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Fa alguns dies comentava un post on hi ha una relació de bons webs d’universitats americanes en relació a l’ús de xarxes socials. Ara n’he vist un altre, d’USA Today College, titulat 20 colleges making good use of social media.: Though every university seems to have a Facebook page, Twitter account and You Tube channel, there are an exceptional few colleges who have truly done great things in social media, becoming influencers and brainstormers online. Students and fans alike can interact with college professors, athletics, and admissions on social media outlets, and these 20 colleges are doing it in a really interesting way. Com que hi ha 20 exemples (i algun d’addicional), cal escollir-ne algun: m’ha semblant interessant la reflexió de Syracuse University sobre l’ús de les xarxes socials per part del seu Social Media Strategist: Although our progress may have been visible to all, the arrangement that made this possible may not have been known by most. Rather than contract with an external firm to handle social media, Syracuse University made a unique decision to form an "in-sourcing" partnership with the School of Information Studies, where I am a faculty member teaching social media. This partnership created my role as strategist, along with Kelly Lux, our community manager, and a small group of talented students from the iSchool and other programs across campus. The partnership officially launched in February 2010, and we went to work developing a social media strategy designed to engage our key audiences – current students, alumni and prospective students. In my view, the key to reaching all of these groups was to reflect the full SU campus experience online (not just campus news, but interaction and conversation focused on what was happening right now). Our plan was to enhance the experience of students currently attending Syracuse, while allowing alumni to remain connected with campus and prospective students to get a glimpse of the diverse community they might join. És a dir, l’estratègia la porta un professor dels Estudis d’Informació. També tenen un community manager, i varis estudiants de l’Escola que acull aquests estudis, la iSchool. No pas gaire diferent del que fem a la Universitat de Girona. Les seves audiències clau són els estudiants actuals, els exestudiants i els futurs estudiants, i no només donen notícies del campus, sinó també interactuen i converses sobre l’actualitat. Ara però sembla que la Universitat de Syracuse transferirà la gestió de les xarxes socials a un equip profesional centralitzat. Ja veurem com funciona, perquè com diu el professor de la iSchool, Our strategy has always been to talk to people.  Relacionat amb l’ús de les xarxes socials, USA Today College té una infografia sobre com els professors fan servir els mitjans i canals socials, especialment en l’apartat de docència – How social media is playing a bigger role in college education.
Val la pena fer-hi un cop d’ull. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  En Kyle Christie té un interessant blog sobre educació superior que conté entrades rellevants des d’una òptica britànica però perfectament aplicables al nostre entorn. N’hi ha una ara, titulada Presentation on social and digital media at universities to AHRC conference, que resumeix molt bé l’entorn de les xarxes, mitjans i canals socials a les universitats. La presentació a la Universitat de Manchester, feta amb prezi, és molt clara i instructiva, i crec que es pot subscriure pràcticament tota.
M’agrada molt com acaba el que diu en Kyle Christie: Content is still king. Una mica lliga amb el que jo opino: en un món de canals, xarxes i mitjans socials, primer cal desenvolupar contingut (igual que en R+D primer cal crear coneixement, i després transferir-lo i explotar-lo; no hi ha transferència sense recerca). Així doncs, no hi ha comunicació ni xarxa social si no hi ha contingut interessant per ser comunicat o per ser compartit – o per ser creat en col.laboració. En les darreres parts d’aquest Prezi hi he vist una frase extreta d’una troballa ben interessant: Popular print, broadcast, and online media offer scholars the opportunity
to share their research-gleaned insights and analysis with thousands—if not
millions—of people. At a time when many faculty members believe they
have little influence over the governance of their institutions, the public discourse offers a bigger playing field for those wishing to make a difference.
