Crowdsourcing Knowledge Through Social Media

Your Name and Title: Torrey Trust, Ph.D. Student, Education

School, Library, or Organization Name: UC Santa Barbara

Area of the World from Which You Will Present: Santa Barbara, CA

Language in Which You Will Present: English

Target Audience(s): K-12 Teachers, Higher Education Faculty

Short Session Description (one line):

Learn how to use the wisdom of the crowd to solve your teaching questions and challenges. 

Full Session Description (as long as you would like):

"'What can you do' has been replaced with 'What can you and your network connections do?' Knowledge itself is moving from the individual to the individual and his contacts" (Cross, 2006, p. 18, as cited in Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011).

As a teacher, you may feel like you need to know all the answers, but the key is being able to use your resources and contacts to find the answers to the questions you have. Crowdsourcing is the act of using the wisdom of the crowd to find the most effective solution to a problem or question. This session will teach you how to crowdsource knowledge through social media tools. You will learn how to use various tools (Edmodo, Twitter, LinkedIn) to get advice, feedback, find resources, and pool the collective knowledge of the crowd to find answers. You will also learn about the act of crowdfunding to get equipment and resources for your classroom.