North Dakota State University

Most students use Social Networking tools daily to communicate with each other. Faculty can use this phenomenon to increase student engagement and learning. Here are some popular academic uses:

• Wiki: A website that allows multiple users to create, modify and organize content collaboratively.
  • Uses: Group work, collaborative writing, create review material jointly, building content that is dynamic and changeable (Example: Wikipedia)
  • Getting started:
    • Blackboard now includes wiki functionality
    • http://www.wikispaces.com
    • http://www.pbworks.com
    • Which one should you use? The wiki built into Blackboard is easier to find and is protected from the outside world. This may be a plus or a minus, depending on your point of view. Choose accordingly!
      
      
• Blog: An online journal that is frequently updated and intended to be shared.Visitors can comment, thereby adding interactivity, and group blogs are available.
  • Uses: Communicating with students, personal journals to track ongoing progress, building community, reflection, debate, knowledge sharing
  • Getting Started:
    • Blackboard now includes blog functionality
    • http://www.blogger.com
    • For blogs outside of Blackboard: To populate your blog with all the email addresses of your students, copy/paste the information from your Campus Connection class list to the Blogger setup information by following these simple steps:
      • When setting up your blog, you'll be asked to supply the email addresses of anyone you want to invite into the blog.
      • Go to the NDSU home page http://www.ndsu.edu and choose the Campus Connection link.
      • Sign in using the fields provided.
      • Choose Self Service from the menu on the left, and then choose Faculty Center.
      • Find your class displayed and click on the 3-person icon to view the Class Roster.
      • Choose the Notify Listed Students button at the bottom of the roster.
      • Highlight the student email addresses in the BCC box and press CTRL-C to copy them.
      • Return to Blogger and paste the addresses into the appropriate field using CTRL-V.
      • Continue on with the setup of the blog.
        
        
• Scholar: Social bookmarking service that is customized for education. It is built into Blackboard as a separate tab.
  • Uses: Store your bookmarks where you can get to them anyplace you can get to Blackboard. Share your bookmarks with students, researchers, and colleagues.
    For practical uses, view this slide share from Grand Rapids Community College.
  • Getting Started:  Visit the excellent instructions from Union College at http://curriculum.union.edu/blackboard/bb_newdocs/scholar.pdf