How to Manage Social Media in Higher Education
"Managing Social Media in Higher Education is no easy task. There is a lot of pressure to stay on top of current trends and strategies, maintain consistency in many channels, and ultimately build genuine digital relationships with our students that result in brand loyalty. Liz Gross, author of “How to Manage Social Media in Higher Education: A Guide for Campus Administrators”, joins us to give insight and tips on how to succeed in the fast-paced world of social media management." -- Amy Jorgensen, Higher Ed Live, 12/11/14
#TAGS New Homepage for Twitter Archiving Google Sheet
"Here at ProfHacker we’ve written quite a bit about Twitter over the years (as our archive of posts with the twitter tag reveals). One Twitter topic that we’ve addressed often is how best to maintain an archive of Tweets, whether your own or those associated with a particular hashtag. In two different posts, Mark introduced readers to what is, arguably, the best free solution for this: Martin Hawksey’s TAGS, “a free Google Sheet template which lets you setup and run automated collection of search results from Twitter.” -- George Williams, ProfHacker, 12/11/14 *
* Note: there's a great comment on this article with links to using IFTTT for this purpose.
BookCon To Partner With We Need Diverse Books For 2015 Conference
"BookCon and We Need Diverse Books are teaming up in 2015 for two panels highlighting diversity in literature. The panels, organized by ReedPop, the producer of BookCon, in partnership with We Need Diverse Books, will include prominent authors of color such as Jacqueline Woodson and Sherman Alexie. One of the panels will focus on children’s literature, while another will center on diversity in science fiction and fantasy." -- Claire Fallon, HuffPost Books, 12/11/14
Twitter 2014 Year in Review
"It was a big year for Twitter in 2014. Their first year after going public, people expected them to make the news on the regular—which they did. From a brand new look to being banned in Turkey, Twitter was a regular feature in the headlines.Here is a brief review of the year that was for Twitter." -- Evan LePage, Hootsuite, 12/8/14
New YouTube Tool Tells You If Your Video's Song Is Copyrighted
"Music copyright issues often get YouTube videos muted or even blocked. Now the service launched a new feature that lets video creators check those song rights before uploading, the company announced in a blog post on Monday." -- Stephanie Chan, ReadWrite, 12/9/14
Acing the Interview
"Job market candidates can spend months preparing written materials such as research statements and teaching philosophies, but invitations to interview usually leave candidates with only weeks or even days to prepare. What are the most important things to do before and during an interview? " -- Melissa Dennihy, Inside HigherEd | Career Advice, 12/3/14
Showing posts with label Weekly reader. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weekly reader. Show all posts
Friday, December 12, 2014
Friday, December 05, 2014
Weekly Reader
The Pain of the Watermelon Joke
"AS a child in South Carolina, I spent summers like so many children — sitting on my grandparents’ back porch with my siblings, spitting watermelon seeds into the garden or, even worse, swallowing them and trembling as my older brother and sister spoke of the vine that was probably already growing in my belly.It was the late ’60s and early ’70s, and even though Jim Crow was supposed to be far behind us, we spent our days in the all-black community called Nicholtown in a still segregated South." - Jacqueline Wilson, New York Times Op Ed, 11/28/14
Is it Time to Get Rid of Grades?
"In the past few years since teachers and their principals have been reduced to numbers on a their yearly evaluations there have been many discussions revolving around the idea that educators are more than numbers. It doesn't feel good to get one number that is supposed to represent all of our hard work throughout a year. It feels disingenuous and arbitrary. Unfortunately, for many years before accountability and mandates, students were reduced to numbers and we did not do a lot about it. That is most likely due to the fact that we were reduced to numbers when we were students in school. Numbers have been a part of schooling for many decades." -- Peter DeWitt, Finding Common Ground | Education Week, 12/2/14
Five Reasons to Allow Digital Devices in Your Classroom
"Amidst reports of Steve Jobs and other Silicon Valley CEOs imposing extremely strict technology rules on their children, the debate around technology use in the classroom has caught fire once again. One of the strongest arguments for banning technology in the classroom came earlier this fall, from media pundit Clay Shirky in a piece titled “Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops Away.” -- Natascha Chtena, GradHacker | Inside Higher Ed, 11/30/14
Who Will Log You Out When You're Gone?
"I long ago exceeded my capacity to remember passwords, especially for my institutional accounts which require password changes at regular intervals. As a result, I use a password manager to keep up with all my passwords. As it happens, I use 1Password, which syncs everywhere, generates and keeps track of preposterously complex passwords, and keeps other kinds of information, such as credit card numbers, passport information, and more secure yet available. It’s a neat thing." -- Jason B. Jones, ProfHacker | Chronicle, 12/1/14
"AS a child in South Carolina, I spent summers like so many children — sitting on my grandparents’ back porch with my siblings, spitting watermelon seeds into the garden or, even worse, swallowing them and trembling as my older brother and sister spoke of the vine that was probably already growing in my belly.It was the late ’60s and early ’70s, and even though Jim Crow was supposed to be far behind us, we spent our days in the all-black community called Nicholtown in a still segregated South." - Jacqueline Wilson, New York Times Op Ed, 11/28/14
Is it Time to Get Rid of Grades?
"In the past few years since teachers and their principals have been reduced to numbers on a their yearly evaluations there have been many discussions revolving around the idea that educators are more than numbers. It doesn't feel good to get one number that is supposed to represent all of our hard work throughout a year. It feels disingenuous and arbitrary. Unfortunately, for many years before accountability and mandates, students were reduced to numbers and we did not do a lot about it. That is most likely due to the fact that we were reduced to numbers when we were students in school. Numbers have been a part of schooling for many decades." -- Peter DeWitt, Finding Common Ground | Education Week, 12/2/14
Five Reasons to Allow Digital Devices in Your Classroom
"Amidst reports of Steve Jobs and other Silicon Valley CEOs imposing extremely strict technology rules on their children, the debate around technology use in the classroom has caught fire once again. One of the strongest arguments for banning technology in the classroom came earlier this fall, from media pundit Clay Shirky in a piece titled “Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops Away.” -- Natascha Chtena, GradHacker | Inside Higher Ed, 11/30/14
Who Will Log You Out When You're Gone?
"I long ago exceeded my capacity to remember passwords, especially for my institutional accounts which require password changes at regular intervals. As a result, I use a password manager to keep up with all my passwords. As it happens, I use 1Password, which syncs everywhere, generates and keeps track of preposterously complex passwords, and keeps other kinds of information, such as credit card numbers, passport information, and more secure yet available. It’s a neat thing." -- Jason B. Jones, ProfHacker | Chronicle, 12/1/14
Friday, November 21, 2014
Weekly Reader
School Library Journal Best Books 2014
"In 2014, more than 250 titles received an SLJ star; after much passionate discussion, the following titles were selected by the review editors as the very best of the best. These 70 books distinguish themselves with excellence in writing, art, design, storytelling, originality, and appeal. From raucous read-alouds to off-the-wall adventure, there is something for everyone on this list; dig in and happy reading." -- School Library Journal, 11/20/14
"We're Replacing Pedagogy"
"Academic libraries can help promote the adoption of open educational resources, but ultimately the push for open content has to be about more than textbooks, advocates said this week during the Open Ed Conference. The conference, which concludes today, comes on the heels of two reports suggesting that adoption of OER has the potential to grow dramatically in the next three years -- if faculty members are able to discover the resources they need." -- Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed, 11/21/14
What's Missing from the Industrial Internet of Things Conversation? Software
"These days, you can hardly have a technology conversation without talking about the Internet of Things (IoT). And when that conversation shifts its focus to the industrial sector, including energy, Oil & Gas, Power & Utilities, and petrochemicals, among others, the discussion changes to what is being called the “Industrial Internet of Things” (IIoT)." -- Matt Cicciari, Meridium, Wired, 11/20/14
Who's in Charge Here?
"I have often wondered about the way librarians use the word “library.” Sometimes we are referring to a building (“the library will be open until 2 a.m. during finals”), but more often we use it as if it’s a collective being that has agency. The library is offering a new program. The library has to cancel more journals. The library has started a strategic planning process. Actually, librarians and library staff are doing those things." -- Barbara Fister, Inside Higher Ed, 11/20/14
"In 2014, more than 250 titles received an SLJ star; after much passionate discussion, the following titles were selected by the review editors as the very best of the best. These 70 books distinguish themselves with excellence in writing, art, design, storytelling, originality, and appeal. From raucous read-alouds to off-the-wall adventure, there is something for everyone on this list; dig in and happy reading." -- School Library Journal, 11/20/14
"We're Replacing Pedagogy"
"Academic libraries can help promote the adoption of open educational resources, but ultimately the push for open content has to be about more than textbooks, advocates said this week during the Open Ed Conference. The conference, which concludes today, comes on the heels of two reports suggesting that adoption of OER has the potential to grow dramatically in the next three years -- if faculty members are able to discover the resources they need." -- Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed, 11/21/14
What's Missing from the Industrial Internet of Things Conversation? Software
"These days, you can hardly have a technology conversation without talking about the Internet of Things (IoT). And when that conversation shifts its focus to the industrial sector, including energy, Oil & Gas, Power & Utilities, and petrochemicals, among others, the discussion changes to what is being called the “Industrial Internet of Things” (IIoT)." -- Matt Cicciari, Meridium, Wired, 11/20/14
Who's in Charge Here?
