Friday, December 31, 2010

Twitter and the TRUE Demographics - 8% of Online Americans Use Twitter (Pew Research Center)


Readers,

Recently, the Pew Internet and American Life Project (A Project of the Pew Research Center), released a report titled, "8% of Online Americans Use Twitter". More women than men use twitter and more 18-29 year olds use Twitter more than any subsequent age group, and most of live in urban environments. Here's the surprising part, most of the Twitter users are minorities (Black and Hispanic) and most of the users make less than $30,000 and between $50,000 and $74,999.

I wonder how many professors from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) AND Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) use Twitter in their classrooms.

Here's the link to the report - 8% of Online Americans Use Twitter.

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

#EDUSOCMEDIA - A Neat Resource for Higher Education Faculty and Technology Professionals...


Readers,

Today, I found such an incredible resource titled "#EDUSOCMEDIA: The Social Media Resource for Higher Ed". This resource actually emerged through my numerous daily alerts from "Google Alerts" (which is another incredible resource).

This website features a twitter feed, videos, a wiki, and various additional resources. In fact, Pretty neat! This website was created as a Twitter hashtag resource for last year's EDUCAUSE conference, but it was so great that the authors decided to keep the resource updated and available after the conference. Here's a sample post, "The Five Considerations of Social Media" - http://www.edusocmedia.org/2010/10/the-five-considerations/"


After viewing each of the website's resources, I became very excited about submitting my first proposal to EDUCAUSE 2011. I hope that my proposal will be accepted... I love Ed Tech/Comm. Tech!

Sincerely,

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Tech Tips for Educators - UW Stout, Wisconsin's Polytechnic University



Readers,

Today, I discovered the "Millennial Professor" blog was selected as one of the "Top 8 Education Blogs to Inspire and Inform" by the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Here's the link to their top picks - LINK. In addition to this blog, one of my friends' blogs, "Communication and Higher Education: Life on the Tenure-Track at a Teaching Institution", was also selected as a top blog. Dr. Lora Helvie-Mason from Southern University New Orleans writes about her celebrations and trials on the tenure track.

Yay! Thank you Ms. Karen Franker from the University of Wisconsin-Stout! I appreciate you!

Sincerely,

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Register for the Prepárate Conference - March 10th & 11th

Preparate: Educating Latinos for the future of America.

Readers,

Prepárate™ brings together professionals from higher education, secondary schools, middle schools and community-based organizations, with the common goal of increasing Latino student access to and success in college. The conference will be held March 10–11, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas.

Please follow the link below to view the flyer for more information.
You may contact Dr. Alderman for any additional information.


Rosalind V. Alderman, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President for Retention Management
St. Mary's University
One Camino Santa Maria
San Antonio, TX 78228
210 436-3995 office
210 431-8038 direct
210 431-8020 fax


Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D. - Vice President of Education and Professional Development

Monday, December 27, 2010

The Baylor Graduate Research, Advancement, and Development Conference - January 27-28, 2011


GRAD Conference

Readers,


I am Vice-President for Education and Professional Development for the Texas Association for College and University Student Personnel Administrators. This year, we are a sponsor of the Baylor GRAD Conference. Here's some information. :)

ATTEND and/or PRESENT at the Baylor Graduate Research, Advancement, and Development Conference on January 27-28, 2011. This conference is sponsored by TACUSPA.


What is the GRAD Conference?
- A two-day professional development opportunity for students, program directors, and faculty members from Higher Education and Student Affairs graduate programs across the state of Texas. We invite you to participate in this exciting opportunity to network, present research, and discuss relevant issues to your campus and your future in higher education.

Cost
The registration for this conference is ONLY $20.00 and the registration deadline is Friday, January 21, 2011.

Call for Papers/Call for Programs
- Program proposals will be accepted through Friday, January 14, 2011 and will be included in registration materials and on the Baylor HESA website. In addition, any student presenting at a national conference in the spring will have an opportunity to present their program at the GRAD conference AUTOMATICALLY.

Are you interested?
Please contact buhesa@gmail.com or click this link - http://www.baylor.edu/soe/studentaffairs. You can also join the GRAD conversation on Twitter @baylorhesa and #gradconf.

