Empirical Evidence

          If anything is to be put into an academic context, proof for those making claims must be based on empirical evidence. This rings true for the study of Social Media (SM) as well and must be done if progress can to be made along the policy, education, and treatment fronts. A SM Study at Medford High School will provide quantitative and qualitative data on Standard Usage Rates, Perspectives Behind the Screen, and The Student-Teacher Relationship. For what has up to now been purely anecdotal evidence as to why educators need to intervene in academic Social Media use, a statistical perspective based on empirical evidence will  be offered.

            

         For Social Media to be properly used as a tool by educators we must have an understanding of the environment we're working in. The SMLP has worked to provide direction for our next steps. This study will survey the virtual landscape for plans to be made in the near and distant future. The most simple information on student and teacher Standard Usage Rates will provide broad spectrum baseline data by demonstrating scope and scale of what we're working with. Simple information gathered from classroom surveys, such as how many accounts individuals are linked to on average, can answer important questions. Returns on this data gathering investment would represent the first tangible resource for academic Social Media development.

        

        Quantitative data transitions to qualitative data as social psychology heavily influences the SM Study's second method of empirical data collection, Perspectives Behind the Screen. Students and teachers will be offered a selection of hypothetical scenarios they must take time to evaluate and then decide on appropriate action. Analyzing transcripts of their reasoning will provide data on how often they consider consequence thinking, moral thinking, and ethical thinking. Insights regarding each of these areas will demonstrate how mature the campus population is acting online in relation to the Kholberg Stages of Development. The more mature we are, the more likely academic incentives will be pursued.

            For those students who are especially engaged with Social Media ethics, delving even deeper with this subject material offers the chance to collaboratively produce data and analysis. At this point, the study has been a purely academic pursuit but going further is treading in new, more personal waters. An interview with an individual or group from the interested campus population will involve the active sharing of Social Media content. As this is a reflection of our entire lives, one could argue research in this area is outside the school's purview. Getting past this bloc in the interest of transparency is necessary if TheStudent-Teacher Relationship is to have the same influence online as other actors who utilize Social Media to help pursue incentives. Third parties like government and corporations have already invested significant time into their relationship with the general population. It is time for education to do the same, no matter how significant the possible paradigm shift may be.

            Empirical evidence that will be produced by this study can offer support for policy initiatives, an enhanced perspective for servicing education, and diagnose areas where treatment is appropriate. If coordinated with imminent policy changes, the potential for progressive development in equity, collaboration, and innovation will be realized on a secure foundation.

Incentives

       Recent efforts to gain perspective before pursuing an SMLP policy initiative have been fruitful. In the twenty days since this blog's last post, time has been spent in meetings with a variety of professional educators who have offered valuable insights. Those who shared knowledge of their early investments in social media are encouraging enough to support policy reform. News like this, applied to lessons learned from the proceeding curriculum development, reveals three possible strategies in which all can collaboratively intervene. Each of these is based on one of the points discussed earlier: policy, education, and treatment.

       The process for changing words on official papers to new ones based on the SMLP's core principals is formal. The district school committee is the final check on any policy changes and appearing before them is a must. The decision to be made is, just how bold should the initial requests be? All evidence to this date suggests the most productive thing to do is amend current rules that prohibit student use of personal electronic devices. Other schools have enjoyed success after taking this approach and Medford High School is prepared to do the same. From there, many novel situations will present themselves and require further legislative acts so everyone will be encouraged to learn more. Both are good things leading to education and treatment.

       Education is buoyed by the SMLP's previously conducted curriculum development. The focus on our student-teacher relationship in a classroom setting provides sufficient material for any teacher who wishes to implement Social Media as a curricular enhancement or as a focus in itself. Faculty as well as many in all grade levels have expressed a desire to learn more and incentives exist for both sides of the relationship. Teachers can gain Professional Development Points as part of their contractual obligations. Courses already underway rely on educational tablet instruction and are perfect for helping employees put Social Media in an academic context. As for students, fulfilling graduation requirements becomes the incentive for committing to collaborative development. Mandatory community service hours are a significant resource and will be discussed more in future posts.