"I have often wondered about the way librarians use the word “library.” Sometimes we are referring to a building (“the library will be open until 2 a.m. during finals”), but more often we use it as if it’s a collective being that has agency. The library is offering a new program. The library has to cancel more journals. The library has started a strategic planning process. Actually, librarians and library staff are doing those things." -- Barbara Fister, Inside Higher Ed, 11/20/14
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Weekly Reader
24 Examples of Using Hashtags for Teaching and Learning
"So Many Hashtag Ideas and so Little Time! The “hashtag” ( “#”) has become the go-to hot key for trending topics and Twitter discussions. They’re prevalent on Twitter (where they got their start), but they have also seeped into Instagram, Google+, Vine, Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook, Tagboard and even come up in Google searches and Google alerts." -- Stephanie Echeveste, Emerging EdTech, 11/9/14
Six Questions You Need to Ask Before Taking a Job
"After hours spent meticulously fine-tuning your cover letter and resume, you’ve finally scored an elusive interview with the employer of your dreams.At least, that’s what you think. In our eagerness to impress hiring managers and potential future bosses, many of us come fully prepared to sell ourselves in a job interview—but neglect to ask key questions of our own. You know, the kind that can help reveal if it really is a dream to work at a given company."-- Meghan Rabitt of LearnVest, The Muse, 11/6/14
Making Screencasts, The Talking Head
"Here is the second video in the three-part series that I did for the An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching on Coursera. This is one gets under the hood about how I make the videos I call “talking head” videos — where it’s just a voiceover and some lecture slides running. The talking head video is very similar to a traditional lecture or a conference talk, so for those instructors out there who are looking to transition to a flipped learning model, or make additional video content available to students and are looking for the simplest place to start, this would probably be it." -- Robert Talbert, Casting Out the Nines, 11/11/14
"So Many Hashtag Ideas and so Little Time! The “hashtag” ( “#”) has become the go-to hot key for trending topics and Twitter discussions. They’re prevalent on Twitter (where they got their start), but they have also seeped into Instagram, Google+, Vine, Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook, Tagboard and even come up in Google searches and Google alerts." -- Stephanie Echeveste, Emerging EdTech, 11/9/14
Six Questions You Need to Ask Before Taking a Job
"After hours spent meticulously fine-tuning your cover letter and resume, you’ve finally scored an elusive interview with the employer of your dreams.At least, that’s what you think. In our eagerness to impress hiring managers and potential future bosses, many of us come fully prepared to sell ourselves in a job interview—but neglect to ask key questions of our own. You know, the kind that can help reveal if it really is a dream to work at a given company."-- Meghan Rabitt of LearnVest, The Muse, 11/6/14
Making Screencasts, The Talking Head
"Here is the second video in the three-part series that I did for the An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching on Coursera. This is one gets under the hood about how I make the videos I call “talking head” videos — where it’s just a voiceover and some lecture slides running. The talking head video is very similar to a traditional lecture or a conference talk, so for those instructors out there who are looking to transition to a flipped learning model, or make additional video content available to students and are looking for the simplest place to start, this would probably be it." -- Robert Talbert, Casting Out the Nines, 11/11/14
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Weekly Reader
Why Your Whole Staff Should Be on Twitter
"Twitter in Elementary school started for me five years ago during my time as an Elementary Assistant Principal. Our goal was to bring our school community closer together and open up classroom doors to develop stronger relationships. We had great success and feedback from our school community, and when I became Principal three years ago I knew we could do it bigger and better!" - Adam Welcome, Finding Common Ground, 10/12/14
Not Just Another Notes App: Why You Should Use Google Keep
"When Google Keep launched, it never got the fanfare it deserved. The people that did review it compared it to all the wrong apps, like Evernote or Microsoft OneNote. That's a shame, because a surprisingly good note taking app went under the radar, underrated for coming up short against contenders it wasn't designed to face. It's about time to give Google Keep a fair shake, see where it shines, and how it fits in with the competition." -- Alan Henry, LifeHacker, 5/22/13
Have Some Serious Classroom Fun With the ChatterPix App
"ChatterPix may be a very simple app but I can guarantee it will have you and your students rolling around on the floor in hysterics. The tagline for the app is: Chatterpix can make anything talk — pets, friends, doodles, and more; and it’s desperately amazing just how much fun making things talk can be. By using the app with any picture or photo you have, it’s as simple as drawing a line where you want the mouth and then recording your voice. ChatterPix will do the rest!"-- Nick Grantham, Fractus Learning, 10/23/14
"She Didn't Teach. We Had to Learn it Ourselves"
"Yesterday I got an email from a faculty member who had just received her spring semester student ratings (yes, in August, but that’s a topic for another post). She’d gotten one of those blistering student comments. “This teacher should not be paid. We had to teach ourselves in this course.” I remember another faculty member telling me about similar feedback, which was followed later with a comment about how the course “really made me think.” -- Maryellen Weimer, Teaching Professor Blog, 9/10/14
"Twitter in Elementary school started for me five years ago during my time as an Elementary Assistant Principal. Our goal was to bring our school community closer together and open up classroom doors to develop stronger relationships. We had great success and feedback from our school community, and when I became Principal three years ago I knew we could do it bigger and better!" - Adam Welcome, Finding Common Ground, 10/12/14
Not Just Another Notes App: Why You Should Use Google Keep
"When Google Keep launched, it never got the fanfare it deserved. The people that did review it compared it to all the wrong apps, like Evernote or Microsoft OneNote. That's a shame, because a surprisingly good note taking app went under the radar, underrated for coming up short against contenders it wasn't designed to face. It's about time to give Google Keep a fair shake, see where it shines, and how it fits in with the competition." -- Alan Henry, LifeHacker, 5/22/13
Have Some Serious Classroom Fun With the ChatterPix App
"ChatterPix may be a very simple app but I can guarantee it will have you and your students rolling around on the floor in hysterics. The tagline for the app is: Chatterpix can make anything talk — pets, friends, doodles, and more; and it’s desperately amazing just how much fun making things talk can be. By using the app with any picture or photo you have, it’s as simple as drawing a line where you want the mouth and then recording your voice. ChatterPix will do the rest!"-- Nick Grantham, Fractus Learning, 10/23/14
"She Didn't Teach. We Had to Learn it Ourselves"
"Yesterday I got an email from a faculty member who had just received her spring semester student ratings (yes, in August, but that’s a topic for another post). She’d gotten one of those blistering student comments. “This teacher should not be paid. We had to teach ourselves in this course.” I remember another faculty member telling me about similar feedback, which was followed later with a comment about how the course “really made me think.” -- Maryellen Weimer, Teaching Professor Blog, 9/10/14
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Weekly Reader
On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're the 'Wrong' Professor
"I—November 29, 2011: At 7:30 on a Tuesday, right after supper, Karen McArthur had just started to wind down for the night. Her three kids were in their pajamas, reading in front of the fireplace, and her husband Jim was cleaning up the kitchen.McArthur, an adjunct professor of art history at Austin Peay State University, flipped open her laptop to see if any students had questions about their class assignments. Instead, she was shocked by an email from Alexandra Blau, a colleague she’d never met." -- Stacey Patton, Chronicle Vitae, 10/2/14
The Relationship Between Participation and Discussion
"My interest in participation and discussion continues. How do we use them so that they more effectively promote engagement and learning? A couple of colleagues and I have been working on a paper that deals with how we define participation and discussion. (Side note: If you want to challenge your thinking about an aspect of teaching and learning, consider focused conversations with colleagues and the purposefulness of a writing project. I have said it before and will likely say it again: We have so much to learn from and with each other.) One of the new insights that has come to me out of this collaboration involves the relationship between participation and discussion. I used to think of them as being related, but I didn’t see them as interrelated." -- MaryEllen Weimer, Teaching Professor Blog, 10/22/14
Incorporating Active Learning into the Online Classroom
"Gary Ackerman, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Mount Wachusett Community College, works with faculty to incorporate active learning into their online and face-to-face courses, and while there are differences in these learning environments, active learning can be implemented just as well online as face-to-face. Ackerman encourages faculty members to use the following active learning approaches in their online (as well as face-to-face) courses." -- Rob Kelly, Faculty Focus | Online Education, 10/21/14
Library Advocacy Done Wrong
"Despite their good intentions, there are some people who maybe shouldn’t advocate for change in libraries. For example, the generally awful Huffington Post is hosting a blog post that grated on my nerves the entire time I was reading it. It’s advocating making a change to the Woodstock Library. I’m assuming that’s Woodstock, NY, although the state is never specified and since the Huffington Post isn’t a local news site a guess based on context clues is all we have. We can’t say for certain that she’s not writing about the Woodstock in Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, or Vermont." -- The Annoyed Librarian, Library Journal, 10/27/14
"I—November 29, 2011: At 7:30 on a Tuesday, right after supper, Karen McArthur had just started to wind down for the night. Her three kids were in their pajamas, reading in front of the fireplace, and her husband Jim was cleaning up the kitchen.McArthur, an adjunct professor of art history at Austin Peay State University, flipped open her laptop to see if any students had questions about their class assignments. Instead, she was shocked by an email from Alexandra Blau, a colleague she’d never met." -- Stacey Patton, Chronicle Vitae, 10/2/14
The Relationship Between Participation and Discussion
"My interest in participation and discussion continues. How do we use them so that they more effectively promote engagement and learning? A couple of colleagues and I have been working on a paper that deals with how we define participation and discussion. (Side note: If you want to challenge your thinking about an aspect of teaching and learning, consider focused conversations with colleagues and the purposefulness of a writing project. I have said it before and will likely say it again: We have so much to learn from and with each other.) One of the new insights that has come to me out of this collaboration involves the relationship between participation and discussion. I used to think of them as being related, but I didn’t see them as interrelated." -- MaryEllen Weimer, Teaching Professor Blog, 10/22/14
Incorporating Active Learning into the Online Classroom
"Gary Ackerman, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Mount Wachusett Community College, works with faculty to incorporate active learning into their online and face-to-face courses, and while there are differences in these learning environments, active learning can be implemented just as well online as face-to-face. Ackerman encourages faculty members to use the following active learning approaches in their online (as well as face-to-face) courses." -- Rob Kelly, Faculty Focus | Online Education, 10/21/14
Library Advocacy Done Wrong
"Despite their good intentions, there are some people who maybe shouldn’t advocate for change in libraries. For example, the generally awful Huffington Post is hosting a blog post that grated on my nerves the entire time I was reading it. It’s advocating making a change to the Woodstock Library. I’m assuming that’s Woodstock, NY, although the state is never specified and since the Huffington Post isn’t a local news site a guess based on context clues is all we have. We can’t say for certain that she’s not writing about the Woodstock in Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, or Vermont." -- The Annoyed Librarian, Library Journal, 10/27/14
Monday, September 29, 2014
Weekly Reader, Monday edition
Hello? No, Ello
"As if we at Tenured Radical did not spend enough time on Facebook, Twitter, Google Hangouts, Skype and blogging, now there is this Ello thing. Ello? Ello is a new social networking site that advertises itself as “totally ad-free. Ello does not sell data about you to third parties, including advertisers and data brokers,” they promise."-- Claire Potter, Tenured Radical, 9/25/14
What You Need to Know About Yik Yak, an App Causing Trouble on Campuses
"Anonymous posts on a smartphone application called Yik Yak are facilitating conversations on college campuses, but the dialogue is not always fit for the classroom. Discussions on the app sometimes dredge up racist, sexist, and other degrading content, and students at multiple colleges have been arrested for using Yik Yak to post threats to campus safety." -- Rebecca Koenig, Chronicle | Technology, 9/26/14
An Informal Study: Do Book Challenges Suppress Diversity?