Click here for the conference flyer - http://tinyurl.com/BaylorGRADConference


Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

TACUSA Vice-President for Education and Professional Development


Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Goodbye Del.icio.us? Using Del.icio.us for Bookmarking Scholarly Journals



Readers,

I use del.icio.us for EVERYTHING! I use this program to organize the websites of journals for which I monitor their "call for papers" posts. I have over 75 journals organized by their various categories: i.e. - JournalsEdTech, JournalsCommunication, JournalsInterpersonal, JournalsK12.

Now, I am faced with the dilemma of saving each of these book marks on my hard drive. After seeing this article, "Is Del.icio.us going away?", I started to panic. It seems that Yahoo plans to sell the service. Perhaps to a company like Google? Still, I plan to save each of my book marks just in case.



What social bookmarking websites do you use? Xmarks perhaps? My husband is an advocate for Xmarks, but I was a total del.icio.us fan. :(

Sincerely,


Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Blind Students Demand Access to Online Course Materials - Technology - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Blind Students Demand Access to Online Course Materials 3
Photographs by David Wallace for The Chronicle
Readers,

This semester has been a wonderful challenge because I have had to learn various modifications for several students with visual and hearing abilities. As a result, challenge enabled me to learn new teaching methods in my face-to-face class (which I am VERY happy about).

However, the online classroom presents college faculty with another challenge. I do not think that I am equipped or trained to teach visually-impaired students online. Moreover, I wonder how disability services offices will provide modifications for students with various levels of visual and hearing abilities.

Here's an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education (released last night) focused on blind students in the online higher education classroom - Blind Students Demand Access to Online Course Materials - Technology - The Chronicle of Higher Education

In addition to the article listed above, the Chronicle of Higher Education also published an article titled - The Best and Worst Web Sites for Blind Students.


Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Are You a Professor-On-The-Go? Well, Google Voice is for You!



Readers,


I am one of those "very odd" people who does not like to give my personal cell phone number to my students. As a result, I started using Google Voice in June 2010. I created a Google Voice number (based in Waco) and I added the number to my syllabus and university voice mail.


Whenever a student calls the telephone number they also call my cell phone and office phone number (I can set the service to only ring during certain hours and/or on certain days - i.e. - not on weekends). When I do not have time to talk to them, I just send them a text message and the students usually appreciate this aspect of Google Voice.




In addition to the calling and text message feature, Google Voice also transcribes your voice messages to text AND saves the voice message in my e-mail. This is very helpful when you are attending a meeting and/or teaching class.


I use Google Talk to communicate with friends and colleagues via video chat (on Gmail) and I make free calls at work through the software (without even picking up the telephone)!


This is an essential resource for professors-on-the-go! I value this service and I hope that they continue to provide this FREE service for us!




If you would like some more TIPS for using Google Voice, read this great article from Life Hacker - http://lifehacker.com/5697196/the-most-helpful-ways-to-use-google-voice-that-youre-not-using?

Ask questions about this wonderful program for Friday's "Ask a Millennial Professor" post! 


Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Google eBooks: A Potential Competitor for Kindle....

Readers,


Today, I finally installed the Google eBooks e-reader application. I am quite pleased with the amount of free books available through the software.


I hope that Google decides to include free textbooks through the software. I think it will be an incredible asset for school districts and universities.


What do you think?


J. Edwards





Readers
Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Our Annual "Communication Department" Christmas Party! - VERY Exciting!


Readers,

I absolutely LOVE our annual "Communication Department" Christmas party! I look forward to this celebration EVERY year! A dear colleague and I revived the Christmas party in 2009 and another colleague picked the planning process up this year. We always have the party in our meeting room during lunch time.

This year we had a traditional Texas BBQ (no brisket for me, just chicken) with beans, cornbread salad, Texas toast, jalapeños, and three types of dessert (including smores). Yum! 


After the delectable lunch, we had a wonderful white elephant gift exchange! Our limit was $25.00 from your house! This year, my gift was: Learn Italian software, Learn French software, a cookbook, Theraflu, and candy. I received FIVE recent award-winning DVDs! Yay!



