Energize Teaching with Social Media — from medium.com by Gerald Lucas
A guide for higher education faculty for introducing social media into the classroom.
Excerpt:
Since beginning my teaching career in higher education, I have never encountered a force that has such potential to change the game than social media. Social media practices are having a profound influence on how we teach, what we teach, and our attitudes toward teaching and learning. It might be safe to say that social media might be the most significant advance in education we have ever seen.
This is not just that Facebook thing I’m talking about. It’s a shift in theory and practice that the use of social media has had on almost every aspect of our lives. New media has changed the flow of information, bringing not just new access to information, but a way for everyone to respond and contribute to the shape of their culture. New media has precipitated a renaissance in what Lawrence Lessig calls “amateur culture”: a healthy, passionate, creative, and integral component of community that allows us to express what’s significant to our lives. The key here is this active participation, not the old consumerist paradigm of passive consumption — one that seems to be borrowed by the classroom. With access to social media, we all have a voice to use how we want.