Interactivity The first step toward a more interactive and animated discussion is faculty members who guide the learning experience. The instructor’s actions and interactions are what drive activity in the classroom. In order to make your job more fulfilling, working with your colleagues and lead faculty to update discussion assignments is something you should consider. Interactive methodologies of faculty-student contact in our online student environment, is a powerful retention tool and can add value to both internal and external marketing missions. As competition heats up in the online educational universe, the time is now to gain market share based on sound customer service and forward-looking strategies.

Working with adults is as much of a science as it is an art. Unlike students in their early 20s, the more mature learner has amassed a repertoire of skills & wisdom commensurate with age. Most often, students in their 50s bring a much different skill set to the classroom than those in their 40s or even 30s. Adults return to school for very different reasons than those who move immediately from the secondary school environment. Adults want to learn. The adult learner is more interested in application that is interdisciplinary in nature and can incorporate the proficiencies they have brought with them. Adults are intrinsically motivated and seek out independence through many avenues including education. Essentially we move the ancient teaching style of Socrates into the cyber age when we seek to guide our adult learners. There has to be application. Study for study’s sake has no place for adult learners. They must take with them at the very least a morsel that will add to their life, be it personal, professional, or even spiritually. Delta Airlines has an innovative Learning division that centers its teaching in action. The idea is to engage the learner in the activity because of the benefits for his/her job. In our classrooms, we usually provide scenarios and activities that our students may see or hope to see in the future. Thus, it is our purpose to coach the student and be sure that s/he appreciates the implications and outcomes of the learning activities so that the motivation within will guide the student to a more advanced level. I have it easy with the APPLICATION stuff! I teach marketing …and unless one of our students lives under a rock (just an old saying), s/he has been attacked by a barrage of marketing & ads since a very early age. I don’t even have to try to get my students think about the class any other way. I insert some hints in the class which leads students to understand the importance of personalizing the material. Every once in a while when a student is in a huge stage of panic, because s/he has not had any experience in the ad or marketing world, that is when I take out the reality magic wand and talk about toys or cereal…BINGO…touched the little kid inside of that student who yelled “Mommy, mommy, mommy, I want that!” I also open each class with a personal touch. Advertising: What is your favorite commercial and why? And Marketing: What brand are you loyal to and how did this happen? By these small exercises at the front end of the class, I have set the stage for the PERSONAL VIEW!

I think it is good practice to create new account in the social media to enhance our learning of this course thanks

Offer the student training on how to use microblog and its implication because they start the class

It is important to check the social media you are forwarding the student to. For example the student may spend time in different topic that the one you intent to focus. At the end the student will waste time and not getting what is required to get

Using the social media means we do not have control on it. What we will do if we spot an abuse through text, pictures, bulling, ...etc

Does anyone feel that there should be word count limits on blogs? Or perhaps this may be relative to the topic taught? ... Something you could incorporate into the course structure...

Hello Everyone, I found an interesting article which states that Social Media is less than six degrees of separation ("5 Studies Prove that Social Medial is less than 6 Degrees of Separation" http://barnraisersllc.com/2012/04/studies-social-media-6-degrees-of-separatio/). Apparently Facebook and Twitter have roughly 4.5 degrees of separation - LinkedIn is 3. Perhaps the difference is the type of social networking. LinkedIn is more of a professional network, while the others are more "social" ... of course, Twitter can be used to promote businesses also. Just curious what everyone thinks? Is the Internet so powerful, that we have indeed become closer than the six degrees of separation?

For the past ten years I have acquired real hours of technology usage. I have taught several courses using technology. With the trainings at my school instructors become more aware of the technologies out there. The students are gurus in their own right, learning and mastering the technologies as they become available. The availability of technology to all of us at our finger tips has become a blessing in our day to day life.

The information shared in this module was extremely beneficial and provides various ways/techniques to incorporate advanced technology into our classrooms. I am always eager to hear who has used it and what successes have occurred and what learning mistakes were made to help the next educator. I am new to this and would appreciate any feedback. Leti Ramirez

I really appreciated the information in regards to assessment and measurement of the process. I also was pleased with the example, Bloom's Taxonomy and Social Media Tools. I often wondered how you would evaluate whether or not the social networking sites were not only allowing students to connect with others but also gain additional knowledge and skills. Have you used this rubric? Do you find this the most effective? Do you find students struggle with it? Leti Ramirez

Often students take courses online due to their limited amount of time. Although there are a heap of tools out there to help students engage, I have found that many students avoid them because they limit their synchronous learning engagements. Has any one else found this to be true? I do find that I get more responses using text messaging above all else.

I still am trying to avoid some of these tools, but see how important they can be to students.

In my area this is a wonderful tool that might also help students work a little harder to match a peer's level of work.

I agree with some that maybe 140 characters is not a good limit.

I found blogging to be a great teaching tool and have even had stranger chime in.

I could not agree more that social networking is an untapped resource for the online learning environment. Social networking allows for a feeling of community in the online world where students need not feel so anoynymous. One of my only concerns with social networking lies in the lack of etiquette sometimes displeyed. Rude words, comments and any other form of subtle attack that students might resort to in response to a comment or concept that they disagree with. I think that at the beginning of an online course "respect" should be emphasized and demanded for all, by all.

How do social media can enhance communication between the instructor and the students compared to traditional communication tools such as email and phone?

Does anyone else feel really strange giving and recording a Live Chat when no students can make it to class? Even though I am just talking into a webcam either way, I really dislike the feeling. Ron

I cannot tell you how many times I have had students ask me questions like: where is the gradebook, which assignment is due this week. which assignments am I missing. These questions are acceptable in week one, but by week 4 of a 5 week course they are not acceptable to ask, it shows that the student has not explored their virtual environment which is a necessary step for course completion. We must make students take responsibility for their own learning and make them realize this is not grade school, and who said earning a college degree is easy?