Social Media: Its Impact on Life & the Workplace and 3 Takeaways for Higher Ed

I have been reflecting deeply on some startling predictions I read recently that indicate significant changes within the organizations of workplaces.  In an effort to be adaptable and agile in today's rapid changing environment, business leaders are embracing social business models.  One of the major changes that is expected to occur in just a few years is a significant increase in the use of social networking within organizations to facilitate stakeholder relationships and communications -- replacing today's commonly used tools, the telephone and email (Gartner).  

This led me to discover some compelling data from IBM's 2012 study, Connected Generation: Perspectives from Tomorrow’s Leaders in a Digital World, which examined the perceptions and values of a global sample of 3,400 college and university students.  The study found that the way college students are using social media is fostering a greater sense of awareness of global issues, increasing an individual's perception of his/her voice in society, and increasing engagement in real life activities.  There is no data to indicate that college age students value virtual relationships more than face-to-face relationships but there is evidence that these two types of connections are valued equally. 

The IBM report certainly doesn't paint the typical portrait of the technologically obsessed, apathetic college student that is so commonly referenced in discussions about technology and college teaching.  In fact, it seems to suggest that engaging in the use of social technologies has some educationally compelling outcomes.

What are the takeaways here for higher education? 

1. We must be active participants in the social era.
   The ability to use social technologies to foster relationships is a highly valued skilled in a global, digital society. As the use of social networking trickles from informal learning (i.e. the perceived "fun" stuff like YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.) into the workplace, faculty, staff, and administrators must recognize that they too must step up and join the conversation. Twitter handles will need to become commonplace, just as email addresses are.  Experiencing the value that comes from interacting with one's own Personal Learning Network (PLN) will need to become part of the natural progression of being part of a campus community. 
   
2. Social media tools are valuable assets to the college learning landscape.
   The boundaries between formal learning and informal learning in the social era must blur in order to sustain relevancy, students for success in the social workplace, as well as find one's authentic self through the development of one's own digital footprint. Recognizing this is one thing, overcoming barriers (like leading the way through the gray areas of FERPA because it's the right thing to do) will set the successful organizations of the future apart from the rest.
   
3. "Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation." -Brene Brown 
   Risk-taking is the new norm. This is true for professors, for support staff, for administrators, for college presidents, and for students. We all need to learn to embrace discomfort, to experience vulnerability, and to know that through this pathway we will find new opportunities to create the learning spaces of tomorrow and the learners of tomorrow.  This is hard. This is very hard. The successful college leaders of the future will be those who will do the things they imagine to be the right thing to do, instead of just talk about them or imagine someone else doing them.

UMSL: Showcasing the Essence of Humanized Learning Innovation

How do we innovate education with technology? That question is such an important one for educators to think about in our digital, mobile society, as we continue to find new challenges and opportunities upon us.

Last week, I had the great pleasure of presenting a keynote at the 12th annual Focus on Teaching with Technology, a regional conference held at UMSL (the University of Missouri, St. Louis). The event was fabulous. My presentation was titled Humanizing Learning with Emerging Technologies and I was elated to engage the participants with an energetic backchannel via Twitter.

View the Storify archive of the keynote Twitter backchannel here!

Now that I'm settled back on the west coast, I have been reflecting on the energy, enthusiasm, and innovation I witnessed at UMSL and am left with a great deal of respect and admiration for the solid teamwork, professionalism, and appreciation for treating people with courteosy that I experienced in my brief visit. That may seem like a simplistic take away when attempting to examine the question "How do we innovate education with technology?" but I don't think it is.  

Carl Hoagland was the individual who introduced me before I spoke on Thursday.  Carl had taken the time to read my blog and shared an excerpt that I had written just a few weeks ago that told the story about how I had started my blog in a workshop led by two elementary educators in 2007.  He credited me with being a "learner," which I found very refreshing coming from an educator of such high achievement.  Carl is a noted visionary at UMSL and credited with leading the effort on campus to create the E. Desmond Lee Technology and Learning Center. Carl walked me through the center and quietly shared with me that the team in the center has always been taught to understand that the way people are treated is always more important than the fancy tools and technology contained within the center itself.  

Carl's message and the warm, welcome I received from Keeta Holmes, Margaret (Peggy) Cohen, Michael Porterfield, Dylan Herx, and the rest of the CTL staff resonated with me.  In many ways, I saw connections with the presentation I shared that day.  

