August 15, 2012
Architecture professor conducts workshop on Facebook at international education conference
Mick Charney, associate professor of architecture, conducted the workshop "Looking for Mr. Wright, and Finding Him on Facebook" at the 19th International Conference on Learning, Aug. 14-16, at the Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK.
Although social networking is much maligned by academics as a medium that diverts students' attention away from the serious sustained pursuit of knowledge, Charney's workshop demonstrated that Facebook possesses tremendous latent educational value if utilized in a carefully orchestrated manner in small-enrollment classes.
Envisioned by Mark Zuckerberg himself as “the stream of all human consciousness,” Facebook can help students come to terms with complex multifaceted problems through a versatile hyperlinking capability that is perfectly attuned to the digital dexterity of today’s so-called Net Geners. The result is a vibrant and endlessly interconnected repository of useful information that is simultaneously engaging and revelatory in nature.