David  Axlyn  McLeod,  PhD  

OLS.2013

Activating Students: Harnessing the Power of Student Generated Content

 David  Axlyn  McLeod,  PhD   2  

 “We  are  living  in  the  middle  of  the  largest  increase  in  expressive  capability  in  the  history  of  the  human  race.”  –  Clay  Shirky,  Here  Comes  Everybody  

Digital technologies (particularly the web) have radically changed the ways we access, distribute, and CONTROL the delivery of information.

Game Changer

The information exchange is

changing…..

From  This  (Information  Scarcity)  

To  This  (Information  abundance)  

.. & so is education

 David  Axlyn  McLeod,  PhD   3  

So  what  can  we  do  to  help  distinguish  how  students  access,  interpret,  and  disseminate  information  in  the  digital  age?  We can make it a part of our learning spaces.

Student Generated Content is an educational strategy that represents an intentional shift of the student’s role from content consumer to content producer, and results in

products of lasting value to the individual student, other students in the class, a larger community, and society (Sener,

2007; Lee & Mock, 2009).

 Chickering  and  Gamson    

 

 David  Axlyn  McLeod,  PhD   4  

Be  Careful  (Thoughtful)!  While  all  these  tools  are  interesting  and  hold  great  potential,  the  point  here  is  not  to  teach  because  of  a  tool!  It’s  incredibly  important  to  develop  your  learning  goals  and  objectives  first.  Then  find  tools  to  help  you  achieve  them.  

Blooms  Taxonomy  &  examples  of  digital  tools  found  at  each  level  

 David  Axlyn  McLeod,  PhD   5  

   

Some  of  the  digital  tools  I’ve  used  to  both  make  the  most  of  the  7  principles  while  focusing  on  Student  Generated  Content.  

Blogs  

-­‐‑ A  free  and  open  access  platform  for  content  creation  and  distribution  (as  many  possibilities  as  you  have  imagination  for)  

-­‐‑ Ex.  http://project710.blogspot.com/  <-­‐‑  look  under  student  projects  

Social  Media  

-­‐‑ Facebook,  Tumblr,  Google  +,  Twitter  or  others  (can  be  used  in  public  or  private/closed  ways  to  improve  student  engagement  and  instant  or  searchable  sharing)  Making  it  very  easy  for  students  to  distribute  content  they  find  away  form  class  time.  Encourages  learning  during  non-­‐‑class  time.  

Wikis  

-­‐‑ An  open  and  “forever”  accessible  platform  for  shared  collaboration  or  group  working  spaces  

-­‐‑ Ex.  http://crjs370fall2012.pbworks.com/    

RSS  

-­‐‑ “Re-­‐‑wiring  the  web”  these  are  tools  that  help  you  aggregate  specific  content  to  a  

specific  place  on  the  web.  It  helps  you  organize  distributed  content  

-­‐‑ Ex.  http://www.protopage.com/project710    

David A. McLeod, PhD

VCU CTE, but Headed to The University of Oklahoma www.damcv.com