Bright Ideas

I was looking into finding more info on YouTube access for students when I was directed by the awesome Educator's PLN Ning to Michael Wesch's work with YouTube. Inadvertently I came across his recent discussion on using the power of smart mobs to enhance classroom discussion. Read Prof. Wesch's recent blog post from his Digital Ethnography class at Kansas State Univ: How to get students to find and read 94 articles before the next class.

He is inspired by the work of Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution in which "Rheingold primarily explores the sociology that might characterize a world of 'ad-hocracy', in which people cluster temporarily around information of mutual interest." [Booklist] This book is available at the Winnetka Campus New Trier Library [303.483 R469]

I am looking into other articles of this nature by Googling Smart Mobs. When I use the wonder wheel, I am able to find other keywords such as crowd sourcing, "wisdom of crowds", and Jeff Howe's work in this area. Don't forget the power of the wonder wheel when teaching keywords; visual learners will benefit from this graphical way to explore topics by clicking on related searches that dig deeper.