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Scientific American

November 18, 2011

Using Blogs and Social Media in Undergrad Classrooms

By Jason G. Goldman

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

This January, John Hawks (of his eponymous weblog) and I are moderating a session as part of the education track at Science Online in North Carolina.

Blogging in the undergraduate science classroom (how to maximize the potential of course blogs) (discussion) – Jason Goldman and John Hawks

This session will mainly feature a roundtable discussion of “best practices” for incorporating blogs into undergraduate courses. Possible topics that will be covered: Developing, evaluating, and grading assignments, incorporating blogs into syllabi, how blogging can contribute to learning goals, privacy versus openness, especially with respect to FERPA, and interacting with students with social media more broadly (e.g. twitter, G+, facebook, etc).

In preparing for our session, I've started to put together a list of examples that I'm familiar with of educators using blogs and social media in undergraduate education. But I know there are more.

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If you are an educator, and you're using social media in your classes, let me know in the comments (or get in touch via twitter, google+, or email - thoughtfulanimal at gmail dot com).

Also if you're an undergrad and your professor is using some kind of social media in his or her curriculum, or if you are a grad student using blogs or social media in some way as part of your TA duties, please get in touch. If you are none of the above, but you still know somebody using blogs or social media in undergrad courses, please let me know.

Related: Sneak a little science in (Kate Clancy)

Continuously updated list of examples:

via @dupuisj: http://www.yorku.ca/yul/cse/

Dawn Peterson's Astronomy 101 at Boston University: @BU_AS101

Bora's Bio 101 blog

Stacy Baker's Extreme Biology (high school)

Jason G. Goldman is a science journalist based in Los Angeles. He has written about animal behavior, wildlife biology, conservation, and ecology for Scientific American, Los Angeles magazine, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the BBC, Conservation magazine, and elsewhere. He contributes to Scientific American's "60-Second Science" podcast, and is co-editor of Science Blogging: The Essential Guide (Yale University Press). He enjoys sharing his wildlife knowledge on television and on the radio, and often speaks to the public about wildlife and science communication.

More by Jason G. Goldman