From time to time I do blog about my experiences as a new dad who primarily stays at home to watch and care for my lovely daughter. Right now I wanted to share just a small insight that I had and my wife has taken to new heights. Like many people, we are on a tight budget and trying to save any money we can while still living the kind of lifestyle we would like to. Now we don’t spend extravagant amounts of money are take amazing vacations. In fact, a great night out for us is typically a run to Five Guys or Chipotle and then a movie from Redbox. Saving money is pretty hard, but we have discovered a new method to help us save money. GIFT CARDS!
I know you are probably thinking, “Gift Cards? How does that save you money?” Well, we discovered that Kroger Grocery stores gives you extra fuel points when you buy gift cards. We use those fuel points to save money on gas, and when gas is around $3.50 a gallon, we can use all the savings possible. I mentioned this idea to my wife and she has taken off with it. She figures we are going to go out to eat anyways, we might as well use a gift card and get the fuel points. GENIUS!!! There are some limitations so you have to check the rules etc. But last week we filled up both our cars and a gas can for less than $70. We saved around 10 cents a gallon. Okay, so it’s not a ton of money, but the idea is that we are spending that money anyways, so if can scrimp or save a bit whenever we can, then think of how much money we can save in the long run.
I wondered if there were any other ideas for saving money that you have found easy and useful? Feel free to comment and let us know.
Lately I have been talking with a few individuals about social media in the nonprofit sector. It seems that every conversation I have about social media always defaults to a discussion about Facebook, with Twitter being a close second. I myself am not a huge Fan (no pun intended) of Facebook, but I understand why organizations need to have their own profile page. The simple answer is:
IT’S WHERE EVERYONE IS!
I know, blue right. But seriously, the popular social media site has over 500 million users (according to Facebook itself), although other indications put it at over 600 million. Furthermore, from Facebook:
50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
Average user has 130 friends
People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
That’s huge and I don’t think organizations can neglect that kind of popularity.
So why am I not a huge fan. Well I am a user myself, but the main reason comes down to how people use the site, or any social media site. Now I want to put in my asterisk* here because this is ultimately an individual decision that can be fairly value laden. That being said, Facebook to me is a place for friends and family, not so much so for professional associations. I don’t have a ton of friends on Facebook and I don’t do a whole lot with it. For me, Twitter or LinkedIn are sites where I go to do the things I might not do with Facebook and vice versa. Now I also don’t take myself too seriously on this note because I will occasional post something political, for example, on my Facebook profile which can cause some De-Friending or other interesting conversations. On the other social media sites I welcome that conversation, but Facebook is more of a place for my family members to catch up with what I’m doing. “But isn’t that what a blog is for?” Yes! But it’s easier for my family to view things on Facebook because that is where they go.
BINGO!!!
That is to say, the same reason why nonprofit organizations need to have a Facebook page even if they feel it’s not worth it, Because that is where users go! This also extends into the larger discussion about any social media site, but organizations also need to be strategic in choosing which sites to use that align with their mission focus. The fact is that Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn are not going away anytime soon, and they offer incredible potential for organizations to implement creative and innovative ideas to further their work.
But I still wonder what you think? Should organizations be thinking about what these sites mean for building community before they begin using them? Where should an organization begin with social media? Are these questions even relevant or are we already past this type of discussion because of the vast adoption of social media within the nonprofit sector? Leave a comment and as always, thanks for stopping by.
Some of you know that I have been engaged in an online learning institute this week, which is why I have not been blogging very much. I know I had said I hope to share many of my insights from this institute, but frankly I just haven’t had time to sit and write them down. It’s finally finished and now I am thinking about many things when it comes to learning in an online environment. Most of all I have actually been thinking about my own Philosophy of Teaching.
What does that mean?
I believe a Philosophy of teaching is a statement on your beliefs about how teaching should be done. It resembles your own values and beliefs about what it means to learn, what knowledge is, and why it is important.
What is it?
I am still working on my own philosophy of teaching statement but it is essentially based in student-centered learning. This is the idea that learning and knowledge really begin with where the student is. It can be incredibly difficult to test a student on a given set of skills that they have never been taught or had the chance to fully develop. Starting where the student is also means understanding what capabilities they may have and how those capabilities can be leveraged for their own benefit.
