Why Lehigh (and every other) University needs to be on Gplus. Now.
Posted by Jeremy on July 7, 2011 · 19 Comments
I have already said that I love , and I had a post where I made a case why journalism students here at Lehigh and elsewhere need to jump in the fray now. But I wanted to sketch out some thoughts about why Lehigh University as a whole needs to be looking at GPlus.
The short version is that this tool is going to change education. And I think it’s here to stay. There will be some quoted sections from my journalism post, which I’ll put in block quotes so you can skip if you read the other ones.
As the new-kid-on-the-block challenger to Facebook, there are many questions out there about whether it’s worth it to learn it. I’m already on record about the fact that I think this thing is a game-changer, and I think it’s time for our Lehigh journalism, marketing, and PR students to get on the train now so they can be ahead of the curve. We don’t want to wait until someone tells us at a leadership or strategic communication seminar 2 years from now.
I’ve been an evangelist for as a journalistic tool since 2007 and first used it in my classes at Missouri in 2008. Back then it had a funny name and wasn’t instantly seen as useful. People thought it was silly or a waste of time. I had (and have) a great role model in Jen Reeves to keep pushing, and over time the journalism crowd came around.
I hear similar things about Gplus. “It’s a waste of time” or “Not ANOTHER social network!” or “Why do I need another Facebook?” or “I don’t understand it.”
Some of my rationale for journalism does apply to universities as well. The page feature, for example, is a great way to interact with alumni who might be using a different product than Facebook, so it’s a space you need to be in. And building those connections is a bit easier than it is on Facebook. When I was building my circles, for example, I discovered we had a Lehigh grad working at Google. That it can be used to drive traffic to your news and department pages also is a big one, and I’m already seeing evidence that it’s more effective than Facebook at this for my own sites (it is early, though). You can’t afford to note be in these spaces at the PR, communication, or department outreach level.
Hangouts in potential represent a great opportunity for the university to put its face forward. Chatting with professors, students, senior leadership, and so forth could be offered to newsmakers or alumni to help build that connection to the university. The interactive components are huge for alumni relations folks.
But there’s much more. As a teaching tool, Plus intrigues me. I’m already planning on holding Hangout office hours this fall for students, where they can get on and ask questions about class material. And because it’s multi-user, others can hang out in the lounge and listen. Sometimes I go over the same stuff with multiple students in multiple meetings; this could streamline that process.
Every student in my multimedia class will be required to sign up for GPlus, and I am planning on keeping a circle for each of my classes so that I have another way to communicate, collaborate, and interact with my students. I also have circles for my former students in case I have things such as job postings or articles of interest to share. This is my Classroom Without Walls on steroids; the learning won’t stop just because the semester ends.
The ability to share videos you can all watch at the same time is huge for me. I can initiate a Hangout with a student in my multimedia classes, watch one of the videos they make, and then go over it with them. Real time feedback similar to a paper conference.
But playing with Hangout now is important if the rumors are true that PowerPoint or OpenOffice integration is coming. You can have up to 10 people in a Hangout; imagine if we could hold webinars or research collaboration meetings online. If we get the ability to screencast slides or even shared Google Docs that we can work up while chatting, look out. But again, get the learning curve of the interface out of the way now so when these components come online you are ready.
Already I can see Plus having a bunch of advantages over Blackboard or the Moodle learning system we use here. About the only advantage those products have is the gradebook. Every other interactive tool those offer is inferior to what we have on Plus right now. Facebook has some great collaborative tools, but the privacy interface is so clunky that I rarely used the tools in classes for fear of being seen as infringing on their personal space. Circles changes everything. We’ll be using GPlus in my multimedia courses as perhaps the most essential course-management tool.
Finally, the university should look at Plus because there is more coming. A lot more. Google is looking to connect its myriad apps, products, and widgets with Plus. That means this thing is going to evolve a lot. I, in particular, am looking at Blogger integration, but that’s just one example. The staggering array of tools Google has already is great for education, but when folded into a social tool made for collaboration then they have much greater potential.
Silagh White and I are going to work to have a meeting on campus that goes over the basics and will have some networking for folks interested in using Plus here. More on that to come, but if you want to take part then please email me or leave something in the comments. And make sure to circle me on my profile.
And if you’re interested in the topic of Plus and education, I recommend taking a look at Brad King’s post on it his own classroom plans.
Check out http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/professors-consider-classroom-uses-for-google-plus
Yawn on Google Plus for now. I was doing most of this in 2004 with Moodle. And more. And in a simple gradebook.
I like that google plus has tools like Elluminate.com and such. But still a yawn.
Just google these 2 words: moodle rowe
then add one plus to the page.
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/internet/archives/page9155.cfm
ps: If google wishes to control the world, then control the youth. Make google docs for kids. Then make it FERPA compliant for parents and teachers. Kidpix in google docs would be awesome.
Jeremy, we’re in agreement. For more on the pros and cons of G+ vs. other, more established LMSs, we’ve got a discussion going over here as well: .
I have been using FB for the past year with my student with great results and am very interested to find that google seem to have come up with a better version and more defined functionality that at first glance seems to be more suited to the education sector. I have been the prime mover in the use of FB at my institution to better develop student interaction with not only myself but with each other. FB has given my students a wonderful way to open up with each other to discuss their ideas and thoughts on their studies. I have seen a higher level of group cohesion formed and maintained. I use it for all of my course notifications and feed back with my student in a seemingly informal setting. It has been a wonderful break through in how we can teach and work with our students.
I look forward to seeing how we Google plus will develop and will most definitely be designing it use into my teaching practice . It is so refreshing and exciting to be working with my students and peers in this manner.
kindest regards
Jonathan Rodgers
Interesting point on the power of Google+ to hold classes without classrooms.
I’m sure it can be used in conjunction with other sites to produce amazing results for education: for instance, I’m of the belief that Gnowledge users can use it to easily assign their tests, exercise, quizzes and assignments through the appropriate circles in Google+.
If you haven’t used Gnowledge for that, do check it out, it’s free to use: http://www.gnowledge.com
As an alumni of the College of Education’s Instructional Technology graduate program (class of January 2008), I completely agree with the majority of your points. The hardest thing is going to be requiring G+. Why? Because at this moment, Google is being very restrictive to who is able to join in on the fun. G+ Invitations seem to only be available when no one is really paying attention, and then they stop allowing the invitations once every knows they are active again. I am aware of the fact that Lehigh has the education edition of the Google Apps domain but even at this moment, Google Apps domains are not capable of joining on the fun. I have my own personal domain that is backed using Google Apps and I can’t even join in on the fun because I don’t have a “regular” Google account. Hangouts and circles will definitely make things easier but you can’t require something if everyone can’t have access to the resource. It might be that you can start using it as a resource in the Spring of 2012 but I doubt you’ll be able to use during the entire Fall of 2011 semester.
Doug, I’ve had invites available for three days in a row now. It’s not open, but it feels far less closed. I don’t know of anyone who wants an invite that hasn’t gotten in at this point. I’ll have to see how it goes, but I figure it will be open enough by September that I can implement. If not, I’ll wing it like I usually do.