The Social Media Classroom

Social Media Classroom since 3/20 - 4/18 2009 Click image to view live graph

I’m writing fast and should be working on a few other projects but Matt Galloway sent me a graph, similar to his PSATuesday graph for #jb4520 and I need to get what follows off my chest so I can get back to those other projects. If I oversimplify please fill in the blanks in the comments section below – that, after all, one of the values of social media.

When I talk about social media I almost always try to fit into the conversation the value of collaborative and collective knowledge. My premise is simple, who is to say I, as the professor at the front of the room, have all the information my students might need about a particular subject. Some days, by the way, this is easier to prove than others.

The graph to the right (click to enlarge) is what social media looks like when you bring it into a classroom (thank you Matt Galloway for being a humble caveman technologist), an inter-connectivity of students with professionals and other academics all sharing knowledge in real time but collected for all and for all time.

My JB4520 students and I use #jb4520 when posting information/links which might be important to others in the class – effectively expanding the hours we are engaged in classroom discussion and learning. Incoming students can review what has already been discussed and those students which have passed the course can continue to learn new trends, tactics, strategies, etc. being discussed in this class years after.

Then there are those individuals – professionals in the field -  who have, for lack of a better word, adopted this class simply because their interest are similar to what the students are studying. They can simply and altruistically engage the students by adding #jb4520 to their tweet which they feel the students might benefit from. I would argue I haven’t yet seen a tweet which the students wouldn’t. As an aside, often times these one way tweets of information are the impetus of students engaging that professional in an expanded conversation. I guarantee, without social media tools it would be very difficult to facilitate or replicate.

The greatest benefit of all, students don’t need to follow the tweeter and vice-versa to gain the knowledge they are offering – they simply need to follow #jb4520 or whatever key words they find of value. Again, look at the graph, @hetty4 is highlighted in red. Those folks who follow her are in yellow and those in purple don’t follow her but, at some point, have tweeted with the #jb4520 in their tweet (sharing information/knowledge) and, I would argue, follow the tag. What this chart doesn’t show are those students in the class or individuals elsewhere who also follow #jb4520 and benefit from this collective knowledge.

This is the first semester I have ever used twitter as a learning tool. I can assure you it won’t be my last. Bottom line, the tools are free but the available knowledge is invaluable.