"What is the overlap between challenged books and books by diverse authors? Inspired by the recent flurry of challenges to titles with diverse characters or by minorities or LGBTQ writers, young adult author and Diversity in YA co-founder Malinda Lo conducted an informal study to see whether there is a correlation between challenged books and diverse content." -- Shelly Diaz, School Library Journal, 9/25/14
"As if we at Tenured Radical did not spend enough time on Facebook, Twitter, Google Hangouts, Skype and blogging, now there is this Ello thing. Ello? Ello is a new social networking site that advertises itself as “totally ad-free. Ello does not sell data about you to third parties, including advertisers and data brokers,” they promise."-- Claire Potter, Tenured Radical, 9/25/14
What You Need to Know About Yik Yak, an App Causing Trouble on Campuses
"Anonymous posts on a smartphone application called Yik Yak are facilitating conversations on college campuses, but the dialogue is not always fit for the classroom. Discussions on the app sometimes dredge up racist, sexist, and other degrading content, and students at multiple colleges have been arrested for using Yik Yak to post threats to campus safety." -- Rebecca Koenig, Chronicle | Technology, 9/26/14
An Informal Study: Do Book Challenges Suppress Diversity?
"What is the overlap between challenged books and books by diverse authors? Inspired by the recent flurry of challenges to titles with diverse characters or by minorities or LGBTQ writers, young adult author and Diversity in YA co-founder Malinda Lo conducted an informal study to see whether there is a correlation between challenged books and diverse content." -- Shelly Diaz, School Library Journal, 9/25/14
Friday, September 19, 2014
Weekly Reader
Yik Yak is an Anagram for Hot Mess
"When I first heard about Yik Yak, it was being referenced in an article about cyberbullying at Chicago high schools. Recognizing that anonymous posts via the mobile app were hurting students via threats and intimidation, Yik Yak blocked access within defined electronic geo-fences. It was actually a classy maneuver." -- Eric Stoller, Student Affairs & Technology, 9/18/14
What Makes a Good Course?
"I’m teaching a one-credit class this semester in the Preparing Future Faculty program called College Teaching. In it, we are talking about, well, unsurprisingly, college teaching. Last week was our first class and we started by discussing what makes a good professor or teacher. The students had read the first chapter of The Courage to Teach, and they wrote about an experience or person who shaped their attitude towards education. We were in the right mind-space for talking about good teachers." -- Lee Skallerup Bessette, College Ready Writing, 9/18/14
Why Do People Who Love Libraries Love Libraries
"Why do people who love libraries love libraries? This has been on my mind a lot lately. Whenever I find a patron who is passionate about their library I try to decode those tangible and intangible qualities that made the experience so powerful for them." -- Brian Matthews, Ubiquitous Librarian, 9/19/14
Ed Tech's Next Wave Rolls into View
"In my 25-plus years as an early-stage venture capitalist investing in education technology, I have been fortunate to fund several successful and important companies. This experience has given me a unique perch from which to notice emerging patterns in the ed-tech world. While pattern recognition is imprecise at best, I subscribe to the analysis made in the Malcolm Gladwell book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking: You know it when you see it. I think we are about to embark on the third, and probably most transformative, wave of ed-tech companies and new learning technologies." -- Roger Novac, The Chronicle, 9/15/14
Why I Don’t Talk Much about Gender or Race & Why I Support the Ada Initiative
"I rarely talk about gender or race issues. Not because I am not interested but because I am afraid that I may say things that are viewed negatively by a socially acceptable norm. As a person who grew up in one country with one culture (the Confusian culture that is notoriously preferential to men to boot) and then moved to, live, and now work in another country with a completely different culture (just as discriminatory to women and minorities I am afraid) and who often has opinions that are different from those held by the majorities in both societies, I am acutely aware of various disadvantages, backlashes, and penalties that can result as a consequence of a minor slip and the pervasive social norm of inequality applied to women and racial/ethnic/gender minorities reinforced in everyday life." -- Bohyun Kim, Library Hat, 9/10/14
"When I first heard about Yik Yak, it was being referenced in an article about cyberbullying at Chicago high schools. Recognizing that anonymous posts via the mobile app were hurting students via threats and intimidation, Yik Yak blocked access within defined electronic geo-fences. It was actually a classy maneuver." -- Eric Stoller, Student Affairs & Technology, 9/18/14
What Makes a Good Course?
"I’m teaching a one-credit class this semester in the Preparing Future Faculty program called College Teaching. In it, we are talking about, well, unsurprisingly, college teaching. Last week was our first class and we started by discussing what makes a good professor or teacher. The students had read the first chapter of The Courage to Teach, and they wrote about an experience or person who shaped their attitude towards education. We were in the right mind-space for talking about good teachers." -- Lee Skallerup Bessette, College Ready Writing, 9/18/14
Why Do People Who Love Libraries Love Libraries
"Why do people who love libraries love libraries? This has been on my mind a lot lately. Whenever I find a patron who is passionate about their library I try to decode those tangible and intangible qualities that made the experience so powerful for them." -- Brian Matthews, Ubiquitous Librarian, 9/19/14
Ed Tech's Next Wave Rolls into View
"In my 25-plus years as an early-stage venture capitalist investing in education technology, I have been fortunate to fund several successful and important companies. This experience has given me a unique perch from which to notice emerging patterns in the ed-tech world. While pattern recognition is imprecise at best, I subscribe to the analysis made in the Malcolm Gladwell book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking: You know it when you see it. I think we are about to embark on the third, and probably most transformative, wave of ed-tech companies and new learning technologies." -- Roger Novac, The Chronicle, 9/15/14
Why I Don’t Talk Much about Gender or Race & Why I Support the Ada Initiative
"I rarely talk about gender or race issues. Not because I am not interested but because I am afraid that I may say things that are viewed negatively by a socially acceptable norm. As a person who grew up in one country with one culture (the Confusian culture that is notoriously preferential to men to boot) and then moved to, live, and now work in another country with a completely different culture (just as discriminatory to women and minorities I am afraid) and who often has opinions that are different from those held by the majorities in both societies, I am acutely aware of various disadvantages, backlashes, and penalties that can result as a consequence of a minor slip and the pervasive social norm of inequality applied to women and racial/ethnic/gender minorities reinforced in everyday life." -- Bohyun Kim, Library Hat, 9/10/14
Friday, August 29, 2014
Weekly Reader
Do You Need a Social Media Detox?
"We all know that social media can be a great tool for teachers, both in the classroom and for professional development purposes. Here at Edudemic, we encourage you to do things like use Twitter to build your PLN, connect with other educators on Facebook, pin great ideas on Pinterest, and more. But just as we often criticize our students for being unable to disconnect from their devices and actually look up at the world every now and again, we often suffer from the same affliction. So how do you know if you’re just ‘into it’ or if you’re overdoing it?" -- Jeff Dunn, Edudemic, 8/25/14
How Streaming Media Could Threaten the Mission of Libraries
"Digital music has made it easier to buy and share recordings. But try telling that to librarians.In March 2011, the University of Washington’s library tried to get a copy of a new recording of the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing a piece by Gustavo Dudamel, a popular composer, that the library could lend to students. But the recording was available only as a digital download, and Amazon and iTunes forbid renting out digital files." - Steve Kolowich, Wired Campus, 8/22/14
A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: Raising, Communicating, and Enforcing Expectations in Online Courses
"As an instructor new to the online environment, I carefully reviewed the syllabus and the requirements for the course discussions and assignments and incorporated the following ideas from Myers-Wylie, Mangieri & Hardy: a “what you need to know” document that includes policies about late work, formatting, source citations, grading and feedback, and the dangers of plagiarism; a separate “assignments at a glance” calendar that details due dates and submission instructions; a “frequently asked questions” thread in the discussion forum; detailed scoring rubrics for each assignment, and example assignments" --Marie A. Revak, PhD, Faculty Focus, 8/22/14
Twitter Demystified: How To RT, MT, #FF And Fave Like A Pro
"Twitter has a problem: New users just don't know how to use it. To help newbies sign up and start tweeting, the company has made a number of recent changes. Redesigned profiles, a giant World Cup marketing push, and rejiggering the Home timeline are just part of Twitter's many attempts to make it friendlier for first-time users." -- Selena Larson, Read Write, 8/21/14
Why I'm Asking You Not to Use Laptops
"At a teaching workshop last week, a new faculty member asked me how I felt about students using laptops in the classroom. I replied, “I ask students not to use laptops in my classroom—unless a student tells me they need or strongly prefer a laptop to take notes (for any reason), in which case we make that work.” She looked relieved to have this endorsement of a learning zone with fewer electronic distractions." -- Anne Curzon, Lingua Franca, 8/25/14
"We all know that social media can be a great tool for teachers, both in the classroom and for professional development purposes. Here at Edudemic, we encourage you to do things like use Twitter to build your PLN, connect with other educators on Facebook, pin great ideas on Pinterest, and more. But just as we often criticize our students for being unable to disconnect from their devices and actually look up at the world every now and again, we often suffer from the same affliction. So how do you know if you’re just ‘into it’ or if you’re overdoing it?" -- Jeff Dunn, Edudemic, 8/25/14
How Streaming Media Could Threaten the Mission of Libraries
"Digital music has made it easier to buy and share recordings. But try telling that to librarians.In March 2011, the University of Washington’s library tried to get a copy of a new recording of the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing a piece by Gustavo Dudamel, a popular composer, that the library could lend to students. But the recording was available only as a digital download, and Amazon and iTunes forbid renting out digital files." - Steve Kolowich, Wired Campus, 8/22/14
A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: Raising, Communicating, and Enforcing Expectations in Online Courses
"As an instructor new to the online environment, I carefully reviewed the syllabus and the requirements for the course discussions and assignments and incorporated the following ideas from Myers-Wylie, Mangieri & Hardy: a “what you need to know” document that includes policies about late work, formatting, source citations, grading and feedback, and the dangers of plagiarism; a separate “assignments at a glance” calendar that details due dates and submission instructions; a “frequently asked questions” thread in the discussion forum; detailed scoring rubrics for each assignment, and example assignments" --Marie A. Revak, PhD, Faculty Focus, 8/22/14
Twitter Demystified: How To RT, MT, #FF And Fave Like A Pro
"Twitter has a problem: New users just don't know how to use it. To help newbies sign up and start tweeting, the company has made a number of recent changes. Redesigned profiles, a giant World Cup marketing push, and rejiggering the Home timeline are just part of Twitter's many attempts to make it friendlier for first-time users." -- Selena Larson, Read Write, 8/21/14
Why I'm Asking You Not to Use Laptops
"At a teaching workshop last week, a new faculty member asked me how I felt about students using laptops in the classroom. I replied, “I ask students not to use laptops in my classroom—unless a student tells me they need or strongly prefer a laptop to take notes (for any reason), in which case we make that work.” She looked relieved to have this endorsement of a learning zone with fewer electronic distractions." -- Anne Curzon, Lingua Franca, 8/25/14
Friday, August 22, 2014
Weekly Reader
What the "death of the library" Means to the Future of Books
"Forbes contributor Tim Worstall wants us to close public libraries and buy everyone an Amazon Kindle with an unlimited subscription. "Why wouldn't we simply junk the physical libraries and purchase an Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscription for the entire country?" he asks. Worstall points to substantial savings on public funds, arguing that people would have access to a much larger collection of books through a Kindle Unlimited subscription than they could get through any public library and that the government would spend far less on a bulk subscription for all residents than it ever would on funding libraries." -- S.E. Smith, The Daily Dot, 8/18/14
How Teaching Online Made Me a Better Face-to-Face Instructor
"I have been teaching online courses for more than eight years now. I was one of the first at my previous institution to transition a face-to-face (F2F) course to a 100% online course and now, in addition to my F2F courses, I also teach for two fully online institutions. However, I still find many of my F2F colleagues reluctant to make that transition." --Tiffany M. Reiss, PhD, Faculty Focus, 8/15/14
That’s Not #Funny: Higher Ed’s Least Clever Twitter Accounts
"Earlier this month, a puckish Twitter user going by the handle @ProfJeffJarvis managed to provoke two actual professors into fits of outrage.Rurick Bradbury, the technology entrepreneur who runs the account, has been sending up the jargon of contemporary “thinkfluencers” since 2012, amassing 11,000 followers. He named the account after Jeff Jarvis, a writer and professor at the City University of New York’s journalism school, although the object of Mr. Bradbury’s satire is not necessarily Mr. Jarvis but a wider culture of new-media seers." -- Steve Kolowich, Wired Campus, 8/20/14
On Politeness as a Strategy
"Despite its fondness for elaborate rituals, higher education really isn’t all that polite. Every campus has its faculty or staff member(s) who are notoriously fractious and hard to work with, and, more generally, higher education doesn’t really select for “playing well with others.” (Indeed, if you Google “academic decorum,” a result on the first page includes musings on whether creativity and collegiality are truly compatible.) Higher education’s traditional employment practices can mean that people have the opportunity to nurse grudges over extended periods of time." -- Jason B. Jones , ProfHacker, 8/18/14
"Forbes contributor Tim Worstall wants us to close public libraries and buy everyone an Amazon Kindle with an unlimited subscription. "Why wouldn't we simply junk the physical libraries and purchase an Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscription for the entire country?" he asks. Worstall points to substantial savings on public funds, arguing that people would have access to a much larger collection of books through a Kindle Unlimited subscription than they could get through any public library and that the government would spend far less on a bulk subscription for all residents than it ever would on funding libraries." -- S.E. Smith, The Daily Dot, 8/18/14
How Teaching Online Made Me a Better Face-to-Face Instructor
"I have been teaching online courses for more than eight years now. I was one of the first at my previous institution to transition a face-to-face (F2F) course to a 100% online course and now, in addition to my F2F courses, I also teach for two fully online institutions. However, I still find many of my F2F colleagues reluctant to make that transition." --Tiffany M. Reiss, PhD, Faculty Focus, 8/15/14
That’s Not #Funny: Higher Ed’s Least Clever Twitter Accounts
"Earlier this month, a puckish Twitter user going by the handle @ProfJeffJarvis managed to provoke two actual professors into fits of outrage.Rurick Bradbury, the technology entrepreneur who runs the account, has been sending up the jargon of contemporary “thinkfluencers” since 2012, amassing 11,000 followers. He named the account after Jeff Jarvis, a writer and professor at the City University of New York’s journalism school, although the object of Mr. Bradbury’s satire is not necessarily Mr. Jarvis but a wider culture of new-media seers." -- Steve Kolowich, Wired Campus, 8/20/14
On Politeness as a Strategy
"Despite its fondness for elaborate rituals, higher education really isn’t all that polite. Every campus has its faculty or staff member(s) who are notoriously fractious and hard to work with, and, more generally, higher education doesn’t really select for “playing well with others.” (Indeed, if you Google “academic decorum,” a result on the first page includes musings on whether creativity and collegiality are truly compatible.) Higher education’s traditional employment practices can mean that people have the opportunity to nurse grudges over extended periods of time." -- Jason B. Jones , ProfHacker, 8/18/14
Friday, August 15, 2014
Weekly Reader
5 Things You Can do to Prepare for The New Semester
"A couple of weeks ago, Natalie wrote a post about wrapping up the summer. I know, I know. Say it isn’t so! Well, today I’d like move from summer to fall by point you to a handful of posts I wrote in the early ProfHacker days about getting ready for a new term. Not everyone is going to find all of this advice helpful, obviously, but we hope that there are at least a few things in these posts that can be of use to you." -- George Williams, ProfHacker, 8/13/14
Know the Vital Players in Your Career: You
"In more than 20 years of working in academe, I have seen innumerable people sabotage their own careers through terrible mistakes. A bad outcome is sometimes due to chance or forces beyond your control, but the single most important factor determining whether you achieve your career goals, including tenure and promotion, is you." -- David D. Perlmutter, Chronicle | Advice, 8/11/14
Google Rolls Out Free LMS Apps for Education
"Google's free learning management system, Google Classroom, is now in full release and is being made available today to all Apps for Education customers.The service had been in limited preview since May. During that time, according to Google Apps for Education Product Manager Zach Yeskel, more than 100,000 educators applied to be a part of the preview, and "tens of thousands" of those educations — from K-12 schools, colleges and universities — actually participated." -- David Nagel, Campus Technology, 8/12/14
"A couple of weeks ago, Natalie wrote a post about wrapping up the summer. I know, I know. Say it isn’t so! Well, today I’d like move from summer to fall by point you to a handful of posts I wrote in the early ProfHacker days about getting ready for a new term. Not everyone is going to find all of this advice helpful, obviously, but we hope that there are at least a few things in these posts that can be of use to you." -- George Williams, ProfHacker, 8/13/14
Know the Vital Players in Your Career: You
"In more than 20 years of working in academe, I have seen innumerable people sabotage their own careers through terrible mistakes. A bad outcome is sometimes due to chance or forces beyond your control, but the single most important factor determining whether you achieve your career goals, including tenure and promotion, is you." -- David D. Perlmutter, Chronicle | Advice, 8/11/14
Google Rolls Out Free LMS Apps for Education
"Google's free learning management system, Google Classroom, is now in full release and is being made available today to all Apps for Education customers.The service had been in limited preview since May. During that time, according to Google Apps for Education Product Manager Zach Yeskel, more than 100,000 educators applied to be a part of the preview, and "tens of thousands" of those educations — from K-12 schools, colleges and universities — actually participated." -- David Nagel, Campus Technology, 8/12/14
Friday, July 25, 2014
Weekly Reader
5 Tips for Librarians Using Web Metrics
"The library and information community have often been at the forefront of adopting new web technologies, but generally less thought is given to measuring how these technologies are being used. An annual report may mention the number of followers the library's Twitter account has accumulated, or the number of article downloads from its institutional repository, but such a light-touch approach to web metrics neither recognizes its full potential nor acknowledges its limitations." -- Ed Patrick, CILIP, 7/15/14
A Liaison for a Classroom Building? Curating a Learning ecosystem.
"It is very common for librarians to serve as liaisons to academic departments. They teach classes, purchase materials, answer reference questions, assist with research endeavors, and generally get involved with the odds-and-ends of those units. Some librarians also liaise with defined user communities such as first-year students, international students, or students associated with particular residence halls."-- Brian Matthews, The Ubiquitous Librarian, 7/17/14
6 Tips for Managing your Professional Online Profile
"Professional online profiles are part of the toolkit of everyday life. You may have one (or more) and your services users may have one too. Here are six tips distilled from Matt Holland’s experience of creating and maintaining a number of profiles over time." -- Cat Cooper, CILIP, 7/22/14
Conflict in Academe
"All workplaces entail conflicts, of varying scales and of varying levels of importance or unimportance. One significant factor in the quality of our work lives is not so much whether conflict exists, but how it is handled within our departments and institutions. There are some situations in which we can merely avoid conflict, and it is by far the more prudent course of action to do so. Conflicts of any variety should not be courted, nor pursued unnecessarily." -- Nate Kreute, Tyro Tracts | Insider Higer Ed, 7/23/14
"The library and information community have often been at the forefront of adopting new web technologies, but generally less thought is given to measuring how these technologies are being used. An annual report may mention the number of followers the library's Twitter account has accumulated, or the number of article downloads from its institutional repository, but such a light-touch approach to web metrics neither recognizes its full potential nor acknowledges its limitations." -- Ed Patrick, CILIP, 7/15/14
A Liaison for a Classroom Building? Curating a Learning ecosystem.
