FERPA Considerations for the Social Media
So long as an institution is in pursuit of their educational mission, colleges and universities may, within reason, use and release information that identifies students both publicly and to third parties. Releasing certain types of information can be perceived as more risky or offensive, depending on the party obtaining the information, their intention, and their efforts to maintain obligations related to that information.
Inigral Helps Facebook Stay Secure
The Inigral CTO accidentally made worldwide headlines when he found a bug in Facebook’s Instant Personalization. Facebook immediately fixed it, and the world was saved from potentially evil hackers…. We’re so proud, our George is a superhero.
Multiple Social Media Tools: Overwhelming but Okay. Actually, a Must.
There is no such thing as “duplicating your effort,” there’s only “multiplying your presence.”
Keeping up with Facebook in Higher Ed
The Game is rigged. Facebook has you spend time and money promoting your presence on that platform to users of their platform. Of course they’re going to make that take more clicks and cost more money in the short run. While they’re the only game in town, it only benefits them. The best way to differentiate yourself from the confusion, in our opinion, is to introduce a Facebook Application for your College or University.
The Battle of the Adaptive, Social Tutoring Systems: Knewton vs. Grockit
Another fun takeaway from the convergence of thought leaders in education at SkySong, ASU: Knewton and Grockit are going to battle. The good news: the consumer/student will benefit, and the market is big enough for several players.
Global Education: A New Frontier
Demand for quality, reputable education outstrips supply by a long shot. Entrepreneurs, smell an opportunity? Chris Whittle does.
How Facebook is Eating the Internet
Inigral was at f8, the Facebook Developer Conference, and my friends previous assessment that “Facebook is Eating the Internet” finally became a reality. Here’s how they’re doing it:
Three of the Biggest Factors in Student Retention are Social
Three of the top five institutional factors in student attrition are social in nature.
Accepted and Enrolled Student Communities using Ning: No Longer Free, Never Was Good
Ning just announced they’re killing the free version of their niche social networks.
In the battle of Ning vs. Facebook, Facebook won bigtime. People are more interested in connecting with their friends than with niche communities…. Or, are they? Kind of….
What Employers Can Do for Postsecondary Completion
This is what Employers can do to encourage Postsecondary Degree Completion. I stole this copy from a circular by the Gates Foundation to the Business Convening they had for Employers on March 23, 2010 in Washington DC.
Employers for Student Retention and Persistence: Gates Foundation Business Convening
I was honored to present Schools on Facebook, our Social Network for Student Retention, to major employers at the Gates Foundation Business Convening
Social Media for Student Retention: Gates Foundation Hones In on Possiblities
The Gates Foundation has a goal of doubling the number of young people who earn a postsecondary degree or certificate with value in the marketplace by the time they reach age 26. Nick Punt, VP of Product, and I were honored to help shape the Gates Foundation’s thoughts on social media and degree completion at a meeting in Seattle on March 29, 2010.
Is this a time sink? Is this going to hurt? I don’t like needles….
It’s really up to you. We’ll share best-practices, but operating an online community is not a one-size-fits-all model. We will work together to do what’s best for your campus.
Social Media and Student Retention: Can Schools App Move the Needle?
Having a social media interface to the instituiton is simply going to be a must have. And let’s be excited about it. The potential impact for student retention is huge. Here’s why.
In the community: Speaking at Gates Foundation Meeting
During the week of March 22, I’ll be traveling to Washington D.C. to represent Inigral at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Postsecondary Business Convening. The conversation will be an important step in understanding how the business community can play a catalytic role to help dramatically increase the number of young adults who earn a degree at a reasonable cost in a reasonable time.
Scale your Communications using Social Networking
In the past, you were limited by the amount of paper you could afford. Publications could only hold so much. Brochures and newsletters could only cover aspects of your institution that would be of interest to a large number of individuals.
Facebook Patents Newsfeed, Good Thing We’re on Platform
Good thing we’re on Facebook Platform. We’ll get to focus on our product success while others have to hire more lawyers :)
Facebook in Higher Ed: Problems, Needs
Frustrations can be summarized by the following argument: Facebook has one goal – to increase the number of their users and the money they make from ads per user; thus, Facebook Pages & Groups is not a “whole product” – a product with a set of capabilities that solve for an interrelated set of needs for a particular customer type – in Higher Education.
Mentoring at SeedCamp
I was honored to be a part of the mentor team at SeedCamp, Europe’s answer to Y Combinator on Friday, January 22, 2010. I spent most of my advisory time focused on early stage customer development, lean startup practices, and iterative inbound marketing.
Bboogle Boondoggle: Why Integrating Blackboard and Google Apps is not Meaningful
Making uninteresting information appear in more places is just not a viable product strategy. The key is to enable meaningful interaction that can create new, meaningful information.
Social Networks in Higher Ed: Go Big or Go Home
We’ve launched a few Facebook apps – white-label Accepted and Enrolled Student Social Networks that live inside Facebook. So, we’re starting to get the hang of what works and what doesn’t. Here are some thoughts.
Our Year in Review
It’s hard to imagine we kicked off 2009 with a pilot at Michigan State University. At that point, our product and team was worlds away from where it is now.
Openness in Higher Education: Municipal Data as Inspiration for Openness
I want to see a school that puts their course catalog and offerings up on their website in XML format that’s easy to scrape and crawl, then make an App Challenge for their students to make something cool out of it.
Accepted Student Social Networks: 9 Questions to Ask
An up and coming trend in Admissions is to adopt an Accepted Student Social Network. If you’re looking at one now, here’s some things to consider:
