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EdTech, PhD, Professional Development, Reflections

#et4online What Happens In Vegas, Should be Blogged

April 16, 2013April 23, 2013 Laura Pasquini

Much to my surprise, my first visit to Sin City was less about the bright lights, gambling, or trouble I could cause…and more about innovative ideas and collective sharing for learning technologies. This is what happens when you attend the 6th Annual International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Online Learning (#et4online).

In returning from the #et4online conference, I think that there are a number of great conversations, thoughts, and questions I am left with. So, fortunately for my readers, what happens at an #et4online conference in Las Vegas, will NOT stay in Vegas.

Here are a few #et4online conference highlights, notes & tweets (I am not alone – as I know @tjoosten does this as well):

Location Location Location – Kudos for the Planet Hollywood site. Easy to get around, wifi access was great, it was the middle of the strip & close to some great restaurants, and, most importantly, Rex Manning from Empire Records looked over me while I sleep. What more could a gal want?
#EdTechCareer Forum Round Tables – This was the 1st year to start this initiative; however we had a decent turn out and more importantly conversation with our facilitators @amcollier , @veletsianos, @tjoosten, @whitneykilgore, Kevin Grazino & Rachel Salas-Didier. Thank you to the emerging scholars and career-seekers who stopped by to talk about direction in the field, finding passion, planning for career applications, and more around the job search and career development we have in the #edtech field.
Keynote: What’s That Coming Over the Hill? Digital Futures, Emerging Cultures, New Learning c/o @timbuckteeth This chat had a malay of ideas and experiences for connected learning and pedagogy. Unfortunately Steve had to return back to #PELC13 back in Plymouth, otherwise it would have been great to pick his brain about e-learning more. Here are a few notes myself & others took via Twitter from his talk.
Plenary: Seven Tales of Learning Online with Emerging Technologies with @veletsianos I like how George shared his learning experiences as a student, researcher, and instructor to help us look critically and realistically at how we are using emerging technologies in education. Here are a few collected tweets from the talk.
The Launch Pad: What a great way to show case Ed Tech start ups, and provide an space in the conference to discuss how educators/developers can work together and collaborate to pilot these initiatives. It was great to connect with Lida & Scott from @Ginkgotree after our BreakDrink.com podcast last October to demo the product. Great to hang out & hopefully we’ll connect again in MI soon!
Discussion & Dialogues of Education Is and Is Not – Specifically what is broken or needs to be fixed, and the reality of this statement. I appreciate how George Veletsianos engages in this more on his blog post, and chat with Amy Collier encouraged me more to think about the change, challenges, and issues being labeled in higher education and for online learning.
#UNet4online: Open Space Technology – These sessions were threaded throughout the conference program and facilitated by Jennifer Ross (@jar) to encourage conversations and idea-swapping for online learning. I was able to attend one on April 10th and the final one on April 11th. I appreciated the free space to challenge, ask questions, brainstorm, and share ideas/practices with peers. Shout out to the #unet4online tweeps: @amcollier ,@rasebastian, @veletsianos, @KavuBob, @jleung81, @g4m, @johnrturnerhpt, @jar, @hollyrae, @desertjul & @markjwlee who joined in on various unconference conversations. We were able to talk about valuable ideas for learning including distributed flip educational models (not.a.MOOC), higher education organizational design/culture, and ownership in education. Want to learn more? Check out the fantastic post on the (f)unconference from Amy Collier or my rough Google doc notes.
Getting Social – For me, this is why you attend a conference. I love connecting with others and learning how they are working with students, researching ideas, and just having some great banter. I am glad I got some quality time with @amcollier, catch up time with @tjoosten & @veletsianos, and hang time with new friends, such as @jar @dwicksspu & @kavubob. For those of you who were social [media] online – it was nice to connect via the #et4online hashtag. Let’s continue the conversation.

Thanks to David Wicks (@dwicksspu) for inviting me to join the #et4online conference steering committee. I look forward to 2014 #et4online planning in Dallas, TX. Giddy up! For those of you who are going to Summerfest & #Blend13 – I will see you in July. 🙂

EdTech, Professional Development

Career Forum Roundtables – The #EdTechCareer Line Up for #et4online

April 6, 2013April 9, 2013 Laura Pasquini

The Emerging Technologies for Online Learning (#et4online) Conference in Las Vegas NV is just around the corner (April 9-11, 2013). As mentioned in a previous post, I will be helping to support a new initiative at the conference – the Career Forum Roundtables.

