www.gapingvoid.com for the image!

Social media is an important part of our education, communication, political and economic environments today.

I have seen the writing on the wall for a bit over 2 years and the writing is in neon paint!

The problem we are confronted with is academia really has not been listening, walking around without its hearing aids in if you need a picture painted.

Sure that is really a generalisation but it speaks to the fact that many education institutions have simply not been keeping up with the times.

But are we shooting ourselves in the foot if we embrace all this new tech stuff, the gen y environment?

I mean education on one hand is about pedagogy, theory, paradigms and good hard learned truths contained in textbooks.

Social media recasts not only what we learn but how we learn it and even interact with it!

But social media is new, evolving at a hyper speed, and just now making it into the textbooks, and as we read about it it is outdated!

For over 2 years I have been pushing my students to experiment, in an academic fashion, with social media.

Facebook, Vimeo, Twitter, YouTube,blogger,wordpress and the list is ever growing.

In the process I have applied social media tools from  class lessons to practical projects, some have worked and some have not.

Here are a few examples.

Global Media Ethics Roundtable

#menalab3

ZU60

And of course there are the ongoing in class projects that have fed my understanding of social media, both its creation and distribution.

But academic exercises are one thing I have also been using social media in the corporate world of UAE radio.

Nightline

Nightline podcasts

Nightline TV

And then there is this blog, my Vimeo videos of my classes and my Qik videos of events as well as attempts at Audioboo.

So what is my point?

I have not written a book on these experiences and becasue of that I have zero credibility as an expert or specialist when it comes to social media in the academic world. Maybe the corporate world for that matter!

Just today a colleague looked me in the eye and told me that what I do with social media does not count it is the IT people that have the real value!

Yesterday I met a colleague responsible for publication issues and this person talked about contracting a service to teach them about social media, a DIY service of sorts.

In both cases I thought I must be invisible, or what I have done with social media must be invisible! Nope it is a credibility issue!

Maybe the problem is we still live in the old paradigm world believing that professors are detached from the real world?

Social media changes everything are we ready for the change?

I am and have long been working at the rebranding of Me, clearly I have a way to go!

I had the pleasure of meeting Ian Gilbert about a year ago.

I instantly knew that Ian had a story to tell and many people with ear plugs in need to listen and hard!

We have a global education crisis today because bureaucrats, CFO’s (chief failure officers), accountants and academic leadership in general has failed to do what needs to be done!

Maybe we all need to listen a bit closer to what Ian Gilbert is saying?

And maybe those education leaders who are failing our youth need to either stand up to the challenge or step aside!

Ian Gilbert Live at TEDxDubai 2009.

Last night I had a chance to catch up with Dr. Naif, he did an amazing talk at TEDxDubai, and as usual was amazed!

The message from Dr. Naif is simple, follow your passion and hold onto what you believe with both hands.

Have a listen to the conversation.

Dr. Naif Al Mutawa on the latest with the 99!

Nightline a Conversation

I am inspired!

It is not how big the thing is you do it is simply doing what you are passionate about.

Great things follow commitment and passion!

You might say that the great things could be a disaster, and you are right, then again they could be amazing also.

Dream-Do-BE and DARE!

All I keep asking is what can I do?

Sadly, as Oliver says in his opening sentence, I am not so sure people know where to start or if they can see where how!

For 3 months I have been saying, “there must be something I can do!”

-cook with my kids

-eat better

-make food a priority

-engage the community

I have been working on all the above and am making some headway, but it is slow.

So, Chef Andy and myself have decided to role out an imperfect way to get people thinking food right here in the UAE.

Step one FOOD RADIO!

The start of my own little attempt to make food thinking an issue in the UAE, with a DIY/HOW-TO approach!

Andy and I hope, we really do hope, that we can get 3 people to change their eating habits, learn some basic recipes and share them with another 3 people!

Oliver said, we need to learn how to cook to weather any storm, and we want to help make that happen here in the UAE!

Will it work?

All I know is that at the end of the day I can say I did my part.

I think, just maybe, we are hiding behind technology when it comes to communication today!

The old voice on the phone can be fast, effective, and definitive!

Today, everyday make one phone call when you would normally send an email or text or SMS or otherwise engage technology!

The main rule I live by with mobile media is keep it short!

I have been recording my classes at the university and formatting them for an iPhone! The lectures are about 60 minutes and they actually seem to have a small audience.

If you go to VIMEO and search James Piecowye you will see the latest 2 classes!

