The+10+Questions

Question - now that it is just the three of us, will each of us be speaking on each question or are we still going to have only two people speak on each one? Also, how much time did we allocate for each question?

1.) How do *you* define social media?﻿ (SR)(AJ)    
 * S- I define it as "Digital media that allows and encourages personal connections and relationships." This can obviously include a lot of technologies.
 * TJ - Social media is media which is used to build social networks and connections for sharing information via a mediated channel. It also is considered user-constructed media that is shared through social networks. In some cases, social media has been referred to as social networking sites (SnS) or tools or Web 2.0 technologies. More specifically, Boyd and Ellison (2007) describe "web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system" (para 4). Examples of social media may include Twitter, Facebook, Second Life, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, and more.
 * AJ - The definition of social media is straight forward, and clearly defined (e.g., Boyd/Ellison). I think there needs to be a lot of research, and articles published, on social media, and how it is being used, effectively (implying how important assessment is), in education. I also think words take on new meanings all the time and that language is not a stagnant thing, neither is social technology. Its especially important to understand the difference between a social media and a platform within which social media are possible or available.

2.) How is your campus implementing the use of social media? (SR)   
 * S- Penn State is an extremely large university with over 20 undergraduate campuses. We have recently developed "Social Media Guidelines" that were distributed. These guidelines help people to understand what is and is not appropriate to post via social media and they help to provide guidance for people who may be new to the use of social media.
 * TJ - UWM initiative a social media pilot for teaching and learning in Spring 10. 12 course sections implemented facebook and twitter to push down announcements and course information to students news feeds and their mobile devices. This process complemented the limitations of the course management system to push down information where students live, which is in social media. We also have social media popping up across the campus to help meet unit communication needs.
 * AJ - for us it is in drips and drabs. Certain organizations around campus have used Twitter or Facebook - our radio station, career services. Our dining and communications (administrative) offices have tried, but not had success as of yet. Whats exciting for us is the individual use.

3.) What are the costs associated with implementing the use of social media for faculty, staff, and students? (SR)  
 * S - This really depends on what you want to do. There is no "one way" to use social media. Most sites like twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc are completely free and have no cost associated with them. Some universities are creating positions that work exclusively with the use of social media and so those costs would be associated with that person's salary. If you can find people passionate about your school who are already adept at using social media then you might want to consider taking advantage of that combination.
 * TJ - Cost is minimal; no cost to purchase software or hardware; training needs were minimal, 90 minutes; faculty, who even weren't social media users prior to pilot, did not feel that it greatly impacted their workload.
 * AJ - the time to do it right. And its important that you make a genuine effort to learn the culture of the social network. Thats a great first step to trying to succeed.

4.) What can students, instructors, and the administration do with Social Media?﻿ (SR)  
 * S- In a distance education environment, social media can help to provide those personal connections and relationships that distance students are typically lacking as opposed to students on a residential campus. In a large university, social media can help you to focus on activities and events that are of interest to you simply by following them on twitter or "liking" them on Facebook. You can meet new people, connect with others who have the same interests, and share your experiences.
 * MG- can we open this to include students and faculty/instructors? In teaching and learning one possibility for using SM is to open up the class to allow contribution from those outside of the course and/or physical classroom. This can be intentional (inviting colleagues or contributors) or more serendipitous depending on the application and how it's used (i.e. Twitter hashtaged discussions). (AJ - I added some text to the questions as a suggestion on broadening it, which I think it a good idea)
 * AJ - the pedagogical applications are not limitless, but certainly uncountable. Whats most important there is that the technology chosen be the best tool for the job, that the pedagogy drive the technology and not the other way around.

5.) How do we teach students and faculty to use social media appropriately? (How long does it take?)(AJ)    why are we asking "appriopriately"? tj
 * AJ - I'm not sure this is something you can "teach" people. You can certainly teach the mechanics: this button does this, this field does that, this is how you do this....But, we all take to things differently and the genuine nature of postings to a social network are what makes it successful. Thats not something you can teach, all you can do is show them and be there to answer questions. What we can teach them is the culture of social technology, and that can change from one application to the next. What is appropriate in Twitter may not be so much in Facebook.
 * TJ - I can talk about our training for faculty -- 90 minutes -- focus on pedagogical task, etc.