A few weeks ago, I received this link via my RSS feed - Alternatives to the Holiday Office Party


I enjoy this celebration because this is the ONLY time that the entire department can get together during the year! 


If your office does not have an annual Christmas party, here's a great idea resource for you.

(  ) Schedule an Ugly Holiday Sweater Day
(X) Hold an In-House Catered Lunch with Employee Fun and Games
(  ) Participate in a Holiday Card Exchange
(  ) Make a Charitable Contribution in Lieu of an Office Party
(X) Schedule an Employee Potluck Lunch
(  ) Decorate Your Office, Cubicle, Work Area Contest
(  ) Pick a Secret Santa Pal
(  ) Plan an Office Party for a Different Season
(  ) Hold the Office Party - Put Keep It Low-Key and Casual
X = Our choice!

We had a great time! How was your holiday party?

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

The End-of-Semester Grading Process, Google Documents, and a GREAT Thank You Note!!!

Woman climbing ladder to top of stack of papers
Readers,

After allocating almost 100% of my time yesterday to grading final examinations and feverishly grading undergraduate research reflection papers and online assignments for the past two weeks, I am FINALLY FINISHED! This is quite an accomplishment, because I never finished by 1pm on the last day of finals (my first final started at 8 am on that day).

Now it is time to back up my courses and student submissions on blackboard. Usually I have a lengthy "back up" process ahead of me. However, this time I used Google Documents for a majority of my assignments and I will not have to individually save each assignment in PDF format (except for discussion questions and test data). Yay for end-of-semester productivity!



Today, we have our graduation ceremony and I always look forward to seeing our communication graduates walk across the stage. In addition, I always look forward to wearing my regalia (two times a year). Congratulations graduates!

By the way, I received one of the most wonderful thank you cards yesterday from one of today's graduates. She wrote about how I helped her obtain an internship at a local cooperation and this internship became her NEW JOB! I am VERY excited for her!  I LOVE this job!


Sincerely,

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Ask a Millennial Professor Friday! - The Future of Netflix

Readers,


Good morning! A few years ago, I started a feature on my blog titled, "Ask a Millennial Friday". After a few weeks of the feature, my teaching schedule became VERY busy and I received less questions via e-mail.

However, for the past two weeks, I've received A LOT of questions via e-mail. Here's this week's question:

My name is [student's name] and I am an [name of university] journalism student working on my final paper for my Inquiry class. I am writing about the impact of Netflix on DVD rentals and the company's aim to push itself more into the instant streaming realm, alongside the free sites Hulu.com and various TV network sites. I stumbled upon your blog and saw your post about possibly using Netflix in the classroom, and would love to take a moment of your time to discuss your opinion about where Netflix is headed, socially, and what you think we as consumers should expect to see with online streaming in the next few years. I would greatly appreciate any moments you may have, be it over email or on the phone, and I'd like to emphasize that this paper I'm writing is intended only for my professor's eyes. 

My response - Personally, I feel that Netflix is one of the most ingenious products and/or services available to the general public. As a Netflix subscriber, I LOVE the service for my personal use. I watch TV shows and movies through the service and then I make a list on my Google Docs to rent from the library (or to purchase for my classroom). Although I think they would be great additions to my classroom, I am quite afraid of showing Netflix movies (or shows) in my classroom because of copyright infringement, but I do not mind showing TV shows (Undercover Boss on CBS) via steaming websites.

I think this industry will continue to grow and flourish for personal and professional use. I think public and community libraries will definitely jump on the streaming video bandwagon, because it would increase their services (and products) without having to consume addition library storage or checkout space. This is a huge concern for community libraries. 

Professors can also benefit from streaming videos in their classroom. My classrooms are located in a different building from my office and it is very inconvenient to leave resources (i.e. - DVDs) in your office across campus. In addition, the students would be exposed to foreign and independent films that they would not normally watch at home nor would they have access to these films in their community.

I have over 250 movies in my instant queue and most of them are British films and independent movies. If I did not have a Netflix account, I would drive to 50 miles to the metropolitan library to view the films before showing them to my students in class.

