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.