January 2011
Adults With College Degrees in the United States,... →
It’s difficult to understate just how cool this is.
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A New Tactic In The War Against Teachers →
34years:
From Salon and the New York Times comes this story outlining a new tactic against public employees, letting states declare bankruptcy, which would then let them go after public employees pensions. This is scary stuff and teachers need to stay on top of this, contacting their congresspeople and senators. Yes, the times are tough, but decent pensions are one of the few perks teachers...
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How to Check if Someone Else is Using Your... →
Notice some suspicious activity on your wall? Well there some simple security settings built into Facebook – some of these settings are new while others have been around for some time – that should help you quickly detect if any other person is secretly logging into and using your Facebook account.
Go to Facebook.com -> Account -> Account Settings -> Account Security. Here you’ll see...
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Ohio Mom Kelley Williams-Bolar Jailed for Lying... →
Just a friendly reminder that Ohio still uses a school funding system that’s been repeatedly declared illegal by its own state Supreme Court. Since 1997.
Rich communities get rich schools, poor communities get poor schools. Sorry, but funding matters. Call it Socialism if you like, but every student in a state (let alone the nation) deserves an equal shot at funding.
How far would you go...
I'm trying something new
Tumblr excels at the one thing it tries to do right: Make sharing things as easy as possible. But I can’t shake this nagging feeling that I’d love for you all to be able to comment on things. That’s why I’ve added Disqus to my Tumblr.
I’m sure some of you have heard of it, so please forgive this section if you have. Disqus is a free and adfree service that...
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“(Tumblr) are growing by a quarter billion impressions every week”… Last week...”
– David Karp: “Tumblr Is Growing By A Quarter Billion Impressions Every Week” (via interestingsnippets)
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What would you like to learn?
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Underwhelmed by Prezi
Being hailed as the future of presenting, Prezi allows a whiteboardesque, big-picture style of presentation. The presenter zooms and pans between topics like a helicopter pilot, and most people seem to be generally impressed with the technology. Give your next presentation in Prezi. People will think you’re a genius.
Now I can see the benefit in a well-designed Prezi (I can also see the...
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Is College Tuition Too Low? →
Let me save you all some time:
No.
F.lux: software to make your life better →
For my fellow nightowls:
I’ve had this installed less than 24 hours and I’m loving it. Basically it makes your computer screen look like the room you’re in, all day. It’s free and it’s saving my eyes. PC/Mac/Linux supported.
Ever notice how people texting at night have that eerie blue glow?
Or wake up ready to write down the Next Great Idea, and get blinded by...
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Suttin Hella Koo, Y'all: Regional Dialects Thrive... →
When people wanted to study language, they used to have two options. They could use a computer to analyze a large body of formal writing, like newspapers. Or they could go out and interview a bunch of people.
Now Twitter offers something fresh for researchers interested in the evolution of language: massive amounts of informal written communication.
Scientists at Carnegie Mellon...
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WatchMark Zuckerberg crashes Jesse Eisenberg’s monologue on SNL. Priceless.
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“By 2015, the number of students taking classes exclusively online will be almost...”
– Online Learning Set for Explosive Growth as Traditional Classrooms Decline — Campus Technology
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Enrich Your Teaching Through Social Media →
In the wake of the 2011 MLA conference, there has been a great deal of discussion about the role of social media in higher education. This conversation has circulated through blogs, Twitter, and in the comment fields of both the Chronicle and Inside Higher Ed. We even featured a post about it here on ProfHacker. While I’ve found these discussion enlightening, I’ve also observed that they...
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Ways to Retain Learning →
In today’s Academic Minute, Landmark College’s Jim Baucom suggests specific study methods that are firmly based in research on cognitive improvement. Baucom is a professor of education and social sciences at Landmark. Learn more about him here.
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Change.org Petition Calls for Kaplan U. to Be Shut... →
More than 8,500 Change.org members have signed an online petition addressed to the chairman of the Washington Post Company, Donald Graham, calling for a freeze on all Kaplan University admissions until the online university changes how it attracts its students.
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To all the twitting tweeters and tweeting twits:
I’m on Twitter. @michaelavaughn
Facilitating SoftChalk training this morning, but I’ll do my best to hit you back.
Peace, love, and hashtags.
#TheEnd
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12 Technologies On The Brink of Disappearing →
I’m not quite so sure about some of these, but an interesting read nonetheless.
4) Consumer-Level Hard Drives
When it comes to the potential demise of the consumer-level hard drive, the question isn’t “if.” It’s “when.”
And, to a lesser degree, “what.” Like Julius Caesar, the hard drive, once the beating heart of its domain and certainly...
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MPAA Shuts Down 50+ Torrent Sites in Global Piracy... →
infoneer-pulse:
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), with the cooperation of Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN, has quietly shuttered 12 torrent websites in the U.S. and at least 39 sites abroad by filing copyright violation complaints with the sites’ hosting providers.
The names of the sites themselves remain unknown; so far, however, the major players seem to be unaffected.
The...
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Multiple Personalities And Social Media: The Many... →
gjmueller:
Many of us keep our private and professional lives separate online. “In the beginning, social media was a personal platform to market myself,” she says. “But as the number of platforms increase, it’s amazing to watch the way that we are adapting to multiple networks—and our ability to communicate and connect with different audiences through different voices online.”
What this means...
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I'm listed in Tumblweeds under education,...
