One of the most common and important features of modern software is the "tag." A tag is a short keyword or phrase that a user assigns to a piece of information that describes it in some way. You might also be familiar with hashtags, a form of tag used in social media (#thisisahashtag). Tags... Continue Reading →
I recently had the opportunity to join the higher ed tech company, Guidebook, on a webinar discussing how apps and technology are changing the student experience and student expectations for higher education. Chris Trudell of Guidebook served as the moderator. If you're interested, it's free and available online. Staying Relevant: The Relationship between Student Affairs... Continue Reading →
I'm excited to share that I have a new chapter out in the most recent volume of New Directions in Student Leadership entitled, Going Digital in Student Leadership. The chapter I co-authored with Dr. Ed Cabellon, titled "Remixing Leadership Practices with Emerging Technologies," presents an overview of the historical trends in and the current state of technology in... Continue Reading →
The 2016 U.S. presidential election was one of the most divisive in recent history. In a recent poll by CNN, 85% of Americans reported believing that the country is more divided than in previous years. As we head into 2017, this division is likely to remain steady and perhaps increase. As a result, college campuses in... Continue Reading →
Higher education and student affairs professionals generally prefer the predictable. And yet, when it comes to engagement with students online, social media is the antithesis of control. For this reason, developing an effective digital engagement strategy in residence life, and in student affairs and higher education in general, requires a great degree of trust and a... Continue Reading →
I'm pleased to share that the new volume of New Directions for Student Services that I've been collaborating on for the past year is finally available online! Engaging the Digital Generation, edited by Josie Ahlquist and Ed Cabellon, focuses on issues confronting college students and higher education professionals related to technology. The chapters in this volume... Continue Reading →
In doing my research I often come across great tutorials on social and digital technology as well as excellent examples of their use in higher education. Rather than keep them to myself, I decided to post them publicly to help others "get up to speed" on these tools and their uses. I've been doing this for... Continue Reading →
I had the honor of presenting, not once, but twice at the Online Learning Consortium's Innovate Conference (co-hosted with Merlot) in New Orleans this year. The following are two videos from my presentations there. The first, immediately below, was a lightning-style talk. This presentation consisted of 20 slides, each set to advance automatically every 18 seconds,... Continue Reading →
All the higher ed tech and innovation conferences in one easy to consume infographic! The folks over at EdSurge made this AMAZING design that outlines some of the key conferences on tech and related innovations in the higher ed space. While this previously existed for our K-12 colleagues, EdSurge has performed this excellent service for those... Continue Reading →
I am happy to finally make my entire final dissertation available for all to download and read. This document represents some of the first qualitative research into how traditionally aged college students use social media and its impact on their development and how they construct identities online. If you want a more detailed description, I've included the... Continue Reading →
I recently came across this graphic posted on TeachThought which comes from the minds of Sylvia Duckworth and Jennifer Casa-Todd (blog). The graphic highlights the distinction between two concepts: Digital Citizenship: Being a good neighbor and responsible ethical partner on the internet and Digital Leadership: Using the internet and social media tools to influence change and improve society Both concepts... Continue Reading →
Two weeks ago I started my first day working (albeit remotely) at the Res Ed software company, Roompact, and it was momentous in many ways for me. Not only is this my first full-time job after completing my PhD; but it is also my first job working for a private company as opposed to working... Continue Reading →
Create an account! Sign in with your Amazon account! Connect your Facebook account…. Twitter account… Google account… Every day we encounter websites that ask us to create or connect our digital accounts. It is through these accounts that companies are able to provide “helpful” features, such as personalized discounts, detailed suggestions, and optimized experiences. Sometimes... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/GeAInHNlwcM I, along with a panel of my colleagues at both ACPA and NASPA, participated in a panel on the implications of the new Student Affairs Technology competency for higher education practice. (ACPA/NASPA Competencies for Student Affairs Educators) Above is the video of the ACPA session, while below you will find additional information and resources from... Continue Reading →
I'm pleased to be presenting the results of my dissertation research at ACPA this year. This presentation provides a broad overview of my study, its findings, and implications. This is one of the first times I am presenting this material in public and I am super excited about it. If you want to learn more,... Continue Reading →
Myself and a number of my colleagues from the ACPA Digital Task Force came together to propose a pre-conference session that is intended to help practitioners make sense of the new Technology competency area in the ACPA/NASPA Competencies for Student Affairs Educators. The following post gives a broad overview of the session as well as... Continue Reading →
Yesterday's post provided a preview of the tech-related sessions being offered at ACPA 2016, and today we move on to the NASPA Convention. Again, what strikes me about this list is the sheer number and diversity of programs. The topics presented are wide-ranging from faith development to online education. Every year the offerings get more... Continue Reading →
What a difference a year makes! When I started doing these blog posts in 2014 highlighting the tech-related sessions being offered at the ACPA and NASPA conferences, it required a lot more keyword searching and scrolling to compile these lists. Now that Technology exists as its own competency area, the process has become significantly more easy! Click,... Continue Reading →
I've been collecting quotes as of late and I've struck upon a series of quotes about social media that provide a range of opinions and commentary. Take a look at the following for some thoughts about social media and its role in our lives.
