FB and Twitter Make You More Productive

A study I saw today from a Wired article shows how Facebook and Twitter makes people more productive. It really is a great article and is certainly worth a read here: Wired Magazine

The basic principle is that we explore and then exploit. It also goes back to the idea that we are entering a time of non-linear thinking and doing. Our younger generation is a group exponential learners (and doers). They look like they are goofing off - and may very well be doing just that. But then the deadline comes and everything is somehow completed expertly.

Educators NEED to recognize this now. I'll say it again. Social Media is NOT a toy.

You might read further into the comments and you'll see someone who doesn't buy in to the idea. He/she makes the comment that "everything in moderation" applies here. Not sure what they thought was the argument to what was being said, but they certainly used the phrase to try and discredit the information. It was a worthy try.

I kind of took it as a response to a previous post that expressed the need for educators to read the article. It was something they needed to read and "get". This response downplayed the ability of social media to make people more productive through bursts of productivity interlaced with downtime.

So, I might disagree with the conclusion, but I'll always side with the "moderation" phrase. However, this is my conclusion:

I don't think anyone gets lost on Facebook and Twitter because they are being lazy or actively searching for ways to waste time. I believe it's just too easy to want to consume more information. And then we look up and the day is gone. So I don't think "moderation" is the problem/solution/goal here. It's focus. It's the ability or skill to focus. Or the ability to take the wealth of information, stop the input, and focus the information into a bright beam of productivity. Focus People.

And if Social Media is not a toy. If it will exist in the workplace. If it is a viable communication and teaching tool, then we have ONE MORE reason to teach with it in our schools. ONE MORE reason that we should be teaching digital litteracy and skills in the classroom.

Our students need to learn how to manage and focus, focus and manage. But they still need the right and then left brain activity spurts to keep them going. Ignoring what the world and workplace is doing to get product is putting our students years behind the industry. They need the skill - it's one that they will only learn on their own through maturity. Which means wasting a whole lot of time, taking zeros on assignments, getting reprimanded/fired from work, etc.

The stakes are high, folks. The stakes are high.

The Challenge

I spent $10 on an iTunes giftcard and put out a mass email: First one to tell me who said this and in what year wins an iTunes session with me and the card. It was answered in under 2 minutes. Within 5 minutes I had 15 answers. Throughout the day I would have more than 25 answers and more than 3 "off-topic" conversations. More on the unperceived value of this challenge later, let me tackle my initial concept.

Here's the first quote pertaining to how we learn:
"...the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child's powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself. Through these demands he is stimulated to act as a member of a unity, to emerge from his original narrowness of action and feeling and to conceive of himself from the standpoint of the welfare of the group to which he belongs." 

What is the first thing you think of after reading this? Someone recent started ranting why IT should open the firewall back up on Facebook, right? This person must be talking about social media in the classroom.

What if I told you this was John Dewey in 1897? If you are still rolling your eyes at the quote then it would be akin to a physicist rolling his eyes at Einstein or Newton.

Dewey makes an example shortly after this quote about how a baby learns to speak. They start babbling but soon learn to control those babbles and form them into more precise sounds as their social surrounding dictate until they are able to form the sound "daddy" and connect that to their father turning around and giving them attention enough times that "Daddy" becomes the name of the father.

So... If our social demands and language is changing (again back to my mission as a tech specialist - what I'm constantly telling you) and our learning is based on "stimulation of powers by the demands of social situations" then how important is it to be involved and working within the demands of that social climate? Essentially, there is a younger generation that is beginning to speak a completely separate language that is more rich than you can keep up with and they are - in all reality - with out the ability to speak the language of the other generation.

But why is that important? Shouldn't they just tone it down and zone in and "if they want a grade then they'll listen up"? My mission is to get you to understand that this is not a fad or a use of toys and entertainment devices, this is an evolving language!

If I still haven't gotten your attention, then I want you to sit down in a classroom to learn something you have no idea about, and the teacher will ONLY speak a Shakespearean English. You will be required to listen up and follow along. You know every single word, none of those words are non-English, I mean, Shakespeare had about a third of the vocabulary you have, so you should be able to follow along.

