Group items tagged

This blog post introduces tools for social media analytics (particularly Twitter). Some of them may support cross platform analysis (not just Twitter). Have you played with any of them before? I've explored TAGS and Socioviz just a little bit.

"Big Data" describes vast data sets that, when analyzed by algorithms, may reveal patterns, associations, and trends. In particular, these findings relate to human behavior and interactions. These data sets are treasure troves and -- when unlocked by the correct algorithm -- can release powerful findings.

Makes you wonder if we really should be using Facebook in education. I've no problem with folks choosing to use it, but if classes pressure students into using it? That can be a real problem.

This does pose a problem because even if you were to use it in education (but not forcing everyone to use it) Facebook could still collect data from non-users by other students in the class who are connected to Facebook, use the find friends feature, and have non-Facebook using student's information in their smart phones. I would like to know more about why Facebook collects this data of non-users, what purpose does it serve them? It also made me realize how Facebook can get my personal information when I post my new address to a friends wall, or share a new cell phone number. I may not have manually uploaded the information on the Facebook account, but writing it on my friends wall may be all the information Facebook needs from me.

This does pose a problem, especially for users like me that are infrequent with posts. I feel like I should be in there everyday "watching" for some weird activity. But I just don't have that kind of time. I am a smart phone user of all of 2 months now and already I have deleted my facebook app from my phone. I am certain I never opted to remain signed in, yet somehow I was. Then, while searching for a phone number in my contacts, I realized that the FB app had attached itself to all of my phone contacts. Too invasive. I like the idea of sharing information over platforms like Collaborate. There is a little more oversight and transparency.

Interesting article about Pinterest use and gender. Also interesting because they talk quite plainly about their data collection method.

Interesting look at big data collected from google (not quote social media, but I thought you would want to read it)

This is fascinating. I've always found the reports on what parts of the country search for certain terms more to be fascinating. Wonder if we will get to a point where this kind of data will actually be a factor in policy-making?

AI in higher ed admissions. "With Bolt, enrollment managers and marketers can focus their attention on prospects who are more likely to enroll, conserving time and effort for resource-strapped schools hit hard by the pandemic. Bolt uses behavioral data, which is 20 times more predictive than artificial intelligence that relies on demographics alone."

Checking out QR Coders, this one takes the cake. Can this be used for learning? Is it Web 2.0? About QR Droid Zapper The QR Droid (Android) and Zapper Scanner (iPhone) apps change your smartphone into a powerful QR Code and Barcode scanning utility, allowing you to import, use and share data in a matter of taps.

Not Web 2.0, but a cool tool to have when you want to design presentations. I have used this numerous times when I want to match a color on a website (e.g. FSU) and put the same color in my presentation. When you get the RGB or hex value, you just go to Custom color and input data, and bingo!! Download Color Detector - Point mouse cursor anywhere on the screen, to obtain RGB, & hex code of pixel

No, its just a handy tool that I think would help all of us designers. For years I used to struggle trying to guess what color comes closet to FSU's Garnet and Gold. Then all of a sudden, one day earlier this year, I googled "how to detect a color" and bingo, this came up. Been using it ever since. Glad you like it.

Hi Alyn, I frequently have to develop artwork, etc and match colors. It is a challenge to get the right colors from Microsoft program colors to match Adobe program color pallets without wasting a lot of time. The results when printing can be drastically different. So this tool looked very appealing to me and I attempted to download. However, my McAfee automatically removed the download with a message that it contained a Trojan virus. Have you had any problems?

