Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Lecturing on Social Networking

I am an adjunct professor at Strayer University. Lately I have been teaching a graduate-level business course (BUS508) and last night I gave a lecture on Social Networking. I focused on the tools, their utility, their potential business value, and how they could potentially disrupt business processes. Included in my talks were these tools and sites (I know there are more):

- Twitter
- Facebook
- Threaded Discussions (www.experts-exchange.com)
- OpenSpace
- Google Buzz
- Google Docs
- Google Reader
- Web blogs (blogs)
- Video Blogs (vlogs)
- Wikis (wiki-wiki, quick)
- Various Instant Messengers
- Usenet
- You Tube


The lecture was an instant success and it has actually turned into a graded essay assignment for my students. I used plenty of real-world examples including how my 10 year-old used Google Docs for his class assignment and then it with his class. I even tweeted about how I was teaching about Social Networking, sort of a circular reference.

The feedback that I received followed the same theme mostly; students were unaware of most of the tools. Of the tools that they did know about, considering their potential value or disruption to business was a new concept.