Where does it stem from?
This is inherently personal for every individual in my opinion, and mine mostly stems from my work as a mental health counselor. Part of my theoretical approach was based in the work of Carl Rogers and his client-centered approach. For more information on that click here. It also stems from my own experiences in teaching, but mostly in learning from many years sitting behind a desk as a student. Let’s face it, we have all had many teachers that we would like to emulate and many others we would rather just forget about.
Now as I begin to focus on teaching online, I am caught up in a series of discussions and my own thoughts about what this philosophy of teaching means in a digital environment. I think that much of my budding philosophy will easily transcend both environments, but I also know that just because something works in one area does not mean that it will work in another. I plan to come back to this post in the future as I more fully develop the concepts and ability to articulate my philosophy in a way that people can understand. I would definitely appreciate any input on the matter, so feel free to leave a comment.
This past week I spent everyday immersed in an online learning institute, and I have come away from it with some great ideas for my own teaching and a new appreciation for what it means to be a teacher. I am however, still concerned about the myths of online learning and how many people disregard this area as an acceptable and even effective medium for obtaining quality education. The myths continue to abound online and in many other places, see this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education for more. I understand the trepidation among many of the naysayers because ultimately it has to do with fear or change from the status quo.
Empirical evidence is beginning to emerge that supports online learning in the literature and from personal experiences. I know there is also just as much support saying the opposite as there will always be. I guess the one thing that still boggles my mind is the notion that face to face classrooms are seen as better than online learning classrooms. I think the problem when people say that certain courses can’t be taught online is basically that they just don’t understand what technology is available to teach those courses online. The other thing is thinking about course development and design. Many of these individuals don’t know how to design a course for the online environment, partly because they don’t know about the technology that exits. There is so much in the way of Web 2.0 tools and resources available at institutions of higher education that make it much easier to teach online.
The more I sit and write about this the more I think this post is not about the myths of online learning, clearly because I haven’t hardly discussed any, but it’s about the individual belief of what’s possible. It’s also about the core values one has about teaching and those values being so rigid that they are unwilling to recognize that certain courses can be taught effectively online. Now don’t get me wrong, I still want my surgeon to have learned heart surgery in the classroom rather than completely online. But, many students don’t really learn their most effective skills in the classroom anyways. In social work, because again that’s where I am coming from, the signature pedagogy is Field education. Students don’t learn or master their social work skills in a few classroom sessions by role-playing them out with one another. Certainly they do get something from it, but ultimately their best experience and learning comes from being in a quality internship.
Okay, one last caveat for me 😀 What I am really hoping to get at here is the notion of how online learning is viewed. I feel that pretty much it is looked down upon, and there are many reasons for that. Yet, I also feel that when teachers/faculty hope to teach online, that there is this resistance and somewhat negative attitude from others who believe that it can’t or shouldn’t be done. Why is this happening? Why can’t others just allow the innovation and creativity to emerge without the hidden hostility, or maybe it’s not so hidden…
I don’t know, I mean I don’t only what to teach online because I fully enjoy interacting with students in the classroom. However, I know that I can also interact with them in an online class very similarly. How or what would that look like. Well that could be a completely different post so I will have to come back to that to say what’s possible in teaching social work education online. Wow what a great title!!!
What do you think, since I know many social workers are now stumbling upon this site, I welcome your opinion whether you believe or don’t believe in online social work education. The only thing I would say when commenting is to keep it civil, keep it clean, and be respectful. Thank you for your input.
Next week I am participating in a online course development initiative at VCU. I am really excited to learn about the various tools that can be use to support online learning because it combines two of my interests, technology and learning. It is going to be a pretty intensive week but I hope to share some of my insights here. I hope you will check back to see what I have learned and perhaps share some of your own insights or reactions.
Oh, The Places You’ll Go! This was a favorite Dr. Seuss book of mine and I never really new when I read it that I would travel so many places and experiences so many things. This also seems to be holding true for my dissertation as it continues to emerge into something actual or concrete. What I mean is that I am still focused on studying social media use in nonprofit organizations and I am particularly interested in what this has to do with making the organization sustainable. However, I am very interested in doing a dissertation that is feasible! Many individuals have continually told me that my dissertation just needs to be adequate, I just need to finish and get out of the building so I can move onto other things. I agree and don’t look at my dissertation as a game changer or something that will change the world. I figure I have my career for that.
