As part of last week’s Social Media Week – Toronto (#SMWTO), my department, Student Community & Leadership Development co-hosted a session titled 1 Love Learning and it was a fascinating discussion based on three questions:
Are lecture halls, podiums and PhDs at educational institutions still the epic centre of knowledge? What tools are changing how we learn? How can students, teachers, parents and engaged citizens harness social media to improve learning, civic engagement and personal/professional development?
Fascinating, because of the mix of presenters (Computer Science professor Andrew, @yorkuniversity + online content manager Laura, 1LoveTo Founders Tyronne + Brock and social entrepreneur Neal) and participants (students, artists, librarians, and staffers).
Fascinating, because the content made me think more about how we are utilizing social media in students affairs – that is, what is our strategy aside from ‘having’ a facebook page or twitter account? How are we using these devices and to develop and engage our student community? And how are we linking this into what our fellow faculty and staff are doing?
Most interesting to me was Andrew Eckford (professor in computer science) who has used his classroom to experiment whether it be through a blog, facebook, youtube or twitter account.
He has used social media to build and enhance his classroom experience but has had mixed results:
- critical mass is important as is the number of community builders
- type of social media tool used – blogs best recreate the traditional classroom experience with youtube being a bit like watching tv
How are you using social media to create and or enhance engagement on your campus? Any best or better practices out there? Comment or drop me a line.
(if you are interested in this subject and the future of higher education and emerging social technology, check out this other session from social media week here)
