Derek E. Baird

We recently spoke with Derek E. Baird, Chief Youth Officer at BeMe Health, a mobile mental health platform made with teens in mind, about his thoughts on bringing compliance best practices into day-to-day operations, the importance of having his whole organization get certified in KidAware, and challenges the advertising industry faces regarding youth digital safety today.

More organizations than ever before are confronting how to prioritize child digital trust and safety alongside profits. Companies are becoming more proactive in protecting children's digital rights, including their right to online privacy and data protection.

'Dear Evan Hansen' is a social-media-centric musical that has been widely celebrated by a show specific
online fan community, known as ‘Fansens,’ on Instagram and Tumblr, having won the
Tony Award for Best Musical in 2017.

The growth of this fandom, on these platforms, is unique as Fansens have adopted plot points and thematic elements from the musical relating to how social media affects social anxiety, depression, and suicide to create fan art and fan fiction which, in turn… Show more

'Dear Evan Hansen' is a social-media-centric musical that has been widely celebrated by a show specific
online fan community, known as ‘Fansens,’ on Instagram and Tumblr, having won the
Tony Award for Best Musical in 2017.

The growth of this fandom, on these platforms, is unique as Fansens have adopted plot points and thematic elements from the musical relating to how social media affects social anxiety, depression, and suicide to create fan art and fan fiction which, in turn, result in a community of care on social media where fans can discuss their own encounters with social anxiety, teen suicide, and cyberbullying.

Though most Fansens would not have been able to see the musical performed on Broadway or live in person, their fanfictions, personal posts, and fan art reflect and refract the difficulties that young people have with mental health, social anxiety, and suicide.

Using both digital methods and post-structuralist textual analysis, this article analyzes numerous fan cultural artifacts collected from DEH-specific hashtagged posts on Tumblr and Instagram. In doing so, this article provides a new perspective on the role that fan communities, their artifacts, their use of digital media, and their fan activist and upstanding techniques can play in providing avenues of self-care and modeling positive online support for those dealing with mental health issues. Show less

Chapter in ‘International Perspectives on the Role of Technology in Humanizing Higher Education’. This volume is part of the series titled Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning (IHETL) by Emerald Group Publishing, one of the leading academic publishers in the world.

This sentiment implies a more systematic approach to problem-solving that follows a process of identifying and refining multiple options to determine best practices for faculty preparation and staff… Show more

Chapter in ‘International Perspectives on the Role of Technology in Humanizing Higher Education’. This volume is part of the series titled Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning (IHETL) by Emerald Group Publishing, one of the leading academic publishers in the world.

This sentiment implies a more systematic approach to problem-solving that follows a process of identifying and refining multiple options to determine best practices for faculty preparation and staff development.

The results of the survey included in this chapter are a directional means to help instructors and course designers explain what is relevant and exciting about techniques that can be employed and identify and use the emerging technological tools that enhance the delivery of instruction while meeting the ever-changing and dynamic needs of today’s learners. Show less

"Post-95s" are the aboriginal people of the Internet, they are always online. They may not be fully mature yet, and they have seemingly contradictory values-personalization, collaboration, independence, diversity, knowledge, and pragmatism, but they are the backbone of the global Internet, and their consumption potential cannot be underestimated.

For brands, the "post-95s" are extremely challenging, and their complex and evolving culture makes marketers daunting. How can brands quickly… Show more

"Post-95s" are the aboriginal people of the Internet, they are always online. They may not be fully mature yet, and they have seemingly contradictory values-personalization, collaboration, independence, diversity, knowledge, and pragmatism, but they are the backbone of the global Internet, and their consumption potential cannot be underestimated.

For brands, the "post-95s" are extremely challenging, and their complex and evolving culture makes marketers daunting. How can brands quickly build brand awareness among these new generations of consumers? How to align with young people's frequency and integrate into their culture?

This book provides comprehensive guidelines for brands that want to precisely target this generation, covering everything from social media, content creation, marketing activities, gamification, segmentation, to emerging technologies that are still in the experience stage. Through case studies of powerful young brands such as Nike and Instagram, explain in detail the five truths of "post-95" marketing, so that your brand can establish a united front with the new generation of consumers. Show less

Connect your marketing with youth culture and resonate with Generation Z using this expert guide, packed with proven strategies and usable frameworks for effective youth marketing. Generation Z, ranging from tweens to young adults, has enormous spending power; yet it is one of the most challenging generational cohorts for brands to reach.