A couple weeks ago I was presenting some of my research at VCU’s Graduate Research Symposium and was introduced to a gentlemen who works in one of the research center’s on campus. A few days later I would meet with this gentlemen in his office to discuss my research and a project his center is beginning to work on. It seems so serendipitous that we would meet and that his project closely resembles what I imagine doing for my dissertation. I don’t have all the specifics but essentially the center would like to build communities of knowledge both face to face and online. Utilizing social media, evaluating it with social network analysis, and possibly doing a few other things is very interesting to me. The project would actually provide a bit more focus as the organizations that would be surveyed ultimately work with the Autism population. I think what they have in mind is very do-able and hopefully as we continue to meet to finalize the details I will be able to report back on more progress. It’s just interesting how things turn out.
A recent post by Nancy Smyth on Life skills for the digital age really got me thinking about technology and education. Although her post was partly on technology and one’s own life, as soon as I read it I couldn’t help but think about some of my students and mine own experiences in social work education. If you haven’t read Nancy’s post, go read it and leave a comment, it’s a great post. Bare with me for the rest of this post as I have thought about it for a week now and finally decide to just let it go. Thanks in advance for reading 🙂
In regards to learning new digital skills I agree it is critically important to remember to Disconnect. I personally have found it refreshing to take walks and enjoy nature as a way of generating inspiration and overcoming bloggers block. Nancy also points to Mindfulness and how it is important to observe and learn about how choices and habits affect individuals. In the digital realm I think that Social Presence Theory offers some insight here. Social Presence Theory was develop long ago, but it is very relevant in today’s computer mediated world. Social presence is the amount of awareness involved in an interaction, where face-to-face interaction has the most social presence. Because of the variety of technology available today, social presence online has dramatically increased. However, I think that Mindfulness still comes into play here because we need to be cognizant of our presence online. To often people take the anonymity that comes along from sitting behind their keyboard as a medium for hurtful comments, see YouTube if you don’t believe me 🙂 I also believe you could look at the effects of Cyber Bullying the impact it has on individuals. The point here is that as technology advances, our interaction online also advances and we need to be aware of what we Tweet, Upload, or post.
The question posted by Nancy was ultimately begins to address what skills we need to teach our Children. This is a very valid question, especially since I think about the implications of watching YouTube videos with my daughter and the effect the Internet is going to have on her life. I never had any discussions about Internet appropriateness from my parents, grant it they didn’t really understand the whole Internet other than telling me not to look at any Adult websites. Programs, policies, and the like are being developed everyday that focus on some of these issues so I am going to move onto something that’s closer to me and where I initially thought this post was going before I got side tracked by the Theory side of things 🙂
Technology in social work education. That is what I wanted to blog about since reading Nancy’s post, and I decided to finally finish this post today since after visiting with some of my Field Students and having a bit of a conversation on this topic it is at the forefront of my mind. The views expressed here are of my own (incase I haven’t included this elsewhere). My experience with technology is social work education is not unlike what my students have been telling me today. Basically that they are not getting some basic and necessary skills that will make them an effective practitioner. Their gripe was that they have not had any courses on using Excel for example, and that many have to learn it on their own. I understand that in some ways other courses will offer this type of learning but I wonder if social work education could offer it in a way that will help students to see the relevance of knowing technology? I know for instance that many nonprofit organizations would greatly benefit from knowledge on how to use Excel, and other technologies, to advance their mission. I also think that social work educators could incorporate more technology into their curriculum in a way that address some of these basic needs. Now what about social technologies: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc? How can we used these tools to advance social work education? For me it begins with what Dr. Wesch from Kansas State University calls creating Knowledge-Able students.
Dr. Wesch uses social media technologies in a way that encourages collaboration and motivates students to learn. His methods are rather attractive and I must say I struggle to do half of what he demonstrates in the video below. If you have some time it’s definitely worth watching. In the video, Dr. Wesch challenges some of the basic assumptions of learning by utilizing social media in the classroom and encouraging participation online. I don’t want to re-hash the entire video as I am sure that if you watch it, you will take away your own insights that are meaningful for you.
