Educause 2008: Social Media and Education

Social Media and Education: The Conflict Between Technology and Institutional Education, and the Future

Sarah Intellagirl Robbins

Intellagirl's claim: Many of the benefits of institutional learning can be accomplished via social media, she fears for future of high ed

High ed offers:
--membership in social affinity or intellectual groups (online or rl)
-- engage in intellectual discourse
--access to resources and experts
--endorsement of completion (credentialing)
--accumulate skills for employment
--association with professional community (esp with things like nursing schools)
--guidance through experiences and thought processes

Role of social media for those who engage?

Social media offers:
--self expression
--sharing enthusiasm for common interests
--access to experts and personalities (pic is of TED talks)
--enhance personal and professional reputation
--build and share skills

All communication is educational

Dialogic communication allows for more community, exchange of ideas (Web 2.0)

Institutions can be replaced by a *self-motivated* investigator

Where does education fit in a world where production & consumption of info has become:
-- wikipedia (v. brittanica)
-- amateur (you tube)
-- distributive (crowdsource)

Strategies for the future:
--we are not the gatekeepers to knowledge
--role of educators changing (edupunk )
--references Henry Jenkins (aca-fan ); teach students how to learn in an information economy
--teach importance of contributing to community (global citizens now); their value in an info economy is the quality of what they share; teaching them to learn and express alone -- not what's needed today
-- teacher as guide (she doesn't say 'sage'); teacher a co-creator (uses ex from elementary school)
--arguing for teacher as expert, the helper when students get in trouble (how many teachers navigate w2.0 with that degree of skill)

Educators more imp than ever in world of social media

We are the last cohort of educators who will remember what the world was like before not only social media but other technologies (hand helds)

intellagirl@gmail.com
SL: IntellagirlTully

slides on slideshare

Q: {accurately points out that the claims at the start of her talk are more alarmist than the conclusions she presents at talk's conclusion}
I: if we don't embrace the shift (teach courses lecture style, large classes without online community accompaniment), then we may have trouble. Will students choose to be controlled by institutions?
Students raised in a world where they have a voice and every system they engage in allows them to do that, except school.

Q: I've taught biochemistry and bioinformatics for many years, and there is a set body of knowledge, and I wouldn't want to drive over a bridge built by someone who studied engineering at wikipedia;
I: We don't need to abandon facts but we can remove individual isolation and allow students to collaborate better while learning concrete information
Output mechanisms of tests and papers may not help the learning outcome.

Q: from Israel -- why do you say "IT" when "ICT" (c=communication) is so important

Q: Inside HighEd this am: FB becoming the campus commons, rather than a physical commons; please comment
I: Don't think that students spending more time in FB than F2F,