I’m listed in Tumblweeds, a user-generated community directory that rates Tumblr bloggers by their number of followers. Find me listed in #education, #technology, #socialmedia
And a special thanks to gjmueller for originally sharing :o)
WatchOne of the most interesting and awesome videos I’ve seen. Click play, set it to fullscreen, then click and drag.
Amazing.
http://aculturedkid.tumblr.com/post/2933601839/360-interactive-video-mind-blown-love-the
WatchOne of the most interesting and awesome videos I’ve seen. Click play, set it to fullscreen, then click and drag.
Amazing.
http://aculturedkid.tumblr.com/post/2933601839/360-interactive-video-mind-blown-love-the
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“Today, more than 90% of content on the Internet exists in only 12 languages, so...”
– Multilingualism in Cyberspace (via interestingsnippets)
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The Facebook Setting You Should Change as Quickly... →
Facebook has at long last offered an option to use the encrypted “HTTPS” protocol, a feature it will begin rolling out today but won’t finish for a “few weeks.” You should check now if it’s available, and sign up as soon as it is enabled for your account. The performance overhead is minor—zippy Gmail, for example, uses HTTPS for everything—and it’s an...
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Don’t Just Tweet, Create Something! →
Click through for some lovely embedded Google Docs action.
I have been fortunate enough to see many resources created by the thousands of willing educators using Twitter. However in my opinion there is a strong case for using hashtagging more systematically, so that we better organise and structure the resources, ideas and thoughts we all have.
A Twitter hashtag uses this symbol # folllowed by...
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$2-Billion Federal Program Could Be 'Windfall' for... →
This gets my stamp of approval. In case anyone needed to know. Tell the White House I’m good with making educational resources freely available online to drive down costs.
Online learning enthusiasts could get a windfall of federal money under a $2-billion grant program that the Obama Administration described on Thursday. But how big the windfall will be—if it comes at all—remains...
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Colleges Search for Their Place in the Booming... →
When Laura Patterson, a junior at Nevada State College, had to wait two months for wired Internet access in her new apartment, she relied on her iPhone instead.
“I used it to sign up for classes. I used it to check e-mails,” she says. “I used it all the time, for everything.”
Hand-held devices like smartphones and tablets are fast becoming the primary way many people use...
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2 Great Online Presentation Tools for E-Learning →
I’m only sharing this on the offchance some of you may not have heard of SlideShare or Prezi yet.
SlideShare will consume your morning with all the great slide decks over there, and if you use Prezi at your next big meeting, you’ll immediately become the office rock star. Not even joking.
If you want to present a lecture without too many words, then your best bet is to prepare a...
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Seven award-winning education apps →
I Education Apps Review recently announced its 2010 IEAR Community Best App Awards, honoring outstanding software for iPhone, iTouch, and iPad. Many of the winners are designed for younger students, but here is an edited list of titles that should have particular appeal at the college level.
Science – Virtual Frog Dissection – “dissect” without harming a real frog
English – Shakespeare ...
Internet Troubles Y'all
For some reason, random off-campus sites are loading very slowly. We’re talking AOL dial-up with a 3.5” floppy slow. Some won’t load at all, Tumblr included. That’s how we roll apparently. Also, since the Queue is now basically worthless since it refuses to publish anything, please accept my apologies for the lack of content today. Regards, Michael
Less than half of American students are proficient... →
Only 1 percent of fourth-grade and 12th-grade students, and 2 percent of eighth-graders scored in the highest group on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal test known as the Nation’s Report Card. Less than half were considered proficient, with many more showing minimal science knowledge.
“It’s very disappointing for all educators to see students...
What If We Treated Doctors The Way We Treat... →
What if we indeed held doctors and other professionals to the same bloat and condescension that we currently hold teachers? I can predict some of the responses that physicians might make: “We can’t control what our patients do or eat outside of our offices to maintain minimum levels of health. Also, these variables — BMI, cholesterol, blood pressure — are limited and don’t adequately measure a...
“Before we take money away from our schools, or scholarships away from our...”
– President Barack Obama (via think4yourself)
Full Text: Tonight's State of the Union Address
What is at least a draft of President Obama’s remarks for tonight were leaked by a Democratic insider. Here is the full text of the speech (I’ve included a read more break so I don’t kill your Dashboard).
Tonight I want to begin by congratulating the men and women of the 112th Congress, as well as your new Speaker, John Boehner. And as we mark this occasion, we are also...
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US college students don't learn core skills: study... →
The study of 3,000 students at 29 four-year universities found that 45 percent “did not demonstrate any significant improvement in learning” during their first two years in college as measured by a standardized test.
Because if there’s one thing we know, it’s that standardized tests are the best way to measure something as complex as comprehension and intelligence.
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Student Views on Technology and Teaching →
Today was one of those days that us educators live for. A recent graduate, Lucretia Witte (who is now teaching 6th graders in Bridgeport CT for Teach for America), came back to campus to lead a session entitled “Student Views on Technology and Teaching” at our Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL).
While a senior, Lucretia did research on what students believe are the most...
Dang it, State of Ohio!
Looks like state budget cuts mean another flat budget year for my college. Which means my position is probably practically guaranteed to stay where it is. We’ll see I guess.
I’m grateful to have a job, and for the sacrifices my department makes to keep me here.
But dude. I’m coming up on six years with no health insurance. I have to borrow medicine when I get sick. I...
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