"It is very common for librarians to serve as liaisons to academic departments. They teach classes, purchase materials, answer reference questions, assist with research endeavors, and generally get involved with the odds-and-ends of those units. Some librarians also liaise with defined user communities such as first-year students, international students, or students associated with particular residence halls."-- Brian Matthews, The Ubiquitous Librarian, 7/17/14
6 Tips for Managing your Professional Online Profile
"Professional online profiles are part of the toolkit of everyday life. You may have one (or more) and your services users may have one too. Here are six tips distilled from Matt Holland’s experience of creating and maintaining a number of profiles over time." -- Cat Cooper, CILIP, 7/22/14
Conflict in Academe
"All workplaces entail conflicts, of varying scales and of varying levels of importance or unimportance. One significant factor in the quality of our work lives is not so much whether conflict exists, but how it is handled within our departments and institutions. There are some situations in which we can merely avoid conflict, and it is by far the more prudent course of action to do so. Conflicts of any variety should not be courted, nor pursued unnecessarily." -- Nate Kreute, Tyro Tracts | Insider Higer Ed, 7/23/14
Friday, July 18, 2014
Weekly Reader
At Sea in a Deluge of Data
"This spring, more college students than ever received baccalaureate degrees, and their career prospects are brighter than they were for last year’s graduates. Employers responding to this year’s National Association of Colleges and Employers’ "Job Outlook 2014 Survey" said they planned to increase entry-level hiring by almost 8 percent. But what they may not realize is that these seemingly techno-savvy new hires could be missing some basic yet vital research skills." -- Alison J. Head and John Wihbey, Chronicle | Commentary, 7/7/14
A Question of Quality
"If students in a face-to-face course emailed their provost with concerns that their professor had stopped lecturing, chances are that someone -- a department head or an administrator -- would intervene. But what if the students were scattered across different countries and time zones in a not-for-credit massive open online course?" -- Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed, 7/15/14
What Academic Librarians Need to Learn About the Common Core
"Today’s post is partly inspired by Steven Bell’s recent op-ed piece on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in Library Journal. Bell gives an overview of CCSS and highlights its impact on libraries, not only K-12, but higher education as well. I’m very familiar with the standards, so today’s post will delve into the specifics of how CCSS will impact academic librarians, as well as information literacy programs. I will also give you some ideas about how you can support CCSS locally."-- Amanda Hovious, Designer Librarian, 7/15/14
33 Ethicists Defend Facebook’s Controversial Mood Study
"A group of bioethicists wrote in a column published on Wednesday that Facebook’s controversial study of mood manipulation was not unethical, and harsh criticism of it risks putting a chill on future research. The article was written by six ethicists, joined by 27 others."-- Andy Thomason, Chronicle | The Ticker, 7/16/14
Lessons Learned from the Facebook Study
"By now, anyone who is remotely interested knows that the Facebook data-science team, in collaboration with some researchers at Cornell University, recently published a paper reporting “experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks.” If you’ve heard about this study, you probably also know that many people are upset about it. Even the journal that published it, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has issued an “editorial expression of concern” about potential violations of ethical standards."-- Duncan J. Watts, The Chronicle | Conversations, 7/9/14
Misjudgements will drive social trials underground
"Some bioethicists have said that Facebook’s recent study of user behaviour is “scandalous”, “violates accepted research ethics” and “should never have been performed.” I write with 5 co-authors, on behalf of 27 other ethicists, to disagree with these sweeping condemnations (see go.nature.com/XI7szI). We are making this stand because the vitriolic criticism of this study could have a chilling effect on valuable research. Worse, it perpetuates the presumption that research is dangerous." -- Michelle N. Meyer, Nature | World View, 7/16/14
Random Reflections on Getting Published
"In my last article, I provided a handful of obvious tips for junior scholars on getting journal articles published. My aim wasn’t to provide a comprehensive guide to publication, but instead to highlight common (and easily rectified) issues that I see regularly as an associate editor of an academic journal. But there’s more to say. So as a follow-up, I thought I’d offer a few random reflections informed by my work as an editor and my experiences as an author." -- Kirsten Bell, Chronicle Vitae, 7/14/14
"This spring, more college students than ever received baccalaureate degrees, and their career prospects are brighter than they were for last year’s graduates. Employers responding to this year’s National Association of Colleges and Employers’ "Job Outlook 2014 Survey" said they planned to increase entry-level hiring by almost 8 percent. But what they may not realize is that these seemingly techno-savvy new hires could be missing some basic yet vital research skills." -- Alison J. Head and John Wihbey, Chronicle | Commentary, 7/7/14
A Question of Quality
"If students in a face-to-face course emailed their provost with concerns that their professor had stopped lecturing, chances are that someone -- a department head or an administrator -- would intervene. But what if the students were scattered across different countries and time zones in a not-for-credit massive open online course?" -- Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed, 7/15/14
What Academic Librarians Need to Learn About the Common Core
"Today’s post is partly inspired by Steven Bell’s recent op-ed piece on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in Library Journal. Bell gives an overview of CCSS and highlights its impact on libraries, not only K-12, but higher education as well. I’m very familiar with the standards, so today’s post will delve into the specifics of how CCSS will impact academic librarians, as well as information literacy programs. I will also give you some ideas about how you can support CCSS locally."-- Amanda Hovious, Designer Librarian, 7/15/14
33 Ethicists Defend Facebook’s Controversial Mood Study
"A group of bioethicists wrote in a column published on Wednesday that Facebook’s controversial study of mood manipulation was not unethical, and harsh criticism of it risks putting a chill on future research. The article was written by six ethicists, joined by 27 others."-- Andy Thomason, Chronicle | The Ticker, 7/16/14
Lessons Learned from the Facebook Study
"By now, anyone who is remotely interested knows that the Facebook data-science team, in collaboration with some researchers at Cornell University, recently published a paper reporting “experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks.” If you’ve heard about this study, you probably also know that many people are upset about it. Even the journal that published it, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has issued an “editorial expression of concern” about potential violations of ethical standards."-- Duncan J. Watts, The Chronicle | Conversations, 7/9/14
Misjudgements will drive social trials underground
"Some bioethicists have said that Facebook’s recent study of user behaviour is “scandalous”, “violates accepted research ethics” and “should never have been performed.” I write with 5 co-authors, on behalf of 27 other ethicists, to disagree with these sweeping condemnations (see go.nature.com/XI7szI). We are making this stand because the vitriolic criticism of this study could have a chilling effect on valuable research. Worse, it perpetuates the presumption that research is dangerous." -- Michelle N. Meyer, Nature | World View, 7/16/14
Random Reflections on Getting Published
"In my last article, I provided a handful of obvious tips for junior scholars on getting journal articles published. My aim wasn’t to provide a comprehensive guide to publication, but instead to highlight common (and easily rectified) issues that I see regularly as an associate editor of an academic journal. But there’s more to say. So as a follow-up, I thought I’d offer a few random reflections informed by my work as an editor and my experiences as an author." -- Kirsten Bell, Chronicle Vitae, 7/14/14
Wednesday, July 09, 2014
Another Weekly Reader
U. of Zurich Says Professor Deleted MOOC to Raise Student Engagement
"The University of Zurich says it has cleared up the bizarre case of the MOOC that went missing. But the university is offering few clarifying details to the public, which has been left to piece together theories from the university’s statements and from cryptic tweets by the course’s professor about an unspecified experiment he might have been trying to conduct." -- Steve Kolowich, Wired Campus, 7/8/14
How to Use Twitter for Prospecting
"Twitter has over 255 million active users a month – it is a massive database, buzzing with real-time information about individuals and communities around the world. Twitter is therefore a valuable source of information for online sales and digital content teams, as well as professional bloggers, who can benefit greatly from easy, personalised communication with prospects, as well as readers and consumers." -- Sophie Turton, The Blog Herald, 7/7/14
Room for Creativity
"I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: academic Twitter can be incredible. Natalie Dorfeld emailed me after the column featuring Jessica Lawless and Miranda Merklein ran and asked what she could do to help. Noting the “kick ass work” these columns have been doing — why thank you, Natalie — she volunteered to participate. After learning about some of her professional experiences and interests, I did what any academic connected to social media would do: I crowdsourced to find a partner for an adjunct interested in ESL pedagogy, creative writing, narrative theory, contemporary poetry, and contingent labor issues." -- Joseph Fruscione, Inside Higher Ed | Career Advice, 7/9/14
Stephen Krashen to LA School Board: Invest in Libraries
"The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) recently approved a new 6.6 billion budget for the strained school system, where 80 percent of attending students live in poverty. Earlier this year, literacy expert Stephen Krashen, professor emeritus at the University of Southern California Los Angeles, delivered a powerful, five-minute presentation to the LAUSD board, “Why Invest in Libraries.” His remarks addressed the stubborn intersection of poverty, poor literacy, and limited book access." -- SLJ, School Library Journal, 7/7/14
"The University of Zurich says it has cleared up the bizarre case of the MOOC that went missing. But the university is offering few clarifying details to the public, which has been left to piece together theories from the university’s statements and from cryptic tweets by the course’s professor about an unspecified experiment he might have been trying to conduct." -- Steve Kolowich, Wired Campus, 7/8/14
How to Use Twitter for Prospecting
"Twitter has over 255 million active users a month – it is a massive database, buzzing with real-time information about individuals and communities around the world. Twitter is therefore a valuable source of information for online sales and digital content teams, as well as professional bloggers, who can benefit greatly from easy, personalised communication with prospects, as well as readers and consumers." -- Sophie Turton, The Blog Herald, 7/7/14
Room for Creativity
"I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: academic Twitter can be incredible. Natalie Dorfeld emailed me after the column featuring Jessica Lawless and Miranda Merklein ran and asked what she could do to help. Noting the “kick ass work” these columns have been doing — why thank you, Natalie — she volunteered to participate. After learning about some of her professional experiences and interests, I did what any academic connected to social media would do: I crowdsourced to find a partner for an adjunct interested in ESL pedagogy, creative writing, narrative theory, contemporary poetry, and contingent labor issues." -- Joseph Fruscione, Inside Higher Ed | Career Advice, 7/9/14
Stephen Krashen to LA School Board: Invest in Libraries
"The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) recently approved a new 6.6 billion budget for the strained school system, where 80 percent of attending students live in poverty. Earlier this year, literacy expert Stephen Krashen, professor emeritus at the University of Southern California Los Angeles, delivered a powerful, five-minute presentation to the LAUSD board, “Why Invest in Libraries.” His remarks addressed the stubborn intersection of poverty, poor literacy, and limited book access." -- SLJ, School Library Journal, 7/7/14
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Early Weekly Reader
Caldecott 2014: The Year in Pictures
"Welcome to Las Vegas! City of lights, city of sin; of excess, exploitation, and glitter. It may be an unlikely spot for a library conference, but its unofficial slogan makes it an apt one: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I’m referring here not to mayhem and debauchery (although…feel free) but to the famed secrecy surrounding the deliberations of ALA’s Medal committees, which always seems to provoke a storm of speculation, second-guessing, and Monday-morning quarterbacking." -- Martha V. Parravano, The Horn Book, 7/7/14
How to Make the Most of Your Library Career
"Many thoughts percolated in my brain the day I started a new library position. I considered the new technologies, theories, and trends that I had encountered in graduate school, in journal articles, at workshops, and at conferences. I wondered how I could implement some of those ideas in my new position. I wanted to make my mark and show everyone what I was capable of accomplishing. I wondered, “How can I make everyone notice me as a leader and an agent of change and acknowledge what I can do? What changes can I put in place to make that happen?” -- Katherine Farmer, American Libraries Magazine, 7/7/14
The Shape of Higher Ed Yet to Come