Meeting a passionate leader who not only has a track history of taking a vision and implementing it successfully but remains connected within his/her community as a learner him/herself seems like a rare find to me and that shouldn't be.  As I look back at last week, I feel like I met about a half dozen Carls within the Technology and Learning Center staff.

As we all continue to seek ways to leverage technology to improve learning, we must never lose sight of the importance of the human touch.  Ensuring people are treated like individuals with unique needs will always be central to effective learning.  Thank you for a memorable visit, UMSL. :)

Online Learning: The Future of Faculty Development?

"When we think of where people turn for information, we usually think of databases, the Internet, intranets and portals, or more traditional repositories such as file cabinets or manuals. What we may not think of is one of the most crucial sources of all: other people."

-Ageless Learner.com

Rob Cross, Andrew Parker, 

Laurence Prusak, Stephen Borgatti

It's time that all higher ed stakeholders value technology as a vehicle to connect people, share ideas, foster relationships, break down the silos, reduce the redundancy in our work processes, and collaboratively solve the problems that so many institutions and individual faculty are grappling with across our nation.  This is a new way of framing technology which is still viewed as a barrier in the eyes of many individuals, particularly those who resist the notion that online learning can be relevant, inspirational, empowering, and life changing which, I have learned, it can when an instructor is trained and supported effectively.

How Google Hangouts Are Rocking My World

I've been reflecting recently on how Google+ Hangouts have affected my learning and thinking about how free, easy-to-use, social, synchronous video-based learning environments will reshape organizational faculty development programs in the future.  The future is looking much more faculty-centered to me, provided that faculty participate, build their personal learning networks, and engage in online informal learning.

So many people have asked me, "What makes Hangouts so different, really?"  Well, in some ways nothing but in other ways, everything.  Really, they deliver many of the same technological features that Skype delivers -- synchronous voice, text, and video communications -- but Hangouts support video conversations in groups up to 10 for free.  Further, the simple fact that a Hangout is "baked into" a social network that I use to cultivate my own personal collection of humans from who'd I'd like learn and with whom I'd like to share sets it apart.  Simultaneously, this is still the greatest drawback to most faculty, as well, as relatively few are using Google+. 

Hangouts come in two flavors: the standard "Hangout" and "Hangout On Air." The "On Air" feature allows you to simultaneously stream your video conversation to the web (not always appropriate, no, but it can be quite valuable for certain applications).  The stream appears automatically on your YouTube Channel (which you manually connect to Hangouts one time) and on your Google+ Profile page.  When you launch the Hangout On Air, you also are provided with embed code that you may copy and paste into any html web page (like your course management system, a blog, a wiki, etc.) and point your audience there ahead of time. When the Hangout On Air is over, the stream is archived in video on your YouTube Channel (which you can adjust to either public, unlisted, or private). 

For the past year, I have been holding a monthly office hour session for VoiceThread in my role as their Higher Ed Learning Consultant.  This is an opportunity for any educator using VoiceThread to ask me questions, share ideas about how they're using VoiceThread, and work through questions or problems they have.  Before August I was holding the sessions in a web conferencing system that required advanced registration.  There were several months when nobody showed up.  In August, my first Hangout On Air month, I had a dynamic group of between 4-7 people join me and last month Amanda, my colleague from VoiceThread, and I were joined by three educators.  The experience is just more fluid, more natural.  And so is the conversation -- at least after I have gotten over my initial stage fright! Anyone who says presenting in front of a webcam is NOT nerve racking like public speaking has never done it.

Learning from Other Faculty: Without Walls

But the really compelling idea that I'm left with is probably the most simple. It's about how faculty are learning today on college campuses.  As I reflect on my experiences with teaching, the greatest "Ah ha" moments I've had are those that have come about through the informal learning moments I've had interacting with other faculty members.  I have not worked on a physical campus since 2009; yet, my "Ah ha" moments have not dwindled.  They continue to flourish -- through the faculty development classes I teach (our VoiceThread discussions), the webinars I present and attend; the interactions I have on Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and my blog with my PLN; and now my Google Hangouts.  

Over the past decade, as state budgets have dwindled higher ed faculty have become increasingly more part-time and more frequently work for multiple institutions. Earlier this month, I Skyped with a colleague of mine who is now teaching for FOUR colleges.  The point here is that web-based social technologies allow faculty to engage in formal learning while immersed in personalized video conversations at a distance.  The boundaries of our campuses are no longer obstacles that keep us from learning from faculty at other campuses.  We really are one big learning community ... if we just participate.

