But I know I have to write it.

Over the past 4 months I have been living in Philadelphia, and working for Comcast Interactive Media. I worked on a project producing a series of tutorial videos. It was a very different job for me. There was a lot of managing. Managing people, managing expectations, managing outside agencies… it was a very big project. But my contract is ending on Jan. 15th so it’s on to hopefully better things.

So I had to make a decision, stay in Philly and look for another job, or move back to NYC? After talking with my family and close friends I have decided to do something that I didn’t want to do, but I know I have to do. Go back to school.

When I first started blogging there were 2 things that I worked very hard to keep under wraps.

#1 – that I was still in school

#2 – how young I was

I don’t really remember why I decided to do that, but from my point of view at the time, they were both negative things. I had a number of friends my age who were still in school and also in the social media/ blogging podcasting space, but for some reason whenever they were mentioned, they were always “student bloggers” and in my head that sounded like it was something less than everyone else. I didn’t think that they deserved less credit because they were young, or still in school. I also feel like the “student blogger” was being put in a box. It became a specific category that I didn’t want to be a part of. The age thing I always wanted to keep under wraps because I wanted my work to speak for itself.

I have very strong opinions about higher education. I don’t like it, I didn’t think I needed it, and I think the whole system in general is broken. I’ve written a little about education before. Once I had finished 4 years of school, I was done. I didn’t graduate, I just couldn’t take it anymore, I didn’t see the point. But while I still feel this way somewhat, I have decided to go back to school and finish my degree in Media Studies.

I can only hope that this doesn’t set me back career wise.

So…now that I got that off my chest, I’m moving back to NYC and I’m looking for a job. Not an internship people, I might be going back to school, but I don’t think that takes away from my level of experience. Ideally I would like to find some work in community management, social media consulting (I know I hate that term, but there is not other way to put it) Something that doesn’t require me to be in an office all of the time (since I will have classes, etc)

If you hear of anything, please let me know.

I wanted to thank all of my friends and mentors for being so great and supportive to me with this decision.

I have talked a little about my feelings on education. I decided that I wanted to do something about it instead of just talking about it.

So, I am starting a meetup group to figure out how much interest there is for teachers to learn more about how social media tools can be used in education.

I plan on this group holding educational sessions for teachers about social media and how these tools work.

Now the one thing I am stuck on is a name for the group. This is where you come in.

Should I name the group:
a) social media for education
b) social media for educators
c) teaching our teachers
d) other (please leave your suggestions)

UPDATE:

I am worried that “social media” is not the right term to use. I don’t want people to assume that this is about teaching teachers how to use facebook and twitter. If that is something that they are interested in than I am willing to explore that.

However, I wanted this to be more about creating communities and social space for your classroom, or group projects etc, that will engage kids outside of the classroom and help them to learn in a social way.

It revolves around the idea that learning is really just sharing information. And isn’t sharing what the internet is all about? I want to show teachers how these tools work and foster their imaginations about how they can work these tools into their curriculum.

I worry that using buzz words like “social media” and terms like”2.0″ aren’t really going to attract teachers.

Thoughts?

On Tuesday I attended Jeff Pulver’s SocComm (Social Communications Summit). There were some really great speakers and a wonderful active audience. It was a long day but it was a lot of fun. Over the next few days I will be writing posts about some of the thoughts and bits that inspired me to think and discuss further at SocComm.

Today I really want to talk about something that Fred Wilson said during his presentation on truth. He predicted that Harvard university will not exist in 50 years, that everyone would be able to create their own form of education. This is something that is very interesting to me, and I sincerely hope it comes true.

A few days ago I re-blogged this video on my tumblr titled: Learning to Change-Changing to Learn this video was produced by the Consortium for School Networking. Founded in 1992, the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) is the premier professional association for school district technology leaders. CoSN is committed to providing the leadership, community and advocacy tools essential for the success of these leaders. Their mission is to empower K-12 school district technology leaders to use technology strategically to improve teaching and learning.

Some of my favorite points from the video:

Education was ranked the lowest industry in IT intensiveness!

Kids are rich content developers!

Every turned off device is potentially a turned off child!

We live in a “nearly now” space.

We have a classroom system when we could have a community system!

This is the main reason that when I have children, no matter where the education system is, they will be home schooled. Having been in the education system for the majority of my life so far I can tell you that it is useless. I have learned more by asking questions, talking to the right people, and attending events like SocComm, than I have in entire semesters of higher education.

Social tools have the power to teach us anything we want to learn. The Internet bridges the physical gap between me and a school in France. I should be able to take classes whereever I am from the BEST Professors in the world! This future, and the future that we are all building for the next generation is what makes me wake up in the morning.

I know that I am a part of an industry that will shake every other industry as we know it – from Publishing to Government, from Education to Hospitality. Everything is about to change and I have NO IDEA where the chips will fall and when the walls will crumble, but I can’t wait!

Related articles by Zemanta

• To my friend Jon Arnold: SocComm is right for these times (pulverblog.pulver.com)
• SocComm Videos – Febuary 10th, 2009 NY (webmetricsguru.com)
• Attending SocComm and Search Engine Strategies NYC 09 (list-your-blog.com)
• Pulver’s SocComm. Feb 10, NYC (saunderslog.com)
• Shelly Palmer: Why You Need to Translate Value Into Wealth (prevential.com)
• Why Obama Can’t Ignore Education Tech (businessweek.com)
• Is Traditional School a ‘Must’? (chris.pirillo.com)