Strategic objective 2 and Facebook

-
In my learning guides, I identified different social media platforms as learning spaces. These platforms are used to share knowledge or information with not only current students but our alumni as well.

Facebook is a social media website first developed by Mark Zuckerberg according to Business Dictionary. Because of its popularity, I decided to include in my learning guides and unit outlines the usage of Facebook. In my unit outlines, it is included in my teaching and learning strategy segments. 

Skerah states that the total number of active monthly Facebook user in PNG is between 600,000-700,000. A good number of the users, about 53% of the active users are college students. This is supported with the high number of active users in the age range of 18-24.

I created closed Facebook groups and named them after the different units that I teach. I have created about six different groups for the six international relations units that I teach. Below is a list of the six units:
  1. IR202 Theories of International Relations
  2. IR203 International Organizations
  3. IR302 International Law in International Relations
  4. IR333 Foreign Policy Analysis
  5. IR431 International and Regional Security
  6. IR432 Geopolitics in Asia-Pacific  

The next cumbersome step was to get you people to join the groups or add you to the groups myself. I announced in class for you all to add me as a friend, to make it easy for me to add you to the groups. Also, I asked those who were members of the groups to add other members of your class to the groups.

Apart from your peers from your year level, we also have other members from other year levels as well as our alumni. Thus, the group is made up of different individuals.

The main objective is to use the groups to share and create knowledge. It is expected that via information sharing and discussion you will be able to grow your knowledge about a particular theory, concept or event.



What I am doing is inline with DWU's 2016-2026 strategic master plan, especially strategic objective 2 which talks about innovation in learning and teaching. I have integrated this technological development (thanks to Mark Zuckerberg) into my teaching and learning strategies to come up with a blended learning curricula. 

Therefore, I encourage you all who are members of the various groups to take ownership of your learning by using the Facebook groups. As shown in the picture above, I commend those who are already using this platform to help them learn. 

Also, remember that our face-to-face contact period is limited in regards to time. But when you use our Facebook groups, whatever we post or discuss will be shared with all who are members of the respective groups. 

Another interesting feature is that our digital footprints will remain and act as a knowledge bank for the next batch of students 2 or 3 years later. Unless, the administrator of the group decides to delete your posts or comments. 

Finally, let us work together to achieve strategic objective 2 of our strategic master plan and fulfill DWU's mission to harness the power of information and communication technologies for knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and for for sustainable development practices of care for people and the environment.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FPA: Organizational Process Model

-
This model centers on the fact that different bureaucracies have different standard operating procedures. These procedures are made in order to allow day to day operations to be carried out. Thus, a foreign policy decision is made based on these standard operating procedures. It is hard for a bureaucracy to make a decision or let alone function out of character or contrary to their standard operating procedure. The reading Chapter 4: Foreign policy shares a straight forward explanation of the OPM: "An alternative to the rational model of decision making is the organizational process model. In this model, foreign policy decision makers generally skip the labor-intensive process of identifying goals and alternative actions, relying instead for most decisions on standardized responses or standard operating procedures. For example, the U.S. State Department everyday receives more than a thousand reports or inquiries from its embassies around the world and sends out more than a
Read more

Commercial liberalism and the six norms

-
Image
Liberal internationalism is defined by Griffiths, O'Callaghan and Roach (2008, p.190) as a project to transform international relations so that they conform to models of peace, freedom, and prosperity allegedly enjoyed within constitutional liberal democracies. The same scholars go further by dividing liberalism into three distinct groups. They say these are the three ways to implement the project. The way they present liberal internationalism as a project makes their work interesting. Three distinct groups Firstly, commercial liberalism is about free trade between states. States bilaterally or multilaterally via a platform like APEC pursue the goal of trade liberalization. Griffiths, O'Callagahan and Roach (ibid.) argued that economic interdependence would decrease the likelihood of going to war. Republican liberalism is about democratic peace. The scholars argued that the spread of democracy among states so that governments will be accountable to their citizens makes it di
Read more

Rise and fall realism

-
Image
By Colin Elman and Michael A. Jensen Source: Williams, P. D. (Ed.). (2008). Security studies: an introduction . London: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group. What is rise and fall realism? Rise and fall realism remerge as a powerful alternative to the balance of power theories that predominated international relations scholarship during the 1950’s. Central theme Hegemony is the foundation for peace while balance is often associated with war (Organski). Dynamics Rise and fall realism emphasizes that war between major powers is least likely when the international system is dominated by a single state and when there are no rising challengers vying for system leadership. Given its privileged position, a dominant state is capable of shaping the rules and practices of the international system in such a way as to satisfy its selfish interest. Stability is a product of this hegemonic order, as states which are dissatisfied with the status quo lack the capabilities to change it.
Read more