I thought those who weren’t able to attend the November 16 workshop might like to have a summary of the content. There were two presenters: Anatoliy Gruzd, a researcher with Ryerson’s Social Media Lab, who is principal investigator for a project on learning analytics in the social media age, and Rahman Ata, a graduate student in the Faculty of Science who is a Snapchat strategy consultant with Snapchat Access + Research Agency (SARA).
Dr. Gruzd provided data from his research on faculty perceptions of the strategic use of social media in education. You’ll find various related slideshows and the project blog if you scroll down the page I’ve linked to above. He also recommended an eBook, Social Media for Academics: A Practical Guide, which can be accessed through the Ryerson Library.
Rahman Ata explained how he created mini stories using Snapchat to help his biology students review information from lectures. He brought the sensibility of Generation Y to this subject, and I thought he argued persuasively that Snapchat’s 24-hour limit can motivate students to seek out and retain key information.
When PowerPoint slideshows are made available on the Learning and Teaching site you’ll find them here.
The following are themes that emerged during the general discussion:
- When designing assignments and exercises using social media, should faculty surrender to the reality that students increasingly prefer to communicate through images rather than writing, or is our role to encourage them to work outside of their comfort zone?
- Is it appropriate to have students use their personal social media accounts for class work, or would it be better to design assignments that use only closed networks, such as D2L?
Apparently next week’s LTO workshop–Designing Technology Enhanced Learning–is already full, but I’m sure Wendy Freeman, who is one of the organizers, can direct you to resources.