A recent study by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth found that almost every Higher Education Institution in the US is on Facebook and 84% of them are also on Twitter, and are using them to connect with the students to tell them “about events and meetings and resource centers with Facebook or Twitter. With Foursquare, they can actually get students to go to them.”

• Source: Social Networking Nudge

I signed up to Foursquare just under a year ago and am enjoying it (even if I don’t get out much!). But what I have seen is that friends, colleagues, peers, etc are interested in locations and (when linked in with other geo-location based services like the photo manipulation and sharing app Instagr.am Foursquare can come alive very very quickly.

One of the things I have been trying to work out is how we can utilise the current fashion for this type of geo-caching activity and badge/mayor-hunting passion for the students, to get them outside and engaged in something – like Induction week?

“Foursquare uses the geo-locator technology built into smartphones to turn exploring physical places — like, say, a college campus and the surrounding town — into a virtual game by encouraging users to ‘check in’ virtually at places they visit in real life. They can leave virtual notes, or ‘tips’, about a place for future visitors.”

By checking in to venues you score points, and if you check in more often than others over a time period (2 months I think?) you could become the ‘Mayor’ and ‘own’ the place (until someone checks in more times than you). Some places (mostly restaurants) offer special deals to the current Mayor, which gives an incentive to return and check in again to see if you can steal the mayorship. Foursquare confirms someone’s presence through the phone’s geo-locator – if you are not deemed to be close enough then the check-in doesn’t count.

So what does this report (link above) suggest as ways to encourage students to use Foursquare?

• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College held a Foursquare scavenger hunt, giving students a sequence of clues for places on campus to check in. The reward? A 30-percent discount at the campus bookstore.
• At Waukesha they have entertained the idea of using Foursquare to encourage student involvement in extracurricular activities, while at the same time strengthening ties with local businesses. “Maybe if a student checks in at the association for student activities office, then they could be eligible for a discount or coupon for a local store/restaurant]. Studies have shown the positive effects of engagement with campus life on student retention and success, she says. “At its core Foursquare allows you to tap in to student engagement.”

The report also highlights the downside of this kind of activity – the time taken to set it up and to monitor it:

“A staff member usually spends three to four hours a week monitoring and updating Foursquare. Other events such as the scavenger hunt, required several full days of effort from the social media team, the business development team, and students.”

The report also send s a cautious note to anyone thinking of utilising Foursquare: “If students are not already active on Foursquare, it will be challenging for student affairs staff to generate buy-in for a new social media tool.”

However, Foursquare is aiming itself at the student market with the availability of four specific badges only open to ‘branded pages‘ created by education establishments (US only at this stage I think). “Several campus officials talked about the possibility of allowing students to redeem badges for campus bucks — just like a café might offer free coffee to its virtual mayor.” This sounds good, but in order to make it work there has to be the incentive, whether it is financial or other. I have heard of someone using Foursquare as a virtual register for their classes (you can create your own unique check-in point if it doesn’t already exist like a specific room), but this is heavily dependent on each and every students having a mobile device capable of using the system.

Are you using Foursquare for anything other than the morning coffee fix? Do you think you have a good idea for how we can use Foursquare in and out of the classroom? Please leave your thoughts and ideas below.

No related posts.

I signed up to Foursquare a while ago, and then did nothing with it. I couldn’t see the point, and am still struggling to see it even now. I like it, I sign-in to various places as I go about my travels, I’m even the Mayor of a couple too. But why?

Firstly, let’s look at Foursquare and what it is. According to Business Insider Foursquare is ;

“… primarily for letting your friends know where you are and figuring out where they are. Secondarily, it’s for collecting points, prize ‘badges’, and eventually, coupons, for going about your everyday business.”

This is really designed for people who are mobile and have, or have access to, a smart phone that enables them to install the Foursquare application on. But hang on, is that it … just let your friends now where you are and find out where they are? Do we really need this level of intimacy? The Public Relations Blogger writes;

“Unlike other social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, Foursquare is focused primarily on sharing places we’ve been and that we would maybe recommend to others.”