According to recent statistics from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 41% of U.S. teenagers are on Snapchat (April 8, 2015). Alongside Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat rounds out the Top 3 of teen social media sites. This was also consistent with the college students in my doctoral research who reported the same "top... Continue Reading →
I quite simply LOVE this quote. It comes from Sherry Turkle, a sociologist at MIT, writing for the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2004. Turkle is a well-known and respected scholar that has produced some amazing work on the evolving nature of human beings' relationships with technology. (See some of my favorite books of hers below.) The reason... Continue Reading →
We all have one whether we want to or not. One's digital stamp, a term coined by Erik Qualman, is the sum total of everything about you in the digital domain. One's digital stamp, sometimes referred to as one's digital identity, is a key concept that we all must be aware of when we interact online.... Continue Reading →
Since I've been on a quote-kick for a little while lately, I wanted to share some of these gems from Twitter. They're Twitter tweets about Twitter and tweeting. You don't get much more meta than that. Enjoy. 😉
When I present to higher education professionals on college students and social media, I often begin by providing some basic statistics on social media platform use and adoption. My reason for sharing these statistics is to set the stage for our subsequent discussions. Age is by far the biggest determinant of overall social media use.... Continue Reading →
LinkedIn is increasingly becoming an essential tool for maintaining professional relationships and networking. When I taught a course on the higher education job search, I tried to find a simple, comprehensive guide to creating a successful LinkedIn profile. There are a lot of them out there, but many are lacking in one area or another.... Continue Reading →
This American Life recently posted a podcast called "Status Update" that delved into the online behavior of three teenage girls who were entering high school. The girls spoke at length about Instagram and the complex rules that govern how they use it, how they maintain their social connections, and the "rules" of the "game" when... Continue Reading →
I came across this excellent Ted Talk by Juan Enriquez the other day. Titled, You Online Life, As Permanent As A Tattoo, this talk explores the idea that all of the digital data collected on you, and to which you contribute yourself through social media, is imprinting you with a permanent "digital tattoo." Traditional tattoos tell... Continue Reading →
It is amazing how quickly our work has evolved in such a short period of time. I came across the following animated GIF on social media the other day (it was originally produced as a video by the team at BestReviews) and it encapsulates this change perfectly. What struck me most is how so much of our lives... Continue Reading →
Don't want to spend the time reading through 300 pages of my dissertation work on college students, social media, identity, and selfhood? No problem. I pulled out 96 "quotable quotes" from the text. Consider it the "Reader's Digest of Dissertations." Wondering why 96 and not... 100...? I just went through the whole thing until I... Continue Reading →
I say this in my presentations over and over again. It is a message I repeat in various forms: Just because you use social media doesn't mean... you know how to use it well. you understand how it functions. you can use it to accomplish goals. you understand how it impacts yourself and others.... Continue Reading →
All too frequently, we become enamored with the bells and whistles of technology without taking a step back to examine our goals for using it. Bill Ferriter, of the Center for Teaching Quality, created the following image to demonstrate how learning to use technology can be conflated with learning what technology can enable us to do. It provides... Continue Reading →
Recently, I was selected by LinkedIn to be a "featured follow" on their new app for my work in higher education and technology. As a result of this selection, I have been exploring and engaging on LinkedIn more than ever before. Although I have always been a big fan of the site, I don't... Continue Reading →
Qualitative research requires that one code text (or images, or video, etc.) for themes. Coding is a process whereby you find snippets of text, highlight and/or excerpt it, and tag it with a word or phrase. There are a number of different code types, such as close-text, in vivo, etc. Some can be categories and... Continue Reading →
An important untapped resource for college student educators on social media is the act of "social listening." The term social listening is borrowed from the world of marketing where companies will search for their names and products via social media to find out what consumers are saying. Social listening on college campuses is very similar. It... Continue Reading →
Given that I speak on social media and college students, it's inevitable that the topic of YikYak on campus comes up. YikYak is an anonymous geosocial app that allows individuals to post and view posts within defined geographic areas. This geo-functionality is one of the reasons it has become so popular on college campuses and at... Continue Reading →
I came across these compelling images the other day and they immediately struck a chord with me. Thai photographer Chompoo Baritone posted them to his Facebook page. They demonstrate how Instagram photos often portray a selective view of reality--often a "perfected image" of life. In my research, I have found that one of the effects of... Continue Reading →
Connected learning holds the promise of re-invisioning what education can look like. In many ways, we have talked about the ideal of connected learning for years, but it wasn't until the advent of the internet and social media, in particular, that we have had the tools to make it a reality. The beauty of social technology... Continue Reading →
Although not the specific focus of my research, it nevertheless occurred to me that some of the behaviors I noticed students exhibiting in my research followed well known and well established developmental patterns. As a thought experiment, I tried to map some of these behaviors to the classic developmental theories of Marcia Baxter Magolda and... Continue Reading →
Every wonder what your favorite social networks looked like if they were translated into musicals? Probably not, but they exist anyways. Here are a few fun, funny and catchy musical numbers about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr.. and as a bonus... Google. Facebook: The Musical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2JhpNbe2Io Twitter: The Musical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr3Tl7T6fIQ Instagram: The Musical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-waJH2lUJ5M Tumblr: The... Continue Reading →
I was SUPER pleased to join Tony D'Angelo on The Collegiate Empowerment Show this week. We had a great conversation about my career and life path, my experience with technology growing up and how I turned that passion into the subject of my research. I hope you'll find it an interesting listen. Tony is... Continue Reading →
On his way to class, Greg accomplishes many things. Buried in his smartphone, he dodges fellow students, almost trips up a set of stairs, and ducks a low tree lying tree branch (remember that next time). During his ten minute walk, Greg is listening to a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson discussing how contemporary schools... Continue Reading →
A simple series of slides giving some pointers and tips that we need to educate student leaders on as it comes to social media. Feel free to use, share and distribute with attribution!