Netflix will benefit from creating university and community library accounts for their company. Libraries other similiar types of organizations can enter into a five-year (or more) contact with Netflix and might be an advantage to month-to-month users. I envision this "university account" working similarly to a library research database. Some databases only allow one viewer to view an article at a time. Residence halls could also greatly benefit from this service. The amount of students with Wii systems and HD televisions is growing every year.

I think the future is filled with services focused on video downloads and streaming websites/services. The number of video offerings within each genre will increase and the the number of users will definitely increase. This increase in the number of users will be accompanied by more satisfied users who will experience a more customized viewing experience. However, as the amount of users increase, the amount of bandwidth will need to increase as well.

Thanks for your question! What do you think?

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

TCU Career Services iPhone and iPad App!

career app
TCU Career Services Website



Readers,

TCU's Career Services office created a Career App (https://careers.tcu.edu/resources/careerapp.aspx) that focused on Business Etiquette, Creating Your Personal Pitch, Dining Etiquette, Interview Preparation, Interview Questions, and After the Interview.

What are great resource for our students! Do you have any apps for your classroom OR student services?

Check this app out!

Let us know what you think!

Career-Services Department Jumps on App Bandwagon - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
Millennial Professor

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

iPad Pilots in Higher Education - iPad Pilots


Tonight, I received a great e-mail from Mr. Jim Siegl (@jsiegl). He created and maintains a list titled "iPad Pilots in Higher Education". This list of more than 145 institutions is an EXCELLENT resource for higher education professors who research the effectiveness of iPads in secondary and post-secondary classrooms.


Several Texas institutions are featured on the list. I hope that our university is able to utilize iPads in my proposed course for Fall 2011 (Communication Technology and Social Media).

If you have any institutions to add to the list, please let Jim Siegl know!

Sincerely,

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Can Students Survive Without Social Media?


Readers,


Sometimes, I ask myself - "Can college students actually survive without technology?" Well, one college actually decided to see how college students would react to a sans technology campus. This university blocked Twitter and Facebook on campus computers. Here's the interesting caveat, I wonder if the students accessed the technology on their cell phones. hmmm.... Would this be considered "cheating"?

Well, the article addressed this as well...

Critics noted students could visit the sites with smartphones or by walking to nearby buildings with free WiFi. But Darr said the point was not to prevent access so much as to get people to think critically about the role of social media in their lives.

In my opinion, this was an ingenious strategy to enable college students to see what their lives would actually be like without having technological interruptions every few minutes.

Here were some interesting "findings":

But during the ban, 33 percent of students reported feeling less stressed. Twenty-one percent said they used their normal social networking time to do homework, while 10 percent said they read online news.


Some students changed their study methods. Darr cited a Facebook-based tutoring effort that was failing to explain a complex biology process to students; they grasped the concept only after a face-to-face meeting during the blackout, he said.


Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Monday, December 13, 2010

American Council on Education Report - "Recent Graduates Say Degrees Are Worth Time, Money Spent"

Readers,

Today, the American Council on Education released a reported, "Recent Graduates Say Degrees Are Worth Time, Money Spent".

This article featured the following figure:


Prepare for employment 28%
Prepare to be responsible citizens11%
Teach to learn and think critically 31%
Conduct research that benefits community 1%
Serve the community 2%
Prepare to solve problems facing our country 17%
Produce innovations that fuel economic development 6%

This report focuses on the curricular and extra curricular benefits of higher education.

Here's the link to the article - Nearly 90% of Young Alumni Say Going to College Was Worth It, Survey Finds - Government - The Chronicle of Higher Education


Enjoy!


Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

iPad Pilots at U Houston and CDI College Take Off -- Campus Technology

Readers,

As all of you probably know by now, I am a technology junkie. However, I love integrating technology in my courses. Unfortunately, I have only seen two other iPads (aside from my own) on campus and they belonged to the Communication Department and to another department on campus. As of today, I have not seen ANY students with iPads OR e-readers. However, a large amount of the students and faculty have iPod Touch devices and/or an iPhone.

Today, I read an article titled, "iPad Pilots at U Houston and CDI College Take Off -- Campus Technology". This is an AMAZING venture from the University of Houston's College of Communication and the U of H Educational Technology department. They have a course titled "Information and Communication Technologies", in which they equipped their students with iPads for the next eight weeks. Here's some more information about the project.

