More interesting for me was the student reaction to this assignment.  You can watch the slides here to see how it was announced because it was just like the slides tell it.

First, confusion.  Then, some other emotion ranging from anger to disbelief to not caring.  But then you started to see everyone’s mind starting to fly.   And by the time Nikolai and I walked out of the classroom, all of the groups were developing ideas left and right.

After the assignment was complete, we took video documenting the students initial responses to the assignment.

Possibly more interesting were some of the students’ worst ideas before they chose the one they did ….

From an instructor’s point of view, I think this assignment worked out great.  To understand why, we need to take a step back to delve farther into the structure of the course.

First, up until this point, we have been traditional learning methods to get everyone on relatively the same platform from which to learn.  Our first lectures include: an introduction to the course, lessons on writing and presenting, and a primer of the internet and social media.

Moving forward, students will be learning from a series of live cases taught by real-world professionals who are learning to deal with the forces of the internet and globalization everyday.  Our challenge to them is to question popular thought and to read between the lines – to see the forces at work and see how they can leverage their creativity to create new and innovative solution.

This project was designed to get those creative and problem solving mindsets moving – pushing them out of the traditional learning mindset.

Second, this class is almost entirely group driven.  During the semester the students have to complete two different group projects designed to provide opportunities for hands-on learning by doing.

This assignment forced group interaction and assimilation very quickly and gave the students the opportunity to learn their group’s dynamics in a fun setting.

So what did everyone learn?  Did they learn?  Anyone think this project was crazy? I’ll let students have the final word …

After the surprising success of their day project for class, Jeff and Nate set off again on Thursday to collect more money for the Bush-Clinton Haiti fund.  A passerby took the video above of the team working to raise awareness.  To learn more:  about the project here or the source of the video.

For background on how Jeff and Nate developed this idea, check out yesterday’s class assignment.  The quick synopsis: we gave the class an hour to create as much value only using post-it notes.  Nate and Jeff really took the “only use post-it notes” part to the fullest.

From the Alligator: “Seniors Nate Stein, right, and Jeff Goetz, left, stand on Turlington Plaza Wednesday wearing underwear and Post-its for their Digital Frontiers class. Students donated $1 to victims of the earthquake in Haiti by sticking a Post-it note somewhere on Stein’s and Goetz’s bodies.”

Thanks to Juliana Jimenez who took this wonderful photo!

Source: http://alligator.org/news/campus/article_d7fea97c-064e-11df-ba33-001cc4c03286.html

Starting in June, I will be working with True Ventures, an early-stage technology venture fund with offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto and Northern Virgina.  Until then, in addition to working with the wonderful students in this course, I will be completing my graduate degree in Finance at the University of Florida, working with my social business in India and enjoying the life of a student.

Throughout the semester, I figured I would blog along with the students – to give a different perspective – as well as keep notes on some of the interesting lessons and trends that emerge.  If you have any comments on the course or have any thoughts on how we can improve things – please reach out to me here.

Lesson 1: Teacher’s can see all the work you’re not doing

One thing I never appreciated as a student was how much teachers can see from the front of the classroom.  You really can see everything and its surprisingly distracting if someone is working on a crossword or clearly not listening. This has helped me in my other classes as I’ve now started paying attention and my professors’ seem far happier.

(As an aside, any students who read this will now have a leg-up on the rest of the class)

Lesson 2: Not every college student is tech saavy

Industry blogs and the news make it seem as though tomorrow’s students will take over the world purely on their superior knowledge of technology, especially when compared to the current generation in power.  Strangely, my initial experience with this class has indicated quite the contrary.

In this course of 24 students**:

- 1 Student had a Twitter Account
- 3 Students had built a Website
- 1 Student had built a Facebook App
- 0 Students have a linkedin account

Which shows a surprising low adoption rate of new web platform technologies.

I will say most surprising – 1 student in class didn’t even have a Facebook account.  (Please note: She now does.)

On the flip side, a surprising number of students had taken the initiative to start their own business (online or otherwise.)  This work ethic and innate belief that anything can be accomplished – I think – will be more important than their current technology skill set.

Unlike previous generations, they don’t need formal education.  Rather, they will be able to use their critical thinking skills and leverage the internet to learn quickly through practical work. (This theory is being tested through our course project.)

** This course was advertised as a course which tackled disruptive innovation and social media.  With that in mind, I would say this group would be an example of more heavy tech users than the mean University of Florida student. **

Lesson 3: College is slow to evolve on the whole but you can find pockets of innovation everywhere

When Nikolai and I started designing this course – the first thing we did was search the marketplace (UF) for competitors (similar courses) to both borrow ideas and find our niche. Unfortunately, we found little that addressed these topics at UF.

To start, last week, our business school newspaper – the Warrington Times - ran an article which discussed social media as a marketing platform, which included comments from the Head of the Marketing Department in the Warrington College of Business.  His comments and the article were surprisingly dismissive of this shift in how businesses communicate with consumers.

However, outside the college of business, certain colleges have embraced these changes – and are not only teaching these new tools but also using them to push their students’ experiences to the next level.

My Growing List of Examples at UF (If you know of more, please let me know!)

• EME 4406: Integrating Technology into the Secondary Curriculum
• ISM 3004: Computing in the Business Environment (More Technical)
• UF in Second Life: Law and Engineering
• JOU 4930: Multimedia reporting
• MMC 3260: An Introduction to Online Reporting

It’s not huge – but the classes do exist – and many are doing awesome things.  Hopefully we will see the use of technology continue to grow across campus (and throughout the educational system.)

That’s it for this week.  This should be updated weekly on Sunday nights with thoughts for the weeks moving forward.  Most importantly, if you have any ideas on how we can improve or want to get involved – please leave a comment or get in touch here