One thing I have come to appreciate through my research is the varied ways in which people use social media. Each person integrates and makes meaning of their social media presences in their own way. However, there also seem to be some trends in ways people interact. The following infographic struck me as surfacing... Continue Reading →
The Conversation Prism is a beautifully designed infographic, now in its fourth iteration, that provides an overview of social media sites and presents them as a taxonomy. Different sites are categorized according to their main purpose and/or use. Not only is the prism beautifully designed, but it also offers a great resource for individuals hoping... Continue Reading →
One of the important ancillary findings arising out of my research is the need to teach college students about choosing the best to communication method for the contexts they find themselves in and the goals they want to achieve. As the infographic above illustrates, different media have different levels of intimacy. They also allow for different ranges... Continue Reading →
Using social media is a great way to increase the attendance and engagement of students at your events. When I consult with colleges and universities, event promotion is one of the top ways in which social media is used. Unfortunately, however, many institutions are still using social media as just a replacement for the flier. Social media... Continue Reading →
Mike Arauz has a great presentation on SlideShare about the "spectrum of friendships" on social media. Specifically, he asks, "What can brands learn from people who are good at making friends on the internet?" This spectrum can also be applied to the world of higher education where institutions seek to promote students' sense of belonging and... Continue Reading →
A good friend and colleague, David Kasch, presented a paper at the ASHE conference back in 2011 where he attempted to analyze/categorize developmental theories by their narrative patterns. Some theories represent linear patterns, whereas others are continua, and still others follow intersectional or vector patterns. The above graphic is a modification of David's original concept, but should... Continue Reading →
David Armano put together this great graphic that sums up one of the main messages I give to college departments trying to ramp up their social media presences. Social media don't have to be just a replacement for the flier. It can be such more. (And should be.) Rather than thinking of social media as another broadcast... Continue Reading →
This series delves deeper into the new Technology competency recently added to the ACPA/NASPA Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators. Intended to serve as a resource for faculty and professionals to guide professional development and teaching, it provides a deeper understanding of the topics covered in the competency and provides resources for further education. Part 1: Overview Part... Continue Reading →
The internet is open. This is both the beauty and power of the internet and the ugly side of the internet. Part of its beauty is that it enables peer-to-peer learning, the facilitation of relationships and the organic building of community. Part of its power is that it democratizes conversation without needing to go through... Continue Reading →
A great piece from Laura Pasquini that provides a primer and overview of aspects of fair use, creative commons, and using/remixing content and images found online. For those of you teaching, creating presentations, or posting content online, the following provides a great overview of the basics.
Image from: Opensource.com
In planning my courses this term, the textbook for my LTEC 4000 course will be OPTIONAL. With a wealth of training and development resources digitally available online, in databases, from many professional organizations, and in our library system, I decided to have my three sections of my class be rhizomatic in their learning. (Thanks for modeling this learning approach for a few years now, Dave.) Learning is more than consumption. By encouraging my students to curate their own knowledge, I hope it will help contextualization how these course objectives are applicable for the world of work. This semester LTEC4000 will aggregate training and development content in a wiki. Here’s to giving ownership to the learning process through research inquiry, critical thinking, and content contribution. Wish me luck!
In thinking about digital curation and online literacy, I want my students to consider how they share, remix, and adapt…
View original post 611 more words
It's time for a yearly update! My advice for the digital #SAgrad of 2015... So you've recently started your journey towards a Master's degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs. CONGRATULATIONS! As a former instructor in a number of these programs, one of the topics I like to review with my students is how they can... Continue Reading →
This series delves deeper into the new Technology competency recently added to the ACPA/NASPA Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators. Intended to serve as a resource for faculty and professionals to guide professional development and teaching, it provides a deeper understanding of the topics covered in the competency and provides resources for further education. Part 1: Overview Part... Continue Reading →
I’m excited to let folks in on a little secret. I and a number of other folks will be contributing to an upcoming edition of the New Directions for Student Leadership (NDSL) Sourcebook Series titled… Going Digital in Student Leadership Co-edited by Lisa Endersby and Josie Ahlquist, the book will cover a variety of topics including how technology impacts all stages of... Continue Reading →
Integrating digital and social media tools into RA training programs can be an exciting and innovative way to hold your RAs' attention. Below are some useful sites, apps, and services that you can use and some examples of how to use them. Have other ideas? Poll Everywhere http://www.polleverywhere.com Poll Everywhere allows you to set up online polls... Continue Reading →
It might be happening sooner than you think...
The following post originally appeared on the ACPA Digital Task Force Website. I'm excited to announce that I will be a part of round 2 of this effort. Specifically, I will be continuing my collaboration with Erik Qualman and others to develop educators guides and supplemental materials for the book to which we contributed,... Continue Reading →
Last Friday, I *gave* one of the four mini keynotes at the NEACUHO 2015 Annual Conference. Unfortunately I couldn't be there in person, but I did record the following to be shown in my absence. In it, I explore why, as educators, we seem to experience such paralysis and paranoia when it comes to... Continue Reading →
Over the weekend, I had the privilege of speaking to the New Student Orientation Leaders at Keene State College in New Hampshire. They were amazing, as orientation leaders always are, and made me feel welcome. (Even singing me a special birthday song!) In preparing to talk to these student leaders, I reflected on my own... Continue Reading →
If you aren’t following the NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) blog, I highly encourage you to do so. You don’t even need to work in Career Services to benefit. There are great tips here for your own job search or general work with students. Check out the following post about writing LinkedIn summaries. Great stuff!
Ross Wade, assistant director, Duke University Career Center
Personal blog: http://mrrosswade.wordpress.com/
LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosswade
Twitter: @rrwade
Blogs from Ross Wade.