"What might higher education look like a decade from now? Will it be pretty much as it is today? Or will cost pressures, debt burdens, shifting student demographics, and demands for accountability, affordability, and access produce fundamental transformations in how higher education is structured and delivered?I am a historian, and my hindsight is far sharper than my foresight. But as a thought experiment, let me speculate." -- Steven Mintz, Higher Ed Beta, 7/7/14
The Mystery of the Missing Mooc
"A massive open online course instructor was removed from his own course last week -- or was he? As confusion brews among students in the half-finished, suspended MOOC, some observers are asking if the instructor orchestrated a social experiment without permission -- or a farce." -- Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed Technology, 7/8/14
In a MOOC Mystery, A Course Suddenly Vanishes
"A massive open online course on making sense of massive open online courses caused massive confusion when the course content was suddenly deleted and the professor started writing cryptic things on Twitter." -- Steve Kolowich, Wired Campus, 7/8/14
Top Tips from Experts on What Makes a Great Infographic
"Over the last few months we have received a huge amount of questions as to what makes a great infographic and how you can stand out from the crowd. We did some research and found a great article by Eloqua that collected some expert opinions on the topic that we just loved, we also sprinkled in advice we found elsewhere that should serve you well." -- Easel.ly Blog, 7/7/14
Playing with the Possibilities
"Summer is a time many academics pause to consider professional possibilities. Should I go on the job market again this year? Do I really want to be a professor? What else is out there? How could I supplement my income this year? As a former tenured professor who left the academy to start a business, the summer is when my phone rings off the hook with people wanting to know: How did you go from Ph.D. to CEO?" -- Kerry Ann Rockquemore, Inside Higher Ed, 7/7/14
"Welcome to Las Vegas! City of lights, city of sin; of excess, exploitation, and glitter. It may be an unlikely spot for a library conference, but its unofficial slogan makes it an apt one: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I’m referring here not to mayhem and debauchery (although…feel free) but to the famed secrecy surrounding the deliberations of ALA’s Medal committees, which always seems to provoke a storm of speculation, second-guessing, and Monday-morning quarterbacking." -- Martha V. Parravano, The Horn Book, 7/7/14
How to Make the Most of Your Library Career
"Many thoughts percolated in my brain the day I started a new library position. I considered the new technologies, theories, and trends that I had encountered in graduate school, in journal articles, at workshops, and at conferences. I wondered how I could implement some of those ideas in my new position. I wanted to make my mark and show everyone what I was capable of accomplishing. I wondered, “How can I make everyone notice me as a leader and an agent of change and acknowledge what I can do? What changes can I put in place to make that happen?” -- Katherine Farmer, American Libraries Magazine, 7/7/14
The Shape of Higher Ed Yet to Come
"What might higher education look like a decade from now? Will it be pretty much as it is today? Or will cost pressures, debt burdens, shifting student demographics, and demands for accountability, affordability, and access produce fundamental transformations in how higher education is structured and delivered?I am a historian, and my hindsight is far sharper than my foresight. But as a thought experiment, let me speculate." -- Steven Mintz, Higher Ed Beta, 7/7/14
The Mystery of the Missing Mooc
"A massive open online course instructor was removed from his own course last week -- or was he? As confusion brews among students in the half-finished, suspended MOOC, some observers are asking if the instructor orchestrated a social experiment without permission -- or a farce." -- Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed Technology, 7/8/14
In a MOOC Mystery, A Course Suddenly Vanishes
"A massive open online course on making sense of massive open online courses caused massive confusion when the course content was suddenly deleted and the professor started writing cryptic things on Twitter." -- Steve Kolowich, Wired Campus, 7/8/14
Top Tips from Experts on What Makes a Great Infographic
"Over the last few months we have received a huge amount of questions as to what makes a great infographic and how you can stand out from the crowd. We did some research and found a great article by Eloqua that collected some expert opinions on the topic that we just loved, we also sprinkled in advice we found elsewhere that should serve you well." -- Easel.ly Blog, 7/7/14
Playing with the Possibilities
"Summer is a time many academics pause to consider professional possibilities. Should I go on the job market again this year? Do I really want to be a professor? What else is out there? How could I supplement my income this year? As a former tenured professor who left the academy to start a business, the summer is when my phone rings off the hook with people wanting to know: How did you go from Ph.D. to CEO?" -- Kerry Ann Rockquemore, Inside Higher Ed, 7/7/14
Friday, July 04, 2014
Weekly Reader
Books Changed His Life
"It is with great sadness that we convey to you, this evening, news of the passing of a great friend of the Library of Congress and all people who know the joy of reading – author Walter Dean Myers, winner of two Newbery Honors and five Coretta Scott King awards." -- Jennifer Gavin, Library of Congress Blog, 7/2/14
Creating a Respectful Classroom Environment
"In our class: 1) everyone is allowed to feel they can work and learn in a safe and caring environment; 2) everyone learns about, understands, appreciates, and respects varied races, classes, genders, physical and mental abilities, and sexualities; 3) everyone matters; 4) all individuals are to be respected and treated with dignity and civility; and 5) everyone shares the responsibility for making our class, and the Academy, a positive and better place to live, work, and learn.” -- Maryellen Weimer, Teaching Professor Blog, 7/2/14
In Backlash Over Facebook Research, Scientists Risk Loss of Valuable Resource
"It was a remarkable result: By manipulating the news feeds of thousands of Facebook users, without their knowing consent, researchers working with the goliath of social media found that they could spur a significant, if small, effect on people’s behavior in the world beyond bits."-- Paul Voosen, Chronicle of Higher Ed | Research, 7/1/14
The Facebook Furor
"Tens of thousands of academics and other observers of Internet life who did not know the name Adam Kramer on Sunday night certainly now it now. But on the chance you’ve been “off the grid” for the past 24 hours, Adam Kramer is the Facebook data scientist who served as a the lead author on a research project that manipulated the positive and negative information in the Facebook News Feed to assess the emotional impact positive and negative news on some 690,000 Facebook users." -- Kenneth C. Green, Inside Higher Ed | The Digital Tweed, 6/30/14
Rising Tuition Discounts and Flat Tuition Revenues Squeeze Colleges Even Harder
"By now, the picture painted in a new survey of tuition discounting, net-tuition revenue, and other enrollment trends should be drearily familiar to many in higher education. The annual survey of private, nonprofit, four-year colleges, conducted by the National Association of College and University Business Officers, points to yet another year when discount rates for first-time, full-time freshmen reached a record high: 44.8 percent in 2012-13 and an estimated 46.4 percent for 2013-14." -- Scott Carlson, Chronicle of Higher Ed | Administration, 7/2/14
"It is with great sadness that we convey to you, this evening, news of the passing of a great friend of the Library of Congress and all people who know the joy of reading – author Walter Dean Myers, winner of two Newbery Honors and five Coretta Scott King awards." -- Jennifer Gavin, Library of Congress Blog, 7/2/14
Creating a Respectful Classroom Environment
"In our class: 1) everyone is allowed to feel they can work and learn in a safe and caring environment; 2) everyone learns about, understands, appreciates, and respects varied races, classes, genders, physical and mental abilities, and sexualities; 3) everyone matters; 4) all individuals are to be respected and treated with dignity and civility; and 5) everyone shares the responsibility for making our class, and the Academy, a positive and better place to live, work, and learn.” -- Maryellen Weimer, Teaching Professor Blog, 7/2/14
In Backlash Over Facebook Research, Scientists Risk Loss of Valuable Resource
"It was a remarkable result: By manipulating the news feeds of thousands of Facebook users, without their knowing consent, researchers working with the goliath of social media found that they could spur a significant, if small, effect on people’s behavior in the world beyond bits."-- Paul Voosen, Chronicle of Higher Ed | Research, 7/1/14
The Facebook Furor
"Tens of thousands of academics and other observers of Internet life who did not know the name Adam Kramer on Sunday night certainly now it now. But on the chance you’ve been “off the grid” for the past 24 hours, Adam Kramer is the Facebook data scientist who served as a the lead author on a research project that manipulated the positive and negative information in the Facebook News Feed to assess the emotional impact positive and negative news on some 690,000 Facebook users." -- Kenneth C. Green, Inside Higher Ed | The Digital Tweed, 6/30/14
Rising Tuition Discounts and Flat Tuition Revenues Squeeze Colleges Even Harder
"By now, the picture painted in a new survey of tuition discounting, net-tuition revenue, and other enrollment trends should be drearily familiar to many in higher education. The annual survey of private, nonprofit, four-year colleges, conducted by the National Association of College and University Business Officers, points to yet another year when discount rates for first-time, full-time freshmen reached a record high: 44.8 percent in 2012-13 and an estimated 46.4 percent for 2013-14." -- Scott Carlson, Chronicle of Higher Ed | Administration, 7/2/14
Friday, June 20, 2014
Weekly Reader
Let's Banish Busyness
"I work with someone who begins every conversation by telling me how busy she is. I don't mean some conversations, or most conversations; I mean every single conversation. Whenever I am about to talk with her, I ask myself, "I wonder if she will tell me how busy she is?" And every single time, she does. Is she accomplishing a lot? No; less than most. But is she "so busy?" Oh, yeah." -- Allison M. Vaillancourt, Chronicle Vitae, 6/10/14
The Classroom as Arcade
"Telltale fast clicks of laptop arrow keys gave away my distracted student from 30 feet off. So engrossed was he in a 1980s role-playing game that he barely noticed when I leaned in to whisper how entirely inappropriate his behavior was during my digital humanities class at Dartmouth College. As a noted visiting technology and culture speaker held forth on participatory culture and Wikipedia — in which my students had expressed an avid interest — I was shocked as he and many others openly engaged with their Facebook pages." -- Mary Flanagan, Inside Higher Ed, 6/6/14
How Reality Became the Hot New Thing in YA
"In 2010, St. Martin’s editor Sara Goodman grieved when she was outbid for an adult manuscript she adored. A year later, when she got the chance to read a new, contemporary YA novel by the same writer, she acted with deliberate speed. 'I pitched it before anybody in-house had read it, so I’m sure there were people who know my reputation for issues-driven YA who probably thought, ‘Okay, she loves it, but this will be another tough sell,’ Goodman says. Then the manuscript made the rounds and Goodman says the reaction from colleagues was, 'Run, don’t walk, to get this manuscript under contract.'"-- Sue Corbett, Publishers Weekly, 5/2/14
"I work with someone who begins every conversation by telling me how busy she is. I don't mean some conversations, or most conversations; I mean every single conversation. Whenever I am about to talk with her, I ask myself, "I wonder if she will tell me how busy she is?" And every single time, she does. Is she accomplishing a lot? No; less than most. But is she "so busy?" Oh, yeah." -- Allison M. Vaillancourt, Chronicle Vitae, 6/10/14
The Classroom as Arcade
"Telltale fast clicks of laptop arrow keys gave away my distracted student from 30 feet off. So engrossed was he in a 1980s role-playing game that he barely noticed when I leaned in to whisper how entirely inappropriate his behavior was during my digital humanities class at Dartmouth College. As a noted visiting technology and culture speaker held forth on participatory culture and Wikipedia — in which my students had expressed an avid interest — I was shocked as he and many others openly engaged with their Facebook pages." -- Mary Flanagan, Inside Higher Ed, 6/6/14
How Reality Became the Hot New Thing in YA
"In 2010, St. Martin’s editor Sara Goodman grieved when she was outbid for an adult manuscript she adored. A year later, when she got the chance to read a new, contemporary YA novel by the same writer, she acted with deliberate speed. 'I pitched it before anybody in-house had read it, so I’m sure there were people who know my reputation for issues-driven YA who probably thought, ‘Okay, she loves it, but this will be another tough sell,’ Goodman says. Then the manuscript made the rounds and Goodman says the reaction from colleagues was, 'Run, don’t walk, to get this manuscript under contract.'"-- Sue Corbett, Publishers Weekly, 5/2/14
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Weekly Reader: Reading YA
The Adult Lessons of YA Fiction
"'When critics decide its time to pull up the gates and seal us all inside our castle of grown-up things, they cease to be people who deserve being listened to.' So writes author John Warner, in his commentary during website The Morning News’s annual Tournament of Books literary bracket, after judge Natasha Vargas-Cooper classified John Green’s breakaway young-adult novel The Fault in Our Stars and Chris Ware’s graphic novel Building Stories (which is not young adult) as 'juvenilia.'"-- Julie Beck, The Atlantic, 6/9/14
YA and the Shame Game
"Ruth Graham recently sparked a "I'll read what I want!" furor when she wrote a takedown of YA on Slate and titled it "Against YA." Many articles chicken-littleing the inexplicable popularity of vulgar populist genre fiction have come before it and many more will come after it. The world is full of these strange, brittle people who think things are only valuable if they're uncomfortable." -- Elizabeth Vail, HuffPost Books - The Blog, 6/8/14
Should Adults Be Embarrassed to Read Young Adult Books?
