Happy Finals Prep-Week! - The Long-Semester To Do List

http://blog.hootmag.org/

Readers,

I am very excited about next week...finals week! While preparing for finals week, I have to persist through my end-of-the-semester to do list. This list usually includes:

- Saving several blackboard data files in PDF format.

- Clean my office "pantry" (a clear Rubbermaid box with snacks) and refrigerator.

- Finish grading extra credit assignments.

- Distribute pre-finals grades to students.

- Return library books and other "borrowed" items.

- Save blackboard courses and place data back into the course repository.

- Plan the Communication Department's Winter Party.

What is on your end-of-the-semester to do list?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Social Media Conference (#SMC2011) - Weekly Planning Meeting Healthy Snack List - Popcorn Indiana, Kroger, Sprouts, Ozarka Water

Readers,

This weekend, I was able to gain a few extra hours of sleep (this is the rest that I lost during ECW2011). I am so thankful for wonderful faculty, interns, and an amazing conference! 

Throughout the semester, the interns requested to plan the end of the year party and I kindly obliged, because I used a lot of my personal funds to purchase snacks for each of the meetings. However, I do have to point out Ms. Mulhern and Dr. Maben's generosity during some of the meetings this semester! They were amazing!

Later, I discovered that this party had a distinct theme. ;) I will post more about this themed party later. :)

Usually, I shopped at Kroger (Granbury, TX) or Sprouts (Fort Worth, TX) the night before the meeting to make sure that I had fresh snacks and healthy foods to bring to each of the TSMRI meetings.

   

Usually, our weekly snacks consisted of the following:

- Popcorn Indiana - Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn (This was a FAVORITE among of the 15 members of TSMRI.) - http://www.popcornindiana.com/

*In fact, I called the Popcorn Indiana company to see if they would be interested in providing samples or coupons for the Social Media Conference next year!

- Crunch Pak - Apple Slices (http://www.crunchpak.com/)

- Oreos

- Ozarka Water (http://www.ozarkawater.com/)

*We always had a gallon of cold Ozarka Water on our meeting table. 

- Vegetable Trays

- Fruit Trays

- Cupcakes

Overall, we were FULL by the end of each meeting and we remained relatively healthy throughout the semester.

I hope that we are able to gain meeting sponsors and event sponsors throughout the year! Does anyone want to function as a food sponsor for the Texas Social Media Research Institute or the Social Media Conference 2011? :)

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Social Media Conference 2011 (#SMC2011) - A Wonderful Event Sponsored by the Texas Social Media Research Institute (TSMRI) (Conference Recap)

Readers,

Today was the BIG day! Here are several highlights and wonderful pictures from the event:

- #SMC2011 Registration began EARLY in the morning!

- We had an amazing presentation from Ms. Rossi-Scott, a lawyer who specializes in school law (she is based in Fort Worth/Arlington).

- We awarded TWO iPod Touch devices to conference attendees!

- Our university president, Dr. Dottavio welcomed conference attendees during our dessert reception!

- The Stephenville mayor, Ms. Nancy Hunter, welcomed conference attendees!

Here's our wonderful team!

Here is the registration form for the event!

http://www.tinyurl.com/SocialMediaConference2011Reg/

We have an amazing group of interns and faculty who are dedicated to this great event! More information about this event will be posted soon! :)

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Social Media Conference 2011 (#SMC2011) - Tomorrow is the BIG Day!

Readers,

Tomorrow is the BIG day! One of my colleagues is traveling from New Orleans, LA to Stephenville, TX to attend the Social Media Conference and I am SUPER excited to see her! Dr. Lora Helvie-Mason is amazing! I cannot wait to HEAR her presentation!

Here are the final documents for the conference:

Conference Session Titles and Abstracts - LINK

Final Conference Schedule at a Glance (HTML Format) - LINK

Final Conference Schedule at a Glance (PDF Format) - LINK

PS - I cannot WAIT to sleep more than four hours on Saturday! This week has been rewarding, but very exhausting!

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Social Media Conference 2011 (#SMC2011) - How We Marketed/Promoted the Event

Readers,

I thought that this would be a great time to share our marketing methods for the conference. 

- Our wonderful Marketing and Communications Department (Tarleton State University) posted an article focused on our conference. - LINK

- A great article was written about the conference by our campus newspaper, the J-Tac. - LINK

- Flyers were distributed across campus

- We were featured on the downtown marquee!

- Every student, faculty, and staff received e-mails from TSMRI in August, September, October, and November reminding them to register for the conference!

- We posted the conference on a WEALTH of social media, information sciences, and communication studies websites.

- We used social media (i.e. - Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, etc.) to communicate with potential attendees and sponsors!