Students understand more and more the power of LinkedIn, and the importance of not only being on LinkedIn, but also actually using it to successfully market themselves and connect with professionals. I feel like I’ve worked with a gazillion students on how to create an effective LinkedIn profile, and the one section that causes my students the most problems is that dang summary section! In advising sessions the following questions always come up: “Do I use first or third person?” “How long should it be?” “Should I discuss my passion for baking?” “Should I list skills…isn’t that redundant since there is that ‘Skills & Endorsements’ section already in my profile?” “Do I really even need a summary?”
Yes! Students should totally take advantage of the summary section!
Earlier this year…
View original post 783 more words
"Look no further for the smartest and savviest bloggers in higher education." I'm excited to be joining the good company of my friends and colleagues on EdTech Magazine's 2015 Dean's List: 50 Must-Read Higher Ed IT Blogs. This is my first year making the list, but my perennial favorites are still there... Laura Pasquini, Josie Ahlquist,... Continue Reading →
I had the opportunity to present with #SAgrad superstar, Craig Bidiman, on how colleges and universities can leverage social media as a means of engaging their students. The following video comes from the 2015 NASPA conference and gives a broad overview of the philosophy, approaches, and mindset departments must take to go beyond seeing social... Continue Reading →
*but it can enhance it if used smartly. Usually, rants about how "social media is making us antisocial" and "social media is ruining our ability to enjoy the 'real' world" drive me INSANE. Unfortunately, many who take this track use it as an opportunity to assert some moral high ground.. that by giving up social... Continue Reading →
The following post comes from Laura Pasquini which shares an excellent model for determining how one should go about integrating digital technology into course content and deciding what are the most appropriate approaches given the content and context. Tony Bates’ SECTIONS model is a practical and useful tool to have in your digital teaching arsenal. Read on…
With so many possibilities for digital learning, selecting media and technologies for appropriate course instruction is a very complex process. Although there are a wide range of options in the ed tech realm, pedagogical considerations should always come first. Instructors should reflect on the learning objective and desired outcomes for their subject matter before identifying identifying technological applications for the course.
The SECTIONS model, developed by Tony Bates (2015), is a pedagogical framework for determining what technology, specifically how this technology will be appropriate for instructional approaches. This might include identifying and determining pedagogical characteristics of text, audio, video, computing, and social media. With this framework, Bates (2015) asks five critical questions for teaching and learning for technology and media selection:
View original post 1,065 more words
When I'm speaking and consulting, I frequently get asked by clients what the most platforms are and which one's they should be on. The question is actually more complex than just finding the most popular platforms. In part, your question should be: What do you want to do and what is the best social media... Continue Reading →
What do our college student development theories look like when we give them a digital update? How might social media be changing the ways students develop and understand themselves? What are the implications for college student educator practice? The following was originally presented at the 2015 NASPA Convention as a part of the SAspeaks series.... Continue Reading →
When I had the opportunity to take the big stage at a recent conference and discuss my philosophy on life, I knew I had to talk about my relationship with JetBlue! And now you can see it, too. It was titled, "My Improbable Love Affair with JetBlue, and What it Can Teach You About Loving... Continue Reading →
Today is the day! The "What Happens On Campus Stays on YouTube," the book to which I am a contributing author, is available for shipping! A great work geared towards college students that helps them understand their digital identity and the potentials and pitfalls of interacting online. You can order yours on Amazon now! Want a peek inside... Continue Reading →
I appeared on a HigherEdLive broadcast along with co-guest, colleague, and friend, Vernon Wall, and host Heather Shea Gasser to talk about social media and its intersections with social justice and change. Vernon and I talked about our collaboration on a combined social justice and social media training as well as recent events in higher education surrounding the use of Yik... Continue Reading →
I was pleased to be a part of this week's HigherEdLive broadcast along with my amazing collaborators and friends on ACPA's Presidential Task Force on Digital Technology. The video of our show is embedded below. I think there are some really great nuggets of wisdom in here. Laura Pasquini also curated a Storify of the backchannel.... Continue Reading →
Grades are not the only way of assessing student work. There are a number of colleges and universities that have experimented with alternative approaches to the traditional letter grade. One such college, Reed College in Oregon, provides students with more detailed feedback and assessment in addition to grades. As stated in their Guidebook, “Students' work... Continue Reading →
The following post originally appeared on the ACPA Digital Task Force's website. I have been proud to serve alongside some amazing colleagues on the Task Force this year and the following represents the initial draft report of the group. Please consider giving your feedback on the original post so we can improve it. Video from ACPA... Continue Reading →
As someone who researches social media and the higher education environment, it is rare that I come across an example of something that points the microscope inwards towards the behaviors, actions, thoughts and attitudes of higher education and student affairs professionals themselves. At the NASPA conference this year, that exact thing happened. (It also happened... Continue Reading →
Craig Bidiman and I are combing forces for a program session at the 2015 NASPA International Convention. This session is intended for all levels of professionals who want to learn about how to utilize social media tools strategically to engage students. Come join us and/or follow the twitter back channel #SAsocial! Tuesday, March 24, 2015 10:00am - 10:50am... Continue Reading →
I am proud to be selected as one of this year's SAspeaks presenters. SAspeaks talks are similar in style to TEDtalks. They are meant to be short (no more than 15 minutes) and focus on one main idea. This year I am doing an SAspeaks based off of my continuing research on the impact of... Continue Reading →
I was pleased to have one of my slide presentations selected by HaikuDeck as a "Featured Deck." It's a quick and simple short set of slides to give you some reminders of how to interact online as an educator. This was also uploaded and featured as a part of SlideShare's 2015 Upload Campaign.
