[social media in education - cfp]

CALL FOR PAPERS

Electronic Journal of Communication (EJC)

Special Issue:

Communication Pedagogy in the Age of Social Media

Over the course of the last few years, social media technologies such as blogs, microblogs, digital videos, podcasts, wikis, and social networks, have seen a dramatic increase in adoption rates. To date, Internet users have uploaded roughly 80 million videos to YouTube and launched approximately 133 million blogs worldwide. Because of their ability to connect people and to facilitate the exchange of information and web content, social media technologies not only provide a powerful new way to interact with one another, but they also present exciting new pedagogical opportunities.

Earlier this year, the New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative released the 2008 Horizon Report, which seeks to identify new technologies capable of affecting the way we teach and learn. Among the critical challenges outlined by this year’s report is the need for universities to equip students with new media literacy skills and to develop curricula that “address not only traditional capabilities like developing an argument over the course of a long paper”, but also “how to create meaningful content with today’s tools.” (The New Media Consortium, 2008, p. 6).

Considering that these tools center around the ideas of collaboration, participation, and conversation, they should hold special interest to communication researchers and educators alike. As a result, this special issue seeks to examine the pedagogical applications of social media technologies, especially with regard to the communication classroom. Examples of best practices in social media adoption in all areas of communication education are welcome, as are case studies or empirical research analyzing the effectiveness and/or effects of incorporating social media technologies into the communication classroom. Research examining the role these technologies play in the social construction of a collective knowledge pool would also fit within the scope of this special issue.

The special issue is scheduled for publication in the first half of 2010. Deadline for completed manuscripts is April 1, 2009. Submissions should be electronic (.doc or .rtf format) and must conform to the specifications of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed. Place author’s contact information in an email to the editor only, not on the title page of the submission.

Issue Editors:
Corinne Weisgerber, Ph.D. and Shannan H. Butler, Ph.D.
St. Edward’s University

Send inquiries and submissions to: corinnew AT stedwards DOT edu


via: Social Media for PR Class.

[web 2.0 and education report]

Interesting report issued by BECTA on the use of web 2.0 technologies in elementary classrooms in UK schools.

Report 2: Learners' use of Web 2.0 technologies in and out of school in Key Stages 3 and 4 (June 2008)

This report focuses on learners' use of Web 2.0 technologies both in and out of school, including their use of social networking sites, online multi-player games, instant messaging and other web-based activities.

• At Key Stages 3 and 4, learners’ use of Web 2.0 and related internet activities is extensive. Despite most learners being confident or even prolific users of Web 2.0 sites, use is not generally sophisticated. Broadly speaking, learners may be characterised as consumers rather than producers of internet content
• Of the 2,600 learners surveyed across 27 schools, 74% have social networking accounts and 78% have uploaded artefacts (mostly photographs or video clips from phones) to the internet. However, nearly all Web 2.0 use is currently outside school, and for social purposes
• In the sample, the percentage of learners with home access to the internet was high and the range of personal devices used by learners was extensive. However, PC/internet access outside school was often shared, and this could limit its use by individuals
• Overall, although most learners use the internet for learning, there is only limited use of Web 2.0, and only a few embryonic signs of criticality, self-management and meta-cognitive reflection
• Many learners lack technical skills, and lack an awareness of the range of technologies and of when and how they could be used, as well as the digital literacy and critical skills to navigate this space. Teachers should be careful not to overestimate learners’ familiarity and skills in this area. There is a clear role for teachers in developing such skills
• There is a disparity between home and school use of IT, both in terms of the larger range of activities and the increased time spent on IT at home. Many learners do not see some aspects of Web 2.0, such as social networking, as relevant to learning in school.

Download the report summary in Word (311KB) PDF (182KB) or ODT (224KB)

The points that I've bolded are exactly aspects which I've been attempting to address through my pedagogical work with the digital story Inanimate Alice. There are quite a few educators who are employing I.A. for many of these reasons and I know several, like Angela Thomas and her students, have had great success. It seems a key to many of these bolded points comes down to teaching...and teachers receiving appropriate training/time/resources to bring web 2.0 into the classroom and encourage both critical and digital literacies.

There are five parts to this report with statistics (quite helpful) and suggestions for further reading.

[dmu on telly]

On September 1st a new ad. for DMU will go live on Channel 4, E4, ITC2 and Dave. I've just seen it on the DMU website and it's pretty good! And, best of all, it's created by students and shot on campus (check out the bridge over the canal and the lovely cobblestone path)! The scene with the motion-capture suit is quite exciting too. I'm all for uni-patriotism but perhaps that's just reflective of my Canadian background where we all collect everything from mugs, jogging pants, backpacks, pens and jackets embossed with our uni logos...

Now...where's my IOCT jumper?

Annoyingly there's no embed link on the dmu ad. so you'll have to click here if you'd like to watch it. The mini-documentary on the making of the ad. is a fun viewing too.


Edit on 12 Sept. 2008 (thanks Kate): the link doesn't seem to work unless you're on the dmu intranet. Try here instead: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/applicants/ug/television-advertisement/

[social media in lay terms]

Over at common craft there's a handy video explaining social media in "plain English." Useful for anyone new to social media and in tune with our upcoming (this Thursday!) NLab Social Networks conference in Leicester.

Warning: the video might make you hungry for ice cream: