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social media is becoming a part of the classroom.

The Web site is pretty much dead right now, but the practical application of creating one’s own social network, right in the classroom, is definitely an inspiration.

Encouraging students to explore using technology, and use their own creativity to create their own social network, is a great, hands-on activity that can translate into the “real world,” teaching technology skills, and providing valuable marketing knowledge and offering insight into how social media works.

Sometimes, students can’t make it to seminars and other events. Broadcasting these events is a good way to help them reach a wider student audience.

If you are looking to register for classes, check email or even access class notes posted up from professors, it is possible to do so with a mobile Web client. Duke University (as well as Georgia Tech and several other schools) is making it easier to complete a number of tasks using a cell phone. Enhanced learning from anywhere can take place using social media networks and Web clients.

Students compete to find resources, and be the first to post to Twitter. It’s like a kind of scavenger hunt, and it teaches students research skills.

8. Birmingham City University, Great Britain: Degree in Social Networking If you want to be able to teach social networking like a pro, there is now a place you can turn to. Birmingham City University is offering a year-long Master’s degree in social networking. As you might imagine, course offerings include Facebook and Twitter, as well as other social networks such as Bebo. The idea is to help people learn how to use social media in a number of ways to benefit them, whether it is study skills or marketing skills.

10. University Laboratory High School, Illinois: Twittering Dante Want to learn more about a great piece of literature? Steve Rayburn, a teacher at the University Laboratory High School, had his students consider Dante’s Divine Comedy. Students used Twitter to post updates from Dante to Beatrice for inside each of the nine circles of Hell. Not only did it require students to read the assignments, but it also got them excited about it — and thinking about what they would post.

12. Georgia Southern University: Blog for a Social Media Course Barbara Nixon teaches a course titled “Making Connections: Facebook & Beyond,” which aims to teach communication and networking skills. Not only does the course teach one how to use social media, but it teaches the value of communication with others through online assignments using Twitter and Facebook, as well as other social media Web sites. Students are required to start a blog, and Nixon herself keeps a blog on the class assignments and answers questions through here Twitter account (@barbaranixon)

A way to get students to study this technique is to give them two excerpts from a graphic piece, one with the words removed (so that students look only at the visuals) and the other containing only the text (students can then compare differences in the way they read it).

56% reported social media was “very important” to their business/marketing strategy 57% report using search engines and social networking sites to recruit and evaluate potential employees

“This clearly demonstrates the growing importance of social media to this segment of the business world,” Barnes continued. “These fast growing companies drive the American economy. Their willingness to interact so transparently via interactive technologies with their stakeholders defines them. It will be interesting to watch as they expand their adoption of social media tools and see if they influence some of their non-user peers to join them.”