Becoming a Millennial

222. Gearing up for the ICI Technology Summit

Taylor University is hosting this year's 6th Annual Independent Colleges of Indiana Instructional Technology Summit, to be held August 14.  Over 200 participants (instructional technologists, faculty, librarians, and technical support folks) will be attending from the 31 ICI schools. 

An excellent conference has been planned, including a keynote by Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins, nationally recognized expert in social media who will speak on the topic, "The Seven Deadly Sins of Technology in Higher Education: Exposing Our Sins Against Innovation".  Sarah is a fascinating lady.  In her own words, "I’m a researcher, an academic, a writer, a speaker, a marketer, a mom, and a geek."  For more details you can visit her website at http://www.intellagirl.com/.

32 sessions have been scheduled falling into eight tracks: LMS, Tablet PCs, Web 2.0, Administration, Video, Webcasting, Engaging Students, and Faculty/Staff Development.  Here are a couple links if you are interested in the details:  Conference Schedule,   Session Descriptions

220. Taylor Selected as "Benchmark" School

Taylor received an indirect honor last week.  A nearby university is undergoing a self-study of their academic technology program, and has contracted with a consulting firm to assist in evaluation and forward-planning.  Three universities were chosen as "benchmark" schools for this study:  University of Indianapolis, DePauw University, and Taylor University.  I spent most of Friday afternoon with the two consultants showing them the ETC, classroom technology, computer labs, and discussing what we have done over the past dozen years to make Taylor a place where technology fosters learning. 

 

I was asked about Taylor's vision statement for academic technology.  I'm not sure we have settled on an official statement, but this is a draft that communicates where we are headed:

 

Taylor University's Vision of the role of technology for students and faculty can be summed up in the phrase "digital fluency".  In today’s world one must be competent with computer technologies.  Taylor University has been aggressively pursuing this goal by equipping every classroom with smart technology, promoting the wide use of the Blackboard course management system, systematically developing the graphics and video services of the Educational Technology Center, and offering to faculty many opportunities for technology training.  Professors are steadily progressing in their use of technology for teaching using tools such as PowerPoint, the web, online discussions, blogs, wikis, podcasts, and sophisticated interactive systems such as Dyknow Vision.   Every student has an electronic portfolio, and faculty are now required to use an e-portfolio to apply for promotion and tenure.  Digital tools of all types are being woven into Taylor’s academic environment for the purpose of developing digital fluency, and improving teaching and learning.

201. 6th Annual T4T Conference

We were able to complete the schedule for Taylor's "Technology for Teaching" Conference to be held August 14 & 15.  It took most of the month of June to put everything together.  Nearly 40 of our faculty & staff are helping to present sessions.  

This year's theme is, "Engaging Students With Digital Technology" and many of the 40 breakout sessions highlight technologies to do just that.  I'm especially looking forward to the opening panel, "Laptops in the Classroom: Ban 'em or Embrace 'Em?".  The topic has already begun to generate some energy with our faculty. 

We expect an attendance of over 100, mostly our own faculty.  We have also sent invitations to faculty from neighboring universities.  It always adds a nice dynamic to have participation from other schools. 

If you are somewhere within driving distance and would like to join us for either or both days we would love to have you.  Cost is $25/day and includes breakfast and lunch.  Here is the registration information:

1.  T4T schedule

2.  T4T session descriptions 

3.  T4T online registration

178. Faith, Technology & Teaching in the 21st Century

Second Life, podcasting, social networking, Web 2.0 ... What does it all mean?  Where are we being taken?  How do I deal with these overwhelming technologies as an educator? as a Christian?

I invite you to watch the keynote talk I gave at Taylor University's recent "Technology for Teaching" Conference.  The title of my presentation is How Web 2.0 is Impacting Education. 

Following the session one of our professors came up to me and said, "I get it! I finally understand what you have been saying to our faculty over the past couple years."

I apologize that the video quality isn't the greatest, as it was only at the last minute that I requested a camera to be set up to record the session. 

177. "Technology for Teaching" Conference

Here is an article in yesterday's Marion Chronicle Tribune on our Aug 16 & 17 "T for T" Conference.  Click here to open.

