What I have learned from Andrew Carlson's class

What you see is not exactly what you get - sometimes you get more.  One of my professors encouraged me to take this class as a step to creating a social media campaign for my "day job".  Imagine my surprise when I learned that not only would I not be creating a campaign for me (selfish) but that I would have to work on a group project (horrors). 

As the weeks have unfolded, I admit I am learning more than I bargained for and enjoying it far more than that initial class would have lead me to feel.  Working with a community group is not easy and anyone who does it for a living has my respect (and sympathy).  These groups can be dis-jointed, disorganized, underfunded, and yet passionate about their mission.  Being part of a group project when the group consists of adults working full-time and taking other classes is an art and a science.  Then you throw in the personalities and a whole other dimension is added to the project.  I have been blessed.

As we get into the mechanics of the class we learn that effecting Social Behaviorial Change takes a lot of thoughtful consideration.  Just understanding the basics of communication is key for getting started - that requires its own strategy. Creating a social media campaign to drive that change requires planning, education, coordination, and skill.  We identify our partners, our allies, and the dreaded gatekeepers while keeping the plates spinning.  The voice of the writer needs to urge action NOW and yet we have schedules to contend with. 

Who knew there were so many different potential applications of theories, models, and approaches?  Learning about the various methods helped us to understand there is a strategy to selecting and leveraging a theory -- say the Media theory.  Key concepts, critical questions, and possible applications presented in the table handout guides us to use the most effective approaches to hit our target.

The textbooks have given us much fodder for discussion.  Does anyone like Simon Mainwaring?  Who doesn't want to share the concepts in Scott's book with their friend who has the fledgling window treatment company?  Will we all become cyberactivists? 

Some of the best moments of this class are the "a-ha" moments when something clicks - like the RSS feed explanation, after weeks of feigning we understood it.  Getting to know our classmates and really thinking about where we come from and converge is exciting - we each bring something different to share.

The real excitement is clicking on the "publish" button on the blog page for the first time, or creating a hyperlink, or inserting a video into the blog.  No wait, maybe it's conducting the first interview with our community group and understanding their plight.  Wrong again, it has to be producing that video on the YouTube channel we created.  Or is it learning to tweet?  Oh, there are just so many things to take away from this class.  Sure, an A would be a nice thing to take away, but my true hope is that each of us learned to care about each other a little more, and that we've given Andrew's next class (and ourselves) something to build on.