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Technology to Organize Your Professional Life and to Facilitate Student Learning

Apr 11th, 2011 by

On April 11, I’ll be a guest speaker in Nancy Lavigne’s EDUC857 class to discuss the use of technology in higher education. I’ll use this post as my home base for all the collected materials I’m going to use and that the class will produce.

As a framework for the session, I’ll use Jonathan Mott’s Open Learning Network, discussing the LMS and institutional technologies vs. web 2.0 resources.

The Open Learning Network

I have already created a Diigo list and a Diigo group for students in the course, as well as a shared Google doc.

4-11-2011 EDUC857

Ustream Recording:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13938571

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Reflections on Educational Assessment and Scalability

Aug 6th, 2010 by

As some of you may know, we are currently in the midst of a big electronic portfolio pilot project here at UD. Our primary focus for this first round of projects is to gather student artifacts to assess the achievement of some of our ten general education goals by our undergraduate population.

This project, like many others involving changes in educational practices, brings back to the surface the struggle between providing top quality education versus controlling costs and staff time. Of course, it would be great if every college student could have a one-on-one experience with a faculty member for their whole four years, but let’s be realistic, it won’t happen (overnight) –unless students are willing to pay the professor’s salary in its entirety plus administrative costs, which would bring the tuition fees well over $100K per year.

In order to be able to make sure that students get the same kind of educational experience, we usually come up with sets of standards, definitions of what students should know and be able to do after going through educational programs. The most famous ones are the SAT, TOEFL, GMAT, etc. Standardized tests scores are usually used to predict one’s probability of success in certain areas of studies and therefore considered in accepting students for undergraduate and graduate programs.

So these tests are some way to set the bar. In order to be allowed to pursue a certain career path, you are required to AT LEAST demonstrate that you have acquired this knowledge, these skills. They are requirements to allow an institution to graduate you without shame, allow you to use its reputation to market yourself as a viable contributor to society.

But standardized tests, though very cost efficient, don’t tell the whole story. College students need to be able to use their time to develop themselves beyond standards. And I think this is where the use of eportfolios comes into play and adds value to higher education.

Below is a visual representation of what I have in mind when it comes to the role of standardized testing versus portfolios. I have aligned the last column with the Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs, Herzberg’s Hygiene-Motivation Theory, and Bloom’s Taxonomy, to show which kind of activities are best assessed with different modalities.

Standardized Test vs. Portfolios

Of course, there is nothing scientific about this, but it is still my perception of the Standardized Testing-Portfolio continuum. The lower you are, the more general and the easiest it is to scale up (explicit knowledge, hit or miss); the higher you are, the most specific and demanding it is to assess, and the more important it is to involve experts to make judgement calls (implicit knowledge, values, attitudes, shades of gray).

So, my question to you is:

Is there a way to scale up the use of electronic portfolios to assess higher-level competencies in higher education? Please share your thoughts!

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Intro to Social Media and Web 2.0 Tools Through Faculty Practices

Jul 20th, 2010 by

On July 22 at 1:00 p.m. EDT, I’ll be moderating a workshop called “Intro to Social Media and Web 2.0 Tools Through Faculty Practices” in 010 Smith Hall. UD faculty and staff are invited to attend in person by signing-up in advance.

The purpose of this workshop is to present a bunch of different ways instructors have used free web resources to enhance their student’s learning.

I have Ustreamed the session.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8439726

I have also monitored the #smpractices hashtag on Twitter (Twapper Keeper archive available here), and I have used TitanPad for attendees to take notes.

By the way, this post will be updated regularly to add links to different resources I’ll use or produce as time goes by.

7-22-2010-smpractices0710

Faculty Practices

In no particular order, here’s the list of practices that might be used during the presentation:

Comment from Stéphane Gauvin, Professor of Marketing, Université Laval, about his use of Facebook as a LMS:

For me, as a teacher, it turned out to be the best environment, by a mile. More and better interaction. It may not provide the easiest way to manage some chores, though, as culling assignments and integrating graded activities is not as easy as it is in a customized [LMS]. Many students were skeptical at first. Most liked it. Some were overwhelmed by the amount of information; some were uneasy with the friends/colleagues mix. I’ll very probably use it again next year (keep in mind that this is for an eMarketing [graduate] course — my assessment is less enthusiastic for support to regular courses).

