Category: BreakDrink

BreakDrink, Learning Technologies, Reflections

My Prolegomenon to Technology

Laura Pasquini

A few weeks ago, @JenniferKeegin posted to the #SAWTT Blog with the prompt – What got me interested in Technology?

I think that my prolegomenon to technology was definitely the Commodore 64. I was introduced to this machine at a young age, thanks to my father.

For those who do not know, my father taught high school economics, business, and computers. Beyond having a great collection of books in his office, I was often drawn to his Commodore 64 and I am fortunate that I was able to dabble with device at home. The black screen and green text provided me with the backdrop to my first writing drafts, school projects, pong quests, and weather war game battles.

Around the time this prompt was posted, we sadly said our RIPs to Jack Tramiel, the father of the Commodore 64.  Although I have no personal connection to him, this made me sit back and reflect. I felt very fortunate to be introduced to Mr. Tramiel’s machine, and how lucky I was as a child to have the opportunity to tap these keys (along with a few typewriter keys) when technology might not have been as common at home. Of course, I owe a debt of gratitude to  my father for exposing my siblings and me to computers at a young age. He challenged us to be curious and explore with technology early on. Thanks the introduction and challenging us to think beyond the possible, Dad.

BreakDrink, CTCX, Virtual Communities

Talking Social Justice with the @BreakDrink #CTCX Crew

Laura Pasquini

The @BreakDrink Campus Tech Connection (#CTCX)podcast posse discussed our thoughts on social justice and technology today. If you missed the recent podcast you can take a listen HERE and/or read the show notes that have been Storify-ed. A few of the key themes we touched upon include:

I.  How Technology is Created & Used – the global impact & consumerism.

II.  BYOD & Social Economic Status for Students on Campus – no student left technologically behind.

III. How Technology Can Support Issues & Causes – how to engage our learners.

Listen to internet radio with BreakDrink on Blog Talk Radio

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/breakdrink

We had many questions about what others in higher education and student affairs thought about social justice and technology:

  • Does technology provide our students with tools for revolution or activism?
  • What does our technology & consumption mean for our students and educators?
  • Who has access to technology on campus?
  • Are we really contributing and engaging in the global community with a RT or Like?
  • How can we have better collaborative and collective modes of technology paired with social justice actions at our institutions?

We just touched the tip of the talks for what it means for technology & social justice. 

What got me thinking further was an interesting presentation by @maymaym (Meitar Moscovitz) at the 8th Public Anthropology Conference titled “Dreaming of Compassion”. This talk discusses how the internet now affords social changes and issues to come together and be valued beyond cultural, geographical, economic, and political boundaries to the entire human race in our connected realities.

“In the network economy, the more plentiful things become, the more valuable they become.” Kevin Kelly 

This principle of “the more, the merrier” brings into question of how we value of different relationship types in the social network and how our objectives can be intertwined with others social pursuits and needs in the world. Similar social networks provide both connections and shared intelligence. There is a great amount of power that can be influenced and perpetuated in a collective organization. A few examples we discussed include:

Open Ideas http://www.openideo.com/

Ideavibes http://www.ideavibes.com/

And I also think there are a few good resources shared by Dr. @courosa for education & action for social justice+technology.

Since social networks and viral activity have the ability to spreads news and information at an accelerated rate, it is possible that online action can start an actual reaction. The question we put back out there is to find out how other educators engage learners to move their connections of goodness  beyond a  RTs or Like, and put it into action? 

BreakDrink, CTCX

#CTCX No. 56: Getting Connected in Higher Ed, Part I

Laura Pasquini

Join the Campus Tech Connection (#CTCX) today LIVE from 12-1 pm CST as we talk about the latest tech news and discuss how higher education is getting more connected by the minute with our guests. 

#CTCX #SATech Highlight of the Week: #SAsearch
Laura Megivern – thesasearch.org  – @thesasearch 

#CTCX Guest: Mike Petroff (@mikepetroff)

EDUTweetups (originally at edutweetups.com) was acquired by Inside Higher Ed, and we’re currently building out a section on their site to
be the Twitter Calendar for Higher Ed. Learn how it will be promoting events, weekly chats and hashtags.

Also learn about the NEW FollowEDU network. This is a searchable directory of Twitter users in higher ed. Learn how Mike started this project from with developers from Stamats Catchfire and hear more about how the recent launch is going.