       The final intervention attempts to treat the current condition of our new educational tool. As it exists today, Social Media in the hands of a mostly uneducated campus population  is in disrepair. Our information represents a tangible product of the lives we lead and early anecdotal impressions, while showing many positive trends, are frequently alarming. Of course the key word there is "anecdotal" but more thorough research will be conducted soon. Identifying detrimental behavior is no easy task but, as Medford High is increasingly viewed as a learning environment, useful data can be generated.

       Pursuing these incentives over the months ahead will provide many opportunities. Ideally, blog posts will be published with the same regularity as in the internship's first two months and will detail novel situations as they develop. While tempting, adhering to a calendar of scheduled goals is restricting because the school's daily life is always in flux. Instead, the SMLP will do its best to collaborate with a balanced approach to each strategy. For up to date inquiries, do not hesitate to ask.

A Policy Initiative

            Educators who collaborated with the Social Media Literacy Program in its development and early implementation did so in the hopes of finding a role for Social Media in the classroom. At Medford High School, teachers wanted to know how it can help them do their job better and this influence is what lead to evaluations as both a curricular enhancement and focus. Along with the Beth Phillips sample curriculum, this information is enough to guide any high school's effort to use Social Media in an academic context. With these practical ideas now complete, the new incentive for my internship is to direct analysis away from classroom application and towards broader policy initiatives.

             

            To have a complete perspective, policy analysis must focus not only on Medford High School but on all schools in the district. The related rules and regulations are drafted and approved by the Medford School Committee and those that are currently in place do not account for Social Media use in all the ways it affects campus life from kindergarten through 12th grade. The novelty of our current situation, where Social Media use is considered a serious topic, could not have been foreseen by previous policy initiatives because its prevalence in schools was not obvious. In the brief existence of the SMLP, analysis has uncovered major activity, both positive and negative, that will come to be a responsibility.

            

            Currently, the primary documents which mandate student behavior are the school handbooks. The comprehensive policies contained within them are what students agree to abide by as well as what faculty members are responsible for overseeing. While Social Media use can be related to a number of topics within handbook purview, the most significant is the Acceptable Use Policy. No mention of Social Media is made in any of the student handbooks but current policies, if applied in earnest, would contradict initiatives that attempt to pragmatically use Social Media.

            

            The specifics of this are what will now be the topic of future blog posts and activity in the SMLP. Previous research in addition to meetings with students and school leaders both in and out of Medford will inform a final presentation to be conducted at a future school committee meeting. An emphasis will be made on enacting policy that, instead of relying on constricting rules, will facilitate a dialogue. Experience up until now has shown that enhancing the student-teacher relationship with Social Media creates novel situations that old methodology is not prepared to deal with. Moving towards an equitable policy that promotes collaboration with hopes of fostering innovation will be heavily influenced by the SMLP's NEST Criteria, which is based in adaptive evaluation rather than restrictive regulation.

            

            Along with the in-class curricular role of Social Media, whatever policy is enacted will represent the tangible contribution of this internship and the SMLP. Any advice for acting in this legislative process would be greatly appreciated and your comments can be left below.

Suggested Reading: For those who’d like to know the major influencers behind my policy initiative, the most significant person, who I do not know in real life, is Linda Darling-Hammond. Her 2010 book The Flat World and Education: How America’s Commitment to Education Will Determine Our Future is a big reason why I’m more excited the SMLP will pursue a policy initiative, instead of a sample curriculum. There is greater potential.

