The Guzman Monthly

November 2014 | Volume 1, Issue 11

Index

• Welcome

• About the author

• News (3 slides)

• Apps & Tools (2 slides)

• Online Learning (2 slides)

• MOOCs

• Academic Leadership

• Faculty Development (2 slides)

• Student Learning

• New Ways of Learning (5 slides)

• Entertainment News

• Upcoming Movie & TV Trailers

Welcome to this issue of “The Guzman Monthly”. In this publication I will collect and list some recent articles on higher education issues, online learning best practices, deliver some tools/app suggestions* and links to interesting news/videos on the web published in the past month. Planned release schedule is between the last week of the past month and the first full week of the current month.

* Suggestions on apps will mainly be based on my exposure or research of said apps on iOS mobile devices. Feel free to suggest other apps for my review. My intention is to have the apps be similar in functionality each month.

My name is Tony Guzman and I serve as the Director of Online Programs at the University at Buffalo (UB) School of Social Work (SSW).

I also oversee the UB SSW Podcast series: inSocialWork®. Feel free to listen to some of our podcasts.

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tguzman/Scoop.it!: http://www.scoop.it/t/the-future-of-higher-education-by-tony-guzman-1Twitter: https://twitter.com/professor_tg

News

This is an interesting twist to the need to be cautious of your digital footprint across your social networks, especially for anyone considering a new career opportunity. Has anyone who is a LinkedIn Premium member tried this?http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/technology/on-linkedin-a-reference-list-you-didnt-write.html

New masters program for those interested in working on “Big Data” to be offered at Indiana University starting January 2015.http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/03/indiana-u-launches-masters-degree-for-big-data-specialists.aspx

The province of Ontario has created Ontario Online which will start to offer online courses taught from various institutions within their province as of Fall 2015.http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/10/ontario-online-will-expand-access-to-courses-for-provinces-students.aspx

News (cont.)

The costs and challenges of abiding by the new “Gainful Employment” regulations.http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/04/federal-rulemaking-the-challenges-of-gainful-employment.aspx

Researchers at Harvard are being questioned to the ethical parameters potentially ignored during their research that photographed students without their consent for use in the research. I will be curious to see the outcome of this.http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/10/harvard-researchers-under-fire-for-snapping-student-pix-without-letting-them-know.aspx

This research analysis shares the lifetime earnings of various college graduates, focusing on undergraduate degree graduates. I would be interested to see graduate degree earnings as well. Any surprises here?http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/major_decisions_what_graduates_earn_over_their_lifetimes/

News (cont.)

This is truly innovative and I look forward to purchasing this new carry-on bag for future travel!http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/research/news.host.html/content/shared/university/news/ub-reporter-articles/stories/2014/November/bluesmart.detail.html

How higher education institutions need to prepare to handle the consequences of the presidents executive action.http://chronicle.com/article/How-Obama-s-Action-on/150171/

The importance of having your social networks ready for admission teams to preview during the college application process.http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/college_bound/2014/11/college_admissions_officers_increasingly_check_out_students_online_profiles.html

Apps & Tools

Microsoft Office apps on iPad just got major updates including no longer requiring an Office 365 subscription (so it is FREE) and after their recent partnership with Dropbox, you can now access your files off of Dropbox. Other updates for other mobile platforms as well.http://blogs.office.com/2014/11/06/bringing-office-everyone/

A list of apps that will help you be more efficient at work.http://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2014/10/these-44-apps-will-make-you-more-productive-infographic.html

A presentation that includes some great tips and tricks on how to leverage Google Apps. How many did you already know?http://www.slideshare.net/tomdamico161/google-tips-and-tricks-i-didnt-know-i-could-do-that-in-google

Apps & Tools (cont.)

This seems like an interesting tool. Will be checking it out to see if it worth having as a backup to Collaborate. Anyone have any experience with this tool?https://www.cliqmeet.com/en-us

This article shares some great ways that iPad apps can help your students learn in the classroom. How many do you use already?http://fltmag.com/applying-ipad-apps/

Amazing statistics of the number of things on the Internet by 2020! I still remember the days teaching IPv4 to my networking students and how IPv6 was being pushed to accommodate the future number of things needing/asking for an IP address to communicate on the Internet and I do not remember anyone thinking it would hit this many: 25 billion! WOW!http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/13/report-internet-of-things-to-hit-25-billion-units-264-billion-by-2020.aspx

Online Learning

This article list four important factors to keep in mind to improve your online courses. Anyone making uses of these factors already?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/four-crucial-factors-high-quality-distance-learning-courses/

This article shares some excellent tips on crafting solid questions for your online discussion boards. Have you used these in your online courses?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/asynchronous-learning-and-trends/online-discussion-questions-work/

This article shares a research study conducted on unsuccessful online learners and the results can help any online program administrator and faculty to increase their student retention and persistence numbers. Has anyone tried this tips?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/can-learn-unsuccessful-online-students/

Online Learning (cont.)

I am a firm believer that the more interaction the online instructor can have with their students the better so creating grade feedback videos seem like an excellent way to help the student along their educational journey. Has anyone done these types of videos?http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/19/using-video-grading-to-help-students-succeed.aspx

This blog entry, from Bill Gates, addresses accessibility and flexibility advantages of online learning.http://www.gatesnotes.com/Education/Colleges-Without-Walls-Arizona

MOOCs

I am a huge proponent that online learning should always be a collaborative effort among faculty and the students in the course. Do others feel the same way?

http://www.educationnews.org/online-schools/open-university-online-learning-must-be-collaborative-social/

edX launched MOOCs with free certificates for Teacher Training and AP Prep in collaboration with Connected.