On college campuses, faculty development programs continue to be cut along with the budget, leaving the minimally staffed departments (if there is even one!) to be managing responsibilities that reach far outside of their original domain and leaving no time to stay current on emerging technologies.  Exploring, questioning, examining and experimenting with how to teach effectively with social technologies is perhaps the factor that will keep college learning moving forward.  These are the questions that will empower us to recraft a college learning experience that prepares our students for life in a digital, mobile, interconnected, global society -- one in which employers expect new employees to demonstrate their ability to have fostered relationships at a distance (through Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc.) and be able to effectively present and converse asynchronous and synchronously through a webcam (for starters).

There are a mess of issues that faculty deal with on a daily basis.  How do we navigate the overwhelming world of new technologies? Where do we start? How do we teach with new tools and manage accessibility regulations?  How do I navigate my students' privacy effectively in the open web? How do we balance life and work?  How do we foster active learning with large class sizes?  What LMS should my insitution change to? What conferences are worth attending? We all have the same questions!  Let's ask them together! 

From my experiences, technology is so often viewed as a barrier in higher education. It is seen as as an obstacle that comes between humans and undermines our genuine ability to interact and engage with each other.  I've never viewed technology that way. To me, it's technology's dazzling capability to bring humans together regardless of their physical location that excite me. 

Faculty Development Hangouts?

I would like to start arranging Google Hangouts for faculty to discuss hot topics, share ideas, and just converse with one another.  Do you think this is a good idea? Would you attend or be interested in watching an archive of a Hangout On Air?  If so, add me to your Circles and leave a comment here on my blog with your thoughts or ideas for Hangout topics.  If you have questions that you'd like answered, please leave them here in the form of a blog comment and I'd be happy to answer them.

Wanted: A Vision for California Community Colleges

"If organizations can sense and respond to emerging opportunities, there is a good chance they will endure. If they can sense and respond to each new opportunity with greater ingenuity and speed—that is, if they can get better at getting better—there is a good chance they will bloom." (Conner and Clawson, 2002)

Today, I read once again of the horrific budget cuts looming for California's community colleges which is the largest system of higher education in the nation serving roughly 2.6 million students (down from 2.9 million a few years ago, as a result of the budget losses).  The situation is dire and I, for one, am saddened and dismayed to see the great Golden State lose sight of its commitment to providing free and low cost college education to its citizens.  This commitment is what laid the foundation for the state's Master Plan for Higher Education and is what provided access to education for the Baby Boomer generation (including my father who emerged from poverty to a PhD thanks to Porterville Community College) which, in turn, provided for a highly skilled workforce in California to cultivate the world famous Silicon Valley.

As a California community college educator since 1999 and a parent, I find myself wondering what the future of California will look like.  And I find myself searching for the vision that will carry the legacy of the CCC system forward.  I believe it's critical that we must turn our eyes from the budget mess and realize that without a vision, there are a world of opportunities that are passing us by.

Fellow California Community College educators, we are amidst the greatest information revolution ever.  47% of US adults have a smartphone in their pocket right now that connects them to a world of content, the opportunity to foster relationships with like-minded individuals anywhere in the world, and even shape our own digital profile into becoming a subject mater expert, author, and creator of rich media content.  Learning is wide open.  For decades it has been our mission to deliver open access learning -- well, that mission is changing and buried within this change are opportunities for us to redefine our future.  But we will continue to miss these opportunities if we do not look for them.

Students come to community college for all kinds of reasons but, arguably, the number one reason is because they're affordable.  This is a result of our committment to providing open educational access to all.  Well, today learning is free at the Khan Academy and even at Stanford and MIT.  This isn't news.  What is news is the fact that these open learning approaches are now beginning to dabble with new forms of certification in the form of digital badges.  This is a future pathway that will replace community colleges for some students, but not for others.

I know, the ivory tower will scoff at the concept for years to come but, yes, digital badges will change the future course of community colleges.  I believe buried in the depths of digital badges and open education lie the early whispers of a paradigm change.  You see, there are skills that one may demonstrate her proficiency of very effectively in an online environment with a digital badge coupled with an ePortfolio and recommendations from clients (on LinkedIn or a simple blog created with WordPress or Blogger, for example) -- and this type of digital credentialing process will shift the sands of college enrollment.  We won't get there tomorrow but we will get there. 

Remember, smartphones were non-existent five years ago.  Five years ago! Today, half of all US adults own one. Change happens quickly today.

Moreover, there are "different flavors of learning for different types of learners" (taken from a tweet sent by @Bio_prof).  Many learners who come to community colleges for a low cost education would do just fine in an open course provided by many of the open courseware providers.  And once those courses are paired with a credentialing process that is socially valued those students will make a different choice in where they will go for their learning experiences -- and that is terrific.  Because what's important is that people -- all people -- have access to education. 