Third Party Student Perspective Update

     In an academic context, it is understood that to utilize a complete perspective one must consider a third party with similar objectivity. As applied to this blog’s recurring student perspective updates, this post is an analysis of the essay, Morality and Ethics Behind the Screen: Young People’s Perspectives on Digital Life, by Flores and James. This collaboration between education professors from Harvard University and Brown University is on a qualitative study they conducted in 2012 which attempted to, “explore targets and triggers, observe ethical lapses, and consider practical implications of student life,” on social media platforms. Their focus was on three prevalent ways of thinking displayed by all interviewed students: Individualistic, Moral, and Ethical (as related to Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory). Their data and conclusion that, “ While teens and young adults approach life online with their own interests foremost, the prevalence of moral thinking is notable,” are a significant source for the SMLP.

      The conclusion’s primary message relays a call for more research to be conducted on the subject of young people using social media. That’s a pleasant thought because the only difference between it and the SMLP’s perspective is that “young people” is replaced with “student.” All their data and qualitative analysis reports a situation where Social Media users, “showed ethical thinking capacity but lacked consistency.” Clearly there is an incentive for educators to promote positive targets and triggers while discouraging negative ethical lapses.

      Where Flores and James’ research can progress along with the SMLP has potential a long a number of paths. For instance, their method of engaging with students could be applied to a much larger population size by becoming involved in the student-teacher relationship. The sample questions made available within the essay’s appendix are an outline for other educators to assess their students and share information. With more of an SMLP influence, the research may be practically applied to the recently posted intervention points where positive and negative incentives can be pursued.

      For the students themselves, this means being much more aware of the academic aspect of their life. The SMLP up to this point has gotten the impression that students and teachers do not want their relationship to have “more” of an influence over their lives, which is kind of sad in some way, but pragmatically speaking it implies the current interactions must become more efficient. Those who are working to adapt within the evolving education environment realize that becoming more efficient is essential to having a system where equity, collaboration, and innovation can thrive. Naturally, research from those who share that perspective will be mutually beneficial as an intellectual resource.


Thank you, Flores and James.


Note: Below, in the comment section, please share any additional material that you think should be considered if the SMLP is to view Social Media with an academic perspective. The more sources we share, the more established this discipline will become.

Our State of the Union's Academic Perspective

            Last night’s State of the Union Address and subsequent responses by the minority parties represent all relevant political perspectives in our country. It is not controversial to state that Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian politics make up all our represented interests so comparing the trio’s transcripts can reveal objective information on a number of social issues. For academic purposes, comparing each representative’s rhetoric to the relevant educational values will give us a sense of where policy might lead. One of these three political perspectives will wind up with significant influence and change our schools. Clearly they identify education policy reform as a priority but do similarities end there?

            Demanding that our schools improve in relation to those in other nations was a common thread within the transcripts. President Obama brought up vocational aptitude in Germany while both Senator Rubio and Senator Paul referenced foreign interests and how we should become the envy of the world, respectively. When voiced, their addresses emphasized education policy reform as a high priority, even if one speech was a bit heavy handed.[1] Finding the American way will surely be a compromise and analyzing where the interests are, as of last night, can reveal what imminent policy change will look like. Imminent refers to the recognition by educators that changes must occur, really soon.

            Obviously the President was able to go into much greater detail with his longer time at the podium but proportionally, the Democratic perspective contained more rhetoric addressing how we choose to learn as a nation. This was the result of including it in the purview of other issues, as well as its own focus.[2] As for policy, interests are specifically focused on pre-school improvement and high school modernization to suit our institutions of higher learning and labor responsibility. The most revealing quote that, “Higher education can’t be a luxury – it’s an economic imperative every family in America should be able to afford,” highlights the sound acknowledgement of progressive changes but also introduces the biggest question, how will money play a role?

            This is the top concern for Republicans. Senator Rubio included it as part of a response focused on funding, which considered the most “non-traditional” forms of education. All proposals were primarily influenced by a party message of reduced spending. It’s hard to tell if Republicans want to allow a democratic president to oversee positive education reform, but political interests aside, someone needs to know how money can change hands more efficiently.