And there is the crux of the system … “sharing places” and “recommend to others”. This is where a business is going to use it; get your visitors to sign-in when they come, leave a tip about services, product, etc and share with their friends and anyone else who is in range. Businesses can now invite visitors by putting a ‘special’ offer on their place for visitors or the ‘Mayor’ of the place, thus enticing people back and back to get that elusive badge.

The above link to the Public Relations Blogger has details on the different aspects of Foursquare; these are;

• Check-ins
• Mayors
• Points
• Badges
• Friends
• Tips & To-Dos

Here are some images from the iPhone Foursquare app:

[View as Slideshow]

Another great way to explain the system is in video form … so here’s a great one from the folks at HowCast.com:

So, that’s covered the “what is …”, now what about the “why” question? There are obvious benefits for using it for field trips as it can integrate with Google Earth, so students can remember where they’ve been, take notes of the different elements of the field trip you set them, etc. You could create a location-based tour where you and the students check in to different venues you’ve mapped out, ahead of time, with a view to increase their awareness of where the library is, where the student services or counsellors can be found, etc.

I have yet to see a real purpose to using Foursquare in the classroom, as that is too limiting geographically, but for a wider application the Institution could use it to xxx - Harvard University have special badges you can acquire by checking into so many locations around campus and they ”announced in January that it would become the first university to use Foursquare to help students explore its campus” (source Chronicle.com).

Further examples of Foursquare and how it could be used in the classroom and education can be found on this link: 30+ Ways to Use Foursquare In Education. While it’s great to read other people’s blog posts on what they’re doing, or intend to do with the service, let’s not forget the owners of the system; here’s what they Foursquare saying on thir blog;

“Foursquare is making a concerted effort to lure more college students to the service this fall. At least 10 schools have launched branded pages in the past few weeks and foursquare has begun a search for campus representatives to help evangelize the service. Now they’ve launched a series of five college-themed badges that can be unlocked at select schools across the country.”
Foursquare: Celebrate Back to School season with five new foursquare badges

It seems Foursquare is going to be better for marketers and students to ‘play’ with than for teachers and educators to use effectively, although there are some good uses starting to come out of the woodwork. How the system develops will determine how well it ‘fits’ with the needs of geo-locating places and people, but I think it is something to watch for the future, after all one million users can’t all be wrong?

Are you using Foursquare, have you found a way to utilise it in your teaching, or are you (like me) tagging the world around you to see how many badges you can uncover? Please share your Foursquare experience by leaving a comment.

No related posts.

With figures like “13.4 million downloads of WordPress 3.0″ or “10,935 Available Plugins” andthat WordPress “powers nearly 8.5% of all websites on the net”, this is one of the better infographics I have  seen for a while.

I cannot find the original author, but thanks go to Robin Good for pointing it out.

Click to enlarge

Related posts:

1. The world as it is today
2. Infographic – Who’s scanning the Codes? #QRCode
3. WordPress Plugin #18: Popular Posts

I am trying to steer clear of blog posts that keep talking about Twitter, and how we can use it in a classroom setting, but this one (from the University of New South Wales) is one of the better ones I’ve seen recently that have the academic staff talking about how they are using it.

“It is the very interactive nature of social web tools that academics are finding so useful in the classroom.”

“What you can do with the Web 2.0 … is that you can deliver material gradually and you can allow students to interact with your course materials in a very different way.”

“Those sorts of tools are really interesting because they plug in to the  open web, which is what I’m really interested in; tools that allow us not to work in a walled-garden environment so much … but to work in the open world so that anyone can look at what we’re doing, if we wanted that, or we could restrict who the outsiders were, or we could invite outsiders in, or we could connect to anywhere on the web.”

Enjoy.

Many thanks to mbogle for showing this video.

No related posts.

This video shares many facts and figures, and one I was most surprised / impressed with was (as of November 2009) Facebook had over 30,000 servers!!

Wow!

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

Watch this and other fascinating and inspiring video infographics over on the Speckyboy website.

No related posts.

Does your employer / Institution have a policy for the accepted use, by staff, for how they can use Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, SlideShare, YouTube, WordPress, etc)? Is it limited to how you can use it for work, or in work, or does it cover your usage outside of work and how you talk/post about what you do at work? Are you allowed to use images/logo of your employer/Institution in your work?

