Category: Social Networking Services

Incorporating Social Media and Digital Citizenship in the First-Year Experience Course

Last spring, the faculty senate of my university passed a series of resolutions aimed at updating the university’s general education program. Part of that program requires (nearly) all undergraduate students to take a First-Year Seminar (FYS) course and one of the resolutions updated some of the specific outcomes of that course. In this post I’ll… Continue reading Incorporating Social Media and Digital Citizenship in the First-Year Experience Course

How I (Don’t) Use Social Media

This is an uncomfortable post to write. I’ve never wanted to use this blog to discuss personal issues and it feels very vain and self-important to describe some of my own personal habits and practices. But every time I’ve mentioned the things below people are intrigued and interested. Some people are even relieved to find… Continue reading How I (Don’t) Use Social Media

Students No Longer Viewing Facebook as “Theirs” ?

The common view – one which I shared until recently – is that college students view Facebook as “their” space and resent intrusions into their space by faculty, administrators, parents, and other non-students and old people.  The willingness of students in my online identity classes to recommend that employers and college admissions administrators actively use… Continue reading Students No Longer Viewing Facebook as “Theirs” ?

Facebook and Grades: A More Critical Perspective

Discussion about the possible relationship between college students’ use of Facebook and lower grades continued this week with the publication of a First Monday article addressing this topic.  This article follows up on previous discussions that followed the widespread publicity surrounding a poster session presented at AERA that found a correlation between Facebook usage and… Continue reading Facebook and Grades: A More Critical Perspective

Online Identity Course: Lessons Learned

Several days ago, I submitted (and then corrected) final grades for my undergraduate online identity course. I am planning to teach the course again next semester and I’ll certainly be making some changes based on this first semester of the class. First, Clay Shirky’s right: the first challenge when working with young students in discussions… Continue reading Online Identity Course: Lessons Learned

SIGUCCS Web 2.0 Preconference Worskhop

Yesterday afternoon, I presented a 3-hour pre-conference workshop at this year’s SIGUCCS fall conference in Portland, Oregon. The conference is a rather small one with about 350 participants and it focuses on IT support in higher education. My workshop was entitled “Web 2.0: Social Software Foundations and Implications;” for this audience I think that my… Continue reading SIGUCCS Web 2.0 Preconference Worskhop

2008 NASPA Conference: Facebook, Blogs, and Other Electronic Communication: How Students Construct Learning Environments through Social Networking Sites

The final technology-related program I attended on Monday was entitled “Facebook, Blogs, and Other Electronic Communication: How Students Construct Learning Environments through Social Networking Sites” and it was an extremely well-attended session; every seat was filled with some people standing in the back and I would guess there were over a hundred attendees. The presentation… Continue reading 2008 NASPA Conference: Facebook, Blogs, and Other Electronic Communication: How Students Construct Learning Environments through Social Networking Sites

State of the Net: Social Networking Privacy: An Oxymoron?

The second item on the agenda of this year’s State of the New conference of specific interest to me and appropriate for this blog was a panel discussion of social networking sites (SNS) and privacy. The panel was formally titled “Social Networking Privacy: An Oxymoron?” and it was moderated by Tim Lordan of the Internet… Continue reading State of the Net: Social Networking Privacy: An Oxymoron?