Social computing is here to stay, and it looks like it is getting a formal curriculum wrapped around it as well. Susan Barnes, a professor of communication at the U.S.-based Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) was recently awarded a two-year $149,786 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop an undergraduate online course in the new discipline of social media.

“The introduction of social media software programs is a major change in the way that people communicate on the Internet. It is both a social and technological change that deserves academic attention,” Barnes said.

RIT’s new social media course debuts early next year to a trial group of 90 students, and will double as a case study of technology and social networking that is expected to further Barnes’ research into the potentials of social computing in learning.

“A focus of our course will be to introduce students to career possibilities,” Barnes said. “Social networking combines IT with communication, so we need students from both Liberal Arts and computer backgrounds … the types of skills that are needed in industry.”

Source: Computerworld