We know technology is about to have a major impact in the education space. We know education startups are aiming at education. We know we have really serious student debt problems. We know our costs are out of control. We know the government’s ability to fund education is severely limited. We know these changes are coming quickly. We know we don’t know exactly what the change looks like yet.
So, what’s with all the dismissive talk about credentialing?
It’s the wrong question.
The right question is “what are you going to do to make yours and our future?”
Our ancestors lived in a world where you often had to move somewhere to get work. We currently live in a world where you often have to move to get work or get educated. But that’s less true than it’s ever been.
I envision a future where you can get educated wherever you want to be educated (even in your own home) by the smartest people in the world, where the local community college serves as a hub of tutors and educational assistance to all of us, and where we can do many professions from wherever we choose to live.
It’s a return to community, family and connectedness.
Ted – Ed is a new venture from the folks at TED that allows users to create lessons (or use others created lessons) for sharing. On the back end, you also get a reporting page when you create a lesson that shows how many people have taken your lesson as well as their actual answers.
I’ve made a few of these, so I wanted to pass them along.
I hope you all can join us in Chapel Hill on June 29th to hang out with some great people and work on innovative ideas for education. I want to give a huge thank you to Gary Alan Miller at UNC for hosting.
I’m working on a project and would like some assistance. Here’s your mission should you choose to accept it:
Create a video describing the most difficult situation you’ve dealt with professionally (not something personal, but either a professional or volunteer situation). If you’re having trouble coming up with something, any situation will do. If you’re too shy for video, I will accept text, but I’d prefer video.
Post that video on youtube, and title and tag it “influenceedu”.
Make a second video with how you resolved the situation and follow the procedure above.
Send me the links.
Thanks in advance for your help. If you’d like to do this as a conversation, I’d be more than happy to, as I have software to record google hangouts or skype!
The Motley Fool, one of my favorite personal finance sites, took on the tuition crisis in America that was exposed again by the pepper spraying at UC Davis. While mostly on point, I’d argue that they weren’t asking the right questions. First, let’s start with some things that they nailed.
(a reason) that explains almost all the tuition increase at UC schools, is the decline in state, local, and federal government’s share of education costs. By and large, tuition is going up not because schools are raking in more money, but because subsidies are going down.
nailed it. Because of reduced subsidies, students are starting to feel more of the real cost of their education.
The most unfortunate part of this is that surging tuition costs are not, for the most part, rewarding students with a higher-quality education. Costs are simply being shifted around. And while states are slashing higher education budgets, taxpayers aren’t being rewarded with lower tax rates, or even lower budget deficits; most states are cutting education spending to offset rising health-care and pension costs.
Ouch.
Two things that weren’t mentioned in the article though, that I think are important.
Tuition is really just the tip of the iceberg. Check out this data from UNC on Cost of Attendance http://studentaid.unc.edu/studentaid/cost/ssa_ug_general.html . I wanted to point out, in particular, the tuition and fees number. As someone inside the university, I know that these are often calculated separately, but on the website, these are lumped together. It took some digging, but here’s the listing of student fees http://studentaid.unc.edu/studentaid/cost/ssa_ug_general.html. Not to mention costs like textbooks, living expenses, food, etc. Not to mention the oppportunity cost of not working like you could be. Which brings me to point 2.
Subsidizing of colleges is finally getting students to feel the whole cost of their education, so naturally, they’re starting to wonder why it costs so much. Could the questioning of the system be starting to reveal some inefficiencies within the system? It wasn’t in the article, but I think it could be.
While the author suggests that the wage premium is increasing, I’m not sure I’d agree. As I’ve stated before on this blog, I think we’re using old data to do these calculations. A degree obtained by saving as much money as possible is still a degree of mobility.
I just wonder how long this can continue. I’m sure most of my readers have seen the crazy graph that calculates the cost of college skyrocketing past both CPI and housing costs. Regardless of the why, I don’t think that can last.
I was reviewing my transcripts this weekend and I noticed how poorly I had done during the year I was most involved in college. My GPA up until that year sat at a solid 3.615. Given that I was taking an intensive pre-pharmacy curriculum, and had 2 president’s list and 1 dean’s list semester, I feel pretty good about this number.
During the year I did student activities, I had 30 credit hours and pulled 2.57 GPA.
The following year, as student body president, a less demanding role on my campus, I was back to a 3.66.
So, what happened? I was super involved. I always tell people that my job during that year became student activities. I was Mr. Involved Student. Hell, I apparently liked it so much that I decided not to be good at my grades.