"Journalist Ruth Graham thinks adults shouldn't be reading young adult books. She speaks with NPR's Rachel Martin about the criticism she's received for writing that for Slate." -- Rachel Martin (host), NPR Books - Author Interviews, 6/8/14
Grown-Ups Don't Be Ashamed of Your YA Habit
"It's all John Green's fault. I'm not just talking about the strong likelihood that I'll be ugly-crying in public alongside fellow fans of "The Fault In Our Stars" in a theater near me this weekend -- I mean the fact that I'm reading much fiction at all these days. But apparently I'm supposed to be embarrassed about my love of Green's books. Says who?" --Kat Kinsman, CNN Living, 6/8/14
I Write Young Adult Novels, And I Refuse to Apologize for It
"One of my most traumatic experiences involved a high school classroom and a romance novel. I was fifteen and devouring pretty much any book I could get my hands on, especially adult romances—the more torrid, the better. I had one of these books in my backpack when a male friend pulled it out and started to read a particularly lurid passage aloud. The whole class laughed; I was suitably mortified. It was the first time I ever felt that I should be ashamed of what I loved, and the moment has stuck with me my entire life."-- Rachel Carter, New Republic, 6/6/14
This is Why Young Adult Books Are Not Only Acceptable, But Beneficial for Adults
"You might've seen a recent piece published by Slate outlining exactly why readers should be a little more ashamed about their young adult book consumption. If not, here's the gist: novels written for a teenage audience that are intended to represent realistic relationships (think The Fault in Our Stars, not Divergent) do so in a limited and immature way. According to the author, books like Eleanor & Park tend to have neat, happy endings, thereby making them unchallenging and uncomplicated -- they're for pleasure, whereas adult literature is for ... something else, left unspecified." -- Maddie Crum, Huff Post Books, 6/6/14
Ashamed of Reading YA? The Fault Lies Not in Our Stars, But in Our Stores
"Ah, the arbitrary divisions of the bookstore.Now it’s “Young Adult” and “Serious Fiction for Older Adults” and “Romance” and “Science Fiction.” In Dickens’s day, “Books About Winsome Orphans” and “Books About Prostitutes With Hearts of Gold” stood where “Teen Paranormal Romance” and “YA But Specifically YA About Finding Yourself” (a category I actually saw at a Barnes & Noble recently) stand today. I’m sure they evoked about equal measures of sneering. (Dickens was especially gifted and managed to get his book stocked on both shelves, guaranteeing that “Oliver Twist” would be a platinum-level bestseller.)" -- Alexandra Petri, ComPost - The Washington Post (Blogs), 6/6/14
No, You Do Not Have to Be Ashamed of Reading Young Adult Fiction
"Last month, it was William Giraldi, trashing romance novels in the pages of the New Republic, who did the critic’s equivalent of dumping a bucket of piranhas into a crowded pool on the first great swimming day of summer. June brings another provocation, this time from Ruth Graham in Slate, who argues that adults ought to be ashamed of reading young adult literature." -- Alyssa Rosenberg, Act Four - The Washington Post, 6/6/14
Slate’s Condescending “Against YA” Couldn’t Be More Wrong —
Young Adult Fiction Is for Everyone
"With today’s release of the John Green film adaptation The Fault in Our Stars, Slate, a publication that has been ignoring the swell of good, interesting, arguably literary young adult fiction for years has decided to run a piece, “Against YA,” that makes the claim, “Today’s YA, we are constantly reminded, is worldly and adult-worthy. That has kept me bashful about expressing my own fuddy-duddy opinion: Adults should feel embarrassed about reading literature written for children.” It is possibly the most Slate-y piece that ever Slate-d, maintaining a contrarian and snooty tone throughout, telling you the many ways that you are doing it wrong." --Elisabeth Donnelly, Flavorwire Books, 6/6/14
Let's Just All Read More Great Books - YA Or Not
"Today The Fault in Our Stars, based on a bestselling book by John Green, will debut in theatres across America. No cultural phenomenon can go unpunished by the good folks at Slate. So we get a piece with the thesis, "Adults should feel embarrassed about reading literature written for children. Sigh." -- Michelle Dean, Gawker, 6/6/14
Against YA
"As The Fault in Our Stars barrels into theaters this weekend virtually guaranteed to become a blockbuster, it can be hard to remember that once upon a time, an adult might have felt embarrassed to be caught reading the novel that inspired it. Not because it is bad—it isn’t—but because it was written for teenagers."-- Ruth Graham, Slate, 6/5/14
*Information in this Weekly Reader post first published on the IRC News & Information Blog. 6/11/14
"'When critics decide its time to pull up the gates and seal us all inside our castle of grown-up things, they cease to be people who deserve being listened to.' So writes author John Warner, in his commentary during website The Morning News’s annual Tournament of Books literary bracket, after judge Natasha Vargas-Cooper classified John Green’s breakaway young-adult novel The Fault in Our Stars and Chris Ware’s graphic novel Building Stories (which is not young adult) as 'juvenilia.'"-- Julie Beck, The Atlantic, 6/9/14
YA and the Shame Game
"Ruth Graham recently sparked a "I'll read what I want!" furor when she wrote a takedown of YA on Slate and titled it "Against YA." Many articles chicken-littleing the inexplicable popularity of vulgar populist genre fiction have come before it and many more will come after it. The world is full of these strange, brittle people who think things are only valuable if they're uncomfortable." -- Elizabeth Vail, HuffPost Books - The Blog, 6/8/14
Should Adults Be Embarrassed to Read Young Adult Books?
