(iverson's) currentbuzz

From a short article by John Orlando, PhD, from “Faculty Focus” newsletter (I added the boldface.)

But few colleges have a social media strategy. The assumption is still that all content must be housed within the LMS. Systems such as Blackboard are adding social media modules like blogs and wikis, but moving them into the locked-down LMS removes the very openness which gives these media value. The better approach is to understand that the LMS is just one tool among many for delivering online learning, and just like a carpenter, use the tool that best suits the job.

Here are some ways to incorporate social media into your course:

• Faculty members who want to create a hybrid course should use social media systems such as blogs or wikis rather than an LMS. An LMS is good for a fully online course, but requires needless administrative time for a hybrid course.
• Many faculty are teaching fully online courses though a combination of social media and LMS systems. … At Norwich University, I’ve added blogs, wikis and webinars outside of our LMS to provide students with an opportunity to explore issues within the profession that interests them.
• Schools are starting to attach social media “shells” to their LMS. … [provide]  students with a “personal learning space” where they can create a blog, share sites, and collaborate in a variety of ways with like-minded students. It also allows clubs and departments to create Facebook-like sites to share information.
• Schools are changing to an LMS built on social media principles, such as Drupal. An open source platform, Drupal gives faculty the flexibility to make student blogs the homepage of their course, rather than administrative functions, encouraging collaboration. Better yet, any part of a course can be made public so that students can engage in conversations with other students, faculty, or professionals in the field.

Education is changing, and social media is presenting a world of opportunity to improve learning outcomes.

Related articles by Zemanta

• How to get started with social media [Tamara Baranova] (ecademy.com)
• Integrating social media with the TCE model (fredzimny.wordpress.com)

Is your nonprofit a leader in paperless fundraising? Have you had success using digital tools and techniques to raise money?

Through the Paperless Choice Challenge, we are rewarding successful, creative, and replicable campaigns that use email, websites, video, social media, widgets, and mobile —

anything that is moving your organization away from traditional paper-based direct mail fundraising.

4 prizes totalling $20,000 will be awarded to organizations demonstrating innovation and results in paperless fundraising. The Paperless Choice Challenge will be open for entries starting June 1st with the submission period ending August 16th, 2010.

Paperless Choice is a program of Catalog Choice funded by the Overbrook Foundation.

via PaperlessChoice | .

Let’s start with four fundamental rules of social netiquette:

1. The golden rule. If the roles were reversed, would you be happy? If not, don’t do it. (Remember this from kindergarten?)

2. Don’t deceive and don’t lie. If you get caught, you’ll be sorry, since you’re destroying trust. This is rarely worth it.

3. Balance your own needs with those of others. You are important, but not the most important. If your boss needs your help — or your staff does — how will you balance those needs with yours?

4. Your habits are your own problem. If you have a drinking problem, that doesn’t mean you can whip out a bottle in the meeting (unless it’s on ‘Mad Men’). Same with your compulsive need to check email. If you can’t stop, get counseling.

via Social Netiquette: Is It OK to Use a Phone in Meetings? – Advertising Age – DigitalNext.

Think about these economic ideas. These could be ways to make money for other kinds of businesses, too.

In a sense, Twitter faces the Facebook problem in that it has created an ecosystem of Twitter-based businesses from which it does not profit, and marketers don’t need to pay to use the service. Benchmark General Partner Peter Fenton said that’s really not a problem. “The more applications built on top of Twitter, the more valuable Twitter is,” he said.

Of all the ideas now under discussion, the one that seems a no-brainer to Twitter and its backers is the idea of “verified” accounts. That would allow users to pay to reserve a Twitter handle and certify that they are representing a corporation or an individual. “That is a great concept, because one of the challenges with social media is ‘Who is real?’” said Frank Eliason, director-digital care at cable giant Comcast.

via Twitter Eyes Search as Means to Monetize – Advertising Age – Digital.