Slides for a presentation given in 2008 at Keene State College's Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) on the use of social networks, blogs, and instant messaging in the college classroom. I used social media as a vehicle to extend the classroom and a subject for research and inquiry in a first-year writing course.

1. Pathway to Pedagogy
Tracy Mendham, MFA
Keene State College
CELT Presentation
March 28, 2008

2. A Technology-Infused
Curriculum
• Social computing as means of facilitating
academic discourse and developing
writing skills
• My top three picks of social computing
for general use in different courses
• How to use them and why

3. So many
websites,
so little…
dignity
By Stabilo Boss, on Flickr

4. Qualities I miss from my
undergraduate days
Academic culture “in my
day”
−Academic discourse
−Testing ideas in face-to-
face discussions to develop
critical thinking
−“Face time” where when
argues for an idea in a
seminar or other semi-
formal group discussion
encourages identifying
oneself with some
−Writing as a multi-stage
process and a social process
Academic culture today
−“Dancing bear” syndrome
−Grades primary motivation
—college as a hurdle
−Classroom discussion either
performance to meet
requirements or to win a
contest
−Writing alone and for the
teacher in one draft

5. Tools to extend the learning
environment
• Top Three Picks
− Blogs
− Instant messaging
− Online social networks

6. Blogs
• Model continuous, ongoing discussions
• Links to other blogs and comments allow
conversation and awareness of oneself as
a member of a community of scholars
• Build audience awareness—the reader
becomes a fact, not a theory

7. IM
• Instant Messaging is the new phone…
deal with it
• Not as troublesome as you might think
• It shows that you to be the caring,
available, teacher that you are, and
what long hours you work

8. Online Social Networks
• Most students already understand them better
than you do
• Discussion forums with assigned questions
encourage students to identify with what they
say and compose thoughts before voicing them
• Helps you learn students names and faces

9. What software needs to be for
me
• Free (for me and the students, if not for the
school)
• Something I can learn and teach without more
than two formal training sessions
• Students and other users don’t have to
download anything
• Cross-platform (Mac or PC)
• Advances specific course goals

10. Keeneweb Pilot Program
•Uses WordPress:
−Two hours or more to learn
−Powerful
•Allows multiple pages
•Feeds are easy
•No ads
•Choice of lots of template
designs
•Supported by KSC
instructional technology folks
•How:
−Go to http://keeneweb.org
and click “Sign me up!”

11. Simple as pie with a keene.edu or
ksc.mailcruiser.com address

12. Sign in and pick a new
username

13. If you want a huge project you can have
students create individual blogs

14. Or start out smaller: Have one blog, post
questions for students to comment on

15. Or have use it for a project or
to present your work

16. Meebo

17. Free, sign on to multiple
accounts on one web page

18. Meebo Me Widgets

19. (Meebo-me widget in action)

20. Ning Online Social Network
• Free (if you
can tolerate
Google ads in
sidebar)
• Not Facebook
or MySpace--
Less
distracting,
new
environment

21. Keene-Ning

22. Students can ask questions of a member
(like my gracious speaker Laura Clawson)

23. And they have assigned discussions to take
part in

24. My Advice
• Stop worrying and learn to love the Web
• Go to instructional technology brown-bag luncheons
and instruction sessions even for tools you don’t know
about or need yet
• Have meetings with instructional technology liaisons
and library liaisons (and listen to what they say)
• Make teaching a learning experience for yourself as
well as your students

25. More Information
• Web 2.0: The Machine is Us/ing Us , a short
video by cultural anthropologist Michael
Wesch, and A Vision of Students Today
• Worker’s Playtime (Jenny Darrow’s blog)
− http://keeneweb.org/workersplaytime/
• Mike Caulfield
− http://mikecaulfield.com/
• Web 2.0 Teaching Tools
− http://web20teach.blogspot.com/

26. You Know Where to Find Me
− http://academics.keene.edu/tmendham (academic
website)
− http://keeneweb.org/tmendham (T Blog)
− tmendham@keene.edu
− mendhamt on Meebo (instant messenger)
− http://keenening.ning.com (Keene-Ning online
social network)
− http://del.icio.us/mendhamt/socialnetworking
(explore my bookmarks on social computing)
− http://del.icio.us/mendhamt/cool (explore my
bookmarks of all things cool)