Social media is changing everything. Nowhere is this more evident than on our college and university campuses. Yet there are unique challenges to incorporating social media into an already established and tested curriculum. We wanted to know how teachers were addressing these challenges.
Originally, we had only planned to create a special panel session at the 2010 AEJMC Denver Conference to address the issues of social media that particularly affect academe. We thought we'd simply host a competition that asked teachers to share how they incorporate social media into the classroom; the top three finalists would be named panelists, and we'd have a successful discussion on best practices in academe for incorporating 'social' into the media mix.
And then the response was so great.
We received 49 entries from teachers across the country, with tons of useful tips, tools, suggested articles, books, and other resources. It was a difficult decision to select a top three since so many offered successful analyses and examples of incorporating social media into the classroom.
That's when we knew we had to share. So with the authors' permission, we put together this blog on Social Media in the Classroom. We hope you'll find it to be as great a resource as we do.
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THANK YOU to Our Judges (listed in alphabetical order)
Deb Aikat
Award-winning professor, researcher and media futurist. Expert in communication technologies and social media. Chair of AEJMC Teaching Committee.Linda Aldoory
Award-winning professor and public relations expert. Editor of the Journal of Public Relations Research. Member of AEJMC Teaching Committee.Mandi Engram
Social media expert, lecturer and media trainer for the state of South Carolina. Director of Marketing at Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports & Tourism for the capital.Sarah Evans
Public relations and new media consultant. Founder and moderator of #journchat, a weekly live chat between PR professionals, journalists and bloggers on Twitter. Guest writer for Mashable.Doug Fisher
Senior journalism instructor and executive editor of the Convergence Newsletter at the University of South Carolina. Expert in new media and social media. Chair of AEJMC Community Journalism Interest Group.Alfred Hermida
Award-winning authority on new media. Online news pioneer, digital media scholar and journalism professor. Expert in participatory journalism, social media.Jimmy Ivory
Award-winning professor and expert in communication technology and media effects. Former Chair of AEJMC Communication Technology Division.Bobbi Kay Lewis
Award-winning professor of advertising and integrated marketing communications. Advertising veteran and social media expert. Vice Chair of AEJMC Advertising Division.Jeremy Littau
Award-winning educator and newspaper veteran with extensive experience and research in new media trends. Leading authority in multiplatform storytelling.Chip Oglesby
Award-winning photojournalist, online news pioneer and new media guru. President of Social Media Club Columbia. Expert in social media, new technologies and community journalism.Ben Parr
Technology journalist, web entrepreneur, and Co-Editor of Mashable. Previous project manager for Facebook applications. Featured on CNN, BBC, Wired, Playboy, and The New York Times.Ryan Sholin
Director of News Innovation at Publish2. Spearheaded ReportingOn, a professional reporting community for journalists funded by the Knight News Challenge. Expert in journalism and social media.Amy Schmitz Weiss
Award-winning professor of online journalism, media sociology and multimedia journalism. Expert in social media and online news.Jessica Woodrum
Award-winning interactive marketing and branding strategist. Vice President of Synergy Point, an interactive web agency. Expert in social media and integrated communications