Group items tagged

Faculty, staff, and students interested in the innovative and cutting edge use of educational technology are invited to attend a talk by Jim Groom, instructional technology specialist and adjunct professor at the University of Mary Washington, Sept. 20 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Foster Auditorium in Pattee Library. Jim Groom is an instructional technology specialist and adjunct professor at the University of Mary Washington an innovative thinker in the field of educational technology. Groom developed the highly recognized academic blogging platform at University of Mary Washington. This platform has been used to create class sites, e-portfolios and other web-based resources ranging from English, linguistics and speech blogs to online literary journals. Groom also created DS106, a free, open, online digital storytelling course that anyone can take. The course is like no other online course, with the following course objectives: Develop skills in using technology as a tool for networking, sharing, narrating, and creative self-expression Frame a digital identity wherein you become both a practitioner in and interrogator of various new modes of networking Critically examine the digital landscape of communication technologies as emergent narrative forms and genres

Think of it as higher education meets Moneyball.

Today, half of students quit college before earning a credential. Proponents feel that making better use of data to inform decisions, known as "analytics," can help solve that problem while also improving teaching.

One analytics tactic—monitoring student clicks in course-management systems—especially worries critics like Gardner Campbell, director of professional development and innovative initiatives at Virginia Tech. He sees these systems as sterile environments where students respond to instructor prompts rather than express creativity. Analytics projects that focus on such systems threaten to damage colleges much like high-stakes standardized testing harmed elementary and secondary schools, he argues.

When colleges' chief financial officers recently surveyed by The Chronicle were asked what single strategy they would adopt to cut costs or increase revenue if they didn't have to worry about any repercussions, increasing teaching loads topped the list. Close to two in five respondents favored such a move, which ranked well above strategies like increasing tuition, eliminating tenure, and hiring more adjunct faculty.

Politicians and taxpayers who clamor for colleges to cut costs see requiring professors to teach more as one of the easiest ways to save money and, subsequently, stave off further increases in tuition. Colleges, these critics say, would be better off if they de-emphasized research and focused more on teaching, particularly undergraduates.

What sets Google+ (hereafter “G+”) from Facebook is the plural of that word “circles.” When you start creating a friend list on G+, you’re asked to add that person to one or more “Circles.” You start out with a few circles titled “Friends,” “Family,” “Acquaintances,” and so on. But you’re welcome to create as many as you want and add each person to as many circles as you want.

“Hangouts” are essentially group video chats; when you start a Hangout, you can let as many of your different circles know as you’d like and then people are free to simply drop in.