6.) Do students and faculty like using social media?(MG)(AJ)   <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
 * S- I think this will depend on why it's being used, but I know Tanya has some good data on this.
 * TJ - Students felt that not only were they able to effectively get updates, but that they were more involved, it was beneficial to their learning, they were able to form better impressions of their instructors, it facilitated better communication among students and the instructor, they interacted more effectively with their instructor, and they participating more in the course. I will share the exact percentages. We had a 97% satisfaction rate. I also will share some faculty and student comments.
 * AJ - based on the success of these media, clearly the answer is "yes" that many do like it. Do they like using them for educational purposes, thats not so clear, and it really depends on how it is used. The problem here is that we get close to the Creepy Treehouse syndrome.

7.) What concerns should we have about privacy in our use of social media? <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">TJ - We used facebook course fan pages and twitter course pages, so that students did not "friend" their professors or vice versa allowing them to keep their school and private life separate -- keeping their profiles private.
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">AJ - lots! Privacy is an issue most people do not take seriously and if there is any teachable moment at this point in the progress of this it would be to help people become aware of how important privacy is, now, more than ever. The data companies are collecting on us is freightening, and we need to be aware of that and proactive in monitoring them and calling them on it when they cross the line. What is going on right now with Facebook is a good eaxmple. They will push as far as they can and then pull back to the point where the masses will forget the protest or accept the changed conditions. We need to think about this every time we introduce an assignment to students that doesn't involve a server that we (our institutions) have direct control over.

8.) What are some best practices in using social media?(SR) (MG) <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
 * S- Be authentic. Be real. Don't be afraid of people saying negative things. If someone says something negative, treat them as if they were saying it in person to your face. Tell them you're sorry they feel that way, ask if they have suggestions to change it. By acknowledging their feelings and doing this publicly, you validate them and make your organization look like they care. It's a good thing. (I have a feeling this question could take some time to answer. It might be nice for each of us to provide one 'best practice' here).
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">TJ -- Use it often, keep it simple, keep it open, build community beyond your course walls
 * <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Make sure the teaching tool matches the pedagogy. Remember that anything you post will be there forever, even if you delete it. These servers are backed up always and all the time. It may not be visible, but it can be found. An example are the tweets from the deleted account of this person who caused the recent tragic suicide at Rutgers. Be conscious of what we are really asking our students to do and question if we'd be willing to do the same thing in a class we were taking.

9.) How do I evaluate the impact of Social Media? (SR) (MG) <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
 * S- There are many ways to do this, but the most important thing is to decide what your goal is before you begin. Evaluating your impact/success has everything to do with what your goal was in the first place. Surveys, data, metrics, etc are only as good as their relevance to your objectives. I've done very manual data gathering for social media evaluation, but if you have nothing to correlate then keeping data is pointless.
 * TJ - at UWM - We measure various social variables (presence, engagement, etc.,) and outcome variables (satisfaction, learning, performance). We believe in mixed methods, so we collect quantitative and qualitative data.
 * In a classroom environment, the clearest measure is to see if the learning has taken place, using Enza's Italian course projects as an example. I believe outcome should be assessed and not the tools used to arrive at the outcome. We don't assess the impact of books, or video tapes, or lectures, so why Twitter. Assess the learning, if it happens, then the combination of pedagogical tools used to accomplish that has worked.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> 10.) Maybe we leave question #10 open and tell them that's THEIR question? :) We can just take questions from the audience at that point so that we've covered nine and then the tenth belongs to them? <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
 * S- I really like the idea of leaving this open. We all know that they will have questions relating to their own campuses or experiences. Let's leave this open.
 * MG- Agreed on leaving the 10th open in some way...
 * AJ - agreed as well