And now for part two of the yearly tradition, a run down of all the technology-related program sessions at the upcoming NASPA conference. I will be presenting/co-presenting a few (and by few, I mean six... lol). Check them out below. In case you missed the round-up from ACPA, it is here. See you in New... Continue Reading →
Liking matters on Facebook... and any other platform that uses a news feed algorithm for that matter. When people "like" something, it can mean many different things. It can literally mean you like something. Sometimes it's to indicate thoughts of sympathy or empathy (something that you don't really literally like, per se). Sometimes it just indicates... Continue Reading →
The following is a presentation I gave last year on building one's own "personal brand" online. It was kicking around the archives, so I thought I'd share in case you find it useful.
Josie Ahlquist and I are proud to be collaborating on an exciting session for the upcoming 2015 International Convention of ACPA-College Student Educators International. This session is intended for all levels of professionals who want to learn about how to develop a positive digital presence online and leverage digital and social tools for professional development. This practical session... Continue Reading →
Ed Cabellon and I are excited to be offering up a new collaborative session at the 2015 ACPA Convention. We're both bringing our own unique spins on the topic of how institutions of higher education can ramp up and enhance their social media presences to engage students. Come for a very practical approach to the topic that... Continue Reading →
I have the privilege of collaborating with some amazing professionals on an upcoming session at NASPA: Wednesday, March 25: 9:00am - 9:50am #SAconnect: How to Network Digitally for Professional Development and Relationship Building 209 - Convention Center To preview, build on, and prepare for our session, please join Christina Ferrari, John Rodriguez, Lisa Endersby, Rebecca Windover, and Briana Mathew for... Continue Reading →
Time for the yearly tradition! A look at the 2015 ACPA conference schedule to identify all of the social media and technology related sessions on offer. There are a lot to choose from this year (including a few go my own... shameless plug). Click on the program titles to find out more. See you in... Continue Reading →
In honor of my (now aborted) trip to the Crossroads of America, Indiana, this month’s reblog comes from Michael Anthony Goodman. Reading Michael’s posts is like getting a piece of candy in the middle of the day. I always get a little excited. Check out this post on the app Timehop. I’ve been using Timehop... Continue Reading →
Once a month I re-blog a post that I find interesting and want to highlight. This post comes from one of the students in Dr. Jerry Kane’s ISYS 6621 course, Social Media for Managers. It’s a fun look at the selfie phenomenon and what some may consider precursors to it.
Semi-weekly, I try to highlight innovative and interesting uses of social media in the higher education and student affairs space. The following is a review of all those highlighted in 2014. Follow along in the new year with new spotlights.
Semi-weekly, I try to highlight higher education and student affairs professional to follow on Twitter and online. The following is a review of all those highlighted in 2014. Follow along in the new year with new spotlights.
Semi-weekly, I try to highlight apps, web tools and websites that could be of use in the education space. The following is a review of all those highlighted in 2014. Follow along in the new year with new spotlights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJANw2WzfEE As many of you know, a couple of months ago I had my dissertation proposal hearing. For social science dissertations, after one completes their first three chapters, they present it to their committee for approval. The first three chapters typically include an introduction, a review of literature, and your methodology (how you intend to... Continue Reading →
I had the pleasure of being on the Student Affairs Collective's Podcast series this week. Dustin and I talked about blogging, what I do here on this site, and few other things. It was super fun. Check it out below... (Original post here.)
You interact online and through social and digital media, but do you reflect about how, why and in what way you choose to use these tools? The following is from a new presentation I've developed that challenges college students to reflect on three questions: Who do you want to BE? How do you want to ACT?... Continue Reading →
Having a social media presence is increasingly becoming a requirement for any organization. I was interested in how the professional associations in higher education and student affairs engage online, so I decided to take a look at their Twitter presences and put together a ranking of the "most influential" associations. The metric I chose to... Continue Reading →
Is there something that can be described as the "online culture?" I don't think so, but I do think that technology is structuring the way we think and interact and I do think that there are cultural norms broadly perpetuated and upheld. Online culture, although diverse, still maintains persistent themes. In describing how this first... Continue Reading →
I have the pleasure of presenting at the NASPA Region I Annual conference today. The topic? How might we re-envision Student Development theory for the digital age. Below you will find an abbreviated version of my presentation. Some additional resources that might be of interest include: My past posts related to digital identity and identity... Continue Reading →
This Thursday, I will (finally) have my dissertation proposal hearing. This means I will present my proposed dissertation research to my committee and seek approval to move forward into the data collection and analysis phases. Proposals generally include the "first three chapters" of a dissertation. These chapters are typically an introduction, a review of literature, and a research... Continue Reading →
I had the immense privilege of being one of the keynote speakers at the 2014 ACPA Residential Curriculum Institute talking about how residence life professionals (and actually, any student affairs professional) can integrate social media into their student learning efforts. I wanted to provide a sample of the slide deck I used as well as some... Continue Reading →
In the spring of 2012, I had the immense privilege of taking Dr. Jerry Kane's ISYS: Social Media for Managers course. One of the assignments for this course includes bi-weekly blogging by the students. Although I am no longer in the course, I continue to check out the class blog on occasion and I came across... Continue Reading →
The following are books on topics related to social media and tech are works I've either recently read or are on my reading "to do" list... let me know if you have any recommendations!
