BreakDrink, CTC, Podcast, SAchat, Social Media

Campus Tech Connection is “On The Go” with Ed Cabellon

Laura Pasquini

After a week off for Labour Day, the Campus Tech Connection crew had @EdCabellon join in for CTC podcast #12.

Photo c/o http://edcabellon.com/

Ed has worked in higher education & student affairs for 13 years and he is currently the Director of the Campus Center at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts.  He is a strong advocate for engaging in social media at his campus and a large proponent of sharing and growing with the emerging media resources, which has let LTE Consulting (Leadership, Technology & Education) evolve for professional development of colleges, universities and small businesses.

I have been fortunate to connect with Ed through #SAChat, and read his posts on The Student Affairs Blog. This interview provided our CTC group with a bit more information about Ed and his workings with social media in higher education.

Be sure to join us on Monday (September 20th) at 7 pm CDT when the Campus Tech Connection are LIVE with Tom Krieglstein founder of SwiftKick & red rover


Higher Education, Learning Technologies

The E-Book & E-Reader Effect

Laura Pasquini

Digital textbooks are an increasingly a more viable option for students. More college and university campuses are providing alternative options to a full-price, paid textbook. As textbook access options increase with rental and electronic format, learning resources become widely distributed to students.

In thinking about how I want to learn, I opted for 2 hard copy (and expensive) textbooks – as I thought there would be some value in keeping these two “on the shelf” for future reference. The other required books I borrowed or found copies online, and the remaining reading materials were online journals and articles. Surprisingly, I have yet to purchase an e-reader, nor do I own a tablet (yet), so much of my reading of the digital books are either on my computer at work, laptop at home or smartphone when in transit.

The head of the IT department sent us this e-mail last week, which got me interested and questioning e-books, e-readers and all things “e” for today’s student [click image below to view]:

This got me thinking –

  • How do students best learn with digital textbooks?
  • Does this shape the curriculum in higher education when textbooks are mandatory, and e-books are more accessible for financial reasons?
  • What is the success rate for students who study with e-books?
  • Why are students printing digital books?
  • What is the learning curve for reading e-books vs. printed texts?

Here are just a few articles and posts about e-books & e-readers which are helping me review my options for e-books in higher education:

Faculty/students/staff – Please share your thoughts on e-books, e-readers and digital textbooks in higher education.

ATPI, Learning Technologies, PhD, Reflections

Determining Trends & Issues

Laura Pasquini

The fall semester has kicked off into full swing and now the third week of school is coming to a close. This means many classes and assignments are underway, and the time for research and reflection is upon us – by that I mean homework and assignments.

ATTD 6210 – Trends and Issues in Applied Technology, Training and Development

A study of current national trends and issues in the fields of applied technology, training and development. Emphasis on topics related to leadership, organizational culture and total quality improvement.

The objective of this course is to research topics and trends that can best be applied to our professional fields of education, human resources and beyond since learners in our class have a varied professional background. This is one of the few courses for the ATPI Doc Program, and a starting point to engage in research and writing for publications. The goal for our first assignment is to provide a trends/issues report and key points to share for our next online session in Wimba.

Here are the “Trends/Issues” topics our class identified the other evening. This process took place after a review of over 100 articles,multiple reviews from peers, clustering of trend topics and debates of the groups (all completed in an online webinar format – FUN!) :

• Technology and Learning
• Workforce Diversity
• Performance Management/Consulting/Corporate Training
• Educator Quality – K-12 to Higher Education
• Learning Styles and Learning Models

Over the course of the term, I will do my best to include an article or thoughts on late breaking trends for a few of these themes listed above. I encourage readers to send any “hot topics” or readings I might have not stumbled upon on the way. I promise to commit a post or two each week for this reflection and sharing, as I think that blogging helps to work out the thought process and makes me a more informed learner/educator.

Past trends and tags from my blog include the following topics


 Let’s see how much I can expand this Wordle by December 2010.

CTC, EC&I831, Open Education, Podcast

An Open Educator

Laura Pasquini

Last September I joined a pretty interesting course I heard about on Twitter called EC&I 831: Social Media & Open Education. Little did I know how much learning and engagement an online course could provide in just one semester.

Dr. Alec Couros , from the University of Regina, is the faculty who facilitated this open, online graduate course and I participated as a non-credit student during the Fall 2009. Although this course did not go towards any specific degree requirements for my Ph.D. program, it did influence my practice with social media as a learner, researcher, and educator. Along with other students (credit & non-credit), I was introduced to a myriad of #edtech topics, online resources, pioneers in the #edtech field (See ARCHIVED Fall 2009), and, of course, it helped build my personal learning network.

The Networked Teacher c/o courosa on Flickr

So it was only fitting that just shy of a year later, I am fortunate to discuss the great impacts EC&I 831 made on me and more! Dr. Couros shared his philosophy on open education, his open tenure application, involvement in social media & justice and his experience as an open educator using social media for instruction, research, publications and professional development.

The Campus Tech Connection had a very enjoyable chat with @courosa on the CTC #10 podcast to discuss his experience and process as an open educator. Both @jacksonj and I agree – that he was a delight to talk with and learn from. We would welcome him back anytime in the future as a guest, or heck, even an honorary host of the #CTC podcast.

Are you interested and have time to take a class this Fall? Then I would strongly suggest you participate as a non-credit student in EC & I 831: Social Media & Open Education.

See you NEXT week for the Campus Tech Connection #11 on Monday, September 13, 2010 at 7 pm CDT with guest Ed Cabellon (@EdCabellon).

For now enjoy LAST week’s show with Alec HERE

UPDATE:

Dr. Couros just posted about his Open Graduate Course & Call for Network Mentors on his blog… including a great new promo video for the course:

BreakDrink, CTC, Podcast, Virtual Communities

Second Life, WOW & Augmented Reality… OH My!

Laura Pasquini

Last week, on the Campus Tech Connection Show #10, we had a lovely chat with guest Sarah @Intellagirl Robbins.

Sarah discussed her experiences with new media as a graduate student and now as an instructor in the realm of emerging technology. Being on the forefront of this evolving digital landscape allowed her to participate, experiment and contribute to the dialog  for new media in higher education curriculum.  Sarah  co-authored the book Second Life for Dummies and she provided our podcasting crew with ideas for managing emerging technology in the early days.

It was interesting to hear about Sarah’s best practices for incorporating  gaming and virtual worlds into the classroom. I am not an active participant in the realm of Second Life or World of Warcraft (WOW), however I am aware of the great capabilities these online communities provide to users. Both faculty and staff in higher education are exploring these  virtual spaces to engage in learning beyond a traditional campus experience.

Later our discussions moved towards the power of geotagging, location based applications and the evolution of augmented reality. Here are a few of the great resources we discussed during this show for you to explore:

Tune in tonight as we talk with Dr. Alec Couros, a great open educator from the University of Regina, on our Campus Tech Connection show at 7 pm CDT: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/breakdrink/2010/08/31/campus-tech-connection-10

Join the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag #CTC or by calling in with a question (646) 652-2342.