Social Media University: How colleges have slowly adopted social media

I'm a big fan of visuals. Many times a visual can reinforce thoughts, facts, and information in dramatic ways that reach the reader much more effectively than just using text. After all "a picture is worth a thousand words"! My doctoral research focused upon the use of visuals to enhance blended and online courses. Visual literacy skills are critical in a world where media are used in multiple ways and surround us daily. As a result, I thought I would include this 'infographic' that demonstrates the rapid and increased adoption by higher ed in the use of social media. I think it will demonstrate more than words that these tools are a part of the present and future and ubiquitous.

Social Media University: How colleges have slowly adopted social media

Professional Development Opportunities for Faculty and Staff

In case you missed it, our September Professional Development Announcement went out to faculty and staff yesterday. We have two new offerings we hope you will take advantage of! Please contact Sunny Chau (sunny.chau@cug.edu) for registrations.Here are the descriptions:


Tips and Tricks for the iPad
As a result of the increasing popularity of the tablet computer, in particular the iPad, we will be offering a 45-minute workshop “Tips and Tricks for the iPad”. Session topics will include:  establishing settings, navigation, creating folders, security, accessing email, calendar, using the App Store, etc. We will also address cloud-based applications that can be used from the iPad as well as other mobile devices and your PC. Note: Participation in this session requires an iPad. You may bring your own or an iPad will be available to use for the session. Presenters: Carlos Miranda, User Services Manager, and Dr. Carleen Shaffer, Director of Academic Computing.

Introduction to Social Media

The second new initiative is a pilot “Introduction to Social Media”. This webinar via Elluminate will focus on the use of social media for personal and professional use as well as strategies for student engagement. The 45-minute webinar will be recorded for subsequent viewing. Session topics will include: Overview of social media (what, why, when, how); brief introduction to Diigo, Dropbox, Evernote and Blogger; security issues; and Sakai integration. Additional social media will be covered in subsequent sessions upon request. Presenters: Dr. Carleen Shaffer, Director of Academic Computing, Carlos Miranda, User Services Manager, and Sunny Chau, Instructional Technology Consultant.

Evernote: A Personal and Professional Social Media Tool

OK, I admit it - I love Evernote! It is truly one of my favorite cloud-based social media tools. Personally, I have found Evernote features greatly assist me in becoming more organized. Everything is easily accessible via any mobile device and it's possible to upload a wide variety of media and file types, i.e. audio recordings, video clips, websites, pdf's, etc. I recently attended a conference and took all my session notes in Evernote then forwarded them to colleagues as appropriate. Professionally and for research it's useful for aggregating artifacts anytime, anyplace. Even small companies find the features useful for management and organization. Here's a good example:

Run a Small Business with Evernote

What do you think?

Social Media for Reflective Practice

I am a firm believer in the value of reflective practice in learning. The opportunity to take time and think about individual learning at various stages increases increases personlization - and when you personalize learning you internalize and retain. Social media tools provide a variety of venues for this reflective practice. Blogs can be used as a personal journal to record stages of learning or projects. Wikis can also be used in this way, but would work better as a group opportunity to reflect on a project or assignment. Twitter can be used for more brief recording of thoughts and ideas. Facebook is great for group sharing and inclusion of a variety of media. Blogs and wikis are also very useful to encourage and enhance writing skills. A great resource for sharing and reflecting ideas is included with this link. Technology Tools for Reflection - Reflection for Learning

Whatever tool you use take time to reflect about your learning and it will be much more meaningful!

Just a few thoughts,

Carleen

Google+: 10 things it does better

In July I attended the Sloan Merlot "Emerging Technologies Conference" in San Jose. Coincidentally, Google+ had just been announced. Well to say it was the 'buzz' of the conference is putting it lightly! It appeared many presenters were quickly adding to their presentations to insure they were up-to-date! I decided to explore this much talked about new social networking tool when I returned to work. I set up my account and connected with a few friends and coworkers to test the features. Indeed there are many appealing functions with Google's latest attraction and I encourage you to try a few. I do like that there are fewer games/ads and the video chat for up to 10 people works very well. I see great potential, but with all of the other social media tools it's difficult to become religious about using it. However, I'm certain, in the end I will do so. I especially like the security options that I believe will be useful to educators. Reading through this linked article will provide a good sense of why it might be worthwhile for you to explore Google+. Let me know what you think!

Google+: 10 things it does better - CNN.com

Carleen