But what's also critical to understand is that many learners will not succeed in a Stanford or MIT-type open courseware class.  The students who will continue to come to community colleges well into the future are the students who are the first in their families to go to college, the students who speak english as a second or third language, the students who have struggled since birth with cognitive learning differences (many of whom are not diagnosed).  These students will rely heavily upon community colleges because it's within the community colleges that great, committed teachers work.  It is in community colleges where students are empowered to see that they too are capable of learning.  It's in community colleges where stunning teaching innovations are occuring not because faculty have institutional support and funding for new technologies but because there are professors who see the value, the critical role of using emerging technologies in a student's learning experience to make an online class more human, more connected, more collaborative, more inspirational.  Innovations in teaching and learning -- in the classroom and online and in between -- is the future of community colleges. 

And I hope our system leaders can see that the future of California Community Colleges hinges not just upon funding but also upon re-imagining what the mission of the community college is in the context of a global, digital, open learning society.  For if we can create a vision, we will create opportunities and we will bloom, rather than wilt.

Forget the Unchangeables

I speak with a lot of faculty, staff, and administrators about teaching with technology.  And nearly every single time, one of the first questions I am asked is, "What do we do about all the faculty who don't want to change?  Who are resistant to trying new things?  Who don't believe, for example, a cell phone could ever have a place in a classroom?"  The fact that this question is asked so much is, I think, indicative of a bigger problem. I think it's time, folks, that we reframe our focus. 

Yes, many faculty are resistant to change.  Yes, many faculty refuse to accept new forms of technology in their classrooms.  We need to accept that this is the way it is.  We need to accept that we can't change everybody's perspective on what teaching and learning should look like.  After all, academic freedom is at the core of our teaching values, right?  

Why would I suggest such a thing?  Because as so many of us sit around tables building plans and strategies to figure out how to change the unchangeables or worse yet, throw in the towel and give up hope because all we see are the unchangeables we are ignoring and, in turn, risking the greatest assets to the future of our educational system -- the changers. 

Have you sat down and engaged in a Twitter chat using the hashtag #edchat?  Or #flipclass?  Don't know how?  Just go to Twitter.com and in the search box enter either of those two terms (#edchat or #flipclass). These are called hashtags on Twitter and when you send a tweet with a hashtag, they can easily be filtered into a search stream creating a 'chat' like scenario.  By doing this, you'll see tweets sent from educators around the world sharing resources with each other about how and why they're using emerging technologies to reinvent their classrooms.  These are teachers committed to change.  These are teachers driven by an internal passion.  This passion doesn't stop at the concrete curbs surrounding their schools or campuses.  It doesn't sync up with an academic calendar.  They don't wait for professional development or teacher inservice days to learn.  They're always learning, always sharing, always innovating -- and social media tools like Twitter and mobile devices like iPads and smartphones enable their learning and facilitate connections with their growing global networks.  They understand how to use technology to change the way students learn because they use technology to learn.

All of you have creative, risk-taking educators on your campus.  There may be just one or there may be many -- but they are there.  They may share a lot with their colleagues and they may share absolutely nothing, but that does not mean they aren't sharing with someone, somewhere.  Last year I enrolled in a full-day Google workshop to learn how to use the latest Google tools in my classes.  It was an awesome day.  The facilitator was fabulous -- someone I had known previously and is part of my own personal learning network (PLN) on Twitter.  I won't name that person here, as I do not have his permission.  Throughout the workshop he referenced how he uses various tools in his own classes.  We had a few casual conversations throughout the day and at one point I asked, "Wow, what do your colleagues think about all this great stuff you do in your classes?  Do they love it or what?"  He shrugged his shoulders and said, "They don't know what I do. There's just no interest."

I do not intend to put words in anyone's mouth here.  These are my own observations ... and I certainly welcome yours. I think many of our innovative teachers -- regardless of the level they teach -- feel smothered by bureaucracy, frustrated, unsupported, exhausted, overworked, unappreciated, and may even at times question if they've made the right decision to become an educator.  Last summer after I finished presenting a keynote at a conference, a woman approached me with tears in her eyes and said, "I was going to resign this year.  After hearing that presentation, I'm going to give it one more year." As we approach that one year mark, I find myself thinking about her and wondering where she is in her journey.

Folks, this is our crisis.  Let's try to stop focusing on the unchangeables and shift all that energy to those who are already out there changing the world.