Book Review: Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies

Here is a new review of my book, Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies, by Kelly Walsh (@EmergingEdTech) author of EmergingEdTech.com & CIO at The College of Westchester. 

Click here to read Kelly's review of Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies by Michelle Pacansky-Brock.

  Thanks for the review, Kelly!  I appreciate how you've integrated the video summary too -- great integration of Universal Design for Learning principles! :)

New Report: How Are (and Aren't) College Faculty Using Social Media

Moran, M, Seaman, J, Tinti-Kane, H. (2012). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and Facebook: How today's higher education faculty use social media. Pearson Learning Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group.

A new report was recently released by Pearson and Babson Survey Research group which examines the personal, professional, and instructional uses of social media by more than 4,000 college faculty of varying age groups. 

Who participated in this survey?

• 4,534 faculty members 
• 75% of respondents teach full-time
• 25% of respondents teach online
• slightly over 50% of respondents are female
• over 1/3 of respondents have been teaching for 20 years or more

Some key findings, cited in the press release, include:

• 64.4 percent of faculty use social media for their personal lives, 33.8 percent use it for teaching
• 41 percent for those under age 35 compared to 30 percent for those over age 55 reported using social media in their teaching
• Faculty in the Humanities and Arts, Professions and Applied Sciences, and the Social Sciences use social media at higher rates than those in Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science
• Blogs and wikis are preferred for teaching, while Facebook or LinkedIn are used more for social and professional connections
• 88 percent of faculty, regardless of discipline, reported using online video in the classroom

Some additional interesting observations include:

• Only 14.4% of faculty use blogs or wikis in teaching to "post or create" 
• Twitter is used by only 7.9% of faculty for "personal use" but isn't even included in category of tools used by professors to "connect professionally"
• While LinkedIn surpassed Facebook as the #1 tool used by professors to "connect professionally," it is still used by less than 25% of faculty for this purpose
• 33.8% of faculty create their own videos
• All perceived barriers to using social media have decreased

The survey and infographic(s) are available for download online after you submit your name, email address, institution, and title.  The infographics are embedded withing a PDF document. 

Thanks for the great info Pearson and Babson.  One thought...it would be quite nice if the format of this survey was more "social" and akin to sharing, keeping in line with its topic. 

Also, some additional topics that I'd personall love to see would be data about *why* faculty use social media in their teaching.  That is, what is that drives them to integrate tools outside of the learning management systems that their institutions pay so much money for, when there are so many widespread barriers.  And how are institutions responding to this shift?  Are we seeing a shift to enterprise-wide adoption of social media tools? Who pays for the tools that are not free?  What is the breakdown between 4-year and 2-year institutions and full-time vs. part-time instructors? 

Thanks for sharing!

Kindle Version Now Available! Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies

I delighted to share that my book is now available in Kindle version! Please share the good news. :)

Read Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies on your Kindle today!

Are you an iPad user? Get the free Kindle app.

Learning from Life

In my featured GETInsight blog post this month,* I share a very special story with you that I have titled "Learning from Life." I often get asked by other educators, how did you get started using social media and web 2.0 tools?  Well, this post illuminates the answer for you.  You may be surprised to know that it was a traumatic life event filled with a deep need to connect with other humans that empassioned me to engage with emerging technologies and, in turn, opened my eyes to the dazzling learning possibilities they held for my own classes.

As I share this post with you, I also view it as a celebration of the publication of my new book, Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies; for my book is, in many ways, a documentation of my journey.  Writing my book was an opportunity for me to share many of the valuable lessons I've learned along the way and capture exciting examples of how other faculty are transforming their own teaching approaches through emerging technologies.

I hope you enjoy the post.  And, as always, I welcome your comments.  Thank you for reading. :)

Link to the GETInsight post, Learning From Life (includes my Author Book Chat at the top):
http://getideas.org/getinsight/author-book-chat-and-learning-from-life/

*Each month, I write a sponsored blog post for Cisco's GETinsight blog, which is part of the GETideas.org network, a global community of educators with a shared interest in discovering ways to change and innovate education through technology.

CSU CI Faculty: Transforming Teaching with My New Book

CSU Channel Islands faculty met today for their first session of the Fall 2012 Blended Learning Preparation Program.  As you can see, they were thrilled to receive their copy of my new book, Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies.  The book will serve as a friendly, accessible guide through the process of integrating web 2.0 and social media tools into their students' face-to-face learning to make it more participatory, collaborative, and relevant.

Join me in a special online book chat!

Author Book Chat: Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies

You are invited to participate in a special Author Book Chat I have prepared in celebration of the launch of my new book, Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies.  I will be responding to comments throughout the month of September.

The book chat has been designed with VoiceThread and is available for you to view/comment in below below and may also be accessed and/or forwarded through this link.  The book chat includes several slides intended to engage college educators in a thoughtful conversation about the question, "Why teach with emerging technologies?"  If you are new to VoiceThread, you'll want to listen to my introductory comments on slide one.  If you are an experienced user, click to Slide 2 to get started.  Please feel free to forward this book chat to your educational networks.

Book Chat

with Michelle Pacansky-Brock

Author of Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies

"Why Teach with Emerging Technologies?"

On an iPhone or iPad?  Click here.

Archive: "Can't You Just Lecture to Me?"

Last week, I was a featured keynote presenter for the inaugural Learning 2.0 Conference.  It was a great experience.  My favorite part was just the excitement and magical sensation of knowing I was sitting here in my home office presenting to a group of educators who were tuning in from around the world.  It was a truly global audience -- so very cool.

If you missed my presentation, here is the title, description, and link to the archive which will launch Blackboard Collaborate.  Enjoy!  And check out the recordings of the other keynotes here.

"Can't You Just Lecture to Me?" Strategies for Transforming Reluctant Learners when Teaching with Emerging Technologies 

Have you heard that line before? Teaching with emerging technologies requires not only a new technical toolkit but also a new set of skills for transforming reluctant students from passive into participatory learners.  In this presentation, I will share stories and strategies from my own classes, showcased in my new book Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies, to assist college instructors with supporting students who are reluctant to embrace new forms of learning, use social media for learning activities, and play an active role in a learning community.  Links to handy PDF guides will be shared to assist you with building a foundation for student success in your Learning 2.0 classroom. 

Click here to access the Blackboard Collaborate Recording, when prompted selected "Allow" or "Run" to initiate the session: http://tiny.cc/bfjvjw