Objects of Interest

I just returned from the Pearson eCollege CITE conference in Denver. As an educator, it is always exciting to be in a conference environment because of the energy in the air, the new ideas being discussed and debated, the networking opportunities, being able to travel to different cities, and, of course, the conference parties . The theme of the conference was, “Navigating the New World of Learning.” I was there presenting on Social Learning for Learning Objects, Inc. If you want to know more about my experience you can read about me here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyrubin. I do think it is important for you to know my background, but, I don't have to write it all out for you here, I can link to my online profile, one of the benefits of social media (had to get that in there.) 

There were great presentations by faculty members who were sharing their ideas, successes, and failures in their teaching and professional lives. Conferences are a great way to learn and to expand your personal learning network. I was not the only one presenting on social learning, in fact, Hester Tinti-Kane (Pearson Learning Solutions) @tintikane, Justin Levey (New Marketing Labs) @JustinLevy, and Jeff Seaman (The Sloan Consortium) @SloanConsortium presented findings from Pearson’s study of Social Networking and Online Technology in Higher Education Survey. I am very excited to read more specifics from the survey when it is made publicly available. 

What is amazing to me as an educator, instructional designer, and someone who teaches about the benefits of social learning every day, is the fact that we are still debating whether or not social media is valuable in the classroom? My answer to that is, how could it not be? Personally, I think we should be asking ourselves HOW we can incorporate social media applications into our teaching and WHICH tools are the right ones for what we are trying to accomplish.

I also think we need to get over the fear of failure. I hear so often on survey results that educators are afraid of appearing less than expert at something in front of a classroom. If you have a well planned lesson that you are updating with new technology, and you explain that to your students, they will often be more than happy to go along for the ride. The key to that sentence was well-planned. Technology does not integrate or implement itself in the classroom. It has to be woven into the lesson, project, or assignment, which is something instructional designers are very good at helping with. Take advantage of their services if they are available to you at your institution.

So to answer my own question, I can do that because this is my blog , and please feel free to comment, the question is not should we, it is how can we do so most effectively?