Midterms are upon us, and that means it is a great time to sit down and have a mid-semester chat with your classes. How are things going? What is working well in the course? Is there anything you would like to see start, stop or continue? Last week, I asked my students just that, how are things going? Most discussed how they felt the midterm in World of Business, the first business course all Leeds students take, was way easier than they expected. Let’s see how they feel when they get their grades back.

I also asked my students how they felt about using Google+ in the course, and if they preferred using Google+ or Desire 2 Learn (D2L) which is the learning management system here at Cu Boulder. Watch for an update later in the semester for the results. Before I discuss this data, I wanted to share why I am doing this action research.

Becoming a part of the campus community, and contributing to the development of that community through engagement, is a cornerstone of the student success research.  There is a gap between that research from Austin, Chickering, Gamson, Kuh, Tinto, and current trends in educational technology. These authors characterize student engagement as an in-person act, where people interact in-person. Yale University still uses a residential college model that was established in 1703 where all students are expected to live on-campus (Stenvens, 2000). If a student needs help with something, they ask their community and the community responds with a referral or recommendation. Namely, learning takes place anywhere we want.  The 7 best practices outlined by Chickering and Gamson (1987) do not require fancy buildings with the latest and greatest technology or even a pretty campus. With the explosion of social media and ways to interact in a digital space offers a great opportunity where social learning can take place online.  Mohan (2013) attempts to begin this conversation and incorporate social media in a classroom. Blanchard (2007) also describes virtual communities and how they create feelings of community with minimal face-to-face interaction. More research is needed to determine if the ideas from Austin, Chickering, Gamson, Kuh, and Tinto can be recreated using a digital medium. This research is necessary to determine the impact of social media on social integration into a learning community.

Digital Learning communities are a great way for students and institutions to collaborate to improve the quality of undergraduate learning outcomes. These collaborative efforts of students, faculty and student affair practitioners create an environment where engagement, learning, expansion of wisdom, and a love of knowledge can be cultivated (Komives et al 2003). It is important for student affairs professionals to create student services, activities, programming etc. that focus on creating a sense of community across the entire campus: where all students can grow, develop and become active members of society. Specifically, the level of engagement inside and outside the classroom influences the quality of student learning outcomes (Chickering and Gamson, 1987). Learning communities are just one very important element we need to use employ to support students. Whether drastically changing curriculum or modestly clustering courses together, learning communities enhance the overall undergraduate learning experience (Smith, 1993). LCs benefit student learning outcomes in a myriad of ways but connecting students to an institution greatly improves their chances of finishing school (Komives et al 2003).

Blanchard (2007) suggests over the same amount of time, online communities have the same amount of social interaction and accumulation of relationships as face-to-face communities. Blanchard (2007) goes on to claim that the “exchange of support” and the development of norms have a positive impact on the “sense of virtual community” (p. 2109). As members of the online community develop their individual identities, community norms develop, and as individuals follow those norms, the sense of virtual community increases (Blanchard, 2007). For example, if one person becomes the “go-to” person for help with calculus, that becomes the community norm, and if someone asks for help for calculus, anyone in the community refers that person to the “calculus guy”. 

Living-learning communities and the residual college experience are the foundation of the American system of higher education and function much the same way. Community can be created without money or resources, and social media such as Facebook, Google+, Ello, or LinkedIn can be powerful learning tools. 

References

Astin, A.W. (1977). Four Critical Years. San Franscico: Jossey-Bass.

Blanchard, A.L. (2007). Testing a Model of Sense of Virtual Community. Computers in Human Behavior, 24, 2107-2123.

Chabotar, K. (2009). Crisis Fatigue in a Difficult Economy: 5 Mistakes to Avoid. Chronicle of Higher Education, 56(15), A76. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Collins, M., & Berge, A. (1996). Facilitating interaction in computer mediated online courses. Retreived March 24, 2014 from http://www.emoderators.com/moderators/flcc.html

Chickering A. W. and gamson, Z. E. (1987). Seven Best Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. AAHE Bulletin, 39(7), 3-7.

Chickering, A. W. and Reisser, L. (1993). Education and Identity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Gabelnick, F., R. Matthews, J. MacGregor, and B.L. Smith. 1990. Learning communities: Creating connections among students, faculty and disciplines. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Horn, L. J., and Berktold, J. Profile of Undergraduates in U.S. Postsecondary Education

Institutions: 1995–96. Washington, D.C.: Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, 1998. (NCES 98-084)

Kuh George, D.,  Kinze, J.,  Schuh, J. H., Whitt, E. J. (2005). Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

 Kuh, G. D., Schuh, J. T., and Whitt, E. J. Involving Colleges: Successful Approaches to Fostering Student Learning and Development Outside the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991.

