SAGE Open - A New Program from Sage Publications

Dear Reader,


I hope you are having a great break (or a calm before next week's storm)! Over the break, I received this e-mail about a new service from SAGE publications. Please let me know what you think!


Sincerely,


J. Edwards

SAGE is extending you a special invitation to be among the first to publish in SAGE Open – our new open access publication launching January 1, 2011.

SAGE Open will publish peer-reviewed, original research and review articles in an interactive, open access format. Articles may span the full spectrum of the social and behavioral sciences and the humanities. Find out more at www.sageopen.com.

Why publish in SAGE Open?

• Quick review and decision times for authors
• Speedy, continuous-publication online format
• Global distribution of your research via SAGE Journals Online, including enhanced online features such as: public usage metrics, comments features, subject categories, and article ranking and recommendations
• Professional copyediting and typesetting of your article
• $195 introductory author acceptance fee (discounted from the regular price of $695)

Consider publishing in SAGE Open if you want your article to receive:

• Quality reviews and efficient production, ensuring the quickest publication time
• Free, broad, and global distribution on a powerful, highly discoverable publishing platform
• Branding and marketing by a world-leading social science publisher, including promotion of your article via publicity and social media channels
• Open access publication due to university or government mandates

Manuscript submissions will be handled online through SAGE Track, SAGE's web-based peer review and submission system, powered by ScholarOne Manuscripts™.

Bookmark http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sageopen — manuscripts may be submitted starting January 1, 2011. Click here for full manuscript submission guidelines.

Sincerely,

Bob Howard
Director, Social Science Journals

Please direct any inquiries to sageopen@sagepub.com 

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

My First Visit to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Readers,


Good morning! I am having a great time in Austin, TX at the TACUSPA board meeting. Yesterday, we visited the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) and we searched through over 85 years of TACUSPA history. We found some AMAZING items ranging from notepads created in the 1940s to conference books from the 1980s. Amazing information!


We were all responsible for a box (or two) of material and we had to write down information pertaining to past TACUSPA conferences. This information included the dates, location, themes, and keynote speakers. My TASK for the next few days will be to type all information we gathered pertaining to the conferences in a Google Document.


This was an amazing opportunity that I was glad to share with some amazing leaders from across the state of Texas!


Although this facility is about four hours away from my university, this would be a great opportunity for undergraduate students to discover Texas State History (or the history of your state). You would have to call the facility in advance, but they are very friendly and I think undergraduate students would benefit greatly from this experience!


Sincerely,


J. Edwards


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

My Goals for 2011! - Five Simple Things to Make Me Happy!

Readers,

I finally decided to write my New Year's goals for 2011 on my blog!

New Year's Goal #1 - To write at least one journal article every two months.


New Year's Goal #2 - To read at least one non-fiction book a week.


New Year's Goal #3 - To promote my blog and to gain at least 50 additional followers.
(I will need some help with this one).


New Year's Goal #4 - To promote my business and to gain at least 5 additional speaking engagements this year.


New Year's Goal #5 - To lose at least 10 pounds by next December (to accomplish this, I am giving up bread for Lent and beyond)...

That's it! Just five! We shall revisit this in December 2011! If you can help me accomplish ANY of my goals, please let me know! :) No bread please. :)

Sincerely,

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

Ask a Millennial Professor Friday - Youtube and Classroom-Based Public Speaking

Readers,


I received this question via e-mail this week:

Jennifer,

How did you get your UTube account for your class? I want to use a flip camera and tape the student speeches in Public Speaking, then load them up to an account that the students can access. I will then have them do self-evaluations and peer-evaluations."

[Name of Sender]

Here's my reply:


Hello Sender!


Okay - Here's the skinny on Youtube. Anyone can create the account, but here's the scary part. I have the students upload their own speeches on Youtube and the students make their links private (only available to the people they add). As for the speech competition (last year), the students for which we uploaded videos had to give us written permission to do so. A lot of the students do not want to have their speeches available to the public. Just ask them... maybe they are a little different.


I think the self-evaluations are an awesome teaching tool, but there are some privacy issues as well. :( Let me know what you think!


Sincerely,


Jennifer


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

Digital Literacy - A Short Video to Help Millennial College Students Learn About Identity Theft on the Internet

Readers,

Good morning! I thought that this video was very interesting. Although I tend to release a significant amount of information online, I try to protect the "important information" (like the information in this video).

I think it would be a good practice to show this video to our students. It provides a great history of the social security number process and the video gives the viewer a good sense of what potential damage can be done when people release personal information on the internet.

What do you think?

