Category Archives: social media

(Re)Introducing the Virginia Education Report

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

A while back, my edu-colleague Chad Ratliff asked me if I was interested in joining him in an effort to create a space for “independent” reporting and commentary on educational policy issues in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It was a terrific idea, and soon the Virginia Education Report was born. We had lots of grand [...] Read more »

Blogging, community, Ed. Policy, social media, VER

A Critique of Rick Hess’ Edu-Scholar Public Presence Rankings

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

Rick Hess just released the 2013 version of his Edu-scholar Public Presence Rankings. He claims that these rankings are “…designed to recognize those university-based academics who are contributing most substantially to public debates about K-12 and higher education. The rankings offer a useful, if imperfect, gauge of the public impact edu-scholars had in 2012.” I’m [...] Read more »

communication, data, dissemination, Ed. Research, eduscholars, Hess, higher ed., public presence, research, RHSU, scholarship, social media

Honoring the occasion

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

[NOTE: it may ultimately be that the subtitle of this post is "...or how I am justifying my attendance at the Bammys." If this post sounds defensive, maybe that's where it's coming from. I don't know; you make the call.] One of my mentors once taught me about “honoring the occasion.” I think it was [...] Read more »

awards, Bammys, Blogging, social media

My department’s new media ecosystem

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

The text below is from an email I sent to the department faculty and to all of the doctoral students in the department (we have a Ph.D. program and an Ed.D. program. Combined, there are probably 100 or so active doctoral students across the two programs). By copying that text here, I am hereby inviting [...] Read more »

Blogging, community, facebook, social media, twitter

Modern scholarly communication in education: An Example

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0

I’ve written a bit about scholarly communication in education, and our need to modernize our modes and systems (see e.g. THIS and THIS and THIS and THIS…). This post offers an example of modern scholarly communication. At the heart of this “story” is Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab, Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies and Sociology at the University [...] Read more »

AERA, digital, Ed. Research, modern scholarly communication, research, scholarship, social media, Storify, twitter

Tightening the narrative around school change

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0


The stories our leaders tell us matter, probably almost as much as the stories our parents tell us as children, because they orient us to what is, what could be, and what should be; to the worldviews they hold and to the values they hold sacred. In an opinion piece in the New York Times, [...] Read more »

argument, critique, Ed. Leadership, Ed. Policy, Ed. Tech., education, Learning, logic, McLeod, narrative, social media, technology

The Missouri “Facebook Law”: A conversation

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Jon Becker | Permalink 4


Senate Bill 5, also known as The Amy Hestir Student Protection Act, signed into law on July 14 in Missouri, goes into effect on August 28. Among lots of other provisions, the law stipulates that: No teacher shall establish, maintain, or use a work-related internet site unless such site is available to school administrators and the [...] Read more »

Ed. Policy, educator, facebook, misconduct, missouri, policy, sexual, social media, technology

To what effect?

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Jon Becker | Permalink 0


This is the question I asked this morning on Twitter. Before I unpack that, though, let me first offer kudos to the many, many educators with whom I interact on Twitter and other forms of social media who have spent many, many hours this summer engaged in both formal and informal professional learning activities. Many [...] Read more »

Learning, media, PD, professional, professioonal development, Social, social media, teaching