Kudos to the University of Houston right now. I would LOVE
to provide my students with such an exciting experience! I wonder where the research will be published. :)

Here's some additional information about the project:
"At the University of Houston a joint project between the School of Communication and the Education Technology and University Outreach organization will research the impact of 'anytime, anywhere' learning over the final eight weeks of the current semester. A team of professors has created an iPad application for an Information and Communication Technologies course with 30 students. COMM 3353 iApp, which will be used in an elective class in the journalism program, contains learning modules with video lectures, textbook material, presentations, tutorials, and simulations"


Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Google vs. Blackboard - Is It a Reality?

Readers,

My husband and I are huge Google fans. In fact, I integrate Google into my blackboard course ANY POSSIBLE way that I can! Through my non-existent "power point slides"... they are all Google Presentations now... to my online assignments through Google Forms, I do not even have to log on to Blackboard (which can sometimes be a cumbersome process) to check students' progress on an assignment.

Lately, my husband has been asking... "So, why doesn't Google complete with Blackboard"? Apparently, a lot of people have been pondering the same question. Here's an article that I discovered today, "Google: Groupon? Not Blackboard?"

In the article, the author states, "Google should buy Blackboard and take the following actions:


  • Move gBlackboard as quickly as the market will bear to an all cloud-based, multi-tenancy delivery system. This will drastically reduce implementation costs, allowing the price of the software to drop quickly.
  • Deeply integrate gBlackboard with Google Apps for Education, gDrive (Google Storage), and the content available on YouTube/EDU.
  • Follow a plan to bring the licensing fee for public institutions to gBlackboard down to zero.

These actions may prove to be great moves for the increasing amount of cash-strapped higher education institutions who are actively seeking cost-cutting measures to help them stay afloat.

Google - If you hear us, we need an intervention!

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Publication Opportunity! - The Internet and Higher Education: Online Learning Environments (Due Date - June 1st)

Readers,

I just discovered a great publication opportunity on the "Instructional Systems @ FSU" blog. for anyone focused on emotions in online learning environments! :)


Here's the information:


The Internet and Higher Education

Special Issue Call for Papers on Emotions in Online Learning Environments: Theory, Research, and Practice

Special Issue Editor: Anthony R. Artino, Jr. Ph.D.

Scholars have recently called for more inquiry on the role of emotions
in education. Although the dynamics of emotions that emerge during
online learning may be less apparent than those experienced during
traditional classroom instruction, limited empirical evidence suggests
that emotions are important contributors to learning and achievement
in online environments. However, educators currently know little
about the complexity of student and teacher emotions and their
potential influence on academic outcomes in online contexts.
Accordingly, The Internet and Higher Education (INTHIG) invites papers
for a special issue focusing on understanding the role of emotions in
online learning environments (OLEs). Specific areas of interest
include, but are not limited to:

How emotions develop and evolve in OLEs;
How students and teachers regulate their emotions in OLEs;
Emotional states and traits in online learning processes;
Assessing emotions in OLEs;
The influence of emotions on cognition, motivation, behavior,
collaboration, and achievement in OLEs;
The emotional experience of being an online instructor;
How emotional factors can be integrated into existing theories of
online learning; and
OLE design features and instructional activities that impact student
and teacher emotions.

Manuscripts that focus on theoretical, empirical, and practical issues
will be considered, and manuscripts that employ qualitative,
quantitative, and mixed-methods designs are welcomed and encouraged.
All submissions should follow the usual format for INTHIG submissions
and should adhere to existing INTHIG Author Guidelines, which can be
found on the submission website (see link below).

Authors are requested to submit manuscripts via the Elsevier Editorial
System no later than June 1, 2011. The submission website can be
found at http://ees.elsevier.com/inthig. To ensure all manuscripts
are correctly identified for inclusion into the special issue, authors
are asked to please select <<>> when they reach the
“Article Type” step in the submission process.

To request additional information, please contact the Special Issue Editor:

Anthony R. Artino, Jr., Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Phone: (301) 319-6988, Email: anthony.artino@usuhs.mil (email preferred)


Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.