Holly, As I teach online journalism and new media, which in many aspects is a practical course, here are a few suggestions: - Get students to analyze how different groups (journalists, activists, politicians) use the same platforms - Twitter, Facebook, etc. - Get students to use Storify and similar tools to learn how to curate content - and to think about what this means for the communications sphere. - This is not something I do in my course, because I teach journalism students, but, depending on how broadly you define communications and which students you teach the course to, it might be worth looking at how people use social media to express themselves - emotionally and creatively; how people construct identities through using social networks; how using social media redefines the notion of memory; how generations interact on social networks. These areas could all be turned into very practical tasks involving content analysis and ethnography-like techniques. May I also suggest another excellent read - Tales From Facebook by Daniel Miller http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Facebook-Daniel-Miller/dp/0745652107 Cheers, On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 9:12 PM, Holly Kruse <holly.kruse@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm teaching a two-week long intersession short course called "Using Social Media" during spring intersession, and I'd love some ideas for assignments and topics to cover. It's not an online course. I've taught much more theoretical, historical, etc. semester-long courses on digital media/CMC, but this class is meant to be quite applied. I'm having the students read Nancy Baym's Personal Connections in the Internet Age and Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody, and the students will write a paper, but I need to fill three hours a day for two weeks, so any suggestions are most welcome!

Thanks,

Holly

---- Holly Kruse. Department of Communications Rogers State University 1701 W. Will Rogers Blvd. Claremore, OK 74017 918-343-7879 hkruse@rsu.edu or DrKruseRSU@gmail.com http://hollykruse.com or http://www.rsu.edu/academics/comm/kruse.asp _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

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-- Tetyana Lokot Doctoral student in MassComm Head of New Media Sequence Mohyla School of Journalism National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy" 8/5, Volos`ka Str., building 4, office 404, Kyiv, Ukraine, 04070 mob: +380506611020 http://www.j-school.kiev.ua

Holly, As your course has a rather applied focus, the students might benefit from a (partial) case study approach. Depending on the demographics of your class, blending these case studies with academic literature helps to further combine theory with practice. I noticed before the enthusiasm students have exploring applied cases by means of discussion and analytical argumentation construction. Previously I used these case studies in helping senior-level marketing managers understand contemporary issues related to digital marketing -- application in executive education is helpful. A great starting point for understanding the case method is: http://www.hbs.edu/teaching/case-method-in-practice/. For instance, take a look at the HBS Higher Education resources (also include case studies from other universities/business schools, e.g. Stanford, INSEAD and the University of Hong Kong). Many include also teaching notes or blackboard plans. Try to blend in the insights and key learnings of each case with the background / discipline diversity. A few examples you might want to explore: - *Negative impact of social media related to viral effects *(recommended!): http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=3766226&R=W11159-PDF... - *Social Media in the Presidential Election of Barack Obama:* http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=597153&R=709493-PDF-... - *Meteor Solutions: Measuring the Value of Social Media Marketing: ** http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=3193224&R=KEL548-PDF... * - *Customers' Revenge (fictional case study - merging the corporate implications of misusing social media): * http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/R0712A-PDF-ENG - *Evaluating Social Media campaigns (Ford Fiesta)* http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=2664221&R=511117-PDF... Others: - *Coca Cola on Facebook: * http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=2662223&R=511110-PDF... - *MySpace *(more a corporate exploration "inside-out understanding"): http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=46776&R=708499-PDF-E... - *UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0: * http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=95692&R=509035-PDF-E... - *Facebook *(more a corporate exploration, see also (A) and (B))*:* http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=52295&R=808128-PDF-E... - *Digital Marketing in the Music Industry: * http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=1482176&R=510055-PDF... - *Customers' Revenge ((fictional case study - merging the corporate implications of misusing social media): * http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/R0712A-PDF-ENG - *Swimming in the Virtual Community Pool with PlentyofFish:* http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=59271&R=908M15-PDF-E... - *Sephora Direct: Investing in Social Media, Video, and Mobile: * http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=2971221&R=511137-PDF... - *Cisco Systems: * http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=3500221&R=KEL579-PDF... - Good luck with the intersession course, Tim 2012/2/20 Holly Kruse <holly.kruse@gmail.com>

I'm teaching a two-week long intersession short course called "Using Social Media" during spring intersession, and I'd love some ideas for assignments and topics to cover. It's not an online course. I've taught much more theoretical, historical, etc. semester-long courses on digital media/CMC, but this class is meant to be quite applied. I'm having the students read Nancy Baym's Personal Connections in the Internet Age and Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody, and the students will write a paper, but I need to fill three hours a day for two weeks, so any suggestions are most welcome!

Thanks,

Holly

---- Holly Kruse. Department of Communications Rogers State University 1701 W. Will Rogers Blvd. Claremore, OK 74017 918-343-7879 hkruse@rsu.edu or DrKruseRSU@gmail.com http://hollykruse.com or http://www.rsu.edu/academics/comm/kruse.asp _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/

On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 2:12 PM, Holly Kruse <holly.kruse@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm teaching a two-week long intersession short course called "Using Social Media" during spring intersession, and I'd love some ideas for assignments and topics to cover. It's not an online course. I've taught much more theoretical, historical, etc. semester-long courses on digital media/CMC, but this class is meant to be quite applied. I'm having the students read Nancy Baym's Personal Connections in the Internet Age and Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody, and the students will write a paper, but I need to fill three hours a day for two weeks, so any suggestions are most welcome!

The faculty developer in me can't help but ask: What are the goals of the course? How do you want students to be changed? It's awful hard to recommend content or methods without knowing those things! (Incidentally, I enjoyed Nancy Baym's book very much and think it would be really good as a textbook in relevant courses.) Kevin