Signalfire | Brand Matters

cc licensed flickr photo shared by Eleaf

Original article from George Couros’ wonderful blog: The Principal of Change. Link to original article.

There has been a lot of debate on the merit of things like the Khan Academy (interesting comments in the linked post) and the idea delivering lecture style through a video format. I believe that if this is the only thing we are doing with technology, we need to look at other ways this time can be spent to serve our kids. Creating things like a “Voki” with your students is something that is neat, but it is not enough. What is the purpose and long term objective of creating a character using this tool? What are you doing with it? How is this improving the learning environment of the student? Is this only a “step” in a long term goal? These are questions that need to be asked.

We have to move from “neat” to “deep”. Neat can be the start and the initial engagement from students is definitely important (we all want to do things that we enjoy) but how will we move forward? As we see all of these tools come our way, it is sometimes imperative that we narrow them, so that we can deeper with what we have.

Something that I have recently seen that I thought was powerful was the Daily Shoot Twitter account (thanks Alec!) that gives a challenge of a photo to take daily. People from all over the world will upload their images based on the short criteria that is outlined within 140 characters. The question does not need to be extremely long to be effective. Here is the challenge for today:

2011/04/19: Illustrate connection in a photograph today. #ds520

A definite open ended assignment that is up for a lot of interpretation, yet will inspire some creativity. (Check out the difference between this picture and this one, still meeting the requirements of the question.)

As educators, instead of using technology to lecture in a different way and share information, maybe we take the cue from Daily Shoot and ask questions of our students, so that they can create their own content. Educators are asking more questions of their students and inspiring them to be creative. This sound pedagogical practice is something that we need to shift into our digital environment as we cannot only inspire and develop our own students, but kids all around the world.

If we are going to effectively use technology in our classrooms, we need to ask more questions, and give fewer answers. Our students need the opportunity to create this powerful and deep content. Neat is not enough.

Educating in Both Directions: Customers and Consumers

I’ve been reading a lot of George’s posts lately as a great view of social media from an educator’s perspective. Effectively using social media in the classroom has been a discussion between myself and Christina Ratatori, founder of a.r.t. (artists. rallying. together.). These discussions have really gotten me to look at social media in a very different light.

But George’s above post really tied together with an expression we’ve used for years: “What’s clever today is expected tomorrow.”

We are all striving to develop fresh, inventive ways to utilize social media from the classroom to the marketplace. New levels of engagement between businesses and consumers, between teachers and students are changing our culture. Yet, this new connection brings perils as well.

When businesses and teachers utilize social media to heighten the connection between people it is often celebrated and imitated. Consumers or parents see the cleaver application of this communication and immediately assume it can be applied to all instances. This is where we as marketers and we as educators must strike a careful stance.

Every situation, every business, and every teaching opportunity is different. Marketers and educators should embrace educating the customer as much as educating the consumer. We are often caught in the no-man’s-land crossfire between businesses and consumers, between parents and students, and in that space we must always educate in both directions.

Educating in both directions means informing and demonstrating the value and conditions that made the “clever” succeed. A better-informed customer and a better-educated parent-body bring the value of your social media understanding to the forefront. With both sides better aware of the conditions surrounding success the more likely those conditions can be recreated time and again.

Social media use in education and social media use in business are quickly coming together. How are you using it social media to teach either students or customers?