Join us today:

This blog post is cross-posted on @BreakDrink 
AcAdv, BreakDrink, Collaboration, Learning Technologies, PhD, PLN, Professional Development

Why Networked Anything Matters…

Laura Pasquini

Time sure flies when you are catching up from conferences and travel! October has been a very productive academic and professional month for me, which has left little time for blogging here. Let me re-cap the conference fun that has been happening & that I might have mentioned on Conference Review/Preview BreakDrink #CTCX show last week.

October kicked off with a bang as I discussed in previous blog post about the #NACADA11 Conference. The altitude and momentum was quite high in Denver for the advising group and it left me wheeling with some new ideas in my new gig with the Office for Exploring Majors. More to come on that end soon…

Mid-month I said aloha to a great group of advising/counseling professionals as I joined the University of Hawaii System Advising Workshop. This was my first keynote where I was wearing a lei, and I enjoyed discussing was the importance of holistic advising in order to support the needs of our students and the campus community.

Here the slides and the open Google doc http://bit.ly/UHAdvising2011 of resources I shared:

The goal of this workshop was to introduce technological and systematic changes happening across the UH system and discuss how they can continue to connect across the many islands as counselors/advisors to support their student needs. I want to send a very big mahalo to the amazing group of advising professionals who invited me to speak, and who I have learned a great deal from during the conference and beyond. The friendly and welcoming attitudes there just might have me visiting the gorgeous state of Hawaii again.

My first visit to the state of Hawaii could not be complete with a few sight-seeing trips. I joined a moped tour to see some of the best waves, beaches and of course some adventure:

I could not leave the island without another professional development opportunity – the AACE E-Learn 2011 #elearnconf. I spent the next week connecting and learning about research, models and instructional design ideas from a wide variety of colleagues from around the globe. A big shout out to my adopted Australian/Kiwi/Dutch #elearnconf family from Deakin University. I think that Bosely knows how to effectively with his angels, and I hope to meet up with you all someday in Melbourne. Did someone say the PLE Conference might be there in 2012?!?!

I presented two best practices sessions that discussed the alternative professional development opportunities from BreakDrink.com and the connected and informal blended learning environments of FYE courses. Both are current chapters I’m working on for the upcoming IGI Publication “Cases on Formal, Non-Formal, and Informational Online Learning: Opportunities and Practices” book that will hit the presses in the near future. Kudos for all the hard work put in by a few of my co-authors and researchers that I have been collaborating with as of late – Kevin Guidry, Melissa Johnson, Michelle Rodems, & Jeff Jackson. Thanks for your efforts and insights.

Finally, there was no better way to end the month than with the #NASPAtech conference last week. Unfortunately, my academic and professional obligations kept me grounded from being there IRL. I am grateful for the amazing backchannel of conversation and my excellent co-facilitators @jeffjacksonTX and @lesliedareNCSU to have me hangout in a couple of Unsessions via Google Plus Hangouts with extras.

I hope that both Unsession conversations about #AltProDev and #SAmobile [both open & shared Google docs] will continue long past this conference. I look forward to joining the next #NASPAtech, since I think this one sounded like it was such a success. High five @NASPAtweets & everyone who brought their #SAtech ideas/thoughts to the conference and backchannel. 

BreakDrink, CTCX

The Summer #CTCX Highlights

Laura Pasquini

I can’t believe that the summer is coming to a close. Time flies when you’re doing a whole lot of podcasting with the BreakDrink Campus Tech Connection (#CTCX). The #CTCX Crew think that Billy Madison says it best for this time of year…


The Campus Tech Connection (#CTCX) show is taking a break tonight in the midst of semester start fun. The #CTCX posse went strong this summer and produced a whole bunch of shows with great talks, topics & guests. Check out the blog posts, notes & recorded podcasts below while we take a break this week to recharge and kick off the Fall semester right:

We will be back LIVE on August 29th as @lukelibrarian joins #CTCX as a guest co-host to discuss how Student Affairs & Librarians can team up to support student success, engagement and community development on campus.  The #CTCX crew would love to hear your thoughts, questions & ideas:

  • Listen to the show LIVE & join the conversation in the chat room.
  • Tweet your thoughts using the hashtag #CTCX 
  • Call or Skype during the show: (646) 652-2342 or breakdrink
Do you have a tech topic or interest to share on an upcoming #CTCX show? Tell us about it => Campus Tech Connection (#CTCX) Podcast Contribution http://bit.ly/rcu9pw 
This post is cross-posted at BreakDrink.com