I’ve given a few presentations to universities and high schools on using social media in the classroom and in the organizational structure of the school itself, but those presentations largely focused on the mechanics of “school” and “tactics”. It is my opinion that we need to move beyond the institutional thinking and institutional process to really ride this sea change in education. While most are focused on the process, people in their infinite thirst to learn are building a new global process for eternal, immersive, self directed, multi-faceted learning and knowledge that will leave the traditional school system far behind.

Take a look at Twitter, for example. This super simple service has been making its way into the classroom a little at a time since 2007. Twitter has a long history of varied use at the administrative and classroom level (here are 60 quick examples out of thousands), and still makes headlines each time a new school like Wise High School finds a new way to adopt the service. Twitter makes learning accessible in a school environment, and is part of the overall change in the face of education itself. Access to knowledge in your pocket can break the institution of “school” out of the concrete, rigid shell it lives in and turn it into organic knowledge that students yearn for.

Everyone wants to learn something. It’s human nature, this quest to know. Some folks want to learn a new language (the BBC is one of many places offering free immersion language courses), some want to know more about Snooki’s life beyond the Jersey Shore sitcom and some want to learn how to fix a car or quantum physics, but we all yearn for more information and deeper understanding of something beyond ourselves. Innovative schools like MIT, with it’s new free online education program, are beginning to deliver a future that takes knowledge and sets it apart from “school”, putting us in control of what and how we learn, and what quality of learning it is.

Even our search tools are starting to cater to this quest for knowledge – for good, vetted knowledge. Take a look at MentorMob (“Learn what you want, teach what you love”), for example – bringing you knowledge from around the web that is then sorted by trusted sources and people who have demonstrated topical savvy. Will it work? That’s not clear yet, but it definitely stands as one result of this new thirst to know everything, anywhere.

My takeaways from obsessing about education are several:

1) Education will become multi-media (and richly cross platform, moving fluidly from PC to phone to tablet to augmented reality and more not yet imagined)
2) Education will become portable (leaving the rigid institutional “school” structure far behind)
3) Education will become free (eventually)
4) Education will become completely student driven (gone are the days of the rigid, semi-applicable “core curriculum” concept)
5) Education will have two clear and more divergent paths: immediate ROI (job training, trade training) or life enhancing (broad knowledge based)
6) Teachers will become more like mentors or knowledge sherpas than the current system of educational drones chained to the ideas of a school district far removed from the needs of its students

7) Education becomes game-ified

Just think, education is going to be changing so much that the days when you can plug in to the Matrix and learn like Neo are nearly here. Are you as excited as I am for where this is going and how we can teach and learn from each other?

What did I miss? What other cool things are being cooked up in education that aren’t mentioned here? How did I do on my predictions? What are yours?

Updated to add this video from RSA, a unique look at the education system:

Some wonder if that hurts my business, offering ways for folks to learn on their own. Perhaps a bit, but it’s worth it to me to see my community become stronger from a collective effort to make everyone a bit better at being a business. Plus, I have the help of some fabulous people on each team for each event (check out the team pages on the event sites – I couldn’t do these big ideas without these folks – they are awesome). That makes it a bit easier to make everyone we reach a bit more awesome.

Why would a non-social media marketing wonk want to attend a PodCamp NH or a SMBNH? That’s easy – in addition to the connections and the atmosphere of learning at each, you are guaranteed to learn something new each time. With SMBNH I’m militant about not marketing to the attendees, and encourage people to let me know if they feel any of our presenters or organizers have sold to them during their speaking time instead of educated them via a clear link on the site sidebar and on the Facebook group sidebar. With PodCamp NH that problem takes care of itself thanks to the Law of Two Feet, one of my favorite things about PodCamps everywhere.

For the truly non technical, I’m offering a class at PodCamp NH in social media applications for the trades (construction, etc). I’m also talking social media and music and possibly film. That’s three classes right there that aren’t geared toward the social media marketer, but to YOU, and looking at the sessions proposed I see many, many more. Don’t see one you need but have experience in your profession to bring to the table? Sign up for PodCamp NH then go propose your own session over at the website. We’ll be getting a first draft of the schedule posted soon (though you should note, as a user driven conference, all drafts of the session are just that drafts – it is subject to great sweeping change even during the event as the users evolve what they want to learn in real time).

If you can’t spend a weekend learning (though it is highly recommended) you can try the two hour long SMBNH once a month. The next one is this Friday. And if you don’t live in New Hampshire, you can find a PodCamp in most states and several countries on the PodCamp wiki, or find your closest Social Media Breakfast by heading over to the national web site.

See you in class – let’s teach each other something new!

Social Media 101 For Educators (Given at Keene State, May 2010)

This slide deck touches on the very basics of social media for those educators that needed an intro to some of the more prevalent tools and issues with use. If you know what Twitter is, are familiar with the Facebook privacy documents, and more – you can skip ahead. I do love how much the Facebook privacy interface changed in the weeks following these slides, but it’s important to note: while the interface may have simplified dramatically, the policies did not. Take the time to read them.