There is nothing special about these lectures EXCEPT they are there for students to use and share!

BUT the recordings are formatted for a phone!

The irony?

Every professor I know has the technology and root ability to record and post their classes online!

How many do?

My students say these mobile ready recordings are great for review!

I like the idea of people being able to see what they get from my class and maybe even auditing the course in cyber land!

Teachers go behind closed doors and deliver classes to a small special group and all others are kept out for fear of diluting the value of the product!

Through registration rules, applying to those in the education club, and membership rules to keep the masses out, we have made education a protected commodity.

There have been fits and spurts of academics and institutions trying to make their product more universally available but for the most part it has not worked!

Apple  has created iTunes U but even this has a very small reach that is controlled by Apple deciding who will be admitted, just another form of education clubbing!

What is stopping the average teacher KG through post graduate studies making their courses available to the curious public?

Nothing really, web2.0 technologies and the development of the laptop make self recording/editing and streaming of any content to anyone as easy as brushing your teeth!

I have been experimenting with posting my classes on livestream and have come to realize that VIMEO might be a better option, or you can see the latest class in the sidebar of this site!

I love the idea of creating a text that can be added to, developed and used by my students in class and by others globally, maybe a KNOL is the way to do that?

The point is what is stopping any professor from embracing the convergent media we live with and making their product, education, available to anyone and everyone willing to sit through an hour or so of a class?

Fear! Fear that what we say and do may not stand up to the scrutiny of the global jury?

Imagine the pool of content that could be tagged and disseminated globally on any subject if we professors actually embraced technology and made it work for us?

We really need to think of education as a global resource for all and not an elite protected commodity!

Lets face it those who want a degree will suffer my class in person and those who want to simply broaden their perspective will tune in and out as they need.

The winner? A globally educated population embracing life long learning!

Today’s gem in the rough was Bono talking about how in 2000 it felt to him like he and the band members were “re-applying” to fans to be U2 the band they had grown to love.

That idea got me thinking about my own tenure as a professor and as a radio host, are we in for life once we get the job OR do we continually need to symbolically re-apply for the position?

Maybe the re-application is through the demonstration of skills, maybe it is through the way we imagine and deliver content, maybe it is through our continual demonstration that we are not just repeating the same old thing but bringing new value to those exercises we are responsible for, be them in the classroom, office or in my case on the radio.

How is the changing world being brought into what I am doing?

And this to me is the big problem today, too few people are in the habit of re-applying for the position they hold, and evaluations do not count unless they are going to see you asked to leave!

Look at what you are doing and ask the simple question, “if I was applying for my job today would I be the candidate most suited for the position?”

If you can not say,”yes”, without question  you are the best candidate for the job and you would hire yourself then you have some work to do!

The real issues comes down to what is media today and what will media be tomorrow?

Content is pretty much the same BUT the delivery has changed and because of the new delivery the length of exposure to content and environment where consumption is taking place is rapidly changing.

But, and the but is big, are we as educators listening to the ceo’s like Mr. Sultan and retooling what we are doing to not only meet the wants but the needs that are just now beginning to be demanded by content consumers?

Watch part 5 of 6 of the Osman Sultan presentation.

Here is the last 3 minutes!

I 

I ask again are we as educators ready to meet the challenge and are our students ready to rise to the challenge?

Again I hope so.

We are buried in possibility really!

After watching TED 2010, no I was not there but really did wanted to be, I realized that part of our personal problem with activating ideas t is the start button!

There is no start button for many people they do not see the first box on the grid!

Or we are too scared to start the process of change!

What is going to get in the way of Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize wish, the average person in their home starting to do food differently.

Talk is cheap and so is TV but the start is expensive, it involves faith and buy in.

As Oliver said his idea is not hard, it is obvious and it is needed. WE NEED TO START.

As with all great things we need a push and maybe the school education scheme is the push. Oliver’s wish might be the start button on a personal manageable scale

Or maybe it is less to do with the start and fear of not being able to turn off the process, as is the case with most great ideas.

There is always the fear of the unknown.

So how do we start?

1. think small, like breakfast small.

2.think about a finish point you can see, making the food and eating it for one meal.

3. think of the engagement, not just doing but living with the food and the process.

4. be selfish and think about you, why you are doing this not the whole world.

This idea of making actions, tasks, idea-activation tiny is they key to success in any endeavour! If we can not see why and how and take ownership for ourselves then it is a nameless, faceless activity which is easy to ignore!