Details of the conference are available on a previous posting.

175. The Choice of a Tool

Over the past few years many schools have struggled with the choice of a course management system.  You may be interested to read an excerpt from a letter I sent this morning to our university academic and technology leaders.

“I believe what has come together in the past 12 months validates our choice of the Blackboard Learning System.  As school begins this fall all of the following applications are available to our faculty and students fully integrated into Blackboard:

1.  Blog Tool

2.  Wiki Tool

3.  Podcast Tool

4.  SafeAssign (FREE plagiarism detection tool)

5.  Scholar (social bookmarking)

6.  MERLOT (learning objects repository)

7.  RefWorks (citation manager)

8.  Respondus (test generation application)

9.  StudyMate (leaning activities)

10.  Instant messaging & virtual whiteboard

11.  Assignments (electronic submission of papers)

12.  Learning Units (sequenced activities)

13.  Discussion Board

14.  Gradebook

15.  Online testing & surveys

16.  Glossary & Search

17.  Publisher CoursePacks (selection constantly increasing)

18.  e-Portfolio for every student

19.  e-Portfolio for faculty promotion & tenure

20.  Online student leadership application

21.  Lockdown Browser for secure online testing (currently running a 60-day trial)

22.  Faculty advising tool (using the e-portfolio)

Blackboard is proving itself a solid foundation for the university in moving ahead with 21st^t century technology.  As Web 2.0 increasingly becomes a focus in instructional technology note how many of these applications TU already has in full implementation. Be encouraged.  We are moving forward in the right direction.” 

172. "Technology for Teaching" Conference

Web 2.0 tools will be a major theme at our 5th Annual "Technology for Teaching" Conference to be held August 16 & 17 on the Taylor University Upland campus.  This conference is primarily for our TU faculty, although we have invited a limited number of guests from nearby universities. 

This year we have expanded the offerings to include 39 different breakout sessions, an opening general session on "How Web 2.0 is Impacting Education", and 12 "mini-grant" presentations by faculty.  Click here to see the schedule.  Click here to see a description of the breakout sessions.

167. Faculty Mini-Grant Week

Yesterday we began our week-long faculty Mini-Grant workshop.  Twelve professors are working with our ETC staff, each on a different technology project.  Over the years we have tried many different approaches to faculty training and this has been one of the most successful.  Faculty compete for the $500 grants.  This year 20 applied and we were able to take 12.  Taylor's Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence funds the grants.  This is the fourth year we have offered this workshop.

Technologies being used this summer include PowerPoint, Blackboard, Windows Movie Maker, Dyknow Vision, blogging software, Edutronix Genesis, Adobe Premier and Encore.

Sometimes the "expert" appears as stumped as the professor :)

164. Blackboard e-Portfolios (An Interview)

Bill Vilberg, Assoc. Director of Instructional Advancement at Miami University (FL), contacted me the other day.  A mutual friend from Blackboard had given him my name.  Bill is the chief Blackboard person at Miami University and is doing something creative with his Blackboard Faculty Support Group blog.  Each week he records an interview and posts it to his blog. 

We set up a time last week and he interviewed me for 45 minutes over the phone.  He used Skype on his end (so the phone call was free) and I used my office phone.  In places it is a bit scratchy but overall the recording quality is pretty good.

Click on the above link to his blog if you would like to listen to our conversation.  We talked about the Bb e-portfolios that we have set up for every student at Taylor, as well as some of the Web 2.0 technologies that are impacting the teaching and learning environment. 

You can browse the Taylor e-portfolio catalog by going to http://courses.taylor.edu ... login using username=guest and password=welcome ... select the Courses tab ... and choose the appropriate category (e.g. 2006 Senior Portfolios).  We are still a year or two away from fully facilitating this to the point where every graduating senior will have completed his/her portfolio.  The infrastructure, however, is all in place supported by our Educational Technology Center and Career Development Office.