Social Media 201 for Educators (Given at Keene State, May 2010)

This was for the advanced educators at Keene, a lively and interactive bunch. There were less slides and more hands on brainstorming and creativity here. Look for Keene to do some big things in the way of adaptive media plus education – they have an engaged and intelligent bunch of educators led by a connected and forward thinking provost.

The Role of Social Media In Education (Given at UNH, June 2010)

Tools for Education and Adaptive Media

These change all of the time. I’ll have to make a note to come back and update this post once in a while to keep them fresh. Important to note: in June 2010, Twitter will require all clients to use OAUTH instead of a password log in. This means some of your favorite Twitter apps will stop working if their developers haven’t decided to toe the line. I’m not sure how that will change the Twitter tools scattered amongst this list.

Here are a few social tools to get you started integrating adaptive media into your class and school:

TwapperKeeper is useful for collecting the group notes centered around a hashtag and saving them for future use and study

QuoteURL can put different tweets from certain folks into one page. Useful for project summaries or live lecture notes.

Google Wave now integrates into Blackboard

Don’t overlook the cell phone as a tool for announcements, notes, Q&A sessions, class participation and more

CiteMe is a Facebook application that cites sources in proper APA, Chicago, MLA, Harvard and Turabian styles

CoverItLive allows classes to take notes live and include multi media and other items as they go

Notely has a Facebook integration for their existing application to bring the classroom into Facebook

Moodle is an open and social tool similar to Blackboard

CourseFeed Another Facebook application, this one helps student figure out which fellow classmates and classes are online and easily join the group, page or discussion

Eduspaces is a social network devoted entirely to education, students and educators

DoResearchForMe This one I find a bit hard to swallow. It’s intent is good – to keep students from completely relying on Wikipedia articles by leading them to other sources – but I think the kids should learn this skill without training wheels.

CampusBuddy helps you find other students at your school. Useful for those times when people have changed their network to a city or town instead of a school.

Twiducate is a social network for schools

Schoology is a digital classroom set up integrating social media aspects with learning management

Flashcards is a Facebook based flash card creation application

ClassNotes a Facebook app that lets you visually share your teacher’s notes with others

Quizzinator helps teachers create, store and print quizzes, worksheets, and more online

Google Docs, Google Wave, and other online collaboration tools are invaluable in a class

People seem to treat social media as if it were new, getting bogged down in the oil slick of shiny object syndrome, distracted by every new tool that comes along. And that’s just it – these are simply new tools for an old idea. Social media is not new (and I still hate calling it social media). Social media just looks prettier now and is easier for the average person to use. Continuing to think of it as new and to get distracted by awareness exercises will only have you treading water.

JAN 16 1978

This was the day that social networking was born. All of today’s social networks are descendants of CBBS (Computerized Bulletin Board System), created in two weeks by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess. It enabled members of the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists Exchange to post and view notices on an electronic bulletin board, effectively becoming the world’s first on-line community.

Research study: “Social Network Hierarchies and their Impact on Business”
Sample: 2322 persons ages 6-54

That’s 30+ years of being social using technology, folks, in a variety of ways and tools as we evolved the technology, and it doesn’t even include other social tech, like a simple phone call, a shared radio program or other ways humans have always tried to find common ground and like minded folks and increase successes. Now can we stop distracting ourselves with talk of awareness and just begin integrating this set of new tools into daily practice already?

I opened with a discussion about how decisions involving education and youth are made. We discussed that while decisions about online tools and activity should be made with logical factors in mind, like cost, usefulness, utility, education, learning encouragement, and more, they are often made from an emotional place of fear instead, causing both the educators and the kids to lose out.

We discussed some practical issues of regulation in the education industry, minors online, and basic internet safety to consider in the classroom, then quickly moved along to the meat of the class: bringing these tools into play and using them in forward thinking ways. We also discussed how they may not only help the classroom, but the administration of the school, and any associated alumni groups, causes, organizations and non-profits. It was a fun and fully engaged class, and the educators in it were already thinking about how to use RSS, Ning and other technologies to continue to collaborate on the ideas in it after the fact (in fact, they already had the start of a Ning group going when I arrived, and were floored at the other ways they could be using the simple tool).