            Senator Rand Paul’s Libertarian Response shares an emphasis of education policy reform as a priority with the status quo, but actually goes against prevailing academic trends. This perspective calls for schools to rely on “school choice” and scholastic “competition” as a driving force to excellence. This goes directly against core principals those working in education are finding to be the best. We know that equity and collaboration facilitate innovative learning. The political rhetoric behind Paul's counterproductive response to education reform is in the nature of party followers but does not have a place in the modern classroom.

            Using these three perspectives, the nation will now respond to incentives as they present themselves over the next four years. The idea that education is best served by an ethics of equality and collaboration in the interest of innovation will land as ironic to the cynics of contemporary governance. Knowing that our potential will only be realized in the form of a compromise, it’s nice to see that each perspective represented by our government officials has at least something in common. For the most up to date information as to how all this proceeds, just look to your local school. While we question the competency of those in Washington, remember that many more people are hard at work, dealing with our novel situation every day.

           

---

[1] Education, School, Student, and Teacher Quotes: Obama(31) – Rubio(13) – Paul(9)

[2] Which is what Rubio and Paul only touched on.

Intervention Points

     Up to this point in the SMLP, student perspective updates have been informed by personal engagement in the classroom and on Social Media platforms. Focusing on these first interactions is a form of introspective analysis which generates unique data and reflects how each student-teacher interaction is like no other. Although this is a significant point to consider when analyzing new information, it only serves half of an academic perspective. In order to remain balanced and objective, outrospective analysis must be considered. The question becomes, if the SMLP is trying to examine social media in an academic context, what can we learn from all that exists outside the student-teacher relationship?
        
     The first part of our answer to this question is found with an understanding that "context" here refers to social circumstances. Academic was defined earlier in this blog as relying on the student-teacher relationship where incentive is to realize student potential. Non-academic contexts would comparatively involve other relationships, each with their own unique incentive. Examples of these include but are by no means limited to: citizen-government, retailer-customer, firm-client, etc. Detailing the dynamics of each one would be fascinating, and perhaps worth discussing in the comment section below, but to inform the SMLP we must take a broader look to see what each of these relationships, including academic, has in common.
        
     One commonality between them is information exchange. Each relationship involves two demographics where both exist because of the need for communication with the other (ex. teachers and students can't exist independently). No matter which way the information flows, there are three distinct points. (1) The origin of data in demographic^a (2) The connection between a corresponding demographic^b (3) The processing of data by demographic^b. These three points represent the useful knowledge gained from asking the initial outrospective question.
        
     For those in academics, points 1, 2, and 3 can be pragmatically viewed as the focus of separate interventions for adapting to Social Media use. For example, a teacher needs to understand how they originate data, how that data connects to students, and how students process that data. Students need to understand the inverse. Doing this will balance our perspective of Social Media in an academic context. The more data is available, the more complete our perspective will be. The greatest contributions would come from long term interactions both in and out of the classroom, which take the form of a possible curriculum enhancement or focus.
    
     Each intervention involves more than just an increased awareness of what is happening on different Social Media platforms. Learning more about the origin of data will help inform regulation, written in the interest of promoting best practices. Learning more about the connection between students and teachers will directly contribute to the quality of education being supplied. Finally, an evaluation of data processing will reveal where school interventions are appropriate for both students and teachers alike.

Note: In the interest of making data more available, a new community service project will begin at Medford High School which involves census taking of student-teacher internet social culture. Please contribute any census questions or guidelines you would like by commenting below.

Curricular Focus

             The most frequently asked question from educators who realize Social Media must be addressed is, “how can it enhance curricula?” A satisfactory answer demonstrates Social Media’s potential as a tool for supplementing traditional teaching methods, which was the subject of a previous post. While this is enough to find a pragmatic role for things like blogs and wikis in the classroom, our understanding of the tool itself remains incomplete. For that, educators and students must focus on Social Media as a stand-alone academic subject. Critical analysis of new material as it is produced takes a dedicated plan and a combination English-Ethics Curriculum would guide a course where all enrolled collaborate in an effort to better understand our new tool.