We are very excited to offer the career roundtables as an opportunity for graduate students, junior scholars, and other interested #et4online participants who would like to chat about Ed Tech career planning and development. If you are interested, please feel free to join us for any of the scheduled sessions, and take advantage of meeting the career roundtable facilitators who have offered to share their career insights and experiences.

CAREER FORUM ROUNDTABLES (#EdTechCareers)

Please join us in the Westwood Boardroom for three Career Forum Roundtable sessions:

EdTech Career Tracks Tuesday, April 9 – 2:30pm-3:20pm	There are a number of career directions and opportunities to apply for with your graduate degree. Join this roundtable to ask career questions and gain advice on which path is right for you: · Higher Education Faculty/Instructor – teaching vs. research institutions · Industry Research & Development · Consulting/Other Facilitators: Whitney Kilgore from Academic Partnerships & Dr. Kevin Grazino from Nevada State College
Career Skills Wednesday, April 10 – 10:10am-11:00am	In developing career skills for the educational technology field, it is critical to get involved and connected to both professional affiliations and peers. Come learn about how to build your CV and also showcase your experiences, as we talk about: · Professional Networking · Getting Involved in Professional Organizations · Scholarship Development – teaching, publishing, service · Interview Advice Facilitators:Dr. George Veletsianos from the University of Texas & Dr. Rachel Salas-Didier from Nevada State College & Dr. Tanya Joosten from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Career Applications Thursday, April 11 – 10:10am-11:00am	Applying to your first faculty position? Looking for industry positions? Perhaps you should consider how you present yourself via your job application. Join us as we talk about things to consider when developing your career materials, including: · CV & Resume Writing · ePortfolio Development · References Facilitators: Dr. Amy Collier from Stanford University & Laura Pasquini from the University of North Texas

See you at #et4online!

Reflections, StudentAffairs

#asbABQ13: Service Learning, Shared Experiences & Connecting to Pay it Forward

March 23, 2013March 23, 2013 Laura Pasquini

During the University of North Texas (UNT) Spring Break (March 11-15) I joined a group of undergraduate students on an Alternative Spring Break (ASB) road trip for some service learning in New Mexico – #asbABQ13.

The focus for our volunteering was around the theme of homelessness, so we logged some time at the Roadrunners Food Bank and moving furniture for the “Helping Hands” with the Metropolitan Homelessness Project in Albuquerque, NM (#asbABQ13). You may recall our Student Launcher website (that is still open – hint, hint): http://StudentLauncher.org/9cab [Closes March 28, 2013].

We were one of the many UNT Alternative Spring Break trips created for students who want to give back to their community and participate in a service learning while away from academics. It has also been a very enlightening week for the group as it was the “1st” time for ASB participation & volunteering, visiting the state of New Mexico, travelling without family, or evening being on top of or even seeing mountains. The ASB trip’s focus was on homelessness and socio-economic issues facing the US today – specifically around the distribution of wealth reality.

During the week our group packed boxing of meat, moved furniture, sorted linens/donations, organized breakfast boxes, and more. Most the week’s work confronted a number of students with what it meant to do more with less. The final day of service impacted the #asbABQ13 team the most, since we were meeting recently placed tenants when delivering furniture to their new dwellings. The students learned that many of the new tenants had been living on the street anywhere from 5 to 30 years, and often dealing with medical needs and other issues. The final day did involved a great deal of physical work; however the heavy lifting was rewarded by the smiling faces of new residents.

Thanks for a great week in New Mexico Team #asbABQ13: Suliat, Lasha, Alyssa, DeDe, Asmara, Briatni & Irene!

Over the course of the week, our #asbABQ13 group talked about how we spend money, not waste food, and take for granted our comforts of living. It was pretty impressive to learn that our few days of efforts helped so much. Earlier this week, I received a message from the Roadrunner Food Bank thanking us for our efforts:

To continue the spirit of giving back, the #asbABQ13 group plans to collect donations that will all go directly to the Roadrunner Food Bank. We learned that dollar donations can go a long way to fill the nutritional needs for the food distribution center. If you have $5-20 to spare, PLEASE consider contributing to our Student Launcher site: http://StudentLauncher.org/9cab

It was an eventful week of service with many new experiences, group projects, and delightful interactions. I am looking forward to seeing how this ASB trip impacts everyone now that we are back on campus. My plan is to continue being involved on and around campus beyond this service trip, and, of course, staying in touch with this amazing group of students:

PhD, Reflections

#sxswEDU: Thoughts, Reflections & Then Some…

March 21, 2013March 21, 2013 Laura Pasquini

Time sure flies when you’re conferencing, volunteering and travelling… so my thoughts on South By South West Edu (#sxswEDU), are delayed by exactly 2 weeks. My bad.