Here a are a few I found;

• DePaul University – Social Media Guidelines: Social Media Working Group. There are some good resources here, especially interesting to me is the section on ‘personal site guidelines’ that outlines what an employee can do in their personal space, but based on work at the Institution.
• SAP - Social Media Guidelines 2009. Again, some great resources, and well worded reasoning, on what and staff members can do on networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc in a professional manner about their work, but not linked or attributed officially to their employer.
• Colorado State University – [Draft] Social Media Policy.This covers all official accounts on Social Networks that represent CSU rather than covering staff use of Social media for personal reasons based on what they work on.
• Law Schools on Ning – Social Media Best Practices for Law Schools. This Ning site has a good draft/example policy for Law Schools to use as a starting point as well as a link to The Legal Watercooler Blog post by Heather Morse-Milligan on whether you actually need a policy to cover social media use or not? Heather’s post is actually very good in that it outlines 5 reasons why you don’t need a policy to govern your staff and their use of Social Media and Social Networks.
• Southeast Missouri State University – Social Media Information. Why is it only US University’s that are open about their policies? Anyway, this really only covers Twitter, Facebook and Blogs for departmental uses.
• Washington State University – Social Networking Guidelines. A list of official Twitter and Facebook accounts and pages, but the link to the ‘Reference, Social Media & Web Tools’ page was unfortunately broken at the time I looked (June 9th, 2010).

In the corporate world it seems they are quicker to sort this out. The Online Database of Social Media Policies from large multi-national companies (including the BBC, Reuters, Microsoft, and Kodak, to name a few) has some very good (and some bad) examples. Check them out.

This list, produced by Michael Willits, is also a good place to start. he has broken the list into different categories based no the type of organisation. Again, take a look.

One thing I have found during my search for examples is that, as we all know, the world of  Social Media and Social Networks are constantly changing, so any ‘policy’ needs constant attention and updates and, in actual fact, should be thought of as a working document rather than a set-in-stone policy.

About the same time as writing this (I started it back in April 2010) AJCann was asking for examples and links on Twitter. If you have any to share please post them as a comment below and I’ll alert AJCann so we can share and share alike!

Post Updates:

• June 9th, 2010: Leeds Metropolitan University – Social Media Guidelines. Thanks to Sandra Hopkins (no relation).
• June 9th, 2010: Social Media Best Practice for Law Schools – Recommendations for Staff use. I have seen a few other policy’s and guidelines that look a lot like this … I wonder if everyone uses the same base model to start their policy documents?
• July 14th, 2010: SmartBlog on Social Media - Creating a social-media policy that works, with Alexandra Levit. This post holds good examples for companies and organisations on how to create their own Social Media policy.
• October 20th, 2010: American Institute of Architects – Policy on Staff Use of Social Media
• October 20th, 2010: International Olympic Committee – IOC Blogging Guidelines. A very good and well displayed list of what ‘accredited’ personnel can blog about while working for or with the IOC.

A much larger list of these, and more, is available here thanks to David Fleet: 57 Social Media Policy Examples and Resources

No related posts.

There are some choice quotes I want to raise to you this morning from the article on the Times Higher Education website  ”Podcasts can lead us into the world of Supervision 2.0“.

Under the banner heading of ” exciting technological developments that can transform our learning environment and bring multiple benefits to all university students” the article continues to demonstrate and discuss the use of audio technology in aspects of education.

“For underconfident and inexperienced students, podcasts are an opportunity to connect theory and practice, thinking and doing. The advantages are clear: podcasts are inexpensive to produce. They build community and add emotion to education.”

“Academics are developing podcasts to deliver audio feedback on assignments and I conduct course reviews through sound. Instead of ticking boxes, I ask students to comment on what they have learnt. I create a mix from their words and upload it to a centralised portal so they can monitor the thoughts of their colleagues as they write the final assignments. It is a sonic snapshot of their semester and helps me to improve future learning opportunities.”

“Podcasting offered an evocative method for talking through intellectual options.”

