College professors stop fighting social media, use it to their advantage
SPOKANE, Wa. -- The power of social media has spread to the classroom, as college professors are turning to social outlets to connect with their students.
A new study finds that, if used the right way, social media can help students learn.
Many people believe social media is a distraction in the classroom, and with smart phones, using Facebook and Twitter at school is easier than ever for students.
Some professors at Whitworth University decided that instead of fighting social media, they should use it to their advantage.
Well, not all college professors can handle it. We just closed our CM Twitter account. I guess we'll invest the time and money into a toll-free fax line.
ReplyDeleteA party line?
DeleteI was wondering why the RGM shot CM's tweety bird, though I'd guess from the lack of a comment stream on that post that he doesn't want to talk about it. From very amateur reading-between-the-lines, I'd guess that the twitter account brought in some new readers, but also more than one major headache.
DeleteI have a twitter account, but have to admit I haven't tweeted yet, and rarely check to see who else has unless I'm in an event where I know others are tweeting. I just seems like one more inbox to check, at a time when I rarely feel the need for more input/information.
Sorry, all. Tweeting and doing this site was too much. And I was not impressed with the sort of info I was able to find and/or distribute. Twitter might be a wonderful thing for others; I have no judgment about it in that way.
DeleteBut I did not want CM to be involved.
RGM, I came to the same conclusion about my professional use of Twitter. Although, #BeakerBen is attractive.
DeleteThis is news? Colleagues of mine have been doing this for years. I am not impressed with the level of thought in the tweets I have seen.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it either. My Facebook account is almost three years old. My CC had seminars back then about how we could incorporate Twitter, Facebook, et al into our teaching and also how we could use them for professional networking. I got rid of Twitter about three weeks after I signed up because it just seemed useless, but I've kept the others. Many of my colleagues are on Facebook now, either with professional profiles or "fan pages" their students use or both.
DeleteI think it *might* work as a way to gather questions and comments in a larger lecture class, but only about as well as having students write on 3x5 cards and passing them forward, since I'd definitely have to stop to read and digest. I couldn't lecture, or run a large discussion, with one eye on a twitter stream. If they want to ask a question or add something to a discussion, what about raising their hands the old-fashioned way? (I know; I know; they're shy or lacking in confidence or something).
DeleteI've also tried to get the gist of a few conference sessions I *didn't* attend by reading an associated twitter stream, but didn't have much luck unless someone had also written a more substantive traditional blog post about it. Reading others' tweets about a session I was sitting in was a bit more informative, but also pretty distracting; going back later to find people's comments, links to things referenced in passing, etc., was more helpful.
I actually had an interesting conversation with the c. 23-year-old director of youth ministries at our church about the idea of tweeting during sermons. He's against it, precisely because of the temptation to wander off into other areas of the internet. Tweeting the gist of the sermon, or reactions, or something along those lines, afterward struck him as a better idea.
I love me some 3x5 cards, CC.
ReplyDelete