Embodying an unrelenting relationship with information and mobile technology from a young age, Generation Z's ecosystem is infinitely more complex and… Show more

Connect your marketing with youth culture and resonate with Generation Z using this expert guide, packed with proven strategies and usable frameworks for effective youth marketing. Generation Z, ranging from tweens to young adults, has enormous spending power; yet it is one of the most challenging generational cohorts for brands to reach.

Embodying an unrelenting relationship with information and mobile technology from a young age, Generation Z's ecosystem is infinitely more complex and varied than any generation before. Staying tuned-in to this demographic's impatience, confidence and constantly evolving trends can be daunting for any marketer trying to keep up.

'The Gen Z Frequency' offers a comprehensive guide for any brand, non-profit/social impact or organization trying to reach this demographic, covering fundamental truths, content creation, engagement strategies and tactics such as social media, experiential, emerging technologies, and much more. It is woven with fascinating case studies and real-world stories from the trenches, plus key insights from leading youth brands and Gen Z themselves. Show less

While there’s much hype around the use of VR in education, how are teachers using this emerging technology in the classroom? What do students think? What are some of the issues that need to be addressed by educators, content creators and VR hardware developers?

The students, part of a virtual reality pilot program in Irish schools, used the MissionV platform to create a virtual model of the Clonmacnoise in OpenSim and then viewed it using Oculus Rift headsets.

For a generation that’s been raised on interactive technologies, bringing AR into the classroom and curriculum can also help encourage active engagement and contribute to student retention.

Urban communities increasingly are looking to career pathways programs to help meet their workforce needs, and public two year colleges are often central to the partnerships that make pathways programs work. Beginning in 2013, strategic planning, and implementing career pathways in high-demand industries like information technology started. This abstract documents and shares key strategies to provide information and tools to help employers stay competitive and to recruit, prepare, support and… Show more

Urban communities increasingly are looking to career pathways programs to help meet their workforce needs, and public two year colleges are often central to the partnerships that make pathways programs work. Beginning in 2013, strategic planning, and implementing career pathways in high-demand industries like information technology started. This abstract documents and shares key strategies to provide information and tools to help employers stay competitive and to recruit, prepare, support and find students IT jobs at a public two year college. Show less

Abstract.

The convergence of social and mobile technologies into online learning environments requires both traditional academic courses and emerging MOOC programs to design new, more effective learning, teaching, and user experience strategies.

In this article we will present the results from a student survey conducted with students from across the United States on how they use social technologies to support their learning in the age of mobile and social technologies… Show more

Abstract.

The convergence of social and mobile technologies into online learning environments requires both traditional academic courses and emerging MOOC programs to design new, more effective learning, teaching, and user experience strategies.

In this article we will present the results from a student survey conducted with students from across the United States on how they use social technologies to support their learning in the age of mobile and social technologies.

Keywords

social media, social learning, MOOCs, mlearning, Facebook, Twitter, Facebook for Educators, mobile learning, mlearning, user experience design, course design, online course design, millennials, learning 2.0, education, educational technology, online learning, iPad, iPhone, Nexus Show less

I've teamed up again with my writing partner, Dr. Mercedes Fisher, to take a deeper look at how designing for social spaces can help foster a deeper sense of community among students, teachers and the course content.

I'm pleased to announce that our book chapter, How Social Design Influences Student Retention and Self-Motivation in Online Learning Environments, has been published in Social Media and the New Academic Environment.

But beyond the classroom, these best practices can… Show more

I've teamed up again with my writing partner, Dr. Mercedes Fisher, to take a deeper look at how designing for social spaces can help foster a deeper sense of community among students, teachers and the course content.

I'm pleased to announce that our book chapter, How Social Design Influences Student Retention and Self-Motivation in Online Learning Environments, has been published in Social Media and the New Academic Environment.

But beyond the classroom, these best practices can be integrated into any online community, forum discussion or informal online education environment.