            Qualifying the academic pursuit of Social Media understanding as an English course is appropriate. In essence, students will critically analyze what’s being shared across multiple platforms the same way they would text in a novel. Developing a course load’s worth of assignments and lesson plans was at one point going to be the final product of this blog. That was until I found the work of Beth Phillips, a former grad student at the University of Missouri who completed such a project several months ago. Her curriculum identifies material produced on Social Media and gives it academic respect while recognizing the novel Ethical constructs which present themselves. It alone is enough to demonstrate how substantial a Social Media course can be. The only remaining issue is to decide how it might be tailored to Medford High School, or any high school for that matter. An unexpected assist when making this decision comes from the well established educational bureaucracy.

            If a school is to offer any particular course for students it must demonstrate how that course fulfills existing requirements found at multiple levels: the state, the district, the school, and the department. Each level represents the interests of a particular group responsible for seeing that students are getting what they need. These interests are described in the corresponding mission statements, each drafted by a distinguished group of educators. If a proposal for developing a curriculum for a high school Social Media class can satisfy all the relevant mission statements, it has the potential for moving forward. Using all the different terminology found at each level and adding core principals of the SMLP (equity, collaboration, and innovation), the proposal practically writes itself.

            For a specific example of how this looks, please follow the Google-doc link which details a proposal submitted to Medford High School. While it is currently under review, the process of using mission statement terminology to fill out a proposal while providing a sample curriculum like Ms. Phillips’ is enough to show how an English-Ethics Social Media Course can be added to any high school’s course catalogue. From here it is up to the students and their teacher to make of it what they can. Class time would represent uncharted territory but the guidance of each source in this project so far is leading in the direction of academic innovation.

Student Perspective Update

    With a better perspective of why students should invest their time in the SMLP after the first cycle of classes, second cycle research primarily analyzed social data produced by the first students to involve themselves. Overwhelmingly, this took the form of tweets in relation to the @Medford_High account. Early observations confirm that students are actively involved in the Twitter-verse and engaging in an academic relationship with them has potential. This is not without concern as data analysis uncovered issues with both transparency and generating an audience. Ideally, this will be resolved when meetings with specialized student groups contribute to the school's social media profile. 
    Research up to this point has focused primarily on the Twitter account because of bureaucratic issues with establishing the Facebook page. These should be resolved soon and further information on my interaction with Facebook's Page Operations Team may be inquired using the comment section. This issue has not been a concern because Medford High's student body is much more invested in Twitter.
    As of this post time, the @Medford_High account has eighteen student followers, one faculty follower, and two alumni followers. After eleven in-class presentations I was hoping for a larger sample size but from this data some conclusions can be drawn. Student use over these two weeks varies dramatically with some followers inactive and some tweeting more than thirty-five posts per day. This demonstrates how keeping up with all student activity is unreasonable to maintain as even the small sample size generates too many posts for one person to view completely. From the account's own perspective, six outgoing tweets were viewed by all followers and reciprocated two interactions. Again, I had expected more results but these low numbers are not discouraging. Student reception in the classroom suggests an audience is there, with the big question being what may spur academic discourse.
    Outside the numbers, there are also ideological concerns. I assumed in the beginning that students would not like Medford High to follow their personal accounts for privacy reasons. This would have been fine as long as they followed the MHS account themselves. Surprisingly, students quickly made me aware that in order to have followers, the @Medford_High account must follow-back, which opens up access to their non-academic posts. Etiquette like this is great for promoting transparency but the illicit nature of their day-to-day activity, at least by a small percentage of students, causes concern. It is outside the program's purview to react when students post questionable content that does not interact specifically with the school account. On the other hand, the worst case scenario of a student post requiring immediate intervention is a very real threat to what will hopefully remain amicable interactions between students and the program.
    A mission for the next cycle will be to speak with more specialized student groups who share a common connection in social media. The MHS Mantra is an active blog for student reporting and the school's yearbook club has more material resources than they know what to do with. Hopefully students can see the incentives in using Twitter and Facebook platforms as a tool to promote their hard work.

