DR4WARD

Introduction to a Few Tools to Help Us Learn, Share, and Work Together

In a previous post I asked Can We Afford Not To Use New Media to Learn, Share, and Work Together? 

The conclusion made in the post is that new communication technologies, the ever increasing pace of change, and global competition require important learning skills today to harness the vast amount of information online and to learn how to share it, discuss it, critique it, and make something new out of it. 

If skills for creativity, communication, and collaboration are needed today than what are some of the basic things we need to get started to do this? A starting point is understanding the big picture on how the separate tools are connected together. Please excuse the language but Marta Kagan asks and answers a great question ....

What The F**K is Social Media?

Understanding Social Media helps us to understand how Web 2.0 new media is used to share information, create and critique information, and to collaborate with others. If students truly learn what they do than what are a few of the new media tools that students can use to get hands on experience with these skills and get started today? 

In the Marketing and Advertising classes I am teaching at Ferris State University we include Google Reader / RSS Feeds, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs and Blog Comments. Wikis will be discussed in a future post.

Google Reader and RSS Feeds allow blogs and news feeds to find you. Here's how. Are you using RSS Feeds and Readers to have information find you?

Twitter is a Micro-Blog that allows people to share ideas, information, ask questions, collaborate with others and update others on what you are thinking about or doing now. 

Are you using Twitter to share ideas and information with others? Are you finding smart people to follow and learn from?

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: 2.0 social)

Get a free Twitter Handbook to learn What Twitter is all about, Why People Tweet, How best to communicate with people on Twitter and to supercharge your Tweeting.

Google Docs allows you work in teams and share and create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Have you set-up Google Docs for an upcoming project or presentation?

YouTube and other video sharing and streaming sites are a new form of expression and communication. Michael Wesch explains why in his "An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube" presentation to the Library of Congress.

The only way to learn how to use new media is to just start using the tools. Most of these are free so there is no excuse to not trying them and experimenting. Use these tools today to start a conversation, share an idea, ask a question, and find interesting people who can help you learn, share and work together.

I look 4WARD to your feedback.

Keep Digging for Worms!

Can We Afford Not To Use New Media to Learn, Share, and Work Together?

I have been working with my Ferris State University students to use new media to engage them and help them find significance with their education beyond just getting a grade.

The old model of teaching has trained students to ask "What's on the Test?" or "What do I need to know or do to get a good grade?" The learning usually stops there and the students forget the answers the next day or week.

As Michael Wesch points out, the vast majority of information today is available online and all around us all the time. Today the most important learning skills are how to harness this information and share it, discuss it, critique it, and make something new out of it.

A little background information is required before we look at a few of the new media tools that we are using in the Marketing and Advertising classes I am teaching at Ferris State University. New tools like Twitter, Google Reader, RSS Feeds, Google Docs and Blog Comments will be shared and explained in a future post.  

I would like to acknowledge and thank Michael Wesch, Howard Rheingold and Robert French for helping accelerate my learning and thinking on teaching and using new media in the classroom.

In the "Web 2.0 - The Machine is U/sing Us" video, Michael Wesch looks at how everything about the way we find, create, critique, and share information has changed. Some people claim there is no Web 2.0. Do you agree? What does Web 2.0 mean to you?

In the "Information R/evolution" Michael Wesch further explores the changes in the way we find, create, critique, and share information. 

In "Did You Know III ?" Howie DiBlasi shares the rapidly changing, highly competitive global world that students enter after graduating today and how the acceleration of change is ever increasing.

Students report that they like to learn but as this video of a "Vision of Students Today" demonstrates the old ways of learning are not working and students are not engaged. Does this video accurately reflect your learning experience?

The new media can be used to bring students together and teach them to work together in new ways. Students need to learn how to explore and use new media and to use these tools to learn about whatever the subject is that they are learning about. Michael Wesch gives specific examples of how he is using new media in his classroom.

Robert French's PROpenMic and his thinking on incorporating social networks and Blogging and Managing Your Personal Brand are also examples of how to use new media for learning and sharing.
What do you like about these examples of using new media for learning and sharing? Do you see any challenges with doing this with your classes?

Blogging & Managing your Personal Brand

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: commenting identity)

Are you managing your Personal Brand online? How?

I look 4WARD to your feedback.

Keep Digging For Worms!

DR4WARD NEW BULLDOG TEACHING MARKETING AND ADVERTISING AT FERRIS STATE UNIVERSITY

I have been told that I have the tenacity of a Bulldog. I have also been known to snore.
Now I am proud to say that I am officially a Bulldog. The Bulldog is the official mascot of Ferris State University where I will be teaching Marketing and Advertising in the College of Business as an Assistant Professor of Marketing.

One of the great things about Ferris is that unlike most universities, Ferris offers Marketing, Advertising, Public Relations, and Graphic Design in the College of Business, an innovative interdisciplinary approach supported by industry leaders.

Most universities have Archaic Academic Silos that house different majors in separate Academic divisions. For example - Advertising and Public Relations are in Schools of Communications, Graphic Design in the Art & Design Schools, and Marketing in the College of Business.

The original idea behind Academic Silos was an attempt to encourage a deeper understanding of a specialized subject. The actual result is that most university graduates have never been in a class with students from the other Academic Silos and are not prepared for interdisciplinary collaboration. For example: At too many universities, an Advertising student has never studied Marketing or been in a class with an Art student and vice-versa.

The fast-paced, competitive and rapidly changing world of Integrated Marketing Communications and 360 Degree Branding requires interdisciplinary collaboration.  Web 2.0 technologies that harness interactive application tools, new forms of content creation / distribution, and continuous conversations through Social Networking are creating new models and fueling innovations that make Academic Silos obsolete.

I look forward to being part of the Bulldog family and the innovative interdisciplinary approach of the College of Business at Ferris State University.

I look 4Ward to your feedback.

Keep Digging For Worms!