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Interesting report on social media use by professors for teaching (and research / professional development). Faculty members use social media personally, including among their professional colleagues, much like the general population does. Classroom use is still slowed by privacy concerns, relating to both the student-teacher relationship and the classroom's privacy from the rest of the world. How would you answer their questions? Issued in 2013 by Pearson Learning Solutions.

This article presents some ideas for improving the social media experience of academics.

The specific rules presented here are most applicable to K-12 institutions. Still, it's an interesting example of the kind of thinking involved for anyone's social media presence.

If the point of online discussion boards and collaborative projects is to get students discussing course ideas with each other, does it make sense to move those discussions to the social media venues they're already using?

Some interesting thoughts here on the differences between debates in course discussion boards and the "toxic" level of discussion in other social media.

Our colleagues at Otterbein are crowdsourcing a list of good books for "teaching about social justice in troubled times". Please comment or add your own suggestions!

This professor uses an online forum to give students who are uncomfortable speaking in class a space where they can contribute their thoughts. Students report that it's useful and the professor reports that all students who used the forum did eventually speak in class. (It occurs to me that Moodle's "anonymous" and group-based forum options might help mitigate some of the social pressures.)

Gentle thoughts from James Lang as we head into the home stretch of the semester. "When you are faced with challenging questions about a relationship or a social problem in the world, just assume that the answer is always compassion. The same principle would serve us well in the college classroom."

NPR's Code Switch podcast covered a survey of over 800 faculty members regarding the use of trigger warnings, and then interviewed 2 faculty members in depth about their experiences preparing students for the hard work of engaging emotionally and socially difficult subject matter.

The idea that resilience is a socially situated behavior, not a just personal quality, seems important, as does turning this lens (which we so often use on our students) on our own lives and work as educators.

This is the second of two MOOC-related stories in the Chronicle yesterday. I am "taking" a MOOC at the moment, which is taught by a professor at Duke University. I do get the feeling that he is treating me (and all the students in the MOOC) with respect, but I can imagine a situation in which this may not be the case. The conveners of the meeting that drafted this "Bill of Rights" clearly want to send the message that online educators should have the best interests of their students FIRST and foremost in their minds. I stress FIRST here because the drafters of the document want to avoid having MOOC students become a commodity that can be sold such as with social media participants (e.g., Facebook).

"A meta-analysis of 62 studies involving 11,837 students indicated that... students participating in SL programs demonstrated significant gains in five outcome areas: attitudes toward self, attitudes toward school and learning, civic engagement, social skills, and academic performance. ... Furthermore, as predicted, there was empirical support for the position that following certain recommended practices--such as linking to curriculum, voice, community involvement, and reflection--was associated with better outcomes." (This link requires Kenyon authentication; the full citation is doi: 10.1177/105382591103400205 Journal of Experiential Education September/October 2011 vol. 34 no. 2 164-181.)

Lots of good thoughts in this issue of AAC&U's _Diversity & Democracy_ about different ways students can work in and with off-campus communities.

A Faculty Learning Community is a cros-disciplinary group of faculty who meet to investigate a common topic of interest in teaching and learning (or the conduct of scholarship more broadly). This article discusses the involvement of a librarian as facilitator to an FLC on scholarly writing.

Perhaps the biggest outcome of a liberal arts education should be the understanding that every discipline is more based on learned and practiced skills than innate aptitude. The four tips in this article might be boiled down to one umbrella concept - talk to your students about growth mindset.

Interesting contrarian article from Alfie Kohn, pointing out that too much focus on "growth mindset" might be a way to sidestep larger questions of curriculum, pedagogy, and the social structures of education.

At our ODEI/CIP book discussions, there was a lot of concern about stereotype threat. "Stereotype threat refers to being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group." This stress has been linked to reduced performance in a number of academic and social areas. Put another way, recognizing and removing sources of stereotype threat can be a good way to create inclusive environments where everyone can succeed.

This report is about a "nationally representative" survey which finds that educational attainment is one of the best predictors of high technology and information literacy skills - so I would assume that the results aren't quite as dire for those Millennials who go to college. That said, it's a good reminder that many so-called "digital natives" are not (yet) sophisticated creators and managers of information with their devices. I also want to point out that the kinds of information management tasks tested are perfectly relevant to research in the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts, not just STEM as the think tank suggests.

"What is the intended learning goal for participation?" And how do students know what "good" participation looks like? By sharing a clear, positive ideal for class participation in rubric form, you can help students learn the social skills you're encouraging with a "class participation" grade.

We complain about students' distractability, but what can we do in the classroom to practice holding focus?