Tag: travel

Conference, Professional Development

Have Conferences, Will Travel – Fall 2014 Edition

Laura Pasquini

With the start of the academic semester comes a series of conferences. I’m grateful for the conference survival guides and other helpful conference hacks shared by my PLN. Due to limited travel funds and time, I had to decline a few conferences; however I will be sure to follow along the Twitter backchannel (I am looking at you #HEWeb14 and #SMSociety14).

In considering the cost of professional development at many conferences, I have learned to get more involved to help fund this sort of travel.

jure

Image c/o @jure

Here are a few ways to get involved and learn how to fund your own conference travel with your professional affiliations:

  • Volunteer at the conference – check-in desk, hospitality, and more! Ask to volunteer!
  • Apply to present a Pre-Conference workshop – often you are eligible for comped registration and/or bonus honorarium to travel.
  • Get involved with conference planning – join the conference steering committee or planning group. It gets you networked and often offers a discount for registration and/or accommodations
  • Get invited – See if invites are available for featured talks, workshops or edu sessions. Tap into your network and share what you are working on.
  • Stay with a friend – I have housed and been housed at a number of conference locations just to avoid the steep hotel costs. Bunk up, or find a local off the conference beat.
  • Apply for a travel grant – This might be at your own institution, through the professional organization, or other entity.
  • See what’s local – You will be surprised to learn a number of different conferences, workshops, and other P.D. that is happening in your own neck of the woods OR online. 🙂
  • Present virtually! – Limited travel? See if the conference offers virtual papers, workshops or posters and submit your CFP! If you’re in the #edtech realm, you will likely find this a popular option to travel.

Here is my quick conference list for the Fall 2014 term:

Where are you traveling this academic term? Will our conference travel cross paths? How have you creatively spread your travel funds? Please share. 🙂

Reflections, StudentAffairs

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

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.

Alternative Spring Break in NM #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.

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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:

Screen Shot 2013-03-23 at 10.23.50 AM

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:

#phdchat, PhD, Professional Development

Have Conferences, Will Travel

Laura Pasquini

Apparently when it rains, it pours – for conference proposal acceptances, that is. Since this semester is light on course work, heavy on dissertation proposal research, and I have a amazingly supportive supervisor/department, I will be fortunate enough to be able to attend a few conferences this term.

Laura Pasquini Where is Shee

Here is the rundown for my tentative CONFERENCE travel schedule:

Dalton Institute 2013 http://studentvalues.fsu.edu/2013-Dalton-Institute
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL  January 30-February 2nd   Follow: #dalton13 Invited Keynote: Student Development 2.0: Optimizing Social Media to Connect Your Campus

AHRD Conference http://www.ahrd.org/ 
Washington, DC   Feb 13-17, 2013
Abstract paper: “A Review of Theoretical Frameworks Explaining Formal Mentoring Relationships”; Thanks to my co-author Mariya Gavrilova-Aguilar who will be presenting

iConference 2013  http://www.iconference.ischools.org/iConference13/2013index/
@iSchools & UNT Host, Fort Worth, TX   February 12-15, 2013  Follow:#iconf13   Our #UNT Social Media Expo team (Andrew Miller, Leila Mills, Mark Evans & I) qualified for the grant from Microsoft Research FUSE Labs on our paper: “Towards a Methodology of Virtually Augmenting a Knowledge Sharing Community of Practice: A Case Study of the Local Food System of Denton, Texas”

South by Southwest (SXSW) Education Conference & Festival http://sxswedu.com/
Panel Discussion: Social Media in Higher Ed – where are we going? with @Bcroke, @tjoosten, & @bradpopiolek
Austin, TX  March 4-7, 2013  Follow: #sxswEDU

 

Emerging Technologies for Online Learning – Sloan C http://sloanconsortium.org/conference/2013/et4online/welcome
Las Vegas, NV   April 9-11, 2013   Follow: #et4online                               @et4online Conference Planning committee; graduate student instigator

 

Futures of Academic Publishing: UNT’s 4th Symposium on Open Access https://openaccess.unt.edu/symposium/2013

May 30-31, 2013   Dallas, TX


NACADA 2013 International Conference http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Events-Programs/Events/International-Conference.aspx
Maastricht, Netherlands   June 5-7, 2013
Workshop: Communication 2.0 Plans: Effectively Engaging Students Online
*Possible poster and panel session involving the #AdvTech survey and Social Media in Higher Education research.*

 

10th Annual Sloan Consortium – Blended Learning Conference & Workshop http://sloanconsortium.org/conference/2013/blended/welcome 

Milwaukee, WI    July 8-9, 2013

 

Invited Workshop: Supporting Blended Learner’s Need to Develop Social and Connected Skills Through Digital Pedagogy

Let me know if you will be attending, presenting, or frequenting any of the above conferences. I expect to meet up with the usual [professional/scholarly] suspects I collaborate with, and I look forward to new colleague connections and learning during this conference season.

AcAdv, Career, UGST1000

Open Options: Choosing a Major With Road Trip Nation

Laura Pasquini

With first year students, there are many new, exciting and scary things about starting college or university. Higher education offers a place to be intellectually challenged, develop socially, discover your interests, and engage with a variety of opportunities on campus and beyond. The road and journey are both wide open. The open road and the growing number of academic/career possibilities seems to be a bigger challenge to our student population. Besides the confusion of campus jargon and the navigation of a larger than high school institution, there seems to be more students and family members at orientation who are anxious about making the “right decisions now” for later. Many higher ed students have an idea or inkling of what they want to do, but most are not sure about their academic options, career path planning, and helpful resources to support their decision-making process.

For UNT students who enter into the undecided/undeclared program at UNT, the Office for Exploring Majors [where I work] utilizes the Roadtrip Nation (RTN) resources and has a  RTN project as part of the UGST 1000 – First Year Seminar class.

The Open Road for #UGST1000 Course Design The RTN project helps students explore their personal, academic, and career path. More importantly, it allows them to learn that there is more than one path to obtain their goals and dreams. In picking up  Roadtrip Nation: A Guide to Discovering Your Path in Life and Finding the Open Road: A Guide to Self-Construction Rather Than Mass Production – I was reminded about my own academic/career journey and questions I had in undergrad and after. There are a number of different professional journeys and narratives that provide readers a “path” of how to get to where you want to go.

Overall, I will be using Finding the Open Road stories and interviews (posted online) to help expose the pre-Journalism (News, Advertising, Strategic Communication & PR) and pre-Business (Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Management) students in UGST 1000 figure out how to navigate their own experience. I do like the strategies and ideas in the “Do It Yourself” section of the Roadtrip Nation book to help guide our students learning. The plan is to take the follow chapters and make them into easy-to-use guides for both the UGST 1000 instructors and students that follows the Roadtrip Nation Manifesto:

  1. First, Find Your Red Rubber Ball – What inspires you? What is your passion? Identifying interests, values, and likes.
  2. Whom Should You Meet? – tips on how to find people, being resourceful, using your personal network, how to reach out to new people
  3. Getting the Meeting – cold calls, the pitch, being persistent, communication strategies
  4. Preparing for the Interview – researching the person, their company, their work experience
  5. In the Meeting – what to talk about, suggested questions, informational interview samples, interview/meeting etiquette
  6. Closing – ending a meeting, sending thanks, developing a mentoring relationship

RTN asks....

References:

Marriner, M. & Gebhard, N. (2006). Roadtrip Nation: A guide to discovering your path in life. New York: Ballentine Books.

Marriner, M., McAllister, B. & Gebhard, N. (2005). Finding the open road: A guide to self-construction rather than mass production. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.