Call for papers: Influence of Social Media on Online Education stream (IJIOE)

Dear Colleague,

Whitney Kilgore and I would like to invite you to consider submitting an expression of interest to the ‘Influence of Social Media on Online Education' stream within the International Journal on Innovations in Online Education (IJIOE) http://onlineinnovationsjournal.com/.

Our plan for this stream is to feature innovative ways that social media is being used in both formal and informal learning settings. At this point in time, we are looking for extended abstracts of 500 – 1000 words. If you would like to contribute please complete the Google Form via this link: 
https://goo.gl/forms/qjeOIJvtm3G2zrBk1

We look forward to hearing from you,

Sue and Whitney
Whitney Kilgore PhD, University of North Texas, CAO, iDesign @whitneykilgore
Sue Beckingham MA MSc SFHEA, FSEDA, CMALT, Sheffield Hallam University, UK @suebecks

Creative Self Expression for Digital Scholars

One of the profound changes that is taking place at the start of the 21st century is the creation of many new affordances for creative self-expression brought about by the technological revolution that is carrying us into a new Social Age of learning and a new culture of participation, creation and co-creation. Aided by the internet and its associated technologies we are changing our habits of communicating and interacting through the on-line environments we increasingly inhabit.

Fundamentally, as a society we are changing the way we find, share and co-create information to develop new knowledge and meaning. The world is full of content creators and people offering their unique perspectives on anything and everything and full of opportunity to collaborate to co-create new knowledge, objects and relationships. The very act of communicating in the Social Age offers new affordances for creative self expression and examples are given below of some of the ways in which social media can encourage and enable creative self-expression for all digital scholars working in higher education.

Traditional channels to share achievements

The CV or resume has been used for many years as a means of sharing work experience, skills and qualifications. Typically the 2-sides of A4 paper CV is used as a means of selecting applicants for job interviews. In the last two decades we have seen a growth in the Company website which may offer a Who’s Who gallery. The purpose of these is to showcase the skills of those who work for that organisation. The digital CV for many is now having a LinkedIn profile and using the affordances for professional networking and publication that LinkedIn provides. This professional networking site has provided the space to host these since 2003.

Traditional channels to express scholarly activity

In the main these have been peer reviewed journal articles and books. The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. Whilst providing valued benchmarking information and reputational yardsticks, for use within the higher education (HE) sector and for public information, we must also consider how to highlight the excellent work that doesn’t make the dizzy heights of the REF. A further consideration is the time it takes for research to actually be published.

Professor Patrick Dunleavy argues that “a new paradigm of research communications has grown up -  one that de-emphasizes the traditional journals route, and re-prioritizes faster, real-time academic communication”. He goes on to introduce the blog as a useful mechanism to share a synopsis of your article, book or chapter. The likes of Wordpress and Blogger offer free blog sites and are supported with excellent online help guides to get you started. Web 2.0 drag and drop technology also enables us to very easily create our own websites to curate the products of our research (See for example Weebly).

Using social media to become and sustain yourself as a digital scholar

Social media is what it says on the tin. It is digital media that enables you to share information socially. By social this means enabling opportunities for interaction and dialogue. It goes beyond text as multimedia can be shared in the form of images, video and audio.

In a recent open lecture on Social Media and the Digital Scholar I suggested that providing bite sized links to your scholarly work can be helpful to others, highlighting topics of mutual interest. Examples might include:

• writing a LinkedIn post and updates which include links to useful content
• adding presentations to SlideShare and sharing also on your LinkedIn profile
• adding your publications to your LinkedIn profile: articles, press releases, papers, books and chapters
• adding projects you are involved in along with the names of those you are collaborating with
• writing guest posts for other peoples’ blogs, websites and digital magazines
• writing your own blog and sharing a link via Twitter

Taking this a step further and considering the technology so many of us have at our fingertips and contained within the mobile devices we carry with us, there are now so many more opportunities to become more creative in the way we share our scholarly work. Beyond text we can now easily capture images, video and audio using our mobile devices and share these on a variety of social media channels. Thinking about utilising a variety of rich media to express ourselves is the first step and will provide the means of adding your own creative mark to the work you are sharing.

Ten creative ways social media can be used:

1. Twitter

Having only a maximum of 140 characters per message (tweet) brevity is the word!. Adding hyperlinks to websites can provide the reader with more information. These links could also be to videos, audio or images. In addition you can upload an image of your choice and this will appear below the tweet. This is where you can become creative as you can design your own images. There is now an option to pin a tweet to the top of your profile page. Selecting one you wish to promote along with an image can be very useful. Opportunities for creativity abound in the messages and images you create, and the way you engage with others using this medium.

