Comments on: So how are we coping with social media?

By: comberchats

comberchats — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 22:26:40 +0000

No one loves the man whom he fears. — Aristotle. Social media platforms represent a fundamental shift for many, not just those in academia.
http://comberchats.wordpress.com/

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:47:36 +0000

I remember when my teacher first tried to make us communicate over social media as a class, it was a bit hard, since we knew that everything was monitored by the teacher,but now I say to myself that I wish I could’ve benefited more from social media during our education.

By: no-name

no-name — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 06:51:10 +0000

Would an alternative solution have been found if the student or one of the supervisors preferred not to have a facebook presence, or did not trust the privacy maintenance facilities provided? (Is it absolutely certain that privacy within the group is not inadvertently compromised?) Or was participation in the study group it the way described obligatory?

By: Lesley Diack

Lesley Diack — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 22:47:35 +0000

We have facebook, twitter, linkedIn etc routinely for the last few years – I have a closed study group with a PhD student on facebook that only the student and her supervisors see and use. We use facebook to welcome new students and to maintain contact with our alumni and it all seeks to establish and ,maintain communication. Twitter we use in some lectures and also to inform students about things that are happening. There are lots of opportunities with social media we should use them but wisely.

By: catherinecronin

catherinecronin — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 09:13:15 +0000

I enjoyed your post, Ferdinand — and I agree. You might like to know that my 2nd year IT students at NUI Galway participated in a Twitter chat yesterday with academic staff taught by Sharon Flynn in the CELT Learning Technologies module — discussing just this topic! Sharon created a Storify of our chat: http://storify.com/sharonlflynn/twitter-chat-how-can-he-use-social-media-to-enhanc

Our use of Twitter in our 2nd year module is described here: http://ct231.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/week-6/

I look forward to future discussions @catherinecronin

By: catherinecronin

catherinecronin — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 09:08:08 +0000

I recognise that many academics are ambivalent about the use of social media in education. However, publishing one’s work in academic journals and using social media to connect with and learn from others are not mutually exclusive activities. While many people may use Twitter to record and share the contents of their breakfast, I do not — nor (generally) do those whom I follow on Twitter. Using new forms of social media such as Twitter and blogging can enhance learning in many ways, but they are not for everyone. You might enjoy reading Martin Weller’s blog post on the subject: http://chronicle.com/article/The-Virtues-of-Blogging-as/131666/

By: no-name

no-name — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:51:18 +0000

Should university presidents with the affection for social media described here also be willing to grant permanence/tenure to somebody who has only published tweets or measures impact only in terms of their tweet audience and number of friends on facebook?

Given that academics are paid to record their scholarship in peer reviewed articles, is it really beneficial to encourage them to instead publish their thoughts in social media? If it is not their scholarship which is to be communicated in this way what exactly are you suggesting that they tweet? The contents of their breakfast? Does anybody care? Should they do this during working hours? Should employment contracts insist on a minimum number of tweets per day? How would you react to an academic who spent four hours of the working day tweeting?

Does anybody really read the tweets of others, anyway?

You won’t find my family photos being sold on the stock exchange (as the product facebook is selling).

By: Ruth Taylor

Ruth Taylor — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 18:36:00 +0000

As a late developer in terms of social media I am just beginning to reap the rewards of the extended connections that can be created through Twitter and blogging in particular. Being able to converse virtually with colleagues that I might never have met, and having to think through my ideas (for my blog) has been beneficial to my thinking, my networking and my professional opportunities (for example I am now peer reviewing for another journal). Harnessing the power of social media for education is a challenge but one which I think we need to embrace. One of my modules starts in November – I’ll be encouraging Twitter use.

By: Ernie Ball

Ernie Ball — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:05:09 +0000

“For him, the social media represent a flight from intellectual discourse to ephemeral trivia; a whole generation of young people turning their backs on scholarship in favour of gossip.”

+1 (as they “say” in the social media world)

By: Vince

Vince — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 06:49:17 +0000

People, some of them, believe the new web is something like the difference between walking and flying about 90 years ago in 1920.

I feel the community of scholars will never be fully comfortable until they own the means themselves. A bit like in the past when some published in the mainstream, but most in the university presses.

And of course there is always the very real prospect of something on social media coming back to bite ya in the rear. Not the photo of one exiting the tuk-tuk with a pair of eaux de vie in one arm and a sarong rucked somewhere about the belly. No No, something far worse than that. The curse of the memory of the thing, where you spouted some half baked shite while still green behind the ears.
At the moment there is an edit function. And better a Delete. In social media of the WWW in general you’d better get it correct first time.