50 new tech tools you should know about
By Victor Hernandez
You may have dozens of apps on your phone and scores of websites bookmarked on your laptop, but that doesn’t mean you have all the latest tech tools at your fingertips.
New mobile apps, services, social networks and other digital tools pop up so frequently that keeping up with them is a nearly impossible task. Just when you think you’re up to date, something newer and hipper comes along.
But before you wave the white flag, let us help. Once again we have sorted through hundreds of new and emerging tech tools to bring you 50 of the most buzzworthy ones. (Last year’s list can be found here.)
These apps and services can help you do everything from shooting better smartphone photos to cataloging your bottle-cap collection to finding the best pad Thai in your city. Not all of them are brand new, but we’ve probably listed some you haven’t heard of. We hope you find them useful.
Visit: http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/25/tech/web/50-tech-tools/index.html
Debt, Jobs, Diversity and Who Gets In: A Survey of Admissions Directors
By Scott Jaschik
At a time of increasing national concern about debt levels of college students, a plurality of college admissions directors in a new survey by Inside Higher Ed indicated that current average loan volume for undergraduates is reasonable — and 22 percent of all admissions directors and 28 percent of those at private colleges would be comfortable with the average student debt being even higher than it is now.
Making innovation structures work: McKinsey Global Survey results
From McKinsey & Company
Executives say their companies use multiple organizational approaches to drive innovation and that the success of these efforts depends on integrated strategy and C-level support. These are among the findings from our latest McKinsey survey on innovation which asked executives about the organizational innovation structures in place at their companies, the strategic and financial objectives these structures have set, and the people and processes involved in achieving innovation outcomes.
The Merits of Emeriti: Providing Campus Community to Retired Faculty
By Seth Matthew Fishman
As several of my survey participants mentioned, retired faculty members are an untapped resource. While some relocate or pursue new endeavors during retirement, others remain close to campus and want to stay connected to their former institutions, particularly at the department level. It’s a connection that offers advantages to both the emeriti and the university. Sidney Albert’s 1986 Academe article on an emeriti bill of rights is worth revisiting in this context. Developed and initiated through the AAUP’s California conference in the early 1980s, the document recommended twenty privileges that retired faculty should have, such as library access, use of campus recreational facilities, and ability to attend cultural and athletic events. An additional list, developed for those emeriti who wish to continue in their scholarship, included benefits such as access to some of the resources used by active faculty, administrative support, the right to administer grants, and the right to serve on dissertation and thesis committees.
Visit: http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/postings.php Search for #1201
The Six Elements of a Successful University-Corporate Partnership
By Frank McCluskey
Higher education institutions must work to mold their programming, structure and staff to meet the needs of corporations in order to successfully partner with employers to meet workforce training and development needs.
Universities have been intertwined with corporations since medieval universities had charters from either a King or Pope and had to be conscious of that relationship. In our modern universities the department most dependent on an outside entity is the school of education. Their function is to harmonize their curriculum with the requirements of the state boards that certify educational professionals. That is why the education curriculum in New York in no way resembles that of Texas. These are not philosophical differences. They reflect teaching students to prepare for two different systems of education. Departments of education are built around state requirements.
A successful university-corporate program must do something similar. To build a successful university-corporate partnership there are six elements.
The Top 100 Tools for Learning 2012 List is Revealed
By Jane Hart
This year’s Top 100 Tools for Learning list (the 6th Annual Survey) has been compiled from the votes of 582 professionals worldwide – 55% working in education, 45% working in non-educational organizations. The top tool for the 4th year running is Twitter, with both YouTube (2nd) and Google Docs (aka Google Drive) (3rd) retaining their places for the 3rd year in succession. Once again the list is dominated by free online social tools. However, what struck me when compiling the list this year (and reading many of the notes added to the individual contributors’ lists) was the huge difference between the tools that are now being used in education compared to those in workplace training. Whilst there is a clear differentiation between the personal/professional tools and the enterprise tools being used by workplace learning professions, in education teachers are frequently making use of the same toolset for both their teaching and their own personal learning.
In their jobs, workplace learning professionals continue to make heavy use of e-learning authoring tools as well as web conferencing tools (which are on the rise this year by the way), whereas their own personal/professional toolsets include a wider range of social and other tools.
Top 10: Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs/Drive, Google Search, WordPress, Dropbox, Skype, PowerPoint, Facebook, Wikipedia
Visit: http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/blog/2012/10/01/the-top-100-tools-for-learning-2012-list-is-revealed/
What Mentors Do
By Lois J. Zachary
Mentors facilitate learning by keeping the learner front and center. To mentor effectively, you will use the learning approach most appropriate for your mentee. Asking questions, reformulating statements, summarizing, listening for the silence, and listening reflectively will help you do this. These strategies should always be part of your toolkit.
Visit: http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/postings.php Search for #1200
MOOC’s and the McDonaldization of Global Higher Education
By Jason Lane and Kevin Kinser
We’ve been treated to a rash of stories about how new technological models for higher education raise questions about the viability of the traditional campus. After all, why invest in an elaborate physical plant when virtual education can effectively expand your reach exponentially?
This is of particular interest for global education and multinational universities, as the expense and difficulty of establishing foreign educational outposts may make virtual options seem even more attractive. At this point, though, it’s hard to see how massive open online courses, or MOOC’s, can be the silver bullet to developing globally engaged students or institutions.
Quitting an Adjunct Career
By Harvest Moon
It was late-December cold but I put the Miata’s top down for the seven miles of highway separating campus and home. The occasion called for it. I cranked up the volume and sang along to Catherine Wheel’s “Happy Days,” my soundtrack for life’s big moments. Tucked inside my bag was a signed copy of the contract that attached my name to three classes — two sections of intro, one contemporary social issues — in spring 2002. Even as the chair of the department had apologized for the pay, I could not help but feel lucky. I had been given the opportunity to do what I loved: teach sociology. What I would receive in exchange for this seemed almost beside the point.
And like that I began my career as an adjunct.
Visit: http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/09/28/essay-ending-career-adjunct#ixzz27tDrGTUa
Learning Online is not a Spectator Sport: How to Make it Active
From Online Learning Insights
“Learning is not a spectator sport.” Chickering & Gamson, excerpt from the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, (1987). Principle number three, ‘Good practice encourages active learning.’
Agreed! Studies prove time and again that college students do not learn when listening passively. To clarify further, twenty minutes of listening to a lecture is the maximum amount of time that students can process information effectively according to research cited in Does Active Learning Work, A Review of the Research (Prince, 2004). The method of lecturing as we know it may be coming to an end. In my last post I examined the concept of active learning, where students are engaged and involved in the learning process. I provided several examples of active learning in college classrooms across the nation that are replacing traditional lectures. But what about active learning in online courses? What does active learning ‘look like’ in a virtual environment when the face-to-face component is missing? This post will provide educators with course design strategies for implementing active learning principles in online environments that will lead to rich learning experiences for students. I’ll also include specific examples of active learning activities in general education courses delivered in the online format.
Focus on Adult Learning . . . Innovation through Inquiry 