I am reading the book, “The New Digital Shoreline: How Web 2.0 and Millennials Are Revolutionizing Higher Education,” by Roger McHaney, and I will be blogging about some of the interesting ideas I have come across in the book.
In Chapter 1, McHaney references Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “The Tipping Point” in relation to information technology and the new global, mobile interconnectedness that now exists. “In essence, a tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses the threshold and spreads like wildfire.” (McHaney, 3)
To have a lasting impact, your message , your content, must have a certain stickiness to it.
In “The Digital Shoreline,” McHaney relates the stickiness factor to education (which is what interests me.) Stickiness has been used to describe the lasting impact of learning acquired during a classroom experience. McHaney interviewed teachers on how they use asynchronous teaching in their courses. “By being able to access material at their own discretion, students are better able to digest and internalize it. Also, the ability to think out responses to questions on discussion boards, to refine answers, and to see what peers and teachers say in response add to the stickiness of any course.” (7)
What techniques do you use to make your courses (and your content) sticky?
Thanks for blogging about Digital Shoreline!! I have enjoyed reading your blog posts! Recently, I have tried to make some of my classes stickier by encouraging students to continue contributing to sites like Scribd.com and Tumblr after they have completed the course. Some seem to be doing that and occassionally former students turn up on my Wiki or send me comments on newer material. My eventual goal is to create life-long networks of people that actively contribute to classroom content. We are slowly moving in that direction…