Curricular Enhancement

     If the primary focus of this blog is to analyze social media in an academic context
and the top priority is assessing the interests of students, it is also important to know the
interests of other actors involved. This is the only way to understand the social dynamics
of groups involved in campus life. The broad perspective used in the previous post to
analyze students becomes narrow and focused when considering the interests of an
individual so, to maintain a standard of transparency, this post will focus on my own
personal interests at stake in the SMLP.
     It is important to realize that when I refer to "my interests" it means any material
benefits that pertain exclusively to me. While the growth and understanding of social
media by students and faculty is something I'd very much like to realize, it is a mutual
gain and does not entirely demonstrate why I've invested so much, myself. To describe benefits serving only my interests it would be appropriate to label them as professional in nature. Thus,
upon completion of the internship, I would like there to be a place for me to continue this
kind of work with the support of a living wage.
     Achieving this cannot be done with only the meta analysis found here or by
forming relationships with students in a classroom setting. I must also make a tangible
contribution to the academic environment. Thinking about what form that may take, I
realize the most significant writings with an influence on the student-teacher relationship
are course curricula. The most effective way for me to serve my own interest would be to
draft a curriculum that utilizes social media and aligns itself with contemporary standards of
public education.
     Developing a high school curriculum involves many steps but the first is drafting
a proposal. An effective proposal must be highly specialized in order to fulfill New
England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) requirements as related to an
individual school's mission statement. My first draft in compliance with NEASC Curriculum Overview: Indicator 3 with respect to the Medford High School mission statement attempts to outline what a grade 9-12 Ethics course may look like as part of a Social Studies department. In summary, the teacher would use a historical perspective to design lesson plans that teach students the development of globalization and how human innovation played a role. A copy of this proposal, available upon request, is currently under review by the MHS administration.
     This proposal recognizes the potential of using social media as a tool to enhance
the classroom environment. Many have asked how social media may be added to existing
curricula and while MHS teachers are well on their way to incorporating it in their lesson
plans, to reach the greatest potential gain it must be apart of a course's foundation in the
curriculum.

Note: Another idea to be explored in a future post is how social media may serve as the
focus of high school student analysis, rather than as a supplement enhancing other course
objectives. Again, please use comment space below to inquire more about the proposal
described above or to offer curriculum development advice. Thank you.

The First Question

            After discussing what went into building up the Social Media Literacy Program (SMLP) in the first two posts, updates will now attempt to analyze results from the first completed cycle of school days. Giving six presentations has been a significant step in my own development of the program but it is a small one compared to those the school had already made. I’ve learned that the use of social media was far more prevalent than initially anticipated and the resources available to develop are reliable. Results from each class varied but a common characteristic did present itself. After concluding the 20-30 minute lecture portion, the first question asked by most who listened was “Why?”

            After resisting the temptation to say, “I just told you,” I realized the discussion will inevitably evolve into a more personal one. Setup to now was about identifying incentives for all actors involved. This type of transparency is understandably unnerving because anyone with previously veiled incentives risks exposure. The most difficult leap for an individual to make in the interest of promoting equity, collaboration, and innovation in any environment is convincing the status quo  there is nothing to lose. This task has been made easier upon finding other students, faculty, and staff who are enthusiastic about building a program to promote these ideas.

            In all future endeavors to advance on this blog, analysis will focus on the reactions of those who's interests we value most, the student’s. When they ask “why,” at the presentation’s conclusion, they want to be convinced their interests are the top priority. Conveying that interests are universal in the student-teacher relationship requires a mutual understanding; although teachers are more experienced in life and thus possess more knowledge, students are recognized as having more potential and developing them promotes a symbiotic relationship. A handful of students have understood what I mean by this answer to their question and are pleasantly building on the now official Medford High Facebook and Twitter(@Medford_High) accounts.