I have the immense privilege of serving alongside some incredibly talented individuals on the ACPA Digital Task Force. I wanted to share a recent post by a member of my subgroup, Jason Meriwether, of the "Informed and Responsible Engagement" team. Our goal is to develop resources for both students and educators on how to promote positive,... Continue Reading →
I took Dr. Jerry Kane's ISYS6621: Social Media for Managers course at Boston College back in the Spring of 2013. One of the assignments for the course is to give a brief, 5-6 minute, presentation about a social media trend or case study. At the beginning of each semester, he has previous students come in and share their's... Continue Reading →
Back in July, I was honored to be asked to serve on ACPA-College Student Educators International's Presidential Task Force on Digital Technology. After meeting in person with many members of the team, I can say with confidence we're on to something new, exciting and different. In my role with this group, I co-chair the Informed... Continue Reading →
The viral rise of the ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) Ice Bucket Challenge on social media has started a lot of discussion about what social media activism campaigns mean and what they truly achieve (or don't). The ALS Challenge isn't the first of these types of campaigns to go viral and prompt discussion around these topics... and... Continue Reading →
Who says you can't use social media for social good? I'm sure you're familiar with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge by now. Wanting to challenge my JetBlue Twitter friends, I decided to do it with a twist. The VIRTUAL ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It started with this: https://twitter.com/paulgordonbrown/status/501765339907366912 Marty St. George, Senior Vice President of... Continue Reading →
“Door decs” with your name on it… Crafting in the lobby… An icebreaker where you rhyme your name with a vegetable… free pizza... all cliché ways a college Resident Assistant (RA) goes about building and maintaining community. Of course, the RA position is far more complex than the stereotype that often gets portrayed, or the hokey... Continue Reading →
Once a month, I’ve made it a point to highlight the posts from other bloggers that I believe deserve wider recognition. This month I wanted to share a resource that that Dr. Laura Pasquini put together for her dissertation work. It includes a database of higher education policy/guideline documents on social media use. For professionals and administrators looking to shape institutional policies and guidelines regarding social media implementation across campus, this can be an invaluable resource for benchmarking and guidance.
During the course of my dissertation research, a few events connected to the scope of my study, and directly to the social media documents I was gathering. I ended up building a database of 250 post-secondary education (PSE) institutional guidelines and policies to completely understand HOW the PSE sector is ACTUALLY “guiding” social media. More importantly my research uncovers the organizational identity and cultural values of social media among 10 different countries. {More to be shared post dissertation defense June 12, 2014.}
If you are interested in either research around policies and/or social media impact to organizations, specifically post-secondary education, then you most likely heard about the Kansas Board of Regents approval to amend their policy manual back in December 2013 to outline “improper use of social media by University of Kansas faculty.” If not, I have an article and infographic of the timeline of events for you:
View original post 316 more words
Miss the first day? See a twitter recap here. https://twitter.com/MikeLynch09/status/495172369372430336 https://twitter.com/ThomasAKelley/status/495177440411783168 https://twitter.com/satechBOS/status/495188651899645952 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/495189651528114177 https://twitter.com/EdCabellon/status/495200372429185024 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/495206634738941952 https://twitter.com/KMcCarthy8185/status/495207229638070272 https://twitter.com/MikeLynch09/status/495207590092374016 https://twitter.com/ThomasAKelley/status/495209036959457280 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/495210610897211392 https://twitter.com/MikeLynch09/status/495213796127162368 https://twitter.com/jasonrobert/status/495226820112179200 https://twitter.com/EA_Clark/statuses/495232419801624576 https://twitter.com/jessmsamuels/status/495237504908656641 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/495238978980044800 https://twitter.com/jasonrobert/status/495239535471906816 https://twitter.com/jasonrobert/status/495240156698660864 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/495240377809768449 https://twitter.com/KMcCarthy8185/status/495241267165822977 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/495242048556265473 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/495242911622373377 https://twitter.com/jasonrobert/status/495242988436860929 https://twitter.com/ThomasAKelley/status/495244139316125696 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/495245011400024066 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/495245489307406336 https://twitter.com/KMcCarthy8185/status/495247354778648576 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/495247605597995010 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/495248061053300736 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/495248294210449408 https://twitter.com/satechBOS/status/495250309347037184
https://twitter.com/ThomasAKelley/statuses/494800374575161344 https://twitter.com/EdCabellon/status/494821667864985603 https://twitter.com/satechBOS/status/494839861518798848 https://twitter.com/Jim_Gresham/status/494841738322665472 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494893492037230592 https://twitter.com/paulgordonbrown/status/494893886142423040 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494894153374121985 https://twitter.com/paulgordonbrown/status/494894459197587456 https://twitter.com/AdamGismondi/status/494894866367664128 https://twitter.com/KMcCarthy8185/status/494896466394370048 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/494895639445389312 https://twitter.com/_mikefox/status/494897232135479296 https://twitter.com/saladbar15/status/494896976681779201 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494897410431537152 https://twitter.com/ValerieHeruska/status/494898484659896321 https://twitter.com/KMcCarthy8185/status/494898646165774336 https://twitter.com/AdamGismondi/status/494898693728792577 https://twitter.com/_mikefox/status/494899733492936705 https://twitter.com/saladbar15/status/494900120035786752 https://twitter.com/bethanytuller/status/494900208351051776 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/494900183063605248 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494901032091410432 https://twitter.com/paulgordonbrown/status/494901757802467328 https://twitter.com/reyjunco/status/494902748488663040 https://twitter.com/reyjunco/status/494907360914460672 https://twitter.com/KevinRGuidry/status/494913660641640448 https://twitter.com/paulgordonbrown/status/494904515351814144 