Social media, a good tool for me.

Ted B. is one of my classmates in the graduate program of Educational Communication and Technology. Ted is now the direct of distance learning in School of Continuing Professional Studies in New York University. Furthermore, he is an instructor, teaching a research methods course in SCPS.

Here are my interviewing questions for him.

Q1: Do you use social media as a tool to cooperate with your coworkers?

Yes. Because NYU is developing other campus around the world, one is in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai, I need social media to connect to my coworkers. Using social media makes me and my coworkers feel like no jet lag, we could post important information on social media and discuss on it. If we need to discuss more details, we would choose to have on line conferences.

Q2: In your class, do you also choose social media as a tool to teach student?

Apart from the work in distance learning center, I also teaching a research method course this summer. In this course, I have developed a long time assignment, which is a blog. I like to hear their reflections from the blogs. There are some advantages for my students to write a blog. First, blogs reflect their deeper thinking. In class, we discuss some questions and students could ponder these questions and write them down in their blog. Second, blogs encourage students to discuss with others further. Blogs provide a place for students to discuss with their classmate. Sometimes, it makes students do not feel awkward when pointing out different viewpoints.

Q3: What kind of social media you choose?

1. Blogs. I have asked students to develop their blog for reflecting their thoughts.

2. Facebook. We have Facebook pages for NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. Coworkers keep updating the latest news for the public, including community, parents, current students and future students.

3. Chatter. I mainly use Chatter for working purpose. This social media is much more private and people could share documents on it.

4. Yammer. This social media is for teaching. I set up a group for my students could share their study notes or questions on line.

5. Google+. This is for teaching methods sharing. I have some friends who are teaching similar courses. We often discuss our teaching methods or teaching material on the Google+. Sometimes, when I am looking for an idea for teaching, I would post my questions or experiences on line and discuss with my friends.

Q4: Are there any advantages when you using social media as a teaching tool or a communication tool?

1. Saving times. Social media provides a convenient way for me to discuss teaching methods with my friends. Also, we could share the latest news very quickly to coworkers in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai.

2. Forming learning community. For my students, I think social media provides a good place for them to discuss with learning problems. For me, I also use social media to exchange my teaching experience with my friends.