            I can reasonably expect this trend of connecting with a few students per class to continue over time. This is especially true considering my presentation technique can only improve. Guidance classes have offered the perfect environment for these first days of the SMLP because they are an equitable sampling of the student population. I would go so far as to say they can represent the baseline or control group because future meetings with different student organizations will by nature be more specialized.

            Medford High’s six day class cycle, on an A-F schedule, will become much more crowded as new opportunities present themselves. However my substitute teaching responsibilities change in response to cold and flu season, daily guidance classes will be further supplemented by meetings in classrooms with students who share more of a rapport. This is exciting because if those groups can understand that their interest is apart of a collaborative one, their established relationship will encourage the promotion of equity while fostering innovation.

Note: 500 words will be my target for these once-a-cycle updates. If readers have any questions, please post in the comment section below. Think of posts as abstracts, each summarizing the thesis of whatever research conversation can be extrapolated below.

Entering The Classroom

            Having spent the better part of two years developing the ideas featured in this blog’s first entry, future posts will reflect analysis of student interaction in the SMLP on a weekly basis. Frequent evaluations of the program’s development become necessary because the SMLP’s proposal will be introduced to students in the classroom for the first time. Medford High School’s guidance department is sponsoring a lecture series that will feature a presentation promoting collaborative interaction on official, school administered Social Media platforms. Data produced on these platforms will be the focus of what’s to come.
           
            This presentation attempts to put the development of social media into an academic context that grade 9-12 students can relate to. The histories of social media and primary education will be compared to show how their relationship can be mutually beneficial. To begin, the term “social media” is defined so all involved can share a common understanding. Definitions and examples of social networking, blogs, digital publishing sites, wikis, podcasts, and cloud computing are all somewhat familiar to those who interact with social media but most cannot communicate their perspective to others because they never had to. After establishing this shared vocabulary, students will be told how institutions other than schools have been utilizing social media as a tool to communicate information. Demonstrating that corporations, government, NGOs, and grassroots organizers have already invested significant resources in social media campaigns will show how what most consider to be personal use is really a part of a larger social influence. This is when the presentation will transition to its second part which focuses on education’s role in understanding social media.

            A ten minute video will be shown which details how schools have developed up to this point. It is an illustrated lecture by Sir Ken Robinson, an English scholar who advises educational development around the world. Titled “Changing Education Paradigms” the video can be found on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch) and puts forth modern educational concepts that incentivize collaborative learning in an effort to equitably foster scholastic innovation. The message is that schools today are struggling to realize their potential and must welcome change.

            The third and final part of the presentation will show how social media can play a role in making changes at Medford High School. An effort to engage with students using social media in the same way that other institutions have been doing for years is necessary if academic interests are to fully embrace technology. The scope of this appears overwhelming but small first steps, like the creating official MHS Facebook and Twitter accounts, are appropriate for establishing a relationship with students. This along with blogs and wikis already in use by teachers on campus can enable students and faculty to begin having meaningful educational correspondence on-line. The parameters for this interaction will be evaluated using the NEST criteria designed to foster innovation. Explaining this will be the conclusion of the presentation and the floor will be opened for student questions. The question of how this presentation affects student conduct on Medford High School’s official Social Media platforms will be answered over the following weeks.

An Academic Context

Introduction

 

            This blog is my report on the analysis of data produced by the Social Media Literacy Program (SMLP). In the interest of understanding how Social Media can be used as a tool to enhance the classroom experience, resources will be evaluated on a first hand basis. Development of the ideas expressed in this space represents a collaborative effort which began from my perspective a little over twenty-four years ago, and from the academic perspective many, many years ago.

            Social Media as a topic of discussion within Medford High School (MHS) seems to have permeated every department, office, and classroom while remaining undefined. The term itself cannot be found in any of the district’s student handbooks but the amount of information shared by students and staff who utilize it is already influencing decisions being made on a daily basis. This internship through Suffolk University’s Ethics and Public Policy Department will be served in the interest of all parties that may benefit from a better understanding of our current situation.