i segons la font Worldviews Conference on Media and Higher Education, (Toronto juny’2011) And scholars like Kingwell, University of Ottawa's Michael Geist, and Janice Gross Stein of the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs , who regularly share their expertise with a broader audience by writing op eds, providing broadcast commentary, or blogging about emerging issues, experience significantly expanded opportunities as a result of doing so. (Per cert, cal mirar bé aquesta conferència, perquè sembla haver proporcionat bones idees). En tot plegat hi ha polèmica i dubtes, per exemple en un dels documents citats per en Kyle Christie, Time to Close your Digital Department, s’hi diu que no hauria d’haver-hi una unitat digital que ensenyés els professors; pel contrari, i en plan provocador A specialist digital PR team is a cop out which allows people to believe that there are core skills that don't include an understanding of blogs, social networks, the value of links, PR led SEO, and analytics. If you still have a digital team get them to train the rest of your people and then merge their activities. You won't be asking people to cross the line. There is no line. Però mirant-ho bé, és una mica el que fem a la Universitat de Girona. Hi rumiaré. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Traditional Higher Ed Opens Doors for Tuition-Free Online University de Mashable parla de la relació amb la New York University i altres idees rellevants. Les universitats no presencials (americanes) no acaben de tenir gaire reputació, perquè semblen proporcionar títols amb un baix nivell de coneixements i una forma relativament fàcil d’obtenir-los. Però ara la Uniersity of the People vol canviar això.
La University of the People http://www.uopeople.org/ és una forma gratuïta de proporcionar educació superior, i ara el seus estudiants són acceptats via “transfer” a la NYU, que és un reconeixement de facto de la seva qualitat. La missió de la UOPeople fa referència quatre conceptes: Oportunitat, comunitat, integritat i qualitat. Del post de Mashable: Online universities have earned a reputation among traditional higher education institutions as businesses that offer low-quality degrees in exchange for hefty debt. But online University of the People challenges the stereotype. The University is completely tuition free. Its mission is not to turn a profit, but rather to create a truly global opportunity for education. A thousand students who live in 115 different countries are taught by members of the university's core of 2,000 volunteers. Traditional universities are starting to open their doors to People's free, nontraditional counterpart. In May, New York University announced it would accept students from University of the People at its Abu Dhabi campus. On Tuesday, HP invited the free university's students to become virtual interns with its Catalyst Initiative — a global consortia of 56 organizations, most of them universities, that focuses on projects related to improving STEM education. Ara per ara, hi ha dos graus (al menys tutoritzats per Hewlett-Packard): business administration i computer science. és clar que, de moment, la iniciativa té lloc sobretot a Abu Dhabi, encara que la UOPeople és present pertot arreu. És interessant veure què diu el web de la University of the People: University of the People (UoPeople) is the world's first tuition-free online university dedicated to the global advancement and democratization of higher education. The University embraces the worldwide presence of the Internet and dropping technology costs to bring tuition-free academic programs within reach to millions of people around the world. With the support of academic leadership from top universities and a student body comprised of students from over 115 countries, UoPeople has become a tuition-free higher education global leader. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 
Liquid cement turns liquid metal és una interessant entrada de Chemistry World que connecta l’electroquímica i l’enginyeria de la construcció, ja que comenta la possibilitat que el formigó sigui conductor enlloc d’aïllant. Concrete is heavy, tough and – you might think – a reliable insulator. But researchers in Japan have shown that, by doping it with free electrons, liquid cement can transform into a substance with metal-like electrical conductivity. According to the researchers, the surprising transition could lead to new types of semiconductor. El concepte d’electró solvatat és ben conegut – en definitiva, un clúster de molècules d’aigua carregades negativament (al nostre grup l’hem estudiant alguna vegada). Ara l’investigador Hideo Hosono del Tokyo Institute of Technology ha mostrat que la maienite (12CaO.7Al2O3), un òxid metàl.lid component d’un tipus de ciment, pot passar d’aïllant a conductor, en reduir la maienita amb titani, remplaçant alguns ions del material per electrons solvatats, atrapats dins d’una espècie de gàbia d’àtoms. El material fos condueix l’electricitat cinc ordres de magnitut més que el no oxidat, i en estat sòlid és semiconductor. La ciència de materials continua el seu avenç, i tenir formigó semiconductor o conductor porta a noves possibilitats interessants per al futur. | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
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