If you want to take a peak at a student portfolio, click on the link below.  My son, Neal, graduated in January 2006 with a Communications Degree and a Digital Graphics Minor.  Use the same guest login as described above:  https://courses.taylor.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=%2Fbin%2Fcommon%2Fcourse.pl%3Fcourse_id%3D_3593_1

152. New Classroom Podiums

We just finished designing and installing two of our new "2nd generation" teaching podiums.  Gone are the remotes.  An Extron push-button panel controls everything.  This is the model we're looking at putting into our other 50+ classrooms to replace an older design that is not laptop friendly, uses dual remotes, and generally doesn't have a document camera available.

We installed a much more sophisticated system in our 64-seat Ayres classroom using the Crestron technology. 

It took a lot of experimenting and tweaking to program the control system to be easy to use but flexible enough to do all that we wanted, including:
1.  Computer A on one screen and Computer B (tablet PC) on the other.
2.  Computer A with extended desktop spanning both screens.
3.  Computer A on one screen and document camera on the other.
4.  DVD or VHS video shown on both screens.
5.  Shades and lights automatically adjust depending on the selection.

The easier we can make the technology the more likely faculty will be to use it.  That's our goal.

151. Brain Surgery in Ecuador

One of our Taylor pre-med students is spending the semester in Cuenca, Ecuador (TU's new global parter site) and participated in a recent brain surgery. 

Warning -- the pictures are graphic -- but they are an amazing set of photos showing the operation beginning with the xrays of the large white tumor, opening the skull, removing the tumor, and then closing back up the skull. Click here to open the slide show.

This will give you an appreciation for the wonderful learning opportunities provided today's students, as well as the level of medical sophistication around the world.  Also, you'll appreciate the convenience of Flickr as a means of sharing a set of pictures.

150. TU's Technology Promotional Video

Wired to Take You Into the Future is Taylor University's promotional video released over a year ago. This was also filmed and edited by Steve Curtis, ETC Operations Manager and Media Specialist. 

What Taylor offers in academic technology is second to none, and we're just trying to get that word out.   

149. Winning: Beyond the Final Score

Check out Taylor University's new athletic promotional video, Winning: Beyond the Final Score.  Steve Curtis, ETC Operations Manager and Media Specialist, worked nearly two years filming and editing this video. 

On a personal side Mike and Arlene Parsons, my son-in-law and daughter, are featured in the video.  Mike is pictured here on the DVD cover.

148. Flickr and the Taylor Tech Fair

Over 400 faculty, students, and staff participated in yesterday's Tech Fair.  Click here to view a slide show hosted on Flickr.   

This was my first time to use Flickr.  I went to the flickr website, created my account, downloaded the utility to enable one to post an entire folder of pictures, posted my pictures, added a link to our wikinews article -- it all took less than 30 minutes!  Amazing capabilities here.

114. Podcasting at Kansas State University

Several of our TU faculty are beginning to experiment with the podcasting of lecture material.  Kanas State University has announced plans to convert some 6,000 course recordings into "enhanced podcasts" that combine audio with slides and annotation. Many classes are now set up to automatically record lectures and convert them to an iPod-friendly format.  Read more.

111. 4th Thursday Faculty Workshop

For the past three years we have scheduled each month a 4th Thursday "Successful Teaching" Workshop for our faculty, from 8-10 am.  It includes breakfast followed by a 90-minute workshop on technologies related to teaching & learning.
________________________________________________

This week's topics are:
1. Demo (Leon Amstutz) -- 66" SmartBoard installed in the newly rennovated Ayres Conference Room.
2. Demo (Rich Parker) -- Rich's fully online Blackboard course, "Music and World Cultures", loaded with multimedia content.
3. Discussion/Presentation (Gary Friesen, Jeremy Case) -- Blogs & Wikis for Classroom and Personal/Professional Use
______________________________________________________________________

Samples of TU faculty blogs:
Win Corduan -- informal style ... frequent postings ... combination of personal, professional, devotional
Andy Rowell -- formal style ... less frequent postings ... professional, church leadership topics
Chris Bade -- using TU's MoveableType blog tool ... combination of personal, professional
Mark West -- using TU's MoveableType blog tool ... I don't know what it is -- it's all in French!