As web applications play a vital role in our society, social media has emerged as an important tool in the creation and exchange of user-generated content and social interaction. The benefits of these services have entered in the educational areas to become new means by which scholars communicate, collaborate and teach. Show less

Investigating the social structure that works in online courses helps us design for and facilitate student collaboration. The integration of social technologies, and collaborative activities into the course design has a positive influence on student retention in online courses.

In this chapter, we present an exploratory study of computer mediated groups which utilized this collaborative based model to participate in online and/or blended learning courses. Participants were put into… Show more

Investigating the social structure that works in online courses helps us design for and facilitate student collaboration. The integration of social technologies, and collaborative activities into the course design has a positive influence on student retention in online courses.

In this chapter, we present an exploratory study of computer mediated groups which utilized this collaborative based model to participate in online and/or blended learning courses. Participants were put into groups and observed as they constructed new knowledge using both online dialogue (synchronous and asynchronous), and social networking technologies (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, wiki) as tools to support and facilitate their learning in the program. Show less

The media-centric Generation Y values its ability to use the web to create self-paced, customized, on-demand learning paths that include using multiple platforms for mobile, interactive, social, and self-publishing experiences. These can include wiki, blogs, podcasts and other developing social platforms like Second Life, Twitter, Yackpack and Facebook. New media provides these hyper-connected students with a medium for understanding, social interaction, idea negotiation, as well as an… Show more

The media-centric Generation Y values its ability to use the web to create self-paced, customized, on-demand learning paths that include using multiple platforms for mobile, interactive, social, and self-publishing experiences. These can include wiki, blogs, podcasts and other developing social platforms like Second Life, Twitter, Yackpack and Facebook. New media provides these hyper-connected students with a medium for understanding, social interaction, idea negotiation, as well as an intrinsic motivation for participation. Show less

Why are teachers such an important demographic for youth marketers? In the U.S., there are nearly 1 million K-6 teachers and 58,000 principals who influence 25 million school-aged students, who in turn influence the purchasing decisions for 28 million parents (Source: 2004 U.S. Census Bureau).

Here are some lessons from NECC 2008 that marketers can use to effectively reach out to the education community

The convergence of mobile technologies into student centered learning environments requires academic institutions to design new and more effective learning, teaching, and user experience strategies.

In this paper we share results from a mLearning design experiment and analysis from a student survey conducted at the National College of Ireland. Quantitative data support our hypothesis that mLearning technologies can provide a platform for active learning, collaboration, and innovation in… Show more

The convergence of mobile technologies into student centered learning environments requires academic institutions to design new and more effective learning, teaching, and user experience strategies.

In this paper we share results from a mLearning design experiment and analysis from a student survey conducted at the National College of Ireland. Quantitative data support our hypothesis that mLearning technologies can provide a platform for active learning, collaboration, and innovation in higher education.

In addition, we review mobile interface and user-experience design considerations, and mLearning theory. Finally, we provide an overview of mLearning applications being developed in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland including, Virtual Graffiti, BuddyBuzz, Flickr, and RAMBLE. Show less

The data included in this article are intended as directional means to help instructors, interactive designers, media technologists and course designers identify social networking resources and other emerging technologies that will enhance the delivery of instruction while meeting the educational media consumption needs of today's generational learning styles.

A study of computer-mediated groups that utilized social media technologies and a web-based collaborative model in an online program. Participants were put into groups and observed as they constructed knowledge using both online dialogue (synchronous and asynchronous) and social media technologies as tools to support their learning.

The active nature of today’s digitally connected student culture is one that more resourcefully fosters idea generation and experience-oriented innovation than traditional schooling models. In addition, we describe our approach to utilizing current and emerging social media to support Gen Y learners, facilitate the formation of learning communities, foster student engagement, reflection, and enhance the overall learning experience for students in synchronous and asynchronous virtual learning… Show more

The active nature of today’s digitally connected student culture is one that more resourcefully fosters idea generation and experience-oriented innovation than traditional schooling models. In addition, we describe our approach to utilizing current and emerging social media to support Gen Y learners, facilitate the formation of learning communities, foster student engagement, reflection, and enhance the overall learning experience for students in synchronous and asynchronous virtual learning environments (VLE). Show less