Sincerely,

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

Post-it® Keep Organization Simple

Readers,

Are you preparing for the Spring 2011 semester? One of my favorite products to use in my office are Post-it brand tabs! I use a sharpie marker to write the appropriate label on each tab and affix the tab to my textbook (to identify each chapter). This is definitely more effective than regular Post-it notes which tear and are not water resistant.

Try a free sample of Post-it durable tabs! - LINK.

Enjoy!

Post-it® Keep Organization Simple

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

International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education - IJTLHE New Issue: 22(1)

Readers,


As all of you know, I LOVE reading journal articles for fun! Well, it IS fun to discover effective ways to use technology and to use new teaching methods in the classroom. Here is a list of articles from the recent issue of the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Enjoy! 


Here's the link to the journal - http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/current.cfm


Balancing Theory and Practical Work in a Humanoid Robotics Course
» » Krister Wolff; Mattias Wahde;

———
Co-Creating Metaphor in the Classroom for Deeper Learning: Graduate Student Reflections
» » Ashlee Cunsolo Willox; Sherilee Harper; Dawson Bridger; Stephanie Morton; Ariella Orbach; Silvia Sarapura;

———
Developing an Undergraduate Global Citizenship Program: Challenges of Definition and Assessment
» » Jill Sperandio; Magdalena Grudzinski-Hall; Hannah Stewart-Gambino;

———
Exploring Leadership as a Phenomenon in an Educational Leadership Paper: An Innovative Pedagogical Approach Opens the Unexpected
» » David Giles; Michele Morrison;

———
How Prepared are the U.S. Preservice Teachers to Teach English Language Learners?
» » Aydin Yucesan Durgunoglu; Trudie Hughes;

———
Inquiry Based Method: A Case Study to Reduce Levels of Resistance
» » Shirley Mthethwa-Sommers;

———
Introducing Students to Ways of Thinking and Acting Like a Researcher: A Case Study of Research-led Education in the Sciences
» » Krisztina Valter; Gerlese Akerlind;

———
Linking Communalism to Achievement Correlates for Black and White Undergraduates
» » Kenneth Tyler; Keisha Love; Carrie Brown; Clarissa Roan-Belle; Denela Thomas; Patton Garriott;

———
Master’s Degree “Educating in Diversity” (MDED): Toward Inclusion Education Quality
» » Olga M. Alegre; Luis M. Villar;

———
Performance Assessment: Lessons from Performers
» » Kelly A. Parkes;

———
Perspective-Taking in Structured and Unstructured Online Discussions
» » Scott Chadwick; Ekaterina Ralston;

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

Update Your Calendars - 2011 Days of Service

This is my FAVORITE calendar company!\

Readers,

Please do not forget to update your calendars to include the 2011 Days of Service! :)

These are the days of service for 2011 (courtesy of the One Star Foundation: The Texas Center for Social Impact):

January 2011 - National Mentoring Month
January 17, 2011 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
April 10-16, 2011 - National Volunteer Week
April 15-17, 2011 - National and Global Youth Service Day
May 7, 2011 - Join Hands Day
May 7-14, 2011 - AmeriCorps Week
September 11, 2011 - September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance

October 23, 2011 - Make a Difference Day

Enjoy!

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

Adopt This Technology! - An Online Egg Timer for In-Class Activities and Presentations!

Readers,

As a speech teacher, I always have a timer in my briefcase. Sometimes the timer becomes a distraction because it constantly beeps as I walk across campus. To solve this small problem and to help me reach my time management goals for 2011, I plan to use the Online Egg Timer. This awesome program enables users to have THREE timers running at one time! Amazing! My regular kitchen timer only has TWO timers.

Here are five ways to use this program:

1. Timing in-class group activities on the data projector.

2. Grading papers in 30 minute segments (first timer) and then allowing yourself to have a five minute break (second timer).

3. Timing student speeches and the time between the speeches.

4. Hosting in-class consultation sessions with students (about their papers or presentations) and limiting the consultation sessions to only five to seven minutes per paper.

5. Giving the students a one-minute mental break in class.

I hope these ideas help you! Let me know if you have any additional ideas and I will add them to the list!

Sincerely,

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

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.

#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.

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.

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

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.

http://www.naspa.org/regions/regioniii/Preparate%202011%20Flyer%20(1).pdf

You may contact Dr. Alderman for any additional information.

Here's the link to the conference - Prepárate Conference - Schedule & Session 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

ralderman@stmarytx.edu

www.stmarytx.edu/retention

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

TCU Career Services iPhone and iPad 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

iPad Pilots in Higher Education - iPad Pilots

http://fairfieldmirror.com/2010/02/03/an-ipad-a-day-gives-students-an-a/

Readers,

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.

Here's the link - iPad Pilots in Higher Education - iPad Pilots

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.