Posts Tagged ‘facebook’
Leveraging on Facebook
Posted on: April 25, 2013
When folks ask me how to leverage on social media in education, one of the answers I give them is: Transfer what you do in your social use of the tool; do not transfer what you learn from using an LMS.
The other message is: Learn by observing what companies do with Facebook.
Thanks to CeL staff @raifanah who shared in our Diigo space, 5 Big Tech Companies That Are Killing It On Facebook, I have picked up some tips from the these big five:
- From Amazon: Converse with your audience
- From Dell: Provide useful how-tos
- From Samsung: Show specific uses of edtech
- From MS XBox: Provide teasers, trailers, previews, updates
- From YouTube: Share viral videos
The underlying philosophy of these corporate entities in using Facebook is putting your customer’s interests first.
The educator who wants to leverage on social media must want to put the learner’s interests first. “What do you want to learn and how?” should be key drivers instead of this is the way I teach and this is what I choose to let you know.
Confessions and self-policing
Posted on: March 22, 2013
I spent a small part of last Friday reading all of the contributions and comments at one of the NIE confessions on Facebook. It was probably the most popular of the three I could find.
I walked away from the experience with three observations.
The first two were pointed out by participants of the confessions page. First, the use of English was much better than other confessions sites. Second, the page was not as popular as other confessions pages. Both these observations are understandable when you consider the demographics of NIE.
The third thing I noticed was the self-policing that happened in that NIE confessions page. This is a good sign of the power of expression being balanced by social responsibility.
Most administrators and policymakers fear social media because they do not understand it. I hope that they now understand that good things can come going with the flow and even embracing it. Good things like greater transparency, brutal honestly, and professional responsibility.
Some folks think that this video (Facebook’s ad that describes itself as being like chairs) is a bit odd.
Perhaps they cannot connect with what Facebook is trying to say. Perhaps Facebook’s message is too cheem.
Perhaps they need something they can relate better to. Perhaps Facebook is more like a toilet.
Warning: Literal toilet humour. Folks who do not like watching other people on toilets and mild four letter words should not watch at work or in the company of others.
Watch it alone. Laugh. Then post it on Facebook.
Also, think about what connects with your learners.
Saving lectures from death row?
Posted on: October 3, 2012
I am halfway through conducting a series of talks on Creative Commons for the PGDE cohort of student teachers in NIE.
[SlideShare] [Google Presentation]
I am almost enjoying the practice of lecturing, a strategy that I thought I had long abandoned.
I have to remind myself that didactic teaching has its moments provided it is used sparingly and only if you are a charismatic storyteller.
I do not consider myself to be in that last category even if a few enjoy listening to me. But I am an experimenter and risk-taker. I have tried to create more interactive lectures, “participates” instead of “talks”.
Of the three backchannels I have used, Facebook has been the most successful if you go by the number of responses. Most participants are not on Twitter or do not know how to use hashtags.
LinoIt is in the middle and the quality of responses there is better. One sticky on LinoIt reads: Much prefer linoit/twitter as a platform than facebook. Less intrusive.
What did I learn? Provide more than one backchannel. But when you do that, it gets harder to monitor and respond. Future implementation? I might consider using just Facebook and LinoIt (for choice) or LinoIt alone (to provide a neutral platform).
The five-question online quiz I included at the end offered a bonus I did not plan on. It was a way of taking attendance! I know that at least 50, 139, and 210 student teachers attended sessions 1, 2 and 3 respectively. I know who attended and how many times they attempted the quiz.
Could participants use some other name in the quiz? Yes, but only if they wanted to get singled out or have their integrity questioned as teachers-to-be. They would also lose a chance to win a small prize for getting all the answers right and quickly.
Some might say that lecturing as a dying art. They should try designing and implementing an interactive lecture.
Others might just point out that lectures should just die. Or be put to death. (Not good storytelling though, because that is different.)
In this day and age and with the new expectations of learners, boring face-to-face lectures are on death row. Making them interactive just gives them a last meal to make them feel good one last time.
Face book
Posted on: June 9, 2012
It is the weekend and time to face some down time.
This is an artist’s tribute to Mark Zuckerberg: A Facebook face of books. Cute.
The world without Facebook?
Posted on: January 29, 2012
Personally, I would not miss Facebook much. I am more of a Twitter person.
But I do appreciate how Facebook is major player in the social learning system.
Wither, Facebook
Posted on: October 21, 2011
I have all but abandoned Facebook.
I maintain a profile there like I maintain a passport. I need it because everyone seems to have one and it is a form of identification.
But I don’t need to look at it every day. I have Twitter for that and perhaps Google+ when I can spare the time.
RRW highlighted a report that suggests that Teenagers Will, Like, Totally Abandon Facebook for Google+. The teenagers did not like the scrolling ticker. As for me, I could care less about the navel-gazing that happens at most walls.
But teens like to “Like”. I don’t teach teens any more, but my current cohort is just out of their teens. When I asked them what feature they would like the most in Edmodo, they wished for a “Like” button.
I think that there should be a dislike button. Then I might like Facebook a bit more.
Oo, you’ve got to be kidding!
Posted on: May 27, 2011
I’ve borrowed that phrase from this tweet:
@ashley @hychan_edu I can't help but to say "Oo, you've got to be kidding."—
Kwan Tuck Soon (@tucksoon) May 25, 2011
My reply to that tweet was it was doubly wry because I interpret the “Oo” to be a reference to a local journalist’s surname and “kidding” a reference to his child-rearing.
What am I talking about?
In the 25 May issue of Digital Life, Oo Gin Lee critiqued Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that those under 13 should be able to legally get a Facebook account in the name of education. Gin Lee did not see the point of using Facebook in education (see excerpt below).
I am not here to argue whether Zuckerberg was being altruistic or if this was a shrewd business move.
I will say that Gin Lee is an “ultra-conservative fuddy duddy dad”, but he is entitled to be that if he practiced that as man of his house. And only in his house.
But he is also a journalist and he has a very broad platform from which to project his opinions. Opinions that the layperson might not distinguish from fact. He is a writer of all things tech and I thought he should know better.
Or should he?
Maybe Gin Lee has a point: That is how a layperson (or even a teacher) imagines how Facebook might be used in education. They bring their own personal experiences like posting mundane comments to their walls as something that will also happen in an educational context.
I see some teachers using Edmodo (education’s equivalent of Facebook) like an LMS. Why? Content delivery or following the rigid structure imposed by an LMS is what they know and transfer.
Gin Lee also opted to block Facebook for the reasons he mentioned in his article. Why stop there? Block Google and YouTube too if the point is to shield little eyes and ears.
But doing that is taking the easy way out. It is also myopic. You lose teaching moments like learning how to analyze and evaluate information you come across. You lose opportunities to model and pass on positive values. You can’t stop a child from growing up and you can’t stop them from learning how to circumvent your barriers.
Some newspapers thrive on controversy to sell their rags. Where there is none, they create it; where there is little, they stir things up. This article certainly got me thinking.
But I wish that more of them would not just publish what people want to hear but also what they need to hear. Don’t just reinforce ideas that Facebook is just for social leisure. Try to educate the masses on how it might be leveraged on for social learning. That would be an article worth reading and a paper worth buying!