2. Slideshare

You can upload PowerPoint presentations, documents and infographics to Slideshare. If you are on LinkedIn you can choose to auto-add these to your profile. This adds a visual aspect that stands out amongst the text. You can also capture the embed code and display your slideshares in your blog or website.

3. Screencast-o-matic

Create guides in the form of a screencast video. Tools such as screencast-o-matic capture anything on your screen from a PowerPoint set of slides, a word doc, a photo, diagram or drawing along with a recording of your voice over. The recording can be uploaded to YouTube or saved as a file. It can then be shared via your chosen social networks.

4. Pinterest

Pin your visual assets - photos, drawings, sketches, diagrams of your work, book covers, presentations - on to a virtual pinboard. The image maintains the link to the site it was pinned from. You can create as many boards as you wish on Pinterest.

5 QR Codes

Add a QR code to your business card that links to your blog, website or LinkedIn profile. These can be made easily by using the https://goo.gl/ URL shortener. Paste the URL you want to link to - click shorten and then click on details to reveal your QR code. Save this as an image. There are a number of free QR code reader apps that can be downloaded on to your smartphone.

6. Video

Capture short video clips about your work. These could be demonstrations of practical activities, talking head interviews or exemplars of student work. You could create a video biography or CV and then share on your blog, website or LinkedIn profile. If uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo you can capture the embed code and simply paste this into a blog post or on your website.

You may also want to experiment with Vine to create mini 6 seconds video clip. This is long enough to capture the cover or title of your book or any other artifact you wish to share. Vines can be shared via social media or embedded into a blog or website.

7. Podcasts

Tools like Soundcloud and AudioBoom are easy to use to capture audio narrations. Consider recording a synopsis of something you are working on. Share the recording via Twitter.

8. Images

An image can add context to an update shared via any social network. This could be a photograph or a digitised drawing, sketchnote, mindmap, diagram, CAD drawing and more.

Curate scholarly related images you create by adding to Flickr or Instagram. Go a step further and use them to create a collage using PicMonkey or an animated slideshow using Animoto or Adobe Voice.

Consider giving your images a Creative Commons licence so that others may use too. Also make use of the Creative Commons search facility for your own work to find images and music.

9. Host a Google+ Hangout

A Google Hangout is very similar to Skype enabling you to have a live video conversation with one person or a group of up to ten people. Google Hangouts on Air give you the opportunity to publicly share the hangout conversation that takes place and will auto record and publish this on YouTube.

Sharing a discussion is an excellent way to introduce others to research, teaching innovations, student work or anything else you think would be of interest to others.

10. Infographics

These are a great way to visually portray information including stats and data in the form of a digital poster. You can use PowerPoint or Publisher to create or tools like Piktochart or Infogram which give you a lovely choice of templates. Infographics can also be used to create visual CVs using VisualizeMe.

Useful background reading

1) Using Social Media in the Social Age of Learning Lifewide Magazine September 2014 Available on line at: http://www.lifewidemagazine.co.uk/

2) Exploring the Social Age and the New Culture of Learning Lifewide Magazine September 2014 Available on line at: http://www.lifewidemagazine.co.uk/

Re-blogged from a post published on the Creative Academic

Developing a Social Media for Learning framework

Social Media for Learning #MELSIG keynote from Sue Beckingham

The growth of the Internet is unprecedented. Never before have we seen such an uptake of a new technology and the Internet in real-time and how quickly data is generated is phenomenal. The way we communicate and connect has changed. There are now a multiplexity of ways this can be done, building upon strong ties and creating new opportunities to develop weak ties. In his TEDxKC talk Michael Wesch stated that:

We are moving towards.....

• Ubiquitous computing
• Ubiquitous communication
• Ubiquitous information
• At unlimited speed
• About everything
• Everywhere
• From anywhere
• On all kinds of devices

Which makes it 'ridiculously easy' to.....

• Connect • Organise • Share • Collect • Collaborate • Publish

There is a shift from being knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able (Michael Wesch 2010)

Digital technologies and social media have enabled personal learning networks unconstrained by time and place. However these require new literacies for networked people. Rainie and Wellman (2012:272-274) refer to:

• Graphic literacy i.e. infographics
• Navigation literacy i.e. internet geography
• Context and connections literacy i.e. PLNs (personal learning networks)
• Focus literacy i.e. time for solitude switch
• Multitasking literacy i.e.. appliances, people
• Scepticism literacy i.e. ‘crap detection’
• Ethical literacy i.e. trust

To develop these literacies it is therefore important that we consider how we can provide opportunities within learning and teaching. There is still a tension however and some may still argue that social media is for socialising and not for academic and scholarly work. There are also many counter arguments and exemplars of how social media is being used effectively. To frame this in academic practice it was felt that a set of principles was needed and this work in progress is currently being shared openly with an invite for readers to contribute and critique.