Of course, there could be 75 other factors in there, like the ending of a long term relationship, and a lot of other personal change. But I do believe the numbers are startling. A full point down in GPA and a return to that previous position the next year.
One last option, if you’re really feeling ambitious and like me (or just like helping people), Anyone who gives a gift of at least $5 to Charity Water using my birthday page will not only make MY day, but also make someone else’s. And just for the hell of it, I’ll throw in everything I mentioned above…for free.
I gave my social media presentation for a group of our graduate students last week and ever since then I’ve been thinking about the themes and ideas that we talked about. Here are a few conclusions:
I genuinely believe higher ed is in trouble. And by higher ed, I don’t mean education. I mean the general model of the 4 year away from home university as we know it. Look, we know that social media is a part of a larger movement where publishing is going to the masses and information sharing isn’t restrained to publishing houses, record labels, newspapers, and university ivory towers. It’s not hard to figure out that higher ed is in the crosshairs of this societal wave. Seriously people, this is the biggest change since the printing press. It’s turned publishing from a professionals game into anyone’s game. Case in point, this article about SUNY . I predicted 4 years ago that this exact thing would happen (ask my homie TJ). Folks, that is the beginning of a seismic change in higher ed and kudos for SUNY for stepping up and getting with the times. That’s just the beginning. If your business focuses on sharing of information, you’re going to get caught up in the tidal wave and not only do we do that in higher ed, that’s the CORE of our business. Ruh roh.
Academic Publishing is in trouble. Have you seen the costs for these journals? Get the hell out of here. How long can they restrain those hungry to publish their work when we can publish FOR FREE TO THE ENTIRE WORLD? It’s only because the academic world has an established order and hierarchy that this system continues to persist, but it can’t last. Too many societal and economic forces are pushing against it. The walls are coming down. Here’s a thought: you don’t need a PhD to publish anymore. Hell, you don’t even need a degree. Got a great idea and want to share it with the entire world? You can literally publish it immediately and share it with everyone. Who’s going to be the first to thumb their nose at the entire publishing system and get theirs in their own way?
This is all about power structures. Traditional power structures that have already been affected by the democratization of publishing – newspapers, the music industry, radio, Arab leadership, and the 1% . Freedom to publish media cheaply is causing havoc to traditional power structures. I described it as an “end around” to traditional power structures, but even that I’m not sure is accurate. Traditional power structures are a dam designed to hold the elite above everyone else. The democratization of publishing is a battleaxe. It’s erosion. It’s a hurricane. It’s an earthquake. These power structures cannot hold. I described higher ed the other day as holding the fort walls. Here’s the thing: the game’s already over. Either get with the future and move, or get your ass knocked over when the dam bursts. Your choice.
So, here is my question and my challenge to anyone who reads this….
What are you going to do within this reality?
The ability to publish free and simply changes things for folks who work in education, it changes things for folks who need education, it changes things for folks who are trying to “come up” in the world, and it changes things for folks who are on top.
In closing, I’m going to encourage everyone to watch this TED talk (i know, i hate TED…but it will at least get those who are questioning me caught up) that Clay Shirky gave in 2005. He sounds almost prescient, specifically at the 19: 06 mark.
With an inherently serious app already available, I wanted to make something available that was a little less serious. I think everyone who works in student affairs has been frustrated with student development or students in general or maybe just working in student affairs, and you’ve wondered to yourself, what’s the big deal with this Chickering dude anyway?
Maybe it would make you feel better to Draw on Chickering.
Introducing the Draw on Chickering app! Draw on Chickering in 3 colors as well as big and large dots. Perfect for getting through those frustrating days in grad school and work! Stop posting passive aggressive posts on Twitter and start drawing on Chickering’s face (not endorsed by Chickering himself, even though that would be awesome).
Click the Buy Now button, credit cards as well as PayPal accepted and I’ll send you the APK file and installation instructions. Android only.
I posted on Twitter recently that I wanted to learn how to program phone apps. Here’s my first foray into doing so. This is an Android app specifically for student affairs professionals.
Are you a seasoned student affairs professional who needs a little theory refresher? Or maybe a grad student that’s trying to test yourself on your theory knowledge? This app is simple enough for you to pop open once in awhile as a refresher, but substantive enough to make you think about what it is we do as a profession.
I’m offering this for now for $.99. Send in a Paypal payment using the link below and I’ll send you the APK file and installation instructions for Android so you can install the app yourself.
My good friend Laura Pasquini shared this link on twitter a while back, a youtube video with people sharing their biggest regret (ok, it wasn’t this video, but I couldn’t find the original. this will do).
