Collaboration with Social Media in the HE Classroom--2 Use Cases

So let's take a look at 2 potential tool applications relating to the use of SM (social media) in the higher ed classroom. 

1. Google Apps--specifically Google Docs. This tool has almost limitless possibilities, and I feel using it for classwide as well as group-driven curation activities is an incredible opportunity to allow students to collaborate without being limited by time and place. Here is a neat little intro video from the MERLOT repository that talks more about Google Docs:

https://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=733524&hitlist=keywords%3Dgoogle%2520docs&fromUnified=true 

In terms of how one might utilize Google Docs, a proposed activity I offer is to require students to search for an assigned topic, and to utilize Google Docs in a similar fashion to how one might use any wiki. Individual students would search for information, return to the central Google Doc location, and add in documentation. In a developmental psychology course, an example might be something like: "Search the web to locate 3 distinct resources that support the authoritative parenting style in Western style parenting. Add these resources, including their full URLs, and a brief 1 paragraph description of each, into your group's Google Doc. As each group has 5 students, this document should contain no less than a total of 15 resources presented by your group.". 

By way of recommendation for how to use this tool most effectively, it works GREAT through mobile devices =), and students can also use speech to text to transcribe their thoughts into the document, such as in the short paragraph requirement listed above. Further, when creating the Google Docs for each group, I recommend having a general outline that includes a space for each student's name. The reason for this is to allow each student to clearly delineate where he/she added in materials, so that the professor may grade accordingly. While Google Docs allows document edit tracking, it is significantly easier on the faculty member to simply glance at the header to ensure Suzanne Jones posted her 3 resources than to check through the edit settings. =) 

As with Google Docs above, groups may also greatly benefit from collaborating on a google slides and other google applications. 

2. Paper.li is another interesting tool I chose to include it here in my review, as I feel it is a viable option based on my own previous usage. Here is a direct link to the tool: http://paper.li/

In a previous FYE 101 course (first year experience class required of freshman at a university), I adopted paper.li as a group project assignment. In previous terms, groups were required to develop a presentation and present it to the class as their end of term project, and the topics centered around something of interest to freshmen. I gave them general guidelines (alcohol abuse; study techniques in hs vs he, etc.) but allowed them some leeway in fleshing out the details. For one term, I veered off the standard path and decided to allow the students to work collaboratively, electronically, and to create something of greater longevity (if they chose to use it as such). I developed a description of the tool; explained that all groups would be picking a topic relating to college freshmen; and would be creating 1 weekly e-newsletter using the paper.li tool, and that this newsletter must include certain components that I deemed crucial for showing a fully-fleshed out news material (education, health & medicine, sports, entertainment, etc.). Paper.li allows for the creator to select which content and from where it is curated, therefore once these guidelines were provided students were able to work as a group to select the appropriate stories. They could reorder and add in extras such as graphics, headings, etc. Importantly, the content can be set to update at differing intervals, so it is critical that students are directed how to manage the update cycle so that if they are required to present live, the expected content appears as they have prepared to discuss it. 

I found this tool to be a strong and viable option. Limitations of this tool were simply the lack of familiarity of students with the tool & with the general content of curating, along with the need to have a leader and/or shared login, which was at times a bit problematic. Overall, however, this was an interesting approach for a group project and I feel one that would be suitable across a wide variety of academic disciplines, course objectives and instructional needs, and instructional goals.