Developing a Social Media for Learning Framework

The following key principles offer a framework upon which the effective use of social media for teaching and learning can be plotted. The ideas in the framework work in combination or independently of each other. Each principle is informed by established ideas for effective teaching and learning and therefore able to help to clarify and legitimise the use of social media, in its various forms, in good academic practice. (Middleton and Beckingham 2014)

The seven principles proposed are:

1. Socially inclusive
2. Lifewide and lifelong
3. Media neutral
4. Learner-centred
5. Cooperative
6. Open and accessible
7. Authentically situated

Socially inclusive

Supporting and validating learning through mutually beneficial, jointly enterprising and communally constructive communities of practice; fostering a sense of belonging, being and becoming; promoting collegiality, feeling connected, social glue.

Lifewide and Lifelong

Connecting formal, non-formal and informal learning progression; developing online presence; developing digital literacies for experiential, problem solving, creative and critical learning approaches.

Media neutral

Learning across and through rich multiple media; providing opportunities for choices and self expression.

Learner-centred

Promoting self-regulation, creative self-expression, building self-efficacy and confidence; accommodating niche interests and activities, the ‘long tail’ of education.

Co-operative

Promotes working together productively and critically as peers (co-creation) in self-organising, robust networks that are scalable, loosely structured, self-validating, and both knowledge-forming and knowledge-sharing.

Open and Accessible

Supporting spacial, temporal and social openness; promoting open engagement in terms of access being geographically extended, inclusive, controlled by the learner, gratis, open market, unconstrained freedom, access to content.

Authentically situated

Making connections across learning, social and professional networks; being scholarly and establishing a considered professional online presence and digital identity

The framework and principles are intended to:

• Promote discussion informing curriculum design and staff development;
• Validate and refine existing practice;
• Help identify how social media can be further embedded in practice to enhance and transform it.

It is work in progress - Your contributions and feedback will help to develop this framework.

Talking through the Social Media for Learning Framework with Andrew Middleton.

A simple overview of social media and how it can be used #BYOD4L #ocTEL

This is my first attempt at creating an infographic. It aims to provide a simple overview of social media and how these tools can be used to connect, communicate, curate, collaborate and create (5 Cs model Nerantzi and Beckingham 2014). 

You can access the interactive version here.

A simple overview of social media and how it can be used | Create Infographics

If you are interested in finding out more then please follow #BYOD4L and visit http://byod4learning.wordpress.com/

BETT Technology in Higher Education Summit

On Friday I attended BETT for the first time. BETT or the BETT Show was formally known as the British Educational Training and Technology Show. It is held at the huge Excel in London and is targeted at anyone interested in using technology for learning. The programme you are given on arrival is like an A5 version of Yellow Pages, crammed with information about the wide variety of sessions and exhibitors present at the event.

A jam-packed Arena programme, 3 bespoke CPD accredited Summits, 6 Learn Live theatres and a whole host of networking and fringe activity, Bett is the must-attend event for education and learning professionals.

Speaking invitation

I was invited to speak at BETT for the Technology in Higher Education Summit alongside Helen Keegan and Stuart Miller. It seems we were picked for our use of social media and asked to be part of panel discussion on 'Incorporating social media into the learning place'. The panel was chaired by Juliet Morris, Journalist and Broadcaster. The session was billed as: 

A group of educators will discuss how content creation from different social platforms has impacted on student learning. Looking at how these institutions have exploited social media to enhance collaboration between students and other universities.

Our introductions prior to the event started via email and we quickly aligned our thoughts on the topic. However what was most enjoyable was the opportunity to meet up at the event in the Speakers Lounge. This gave us a chance to discuss the key areas we felt would be useful to share in our panel discussion but what was most enjoyable was simply sharing our teaching experiences and ideas. 

It made me think about how scarce these opportunities are when we are actually at work. Gone are the days when there was actually a staff room you could meet up in; a space to share ideas and ask questions. This for the most part now happens by chance as you pass in the corridor. Granted there are opportunities to attend staff development events at my own university and whilst a big advocate of these I tend to see the same people there. Attending external events widens the possibility of meeting others outside of your own institution. Indeed because we were speakers, Helen, Stuart and myself were in the speakers lounge. As I sipped my coffee and browsed the programme I said out loud to Helen "John Traxler is speaking. I'd like to go to this session. I've never met him but know of his work" - just at that moment John having just come into the room looked over to us! John knew Helen and came over to talk to us. We had a fascinating conversation and later went to hear his talk about the impact of integrating mobile phones into the learning environment.

