Social Media - Benefits for Researchers: May 7 - 18, 2008

Thank you all and thank you, Ignatia for facilitating this seminar. Doesn't it feel like we're at the beginning of a very interesting phase in educational research? There is so much more to explore and understand about social media. I love your summary "fact sheet" and especially that you're leaving us with a list of topics we did not cover. I think that means we need to revisit this discussion at some point in the future, doesn't it? Maybe a Social Media - Benefits for Researchers Part II seminar?

The topic and timing of this discussion has tied in nicely with the online conference at SCoPE this month: Shaping our Future: Toward a Pan-Canadian E-learning Research Agenda. Indeed, some of comments that have emerged in the discussions during this conference point to a need to look at new habits and trends. One that caught my attention is the speed at which we share research using traditional methods. After all, research can have a shelf life! By the time a scholarly research paper is submitted, reviewed, revised, reviewed, etc it may not longer be as relevant.

So here's hoping for a Part II, and also that you will all join the online conference! There are more presentations scheduled this week and many forum topics to dive into.

Our next seminar is Viral Professional Development with Heather Ross and Jennifer Jones, June 2 - 22. Hope to see you all there!