Social Media and Academic Space

There were two sessions on social media during this hour. The other one talked about what kinds of limits we needed to set on students, so I decided to select this one. The presenter, Jeff Miller, is from the Univ. of British Columbia, the only other person I've seen from the west coast.

The presentation is really talking about the digital divide between students and faculty, with faculty seeing learning as linear and solitary.

The presenter is talking about the variety of spaces he uses in classes. His ideas seem good for graduate classes, but I'm not sure how well this would apply for entry level community college courses.

He makes useful comments on balancing out experimenting with new stuff without torturing your students. He encourages discussions about private vs. public exposure of the information.

References

• Why professor johnny can't read: Understanding the net generations's texts
• Mr. Picasso head (a la Mr. Potato Head)
• Buddy Press - a social networking layer that plugs into WordPress