitting Learning Environments for Today’s Hyper-Networked Students

Where did all my students go? This question is (or could be) asked by faculty all over the world. It is most appropriate in response to the migration of students from one professor to another (who listens to and understands them), or from one University to another (where everyone responds to them). It happens when students realize that their learning environment is the same one their parents had – boring, stifling, and very limited. In this presentation, we will discuss and demonstrate some recent technology developments that easily modernize teaching methods and quickly engage students. Learning environments should not be confined to the classroom – it’s time for them to be retrofitted . . . we’ll look at some examples.

This presentation was prepared for the West Tennessee Technology Symposium, March 6, 2008.

The slideshow is available here. This post was made to fill in some of the blanks from the slideshow (contained in the notes, but not visible without download).

View Upload your own

Streaming Audio (to accompany the presentation for the most part)

Retrofitting Learning Environments means . . . the ongoing practice of radically redesigning learning environments, including all participants, so learning is not stifled, hampered, or otherwise limited by unnecessary restrictions of space, time, topic, or any combination thereof. We need to seriously consider retrofitting the learning environment for today's students -- representatives of the Net Generation.

The term Net Generation was coined by Don Tapscott, in his book “Growing Up Digital.” Though many traditional students are part of the Net Generation, we should not be defining this group based on age, but based on their experiences and their exposure. The experience of the Net Generation gives them the ability to acquire information on virtually anything within moments. The Net Generation has been exposed to information-gathering techniques and technologies that place institutions of higher education in direct competition with companies like Google.

The students benefit when we retrofit the learning environment. The environment is more interactive and makes them more connected to it. These technologies encourage collaborative learning, which enhances the learning experience. Many students and future students are already using social networks. They will easily be able to adapt to the retrofitted environment using communication techniques they are familiar with. This familiarity and the learning environment designed with these tools will foster creativity and imagination – on both sides of the virtual podium.

So, what’s in it for the educators?

Try out a sampling of these solutions (from the slideshow) and see which fit your “style?” In the process, you are likely to experience the joy of learning something new. You are pretty much guaranteed to get envious looks from your peers when your students ask them why they haven’t retrofitted their learning environments yet. You will find that once these techniques are implemented, it will take less time to communicate more. And last but not least, you will have the satisfaction of equipping an entire generation with the tools and strategies needed to rule the world.

The power of a network is related to the amount of knowledge held by the individual members, how much they share with others (and re-use from others), the number of others with whom they share and the capability of the network to generate new knowledge.

For an organization, the equation suggests a few practical steps.
•Hire and retain people who have a high level of expertise (and therefore a large amount of knowledge).
•Hire and retain people who are natural sharers.
•Hire a diverse population of people so that the knowledge they have is varied; i.e., there is enough similarity so that they can understand each other, but not so much that they all know the same things.
•Put in place a work environment that encourages and enables knowledge sharing.

The bottom line is power is knowledge shared.

Through knowledge management you can increase the power of your organization exponentially to solve problems, to invent new methods, and to overcome physical distance (Smith, 2001).
Synergy happens when a group of diverse individuals form and collaborate. When forming a strategic team, it is important to find a variety of personality styles, backgrounds, and experiences. Only by interacting with a heterogeneous group can we experience the real power of collaboration. The results of these collaborations often contribute to the overall knowledge base. Previously established networks can be used to disseminate this collective knowledge.

Preparing for the Future

By capitalizing on the use of social networks while students attend college, faculty and other school leaders can not only strengthen the learning foundation for students, but can also maintain contact with students as they go out into the community following graduation.
College administrators can strategically use social networks to stay in contact with graduates in hopes of garnering a loyal cadre of alumni. For students, taking part in social networks while in college offers benefits for the future. Networking can be a means of establishing connections within the community they will enter upon graduation. As alumni, they can show loyalty to their alma mater by offering employment to future graduates, support to athletic organizations, and financial contribution to the institution.

So what is the Cost for use?

Email - $0 (you already have it or can get a good one for free.
Social Networking site - $0
Instant Messaging account - $0
Skype/Conference Call - $0 for Skype to Skype calls, and very cheap for Skype to phone – worldwide.
Text messaging on mobile phone $? Depends on provider. There are all kinds of plans, and unlimited is the new buzzword.

Communication with students . . .
(get your Master Card memory ready)

Absolutely priceless!

Michael Powell, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, when testing out Skype a few years ago, has been quoted as saying “Change is inevitable . . . I knew it was over when I downloaded Skype.” Skype is an example of a disruption that occurred in the telecommunications business. There are similar disruptions occurring in the higher education business today.

What do you think?

References:

Allen, S., Deragon, J., Orem, M., & Smith, C. (2008). The Emergence of the Relationship Economy. Cupertino, CA: HappyAbout. Available at http://www.happyabout.info/RelationshipEconomy.php

Smith, R. (2001, May 9) Knowledge Management – The Road Ahead. Presented at "Unleashing the Power of Partnerships", the 2nd Conference & Expo of the Staff Exchange Program of The World Bank Group, Washington, D.C.. Available at http://www.rgsmithassociates.com/Power.htm

Links from presentation
Desire2Learn, Blackboard, ANGEL, Epsilen, Learn.com, e-College, Element K, Joomla
Moodle, Gmail, Mail2Web, MTV Message Board, iVillage Message Board, Yahoo Message Board
Slideshare, Authorstream, Google Videos, YouTube videos, GCast, Odeo, BlogTalkRadio, Skype
Free Conference Calls, Evite, Meetup, TringMe, GrandCentral, Blogger, LiveJournal, Wordpress
Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, LiveMocha, Tribe, Bebo, Wiki, Open Courseware

Are we ready for the future of learning? It's here now!

Always in search of ways to connect in the learning environment, those of us who enjoy bells and whistles like to find new stuff.

In Six “Key Emerging Technologies” for Higher Ed Profiled in the 2008 Horizon Report, The The New Media Consortium publishes their fifth edition of the report so we can get a glimpse of the future of learning before it is upon us.

Listed in the report are grassroots video, collaboration webs, mobile broadband, data mashups, collective intelligence, and social operating systems.

The business world has seen many of these, but is there a place for each in Higher Ed? I think that depends on who is actually reading the report.

Take a look at the requirements for acceptance of just one of these innovative technologies:

(just click on the < > arrows at the bottom or click on full to see full screen)

View Upload your own

Learning environments that implement any of these technologies will be noted as cutting-edge,and education 2.0. The concern, though, is whether they will fit the needs of the students?

What do you think?