At the 12th Annual Enhancing the Teaching of Psychology Conference 2012 at UW-La Crosse, I discussed the topic of "The Psychology of Social Media in the Classroom." With the backdrop of Wisconsin politics, the presentation illustrated how real world events can enhance the curriculum making it more relevant and thereby engaging students. Tools that were highlighted included Tweetdeck, YouTube, CNN iReports and web streaming. More information about social media can be found at
The Learning Space blog.
The conference brought faculty together from around the UW-System to talk about active learning, teaching activities, psychology in international opportunities, research in "Understanding Socio-Cultural Grounding of Cognition", and classroom assessments. There were also short demonstrating on student response systems and library research tools. It was a good venue to bring technology into the traditional realm of psychology teaching and learning.
The conference brought faculty together from around the UW-System to talk about active learning, teaching activities, psychology in international opportunities, research in "Understanding Socio-Cultural Grounding of Cognition", and classroom assessments. There were also short demonstrating on student response systems and library research tools. It was a good venue to bring technology into the traditional realm of psychology teaching and learning. 
Social Media and Politics Feature on Wisconsin Public Radio, WHLA.
For an introductory view of the program on Social Media and Politics, take a look at this Mediasite web stream. This short presentation provides a quick synopsis of how social media tools and strategies helps to make the political environment more understandable, relevant, and engaging. Join me as I take you through the first year of this research study which is filled with narratives, imagery, and video. As one blogger commented, Jorstad's work "is history in real time."
In a year long research study, we have been tracking how social media can be used in politically charged environments. In this case, the study focused on the political turmoil in Wisconsin, beginning in February 2011. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were used to document and disemminate information to the state, national, and world. Tweetdeck was used to monitor multiple streams of strategic information. In addition, a series of iReports on CNN were utilized with many of them featured on CNN News outlets.