Currently finished:

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (2nd reading)

Groundswell by Christine Li and Josh Bernoff (2nd reading)

The Moral Animal by Robert Wright (TERRIBLE book, btw)

On the nightstand:

Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Planet Google by Randall Stross

Spent: Sex, Evolution and Consumer Behavior by Geoffrey Miller

Rules of Thumb by Alan Webber

The Power of a Positive No by William Ury

On Order:

The Fourth Turning by William Strauss

The Extreme Future by James Canton

The Transparent Society by David Brin
Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore; Regis McKenna
The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder

What is on your must read list? I have a few projects coming up that require researching and studying a variety of theories and viewpoints, and I’m actively seeking books I have not considered yet. Do you have a seminal work not listed here you rely on for future theory or psychology/sociology of technology? Does one of these works speak to you? What resonates with you?

note: links in this blog may be Amazon affiliate links

This month’s Social Media Breakfast is brought to you by Uptown Uncorked (your SMBNH organizer and monthly host), DimDim (live casting) and Southern New Hampshire University (venue).

Thank you to Jason Allgire who helped facilitate the SNHU venue for us.

Location: SNHU Campus, Manchester, NH – Building TBD

Social Media Breakfast History

On seeing growing demand in this area, I decided to fill the need with a new branch of the nationwide Social Media Breakfast in NH. It isn’t that we don’t love Boston, because we do, but our neighbor to the north is rich in technology and social media, and often overlooked when events are planned. I saw a need for networking opportunities that were easier to get to for the northern tech and social media crowd, and decided to step up and fill it. Because NH itself is a diverse and scattered state, the Social Media Breakfast there will be just a little bit different than the one in Cambridge/Boston. Our first meeting was in January 2009, and was a roaring success.

What is a Social Media Breakfast?

From the official description: The Social Media Breakfast was founded by Bryan Person in August 2007 as an event where social media experts and newbies alike come together to eat, meet, share, and learn. Marketers, PR pros, entrepreneurs, bloggers, podcasters, new-media fanatics, and online social networkers are all welcome to attend.

The breakfast series began in Boston and has now spread to more than a dozen cities throughout the United States and around the world.

How will the Social Media Breakfast in NH be different?

The main difference between Social Media Breakfast NH and other SMBs will be all-inclusiveness. I do not want only social media people and companies to attend, I also want technology types, programmers, coders, tech writers, tech companies and more to attend. As a state that is rich in technology but scattered in distance, I think the best networking and connection making effect will be achieved by combined our different cultures. You never know, as a social media type you might just meet the coder you’ve been looking for to create your dream project if we all come together to connect and to learn from each other!

Theme for the fourth Social Media Breakfast: Using Social Media In Education

The fifth Social Media Breakfast NH (hashtag #smbnh) will be all about topics related to using social media in education. In this struggling economy and shifting paradigm we need to be working together to be more successful and better weather the storm. We should be pulling in all aspects of technology, new media, old media and social media to succeed and more importantly to help the next generation succeed. This meeting will help us lay the foundation for a richer, better education, tech and new media community in NH.

In addition to myself, who will be your host and MC for the morning, you will have three speakers giving three brief presentations on topics relating to the theme for the morning.

Speakers:

• Opening Remarks by Leslie Poston, Uptown Uncorked and co-author, Twitter for Dummies

• Welcome Remarks by SNHU

• Wayne Kurtzman (Beyond the Biz, Destination Imagination, More) will be speaking about his work with Destination Imagination and more

• John Herman (OddNoggin.com, GravityLand.com, Improv, More) will be speaking about his use of social media and multi media in his class at Epping High School

• Kelley-Sue LeBlanc (Aleuromedia) will discuss her work this past semester with social media in a classroom at Daniel Webster College

This is going to be a great breakfast!

TO SPONSOR THIS OR A FUTURE SMBNH CONTACT LESLIE POSTON via Twitter, Email or Phone or purchase a sponsor ticket above.

Let’s make the new SMBNH crackle with energy and success! See you there!

Tonight’s podcast will be a good one! We’ll be discussing education and new media, social media and technology with Dave LaMorte, John Herman and E. Christopher Clark.

I’m hoping to cover a lot of ground in an hour, so I won’t be opening up the phone lines until the recording is over. I know I usually let listeners call in ten minutes before the end, and I will be doing that again in the next podcast (part two of the gender gap topic). Our panelists are all active educators and need their rest for Monday morning school. HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean you can’t come participate in the lively chat room. We can see it while in the call and can handle questions live on air that way.

If you want to be notified of future podcasts, sign up for a TalkShoe account and “follow” the call. I send a reminder the day of the call to those who follow it.

See you there!

NOTE: We also have a new forum to give you a place to carry the discussions from the podcasts over into the real world, submit topic ideas, talk about social media, promote events, etc. You can SIGN UP FOR THE NEW FORUM right here.

Tonight’s Call:

Next Topics on Fire continues the conversation on Gender Gap and Technology, this time focusing on solutions and not rehashing the problem:

10/5 11PM Eastern Topics on Fire: Episode 6, Gender Gap and Technology Part 2 (Panelists: Corvida, Leslie Bradshaw, Micah Baldwin, Meg Fowler, Jen Nedeau)

Future episodes and panelists include:

10/19 11PM Eastern Topics on Fire: Episode 7, Politics and Technology (Leslie Bradshaw)