Matney, M., & Borland, K. (2009). Facebook, blogs, tweets: how staff and units can use social networking to enhance student learning, Presentation at the annual meeting of the

National Association for Student Personnel Administrators, Seattle, WA.

Mohan, F. (2013). Chapter 3: Using a Social Learning Community to Actively Engage Students’ Participation in a Virtual Classroom.  In Yang, H.H., and Wang, S (Eds.), Cases On E-Learning Management, Dvelopment and Implementation (50-70). Hershey PA: IGI Global.

Pascarella, E.T., & Terenzini, P.T. (2005). How college affects students: Vol. 2. A decade of research. Sanfranciso: Jossey-Bass.

Ritter, C., Polnick, B., Fink, R. & Oescher, J. (2009). Classroom learning communities in

               educational leadership: A comparison study of three delivery options. Internet and

Higher Education. Retrieved September 25, 2014 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2009.11.005

Stevens Jr., R. (2000). Welcoming Commuter Students into Living-Learning Programs. New Directions for Higher Education, (109), 71. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Smith, B. (1993). Creating learning communities. Liberal Education, 79(4), 32. Retrieved from   Academic Search Premier database on March 24, 2014

Whipple, W. R. "Collaborative Learning: Recognizing It When We See It." AAHE Bulletin (October 1987): 4-6. (ED 289 396)

Wow, the school year starts on Monday. Where did the summer go?!

One highlight of my summer was the 2014 COLTT conference, it was a blast! It is always nice to be around like minded folks. The conference always inspires me to try something new for the fall semester, and this year was no exception. Before I can talk about my plans for this year, I need to go back a bit.

Last year, thanks to COLTT, I added social media, namely a Google+ community, into my class. Using a private Google  site (meaning I had to manually add each student to the site) as my course management system, I created a Google community to add a two way or social experience to my class. Things went okay, watch for a update later in the year with updates from a satisfaction survey, but I felt they could have been better. The website seemed to get in the way, and made the Google community less effective because students could stay on the site, read the instructions, then post to the community and leave. There was very little in the way of Peer to Peer conversations.

This year, all that changes! At least I hope. Thanks to Marc Mueller, who is a big proponent of open access content and works for a company making that easier, I am ditching the learning management system and moving my class directly into a social world! Everything will be posted into the Google community: readings, assignments and rubrics, discussion prompts, and the syllabus. Students will be encouraged to engage with each other, offer critique, and help their peers learn. Learning is a social thing, and humans are social animals, which could explain our current love of social media.

Hopefully, by midterms, I will have some mid-semester feedback from this year so I can compare it to last year. There are some confounding variables here, last year I taught in a larger school, 17000, while this year there are only 3000. My hope is the spirit of the course, a first year success seminar, will reveal some reliable correlations. Stay tuned for updates!

InfoGraphics

One of the many projects I work on is managing the probation and suspension process in a business school. If a student does not earn a 2.0 overall GPA or 2.0 business GPA, I am the guy who sends out the notification letters, updates student transcripts, and creates programming to help students create an "academic recovery plan". Each semester I also create a report showing current numbers. This semester I tried Piktochart to spice up the data. Overall I really like the app because it works. Here is a sample: Leeds Spring 2014 Academic Standing Report. The template is just a minimalist, freebie with few customization options. Faculty out there might consider using InfoGraphics for any research they create because they are a great way to spice up data!

Piktochart has a publish and presentation feature, so you just create the graphic, publish it, copy or save the link, then click "presentation mode" in the right corner of the screen and BANG! Your data is live for your next presentation at your faculty or department meeting. You can also download the image and embed it in a blog or web post. Not as interactive, but still nice!

Why I do YOGA!

You might be wondering why I am taking the time, on my teachnology blog, to talk about Yoga.

A recent study suggests people "spend on average two-thirds of their working hours in a sitting position". If you're like me, and you use a computer, laptop or tablet for work, Yoga might be for you! All those hours sitting at our desks, writing papers/reports, grading, and surfing the web can cause major problems with you neck, spine, and shoulders. Another report from India claims that "in the IT industry that requires one to sit in front of the computer for 14-16 hours every day, leading them to slouch and sit in a bad posture, with hardly any physical activity, leads to Repetitive Strain Injury". Most technology and academic related careers revolve around a desk, computer screen, and many, many hours typing away at a keyboard. Yoga, along with cardio and resistance training, has helped me minimize the impact of my sedentary career.

Since moving to Colorado, the 8th healthiest state in the union, my wife and I have decided to be healthy, more active, and eat better. We can easily say we are the healthiest we have been in a long time, if not ever, but we still have a long way to go. Sometime 2  years ago, all that sitting for long stretches at my job caught up to me and boom, my back popped, and I was in great pain.

