I love it when people get creative with the tools and technology available to them!  When you think of social media you may think of staying in touch with friends, or another avenue of business networking – but what about tapping into this amazing technology in the classroom?

I came across a great post that was chock-full of ideas for how to use social media for learning.  It breaks them down into grade levels and topics and even links to some case studies or articles that explain in more detail the specific examples:

Sites such as Facebook and Twitter and tools such as Skype are connecting students to learning opportunities in new and exciting ways. Whether you teach an elementary class, a traditional college class, or at an online university, you will find inspirational ways to incorporate social media in your classroom with this list.

via Fred’s Head from APH: 100 Inspiring Ways to Use Social Media In the Classroom.

Have you heard of any other innovative or creative uses of social media? Post a comment below and share!

Hello Folks  – I am going to be a panelist on a virtual event next Monday (the event described below) and the hosts have provided me with 2 free tickets to give away. So if you are interested in attending the Building and Managing Effective Virtual Teams vpanel, put your name into the hat to win a free ticket by using the comments section below this post to contribute a favorite or poignant quotation about any aspect of virtual work. It can be a famous quote, or something you heard, or a quote of your own.

You only have a couple of days, on Friday afternoon I will select 2 names at random from the contributors to each receive a free pass. I will not choose based on the ‘best’ quotes, and you only have 2 days, so don’t be shy. Just a fun way to get some food for thought and give away the tickets.

To get the wheel turning I am going to offer a great quote that I believe relates to virtual teams, and in managing virtual workers in particular:

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

and Jason wants to share one of his favorites and a classic mobile work/telework quote:

“Work is something you do, not some place you go.” ~ Unknown

Now it’s your turn. Learn more about the vpanel below and contribute a quote in the comments section of this post.

Here is some info about the event:

Building and Managing Effective Virtual Teams

Monday, March 22, 2010 – 3:00 PM ET / 12:00 Pm PT

Virtual company. Mobile workforce. Home-based business.

Whatever you call it, more managers are leading employees outside of the traditional office setting. In fact, by 2013, 75.5% of the U.S. workforce will be made up of mobile workers, according to IDC.

Today’s technology makes it easier for businesses regardless of size and across all services and industries, to benefit from being virtual. But how do you know if you’re recruiting the right people for a virtual environment? And how do you keep those people engaged and productive when your team is geographically dispersed?

If you manage or recruit employees for a virtual company, or are a remote worker yourself, please join me and other expert panelists to learn how today’s effective virtual companies are building cohesive teams and becoming more profitable during Shift Worldwide’s interactive, 90-minute March 22 vPanel on Building and Managing Effective Virtual Teams.

http://www.shiftworldwide.com/vpanels/virtualteams.htm

Now just enter your favorite quote about any aspect of virtual work in the comment section below for a chance to win!

One challenge many teams and organizations face is getting their people to use and embrace much of the amazing collaboration software and technology that is available. In working with virtual teams, we find that many people tend to fall back on email rather than shared online work spaces – or opt for traditional conference calls rather than using web meeting or conferencing services.

Find Their Comfort Zone

The biggest stumbling block is getting your team comfortable with the new software or service and truly understanding the benefits it provides.

In short, why would it make my life or job easier?

Far too few companies provide training on these technologies – so you and your colleagues are forced to figure it out as you go along or after a very brief tutorial. This sink-or-swim mentality causes many of these powerful tools to go untouched and impedes productivity.

The secret to turn this all around is simple . . . play!

The Power of Play

Play is a non-threatening way to remove stress from learning and encourage exploration of the features of new technology. Create some type of project for your team that’s fun and everyone will be excited about using the new tool.

Want your team to start using SharePoint or some other type of web-based discussion board or collaboration space? Why not setup a place where they can share recipes, bios, and information about their hobbies and families?

Want them to use WebEx or some other meeting service? Create time to have a regular virtual water cooler where they can share photos, create a poll about which books or movies are their favorites, or pass control of the desktop around to write a story together (with each person typing their paragraph into Word) or give a tour of favorite useful websites.

Play Let’s People Succeed and Fail – Safely

Let’s face it, no one wants to explore using a new technology or tool with the pressure of a project deadline; or the possibility of looking foolish in front of peers and co-workers if you are not using it correctly. I’m extremely comfortable with technology, always have been, and I attribute that mostly to the fact that I play with it and explore it’s features before trying to use it for something important.

When trying to learn Sony Vegas for video editing I didn’t create some critical video for my business website – instead I took some family footage and created something fun to share with friends. When looking to learn more about desktop publishing I didn’t immediately create a company newsletter – I created a mock CD cover for my band.

The only limit is your imagination!

Ask the people on your team, they may have some great ideas for fun projects. This is extremely useful for virtual teams: using a fun, playful approach to learning new technology not only leads to greater technology adoption and increased productivity, but also encourages informal communication and team building, which in turn increases trust and accountability.

It’s not just about choosing the right tool – it’s how you thoughtfully apply it. So find ways for your team to play with the tools you want them to adopt and you’ll be amazed at how quickly they find new ways to apply them to their work process and teamwork.