Examples of TU faculty using Blackboard Journal (essentially a blog):
Ron Benbow in his MAT 262 course -- you'll need a TU Bb login to access these courses
Jeremy Case in his IAS 110 course

Example of TU faculty using Blackboard Teams (essentially a wiki):
Jeremy Case in his IAS 495 course

Search sites that help you find blogs:
BlogPulse -- general seach
Technorati -- general search
CyberJournalist -- journalist blogs
eTalkingHead -- political blogs
Rhetorica -- professors who blog

Wikis to explore:
WikiUniversity -- hosts and develops free content for teachers
WikiBooks -- free open-content text books that you can edit
Wiki How -- the how-to manual that anyone can write or edit

Sample classroom assignment:
1. Create and maintain a blog using any free blog tool of your choice (or Bb Journal could be used)
2.  Select five "professional" blogs that you will read on a regular basis
3.  Create a daily entry in your blog commenting on the five blogs, including quotations, links, graphics when appropriate, and your own opinions and analysis

110. Promoting Volleyball Using a Blog

I just learned that the Taylor University volleyball team has been using a blog to promote it's games and activities.  I have a special interest in this, as my daughter Arlene plays (pictured here). 

97. The Read/Write Web

Will Richardson in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms writes: "In and of itself the ‘old’ read-only web was a transformative technology. It has changed the way we work, the way we learn, and the way we communicate. I would argue that historians may look back on these past 10 years the same way we look back on the early days of the printing press, the steam engine, or the automobile. The Web has changed our lives.”

Janet and I are at the tail end of a 10-day trip through Canada, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Every motel we have stayed in has had internet access, either in the room or at least wireless in the lobby. In fact, right now Janet is catching a few extra winks and I’m lounging in bed with my ETC laptop writing this blog entry.

The fact that the web has changed our lives is not news to you. What might be news to you is Will Richardson’s next statement: "This 'new' Read/Write Web will change it even more." Yes, what's new is that people can now write to the web using tools that are as easy to use as email. For years it has been possible to publish on the web, but you had to be a techie. You had to be able to navigate Frontpage or some such web editor to create your web site. But with blogs, wikis, and social networking software one can literally sign up and within minutes begin sharing ideas with the world.

Richardson writes, “The bad news is the Read/Write Web threatens to make the differences between teachers and learners even more acute. Whereas students are open to the ways of new technologies, schools by and large are not.” 

What if our writing teachers would encourage their students to write their essays on a blog where they could easily be read by the rest of the class … or their parents, friends … or the world at large? Would their motivation be greater knowing they are really publishing as opposed to generating what they perceive to be busy work that gets graded and thrown away?

We have a success story. This spring I spent a couple days in English Methods (as I have done for the past 4-5 years) teaching these education majors how to use Publisher to make a website to which they would post their group semester projects – lesson plans, course units, links to resources, etc. For the first time we announced that the site would be posted on an external server, linked to the English Dept web site, and kept live for the world to see (including participants at a conference the professor was going to present at later on in the summer). It was amazing to see the difference in motivation as the students attacked a project that was genuine and not just an “assignment”.

94. It's Been a Busy Summer

For the Taylor University faculty you will come back to some beautifully rennovated facilities.  The Language Lab has a new look, with a counter (for 24 new computers running the Edutronix Genesis software) running along the outside of the room and an inside U-shaped table for when the instructor directs the students to swing their chairs around for class activities.

The large classroom in Ayres is almost finished.  It will seat 64 students. Each station will have power and network connectivity. There will be two projectors/screens for a lot of flexibility in presenting.

The Ayres conference room will seat 20.  It features a new Smart Technologies 66" smart board, and will also have full PolyCom video-conferencing capability.

A few finishing touches remain, but everything should be pretty much in place for the start of school.

89. Getting Ready For the School Year

As you know, one of my projects this summer has been to play with (or should I say "research, analyze, and assess"?) the various digital tools young people are using today.  Much of what I am learning will be presented in various workshops at our 4th annual "Technology for Teaching" Conference to be held the week before the start of school. 

