This month I’m delving into a topic that, to me, is often be considered a “white elephant in the room.”  Throughout the past several years, I’ve facilitated many, many workshops for college faculty focused on demonstrating how to use the internet to find valid, engaging content for student learning, as well as how to use social media to share one’s own work and make it more widely available to students and the public, and/or to construct learning activities for students to use these tools.

From my observations, I’ve found that faculty are generally intrigued and open to the idea of integrating web-based content into their students’ learning.  Many are excited about the possibilities of integrating social media into student learning.  But when it comes to sharing one’s own work, a different conversation begins. 

I embrace each of these conversations, as I think they’re essential to the future of our digital, mobile society.  As we all learn together now in a community created through global contributions, the willingness to “share” and give back to this community is the energy and current that will sustain its effectiveness.  Encouraging faculty to see the value of sharing and, better yet, to share their work with a Creative Commons license so the work explicitly communicates that using the work is ok as long as you attribute the creator and use it in the following ways…

What does the reluctance to share say about the values that are embedded in our educational system? Does this vary from K12 to higher ed?  Have you shared your work?  How, why and under what circumstances were you willing to do so? Do you feel motivated and encouraged to share?  How would the challenges we face at this pivotal moment of educational transformation through technology be facilitated more effectively if we all openly shared with each other — our ideas, our experiences, examples of our projects, our favorite lecture, etc?

I imagine you have a perspective, story or thought about this topic and I hope you’ll share it with us.  I invite you to read the blog post, Don’t Take My Stuff: Examining the Value of Sharing in Education, and participate in the VoiceThread conversation below.

If you’re new to VoiceThread, take this opportunity to try something new.  There’s no need to worry — you can delete any comment you make by playing it back and clicking on the “garbage can” icon that will appear on your screen. 

How to Leave a Comment in the VoiceThread:

• Click on the “Sign in” or “Register” button.
  – If you are new to VoiceThread, register for a free account using your e-mail address and name.
  – If you have an existing account, sign in by entering your e-mail address and password.

• When you are ready to participate, click on the “Comment” button.

• To leave a voice comment with your computer’s microphone: Click on “Record.”  

• If prompted, click “Allow” and start talking.

• When you are done, click on the red “OK, Start Talking” button.

• Click “Save” to retain, “Cancel” to re-record, or “Record More” to add to your comment.