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/20/edx-launching-moocs-with-free-certificates-for-teacher-training-and-ap-prep.aspx

Academic Leadership

Some great ideas on how to handle difficult conversations in academic settings. Anyone use these tips?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/academic-leadership/managing-difficult-conversations-advice-academic-leaders/

Some excellent tips on how to make your meeting times more efficient. Has anyone used these tips?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/academic-leadership/efficient-meetings-effective-decisions/

Faculty Development

Quality teaching can be an elusive topic because of the broad definition of what can make teaching a high quality effort. These are some solid areas to focus on to improve your quality of teaching. How many have you implemented?http://schoolsimprovement.net/how-to-make-teaching-great

Lecture is still king as instructional strategies go. Anyone trying different approaches in their classroom?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/lecture-continues-dominant-instructional-strategy/

Many of us have adult learners in our programs. This article shares some ways to help instructor to reshape their courses for this non-traditional student segment. Anyone try these already?http://www.evolllution.com/opinions/ways-shift-instructional-practices-meet-21st-century-learners/

Faculty Development (cont.)

This article refers to a new “Teaching Practices Inventory” that faculty can take to see how much research-based practices they are using in their teaching. Has anyone taken this yet?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/teaching-practices-inventory-provides-tool-help-examine-teaching/

I wish all universities had an application development team that collaborated with the faculty in this fashion. Do any of you have such a perk? How has the collaboration been?http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/20/building-mobile-apps-for-faculty.aspx

This article shares six great tips to help instructors be successful in today’s classrooms. How many of these have do you use already?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/faculty-development/six-things-make-college-teachers-successful/

Student Learning

Some excellent ideas on how to increase class time by moving student presentations online. Has anyone tried this in their face-to-face courses?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-with-technology-articles/maximize-class-time-moving-student-presentations-online/

This article addresses the benefits to having guest lecturers in your courses. Has anyone done this lately? I have seen this benefit both face-to-face and online courses. Others?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/blessings-benefits-using-guest-lecturers/

This article shares a great definition set and grading rubric basis for journal assignments. Anyone using this in your courses?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/reporting-reacting-reflecting-guidelines-journal-writing/

New Ways of Learning

Some excellent tips on being a good digital citizen. How many of these have you implemented already?https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2014/10/11/learning-to-become-a-good-digital-citizen-digital-citizenship/

Very interesting facts about lifelong learning. Any surprises in the data presented here?http://elearninginfographics.com/future-lifelong-learning-infographic/

In today’s society, we need to teach our students how to be good digital citizens. How many of the 9 Ps have you been already teaching?http://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-citizenship-need-to-know-vicki-davis

New Ways of Learning (cont.)

This article identifies some concerns on flipped classrooms. Do any of these resonate with you? Have you started to flip your classroom?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/flipped-courses-concerns-rush-flip/

This article lists some questions that help build community in your classroom. Has anyone done this? If so, how did it turn out for you and the students?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/using-attendance-questions-build-community-enhance-teaching/

Have you ever been an accidental learner?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/can-learn-accidental-learning/

New Ways of Learning (cont.)

This article addresses threshold concepts. This was a new phrase for me. Anyone seen this research before? Do you agree that student-centered learning falls into this category?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/threshold-concepts-portals-new-ways-thinking/

This article lists some great prompts to help our students spend some time reflecting on how they best learn. Anyone using any of these in their courses?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/prompts-help-students-reflect-approach-learning/

This article shares some Q&A with Tom Woodward, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Associate Director for Online Learning Innovation on the concept of “Open Pedagogy”. Anyone using OER in their curriculum and programs? Does this resonate with you then?http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/12/open-pedagogy-connection-community-and-transparency.aspx

New Ways of Learning (cont.)

This article tackles the task of “sourcing heuristic” not being a habit teachable to our students. Do you agree or disagree? If so, why?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/read-like-expert-students-probably-dont/

New survey findings show that learner-centered teaching is on the rise and that the traditional lecture format is less used. Online teaching has also increased. How many of you teach using a learner-centered approach versus just lecturing? Any new to teaching online?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/new-faculty-survey-finds-learner-centered-teaching-less-lecturing/

This article shares over 20 different game-based resources to help you get started with adding game elements into your courses. Have you added any of these to your courses already?http://www.edudemic.com/23-best-game-based-resources-2014/

New Ways of Learning (cont.)

This new technology sounds great for future classroom spaces to include as the logical replacement to blackboards and whiteboards. Has any of my friends in the Boston area seen this working?http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/11/13/new-video-collaboration-wall-unveiled-at-boston-university.aspx

This article helps describe vertical and horizontal learning components in blended learning. What are your vertical and horizontal components?http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/thinking-horizontally-vertically-blended-learning/

What steps should traditional campuses consider to provide value in the digital education age?http://campusmatters.net/future-of-the-campus-in-a-digital-world/

Entertainment News

Star Wars Episode VII now has an official title: The Force Awakens.http://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-episode-vii-the-force-awakens

This is a good tribute song/video performed by Billy Boyd as we approach the end of Peter Jackson’s interpretation of the Tolkien Hobbit and LotR works.http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/11/21/the-hobbit-last-goodbye-music-video/

Upcoming Movie & TV Trailers

The Flash – “Flash Vs. Arrow” Trailer, Premiere Date: 12/2/2014http://youtu.be/5Nqyc_YvwFw

Ascension: Exclusive Trailer, Premiere Date: 12/15/2014http://youtu.be/v9vkbOVkC4s

The Hobbit: Legacy Trailer, Release Date: 12/17/2014http://youtu.be/CimPWFadVsU

Full Favorite Trailer playlist on my YouTube channelhttp://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp4nJo9D2kEs3McWG18x5UmIcSsVhNjq0

Thanks for checking this monthly newsletter out and hope to see around again next time!