Social Media and Why it's Important in Education

This afternoon I had the honor of joining Tonya Hall as a guest on her radio show to discuss using social media in the classroom. In preparing for the interview, I found myself thinking about some of the essential advantages to social media and these ended up driving much of our conversation. I will back-link to the recorded show when it's posted, but for now, here are my 3 passion points for social media.

Social Media means Transparency
Transparency is a common buzzword in business, politics, and education and therefore is often dismissed as an overgeneralized ideal. But the use of social media, personal branding, blogs, etc. make it a powerful tool – especially for educators. Currently, there is a distinctly negative public perception of the education system in America. Transparency through social media can help dispel the myths that the education system is archaic and ineffective.

Social Media is the Power or We, not the Power or Me
At the #140edu conference in NYC, Edutecher founder Adam Bellow made an observation regarding the roles of teachers and students. He explained that teachers are no longer a well from which to draw knowledge and students are not vessels that need filling. Social media and the connectedness of the web have shifted the needs of education away from content attainment toward higher-level skills such as analysis and synthesis of information. Students need to learn how to harness and use the collective knowledge of all.

Social Media never Forgets
Google has become your resume and it never forgets. My 7-month-old daughter has an online footprint. How will she feel about the picture I post of her someday when a potential employer discovers my blog or Flickr account? Social media sites are a specific telling of your accomplishments, values, strengths, and ethics. Every professional – teachers included – must realize that personal branding on the web can mean the difference between hired or fired.

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Managing Social Media Overload

I remember when my college roommate first signed up for a Friendster account and we all laughed at him. I don't know if would be accurate to call him an innovator, but it was certainly a sign of things to come.

Over the past 8 years or so, I've slowly found myself getting dragged further and further into the social networking labyrinth. It started as a Livejournal account to keep in touch with out-of-town friends. Then I added a Myspace to promote my rock band. At this point, the Livejournal crew converted to Blogger, and I followed - eventually creating three blogs, all with different intended audiences. In 2006, I found the emerging startup called Twitter and joined that. I rediscovered it again in early 2009, and it has been my social tool of choice as of late. Also thrown into the mix was a Facebook account that I created last summer to check up on a tribute group that was created for my father - he was a junior/senior high band teacher who passed away quite suddenly. Many former students used Facebook to share stories. While I never developed my account, it sits silently waiting for me to get the urge to upload some pictures and start hunting down old acquaintances. Just for the sake of embellishment, I'll also mention that I have accounts on Youtube, AIM, and Skype as well. Look at me - the picture of a renaissance man.

Here's the problem. I've never been a quitter. I still try to update every one of these sites on a fairly consistent basis. There's nothing more sad than seeing someone's personal site that resembles the village of Vesuvius. Instead of deadly gases and volcanic ash, the cause of abandonment being a new hot social networking site.

The solution to this social overload is somewhat of an oxymoron. Too many sites to keep updated? Add one more to the mix! Aside from having a catchy name that takes advantage of an obscure top level domain, chi.mp promises to streamline all social media sites. It's still in private testing, but my much-awaited beta code arrived in my inbox this morning. I haven't done more that set up the basics, but it looks promising. Perhaps the best feature is that you can assign a "persona" to everything you post. That way professional friends will only see my education-oriented blog, but be spared the rambling, sometimes offensive Livejournal account.

And the best part of Chi.mp is that you get your own, free domain name. Take a look at my account - thoughtla.mp (Pretty cool, huh?) - and if you get the urge to create your own account, add me to your community.

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