Fast forward a few months, after my wife motivated me to give YOGA a try, I began to feel better--much better. The "Down Dogs", "Up Dogs" and "Triangles" of Yoga help me stop years of back, neck, and Spine pain. After my first class, I woke up without pain for the first time in a LONG time.

While Yoga is not the total answer, and I have to do it almost everyday to see results, I can say it has helped me overcome my sedentary job. Take a look at some info from the Mayo Clinic on the Health Benefits of Yoga. Next,  find  beginning YOGA class in your area and GO!


Take a look at this article for more reasons why the combination of  cardio, weights, and yoga can help.

Google+ and Apps for Education

Google +

What is it?

Google + is a social networking platform developed by Google Inc. as a means to connect their suite of apps together. Many users consider Google+ a Facebook alternative, but, Google Inc. claims that its’ + platform is another layer to the popular Google Apps Suite (Docs, Drive, Sheets, Chrome, Sites, Youtube, etc.). Google + users can seamlessly create, share, and revise Google Docs using their + profiles. Businesses can create + profiles to market their good and services to customers. Google + is the second largest social networking platform, second only to Facebook.

Educational Uses?

Google + is a great option for educator trying to have one platform to use across many different applications. An educator could use Google + to create a profile, course website, and community, then share that with a group of students. Want to grade student work and leave comments? Yep, once a student shares their paper, faculty   could read, make comments and grade the paper. Using one platform for all your teaching needs can make things easier.

Pros?

First, Google+ and the common use applications are free with a Google account. Users simply need to go to www.Google.com and click signup to get started. Second, Google is really good about providing video tutorials on how to use all of their services. Need to know how to create a website using Google Sites? Google it and watch a video on how to use the service. Third, if you own a smart phone, you have the power of everything Google right in the palm of your hand. All Google Apps are available on IOS and of course Android devices. Taking attendance in class today? Put your roster in your phone and pretend your texting your significant other, your students will never notice!

Cons?

Lately, Google has been doing some upgrades, seems great right? Wrong! The updates to their messaging service “Hangouts” is causing some “service interruptions” (Please see here for info) which means if you use one platform for everything, when it goes down, your down to! Thankfully the outages only last a few minutes, at most an hour, but it can be a big con.  Another con is some of the Google Apps do not display correctly on IOS, but Google is always doing updates!

Bottom line, Does It Work for Educators?

Yes, in a BIG way. Just spend a few minutes looking over the resources link below and you can see for yourself that Google + and the accompanying apps are a great, free resource for educators.

Alternatives?

Facebook (www.facebook.com)

For many faculty or educators, course management systems like D2L, Canvas, and Blackboard have social network integration, and similar profile elements.

Resources?

Google+ Review                                          Google Help                                     

Google + Tutorial                                         Google Tutorials  

This week I started a new job as a academic advisor in a business school. Being in a business school is a little different, I worked primary with liberals students up until this new opportunity. This business school, like many others, likes to be innovative and use new technology, so they use the latest version of Windows, which is version 8.1, on all PCs in the building. You Mac folks are already saying "NO! Forget PC and Windows!" This blog is not about being a "fan-boy" for any one company or technology platform, it is about what works best for any given application in a teaching or educational setting. One question I will try to address is should an educator buy a Windows 8 device? With that, this is a commentary on using Windows 8.1 in education.

What Works?: 
Clean, sharp, and it looks new and shiny.

Sync across all Microsoft devices: PC, Laptop, Tablet, Phone (Con you have to buy all Microsoft devices!). For those of you that know iCloud and really enjoy having all your electronic devices synced, Windows 8.1 does this for Microsoft products for the first time in REAL practice. Microsoft tried this with Windows 7, but it was a flop. Time will tell if people are willing to drop their iPhones or Andriods iPads and Kindle Fires in favor of a Windows device just to keep the everything the same.

But educators might find the lower price tag of the Windows devices to be a big incentive to begin using them in their classrooms. to buy a current iPhone ($600), iPad ($500), and Macbook Pro ($1500) you are looking at around $2600 bucks. To go with a similar setup of Windows devices you are looking at about $1800 for a Windows 8 phone ($400), a Surface Pro 2 ($900) and laptop ($500). With the new Surface 2 pro many people are ditching the laptop due to the Surface Pro 2 having a premium keyboard. If you can go with just the tablet and phone, you are looking at about $1300, not too bad.

It all looks the same! Yes, Windows 8.1 not only syncs across all you devices, but it looks the same too! Live tiles, apps and short cuts match across all devices, so no need to try to remember where something is or what button to push to send a video or pretension to a project, it is all the same! The home screen on Windows 8.1 has the same look and feel of the Surface Pro 2 tablet/laptop. Microsoft designed it that way, and in theory all your apps and home screen can sync with your Windows account, similar to an Apple ID.

