How can you in your role as an instructor balance theory and application in games and simulations? Give specific examples.

FACEBOOK Linking to Blog site Facebook has become a defacto standard in social media marketing for business and personal brand building thus it can work for education. The opportunities for an educator to build awareness, community, authority and sales potential in Facebook are plentiful. But, it can be daunting if you don’t understand the ins, outs, the upside and the risks.

Being heard beyond your classroom Blogs and individual blog posts also be optimized for search. It’s also important to submit a blog feed to the major search engines. SEO is not a one-time task. It requires constant evaluation and maintenance to stay on top of the rankings. To get your blog noticed by the major search engines, do the following: include keywords in individual blog posts and submit your blog’s site feed to the major search engines.

Twitter has grown from a fad to a mainstream social media tool. It’s used by people and by brands. The opportunities for an educator to communicate, build community, build awareness, and sales potential through Twitter are plentiful. But, many educators don’t understand Twitter and how it can contribute measurable results. Integrating Twitter into a class plan requires an understanding of the Twitter etiquette and best practices to engage people in meaningful ways.

Companies use social media and it has become an important part of a student’s life…thus moving it to the classroom is natural Launching a new brand in the age of social media Kellogg’s challenged ad agency Leo Burnett Worldwide to introduce their new brand Crunchy Nut into the VERY cluttered cereal market. The result? A successful PR event that utilized social media to extend their reach. Check it out… http://youtu.be/AneeqB5HeOo Do you remember this event? Or better yet, is the brand familiar to you? What is your opinion of the product launch?

How do you handle a student that do not have the required technical skills? I found referring them to the Advisor does not always help.

Are there any online techniques that you are willing to share that you have found successful? For me, having one on one sessions via the LMS has really been successful for students struggling in my class and really want to succeed.

Communication is so important in an online environment. When communicating with my students, I have to find the most effective way for each student. Effective communication for my students may include: text messages, calls and/or emails. How do you determine the best way to communicate with your students?

It is so important to have good time management skills for online learners. How do you approach a student that does not have time management skills?

In the online arena it is difficult to determine how much students are absorbing. Sometimes it feels like we are too technical and are not as in tune. What are some tips I can use to ensure I am getting my message across to my students using the latest technology?

I have found the Rubric at times to be a double edged sword where as it can gives structure to quantitative feedback, but for those students who are detailed savvy, the rubric may not be detailed enough to satisfy those students who may want more granularity in the grading process.

One lesson I have learned is never engage an (on-line) student immediately after he/she has done something antagonistic in front of the class. All it takes is on bad episode to spiral out of control as from a on-line facilitation perspective, it is extremely tough to put the genie back in the bottle again :-) My recommendation (if this occurs in an online class): (1) Whatever response you make, ensure you had ample time to think about both the content and medium (2) Go private - Resist the temptation to let everyone know who is the boss

I'm not so sure one needs a protocol or standards of communication excellence if one just uses common sense and courtesy. If one can virtually imagine that person being face to face, a lot of the illicit communications behavior would naturally fade away.

This first module has opened up my eyes with regards to facititators choosing the correct communications media to interact with their students. We tend to overuse email and not stress other more intimate means of communicating with students.

I can see that using blogs for proper writing, collaborating, discussions, etc can be quite useful for a blog. Now days, most professional writers are encouraged to have blogs. Blogs though should be written properly and using appropriate grammar and punctuation, spelling, etc. Otherwise, it just becomes a jumble of someone's ideas that may or may not have any educational value.

There are students who have difficulty using the computer just on a day to day basis, much less using twitter or other type outlets. I fear that if we depend on technology too much and rely so heavily on social media, then we are losing much of the face to face interpersonal communication that is much more valuable than twitting.

One problem I have had in an online course was having all my content pulled because we were utilizing videos from youtube. The clips were not that long, and involved film clips for a film class...how can you teach film if you don't look at film. Even uploading the QT file that came with the book became an issue, so I am surprised that youtube videos would be considered as a viable teaching tool.

Good Evening, I'm curious if anyone has used this type of format as an opportunity to teach students about how they appear online and how to present themselves knowing that it is often a tool used by hiring managers to research and find out what kind of person you are and the activities you take part in? I find myself telling students to update their email addresses to something more professional and I see the profile pictures that they upload to the school's site...yikes. I look forward to everyone's thoughts! Kim

What are some of the challenges in assessing media and sharing in an online environment (or f2f environment)?

My experience as a professor has not so much been inappropriate communication between students; however, I've had a few incidents of inappropriate student to instructor communication. For the most part, the students were upset regarding the grades that the students earned (emphasis on "earned") for any given assignment. One student was referred to student services due to a record of belligerent communication with various professors. However, another student, over the course of the semester, became increasingly aggressive to the point of belligerent communication once this student noticed that I grade work rather than effort. I actually ignored the student's communication because I clearly could not communicate to the point of resolution due to the student's mindset. Once the student realized that I do not tolerate this type of behavior, the student relented and I was able to sternly yet constructively communicate to the student why the grades were such. Needless to say, this resolved the issue, and we were able to move through the remainder of the class without incident. I am sure this does not work in every instance, but we must be open to different approaches. Time, touch, and tone is vital.