This document discusses strategies for using social media to create more dynamic online classrooms. It begins by introducing the speaker and their relevant experience. It then discusses encouraging student participation through approaches like requiring responses to discussion posts as well as comments on peers' responses. The concept of rotating student roles as discussion editors is presented. Challenges with different types of students are acknowledged. The importance of digital fluency for both faculty and students is highlighted. Resources for further information are provided, and the speaker thanks the audience for their time.

1. Social Media:
Strategies & techniques toward more dynamic online classrooms
Cynthia Lawson
Assistant Professor
School of Design Strategies, Parsons
LawsonC@newschool.edu / @cynthialawson
October 26, 2011

2. Why me?
• Researcher and developer, Ludomática

3. Why me?
• Researcher and developer, Ludomática
• Graduate program in interactive media (ITP)

4. Why me?
• Researcher and developer, Ludomática
• Graduate program in interactive media (ITP)
• Educational technologist, Columbia Center for New Media Teaching & Learning

5. Why me?
• Researcher and developer, Ludomática
• Graduate program in interactive media (ITP)
• Educational technologist, Columbia Center for New Media Teaching & Learning
• Media courses in Integrated Design program at Parsons

6. Why me?
• Researcher and developer, Ludomática
• Graduate program in interactive media (ITP)
• Educational technologist, Columbia Center for New Media Teaching & Learning
• Media courses in Integrated Design program at Parsons
• Web 2.0 Teaching Tools

7. Why me?
• Researcher and developer, Ludomática
• Graduate program in interactive media (ITP)
• Educational technologist, Columbia Center for New Media Teaching & Learning
• Media courses in Integrated Design program at Parsons
• Web 2.0 Teaching Tools
• http://total.parsons.edu - Tools for Online Teaching and Learning

8. Online?
Online teaching as well as face-to-face teaching with online tools

9. Dynamic classroom?

10. Dynamic classroom? Student participation

11. Dynamic classroom? Student participation
• Content

12. Dynamic classroom? Student participation
• Content
• Horizontal hierarchy

13. Dynamic classroom? Student participation
• Content
• Horizontal hierarchy faculty not as lecturer, but as facilitator

14. Dynamic classroom? Student participation
• Content
• Horizontal hierarchy faculty not as lecturer, but as facilitator
• Face-to-face participation

15. Dynamic classroom? Student participation
• Content
• Horizontal hierarchy faculty not as lecturer, but as facilitator
• Face-to-face participation
• The “stupid question” fear

16. Dynamic classroom? Student participation
• Content
• Horizontal hierarchy faculty not as lecturer, but as facilitator
• Face-to-face participation
• The “stupid question” fear
• Not suitable for all personality types

17. Dynamic classroom? Student participation
• Content
• Horizontal hierarchy faculty not as lecturer, but as facilitator
• Face-to-face participation
• The “stupid question” fear
• Not suitable for all personality types
• Concerns with english as a second language

18. Faculty Students

19. teaching
learning
Faculty Students

20. teaching
learning
Faculty Students
gap in
the how

21. Millenials

22. Millenials
“The Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change.” Pew Research Center.
February 24, 2010.

23. Millenials
“The Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change.” Pew Research Center.
February 24, 2010.

24. Millenials
“The Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change.” Pew Research Center.
February 24, 2010.

25. Millenials
“The Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change.” Pew Research Center.
February 24, 2010.

26. Millenials
• Experiential learners
“Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education Focus Group Results” Richard Sweeney,
New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2009.

27. Millenials
• Experiential learners
“Millennials strongly prefer learning by doing. They almost never read the
directions; love to learn by interacting.”
“Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education Focus Group Results” Richard Sweeney,
New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2009.

28. Millenials
• Experiential learners
“Millennials strongly prefer learning by doing. They almost never read the
directions; love to learn by interacting.”
• Digital natives
“Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education Focus Group Results” Richard Sweeney,
New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2009.

29. Millenials
• Experiential learners
“Millennials strongly prefer learning by doing. They almost never read the
directions; love to learn by interacting.”
• Digital natives
“They clearly adapt faster to computer and internet services because they
have always had them. While they still want and expect expert teachers in a
face-to-face environment, they expect the speed, convenience, flexibility and
power provided by digital services and resources.”
“Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education Focus Group Results” Richard Sweeney,
New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2009.