"Journalist Ruth Graham thinks adults shouldn't be reading young adult books. She speaks with NPR's Rachel Martin about the criticism she's received for writing that for Slate." -- Rachel Martin (host), NPR Books - Author Interviews, 6/8/14
Grown-Ups Don't Be Ashamed of Your YA Habit
"It's all John Green's fault. I'm not just talking about the strong likelihood that I'll be ugly-crying in public alongside fellow fans of "The Fault In Our Stars" in a theater near me this weekend -- I mean the fact that I'm reading much fiction at all these days. But apparently I'm supposed to be embarrassed about my love of Green's books. Says who?" --Kat Kinsman, CNN Living, 6/8/14
I Write Young Adult Novels, And I Refuse to Apologize for It
"One of my most traumatic experiences involved a high school classroom and a romance novel. I was fifteen and devouring pretty much any book I could get my hands on, especially adult romances—the more torrid, the better. I had one of these books in my backpack when a male friend pulled it out and started to read a particularly lurid passage aloud. The whole class laughed; I was suitably mortified. It was the first time I ever felt that I should be ashamed of what I loved, and the moment has stuck with me my entire life."-- Rachel Carter, New Republic, 6/6/14
This is Why Young Adult Books Are Not Only Acceptable, But Beneficial for Adults
"You might've seen a recent piece published by Slate outlining exactly why readers should be a little more ashamed about their young adult book consumption. If not, here's the gist: novels written for a teenage audience that are intended to represent realistic relationships (think The Fault in Our Stars, not Divergent) do so in a limited and immature way. According to the author, books like Eleanor & Park tend to have neat, happy endings, thereby making them unchallenging and uncomplicated -- they're for pleasure, whereas adult literature is for ... something else, left unspecified." -- Maddie Crum, Huff Post Books, 6/6/14
Ashamed of Reading YA? The Fault Lies Not in Our Stars, But in Our Stores
"Ah, the arbitrary divisions of the bookstore.Now it’s “Young Adult” and “Serious Fiction for Older Adults” and “Romance” and “Science Fiction.” In Dickens’s day, “Books About Winsome Orphans” and “Books About Prostitutes With Hearts of Gold” stood where “Teen Paranormal Romance” and “YA But Specifically YA About Finding Yourself” (a category I actually saw at a Barnes & Noble recently) stand today. I’m sure they evoked about equal measures of sneering. (Dickens was especially gifted and managed to get his book stocked on both shelves, guaranteeing that “Oliver Twist” would be a platinum-level bestseller.)" -- Alexandra Petri, ComPost - The Washington Post (Blogs), 6/6/14
No, You Do Not Have to Be Ashamed of Reading Young Adult Fiction
"Last month, it was William Giraldi, trashing romance novels in the pages of the New Republic, who did the critic’s equivalent of dumping a bucket of piranhas into a crowded pool on the first great swimming day of summer. June brings another provocation, this time from Ruth Graham in Slate, who argues that adults ought to be ashamed of reading young adult literature." -- Alyssa Rosenberg, Act Four - The Washington Post, 6/6/14
Slate’s Condescending “Against YA” Couldn’t Be More Wrong —
Young Adult Fiction Is for Everyone
"With today’s release of the John Green film adaptation The Fault in Our Stars, Slate, a publication that has been ignoring the swell of good, interesting, arguably literary young adult fiction for years has decided to run a piece, “Against YA,” that makes the claim, “Today’s YA, we are constantly reminded, is worldly and adult-worthy. That has kept me bashful about expressing my own fuddy-duddy opinion: Adults should feel embarrassed about reading literature written for children.” It is possibly the most Slate-y piece that ever Slate-d, maintaining a contrarian and snooty tone throughout, telling you the many ways that you are doing it wrong." --Elisabeth Donnelly, Flavorwire Books, 6/6/14
Let's Just All Read More Great Books - YA Or Not
"Today The Fault in Our Stars, based on a bestselling book by John Green, will debut in theatres across America. No cultural phenomenon can go unpunished by the good folks at Slate. So we get a piece with the thesis, "Adults should feel embarrassed about reading literature written for children. Sigh." -- Michelle Dean, Gawker, 6/6/14
Against YA
"As The Fault in Our Stars barrels into theaters this weekend virtually guaranteed to become a blockbuster, it can be hard to remember that once upon a time, an adult might have felt embarrassed to be caught reading the novel that inspired it. Not because it is bad—it isn’t—but because it was written for teenagers."-- Ruth Graham, Slate, 6/5/14
*Information in this Weekly Reader post first published on the IRC News & Information Blog. 6/11/14
Weekly Reader: Pinterest
Two Frequently Asked Pinterest Questions
"It’s easy to see why businesses love Pinterest. In addition to being one of the fastest growing social networks, Pinterest allows you to use rich visual content to drive traffic to your website, blog, or other social media properties. This is great news if you’re looking for a new way to reach your audience and promote your business, but also comes with certain challenges." -- Azure Collie, Business2Community, 6/9/14
Pinterest Beta Tests Do-It-Yourself Promoted Pins for Business
"Following the lead of other social networks like Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is ramping up its marketing features. Back in September 2013, Pinterest announced it was beginning to experiment with sponsored pins. Now the company says it is rolling out a do-it-yourself promoted pin feature in beta too." -- Shawn Hessinger, Small Business Trends, 6/10/14
Pinterest Snags Longtime Apple Alums To Head Up Engineering And Design
"Social pinboarding site Pinterest today announced that it has picked up two notable new hires, both longtime Apple alums, to head up its Engineering and Design departments. All that funding is not going to waste, it seems. Michael Lopp, who was previously a director of engineering at Palantir, will head Engineering; Bob Baxley, the former Director of Design for the Apple Online Store, will become the Head of Product Design and Research." -- Sarah Perez, TechCrunch, 6/10/14
Why Pinterest is Driving Social Engagement (and How You Can Take Advantage
"Pinterest is leading the way for social growth. In a recent Forbes article, tool ShareThis said “Pinners,” or Pinterest users, had more share activity than Facebook or Twitter users in 2013." -- Adam Toren, Entrepreneur, 3/13/14
"It’s easy to see why businesses love Pinterest. In addition to being one of the fastest growing social networks, Pinterest allows you to use rich visual content to drive traffic to your website, blog, or other social media properties. This is great news if you’re looking for a new way to reach your audience and promote your business, but also comes with certain challenges." -- Azure Collie, Business2Community, 6/9/14
Pinterest Beta Tests Do-It-Yourself Promoted Pins for Business
"Following the lead of other social networks like Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is ramping up its marketing features. Back in September 2013, Pinterest announced it was beginning to experiment with sponsored pins. Now the company says it is rolling out a do-it-yourself promoted pin feature in beta too." -- Shawn Hessinger, Small Business Trends, 6/10/14
Pinterest Snags Longtime Apple Alums To Head Up Engineering And Design
"Social pinboarding site Pinterest today announced that it has picked up two notable new hires, both longtime Apple alums, to head up its Engineering and Design departments. All that funding is not going to waste, it seems. Michael Lopp, who was previously a director of engineering at Palantir, will head Engineering; Bob Baxley, the former Director of Design for the Apple Online Store, will become the Head of Product Design and Research." -- Sarah Perez, TechCrunch, 6/10/14
Why Pinterest is Driving Social Engagement (and How You Can Take Advantage
"Pinterest is leading the way for social growth. In a recent Forbes article, tool ShareThis said “Pinners,” or Pinterest users, had more share activity than Facebook or Twitter users in 2013." -- Adam Toren, Entrepreneur, 3/13/14
Friday, June 06, 2014
Weekly Reader
Are You Approachable?
"When I interview the stakeholders on the strengths and gaps of the leaders I work with, it’s not unusual for me to hear that the peers and direct reports may see that leader as “aloof” or unapproachable. The fact that they may be in senior management can compound the issue, as there is always that hierarchical block that may keep employees away." -- Mary Jo Asmus, Smart Blog on Leadership, 6/4/14
The Everything Library
"I’ve had a couple of my buttons pushed recently. (Yes, it is known to happen. I am practically an accordion. Press my buttons and watch me swell with indignation and make noise.) One was a discussion on a library Listserv that I haven’t been participating in regularly, so I missed much of the texture of the conversation but couldn’t resist chiming in."-- Barbara Fister, Library Babel Fish, 6/3/14
Mr. Tiger Love at Last
"Readers of Calling Caldecott — and all my students — will understand my joy at hearing the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards announced Saturday. FINALLY some award love for Mr. Tiger Goes Wild! You can read the press release and reviews of the winning books here. We’ll put up photos from the announcement soon and you can read the tweets here." -- Lolly Robinson, Lolly's Classroom, 6/2/14
Is All this Student Data Changing the Way Teacher's Teach
"With so much access to student data these days, teachers are experimenting with different tactics, and figuring out what’s working and what’s not. As with most scenarios using education technology, it’s a mixed bag. But questions of privacy aside, how it’s used depends on a variety of factors in each school and in each teacher’s classroom. Some teachers are embracing student data to inform their teaching, while others believe there’s a risk of an over-reliance on hard numbers that doesn’t take into account the human factor." -- Francesca Segrè, MindShift, 6/2/14
Open Thread Wednesday: Twitter Tools for Summer
"It’s no secret that many of us at ProfHacker are big fans of Twitter, using it for everything from conferences to classes to bot-making to, yes, posting pictures of our cats. Several ProfHackers have shared their favorite tools and hacks for working with Twitter: Natalie gathered several of them in her recent retrospective post." -- Anastasia Salter, ProfHacker, 5/28/14
What Did You Eat for Breakfast?
"What you eat for breakfast may not merit space on your C.V, but a new website called Academic Breakfast is based on the idea that how professors start their days matters. The website invites academics to post a photograph of their breakfast, and to answer six quick questions: where they live, their institution, their job, their research in five words, their breakfast in five words, and their food philosophy in 10 words." -- Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed News, 6/2/14
"When I interview the stakeholders on the strengths and gaps of the leaders I work with, it’s not unusual for me to hear that the peers and direct reports may see that leader as “aloof” or unapproachable. The fact that they may be in senior management can compound the issue, as there is always that hierarchical block that may keep employees away." -- Mary Jo Asmus, Smart Blog on Leadership, 6/4/14
The Everything Library
"I’ve had a couple of my buttons pushed recently. (Yes, it is known to happen. I am practically an accordion. Press my buttons and watch me swell with indignation and make noise.) One was a discussion on a library Listserv that I haven’t been participating in regularly, so I missed much of the texture of the conversation but couldn’t resist chiming in."-- Barbara Fister, Library Babel Fish, 6/3/14
Mr. Tiger Love at Last
"Readers of Calling Caldecott — and all my students — will understand my joy at hearing the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards announced Saturday. FINALLY some award love for Mr. Tiger Goes Wild! You can read the press release and reviews of the winning books here. We’ll put up photos from the announcement soon and you can read the tweets here." -- Lolly Robinson, Lolly's Classroom, 6/2/14
Is All this Student Data Changing the Way Teacher's Teach
"With so much access to student data these days, teachers are experimenting with different tactics, and figuring out what’s working and what’s not. As with most scenarios using education technology, it’s a mixed bag. But questions of privacy aside, how it’s used depends on a variety of factors in each school and in each teacher’s classroom. Some teachers are embracing student data to inform their teaching, while others believe there’s a risk of an over-reliance on hard numbers that doesn’t take into account the human factor." -- Francesca Segrè, MindShift, 6/2/14
Open Thread Wednesday: Twitter Tools for Summer
"It’s no secret that many of us at ProfHacker are big fans of Twitter, using it for everything from conferences to classes to bot-making to, yes, posting pictures of our cats. Several ProfHackers have shared their favorite tools and hacks for working with Twitter: Natalie gathered several of them in her recent retrospective post." -- Anastasia Salter, ProfHacker, 5/28/14
What Did You Eat for Breakfast?
"What you eat for breakfast may not merit space on your C.V, but a new website called Academic Breakfast is based on the idea that how professors start their days matters. The website invites academics to post a photograph of their breakfast, and to answer six quick questions: where they live, their institution, their job, their research in five words, their breakfast in five words, and their food philosophy in 10 words." -- Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed News, 6/2/14
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