Do you have any suggestions for next year? We would like to make the conference BIGGER and BETTER next November! :)


Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Social Media Conference 2011 (#SMC2011) - The T-Shirt Design (Thanks AdobeEducation) & Our Social Media Outlets

Readers,

Today, we have THREE more days until the 2011 Social Media Conference and I wanted to show our t-shirts! 

I designed the conference logo this summer using Adobe Photoshop (as part of the Adobe Creative Suite). Yay for great software! 

Here are our social media outlets:


Here are our Twitter hashtags - #TSMRI & #SMC2011


Our blog - http://tsmri.blogspot.com/


Our Facebook Account - http://www.facebook.com/TSMRI


Our Linked In Event - http://events.linkedin.com/social-media-conference-texas-847198


Our Foursquare Check-In Link - LINK

Check us out during the conference! Our faculty and interns are AMAZING!


Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Social Media Conference 2011 (#SMC2011) - Countdown to the BIG Event!

Readers,

This week, I am focused on teaching my classes while preparing for Friday's Social Media Conference! A few professors and I thought of this idea last May and now the conference week is FINALLY here! Unfortunately, I do not think that I will be able to sleep much this week, but I am EXCITED about this great event!

Here is the registration form for the event!
http://www.tinyurl.com/SocialMediaConference2011Reg/


We have an amazing group of interns and faculty who are dedicated to this great event! More information about this event will be posted soon! :)

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Interactive Assignments and Activities for Undergraduate Classrooms (Post 5/5) - "But Why Do I Have to Take This Class"

Readers,

This week is dedicated to interactive assignments and activities for undergraduate classrooms! :) I am highlighting some activities from our university's 8th Annual Excellence in Teaching Conference.

Here is our five highlighted activity! - "But Why Do I Have to Take This Class" by Tracey Holley (I am so proud of her! She is my colleague in the Communication Studies Department!)

A Small Description of the Activity:

Instructors of General Education courses face an uphill battle with student mentality.  Each semester for twenty-three years I have launched the first day session with an query as to why the students have chosen to take my class.  Each inquiry has resulted in the same response; they did not choose to take my course, it was forced upon them in the guise of a "requirement."  After approximately 186 repetitions of this question I have come to two conclusions: 1) simplified, students do not want to take my class.  If given a choice they would enroll in underwater basket weaving before Fundamentals of Communication. Students do not see an inherent use for the theories or skills associated with Communication studies.  2) It is my job to not only engage the student in a class that begins with a preconceived notion of uselessness, but to inform the student of not only the necessity of obtaining the skills and information the course provides, but the helpfulness of applying that knowledge in their everyday lives.

I plan to present my techniques for involving students in a core class from day one.  These techniques include perception quizzes, critical listening skills, critical reading, and cultural applications of skills. However, these skill are not presented to the student with the single objective of involvement, but also to ensure they understand the link between core classes and critical thinking/reading skills.  A final objective of these techniques is to enable the students to apply their knowledge to various situations, not just academia.

Activity Handouts:

http://online.tarleton.edu/fdi/EIT_SC/Holley_PP.pptx

http://online.tarleton.edu/fdi/EIT_SC/Holley_PP.pdf

Supplemental Material:

Ms. Holley used to ask her students why they are taking the course.   However, now she provides the students with quiz questions

- Examples - math, ... brain teasers

- Test their Frame of reference - 'take from' vs 'subtract'

- Critical reading and listening - animals on Moses' ark

- 'A bird in the the Hand' - stereotypes and perception process

- Nonverbal - nickels and coins

- Frames of reference - eg., napkin and serviette

- Repetition signifies importance - wood burning stove

- Gestures = importance

- Thought process

- Show them the necessity for the course and why it is required

- Recommended book to read is The Disappearing Spoon

- (See attached PowerPoint)

What do you think about this activity?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Interactive Assignments and Activities for Undergraduate Classrooms (Post 4/5) - "Using Adobe Captivate in Online Classes"

Readers,

This week is dedicated to interactive assignments and activities for undergraduate classrooms! :) I am highlighting some activities from our university's 8th Annual Excellence in Teaching Conference.

Here is our fourth highlighted activity! - "Using Adobe Captivate in Online Classes" by Dr. Christopher Guthrie.

A Small Description of the Activity:

Based on my personal experience, I will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of using Adobe Captivate to present course content in online classes.  My overall thesis will be that even thou there are some drawbacks to using this presentation software, the benefits outweigh the liabilities.  I will show pieces of my Captivate lectures to illustrate this presentation.

Activity Handouts:

Dr. Guthrie provided a short demo on how to use Captivate (an eLearning content capture and creation tool) to create interactive tutorials for instructors who design, create, and modify software demonstrations, interactive simulations, branching scenarios, and quizzes.