Professor Gauvin also uses Dropbox to share files and have students drop their assignments.

Still Didn’t Get Enough?

Got Something To Add To This List?

If you have used web 2.0 tools or social media in a creative way, or have discovered a practice worth sharing, let me and my readers know! Leave a comment below!

Short URL to this page: http://bit.ly/smpractices0710

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Objects, Engagement, and Web 2.0

Jun 7th, 2010 by

On Thursday June 10, 2010, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, I’ll be moderating a brand new session called “Objects, Engagement, and Web 2.0″. The audience will be composed of participants in the PEMCI conference at the University of Delaware, mostly graduate students involved in arts and humanities.

Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/mathplourde/6-102010pemci

The purpose of the conference is to open their minds to the world outside of their domain of interest. As academics, we tends to be very narrowly focused on certain topics for which we become experts. But as you have all experienced in the past, experts are not always the best at communicating with regular folks… So a little training in selling yourself and your passion goes a long way!

My focus will be on establishing a presence using social media, web 2.0, and geo-location technologies.

To get started, participants are invited to skim read the articles that I have tagged with PEMCI2010 on Delicious.

I will update this page throughout the week to add links and resources. Recordings are available on my UD Workshops Ustream Channel. UD Capture videos are also available.

Personal Productivity Tools

Social Networking Tools

Enhanced Reality Tools

Content Hosting and Creation

Your Homework!

Now that I have filled your head up with all those ideas and tools, please comment on this post on what you have found shocking, useful, or which technology you are most likely to adopt in the near future!

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Posted in Events, New Technology, Training Sessions | 3 Comments »

Smart Technologies for Smart Conference Participants

May 26th, 2010 by

I have finally set my mind on which technologies I will demonstrate at the 2010 Summer Faculty Institute (June 1, 2010, from 1:00 to 1:30 p.m., EDT – Live stream). My goal is not to help you use technologies to enhance a presentation, but instead to help you gather and reflect on what you are learning  as an attendee, and share and connect with others to push the discussion beyond the conference setting.

Before presenting the tools, I have to explain another very important concept called “tagging“. Adding tags to your pictures, notes, or tweets helps you and other users to filter out and find the information more efficiently. During the Summer Faculty Institute, our conference tag –also called hashtag in the Twitter world– will be sfi2010 (or #sfi2010 on Twitter, using the pound sign before the tag).

Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/mathplourde/612010-smart-technologies-for-smart-conference-participants

Since I only have 30 minutes to present and have participants sign-up and start using them, my focus will be on the following tools:

EvernoteEvernote

Evernote is a note-taking application that runs on most major operating systems (Windows, Mac), including smartphones and devices (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, iPad). You can also install a web clipper add-on to your browser to keep copies of those important articles you have found.

Evernote supports text, images, screen captures, and audio notes. It also keeps the source URL of the things you capture, so you can find them again when it’s time to write and cite.

Notes are synchronized between devices, so you can start on your computer, switch to your iPad or smartphone, and access the web interface later. You can also share notes very easily, either by copying and pasting the information in an email, sending a note directly through email, or by sharing notes with other Evernote users.

http://www.evernote.com/

Twitter LogoTwitter

Twitter is one of the fastest-growing social media platform. Millions of tweets are sent every day, but you can pretty easily filter them down to the ones you’re interested in using simple techniques.

Twitter is not reciprocal. You do not have to be friend with someone to listen in, and the other user doesn’t have to follow you back. So some users get a lot of attention but only follow a fraction of their followers, while others follow a lot more than they get attention.

There is one catch: Twitter limits you to messages of 140 characters or less, so you really have to be precise when you use Twitter. How much information can you share with 140 characters? A lot! Especially if you insert a URL that leads to the original resource, which is what a very large proportion of tweets are all about.

http://twitter.com/

After creating your account, start following the UDATS account to get timely reminders of the SFI agenda and connect with other attendees.