30. Millenials
• Experiential learners
“Millennials strongly prefer learning by doing. They almost never read the
directions; love to learn by interacting.”
• Digital natives
“They clearly adapt faster to computer and internet services because they
have always had them. While they still want and expect expert teachers in a
face-to-face environment, they expect the speed, convenience, flexibility and
power provided by digital services and resources.”
“Millennial Behaviors and Higher Education Focus Group Results” Richard Sweeney,
New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2009.

31. “social media” ?

32. “social media” ?
just publishing publishing + interacting

33. “social media” ?
just publishing publishing + interacting
dynamic?

34. Web 2.0

35. Web 1.0
DoubleClick -->
Ofoto -->
Akamai -->
mp3.com -->
Britannica Online -->
personal websites -->
evite -->
domain name speculation -->
page views -->
screen scraping -->
publishing -->
content management systems -->
directories (taxonomy) -->
stickiness -->
from Tim O’Reilly’s “What is Web 2.0?” oreilly.com, 09/30/2005

36. Web 1.0 Web 2.0
DoubleClick --> Google AdSense
Ofoto --> Flickr
Akamai --> BitTorrent
mp3.com --> Napster
Britannica Online --> Wikipedia
personal websites --> blogging
evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name --> search engine optimization
speculation
page views --> cost per click
screen scraping --> web services
publishing --> participation
content management --> wikis
systems
directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness --> syndication
from Tim O’Reilly’s “What is Web 2.0?” oreilly.com, 09/30/2005

37. Web 1.0 Web 2.0
DoubleClick --> Google AdSense
Ofoto --> Flickr
Akamai --> BitTorrent
mp3.com --> Napster
Britannica Online --> Wikipedia
personal websites --> blogging
evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name --> search engine optimization
speculation
page views --> cost per click
screen scraping --> web services
publishing --> participation
content management --> wikis
systems
directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness --> syndication
from Tim O’Reilly’s “What is Web 2.0?” oreilly.com, 09/30/2005

38. Web 1.0 Web 2.0
DoubleClick --> Google AdSense
Ofoto --> Flickr
Akamai --> BitTorrent
mp3.com --> Napster
Britannica Online --> Wikipedia
personal websites --> blogging
evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name --> search engine optimization
speculation
page views --> cost per click
screen scraping --> web services
publishing --> participation
content management --> wikis
systems
directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness --> syndication
from Tim O’Reilly’s “What is Web 2.0?” oreilly.com, 09/30/2005

39. Web 1.0 Web 2.0
DoubleClick --> Google AdSense
Ofoto --> Flickr
Akamai --> BitTorrent
mp3.com --> Napster
Britannica Online --> Wikipedia
personal websites --> blogging
evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name --> search engine optimization
speculation
page views --> cost per click
screen scraping --> web services
publishing --> participation
content management --> wikis
systems
directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness --> syndication
from Tim O’Reilly’s “What is Web 2.0?” oreilly.com, 09/30/2005

40. Web 1.0 Web 2.0
DoubleClick --> Google AdSense
Ofoto --> Flickr
Akamai --> BitTorrent
mp3.com --> Napster
Britannica Online --> Wikipedia
personal websites --> blogging
evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name --> search engine optimization
speculation
page views --> cost per click
screen scraping --> web services
publishing --> participation
content management --> wikis
systems
directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness --> syndication
from Tim O’Reilly’s “What is Web 2.0?” oreilly.com, 09/30/2005

41. Platforms: Blackboard

42. Platforms: Blackboard
“Using Blackboard is like riding an ox through
midtown traffic: possible, but really slow and
so clearly not the vehicle of choice. Make that
a counter-intuitive ox; it’s totally confusing,
unsuited for design classes, my students
won’t use it, and I can’t find half the stuff I
thought I had posted for this class. PLEASE
DON’T MAKE US GO BACK THERE!”
Student, Web 2.0 Teaching Tools, Fall 2011

43. Platforms: Blackboard
“Using Blackboard is like riding an ox through
midtown traffic: possible, but really slow and
so clearly not the vehicle of choice. Make that
a counter-intuitive ox; it’s totally confusing,
unsuited for design classes, my students
won’t use it, and I can’t find half the stuff I
thought I had posted for this class. PLEASE
DON’T MAKE US GO BACK THERE!”
Student, Web 2.0 Teaching Tools, Fall 2011

