Presented by Larry Gould, Provost Chicago, April 2012

1. Building Empires of Collaboration: Aligning and Using the
Social Web to Enhance Higher Education’s Value
Proposition
Larry Gould
Stacey Smith and Chris Crawford
Fort Hays State University
Quality in Higher Education
NCA HLC Annual Conference
April 8-12, 2011
Chicago, IL 60601

2. Framing the Presentation’s Organizing Question
Based on the understanding that Fort Hays State
University’s (FHSU) primary value proposition remains the
advancement of learning:
WHY and HOW is FHSU moving forward on the opportunities provided
by “open educational resources, emerging technologies and
participatory pedagogies” to become a 21 st century university with
enhanced and innovative traditional and virtual learning environments,
improved logistics and more powerful business intelligence?

3. WHY move forward now?
The Answer is Simple: The Advent of the Internet
Both organizational and individual sources continue to
erode higher education’s role as the gateway and keeper
of knowledge
“Only the Paranoid Survive”
Andy Grove – Former CEO of INTEL

4. WHY Now?
New and More Powerful Change Drivers
Inside the Higher Education Industry: We Continue to
Transition from the Age of Competition to the Age of Brands
(FHSU is betting that “Quality is the Future”)
Outside the Higher Education Industry: Emerging and
Intensifying Social, Political, Global and Technological Pressures
(Seven Revs, networks as the organizing principle for society and
institutions, Middle East revs, from Gutenberg to Google to GPS)

5. The Value Proposition and Its Production Functions:
The Industrial Age Teaching Paradigm
Faculty-centered, lecture-centered, classroom-centered
Course content designed and selected by a lone-ranger/craftsman belonging to
an academic guild
Individual learning prevails/Collaboration the exception
Technology perceived as a static, neutral tool/just apply it
Faculty workload and engagement obligations are for course and program
responsibilities/not socially produced and distributed learning
* See Barr and Tagg, 1995, Nov-Dec., “From Teaching to Learning—A New Paradigm for
Undergraduate Education”, Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 27 (6), 12-25.

6. The Value Proposition and Its Production Functions:
The “Wikinomics” Paradigm*
Collaborative learning**
Dominant pedagogy: Socially-constructed/Discovery-driven
Self-paced personal learning environments (think Edupunks, Edupreneurs and
the Transformation of Higher Education by Anya Kamenetz, 2010)
Faculty as mid-wives of an emergent learning process
Content co-creation and collaborative process with the “intentionality” on
process and student engagement
*Tapscott and Williams, Wikinomics, 2008
*Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds, 2005
**Tapscott and Williams, Educause Review, Jan-Feb, 2010

7. The Value Proposition and Its Production Functions:
The “Wikinomics” Paradigm
Collaborative knowledge creation (Tapscott and Williams, 2010)
Social media tools and processes provide an “accessible, empowering,
dynamic, communally constructed framework of open materials and
platforms” on which you can run the university (emphasis on logistical
processes, efficiency and effectiveness rather than student learning
outcomes)
Collaborative tools and processes serve as business intelligence generators
Drives content exchange, collaboration, co-innovation, collaborative
learning and connectivity locally, between institutions and on a global scale
Monitoring participation and use of social media analytics are essential

8. HOW is FHSU Taking Advantage of this Emerging Revolution
in 21st Century Learning and the Tidal Wave of Social Media
Networking Tools and Approaches?
By developing and implementing a real-time strategic plan driven by
two systemic trends/imperatives---
(1) the increased freedom of learners to access, create and
co-create content; and
(2) “the opportunity for learners to interact with each other
outside of a mediating agent.” (Siemens & Matheos, 2010)

9. A Real-Time Strategic Plan for the Institutional Use
and Leveraging of Social Media Networking Tools
Strategy is about direction. FHSU is moving in the direction
of developing an institutional ecosystem/platform of
collaborative processes and tools to enhance and leverage
learning, business intelligence and logistical operations
The organizing principles of the plan—collaborative
learning and collaborative knowledge creation—and the
associated social media tools---will be used to foster
entrepreneurial, innovative, and risk-taking behaviors in six
different audiences across campus and beyond (see excerpted
FHSU strategic plan pages)

10. A Real-Time Strategic Plan for the Institutional Use
and Leveraging of Social Media Networking Tools
Planning Audiences/Targets for Socially-Produced Learning
Potential On-Campus Students
Current On-Campus Students
Potential Online Students
Current Online Students
Alumni
Friends of FHSU

11. A Real-Time Strategic Plan for the Institutional Use
and Leveraging of Social Media Networking Tools
The vision of an institutional social media ecosystem/platform becomes one of
several devices to help FHSU realize the entrepreneurial potential of its brand
promise “forward thinking, world ready.” Strategic themes like undergraduate
research, internationalization and learning for democracy are facilitated by using
this digital mashup/platform of tools to create “empires of collaboration”
(eCitizenship initiative)
The institutional strategy, in addition to college and program tactics, is
essential because FHSU needs to integrate and leverage the social media tools
and collaborative knowledge creation (content) currently taking place in
strategic budget units throughout the organization (see Indiana and IIllinois
pages/also CUNY, NCSU and Bates).

12. The Dynamics of Engagement, Leverage and
Integration Drive the Strategy
Engage the social media usage preferences of six targeted
audiences (current on-campus, prospective on-campus, current
online, prospective online students, alumni and friends)
Leverage the information to address the learning mission of
FHSU and create knowledge for planning and operations
Integrate and aggregate (Google?) budget unit professional and
personal uses of the social web into an institutional learning
commons for further collaborative learning and knowledge
creation

13. A Real-Time Strategic Plan for the Institutional Use
and Leveraging of Social Media Networking Tools:
Some Early Action Plans and Digital Tactics
New Faculty Workshop: Integrating Emerging Technologies and
Pedagogies of Engagement into the Course/Learning Design Process
Creation of Reusable Learning Objects
Facebook Planning Guide for Departments
Rethinking and Recentering Mobile, Social and Local Digital
Tactics
eCitizenship and Service Learning for both traditional and
distance education students

14. Critical Success Factors for Leading and
Managing the FHSU Plan in Real-Time
CONTEXT
CULTURE
PROCESS
METRICS
PEOPLE
POLICIES
The Social Media
Management Handbook,
Smith, Wollan & Zhou, 2011

15. Some Final Observations and Points to Ponder
1. Institutions with Distance Learning Operations Should Be Able
to “Bridge” the Transition to Mass Collaboration Sooner and
More Cost-Effectively (there are declining costs in already
having experience with collaborative learning)
2. You Should Not Have to Throw Out the Baby With the Bath
Water (Multiple Models will work and Traditional Learning
Environments can be augmented with the Social Web)

16. Some Final Observations and Points to Ponder
3. There are “Paradoxes” to be Recognized (e.g. faculty will use
the technologies to continue their current approaches to
learning, Boyerization emphasizes individual work, etc.)
4. Need it be said? It’s about the re-imagination of learning; not
the technology!

17. Questions?
Thank You
For slideshow and more:
www.fhsu.edu/provost
Twitter.com@provost24
Teacher-Scholar Journal:
http://www.fhsu.edu/teacher-
scholar/volume2/Volume2.html