Thoughts on the Cloud Institute + Social Media

I’m with Doug and Patrick that some attractive marketing demonstrating the utility of using ‘technology’ and social media for sustainability education, plus the Plaza’s usability & functionality (which we will hopefully see soon) would be tremendously helpful before the upcoming conferences.

One thing that struck me at the meeting was that a “Web 2.0″ presence could simultaneously help support three functions for the Institute: marketing/fundraising, pedagogical/curricular, and professional development. I suppose it operates like a system. The products of the curricular realm (class blogs, for example) could be used for marketing/fundraising/grant proposals. They could also serve as starting points for ‘behind-the-scenes’ pedagogical discussions among educators.

There would, of course, be some overlap, but I wonder if this conceptualization could help the class organize into teams around these three functions? At the very least, I think we can help the Institute connect sustainability education to media literacy and integrate social media into a curricular (and a professional development) framework. I suppose the ‘deliverable’ would be some practical copy that they could use in future proposals.

Thoughts?

- Jedd

Floating in the Cloud!

Wow!  What an opportunity, huh?  I think that this is a great chance for us to put all that mind boggling theory to use.  I wanted to let everyone know where my interests lie, as far as our work with The Cloud Institute is concerned.  I’m thinking that helping them to develop some initial marketing materials for their web tool would be very beneficial for all parties involved, and it’s something tangible that we can do in the span of a few weeks.  If that involves videoing youngsters on the street, asking them about sustainability and whatnot, or developing some motion and still graphics to upload and documenting how easy the process is (I’m thinking of trying to represent some of the stuff that was in their portfolio books in an online format), it sounded to me like they need a way to present their tool to their clients.  Anyhow, just some thoughts.

-Doug