Learning About New Technologies - Seven Items at a Time!

Readers,


As a tenure-track professor, I have a short amount of time each day to read my e-mail and to glance over long journal articles. I attempt to stay informed about new technologies and how these technologies affect education. I usually read short technology briefs by Educause on their "Seven Things You Should Know About..." series.


Some recent topics in this series are:


- 7 Things You Should Know About Open-Ended Response Systems


- 7 Things You Should Know About Online Media Editing


- 7 Things You Should Know about Android


This series is ideal for the "professor on the go" who needs to do more with less time. Click here for the "Seven Things" series - http://www.educause.edu/ELI7Things


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

Make Their Day! A Different Approach to Motivating Undergraduate Students in Communication Studies Classrooms

Readers,


During the past few weeks, I started emphasizing the FISH Philosophy in my Organizational Communication course. This philosophy has four components: play, make their day, be there, and choose your attitude. One of the components that I emphasized in all of my communication studies classes in to "make their day". I am one of those eccentric communication professors who always walks to class with a briefcase in one hand and a candy container in the other hand. I use the candy container to provide incentives for the brave students who choose to provide answers or contribute stories of their personal experiences during class.


This week, I decided to incorporate my love of coupons and deals with my passion of teaching college students (like my blog). I decided to obtain as many "Free Oatmeal @ McDonalds" coupons as I possibly could in a short amount of time. At the end of my coupon collection period, I ended up with 60 coupons in all. This collection process enabled me to give "free food" coupons to my hungry college students as incentives. They LOVED it and they were very thankful for the sweet incentive. As a result of this great experience, I plan to obtain a lot of coupons from local restaurants to give as incentives to my college students to feed their mind and their hunger! :)

THINK ABOUT IT - What do you think? Additional ideas?

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

Spring Break is Here! - Incorporating Spring Break Pictures in Class Lectures

Readers,

We are preparing for spring break and I am very excited about traveling for non-conference purposes! Here's the interesting part of non-conference travel...I am always THINKING of examples for my courses: interpersonal communication, organizational communication, and intercultural communication. As I travel, I take pictures of artifacts (both cultural and organizational) to incorporate on my presentation slides.

Here are some pictures from my past travel adventures:

Sincerely,

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

iPad2 - The Sequel (Communication Technology at Its Best!)

Readers,

I have to tell all of you about my wonderful husband! On iPad Friday, my husband was determined to purchase an iPad2 for my birthday! After working all day teaching at a local high school, he stood outside of the Apple Store for two hours! Amazing man!



However, his efforts were in vain because these new devices sold out within a 30 minute time frame! So, on Saturday, we spent SIX hours driving around the DFW area to find a 3G iPad2. Best Buy decided to capitalize on the high demand and low supply of the iPad2 and they implemented the reservation program! For $100.00, customers could reserve an iPad2 and the company would call you when a product arrived. Yes, this sounded like a great idea at the time so we went for it!

On the way back to the car, I had a bright idea to call the AT&T Stores in the area and each of the stores in Dallas and Fort Worth were completely sold out! On a whim, I decided to call the AT&T Store in the town in which my university is housed (which is an hour an a half outside of the DFW area) and they had FOUR iPads left! I wish that I would have known this very important fact before I left work on Friday! :) I was very excited to drive to that AT&T Store to purchase my iPad2! It is amazing!



Five Features that I LOVE about the iPad2:

1 - It is available in white! I think this looks a little more professional than the black.
2 - It has a camera and a video camera!
3 - It has FACETIME! - This will be great for videoconferencing or virtual office hours on the go!
4 - It is slender and lighter than the original.
5 - I LOVE the new cover!

I really think that the iPad is the ultimate communication technology tool!

Sincerely,

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