The biggest thing that I take away from this is that collaboration is more possible now than it was before, or perhaps I should say it is easier now than it was before. The other thing that is exciting is seeing students become motivated to learn and share in a way that enhances the overall experience. Participation and dialogue is what makes learning fun, at least it does for me, and it seems that more and more students are craving this type of learning. I wont say that this is easy, but I think that it can be worth it. I will blog more about my experience as I am trying to implement more of this style into my summer course. Wish me Luck 🙂
Okay, well this is getting a bit long, but to wrap it up I think that identifying and learning digital life skills will be extremely important and likely to be done earlier in one’s education. However, I also think that in social work education it is ripe for implementation into the curriculum. Instead of simply dismissing the notion by saying it can’t/shouldn’t be done, I think that we should ask our students about it or even how to do it. That’s my plan for the first day of summer school anyways. By utilizing technology in this way I think it creates opportunities for discussion around mindfulness and social presence online as well as offline. I think that through these experiences we can do just as Dr. Wesch states, “Create knowledge-Able students.
Let me know what you think and leave a comment.
So it’s late Friday night, well actually it’s early Saturday morning, but I just can’t seem to sleep. Perhaps it’s because I’m back on this horrible sleeping schedule trying to work on this little dissertation thing. Whatever it is I decided to post an update of where I’m at, and for me it’s neutral! That seems like a weird way of putting it but it has taking me all week to feel this way. I ran into some roadblocks this week trying to discover how to measure sustainability in a somewhat objective way. Again for those who are new I am interested in understanding what makes a nonprofit organization sustainable, and not just eco-friendly (which is important) but sustainable in a way that allows the organization to keep operating. Look back at my previous post for a better definition.
I have spent the last 3 months trying to identify what makes an organization sustainable and how to measure that. I’m neutral because although I seem to have come to a dead end, it’s only for now. That is, I have spent 3 months researching and creating my own model for sustainability but it’s a model that is not very parsimonious. So basically I have created a research agenda for my career, which is a good thing. The bad thing is that I am no further along on my dissertation now than I was 3 months ago 😦 Oh well, I’m taking it in stride and moving forward with some other ideas on how social media influence organizational practice.
Really quick though, as I plan to write a more comprehensive post about my model later, but here is a snippet. The conceptual model I am thinking of as to what makes an organization sustainable consists of three concepts.
1) Financial sustainability
2)Responsiveness to the external environment
3)Adaptive Capacity
Now the reason my model is not that simple is because each of those concepts, and it’s likely I will add a few more, consists of several other variables. For instance, financial sustainability can include fundraising, social entrepreneurship, strategic partnerships, etc. Responsiveness to the external environment stems in part from contingency theory in that an organization that understands and responds to the environment will be more Fit. In my model the environment consists of the community where the organization is located, the online community the organization wishes to develop, and even the broader market in which the organization has to compete. Adaptive Capacity is the idea that the organization needs to become a learning organization. The organization must learn from its stakeholders, the environment, and become open to change (among other things).
As I have searched the literature to come up with my model I have thought of various ways in which to implement and test it. The problem is every way I think of requires at least 2-3 years of research, and I think that is just way to long for a dissertation. Thankfully my dissertation chair is helping me to understand that I need a project that is feasible and adequate. So as I said before, at least now I have a full fledged research agenda 🙂
Where does this leave me now? Well I am leaning back to some research I did a year ago looking at how organizations are using social media to help with capacity building. I want to focus my questions on Nonprofit Human Service Organizations to understand why they are using social media and then how it might help with capacity building. Part of the reason for this is there are many scales that I can use to capture capacity building efforts. However, I will likely need to adapt the scales to be more congruent with a social media focus. Luckily I am meeting with a professor next week who I hope to have as my methodologist and he is AWESOME. Okay, I am finally running out of steam. Until my next update, have a great week and thanks for reading my blog.