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494903425357053952 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/494903608723656704 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494903761811562497 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494904934333427712 https://twitter.com/MikeLynch09/status/494905437729206272 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/494907475095592961 https://twitter.com/josieahlquist/status/494904135821443073 https://twitter.com/JoJo_Jac/status/494915937980936193 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494917898339885056 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494920247259176960 https://twitter.com/KMcCarthy8185/status/494920858893582336 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/494923674982825984 https://twitter.com/MikeLynch09/status/494926704797048832 https://twitter.com/trishofthetrade/status/494927180258754561 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494928786077790209 https://twitter.com/AdamGismondi/status/494933477243228161 https://twitter.com/_mikefox/status/494935014677970944 https://twitter.com/katie_collins/status/494936770971451393 https://twitter.com/paulgordonbrown/status/494939666010083328 https://twitter.com/SimmonsCollege/status/494941751979675648 https://twitter.com/ThomasAKelley/status/494927186823225344 https://twitter.com/Kristen_Abell/statuses/494945106797932544 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/statuses/494945452958449664 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494949233947332609 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494952539247628288 https://twitter.com/ammamarfo/status/494953778823839744 https://twitter.com/EdCabellon/statuses/494950877720231936
Social media can be used for a lot of purposes: providing an update on a moment in your life, letting other people know about an event or cause, or sharing an interesting article you've read... all great uses... but social media can be used for so much more. Social media starts off as a novelty. You... Continue Reading →
As you probably know at this point, my research involves college students and how they construct a sense of self in digital and social media spaces. In conducting this research, I've encountered the term "digital identity" frequently. I've used it, and some of my doctoral student colleague friends have written about it (including Paul Eaton, Josie Ahlquist, and Ed... Continue Reading →
Tweet http://youtu.be/fBLuzUk5NII (One of my colleagues and friends, Paul Eaton, wrote a great blog post about Bronfenbrenner's applicability to online/social media spaces. I also wanted to have a go at the topic, so I purposely didn't re-read his post until after publishing this one... and there's agreement... but with a twist... read on...) Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory of... Continue Reading →
Tweet I've been searching for a one year part-time job while I finish off my dissertation (HINT, HINT) and I quickly came to the realization that I needed something to make me stand out. For the past couple of years I've been encouraging the students I teach in the Higher Education master's programs at Boston... Continue Reading →
My fellow Boston College Higher Education student, Adam Gismondi, is doing some really interesting research into social media and student engagement. (Check out his entire site. It’s full of fun thought-provoking tidbits.) I particularly enjoyed his new blog post on media literacy. Adam highlights an issue that I notice daily: clickbait. I recently put in place a personal rule when articles from the website Mashable come across my newsfeed: “No matter how interesting it looks, if it starts with a number, don’t click on it. It’s a waste of time.” It’s an odd thing. Numbers work in headlines, and admit that I also do it with my blog posts, but be wary, many sites don’t have the content to back it up. (Great title, Adam, very meta.) 🙂
[Upworthy Parody Headline via @UpWorthIt Twitter account]Next Time Someone Shows You Something, Show Them This.
— Up Worth It (@UpWorthIt) January 13, 2014
Do you believe article headlines that you read on your social media feeds? I’ve been asking this question of students as part of my dissertation research to begin my understanding of how students make sense of new media and elements of the world around them. I’ll admit, I’m not so sure how I would answer the question myself. Although I’ve been let down often by hyperbolic headlines that promise to “restore my faith in humanity,” I’m probably still a bit too trusting in terms of my expectations of news stories online. Is this relentless optimism or gullibility? Perhaps both.
Upworthy, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, and a sea of others have all adopted the practice of writing sensationalized headlines that help to drive traffic to stories. “Clickbait” headlines…
View original post 448 more words
YikYak is a new social app released earlier this year that is quickly becoming popular amongst high school and college students across the United States. Its goal is to serve as "a local bulletin board for your area." It uses geolocation on one's smartphone to allow one to post short statements that are broadcast and searchable... Continue Reading →
A really great and useful piece by Josie Ahlquist on how to clean up your digital presence for a job search and then how to leverage it. Josie does some amazing research on college students and social media use. Her entire site is definitely worth a look.
LMU Graduation. Photo Credit: Anthony Garrison-Engbrecht
I write this post to the class of 2014 college graduates. Putting in four years to earn your undergraduate (or five…or six) I’m sure ready to go put that degree to work! You have the grades, the extracurriculars, internships, and even great references. But in todays fiercely competitive economy there is no guarantee that you’ll even get an interview.
Nope, many of those times I listed above are given. The leadership roles, high GPA, service projects, etc. Still nothing.
I have watched recent alumni take jobs at coffee shops after graduation, as I wonder if they can afford their student loan payments. Yes watch out, those payments kick in six months after walking across that stage.
Okay deep breaths, hope is not lost. You got this! Social media isn’t just for Instagramming your bling’d out graduation cap or staying in touch with your fellow…
View original post 1,094 more words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdemFfbS5H0 In the three months since it’s release, the video "#Selfie (Let Me Take a Selfie)" has been viewed nearly 100 million times on YouTube and has gone into heavy rotation. Although tongue-in-cheek, the video reveals some surprising nuggets of wisdom regarding social media engagement, particularly around Instagram. It also provides interesting insights into the underlying... Continue Reading →
"Digital Identity Isn't About (A Separate) Identity At All" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEaPb2NQqbE The video of my PechaKucha presentation on the big stage at the 2014 ACPA-College Student Educators-International Convention, is posted on YouTube! Woot! Check out the annotated slide version here. View it below. And see more from other presenters here.
