It is that time of year where we are beginning to start working on our spring courses for the next semester. I will be teaching my social media class again this spring, and will be the fourth spring semester I have taught social media. Amazing how time has flown by!
This semester’s line up of topics and speakers is really exciting. We are going to have some of the leading professionals in the business either Skype or come by to the class to share their expertise, tips, stories, and best practices in the field.
With that being said, I am limiting the number of students who will be able to take the class to 24. However, I do have some preqs for the class, and each student has to meet with me individually to interview for the class. I have talked with other professors about this and personally, I think it is important to make sure the student knows the expectations for the class, what are going to be the assignments required, and what the workload is going to be like.
I am doing something different from previous years, and I thought about creating a welcome and overview of the class for #Freberg16. Is it a poster? No. An email flyer perhaps? Not at all. I created this through Adobe Slate.
What is Adobe Slate?
A great new product from Adobe that allows you to create visual stories in an interactive and fluid manner online. I first heard and saw Adobe Slate being used by two of the best social media and sports professionals presently, Jeff Kallin and Jonathan Gantt of Clemson. Both are actually going to be guest speakers for my class in the spring, so I am thrilled!
How can professors use Adobe Slate?
Pretty much any thing you would want to do, you can do it in Slate. This platform allows you to create visual stories through interactive features. You are able to add text, photos, grids, and other formats as well.
Here are some ideas professors may want to think about using this new tool for their classes:
- Creating and sharing assignment guidelines. Word or Pages are so 20th century – why not share these in a visual and appealing way for your students?
- Taking on a new approach to a resume. Tired of the same Word document or do you have students ask you if there are other ways to showcase their story? Well, direct them to Slate and allow them to play around and see what works for them.
- Reflection of an assignment: I may do this for their Hootsuite assignment for the spring semester, talking about their journey via social media education. It would give the students a way to write content plus think visually on how this would look as well.
- Evaluating an event for client. I have many professors who do a service learning project along with their social media class, and what better way to share the results of the event with Slate? This way, the students can tell the story from start to finish in a format of a formal review and case study for their client that is visually appealing.
- Creating a class overview to share with faculty and students: This is what I did for my first try at Slate, and here’s the one I created for #Freberg16. Let me know what you all think about this!
So, how do I get Slate?
Easy. It’s available both via an iPad app or their recent update where you can do it from your desktop. Pretty easy to use!
Let me know if you have any other ideas as well – would love to hear them! Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,