Weekly Reader

Practices of Communities
"I've been around long enough that I remember the first e-mail I ever sent (mistakenly putting the entire message in the subject line because I had no idea how it worked; the person I was trying to reply to kindly called me on the phone and talked me through it). I remember the first time I joined a professional Listserv and how amazing it was to be in conversation with several hundred professionals around the world who were interested in the same things as me." -- Barbara Fister, Library Babel Fish, 8/15/13

Get Used to Sharing Digital Content Says U. of Texas at Austin President
"Professors at the University of Texas at Austin should get comfortable with the idea of using online course materials created by their colleagues at other institutions, according to William C. Powers Jr., the university president." -- Steve Kolowich, Wired Campus, 8/15/13

How England's Studio Schools Can Help Colleges Across the Pond
"In a TED Talk posted in September 2011, Geoff Mulgan spoke about the concept of the “studio school” and its success in some high schools that have adopted the model in England. The idea of the studio school is that rather than structuring school around subjects and classes and making grades the primary goal, we should structure school in terms of projects, with teams of students working together to see each one through to the end."-- Courtney Buell, edCetera, 8/15/13

Make Your Own Comic Strips: Using Bitstrips for Projects or Assignments
"You might have noticed that one by one, your Facebook friends have been turned into comic strip characters. The culprit: the free and extremely addictive application Bitstrips, which allows you to quickly create comic strips without needing to know how to draw." --Adeline Kon, ProfHacker, 8/15/13