Due to my love of Austin and enjoyment of SXSW, I thought SXSW Edu would be a great conference to engage with other educators and expand professionally. There were a number of things I liked – such as being on public transit, new perspectives on learning, and connecting with tweeps (Shout out to: @tjoosten, @gsiemens, @veletsianos, @audreywatters & more #iamEDU friends!). I also appreciated the lively banter our Social Media in Higher Ed (#smHE) panel had on the topic, and the great follow up conversations with other instructors, practitioners, and researchers.

Essentially, I got what I wanted out of the #sxswEDu conference – connect, social, interact and learn. I sort of expected something else from this conference, specifically with regards to the education (K-12 and Higher Ed) involvement. I was a bit disappointed to see that the Panel Picker selected more sessions with industry, rather than any educators. It was odd. I was not alone in noticing the tensions were felt between the industry and education. Why were the instructors, teachers, principals, faculty, higher education professionals, and educational administrators not sitting in these #sxswEDU seats?

Although the education presence was not the “sage on the stage” approach, I am glad I was present to listen to what industry and technology leaders think the “future of learning” will be. I know that many of these sessions were challenged and talked about outside the formal #sxswEDU program, and I was curious as to how other educators interpreted the conference message(s).

One thing that was very noticeable = the repetitive rhetoric being shared from room to room. To mix it up I, jokingly, initiated the #SXSWedu Terms to Know, Use, Love & Hate Google doc to note the key words, terms or phrases I heard at the conference. Some might say I was being jaded (*cough* Siemens *cough*), but really I was just having fun with the common language of the conference. After curating this list, I decided to create a game (…which had multiple players, I might add):

Note: Another suggestion was to draft a blog post with the complete list of terms. I decided to respectfully decline said challenge; however I will stay alert to the language and context of these words. It’s not a bad idea to keep your ears open and listen every once in a while… Thanks for reminding me of that #sxswEDU.

EdTech, Higher Education, Social Media, StudentAffairs

#SXSWedu Panel: Social Media in Higher Ed – Where Are We Going? #smHE

March 4, 2013March 5, 2013 Laura Pasquini

Are you attending the SXSW Edu (#SXSWedu) conference in Austin this week? Why not drop into our panel just after the opening of #SXSWedu? Join our session on Monday, March 4th from 1:30-2:30 pm in the Austin Convention Center Room #15. Here is the skinny on our panel:

Panel: Social Media in Higher Ed – Where Are We Going?

Image c/o Justonescarf

100% of Colleges and Universities are now adopting “social media” tools to engage students. While strategies and tactics vary per institution there has been little analysis into the effectiveness of these networks both from the student and institutional perspective. Social Media Managers have been hired, consultants have been giving “best practices” on how to use “free tools” but is all this network chasing really getting us anywhere? In this panel we’ll showcase examples of good and bad social media implementation, and use these as a framework to discuss what a meaningful social media strategy and guidance looks like.

Intended Audience: Higher Education; Student Affairs; Academic Affairs; Faculty; Ed Tech Start Ups

Join the dialogue with Tanya (@tjoosten), Brandon (@bcroke), Brad (@bradpopilolek), and myself (@laurapasquini) as we chat about these three central questions proposed by our panel:

1. What does a failed social media strategy look like? How do we know social media failed OR was successful? Do we need social media strategy, guidance, or policy on our campus?

2. What does a successful social media strategy look like? What are three pillars every social media initiative should have? What works really well with using social media? What initiatives have you seen?

3. What role should institutions play in engaging students with social media? How should institutions engage social media? Why should we use social media? How can the different players on campus (faculty, administrators, students, developers, industry, & start ups) work together and collaborate for purposeful social media use?

If you have a question and you want to chime in during the session (near or far), I’ll be tracking the conversation with the hashtag #smHE to collect your questions, thoughts, and contributions before and during our panel session. What questions do you have about social media in higher education? Let me know.

UPDATED: Slide Deck & #smHE Tweets Collected. Enjoy.

#SXSWed Panel: Social Media in Higher Ed – Where Are We Going?#smHE (with images, tweets) · laurapasquini · Storify or http://bit.ly/Z422Pw