Social Media Experiential Learning

What do we mean by "community"? How do we encourage, discuss, analyze, understand, design, and participate in healthy communities in the age of many-to-many media? With the advent of virtual communities, smart mobs, and online social networks, old questions about the meaning of human social behavior have taken on renewed significance. Although this course is grounded in theory, it is equally rooted in practice, and much of the class discussion takes place in social cyberspaces. This course requires the active engagement of students and a willingness to experience a full immersion in social media practices. Much of the class discussion takes place in a variety of virtual world environments during and between face-to-face class meetings. Students who participate in this course will actively and productively engage in established and emerging forms of social media - and have some notion of how these practices affect the self and the community. This course includes experiential learning hours with our Community Engagement Member Institutions (CEMI). CEMI are dynamic learning environments created to foster learning through a structured interaction with the community. In addition to regular lecture hours, students will be involved in learning by doing through real projects and integration with the local population and territory in order to remove cultural and learning barriers as well as to develop a strong likelihood for success in life. The experiential learning hours are fully supervised by instructors who track students step by step during their learning experience, monitor and advise according to student needs, and support student initiative. This unique learning model allows students to benefit from an all-encompassing educational experience based on theory and practice in real enterprises, learning of comprehensive operational processes, problem-solving, leadership, and management.