BreakDrink was created by Jeff Jackson (a student affairs professional at San Antonio College) to provide the most current news and trends in student affairs.  This initiative was developed to share resources and information for best practices for higher education professionals.  During challenging economic times, this is an excellent way top provide online professional development and to connect a community for higher education practitioners.

The BreakDrink crew is always looking for help and support. If you have ideas, stories or innovative programs you care to share just send an email to breakdrink@gmail.com. Or if you want to check the current “jobs” be sure to visit the  jobs section of the website.

Recently I was asked to join in the BreakDrink fun by contributing to a new podcast series about technology on campus in student affairs & higher education with @jacksonj & @jefflail – called the Campus Tech Connection.

The Campus Tech Connection (CTC) podcast series’ goal is to help campus practitioners understand technology while becoming  active digital citizens. Through the blogtalkradio platform, we plan to bring on interesting guests that are engaged with the higher ed & technology realm every Monday night from 7-8 pm CST.  If you care to join in the fun to listen, you can do so and feel free to ask questions by calling in via phone/Skype to 646. 652.2342 or by tweeting questions by using the hashtag #CTC or #BreakDrink. We appreciate all comments, questions, thoughts and feedback from the listeners out there.

We kicked off the first CTC podcast with by interviewing Stian Haklev who is one of the co-Founders of Peer 2 Peer (P2P) University last night.  All of the CTC podcasts will be posted on BreakDrink.com under the Tech section of the website, but I will be sure to post comments & thoughts each week as on my blog as well.

In talking with Stian we learned a great deal about the P2P University model beyond the initial blurb on the website:

Stian has posted the podcast on his blog, however some of the key points that interested me most have to do with the model of open education and how this concept can (and will) impact learners around the globe.

It will be interesting to see how this P2P U model will evolve beyond their one year of funding from the Hewlett group and Shuttleworth Foundation fellowship. It seems like a great deal of open education faculty/programs (#oer #ocw) like MIT Open Courseware, Open Ed at UBC and others are greatly involved in this project.

P2P U encourages learners and faculty alike to join in these participatory communities to share, connect, and learn. This group is really thinking about the bigger picture, and what learning will look like in the future with the sole purpose to engage others in online learning.  The plan is to continue P2P University course delivery through the support of donations, university partnerships and encouraging higher ed institutions to purchase access to their educational platform/services for instruction. I plan to stay tuned in to see what unfolds with the Peer 2 Peer University, and perhaps I’ll either pick up an online course for my PhD (for independent study or just self-interest) and/or propose a course of my own down the road.