Well this was not the blog post I was going to write today, but something interesting has happened in the last several days that I decided to blog about. A close friend of mine that I grew up with and went to school with recently started a blog on his 4 month old son’s experience with Leukemia. His son just had surgery today to remove some of the cancer and is now going to be spending the next 6 months in the pediatric care center of the hospital while he undergoes chemo. Now you might be wondering what this has to do with the internet or technology and how it enhances our relationships. Well I have been incredibly impressed with how far our technologies have come to enable deep connections with friends and family no matter where they are at. My friend and his family are on the west coast and myself out east. Yet because of Facebook and their blog, I am able to stay updated on what is happening. I wasn’t even aware that his son was having any challenges. I know what a great friend I am right? But the fact is that life is so busy that often times the friendships that sustained us during our childhood, through college, or at various times of our life sometimes fade. I haven’t talked with this friend face-to-face in over 4 years. I wish it wasn’t this way, but life happens.
So as I read this blog on what is happening with my friend’s son, I am incredibly grateful for the technology that enables this to happen. I know that this time in his life will be incredibly challenging and their isn’t really much I can do based on where I am at. However, because of technology he is aware that I am aware of his challenges and more importantly that I care about what is happening. Research has supported that individuals are more healthy and generally happier when they have meaningful relationships in their lives. A meaningful relationship is open to interpretation in my mind. I am also reminded of a talk at the TED conference by Stefana Broadbent which you can view below:
There are people who will always critique technology and cite the enormity of problems with privacy and other issues. But imagine how much good we can do, how much fun we can have, and most importantly how we can maintain dear friendships. Thanks for bearing with me as I feel like I just needed to write this out. Perhaps it’s because I’m a new dad, or perhaps it’s because I’m a social worker, and perhaps it’s because I just can’t fathom the road that my friend, his family, and their little boy have ahead of them. It’s all of those things and many more I’m sure.
I recently participate in a Covert it Live event hosted in part by Amy Sample Ward (@Amyrsward) and it was great. However, during the event and ever since I have been thinking about a few things that occurred and trying to decide how it sits with me. The live chat was about Community Building and using social media, there were other topics as well but I didn’t get to stay for the whole thing.
The issue I am talking about here is not just who pays for community building, but also who pays for and who is compensated for holding these chat events. What happened was, and maybe you have experienced this, the chat window would darken and a pop up window would appear with a video advertisement. The first video I had no problem with because I just figured it is like many YouTube videos and other areas of the Internet that receive some compensation for advertising. This I don’t necessarily have a problem with because money is a big part of what makes the world go round.
My issue was with the frequency of the video pop ups. I was engaged in a great chat and my mind was buzzing, only to be interrupted by these video pop ups! Why couldn’t the advertisements be relegated to another portion of the page and allow me to continue my chat with out any distraction. By the third video I was somewhat frustrated at this Distraction or total Buzz Kill of creative and critical thinking. Is there another way to pay for community building chat events? Do think this is the best way to engage in a discussion of this topic with the Nonprofit community, or any community?
I hope I don’t sound too negative, just a bit critical, because I think the image of this event I took away was that I probably wont participate again unless the topic is very compelling. That’s kind of sad. So Amy if you end up reading this, know that I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation, the medium, and I am grateful for the participation of those there. But I just can’t help but feel that I was in a conversation where whoever set it up was really only interested in getting a large audience to view the advertisements. Had I been prepared for that, perhaps I wouldn’t mind as much. I don’t know, like I said, I am still trying to figure this one out because I understand the value of money but I also understand the value of people’s time.
Lately I have been talking with a few individuals about social media in the nonprofit sector. It seems that every conversation I have about social media always defaults to a discussion about Facebook, with Twitter being a close second. I myself am not a huge Fan (no pun intended) of Facebook, but I understand why organizations need to have their own profile page. The simple answer is:
This was a favorite Dr. Seuss book of mine and I never really new when I read it that I would travel so many places and experiences so many things. This also seems to be holding true for my dissertation as it continues to emerge into something actual or concrete. What I mean is that I am still focused on studying social media use in nonprofit organizations and I am particularly interested in what this has to do with making the organization sustainable. However, I am very interested in doing a dissertation that is feasible! Many individuals have continually told me that my dissertation just needs to be adequate, I just need to finish and get out of the building so I can move onto other things. I agree and don’t look at my dissertation as a game changer or something that will change the world. I figure I have my career for that.
JimmySW 