Features include:

- SWF (shockwave file) commenting

- Professional project templates 

- Customizable widgets

- Roundtrip PowerPoint workflow

- Table of Contents and Aggregator

- Text-to-speech functionality

- Rich animations

Supplemental Material:

http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/

What do you think about this activity?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Interactive Assignments and Activities for Undergraduate Classrooms (Post 3/5) - "Microblogging with University Students 24/7: "Twitter Comes to Tarleton""

Readers,

This week is dedicated to interactive assignments and activities for undergraduate classrooms! :) I am highlighting some activities from our university's 8th Annual Excellence in Teaching Conference.

Here is our second highlighted activity! -  "Microblogging with University Students 24/7: "Twitter Comes to Tarleton" by Dr. Ingrid Graves.

A Small Description of the Activity:

This study presents the quantitative and qualitative results of a Universal Design (Behling & Hart, 2009) modification to a face-to-face blended learning environment intended to quickly disseminate classroom information and provide for a diversity of learning styles.

Activity Handouts:

http://online.tarleton.edu/fdi/EIT_SC/Graves_Handout%20(2011).pdf

Supplemental Material:

http://online.tarleton.edu/fdi/EIT_SC/Graves_Microblogging%20with%20University%20Students%2024.pdf

What do you think about this activity?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Interactive Assignments and Activities for Undergraduate Classrooms (Post 2/5) - "A System for Developing an Online Class that Works for Me"

Readers,

This week is dedicated to interactive assignments and activities for undergraduate classrooms! :) I am highlighting some activities from our university's 8th Annual Excellence in Teaching Conference.

Here is our second highlighted activity! - "A System for Developing an Online Class that Works for Me" by Frank Ewell

A Small Description of the Activity:

In the process of constructing online classes over the years, I have developed a procedure that works for me. I believe that this system could work for other faculty in similar disciplines or at least help them plan and construct their online class. This is not a fixed system and I expect it to evolve as new technology becomes available.

Activity Handouts:

http://online.tarleton.edu/fdi/EIT_SC/Frank%20Ewell%20CITDEconfer.pptx

http://online.tarleton.edu/fdi/EIT_SC/Frank%20Ewell%20CITDEconfer.pdf

Supplemental Material:

http://online.tarleton.edu/fdi/EIT_SC/Ewell_12%20Steps.pdf

What do you think about this activity?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Interactive Assignments and Activities for Undergraduate Classrooms (Post 1/5) - "Ticket in the Door"

Readers,

I love searching for new activities to integrate in my undergraduate classrooms (either face-to-face and hybrid classroom environments). Every year, our university hosts an Excellence in Teaching Conference that highlights innovative activities that Tarleton professors are integrating in their classrooms.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to attend this annual conference because it always occurs on the same week as the Southern States Communication Association conference. However, under the direction of Dr. Credence Baker and Mr. Doug Hanna, this conference has blossomed and has become one of the primer events on our campus.

This week is dedicated to interactive assignments and activities for undergraduate classrooms! :)

Here is our first highlighted activity! - "Ticket in the Door"

A Small Description of the Activity:

To ensure that students are prepared for class, a Ticket in the Door is required.  The Ticket may be a highlighted reading assignment, questions for group discussion, information from websites that collaborate or dispute information from text, etc.

Activity Handouts:

http://online.tarleton.edu/fdi/EIT_SC/Calahan_Tickets.pdf

Supplemental Material:

http://teachers.tulpehocken.org/bdavis/Shared%20Documents/Learning%20Focused%20Resources/Ticket%20Out%20the%20Door%20Ideas.pdf

What do you think about this activity?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 5/5) - Walking Around Conference Exposition Halls!

Readers,

I always enjoy strolling around the exposition hall and interacting with the book publishers. This year was special for TWO reasons: I discovered the workbook that I edited over the summertime and my friend Lora and I met with an editor about a book proposal.

Here's a copy of the workbook. We use the workbook in our Fundamentals of Speech, Public Speaking, and Business and Professional Speaking courses.

The exposition hall is always full of freebies and conversation! During my first NCA conference in San Diego, I accepted the preview books with gratitude (and regret when I boarded the plane and had to pay for luggage that was over the weight limit). Now, I scan the book ISBN or cover with my RedLaser app OR I take a picture of the literature with my iPad to avoid walking and flying with more paper that I actually need.

Quick Question - How do you navigate conference exposition halls?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 5/5) - Making Your Conference Round Table Presentation Attractive!!!

Readers,

Today, I had TWO conference round table presentations! Both of the presentations were focused on technology (specifically Google Docs).