One session in particular is going to be a lot of fun.  We advertised that the first 20 to sign up for the "Tools of the Millennials" workshop would receive a free Olympus WS-320M player.  The session filled up fast! 

The past two years we have had over 80 attend the conference, and this year it looks like we will have even more.  Most of the participants will be our own Taylor faculty, but we have also invited colleagues from nearby institutions.  Here are links to the schedule and session descriptions.  If you are in the area and would be interested in attending let us know.  We might still have a few spots available.

81. Let's Stretch Our Use of Blackboard

The July/August 2006 issue of Educause Review has an interesting article discussing current course management systems from the point of view of students, faculty, and administrators.

What seems like such a new tool for us (i.e. Blackboard) in reality can seem pretty "old school" and unimaginative for the students.  Here are some exerpts from the article, Managing Courses Defining Learning.

"Students especially made the case that it's time for a change in how we think about teaching and learning and that the change is long overdue... They wondered why there is so little incorporation of the tools they use everyday, tools that they know are available (for free, they pointed out) but that instructors don't use.  Why, in an age of speed and instant response, does everything take so long and seem so clumsy and hard to use?  They told us that it is time for the academy to get with the program... they really don't want instructors to invade MySpace but that they do want the e-learning environment to use the same tools: blogs, wikis, home pages, public messages, online presence."

The author, Colleen Carmean, continues several paragraphs later --

"It would be a mistake to think that any of us can last out the storm by staying huddled together and expecting students to continue to come to traditional education gladly... The next-generation e-learning environment includes Google, IM, SMS, Web 2.0 social knowledge and software, intelligent systems with memory and personalization of the learner's needs, mobile learning, wireless learning ..."

Think about taking another "baby step".  This semester let's see if we can stretch our use of Blackboard a bit.  What about using the Gradebook so students can enjoy quick feedback?  ... or try the Assignments tool so students can electronically submit their papers?  ... or online quizzing to provide some interactivity? ... or experiment with the new Journal and Teams tools that provide blogging and wiki capabilities?  ... or try the Virtual Classroom/Chat for late-night virtual office hours? <-- that would suprise them!

80. You May Find This Disturbing

You've finally figured out how to open & send attachments, create distribution lists, file your messages, protect yourself (sort of) from spam, and now this ...

The Associated Press, July 19, 2006 --

"Email is so last-Millenium. Young people see it as a good way to reach an elder -- a parent, teacher or a boss -- or to receive an attached file. But increasingly, the former darling of high-tech communication is losing favor to instant and text messaging, and to the chatter generated on blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. The shift is starting to creep into workplace communication, too. "In this world of instant gratification, e-mail has become the new snail mail," says 25-year-old Rachel Quizon from Norwalk, Calif. She became addicted to instant messaging in college, where many students are logged on 24/7..." -- Martha Irvine  Read the entire story.

This view of email may be one of the reasons so much campus communication never gets read by students.  I'm trying to come up with a reason for the faculty :)  -- ouch! --

77. A Young Millennial's First Airplane Ride

For two years I've been working with a young boy as part of the Kids Hope USA program.  Yesterday both of us had a first-time experience.  He had never been in an airplane.  I've flown all over the world, but never in a small Cessna 4-seater. 

This little guy's favorite activity is playing computer games -- Nintendo, Play Station.  He is constantly talking about the new games he has been able to buy or those he rents from Blockbuster. 

My own Millennials are 18, 21, and 23 years old.  None of them have had much of an interest in gaming.  I wonder about the impact of gaming on children who are immersed in it from the time they are small.  How does it affect their learning styles?  How do we as educators prepare to teach this generation?

Well, it was fun to give my mentee something other than a virtual experience.  How did we pull this off?  A colleague of mine is a pilot and he brought his little Kids Hope boy along as well.  He flew the plane.

Here is a view of Taylor University from the air.

71. TU Blackboard Also Has a Blog

Campus Pack also has a blog module, called Journal LX, that is great for student journaling. 

This will be ideal for programs that require students to keep journals: Education majors, business practicums, social work field experiences, etc.