If you have ever been to Excel you will know it is a huge place. The chances of bumping into people who may share your interests are therefore much reduced. It tends to be during sessions that you get chatting to whoever is sat close by. However because we now have Twitter there was an opportunity to reach out to others by following the conference hashtag. For this event it was #bett2014. You can also look through the programme and reach out via Twitter to speakers you'd like to meet. One of these was Doug Belshaw (who I have known for some years now but you get the point) A couple of tweets later and Doug came and found us and in turn John had the opportunity to catch up with him too. 

The event

I was only there for the day sadly, but I did get chance to also take in Doug Belshaw's session: A Masterclass on improving digital literacy among staff and students. 

Our panel session was the last of the day. We'd anticipated quite a low attendance but was surprised by how many had stayed on. Graham Attwell was one of these and it was great to finally meet him in person, having connected via Twitter for some time. I learnt about an exciting new community project he is leading using QR codes. 

All in all it was a great day and well worth getting up at 5:30am to make the journey down from Sheffield. It was a privilege being on a panel with Helen and great to meet Stuart and hear about his innovative approaches to teaching too. It was a reminder though that it is the people that make a difference and it was though the many conversations I had that made the day so special. I came away inspired.

In life it is not where you go 

but who you travel with 

Changing the Learning Landscape

I was recently invited to give a talk for an interdisciplinary webinar on the use of social media in HE. The webinar was in 3 parts with around 30min for each speaker. I was delighted to be speaking alongside AnneMarie Cunningham who has used social media in medical education extensively. 

My own talked focussed on the use of social to develop our own online professional presence as educators. 

Abstract

We are living in an age where many of us are now ‘always switched on’. The rise of the ubiquitous use of mobile technology and open access to Wi-Fi-free zones has changed the way we communicate - forever. We use mobile technology for work, to organise our home life, our social life, to shop, enjoy music, films and photographs. All of these activities have the potential to make our life easier and more enjoyable. However there is a concern that we risk information overload in our quest to manage the growing amount of information, in particular through social media. How can we juggle all of this and possibly leverage social media in a professional context?

My talk will look at how through social media you can develop a professional network that will not only help to separate the signal from the noise for yourselves, it will also provide the mechanism for others to find you and your work as a professional in your field. By developing a professional online presence and network of connections, you will have the potential to open many new channels of communication, opportunities for collaboration and creativity BUT you will also find the means to filter only what is important to you.  

• Medical Education and Social Media - Anne-Marie Cunningham, Cardiff University (04.10 mins)
• Professional Online Presence: Separating the Signal from the Noise - Sue Beckingham, Sheffield Hallam University (43.20 mins)
• Grief or Glory? Using and implementing an e-portfolio in work place practice - Gareth Frith, University of Leeds (1hr 19.09 mins)

The recording of the webinar is available here via Blackborad Collaborate.

Below is the presentation slides which are also available on Slideshare

Professional Online Presence: Separating the Signal from the Noise from Sue Beckingham

HEA Computing Seminar: Professional Online Presence

This week I attended and presented at a seminar led by Dr Thomas Lancaster (@DrLancaster) at Birmingham City University. This was the second in a series supported by the Higher Education Academy. I was invited to present when I met Thomas at the STEM HEA Conference. Also there, was Mark Ratcliffe, HEA Discipline Lead for Computing.

The day commenced with a talk from David While on professional development with a focus on what academics need to learn about what is happening in schools. What skills will they bring in to university? Whilst ever increasingly tech savvy, are they ready to apply those social media skills in a professional context. My experience says not following numerous conversations giving guest lectures to university students on developing a professional online presence.  

Thomas then went on to provide a context for the day and proposed programme outline. His first talk was about how we should go about constructing a professional presence.

My contribution was looking at how we can develop connections using social media as part of our professional learning networks, but also looking at some things to consider in relation to the impact our digital footprint can have. 

 

Thomas went on to give a second presentation. The focus was on strategies that academics could use to add content to their blogs and social sites, increase the reach of their research, gain publicity and benefit from the wider possibilities afforded through social media.

The discussions there after were about how social media has opened new communication channels to people we may never have met, as well as opportunities to collaborate. For some the use of social media in a professional was still relatively new so having the time to raise questions and put in to practice some new skills was useful. 

Throughout the event participants tweeted using the hashtag #heaprofpres. To collate these tweets Thomas used Storify, providing a record of the event and reactions to it. 

Every 60 seconds in social media

The growth of social media and use of technology has been exponential. Below are two infographics (via Socialnomics) that capture a snapshot of what this use might look like. 

To help get on board with the wide variety of social media tools, I have created a blog that is aimed at those new to social media but also as a means of sharing updates and changes to these social media tools.

http://socialmedia4us.wordpress.com/