College Students with Learning Disabilities

One of my favorite people on campus is the Director of Disability Services. Through her position, she helps students with physical, psychological, or learning disabilities. This position is vital on our campus, because it seems that more of the students from the millennial generation arrive in the college environment with learning disabilities that were diagnosed from high school.

Every year, I remind the students in my classes to tell disability services if they had a diagnosed learning disability from high school. However, some students choose not to have their learning disability on file with the university.

This is unfortunate, because disability services can make slight or significant accomodations for students with a diagnosed learning disability (i.e. - a text to voice reader, more test time. In fact, on September 17th, NPR Education wrote an article titled "10 Tips for College Students with Disabilities". This article focuses on a book by clinical psychologist and author Kathleen G. Nadeau entitled "Survival Guide for College Students". In her book, she reported that college students with learning disabilities should develop learning and organization strategies as a coping mechanism.

Please read the article here - 10 Tips for College Students with Disabilities.

Sincerely,

Millennial Professor/Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards

Thank You! - Millennial Professor

Readers,

This is my 100th blog post! I am very happy that we reached this point. At first I was not sure that I would be able to contribute blog posts on a frequent basis. However, blogging seems to be a very easy process for me.

Thank you for visiting this blog. I appreciate each and every one of you for helping me through the transition process of simply blogging through my pseudoname "Millennial Professor" to joining the higher education conversation as myself, "Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards". During the past few weeks, I revealed my blog to the librarians(and other professors) at my
university through a blogging workshop. 

Sincerely,

Millennial Professor/Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards

The Dreaded 24-Hour Professor Phenomenon

Recently, I realized that I have become a 24 hour professor. I tried to avoid this phenomenon, but I think that it is inevitable at this point. On Friday, I finished grading my students' speeches on blackboard at 11:30 p.m., but I did not get finished with class-related items until 3:00 a.m. The next morning, I woke up at 6:00 a.m. to post the midterm review.

Despite my weekly scholarly research, I teach four classes a semester. In addition, I have a thirty minute commute to campus. I LOVE my job and I keep a very organized schedule, but there are not enough hours in the day to finish everything that I need to finish.

Most nights, I respond to e-mails and instant messages (related to course material) from students until 11:30 p.m. The negative aspect of the phenomenon is that I should know better. I conduct research on computer mediated communication and the impact that this type of communication has on the educational environment.

According to Jeffrey Young (2002), a writer for the Chronicle of Higher Education, "The growth of e-mail, course Web sites, instant-messaging software, and online courses has forced many professors to rearrange their daily routines and has made them more accessible to students than ever before". I complete agree with this statement. My Sunday evenings (before speech days) used to consist of Desparate Housewives (DHs) and spending time with my family, but now the first day of the week includes DHs, spending time with family and blackboard/instant messenger.

 

I am definitely going to have to minimize my computer mediated communication (CMC), because next semester I will teach my second online-only class. This will be interesting and I hope to have a life as well. As a result of my hope for less CMC, I decided NOT to add a wireless PC card/service to my computer. If I added this feature to my computer/wireless account, I would NEVER be able to take a vacation again. I experience a sigh of relief when I carry my computer to a hotel that charges for internet services. If I have to pay for the internet, I buy one 24 hour session and finish all of my work during that period.

This week, I plan to minimize my 24-hour professor tendencies. We shall see how the fruits of my labor (or lack thereof) will impact my 24-hour professor phenomenon.

Millennial Professor


References:
Young, J. R. (2002, May 31). The 24-hour professor. The Chronicle of Higher Education website. Retrieved October 8, 2008, from http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i38/38a03101.htm

Prospective College Students Encounter a Potential Facebook-Based Barrier

     High school students who are interested in attending a community college or four year university have another obstacle to overcome - their facebook/myspace profile. These "personal" profiles serve as open windows to a prospective college student's personal life.

    

     College admission counselors are logging on social networking websites like facebook.com and myspace.com to gain an in-depth look at the high school students who may attend their college or university. Read more information about this phenomenon here - "Admissions Officers Peek at Applicants' Facebook Profiles".

Do Your Students Prefer Simple Cell Phones?

        At the beginning of this semester, I conducted an informal survey at the beginning of each of my four classes to determine which digital technology the students used the most. A large majority of my students are millennial undergraduate students and they are members of a generation that is used to communicating with others through facebook, myspace, text messaging, etc.

        According to the article, For Many Students, the Simplest Cell Phones Suffice, many undergraduate students use their cell phones for simple everyday digital functions. This article focuses on a study conducted by the University of New Hampshire, which suggests "students use their phones in limited ways — mainly for talking, texting, keeping track of time, and a handful of other basic functions".

        As a member of the millennial generation, I progressed through a series of digital adoption steps. In high school and college (when cell phones were becoming popular for non-business users and pagers were going out of style), I bought a new cell phone every year to keep up with the next trend. For example, my first cell phone was a Nokia with a prominent antenna and a green screen. I was satisfied with this cell phone, but my best friend bought a Nokia with a white screen. It was downhill from there for about five years. 

        As a graduate student and assistant professor, I do not feel that I have keep up with the latest cell phone trends. When I enter my classrooms, I probably have the oldest cell phone in the room. My cell phone does not even have a camera feature, but it makes calls and downloads monophonic ringtones (i.e. - Sweet Home Alabama and "Please Don't Stop the Music".

        I am tech savvy, but I am also financially frugal. Will my students make a transition through the digital adoption steps? I am not sure, but I think that the current state of the economy will perpetuate a "change". Do you feel simple cell phones satisfy millennial undergraduate students on your campus?

- Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards (Millennial Professor)

Five Best Practices for Online Workshops Targeted Towards Millennial Students

Some college graduates and current undergraduates from the millennial generation have short attention spans. This weekend, my husband and I will facilitate a "College Prep Boot Camp" for high school seniors.

There are certain aspects of this generation that we have to take into consideration when planning this event. I am a college professor and my husband teaches high school, therefore we have very interesting conversations about students from the millennial generation before and during college.

While planning for the workshop last weekend, I found an article from Litmos.com titled, "5 Tips to Design Effective Training for Generation Y". This article focuses on online workshop facilitation for millennial students (which we may consider in the next few months). According to this article, these are five things to consider before you build an online training course for students of this generation:

1. Keep training short & to the point.
   
   
2. Good communication tools within the training system are a must. Messaging at a minimum!
   
   
3. Community is important. Build forums & discussion groups around topics.
   
   
4. No one likes to be told what to do, especially Gen Y. Make sure your training 'guides' thinking rather than telling them how it is.
   
   
5. Incorporate the big picture. Generation Y are very interested in their part in it, and more importantly how they can change it!

I will definitely take these into consideration when planning for my online course next semester.

The 100th Post...Almost (Help Me Celebrate!)

Hello Readers! We are almost to the 100th Millennial Professor Post! I am very excited about these next few posts and to celebrate this joyous occasion - I would really like some feedback about the blog.

If you are a faithful reader/subscriber, occasional reader, or if you just stumbled upon this site. Please leave some comments about it. What do you like about the blog?

By the way, the Ch-Ch-Changing Librarian...this means you too!

-Dr. Jennifer Edwards (Millennial Professor)