Presentation Outline

1. Enhancing Business Education with Social Networking and WikisMBEA 2009 Convention Thompsonsville, MI Connecting the Pieces of the Puzzle By Eileen M. Dittmar, PhDeileen.dittmar@capella.edu

2. Presentation Outline • Description of Web 1, 2, 3 technologies • Easy-to-use examples for collaborative writing • Tutorials and ideas for course integration • Tips to enhance instructor knowledge • Q and A

3. Brief Description of Web 1, 2, 3 What is Web 1, 2, 3? •  Web (original; first) = “read” only • Web 2.0 = read/write with interaction features • Web 3.0 = Connectivity between databases and devices; personalized web; cloud computing

4. Why? • Business education is the best curricula for using wikis, social networking, social bookmarking, MUVEs, blogging, podcasting, RSS feeds, and tags • Integrates technology and communication standards • Enhances collaborative communication with wikis and social networking

5. Grab bag of Web tools & more Documents for you at http://eileendittmar.wordpress.com/ This presentation Social Networks and Wikis Class Activities BMMT Teacher Social Network and Wiki Instructions and More Privacy Settings Social Network and Wiki Tutorial with screenshots Dittmar Web Tools

6. Class Activities • Give a 10 min lecture briefly describing the professional way to sign up to belong to a social networks and wikis. • Additional short lectures can include details such as • Elaborate privacy settings and their importance (provide a handout of settings). • Guide communication strategies relevant to social networks and wikis. • Describe the difference between “personal” and “professional.”

7. Class Activities Assign a critical thinking composition. Ask students to explore three social networking sites. Give some questions to answer (i.e. What is the purpose? Why would a person or company want to join?) Suggest the use screenshots when appropriate. Explore and Synthesize “what is X and how does it work?” Include a company view and an individual view of the benefits. Add “contrast and compare chosen sites.” • Example websites are: Facebook, MySpace, Ning, LinkedIn, and Plaxo. Leave an open door for your students to find one other network of their choice.

8. Class Activities • Have a social network and a wiki setup for sharing the findings. • After each student has their study and composition, have a page in a wiki for collaboration to bring together these findings. This could be done in groups of four or five with the goal to combine their findings. Another way would be for each page to be devoted to a technology and all ideas about that technology are posted on each page with a leader and co leader.

9. Class Activities • Your social network and wiki can be used for other educational activities. For example, you could ask each student to setup his/her page in your social network. You could ask for some journaling (i.e. describe the journey to learn the technology).

10. Class Activities • A wiki is a good place for instruction about writing. Examples are resume or cv and employment communications. Students can peer review in a wiki; therefore, communications of any type can be taught and practiced in a wiki (i.e. letter types, complaint, answering a complaint, etc.). As you are using the wiki and social network for your students, more ideas will emerge to be “best practices” for your students’ use of the sites.

11. Class Activities • Prepare an assignment for your students to compare and contrast the features of social network sites. Perhaps give a series of situations and ask students to choose which networking site would be best for situation. Example situations: Planning an event to promote in the community. Marketing yourself to employers.

12. Class Activities • Setup your own network and create a project for your students to complete “in” your network. Examples: travel, job hunting, planning an event. • Provide instruction for creating the compositions on the Profile page of social networks. Ask students to critique other Profiles. Create a “rubric” of criteria for the Profile. Students could draft their Profiles in your wiki and collaborate to improve them to meet the criteria before “approving” them as ready to post in the social network site. (See the April edition of NBEA Keying In).

13. Class Activities Building Technology Skills • Provide URLs for your students in your wiki; use Backflip and/or Delicious. When a URL is common for all, students can get to the URL from any computer at home, school, or work. • Permit the “practices” for your course to build student technology user skills relevant in today’s workplace.

14. Class Activities Teacher Use Ideas • Place your syllabus in your wiki, link to other wiki’s, such as one for each course you teach; provide in a wiki links to your student’s wikis or your students pages inside your wiki.

15. Get a jump start on Web 3 Cloud Generator from Text http://www.wordle.net/ Add Wordle.net to your writing improvement/communication skill training Overuse of words and quality of words are evident with the cloud

16. Tips to enhance instructor knowledge • Practice in “experimental” wiki and social network. • A wiki of curriculum resources • http://www.curriki.orghttp://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/ • Tips for developing learning activities to be completed in a wiki at http://www.thejournal.com/articles/24206_1

17. Tips to enhance instructor knowledge Wiki http://freeonlinecourse.pbwiki.com http://bmmtteacher.pbwiki.com Social network http://freeonlinecourse.ning.com http://bmmtteacher.ning.com Blog http://eileendittmar.wordpress.com/

18. Q and A Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

19. Thank you for attending! • Description of Web 1, 2, 3 technologies • Easy-to-use examples for collaborative writing • Tutorials and ideas for course integration • Tips to enhance instructor knowledge • Q and A