Facebook ideas for instructors
Happy Monday to all! Can you believe that it is Thanksgiving week?! I hope that you all enjoy a happy, restful, and turkey-filled Thanksgiving! 
Instructors ask me fairly often how they can use Facebook, or if they should use Facebook, or why shouldn’t they use Facebook, or…you get the idea.
I want to share a blog post that I read this morning. The title of the post is “100 Ways You Should Be Using Facebook” and you can access the blog post here. Not all of the ideas listed will be applicable to you, but you might find one or two that you like. The authors also posted some great tips (toward the bottom of the post) to help you to be professional in your approach to Facebook (and to protect yourself).
My personal favorites on the list are:
#6 – Create your own news source
#11 – Bring literature (or any subject) to life
#16 – Post class notes
What ideas do you have about using Facebook? How have you been using Facebook?
Warm regards,
Amy (Dr. C)
“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”
A few years ago, my boyfriend (now my husband) demanded that I watch Casablanca. I begrudgingly obliged, only to learn that Casablanca truly is a great movie. Further, I venture that Casablanca provides life lessons that extend beyond the film reels…or…DVD player.
So when I began thinking about the first post on this blog, the monumental and burdensome FIRST blog post, my thoughts returned to an exchange between lovers Rick and Isla in Casablanca:
Isla: Can I tell you a story, Rick?
Rick: Has it got a wild finish?
Isla: I don’t know the finish yet.
Rick: Well, go on. Tell it – maybe one will come to you as you go along
Living in a world of IT and Academics, where assessment, strategic planning, and evaluation govern our every move, I often remember this exchange. Maybe, just maybe, if I keep plugging along, the finish will become clear to me. Or maybe I should wait to tell the story until I can define the finish.
I will tell you now, this blog represents the former assertion, rather than the latter.
I am the Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and I have the immense task of working to improve teaching and learning at Texas Wesleyan University through a variety of projects and initiatives. Some paths, some projects, some initiatives toward this end are clear. They are strategic (and, yes, I have written them in my requisite Strategic Plan*). But some are purely conjecture, trials, experiments. *Note: please don’t read my comments regarding Strategic Planning as negative. Strategic Plans are immensely helpful in setting goals, moving intentionally towards those goals, and assessing our success in those endeavors.
So, off we go on this adventure, to use this blog to share ideas, communicate with each other and others outside of Texas Wesleyan, and discuss issues in academe…and I hope that you all will join in this effort. Look for blog posts from all CETL employees; we will discuss academic/technology news, provide tips and tricks to help you with your jobs, and communicate news.
I look forward to your interaction, your feedback…
“Here’s looking at you, kid.”
Amy Collier
Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Texas Wesleyan University