Something I've learned from this is the reverse. I'm speaking a hyper language and expecting a lot of you to run to my videos and even this blog and learn and run with it. But you aren't speaking this language. So what did I do about it?

Well, jumping off of my last blog, I used a classic marketing technique. I gave away a free iTunes card and created a buzz. The buzz was about two separate things:
1.) it might be worth it to open Jacob's email immediately - it will have good and quick info anyway; and
2.) Who said that and when did they say that?
-- Which inevitably leads to a.) you having some buy-in to read my blog based on your previous interest and how easily you were able to come up with the info (so many more people participated since it was easy to just copy and paste the quote into google without even reading - you wouldn't have if you would have had to look it up in the library) and;
b.) wondering what the heck I was getting at with a quote from John Dewey in 1897.

What can you learn from my Challenge in its delivery method? How could you apply that? Have I gotten you interested in looking at social media as not a toy yet?

***Next blogs: 1.) affects of the challenge and the "off-topic" conversations
2.) At least a third of the people who answered gave the guilty confession "but don't count me, I used Google." .... wwwhhhhaaaaaaaaat?!?!

Oh! And here was the other quote from John Dewey in the challenge:

"...these interests are neither to be humored nor repressed. To repress interest is to substitute the adult for the child, and so to weaken intellectual curiosity and alertness, to suppress initiative, and to deaden interest."

What's that make you think?

No computers / not enough computers / We don't need computers in our classroom.

Problem: No computers / not enough computers / We don't need computers in our classroom.

The third of those is the one that's not like the other. I shake my smirk at you. We'll address it in turn.

Remember when I asked you to take a moment to consider what textbooks cost in terms of money? Laptops and desktops are dropping in price and getting very close if not cheaper than a textbook. Take a look at a notebook computer at retail price (try Walmart/Sams). You think you can't get those for cheaper at wholesale bulk pricing?

If you have no computers in the classroom... give me a name and number and I'll make a call. And DO!, use this as motivation to get out there and tell your administrator you need computers. Then do some homework on the costs and where you might find grants (or not in that order if you are intimidated by the pertinent person.)

If you have a computer in the classroom then you can always group students together and make sure that they not only take turns typing in search terms, but that they also all grab sources individually. Collaboration when it comes to computer skills is NOT AT ALL a bad thing. It doesn't even cheapen the experience. Engaged as the skill is modeled is a met objective in this case.

Why is typing in searching terms important? Who finds more and better information faster? Someone who knows how to advanced search? Or someone who knows alphebetical order? The second person - by the way - has to also be near a library and needing the information while the library is open. How far behind are those that don't know how to Google? And riddle me this: What's the driving force in learning/processing? ANSWER: It's feedback. QUESTIONS: Doesn't feedback often lead to more questions? And if it leads to more questions, then: How much more important is it to have feedback quickly? Especially in these times when, who has the time / concentration to keep up with all your questions? Technology and the innerwebs provide Instant Feedback, and drives learnng. Not just for the big questions, but for the tiny things you just want to find out more about. And doesn't that, in turn, fuel and drive a love of learning? And isn't that the greatest gift you could give your students?

But really, why care? Why be so passionate? What is at stake here? Our students are going in to college or into the workforce where computer skills are a must to be successful. Even those in technical trades could greatly improve their socio-economic impact by knowing how to use the internet to market themselves at low to no cost, how to get the most up to date info in their trade, and how to problem solve more quickly. Even the skill of networking, keeping up contacts, findingg subject matter experts, man the list goes on and on. AND: Once a person understands alphabetical order, there is no higher order skill in searching through a book to research. So what is the point of forcing that when they've got the skill if they needed it? How applicable is it to their lives and does it impact them at all? It's practically a dead practice. SO HERE'S A WHOLE 'NOTHER BLOG: How much would you have learned in American History if the teacher refused to speak English and would only speak Latin?

Here's a big point I'll steal from my wife: Not all students have the opportunity of technology and internet access at home, and they will never get it unless you do something about it. If you are in a rural area, it's even more important you provide them that opportunity. This is the actual POINT of public education.

Challenge your students at every turn. And make that impact you already make even larger.

Thoughts? Comments? Let me have it...