“The literature on auditory cultures and sonic media is revealing complex, intricate and dynamic oscillations between hearing, listening and learning.”

Thanks to Steve Wheeler for point this out this morning.

No related posts.

This is great, the use of animated flip-charts is a nice touch.

However, if you watch this from the beginning try looking at it like this … the first 1 minute and 50 seconds (or there about) sounds like a trailer for some new disaster movie that will see Keanu Reeves save the human race from the marauding machines. It’s nothing of the sort, it’s just the Web 3.0 or Semantic Web being explained. Stick with it, it’s good.

No related posts.

I’ve used Ning, I’ve read and talked about Ning, but I haven’t’ actually put any thought to what it is or how I can get the most out of it.

Ning is “a platform for creating your own social network”, and leaving you in control of all aspects of it (public/private, tools, etc). You start by working on a name (that someone hasn’t already used!), you choose the features you want to make available to the participants (photo sharing, video sharing, forum, events, blog, etc) and you then customise the design and appearance … and then launch.

• Read this: 7 Things You Should Know About Ning

Twitter conversation:

I have archived the responses I received through Twitter on the following ‘Twapper Keeper’ Archive list: twapperkeeper.com. Many thanks to those of you who helped with your contributions to this post.

Hosted or Self-hosted:
As with many Web 2.0 systems (WordPress, etc) you can host your Ning network on the main www.ning.com website or, and this is probably the route many Institutions will take, you can download it, load it to your own server(s) and run it yourself.

There are several download sites where it is available, but perhaps the safest and most ‘reliable’ is through Tucows.

• Additional Ning features: Free Ning Applications

How to create a Ning ‘network’ (environment):
Once you’ve signed up and verified your account you can start using and creating your Ning network(s).

1. Choose a (unique) name for the network,
2. Enter the settings (keywords, description, privacy, etc),
3. Set up the layout and tool options for the network (see below),



[Click for larger image]

4. Choose a design/style from the list of (pre)defined templates,

   

   [Click for larger image]

5. Done. All you need to do is start populating the network/environment with content and people.

If you set the Ning network as ‘private’ you’ll need to invite your users to access it.

How do you use your Ning network:
What you want to happen here is that people start joining and using the tools. First you’ll need to tell them about the network (especially if you’ve set the privacy high; you’ll be emailing them details on how to join).

Participants will need you to guide them not only through the tools available to them, but also the reason the tools are there. This now comes down to the ‘reason’ you have created the network.

Are you trying to use Ning to encourage participation and collaboration between students on a specific topic (e.g. “Social Healthcare”, “Consumer Behaviour and Market Research”, etc) or is the reason for the network more professional (see some of the example sites below)? Whichever it may be, explain this somewhere to the students – no one will engage if there is no reason to.

Also, don’t be afraid to be the one who starts the party rolling – yes, you’ll be the first one on the dance floor, that encourages others to step up and start as well.

• Read this: Okay, I’ve joined the network. Now what?
• Read this: [Ning] Site Guidelines

Example Ning sites/networks:

• Ning in Education: education.ning.com
• The Educator’s PLN: edupln.ning.com
• School 2.0: school20.ning.com
• Classroom 2.0: www.classroom20.com
• Technology Integration in Education: tech-in-ed.ning.com
• Best Practice for eLearning: bestpracticeforelearning.ning.com

Presentations:

Building Community with Ning

Comments:
Please leave a comment on your own experience in running or participating in a Ning network, or any aspect of Ning or network applications.

No related posts.

As most of my posts these days are based on resources and my readings, I thought I’d continue with this I found (again) on Twitter: A Collection of PLE diagrams.

Please look through all the ones listed (the list is growing daily so what I see now and, say, next month is going to be different) using the link above, but I’ve loaded some of the more interesting ones below … interesting for both content and delivery.

UPDATED: I’ve worked on mine and, while there is little substance, it covers the kinds of activities and tools I use on a (fairly) frequent basis.

If you have already worked yours out, please comment and let us know how/what you did, as well as adding your own to the Edtechpost Wiki (link above – I’ll add mine in a minute).

No related posts.