The best part of the Surface for educators is the you can run 2 apps at the same time. Working on grading? pull up your grade book and the assignment on the same screen! Trying to build a lesson plan based on a video or article form the web? Open Word right alone with the web browser and start planning. If you need a portable, multitasking work laptop, give the surface Pro 2 a try at your local electronics store.  Take a look at this review for a complete run down on the Surface Pro 2.

If you have owned a Windows phone is the past or played with one at your local phone store, the New Home or Splash page will feel familiar with: apps, live updating tiles, news feeds etc. Here is a good review if you are interested in a windows phone.

At this new Home Screen this is a much better search function on Windows version 8.1, I mean MUCH better. It might be the most sophisticated search feature I have used on a PC. Again, Apple OS X fan-boys will say "we have had that for years" but if you are looking for a presentation or lesson plan on a Windows 8.1 machine, just start typing on the home screen and bang! It pops up in the results.

Updates! Microsoft is fairly good at updating their software. You have noticed through out this post me mentioning Windows 8.1. There are bid differences between 8 and 8.1. For a complete list, take a look at the official site. 

What's Broken? 

NO START MENU!!! When you click the bottom left-hand corner of the screen from the desktop you are taken to the new home screen (pic above). Microsoft has been training us FOREVER to click the start menu, every tutorial on a Windows 1-6 PC started with "Click Start" then in Windows 7 is changed to "Click Home". Now when you click the windows bottom (pic below) you are take back to the new home screen. if you are like me, this is disorienting and makes you want to puke.

You have to download a third party Start menu if you want the traditional windows start button feel. I installed Pokki based on this review, and because it is FREE! Why should I pay $4.99 for an app that should be a built-in option?

Bottom Line, should an educator buy a Windows 8 device?

Most of us that work at a school or university really do not have a choice, we use what the school has, which might mean you are not even using Windows 8! If I had $2500 for a new computer, phone and tablet I would consider buying a windows phone and Surface Pro 2 and use the $800 for a mini vacation or international plane ticket. Having the ability to open 2 apps at once is a really cool idea, and in practice is something I use, giving the windows tablets a leg up on the iPad. But, should you buy one? 

My best advice is to play with each device and think about a few things: 

• What am I going to use the device for? Work, play, reading, playing games etc.

• Are you going to create content or consume content? This is kind of like the first question, but it will help you decide between something like an iPad or a laptop. Even an iPad with a fancy keyboard case is not the best for content creation, so keep this in mind! 

• Do you plan yo share the device with a spouse or child? I do not recommend this, but if you HAVE to share, some devices have this feature built in, e.g the Surface Pro 2. 

• Do you really NEED portability? If you commute by bus or take your device with you everywhere, then yes, you need a lighter/expensive device. If you drive to work and only carry your laptop from your car to your office, then you might consider spending that extra money on a more powerful device. 

• Most importantly, who's paying? If this is for personal use and you are paying, you might consider going with a cheaper product because technology changes so fast that the "neswest, bestest" tech is already a year old when you buy it. But, if your work is giving you cash for a new device, buy the best because you might be stuck with this device for a long time, say 3-5 years. The more you spend the longer a device will survive the test of time. 

Welcome to My Teachnology Blog

Hello and welcome to my blog on using technology in all things education and learning. It is my hope to use this space to highlight new teach-nologies you can use in your classrooms for any level or area where learning take place. Many of my colleagues not currently using technology in their classroom seem to aviod technology in some form for fashion.  Before we move into using technology I want to share a brief history on my technology background and experience.

Back when I was nine or so (this is not a life history, so please bear with me for a sentence or two) my dad bought a family computer. I don't know the make or specs of the machine, but it had a DOS operating system which could boot into a primitive version of Microsoft Windows, which at the time was very cool. The most important thing about this computer was it taught me to love, and hate, technology. I learned to love technology because this computer had GAMES! Solitaire, Minesweeper, Freecell etc. which was a great way to waste time. I learned to hate this computer because for the life of me I could not figure out how to work the thing properly and install better games using DOS. I would sit and try different DOS commands to install new games, but to my great frustration, nothing seemed to work. I told myself I would never, ever, let a computer or another piece of technology defeat me like this old windows machine did for years!

This brings me to this blog: my hope is to share this with others so they can learn to use technology because technology, with a little work, WILL make your life easier. Most often, many people stop trying to learn new technology due to the fear of the unknown. If this blog can help people get over their fear of using or feeling like they might break some type of technology, I count that as a win!

Somewhere along the way, I became the "Tech Guy" for my family: any and all questions related to technology come to me. Over the years some folks have learned to become self sufficient, but others need constant support. But, that's technology, it needs love and support to be the most successful.

Disclaimer!!!!! I am not an expert nor do I hold a degree in computer science. I am an avid technology user and have made it my life mission to help everyone use technology more effectively in their classrooms, work, and personal life.