The class had a strong, laughter filled, negative response to assignment. Unanimously, they reported the assignment made them uncomfortable. Unanimously, they reported that they had learned something about their friends and technology by doing the assignment.
Some kids relayed that they'd inadvertently used their Facebook login to register for Pinterest ... which had resulted in them posting to their wall each time that they'd posted pictures ... which resulted in their "friends" commenting not on their post ... but more on why was a guy using Pinterest?
One student relayed that his friends harassed him for doing the assignment - so much so - that he changed course midway through - and posted "macho" content about cars etc.
Another student relayed that the second the assignment was graded ... he was taking it down ... because a lot of misconceptions were emerging about him, as a result of his activity on Pinterest.
Yet another student relayed that every student should have to suffer through what he'd suffered through ... because you learn alot about how not to use technology.
After 45 minutes of rancorous, laughter filled, misbehavior, we finished the debrief with three conclusions. First, Clemson Athletics would not be able to use Pinterest to recruit male athletes - in fact - one student went so far as to assert that we'd lose prospects if Dabo Swinney created a Pinterest page (now there would be the real Pinterest challenge. Second, Pinterest had real commercial potential as a portal for pushing folks towards information and products - if you knew your audience well. Third, a student group was going to take the next step and use Pinterest as the enabling technology in their group project. The irony? Team Pinterest included some of the absolutely biggest haters of Pinterest :)
Stay tuned! More on this later!