70. TU Blackboard Has a Wiki

"Much of Web 2.0 is about harnessing the knowledge and work of many people to create something of value" -- Jim Rapoza, eWeek, July 10, 2006. 

A perfect example of this is Wikipedia.  The value of the website is due to the millions of people contributing to its content.  It is a group project on a massive scale. Another example is eBay, where the millions of sellers and buyers create its value.

Group projects are big in education today.  What often frustrates students is the difficulty in getting the group together.  Why not enable them to do some projects online using a wiki (which is one of the new Web 2.0 tools)? 

We just installed the Blackboard building block, Campus Pack, that has a module called Teams LX.  It is basically a wiki that facilitates collaborative student projects. A group of students can work together asynchronously on the same document, each one having full access to the editing tools.  It will be interesting to see creative ways in which our faculty take advantage of this tool in the coming school year.

68. Three Ways to Keep Up With a Blog

1.  Bookmark the blog in your Internet Explorer Favorites.

2.  If you're a Taylor faculty/staff member you can add the blog to your Bookmarks channel. How do I do this?

3.  You can subscribe to the blog.  Find the FeedBlitz widget at the bottom of the side panel ... enter your email address ... click Get email updates ... on the Feedblitz page that comes up fill in the displayed security text ... click Subscribe me. That's it.  Now, whenever the blog is updated you will receive an email message with the new blog entry.  You can unsubscribe at any time if you decide you don't like the extra email traffic.

For you who are writing your own blogs these Widgets are pretty neat.  They snap right in with a minimum of fuss.  You don't have to know any HTML.

67. Baby Steps

I was talking with one of our professors yesterday in the ETC and he asked the question, "Isn't one of the differences between us and the Millennials is that they have time to play with all of these tools?"  We talked about the load that faculty carry, leaving little time to experiment and simply "play" with technology.  I wish we had a way to lighten this load, to provide an hour or two release time each year for this purpose.   

I believe the secret is to keep taking "baby steps".  That is why I'm writing this blog ... to help with these baby steps.  I'm trying to distill what is out there, and pass on in small chunks what I believe will be most helpful and relevant to teaching faculty.

If you can take a few minutes each day to read the new entry you will keep moving forward and stay current (at least conceptually) with today's technologies.  Then from time to time some tip or utility will strike you and you'll figure out a way to carve out the minutes (or hours) to try to incorporate it into your teaching.

65. A Student's Thoughts About Blackboard

This week a friend (thanks KM) sent me this interesting article in Campus Technology, A Graduate's View of the Course Management System.  A student is writing about his experiences with Blackboard at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.  Here are some of his observations:

1. 1. "Those faculty who actively put material online and clarified assignments made it easier for everyone to maximize their time in class."
2. "Those faculty who created assignments that required Blackboard participation had students who came to class better prepared to participate in classroom discussions."
3. "To me it was also fantastic to get immediate feedback -- including grades on any of my assignments ..."
4. "It was those classes where the professors only partially used Blackboard that were the most frustrating.  In these situations, professors would sporadically post material, would occasionally respond to online inquiries, and would redundantly distribute materials both online and in class. I would never know if new material had been posted unless I checked regularly.  It was frustrating to not be able to rely on regular updates."

This last point was disturbing to me.  In fact, I almost hesitated to post it because we have been trying so hard just to get faculty on board using Blackboard.  My strategy has been that any content posted is better than none at all.

But I guess it's kind of like PowerPoint.  Once you get people to use the tool, then it's important to coach them in using it effectively (e.g. ditch all the sounds and annoying special effects).

64. Typepad is Not Free

There are some exceptions, but just about anything of value has a cost.  Typepad is not free.  It costs $4.95 per month -- about the cost of a trip to Ivanhoes.  Upland is a town of 3,000 people.  People far and wide know about Ivanhoes.  Sometimes we get the comment, "Oh, there's a university there, too?"

Typepad does offer you a 30-day free trial.  You will be required to supply your credit information up front, but if you cancel during the 30-day period you won't be charged anything.

