Sexting, Teens and the Digital IQ Gap

Today I took part in a great online discussion sponsored by Postmedia about teens and sexting. The discussion covered related issues like kids and online safety, cyberbullying, parenting in the digital age, and how to get student leaders involved in mentoring other students about being smart and safe online and on-the-go via mobile phones. My discussion panel included Paul Taillefer, president of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation and Matthew Pearson, an education reporter for the Ottawa Citizen. It was organized and actively moderated by Ruth Dunley of Postmedia Digital.

The entire chat transcript is online, just click the image below to see the session including comments from many guest participants (including parents, teachers, and some teens and twenty-somethings) who dropped by to get involved in the discussion.

click image to see full transcript

 

Online Learning and an iPad Giveaway

It’s that time of the year again, launching on Valentine’s Day, the annual Summer eLearning video contest at Queen’s University — and first prize is a shiny new iPad.

Students are challenged to submit a 3 minute (max) web video short about why online learning in the summer is great! The video with the most YouTube likes takes home the lovely new gadget (or a Best Buy gift card for the equivalent amount of a 16G model). Contest closes on 16 March. All the contest details and regulations are here.

I’m teaching a course this summer on digital culture trends so I am VERY excited about this cool little contest. Here’s a 45 second video promo I made for Queen’s Continuing and Distance Studies to promote the contest!


 
And here are some of my favorite entries from last year’s contest, including the grand prize winner “Online at Queen’s — A Love Story” by Hayley V. Fuller. Enjoy!


 

Social Media Campus Talks

I have just booked a few on-campus talks at events seeking participants from across the disciplines, so the discussions should be really interesting. Join us!

Using Social Media for Health Promotion: Best Practices

February 2012
The Peer Health Educator (PHE) “Be Well Do Well” program run out of Health, Counselling and Disabilities Services at Queen’s University. This short talk will focus on how to effectively use social media tools, channels, and communications for health promotion and outreach. February 2nd. Location is Dunning 10, and the talk starts at 5:30pm.

Social Media in the Classroom

February 2012
Using social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are common practices in our personal lives, but what if we could also use them as teaching tools in our classrooms? In this workshop we will discuss about how we can effectively incorporate social media into our teaching practices. February 7, 2012. Queen’s University, Dunning 10, 7pm to 9pm. Registration is $2.

Social Media and Reputation Management

March 2012
This presentation is part of the lineup prepared for the Queen’s School of Business Innovation Summit 2012. This years theme is “get disruptive!” The presentation will cover topics including creative strategies, tools, and best practices in designing an online presence with professional impact. We’ll also discuss how to manage Facebook and other social media sites in the era of online recruiting, how to optimize a LinkedIn profile, and how to bury “digital dirt” from search engine results and how to improve personal SEO on Google. March 10, 2012. Queen’s University.

New Digital Trends e-Course

Are you looking for an online course this summer in social, mobile, and digital media culture trends? Queen’s University has one!


More info at FILM260.com

Thank you Hayley V Fuller for making this video!

Job Searching in Public

A new study by Wakefield Research (infographic below) shows that although almost 9 out of 10 job searchers think privacy is important when searching for a job, but three-quarters of us think that in the age of social media, there is no longer any such thing as a private job search.

Quite an amazing disparity when you think about it. That enormous gap between our preferences (privacy please) and perceptions (everything is public) when it comes to seeking employment, indicates a widespread cultural need for a secure search solution.

And yet, instead of increased confidentiality we see the exact opposite trend, as job searches get more public. Consider the amazing recent popularity of Facebook job apps like BranchOut and BeKnown. The success of these new services might indicate that more of us are comfortable with social career development. It’s just as likely however, that we think we’ve no choice. In line with the survey findings, the BeKnowers and Branchouters are jumping on a trend widely perceived as inevitable: the job market is thoroughly social. Employers are screening candidates online, evaluating applicants according to their social media footprint.

And companies continue with this surveillance and social listening after they make a hire. A case in point: just this month the story of an HR professional who got fired for posting his resume on LinkedIn was carried across mainstream media — another sign of massive interest in this trend of socializing all-things human resources. In that case, the employee was not actively job searching (he claims, though he did check the box indicating an interest in “career opportunities”) but the company objected to the disclosure of what they felt was private information on his profile. This case points to the everyday social media monitoring and management that companies are engaged in, including active investigation of staff social profiles to enforce compliance with corporate social media policy.