            There are many ways the 2012-2013 academic year will present new opportunities for innovation. All of this is due to the commitment staff and faculty have made to giving students access to the best tools possible. The adaptability necessary to use Social Media as a tool is a characteristic that Medford High now has. The new technology being brought in by the support of our community is just what’s needed for Social Media to find a niche in both the classroom and office environments.

            Calling it the Social Media Literacy Program means to imply that this is a purely academic exercise. Outside of education, corporate and government organizations have been paying attention to Social Media developments and can now enjoy the returns on their initial investment. Early experience is helping them serve customers and constituents in new, innovative ways. Although late to the game, educators in all forms can quickly learn the basics from recent Social Media campaigns to better serve their students.

            All of this jargon is typical of most conversations surrounding Social Media in schools. In simplest terms, this internship will attempt to study and inform standard making where none currently exist. Under the supervision of program advisors at Medford High School and Suffolk University, the program’s properties will generate new information for the schools to better know a misunderstood subject.

  

Intern:

Curtis Tuden

MHS Substitute

Suffolk University EPP

781-572-7196

curtis.tuden@gmail.com 

Program Advisors: 

Suffolk University

Nir Eisikovits, PhD, LLB

Director, Graduate Program in Ethics and Public Policy

617-994-6464

neisikov@suffolk.edu

Medford High School

David Blauch

Support Service Specialist

781-393-2303

dblauch@medford.k12.ma.us

 
Requirements

            The internship requires that research be produced on a regular basis. What’s produced is capable of taking many forms but will begin with the creation of this blog where new information is shared, culminating in a final report to be presented in the Spring of 2013. Content will depend on how the program develops with respect to student participation. Any suggestions on behalf of departments within Medford High or Suffolk will be incorporated. The program’s amorphous structure is predicted to remain a characteristic of the program because unexpected future developments are bound to make preconceived plans obsolete. All steps forward will be taken with a research mentality. The end product will be information that can supplement a rewrite of the student handbook that addresses Social Media. A number of schools have already attempted this and results have varied. Medford High is capable of becoming a leader in this arena. Having spent all of the last twenty years in either the student or teacher role, it is incredible to see the amount of behavioral changes made by the student population in reaction to increased communication. Today’s generation of students is consuming more information than ever before and has an established presence in Social Media. The significance is realizing these changes will only grow in complexity.

             Progress will be evaluated in accordance with the following "NEST Criteria" which is designed to place incentives on scholastic innovation and can be applied at many levels within the Medford High Community in the effort of specializing the administration’s knowledge of Social Media:

• Its novelty, the degree to which the information demonstrates a leap in creativity
• Does the data represent a fundamental change in the governance, management, direction, or policy approach of a particular jurisdiction?
• Does the data represent a significant improvement in the process by which a service is delivered?
• Does the data introduce a substantially new technology or service concept?

• Its effectiveness, the degree to which the information has achieved tangible results
• Does the data respond to the needs of a well-defined group of clients?
• Does the data demonstrate its effectiveness in meeting its stated goals and objectives quantitatively and qualitatively?
• Does the data produce unanticipated benefits for its clients?
• Does the data present evidence of already completed, independent evaluation?

• Its significance, the degree to which the information successfully addresses an important problem of public concern
• To what degree does the data address a problem of national import and scope?
• To what degree does the data make substantial progress in diminishing the problem within its jurisdiction?
• To what degree does the data change the organizational culture or the traditional approach to management or problem solving?

• Its transferability, the degree to which the information, or aspects of it, shows promise of inspiring successful replication by other entities
• To what extent can this program be replicated in other jurisdictions?
• To what extent can this program serve as a model that other jurisdictions will seek to replicate?
• To what extent are program components, concepts, principles, or insights transferable to other disciplines or policy areas?