62. A Portal is a Millennial Tool

A portal is a Millennial tool.  It can be customized to deliver the information you want in the way you want it.  AOL and myYAHOO are examples of popular portals.

myTAYLOR is a portal that provides web-based resources to the Taylor community.  One of the things you can do (if you're a TU faculty member) is to create a channel in myTAYLOR to link to your favorite blogs (at least one should quickly come to mind).

To create a new Bookmarks channel click on the Content/Layout link (upper left corner) ... click on the Personal tab ... click one of the Add Channel buttons ... select External ... Go ... Bookmarks ... Add Channel ... then click the Go back to Personal link (upper left corner).   

44. The Power of Electronic Tools

Neal (see entry #4) graduated from Taylor this past January with a degree in Mass Communications and a minor in Computer Graphics. 

This spring he got his first (real) job with a company in Florida called USA Water Ski, the national govening body for organized water skiing in the U.S.  It was pretty amazing because they hired Neal sight-unseen.  A friend of Neal who works for USA Waterski put in a good word for him, Neal emailed in his resume along with the link to his online portfolio, they had a hour-long phone interview ... and he was offered the job the next day.  A neat example of what can happen over a distance of 1000 miles because of today's technologies.

Here you can see what Neal's portfolio looks like.  We've tried something innnovative at Taylor, using the Blackboard course management system to facilitate student e-porfolios.  This spring 90% of our 1850 students had an electronic portfolio in progress.  The senior education majors no longer create the 3-ring binder porfolio -- they do it all electronically.  Other departments are considering making this a requirement for their majors as well.

Freshmen are introduced to the e-portfolio in the COS104 required computer literacy course.  They post their picture, autobiography, resume, and some other artifacts.  Over the course of their study they add to their portfolio.  In their senior year our Career Development office will assist them in polishing up the porfolio for external presentation to employers.  This has been a 4-year effort spear-headed by the Educational Technology Center and Career Development office.  We really think we're on to something here.

43. And You Thought Blogs Were Long Text Ramblings

Emily is one of the three Taylor students
eating lunch with us on a Sunday afternoon
back in June when I announced that I was
going to become a Millennial (see entry 3). 
Of course they all thought that was hilarious. 
I asked the girls what blog tool I should use
and two out of the three suggested Xanga.

Check out what Emily has done with her blog,
Through Bluegreen Eyes.

38. Blogging by Colleagues

You might be interested in reading the blogs of a couple of my Taylor colleagues.  They illustrate other blogging tools that are available, as well as very different styles of writing:

Win Corduan:   http://clik.to/wincorduan
Andy Rowell:    http://firstmovethyself.blogspot.com/

37. Streaming Media Task Force

I am part of a task force that is investigating the use of streaming media here at Taylor.  We met for the first time two weeks ago.  We meet again this morning, and will meet every two weeks through the summer and fall.  On our campus there are demands for streaming coming from every direction -- admissions, athletics, academics, resident life, ... How do we facilitate all of this?

You may have heard about Apple's iTunes U.  Apple is offering to universities free hosting for the streaming of academic content -- half a terabyte of server space (that's 500 GB!)  Yesterday I talked to an Apple rep on the phone for half an hour, and then she sent me a formal application.  We'll discuss it more in our meeting today.  Some high-profile schools such as Stanford and University of Michigan have been early partners with Apple on this venture. 

I have been so impressed with the cross-platform functionality of iTunes.  Apple seems to finally be "getting it", that if they support the Windows world it will be to their advantage and everybody else's.  Now that Macs are being shipped with Intel processors it is really getting interesting.

To TU faculty -- if you have an idea of how you might use streaming media (either audio or video) in any of your courses please let me know.  If we were to go with a service such as iTunes U we need to document a carefully thought-out plan.

35. It's a Wild Fire

My colleague who directs our Career Development center shared this story.  Last week a group of high school kids attending a conference at Taylor came by the center and saw all the nice computers.  They asked if they could use them.  "Sure!", he said.  Out of interest he watched what they were doing.  All eight of them jumped onto the computers and immediately went to myspace.com to check their accounts, make connections with their new friends, and see what everyone was posting. 

The alarming thing was the amount of questionable content that appeared on the kids' computer screens.  One kid had gotten into content from a well-known pornographic site that our campus filter would normally block, but apparently it came through in myspace.