44. Platforms: Blackboard
“Using Blackboard is like riding an ox through
midtown traffic: possible, but really slow and
so clearly not the vehicle of choice. Make that
a counter-intuitive ox; it’s totally confusing,
unsuited for design classes, my students
won’t use it, and I can’t find half the stuff I
thought I had posted for this class. PLEASE
DON’T MAKE US GO BACK THERE!”
Student, Web 2.0 Teaching Tools, Fall 2011

45. Platforms: Blogs

46. Platforms: Blogs
“a Web site that contains an online personal
journal with reflections, comments, and often
hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the
contents of such a site”
Merriam Webster Dictionary

47. Platforms: Blogs
http://web20su11.wordpress.com/

48. Platforms: Facebook
by Brad McCarty,
thenextweb.com

49. Platforms: Facebook
• Keep in mind:
• Privacy settings

50. Platforms: Facebook
• Keep in mind:
• Privacy settings
• Closed group

51. Platforms: Facebook
• Keep in mind:
• Privacy settings
• Closed group
• Advantages:
• Integrated into students’ daily routine

52. Platforms: Facebook
• Keep in mind:
• Privacy settings
• Closed group
• Advantages:
• Integrated into students’ daily routine
• Multimedia content

53. Platforms: Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/groups/203437923023971/

54. Platforms: Twitter
by Brad McCarty,
thenextweb.com

55. Platforms: Twitter
• “Micro-blogging”

56. twitter
1. reader

57. twitter
1. reader 2. retweeter

58. twitter
1. reader 2. retweeter 3. curator*

59. Platforms: Twitter
• “Micro-blogging”
• Noise: over 80 million tweets per day

60. Platforms: Twitter
• Noise: over 80 million tweets per day
• Lists:
• http://twitter.com/#!/georgiayam/edtech
• http://twitter.com/#!/StoneSculptorJN/photography

61. Platforms: Twitter
• Noise: over 80 million tweets per day
• Lists:
• http://twitter.com/#!/georgiayam/edtech
• http://twitter.com/#!/StoneSculptorJN/photography
• Hashtags:
• #policy, #occupy

62. Strategies: dynamic classrooms
Why do you want students to participate?

63. Strategies: dynamic classrooms
Why do you want students to participate?
How

64. Strategies: dynamic classrooms
Why do you want students to participate?
How
1.On a discussion thread (BB/Blog/other), require that students both respond to
the question AND comment on at least two other responses.

65. Strategies: dynamic classrooms
Why do you want students to participate?
How
1.On a discussion thread (BB/Blog/other), require that students both respond to
the question AND comment on at least two other responses.
Emphasize quality and critical thinking

66. Strategies: dynamic classrooms
Why do you want students to participate?
How
1.On a discussion thread (BB/Blog/other), require that students both respond to
the question AND comment on at least two other responses.
Emphasize quality and critical thinking
2.Rotate the “editor” role

67. Strategies: dynamic classrooms
Why do you want students to participate?
How
1.On a discussion thread (BB/Blog/other), require that students both respond to
the question AND comment on at least two other responses.
Emphasize quality and critical thinking
2.Rotate the “editor” role
Students take turns posing questions and managing discussion

68. Strategies: dynamic classrooms
http://www.cynthialawson.com/teaching/media/blog/?paged=3

69. Strategies: dynamic classrooms
Why do you want students to participate?
How
1.On a discussion thread (BB/Blog/other), require that students both respond to
the question AND comment on at least two other responses.
Emphasize quality and critical thinking
2.Rotate the “editor” role
Students take turns posing questions and managing discussion

70. Strategies: dynamic classrooms
4.Digital fluency of both faculty and students
5.Ask them! (Know your students)
http://lespotter001.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/a-question-for-my-millennial-
generation-students/

71. Resources
• http://total.parsons.edu - coming soon
• http://learningthroughdigitalmedia.net
• course: Web 2.0 Teaching Tools
• Conferences (attend or follow on Twitter! #mobilityshifts #edtech)

72. Thank you!
Questions?
Cynthia Lawson
Assistant Professor
School of Design Strategies, Parsons
LawsonC@newschool.edu / @cynthialawson