Skip to main content

Three Platforms for Learning in Blended Classroom

 SCOOP.IT

I’d like to start out with a site that is not on the list SCOOP.IT but would be along the lines of Delicious and Diigo as a social bookmarking site.  I use it for all of my classes and have a link to the appropriate scoop in the appropriate class.  For example, this summer I am teaching Strategic HRM and you can see a scoop for that topic in the picture.  Click on the picture for a link to the site.
·         Describe the primary purposes or functions of the technology and how it is used. Students have to review practitioner posts as part of their blog assignment.  This is a great place to go to find good articles that I have reviewed and deemed appropriate.  They have another list of approved sites as well.  For example, in my HRM course students have to write a sample employee handbook.  As I review the articles posted, I may tag a new article related to the topic in the HRM scoop.
·         Identify strengths and/or benefits of using this technology in a blended course.  It can be used in any type of course but specifically for blended you can have students review before you meet in person to cover the main points of their findings in a particular scoop.
·         Identify weaknesses and/or liabilities of using this technology in a blended course. The weakness would be that you really can’t tell if the student went to the site and read an article. 
·         Is it no cost, commercial, subscription, shareware, or something else? Is it open source or proprietary? I would consider it an open source since its bookmarking articles from all types of sources.
·         Why is this technology significant? It’s a place I can store topics publically for students, clients, and peers for free.
·         What are people saying about it? Do some research, summarize what people are saying in your post, and Include the links to important comments about the technology. I think this is a good summary to start with: http://cursivecontent.com/what-the-heck-is-scoop-it/.  However, this is better where it compares scoop.it to several others.  Some I have heard of and use and some I don’t: https://www.brandwatch.com/2015/02/10-popular-social-bookmarking-websites-2015/.  Specifically, it caters to the type of professions related to the topics I teach like business, non-profits and corporations.

TWITTER

The second technology I have been using in blended and other courses since 2011 is twitter.  I have used this to build student/instructor relationships, share pertinent content, encourage pre-graduation networking with professionals in the field, and to follow related twitter chats and live blog talk radio streaming. Click picture to go to our class site.
·         Describe the primary purposes or functions of the technology and how it is used. See assignment in visual.
·         Identify strengths and/or benefits of using this technology in a blended course.  The strength is they can build relationships immediately with recruiters in the area they plan to work in advance of graduation.
·         Identify weaknesses and/or liabilities of using this technology in a blended course. Students don’t get the 140-character limit and all the abbreviations similar to texting.  The learning curve is much higher than a Scoop.it account for example. 
·         Is it no cost, commercial, subscription, shareware, or something else? Is it open source or proprietary? Free and open source.
·         Why is this technology significant? It’s a place I can store topics publically for students, clients, and peers for free.
·         What are people saying about it? Do some research, summarize what people are saying in your post, and Include the links to important comments about the technology. Since we study recruiting in HR this is a great chat to understand and participate in which is run by full-time recruiters every week at 9pm cst. https://twitter.com/jobhuntchat. Here is another weekly chat using hashtag #worktrends https://twitter.com/hashtag/worktrends that also coincides with a blog talk radio show http://www.blogtalkradio.com/talentculture.  All related to the topic the student is working in learning from the practitioners in addition to the academic learning provided in the textbooks.

LINKEDIN

LinkedIn is also used in all of my classrooms regardless of type (blended, f2f, and online) to help students learn how the recruiting professionals use the site as well as to build a professional site for their own career advancement and begin networking with those in the field. For example, they can learn specifically how the recruiters screen potential candidates using the technology via http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-recruiters-screen-you-on-linkedin-2014-05-02.
o    Describe the primary purposes or functions of the technology and how it is used.  The students are assigned the following to accomplish this goal.  See visual of assignment.
o    Identify strengths and/or benefits of using this technology in a blended course. It gives students and upper hand on job seeking before graduation as well as understanding how the HR field uses the technology to get their job done.  Again, a practical approach to learning.
o    Identify weaknesses and/or liabilities of using this technology in a blended course. Like twitter students don’t always want to “be out there on the internet publically”.  I do give them an option to create a fake account and lock it down.
o    Is it no cost, commercial, subscription, shareware, or something else? Is it open source or proprietary? No cost and open source because people create their own accounts.
o    Why is this technology significant? One of the top 4 social accounts and the most professional site used now.
o    What are people saying about it? Do some research, summarize what people are saying in your post, and Include the links to important comments about the technology.  The following shows LinkedIn among other sites like Young Professionals: https://www.sitepoint.com/social-networking-sites-for-business/.  Also, see this gif showing linked in atop of all the best job board sites out there.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

55 Active Job Search Sites (Updated 7/19)

I had a company encouraging me to update this list over the last couple of months.  Since they focus on veteran hiring and I am a veteran supporting other veterans I am happy to add the following to this original posting from 2017. Silent Professionals is a free veteran recruitment service. Their differentiating factor is that they focus on a very specific subset of veteran employment which is the combat arms veteran. Their site is much more than just a job board because they actually provide a service behind it which is all free to the veteran. As combat veterans themselves, with a vast amount of experience in the private security sector, they are able to use that experience and influence within the industry to act as trusted advocates for the veteran candidate. They boast an incredible 84% job placement success rate for candidates that they recommend to employers. One of the reasons they're able to do that is because of their focus on jobs for combat veterans who are seek

Honest, Vulnerable, and Transparent Communications Can Be a Curse for Women

As we approach yet another end to Women’s History Month where organizations make a sincere concerted effort to raise awareness to the issues women face in the workplace with hope for continued change, I am skeptical. Not because I do not believe in the effort. Not because I have not heard story after story of women who have made history and are honored and respected highly for women’s suffrage progress they have made. Not because I do not believe in change. I do believe strongly in the effort that brings these stories to the public causing change. However, the reason I am skeptical is the same reason so many other women question the possibility of real change. Why, because we have been victims who feel defeated repeatedly and constantly reminded of the loss experienced. When you feel you have taken two steps forward and knocked five steps back every time that original wound opens and reminds us of the curse lived just because we are a woman. I had to be quiet about the real reason I

HR Assessment Risk Summary

In summarizing the potential for risk in the human resources and personnel practices of organizations visited over the past few years, the highest risk of audits, investigations, grievances and the resulting potential for penalties, fines and legal concerns come from six primary sources.   The main reason for concerns are because certain federal and state agencies are making it a priority to investigate: Misclassification of employees as exempt, Illinois led the nation in active investigations 3,635 involving 19,765 misclassifications, 245.6 million in unreported taxable wages, 5.1 million in unemployment tax unreported, 270,570 employees impacted. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced that 84,254 workplace discrimination charges were filed with the federal agency nationwide during fiscal year (FY) 2017, and secured $398 million for victims in the private sector and state and local government workplaces through voluntary resolutions and litiga