Be sure to install a Twitter client on your computer to really enjoy using it! My favorite one is Twhirl, but a lot of people enjoy TweetDeck as well.

Flickr LogoFlickr

You might have not realized this, but we all have many ways to take pictures right in our side pocket or on our desk. Phones, digital cameras, webcams, and scanners are some of the devices we can now use to capture a moment, an architectural detail, a very interesting poster, contact information on a poster, a computer screen, etc.

Flickr is a photo sharing site, not unlike other similar services like Photobucket or Picassa. The free account is limited to 100 MB of upload per month, but you can upgrade to a pro account and get unlimited uploads, collections, and sets.

Flickr allows you to upload pictures in many different ways, including a small client-side uploader that works very well, and through smartphones as well. You can tweak your privacy, copyright, and geo-location settings on an account level or for every different picture if you want to.

http://www.flickr.com/

See Flickr pictures tagged with “sfi2010″

Bump LogoBu.mp

Business cards are so last-century… The Bump iPhone and Android app allows you to share contact information and more by simply hitting two phones together. You control which kind of information you want to share (e.g., work email, picture, social media profiles, mailing address, presentation files, URLs).

Contacts acquired by bumping keep the date and location of the bump and are automatically synchronized in your contact list on your phone.

http://bu.mp/

TinyURL to this blog post: http://tinyurl.com/sfi2010-smart

QR Code:

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Posted in Events, New Technology, Training Sessions | 5 Comments »

Pimp My Conference! New Ways to Learn, Connect, and Enjoy Conferences With Technology @SFI10

May 18th, 2010 by

On June 1st, I will be presenting a new workshop to the Summer Faculty Institute‘s attendees tentatively titled “Pimp My Conference! New Ways to Learn, Connect, and Enjoy Conferences With Technology.” I have found over the last couple of years, and especially since I got my smartphone back in November, that there are many ways to use technology to keep track of the main lessons learned, share knowledge nuggets, and make new professional contacts during conferences.

Conferences are the way people in academia get in touch with colleagues sharing the same interests, so they also have a huge social media connection potential. I have noticed that people who are active on social media during conferences tend to be more noticeable and attract more backchannel and follow-up discussions of interest.

I will use this blog post as a gateway to the different topics covered during the session. I will update it frequently with new stuff.

So far, here are some topics and tools I want to share with my mostly-UD faculty audience:

Previous Posts About Conference Logistics:

Tools:

  • Twitter
  • Foursquare
  • Flickr
  • YouTube
  • Slideshare
  • Audioboo
  • Evernote
  • Facebook
  • Social bookmarking
  • Contact sharing: Bump
  • URL shorteners
  • QR codes

Purposes:

  • Note taking
  • Sharing on site, afterward with colleagues
  • Networking/Sociality
  • Stimulating F2F discussion
  • Collaboration
  • Archive
  • Scheduling

Other Random Topics:

  • Importance of tagging
  • Smart mobile devices
  • Gateway page
  • Crowdsourcing

The Summer Faculty Institute will be Ustreamed and recorded, so you are welcome to join remotely at any time, but UD faculty should definitely register to attend in person.

I need your help!

Please leave your thoughts on what is the most useful technique or technology to gain full advantage of conferences. And also, what are some of the on-site requirements that are must-haves to really enjoy it? Leave a comment!

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Posted in Events, New Technology, Training Sessions | 2 Comments »

My First Post On My New Blog

May 13th, 2010 by

So, this is it. Another day in my IT career, another technology to try out. Just the way I like it!

I have read many WordPress blog posts, but this is the first time I write one. So far so good.

I have used Blogger for the last three years as my personal blog, and I intend to still keep both sites alive in parallels. I am not an avid blogger, but I’m sure I’ll find content more suitable for one over the other.

Sorry if this is a boring post. It just had to be done. I can’t design without content!

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Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »