Harnessing the Power of Social Networks in Teaching & Learning - Couros

Dr. Alec Couros delivered the closing keynote presentation at the 2009 Summer Faculty Institute program at the University of Delaware on June 5, 2009. I was fortunate enough to learn that it was being webcasted through UStream and enjoyed the presentation.

This man is genius. He is an advocate of Openness: Open Source, Open Curriculum, Open Classes, Open Teaching . . . the opportunities are endless. Alec displays the openness that we need to see in education. This holds true for both the university and K-12 worlds. He points out that sharing knowledge adds value to what you are doing. It brings it to life in a way that keeps it relevant and alive.

He is doing what I am trying to do in my classes. He is using the web as a all around source for information and research as well as a place for his students to publish and submit their work. I was struck when he said that his students published on the web and instead of them submitting papers or putting their links on a wiki (which is what I tend to do), he has them use a social bookmarking site like del.icio.us to tag their work so that he can retrieve it.

I know that these are small changes in the wide scope of the Web 2.0 world, but they are significant changes in perspective. This perspective considers learning as a global activity. It connects the students with the world in which they live.

How are you using Web 2.0 in your classes? What have you heard about and would like to do in your class but haven't figured it out yet. Please leave a comment so that we can get this conversation going.

I look forward to spending some time reviewing Dr. Couros' website, Open Thinking and following his twitter.

Z