Using social media in an undergraduate course

Banner for the unit. Image by Karenkayho on Flickr

Over the past 13 weeks, I've been working with Keith Lyons teaching a unit called Business, Politics and Sport. Our goal was to modify the pre-existing unit outline enough so we could run an open, flexible, invitational learning event, where we could curate a guest lecture series, put everything online (not so much on university systems, but on real-world web sites), to make attendance intrinsically motivated, and to set assignments that were challenging and that make a contribution to wider, open knowledge communities. It worked, and we're getting really good feedback.

• In the end, we used UC's Moodle in a very basic stripped back form, making it open access, and providing a link out to the unit website, with a forum set up if anyone needed it
• We set up a unit website on Blogger, which fed through to a Facebook page, and used these to document progress in the unit
• We used Wikiversity to prepare the unit content, and develop and submit the assignments
• There were three assignments: an essay on Wikiversity, an online presentation, and an "open book" exam, where open book means the use of personal computers and the internet in the exam.

The exam is next week and everyone seems quite excited by it, partly because no one has sat an open book exam quite like this one. We're encouraging the use of chat and other online communication throughout the exam, and of course we're designing the questions with that capability in mind. Let's just hope the UC power circuits and wireless hold out for it. We have some contingencies in place.

Most of the essays are in, as well as the presentations, and almost all of the 93 participants have really risen to the challenge. We have some fascinating essays and videos published, from pole dancing to rock climbing, all with copyrights (hopefully) cleared, some with open standard format videos embedded, one in Arabic (although he will need an extension due to outside pressures), and many having been peer reviewed by other participants. The full list of works are here on the BPS2011 category on Wikiversity.

We have gained some really nice feedback so far from two of the participants already, and we're hoping for more when the exam and assessment is out of the way. We plan to produce a PediaPress printed book from some of the best essays, in combination with work from Ben Rattray's group working together on Wikibooks, producing a book of factsheets about disease and exercise.

It has been a pleasure to see this model of teaching work so well, and we can only hope to see it scale more with other staff taking up the principles and practices here. We're directing participants to engage in productive, real world knowledge communities, using contemporary information and communications technology, to produce openly accessible information from their work, drawing more on their intrinsic motivation than not, and it seems to have worked well.

When the unit is over, and the mountain of assessment is out of the way, I'll be using BPS2011 as a case study in my PhD. We were given an opportunity to implement some of our ideas on open education and networked learning, and while we couldn't take it all the way - for example, I would have loved to have tried open and rolling enrollments, or done more in terms of coordinating with other similar units or community groups, or mapped several of the learning objectives to vocational competencies where they obviously connect, we did manage to show something of a model worth thinking about. The workload has been well within the recommended limits - although the marking will be hefty, the learning objectives have plenty of evidence of being met, and the student feedback is looking excellent.

Social media in sport sponsorship and media

Robin McConnell has asked me to give a talk to his Sport Sponsorship and Media class, on social media. He's offered a list of questions to guide the talk, listed below. Before attempting a response to these, I will see if we can first establish an understanding on what social media is, as I see it that is, socially constructed media. This is different to just platforms that support social networking, which don't necessarily speak to the media side of the equation.

Below are my responses and links to that list of questions from Robin:

How could a sport organisation use social media get their message, brand across more people?

1. Social media can be an extension to broadcast, but it is not only broadcast
2. Social media can be used to communicate a message straight to audience without mediation by editors and journalists. Useful for press releases
3. If done well, social media can be used to build engagement, loyalty and other elements of social capital

What could a sport organisation suggest to a sponsor?

1. Brand visibility in the traditional form of logos and advertising embedded in the media
2. Product placement strategies in the broadcast, and in the responses
3. Direct links to point of sale by way of Amazon, Paypal and other online transaction methods

What sponsors would be interested in a social media?

1. Providers of social media platforms (Facebook, Youtube, possibly local charters of the Wikimedia Foundation)
2. Other internet service and mobile Providers 
3. Startups

How do present sites use sponsors or get used by sponsors?

1. NRL by Telstra
2. Facebook and Google adds

What is being done to increase fan allegiance and how could this be used to get sponsor recognition across?

See UCNISS researcher, Laura Hale at ozziesport.com where she is researching sport fandom online, developing a range of case studies to test her methods and support her recomendations.

How can a logo be featured in social media communications?

1. Backdrops, clothing and equipment featured in videos made in house
2. In campaigns that tap user generated content

Which mode of social media should a sport organisation first consider to get greater sponsor awareness by the public?

1. First understand where target audiences frequent online, and study the culture and dynamics of those spaces
2. Find out what skills and levels of participation already exist in the organisation
3. Develop a strategy that ensures communications is regular, responsive, appreciative and non confrontational, and present.

What are the major social media sites/modes, their primary features/functions and how are they used by sport?

1. Facebook - Fan pages, club pages, groups, athlete user accounts, campaigns
2. Youtube - Mostly video broadcast, sometimes two way dialog, playlist creation
3. Wikipedia - Ensure club, code and athlete pages are accurate, up to date, comprehensive and linked. Do this within Wikipedia policy, and fully disclose interests before making contributions. Don't be defensive.

See also

1. Social Media In Sports: The Athlete
2. Fan Engagement: Sports Social Media Done Right
3. 5 Big Brands That Are Rocking the Social Media Space
4. Digital Sport Summit | June 2011 | Melbourne, Australia
5. The Cluetrain Manifesto
6. These notes in a wiki

Conclusion

Listen, inquire, respond quickly and positively. Social media is not broadcast media, listen to the conversations. Individual publishers have potentially just as much to contribute, probably more, than your club or organisation. Always be present and respond quickly to direct questions or comments. Respond selectively and strategically to wider coverage.