CLICK HERE for key takeaways from the panel, videos, pictures and quotes
On Friday, February 5th, I moderated a panel discussion as part of Social Media Week New York titled, “The Future of Social Media in Higher Education.” We brought together students, academics and social media experts to share their thoughts on how social media is changing the way students learn, instructors teach and institutions adapt to innovation.
The following key topics were discussed:
- Geo-tagging will be a powerful tool for higher education as it can be used to target locations and get information about those locations, whether students are working on sociology, science, etc. Adam Ostrow, editor in chief of Mashable.com, cited FourSquare’s partnership with Harvard University as an example.
- The Apple iPad will have a significant impact in the education market by giving students the ability to have all their textbooks and notes on one device coupled with social media and collaborative capabilities
- The “smudging” of technologies: Augmented reality, mobile computing and crowdsourcing. Collaboration will turn into a mix between online and offline environments through augmented reality, mobility and the ability to bring in the wisdom of crowdsourcing with physical environments. Vineet Madan of McGraw-Hill Education said, “We need to develop the educational analog of these technologies to deepen engagement among college students.”
- Social media can help solve the student engagement crisis. Of the more than 20 million higher education learners, more than half will not earn a degree within 6 years. The reason most cited for this is lack of engagement. Social media has an opportunity to engage students in a manner that not only compatible with the way students already communicate with their peers, but can foster more open, collaborative conversations between students and instructors.
- In order for both students and instructors to engage in social media, there needs to be a level of incentive. In terms of student incentives, McGraw-Hill is experimenting with status, reviews and rewards models, similar to those used by Amazon and eBay. GradeGuru.com is leading this charge with its Status Badges for top contributors to its site.
Thanks to all those who attended and a special thanks to our panelist:
Click here to watch the full version of the panel discussion on uStream
A special thanks to David Berkowitz for the pictures and coverage of the event
“Hold the internet in your hands as you surf it”
The Good
The Apple iPad lives! Kuddos to Gdgt for their live coverage and commentary of the iPad announcement. The new Apple tablet is simply one of the sexiest devices I’ve ever seen. The iBook store (seen above) will finally turn me into an eReader guy. The LED and IPS display technology will make for an amazing display. I can’t wait to curl up on my couch watching movies on this little guy. I’m also very impressed with the 10 hour battery life.
Currently tablets own less than 1% of the personal computer market but I have a feeling the iPad will finally bring tablet computing to the masses.
What happened to name – iSlate? ( iSlate.org)
The Bad
- Largest memory size is 64 GB. I guess if they would have made it any bigger it could have risked being a MacBook replacement. The reason the max memory is only 64 GB is because they’re using flash memory, much like the iPod Touch and iPhone. The iPod Classic comes in 120 GB but uses 2.5″ form factor hard drive, which apparently can be energy inefficient and prone to errors.
- AT&T – this part kills me. Paying another service fee to the worst 3G service provider in NYC is reason enough not to buy the iPad. They’re still in bed with AT&T with the iPhone so it makes sense why they would choose them for data coverage.
- Getting shot on the subway if you try using it there.
- The name – sounds like a fancy tampon… iPad is the new ShePad.
- No multitasking.
- No camera.
Cross-posting from GradeGuruBlog.com
After scouring the web to find the web applications most used by students, we created a list recognizing the Top 10 Web Applications for College Students. Check out which ones made it below. (some of which will help you study for your upcoming finals)
Top 10 web applications for college students:
- Facebook although no longer just for college students, this site is still a very big part of university life and some web savvy professors are using it for course management and student interaction
- Unigo the leading university review site and an editorial resource for college news and advice
- GradeGuru Citation Manager a bookmarklet that helps you collect and manage citations in APA and MLA style straight from your browser (a bit self-loving we know but this will make bibliographies and citations for your final papers a breeze!)
- Chegg the #1 textbook rental site
- Pear Note records audio and/or video while you take your notes, so later you can find what was being said when you typed something
- Thinkfold real-time group collaboration for project planning and assignments
- GradeFix time management tool that helps students organize their study time and plan their assignments more efficiently
- Google Apps Google applications such as Google Documents, Calendar and GMail have become a standard suite of tools for college students
- Pidgin (software based IM) and Meebo (web based IM) are the most popular multi-network IM clients used by college students (note: some consider IM to be as much of a distraction as they are a tool for collaboration)
- Mindmeister online mind mapping and collaboration tool with iPhone apps and offline client solutions
What other applications do you use for learning, collaborating, course management, etc?
Sad about loosing all your jams on IMEEM after the MySpace take over? Well move over to Grooveshark… It’s MUCH better. Grooveshark is social networking through music at its best. Oh and they compensate uploaders every time someone downloads a song from their playlist. New revenue stream for DJ, artists and music collectors perhaps? Follow my music or check out my featured playlist on the sidebar widget.
They’re VIP Perks are not half bad. Can I get GaGa tickets Grooveshark… Please? I will upload 10 songs every day for a whole year!