I have never been a big internet surfer.  Over the past weeks as I have begun playing with these "youth culture" web tools I have been struck by the barrage of seductions that are only a click away, if not staring you in the face.  This presents a huge challenge to us as parents and educators.  How can we help our young people realize the benefits of the internet and not get destroyed by its evils?

34. I Now Have 6 Friends

Two are my children, one is on my staff, one is a Taylor faculty friend, two are colleagues from another CCCU institution on the West Coast.

I can see how Facebook can become addicting.  There is something about getting that email that asks if it is OK if someone can be your "friend".  It warms your heart when it is a family member or co-worker; but it is equally heart-warming when it is someone you can't quite place and you try to figure out how they know you.  I guess we all have that need to be liked and to belong.

30. I'm in Facebook

This evening I went to Facebook and registered.  After answering a few opening questions it sent me an email to confirm that it was actually me setting up the profile.  I spent 30 minutes entering some information about myself, then another 30 minutes poking around checking out the profiles of my kids and their friends.

Facebook is a social network primarily for college students.  I know one of our professors at Taylor has an account and finds it is useful in connecting with his students.

A lot has been written about Facebook these days.  I guess the operating principle should be, "Use discretion in what you post because the whole world has access to it."

28. One Step Closer to a Successful Podcast -- Found the Bug!

Evan, our TU webmaster, helped me figure out the problem with my XML code (see entry 24).  He pointed me to a website called FeedValidator that checks RSS code for errors.  It showed I had a wrong date format in two of my lines. It was easy to fix.

I went back to iTunes and submitted my podcast.  iTunes puts it through some kind of a screening process.  They sent me an immediate email letting me know they had received my submission.  They will notify me within a few days whether or not they will post it on their site.  Stay tuned ...

25. The Secret of Success -- A Good Team

A department is only as good as its staff ... and I've got a great one!  Steve manages the ETC and is our video guru.  Joe handles classroom and lab technology. Beth administers Blackboard and takes care of a lot of other administrative functions. Ben is our all-purpose "go to" guy who can handle just about any technical issue.

These four quality individuals are the reason I have time to "play".  They take care of business on the home front, and I am greatly indebted to them. 

It is because of them that I have the freedom to attend conferences, to dream dreams, launch new initiatives, and spend this time learning how to use all these new tools.  I am very fortunate, and grateful.

9. Why Am I Doing This?

My initial purpose in starting this Xanga blog was for ME.  To effectively function as a technology leader on our campus I realized I needed to immerse myself in the kind of digital world that our children and students live in. 

But then, as I've gotten started I've realized that my blog might help other 40, 50, 60-year old educator types to vicariously experience my journey ... and to actually use a "Millennial" tool to receive information, catch a vision, and have some fun as well.  For that purpose I've sent my URL to the Taylor faculty and also the CCCU technology listserve.

3. Music All Day With iTunes

Yesterday we had three Taylor students over for Sunday lunch.  I asked them what they used for their blogs.  Two out of the three were posting on Xanga.  So, I decided that's what I would use also.

Today, Monday, I was in my office and I cranked up iTunes and listened to music just about the whole day.  It was "Blues" at the office, then "Classical Guitar" here at home (as I write these blog entries).  You know ... I can multi-task!  One of these days I'll open a couple IM windows and see if I can do three things at once.

2. My First Project -- Tackling iTunes

Saturday I installed iTunes and spent a good part of the day playing with its many features.  What a great tool!  I knew you could purchase $.99 music, but I had no idea all the other features built into this software. 

The two features that most fascinated me were the huge library of podcasts and the large selection of internet radio stations.  I had played a bit with vTuner several years ago to access internet radio but really hadn't pursued it much in recent years.  I do like music but just don't generally make the effort to get something playing.

I'm interested in podcasts because I'm looking for ways in which our professors can record lecture material for playback by the students.  This type of technology could be used by traditional students for review, summer school Blackboard classes for primary delivery of content, and also by Taylor's new Center for Global Engagement to deliver the Taylor education to any region of the world.