Have you used “play” in your work environment? Post a comment below and tell us about it!

(Thanks to Webex for featuring this as a Guest Post on their Ideas in Motion blog.  I highly recommend this blog where they share ideas and tips for innovation and working smarter)

I had the pleasure of joining my friends Sam Bushman and Jay Harrison, the hosts of Techwatch Radio, last Saturday on their weekly tech talk show.  I’ve been a fairly regular guest on their show over the last 5 years and always enjoy the discussions we have. What I love about their show is that, much like this blog,  they take a practical approach to technology and living a digital lifestyle.

The program consists of fast-paced news, callers, guests, and features such as the website of the week and the do’s and dont’s of tech. Sam and Jay focus on balancing technology in your life and letting hi-tech serve you, not own you! Their fun, casual way of simplifying complex issues will help the average person get up-to-speed on the tricks and tools for the times we live in.

Last week I joined them for the second half of the show and we discussed elearning, managing remote workers, the growth of telecommuting, why I’m drinking the Apple Kool-Aid (and switching to a Mac soon), cloud computing, and the shifts involved with successful distributed work. You can listen using the player below and I invite you to comment on this post and share your thoughts on these topics and our discussion.

Techwatch Radio can be heard Saturday mornings from 10-11am ET.  You can listen live from anywhere online or download past shows from their RSS feed.  I subscribe to their podcast and listen on my iPod Touch so I don’t miss a thing!

Post Graduate Programs in Remote and Distributed Work?

A blog visitor, Christian M., sent this question:

I’m a 27 year old business consultant in Germany. I want to write a PhD thesis about “work anywhere, anytime”. Do you know a professor at a university, business school etc. who could supervise a PhD thesis about this topic or do you have an advise for me to find one? He could be located anywhere in the world.

I hope you know somebody doing scientific research about this topic.

Thanks a lot,
Christian

My reply to Christian was as follows:

We do not personally know any one who does scientific research into remote work or global business teams, but I may be able to suggest a few places to begin your research.

I am listing below a few universities which offer graduate level programs in areas closely related to your field of interest. Unfortunately, only the first is a PhD program. I believe the other 2 are MBAs but perhaps someone there could offer insight. The final link is to a resource which lists PhD programs in information related fields.

It seems odd given the prevalence of distributed work in our world that the field is still so young and unformed as an academic discipline. I discovered much the same thing when I studied Comparative Religions. I always felt that one of the benefits of that was the diversity of faculty and departments I got to work with – I would get to study under  Anthropologists, Historians, Doctors of Divinity, Sociologists, and Psychologists all in the same program, with only the subject as a unifying principle. So while the newness of telework as a subject of serious study presents some challenges, it likely also presents great opportunities and flexibility.

I hope these links help, please keep in touch and let us know what you find and what you ultimately decide to do.

Does anyone else know of other programs or resources not listed below? Please comment and share them if you do.

The Center for Work, Technology & Organization (WTO) is a research center located within the Department of Management Science and Engineering (MS&E) at Stanford University’s School of Engineering. WTO’s faculty, graduate students, and industrial research partners are committed to basic and applied research to understand how work is changing and to design more effective organizations and technologies. WTO sponsors research projects, colloquia, workshops, and conferences that bring together social scientists, engineers, designers, and managers within the context of an engineering school to address crucial social, organizational, and technical problems in an interdisciplinary manner.

The PhD degree in MS&E requires the fulfillment of certain disciplinary course requirements, as well as qualifying exams and a dissertation defense. Typically, students take about four to five years after entering the program to complete all PhD requirements.

The Virtual Team Management and Communication program in the Division of Graduate Professional Studies provides a framework for understanding and managing many sociocultural, regulatory, and geographic issues in a worldwide environment.

The program is targeted for team members, team leaders, and managers working in virtual and globally distributed teams.

Advanced Masters Program in Management of Globally Distributed Work (AMPM) is an executive education program in Global Management. It is designed for high potential professionals in technology organizations who, as a part of their job assignments need to develop markets and manage clients and work-sites around the globe. It is also designed for consulting professionals and MNC executives who may be transferred to various worldwide locations.

Managers who are the products of the AMPM program will define global strategic plans for their companies and add value to execution of plans with their close knowledge and familiarity of markets, financial structures and work cultures of most important geographies and economies of the twenty first century represented by India, China, Europe and the US. Such managers will be “globally-ready” to take up challenging tasks in confronting competition either globally or locally.

A unique feature of the program is its delivery over four sites spanning South Asia, Europe, North America, and East Asia. The program will be delivered through a consortium of leading business schools from Asia, Europe, and North America. The consortium members are:

• Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India
• SDA Bocconi-School of Management, Italy
• UCLA, Business and Information Technology Consortium, Anderson School of Business Los Angeles, USA
• Faculty of Business, City University of Hong Kong at Hong Kong/Shenzen, China.

Information-related Ph.D. degree programs

This page provides a listing of 143 Ph.D. degree programs in information-related fields, such as computer science, information systems or library and information science. You can view the list by school name, program name, or country.