The Caffeinated Carbivore

Prior to the White House address, Facebook statuses were speculating as to what the President would announce. Within minutes after the speech had concluded, students swarmed the ISU campus, cheering and shouting. The mob grew to over 2,000 students by its conclusion after 1:30 am. Many speculate that student political disinterest is a type of epidemic in American society; without educated voters, democracy cannot continue. However, the quick and passionate student response to this news may indicate the use of social media to spread awareness. After all, a presidential address at 1030pm would be difficult to catch otherwise, especially with finals coming up this week. With the help of Facebook and Twitter, students became aware of the event. They shared their congratulations and concerns via social media; social media allows all of us to become news reporters. In a few hours, videos and pictures of the rally will begin to flood Facebook as the students capture their place in American hi...

A few studies have begun to research the positive affects of students using social media. For example... From Mashable: Four sections (70 students) were given assignments and discussions that incorporated Twitter, such as tweeting about their experiences on a job shadow day or commenting on class readings. Three sections (55 students) did the same assignments and had access to the same information, but didn’t use Twitter. In addition to showing more than twice the improvement in engagement than the control group, the students who used Twitter also achieved on average a .5 point increase in their overall GPA for the semester. My original thoughts: Awesome-Positive correlation (as social media use goes up, grades go up). After a more critical glance, I noticed that the sample size was a bit small. Further, the study does not explicitly describe the terms it was trying to study, which minimizes the possibility that someone could accurately replicate the study. As if to answer t...

First, let's determine your learning style with a quick test. Directions: Add one point to your score for each statement that strongly applies to you. The category with the most points is your dominant processing style. You may have strengths in more than one category. Visual processor – 1. I can remember that I need to do something if I write it down. 2. I need to visualize myself wearing something to make a decision about what I want to wear. 3. I take copious notes during meetings and often can remember what the page of notes looks like before I remember what the notes say. 4. I need to look at a person when they’re speaking. 5. It has to be quiet for me to be able to complete my work. 6. Seeing data displayed in a graph is vital to me understanding numerical information. 7. I am horrible at remembering jokes. 8. I can remember phone numbers if I can visualize typing them on a phone’s key pad. Auditory processor – 1. I prefer to listen to books on tape...

We've received our rosters-we're learning their faces. But who are these new students? If asked, many of them might not be able to say. In a digital age, we have many mailable identities. On Twitter I'm OceanEyes729 and I tweet and follow those who write about technology for teachers. My Twitter identity is made up of my tweets and those I follow. On Facebook, I'm a fan of a lot of things-Despicable Me, etc. So according to the internet I'm a techie teacher who likes children's movies. But wait. I can get on my Facebook and fan a lot of things that don't really describe me. This way, I can create a false identity. For incoming college students, Facebook is a great way to make new friends. Find people who like the same artists as you! But does that mean that they'll make good friends in real life? I show this clip to my students on identity day-who are your friends, and does the concept of friendship change on the internet? Another pa...