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Using Pinterest as a Course Collaboration Tool

Keep it Pinteresting

Understanding Pinterest “Pinterest is an online pinboard. Organize and share

things you love.” (Pinterest, 2012)

Pinterest is a vision board-styled social photo sharing website and app where users can create and manage theme-based image collections. The site's mission statement is to "connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting." Pinterest is managed by Cold Brew Labs, a team based in Palo Alto, California (Wikipedia, 2012)

What is a pin board? A pin is an image added to Pinterest. A pin can be a

dded from a website using the Pin It button, or you can upload images from your computer. Each pin added using the Pin It button links back to the site it came from.

A board is a set of pins. A board can be created on any topic, such as Cool Posters, Recipes For Dinner, or Wishlist. You can add as many pins to a board as you want.

• (Pinterest, 2012)

How can I use Pinterest personally?

Users are finding Pinterest’s ability to “visually bookmark” items from the internet (or their own computers) addicting. They then can referring back to those items when it’s time to plan that birthday party, make dinner or do some home decorating. Common pin boards include DIY Projects, Clothing,

Quotes and Food.

Where do I find pins? Pins can be found in a variety of places

By seeing them on other Pinterest boards, and “repinning” them to your own board

By finding a webpage with a graphic and either copying the URL to the “pin it” dialogue box or clicking the “pin it” button on your shortcut toolbar

By uploading a file from your computer

Pinterest “social component” Not only can users “pin” things but they can also

comment on other pins, offering comments or suggestions. This brings to Pinterest another level of interactivity.

In addition to pinning and repinning, users can “like” a pin

Likes, comments and pins are then often pushed to users’ Facebook and Twitter feeds, which allow their networks to see and interact with their Pinterest activity

Using Pinterest as a collaboration tool

Pinterest allows users to create boards that are collaborative. Multiple users can be added as “pinners” to a particular board

To set up a collaborative board, users must be following each other

(Pinterest says it can be done through email address but that does not seem to work)

Why use Pinterest in the classroom?

Time magazine called Pinterest one of the five best social media sites of 2011, along with Google-Plus and Klout.

CopyBlogger estimates that 1.5 million people use Pinterest for about 15 minutes every day.

Millenials as learners According to a 2000 study by psychologist Keith Anderson, at least 10 percent of

college students used the Internet so much that it interfered with their grades, their health or their social lives. Fast-forward ten years and the use of the technology is so engrained in college students’ lives that they can’t imagine life without it.

This generation is extremely technology-oriented and 88%of Millennials report sending text messages regurlarly. They are so phone-addicted that 83% sleep with their phones (Pew, 2010). In addition to cell phone usage, Millennials are hooked in to social networks more than any other generation. Three-quarters of Millennials have profiles on social networking sites (Pew, 2010).

Most Millennials enter the classroom prepared to take advantage of the technologies and schools are ill-prepared to connect that knowledge to the classroom. Social networking sites such as YouTube and Facebook are often blocked, resulting in a failure to connect the world they live in with the classrooms they learn in (Considine, Horton & Moorman, 2009)

Researchers argues that we need to teach students how to become effective learners and guide them in honing their critical thinking skills. Millennials want to learn collaboratively, in their own time and on their own terms. They appreciate activities that permit creativity and involve real-life issues (McGlynn, 2005).

Using Pinterest as a collaboration tool

Once following each other, a board owner can add multiple people as collaborators on the board simply by typing in their username and clicking “add”.

The board will immediately become visible within the collaborator’s account and will work identically to one of their own boards.

Using Pinterest for Course Collaboration

At Point Park University’s School of Communication, we’re experimenting with using Pinterest for Course Collaboration. We’re doing that in a variety of ways.

First, we set up a School Pinterest Account www.pinterest.com/PointParkSoC

Then we set up boards for various classes

And invited students to collaborate on those boards

Using Pinterest for Course Collaboration- Graphic DesignStudents in Intro to Visual Communication Design are using their board for posting/pinning design inspirations for their projects as well as for peer critiques

Using Pinterest for Course Collaboration- Graphic DesignStudents in Intro to Visual Communication Design are using their board for posting/pinning design inspirations for their projects as well as for peer critiques

Social MediaStudents in Social Media are using their Pinterest board to pin interesting infographics, technology and other visual social media items.

Using Pinterest for Course Collaboration- Nature PhotographyStudents in the Nature Photography class are using their Pinterest board to pin their own photos and then offer comments/critiques as a class (the class is taught partially online so this allows a level of peer critique that may have been difficult otherwise)

Using Pinterest for Course Collaboration- Video ProductionStudents in Video Production and Editing are using their Pinterest board to pin interesting videos from YouTube along with their own videos for peer critiques

Using Pinterest for Course Collaboration- Media EthicsStudents in Media Ethics are using their Pinterest board to pin banned books to add to their discussion in class.

Student journalists could use pinterest boards to help tell a story, then create a splash page to highlight them like this SX Survival site

Future ideas

Other Pinteresting ideas Student clubs could use Pinterest to pin ideas for

travel to conferences, event planning, etc.

Faculty and students could pin equipment needs/wish lists to dedicated boards

Faculty and students could pin portfolios and other ideas from other Universities

Photo students could pin their favorite paper and other supplies (an often-asked question)

Departments could pin technology needs for incoming students (another often-asked ?)