In Chapter 5 of his book, The New Digital Shoreline: How Web 2.0 and Millenials are Revolutionizing Higher Education, Roger McHaney identifies some of the teaching implications of content sharing.
To teach students today there must be an understanding of their characteristics and worldview. To most of them, the concept of social media makes sense. They appreciate the features that encourage:
- Discovering existing content,
- Contributing new content.
- Combining and organizing content.
- Directing others with reviews and ratings.
- Creating groups and collaborating.
- Sharing opinions, thoughts, and questions.
A sound pedagogical approach to integrating social media into teaching:
- Social media lends itself to personalization of learning and the development of a personal learning environment.
- Social media, with blogs, wikis, and RSS feeds, permits the uncoupling of knowledge and removes barriers to integration.
- Knowledge can become location and device independent so it is accessible through any number of platforms and channels.
- Social media permits the blending and constructing of new synthesized concepts.
The impact of Social media on Higher Ed:
- Revitalization of existing content – out of print books will be resurrected using digital formats keeping costs down.
- Uncoupling content from physical formats making it available on multiple platforms.
- Assembled material sets. Professors can assemble material from many different sources .
- Specialization of knowledge – the ability to specialize has made personal learning networks easier to construct.
- Community-developed/improved books and materials.
- Student-developed material.