I recently came back from the 2014 National Convention of ACPA-College Student Educators International... and it was AWESOME. The Convention Team really took to the challenge of "reinventing" the conference experience into something new. As a leader in the Association, I left the experience proud of what my colleagues had accomplished and excited that ACPA has become a... Continue Reading →
My research passion is about college students and how social media and technology impacts the developmental process. Unfortunately, I’ve found a lot of the discourse in student affairs around this subject to be lacking. When you attend a conference session or read a thought piece centered around this topic, they often focus on marketing, technological tools, and... Continue Reading →
This year the Convention team did a major overhaul of the schedule and session types to bring a fresh approach to our professional development. Much of this innovation relates to technology, social media, and cutting edge practices. Below you will find general sessions related to technology as well as the new "Genius Labs." In addition to these... Continue Reading →
I’m excited to be presenting on one of my research passions at the 2014 national conventions of both ACPA-College Student Educators International and NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. My session on the future of higher education (see below) is something I’ve presented on before, but I’ve been able to update this presentation with about... Continue Reading →
Being an instructor in the Higher Education Master’s programs at Boston College and Merrimack College, and as former Res Lifer, I’ve always been interested in how to advance student learning outcomes through the use of technology and social media in classroom and training environments. I’ll have the opportunity to present on both at the upcoming... Continue Reading →
This is a story of one man's love affair with an airline and how, on one special Valentine's Day, they exchanged two special gifts. I fly JetBlue a lot and often tweet them here or there to ask a question, express an opinion, or just share them in a mention to my followers. Anyone who's... Continue Reading →
(UPDATE: JetBlue also gave me a very special Valentine's Day gift.) 🙂 For those of you that know me, you know I love the airline JetBlue and I fly them a lot. I’ve even achieved “Mosaic status,” JetBlue’s designation for frequent frequent fliers. During one of my most recent trips, however, I was reminded just... Continue Reading →
I'm excited to be the opening keynote at this year's #SATechBOS Unconference. The event utilizes as a unique format that encourages peer-to-peer learning and interaction. It's a pretty interesting concept and a new take on the sometimes stale traditional conference format. Wikipedia describes it as follows: An “unconference“ is a participant-driven meeting. The term “unconference” has... Continue Reading →
Last week, StudentAffairs.com published a piece I wrote entitled, An Experiment Using Twitter in Teaching a Student Affairs Practicum Course, in their Journal of Technology in Student Affairs. (Please check it out and let me know what you think!) In one of the later paragraphs of the piece, I wrote about my plans for teaching... Continue Reading →
Last week I had the privilege of being invited to speak to the amazing staff at Johnson & Wales University in Denver and also do a five-hour consultation on their social media efforts. I have done a number of social media consults for departments, and other campus entities, and one of the questions that always... Continue Reading →
Approximately one month ago, I wrote a blog post entitled “The Bacon Kitty George Takei Star Wars Experience” about my definition of social media. A few weeks prior, I had also titled a post, “Your Professional Network is Powered by Bacon.” After doing this, an odd thing happened. In the statistics for my website, “bacon”... Continue Reading →
Facebook Graph Search proves just how important building up your social network contacts can be. This new search feature, which has been slowly rolling out over the past few months, allows one to make “micro-level” searches. For instance, you can search for “my friends that like Lionel Richie” or “my family that visited Peoria.” These... Continue Reading →
I’m not completely above baiting people with key buzzwords on occasion to get more traffic. Bacon? Check. Cats and Kittens? Check. George Takei? Oh my! And Star Wars? What a Wookie. This semester I had the incredible experience of taking MI621: Social Media for Managers in the Carroll School for Management at Boston College. I... Continue Reading →
Last week I started an experiment called the “6 Degrees of Esther Lloyd-Jones Project,” a play on Six Degrees of Separation and the popular “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game. I was motivated by the desire to see how small the student affairs profession is and discover the power of crowdsourcing on the internet. It’s... Continue Reading →
The Six Degrees of Esther-Llyod Jones Project is a crowdsourced initiative I started to learn more about how current student affairs professionals can trace their lineage back to some of the founders of our profession. Click on the following link below to go to the page where you will find out more information about the... Continue Reading →
“Door decs” with your name on it… Crafting in the lobby… An icebreaker where you rhyme your name with a vegetable… you might be surprised by how a college Resident Assistant (RA) goes about building and maintaining community. Of course, the RA position is far more complex than the stereotype that often gets portrayed, or... Continue Reading →
In his 1989 work, The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg floated the idea of our needing a “third place.” Our first place is our home, where we live. Our second place is our work, where we spend a large portion of our time. Our “third place,” however, is an informal space that brings us together... Continue Reading →
One of the more interesting phenomena I’ve come across in some of my research on college student interactions through social media is something I call the “Cult of the Like.” The “Like,” or the “Favorite,” or whatever your preferred social media network happens to call it, is a way of indicating agreement, acknowledgement, or affinity... Continue Reading →
Social media and Web 2.0 technologies have changed the way we collaborate and come together for collective action. Additionally, they are enabling us to achieve feats of unprecedented size and scale. They are helping us search for cures to cancer, they have allowed us to create a comprehensive world encyclopedia, and they have even toppled... Continue Reading →
I was honored to be included in Todd Wilmes' article on Forbes.com detailing predictions on what the future will look like in 2033. Contributing voices include: Ray Kurzweil on Technology Robert Kaplan on Global Conflict Khan Academy on Education Virgin Galactic on Space Travel Oliver Bussmann on The Global Workforce John Allen on Religion Dr. Gene Robinson on Global Climate, and Myself... Continue Reading →
I’m an insider, but an outsider. As a PhD student studying higher education, and as someone who has worked in colleges and universities his entire life, I’m completely comfortable in the classroom and in being surrounded by students. This semester, however, I’m an immigrant in a foreign land. I’m taking a course in the business... Continue Reading →
This week, the folks over at TED just released a new initiative known as TED Books. Available through apps for iPad, Kindle and Nook, TED Books are meant to be the eTextbook complement to the innovative series of TED talks we have all grown to love. Following the TED tradition of brevity, they are all... Continue Reading →
Pb 