In this article, researchers created a MOOC focused on assisting professors understand and apply the Carpe Deim design method to designing their own courses. In addition to using the LMS Blackboard as the vehicle for MOOC publishing, facilitators were interested in studying the effects social media had on MOOC participants. MOOC facilitators used Facebook and Twitter as the two main social media platforms. Facebook was used to ask questions, seek help and discuss issues. Twitter was used to share information and resources and participants were encouraged to share their thoughts and experiences using #CDMOOC. Upon completion of the MOOC, Facebook was the most used site compared to Twitter. Out of 1000 MOOC participants who were surveyed at completion, 29 agreed to be further interviewed about their social media engagement; half used at least one of the social media platform revealing "the most used form of social media was Facebook (used by 31%), a small minority (3%) used Twitter only, while 14% of interviewees utilized both Facebook and Twitter". Three themes that emerged from the study related to MOOC and social engagement revealed three themes. One, social media did enhance online collaborative learning for participants. Two, the ability to engage with diverse knowledgeable professionals was enjoyed by many participants. Three, main objections why participants did not engage with social media include a belief it may be a waste of time, unfamiliarity with platforms and identity concerns.

Were you able to share your annotations because it was a web version of the article rather than the .PDF? I tried to do that with mine but couldn't get it to work.

Tess (2013) provides a great review of the literature on the role of social media in the higher education context. Tess (2013) suggests that as instructors look for ways to incorporate technology to mediate and enhance their instructions as well as promote active learning among students, they increasingly turn to different social media tools. The author argues that the current literature on the integration of social media in higher education are limited to self-reported data and content analyses. Therefore, he provides a summary of literature on the role of social media in the higher education classroom as well as discusses their limitations. Various studies (cited below) explored the role of social media and SNSs in different contexts of education -teaching learning process. These studies have demonstrated interesting and useful results. Tess (2013), in addition to keyword-specific searches, used a "snowball" method for finding the articles from the relevant articles cited in the literature reviewed. To narrow the range of the review, he chooses articles on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blog and LinkedIn. Tess (2013) provides a brief definition of each of these five SNSs. He also looks at the social impact of these popular SNS tools. The author looks at the factors motivating the educators to use social media in higher education classrooms, such as: the changing nature of the student, the changing knowledge consumption relationship, and the de-emphasis of institutionally provided learning and emergence of "user-driven" education (Selwyn, 2010). The author provides platform-specific affordances and drawbacks in terms of their application in the higher education space. Tess (2013) argues that although the infrastructure to support social media's presence exists in most universities today, instructors have been slow in adopting the tool as an educational one. Those who are adopting are still likely in the experimental stage. He admits that his literature rev

"Jean M Twenge Ph.D" discusses how research presented in Adam Conover's YouTube video "Millennials Don't Exist" was misrepresented and how she and Adam were later able to discuss their differing viewpoints rather than bash each other on social media as many would have.

I wish more people could debate that way! I agree that not everyone wants to discuss- some just want to argue and be heard!

Thanks for sharing! Twenge has had to defend a lot of her literature on generational studies. I read her iGen book before and the criticism she's received on that topic as well. Very interesting!

A Google a Day provides daily trivia, and can be a fun way to teach your students important online research skills.

Hi Fabrizio, I just tried the Google a Day and I like the concept very much. However, unless I was doing something wrong, I found it cumbersome to do the research and get back to the original question. In addition, when I tried to access Google Map, which was needed for answering today's question, it said it would not support it in the Google a Day window. So I opend GM up in another window. Did you experience something similiar? With that being said, I think the idea is great, especially since they give you tips and hints at how to find the answer. I think researching tips and exercises are very important, even for graduate students. You can never get enough practice in researching topics. Thanks for sharing this, I really liked it.

When I type a research on the search box it opens a pop-up window with the data, so I have two pages open, the A Google a Day one and the search one. I think it works pretty well on Chrome, I didn't have any problem, but I haven't tried it with other browsers. A Google a Day is fun and challenging; however, I don't think you can learn too much from your answers, they are too general. Maybe in the future there will be a way to customize it and create your own challenges, it would be really interesting to use with our students/learners.

This is a beginner's guide to social media analytics. This article covers what social media analytics are, common social media platform analytics (and what they are called, ex. Facebook can be found on "Insights tab", and steps on how to track analytics.

This is a good and insightful study that SHOULD be read by those that make policy, but never will be.