Presentation 1 - Utilizing an Interactive Activity to Enable Stakeholders to Discover Innovative Ways to Re-frame their Negative Perceptions about Stakeholders

Presentation 2 - Utilizing Google Documents to Write a Training and Development Guide for Local Non-Profit Organizations and Small Businesses (Service Learning)

Usually, when I visit round table sessions, the presenter's display is very dull. This year, I decided to integrate the following elements on my table:

1 - Business Cards

2 - A Note Card with a QR code and link to the activity on Google Docs.

3 - Copies of the Actual Activity

4 - My iPad for additional explanations.

5 - Candy! I knew that my students could spare a few pieces! :)

I've discovered that people like to LEAVE your table with SOMETHING in their hand to remind them about your presentation! :)

How do you make your presentations more appealing?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 3/5) - Traveling to Academic Conferences with Posters...

Readers,

My first presentation for the National Communication Association Conference was a competitive poster presentation on Google Documents! I was super excited about this presentation, because Web 2.0 technologies are my passion!

Here is the only negative aspect of a poster presentation... YOU HAVE TO TRAVEL WITH THE POSTER! Unfortunately, it seems that most airlines require passengers count the poster tube as one of two pieces of their carry-on luggage. Since today's airline passengers usually carry all of their luggage on the aircraft, this additional piece of carry-on luggage might place a wrinkle in someone's luggage plans (no pun intended).

So, a few years ago while attending and presenting a poster the annual meeting for the Council on Undergraduate Research in Odgen, UT, I decided to adopt a new approach... I decided to use pieces of paper to create my poster presentation!

This approach enabled me to adapt my poster to the space provided and to add neat details at the bottom of the poster to appeal to my potential walk-though audience members. I always place a business card holder and poster note card at the bottom of each of my poster presentations.

Here's a question for you! - How do you make your poster presentations unique?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 2/5) - Pre-Conference Prep!

Readers,

This has been an amazing week so far! Before attending a conference, I have to prepare my students for my temporary disappearance from campus. To help them through this "transition", I still keep my virtual office hours during each and every conference.

Do you keep in contact with students when traveling to conferences?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Submit an Idea for the "Great Ideas for Teaching with Adobe Products" Mini-Contest!

Readers,


Today is the FIRST day of the "Great Ideas for Teaching with Adobe Products" Mini-Contest! 

Participants:

Faculty, Staff, and Students are encouraged to submit an idea! We encourage ideas focused on (but not limited to) the following:

- Classroom Ideas (Face-to-Face or Hybrid)

- Student Activities/Student Affairs

- Student Organizations

- Admissions and Recruitment

- Campus-Wide Events

- Supplemental Instruction

- Learning Communities

- Online Instruction/E-Training

Voting Period

The readers will vote on the best entries from Monday, December 5th to Friday, December 9th. The WINNER of the contest will receive a copy of the CS5.5 Master Collection!

Submit Your Idea Here:

***This contest is a collaborative effort between the Millennial Professor blog and the Communication in Higher Education blog.***

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 1/5) - Pre-Conference Prep!

Readers,


I am looking forward to attending the National Communication Association's Annual Conference this week! I plan to tweet during the sessions, so please remember to add me on Twitter @COMMTechProf


Also, this conference is always special, because I always catch up with my undergraduate professors and I network/plan with one of my favorite peers in the communication profession, Dr. Lora Helvie-Mason. Follow her on Twitter - @lhelviemason


Also, my students are following me on Twitter via my university account for their extra credit assignment - @drjtedwardsTSU


I will post updates from the conference very soon! :)


Sincerely,


J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Texas Blackboard Users Conference (5/5) - Dr. Rena Palloff and Dr. Keith Pratt's Presentation

Hi everyone!

The last day of the conference, we had the pleasure of listening to authors, Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt! Here are three of their books:

The Future of Online Education...

- Bandwidth has increased, storage has increased, access has increased, technology is more reliable, and internet access is ubiquitous.

- Collaboration and social networking are becoming the norm.

Barriers to Online Education...

-A percentage of students still dial up.

- Some students cannot afford computers at home.

- As technology becomes more complex, additional training is needed.

- People resist the use of technology that is not simple or that affords clear benefit to them.

- Social networking is blurring boundaries.

The Introduction of New Hardware is Driving Online Learning

- iPads and other Personal Access Devices

- Cell Phones - Smart Phones

- Presentation Technology

Games and Virtual Words

- We are likely to see increased development and use of applications like Second Life in education.

- The ability to use simulation for application activities is likely to increase as a result and move us further away from tests and quizzes to measure competence.

Personalized Learning

- Self-paced, modular, and based on individual studnet needs.

- Networks and conversations rather than content.

- Learning Management Systems (LMS) may go away in favor of a collection of tools or applications to support individualized learning.

Thank you Wiley Publishing for the FREE book! I hope to post a review soon!

Processing Question (from the presentation) - How will you prepare for the future? How can we prepare our students for their future?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

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

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

@drjtedwards