My initial response was that I try to not live with regrets, I just have things that I do using the information I have at the time. It’s foolish, I think, to look back and think about regrets because you’re viewing it through a lens that was different than the one you had that you used to decide to do whatever you did that you regret. It’s unfair.
So on the surface, I hate this question because it’s unfair and it’s filled with people being unfair to themselves. I’ve seen too many people in my life get so burdened down with regrets of things they did, things that they wish they did and things they shouldn’t have done. They stop functioning and stop living forward. To quote Don Draper, do what you have to do in life, move forward and you’ll be surprised by how much these things didn’t matter.
However, I was surprised to find myself at the orientation presentation I give for students, starting to realize something I regret. I was giving three presentations, off and on, during orientation sessions, one which focused on parents and rallied them to get their students involved with campus, one on campus events and our campus activities board, and one on the offices in student affairs and how we provide life-changing experiences and resources for students. Two of these sessions, the ones that weren’t about campus events, were presented with other offices, including the career center. The funny thing is that I found myself mentioning, quite specifically, the career center in the other session. But why? I wonder if I didn’t see myself quite a bit in their 18 year old faces, making me feel that I needed to tell 18 year old me a story.
Let’s backtrack.
I started off college as a business major. During the first week of school, I changed to pre-pharmacy, presumably because I wanted to make that bread (academic advisors will find that familiar). I did well in pre-pharm, and was admitted to pharmacy school after my sophomore year. While working in the pharmacy, I realized that I hated it, so I drove back down to my college the summer before pharmacy school, dropped out and re-enrolled in undergrad as a chemistry/biology major. After one semester, I dropped the bio major to a minor and would eventually graduate as a chemistry major. Somewhere in there I got wrapped up in student activities and we know how that ended (if you don’t, check my about page).
So, not knowing what to do with myself at this point, I left to live in California for the summer, while I waited to hear back from the bizarre collection of graduate school applications I’d submitted (phd in chemistry, mba, divinity school (yes, i said that)). I was admitted to all and decided that the phd in chem was the best financial path since I’d be making a whopping $24k per year and have my tuition covered. I would end up leaving the program after a semester with terrible grades, complete disinterest in my classes and the stink of failure. I would have left in September, truth be told, because I hated it, but I couldn’t give up on my teaching obligations.
Fueled by that experience, I somehow acquired a teaching position teaching 7th grade science that I would leave at the end of the school year. After that, I got a CNA certification and got a job at a small surgery center. During the course of that year, I decided I wanted to do student affairs, but couldn’t apply. So I left this job when my lease ran out and was able to acquire a job working in the mortgage industry with Wells Fargo. During my time there, I’d be admitted to grad school and the rest, as they say, is history.
So, why did I tell you all this? Other than self-mutilation?
The truth is, I was a complete idiot. I hope that the seasoned career folks and student affairs pros can see the foolishness in my path there. I entered college with no direction, left college with no direction and spent the next four years doing the career exploration that should have been done as a college student, if not as a high school student. In truth, I didn’t realize how lost I was. My parents weren’t able to help, even though I know they really wanted to, and I wasn’t wise enough to seek professional help at that age.
My biggest regret is that I didn’t know how lost I was. I wish that I’d had the intelligence and foresight to go ask a seasoned career pro to help me through how lost I was, maybe to give me a career inventory or something (oddly enough, one of these landed me in student affairs). I wish that I hadn’t spent three years wandering around lost. It cost me a relationship, friendships, three years of earning potential, a lot of emotional distress, and a lot of time doing something I love.
So, I think that’s why I felt compelled to reach out to these freshman. I don’t want them to end up like me, someone who just blindly stumbled into his vocation. All of the resources I used to get here are available to anyone on the internet or in a career services office. Don’t be a moron like me and not take advantage of it if you find yourself lost.
Truth be told, I’ve seen a career professional 4 times since I started my masters degree in 2007, and I plan on going back the next time I feel a little bit lost. They’re good at it, and I trust that they have my best interest at heart.
That’s the thing about regrets. As long as they inform your future, and move you on towards something positive, they’re worth your time. Just remember, as the avetts say, when you run make sure you run to something not away from. I think I’m running the right way….for now.
When we last left the tale, I had been given notice by our IT guy that not only were we capable of storing and saving the data that I wanted, we already had the software that we needed present on our computers and, not only that, we were already using it, just not correctly. I was more amused than anything, but not overly surprised. Given an environment of high turnover, a system that is fairly complex, and an overall student affairs fear of data, I found it not altogether shocking that this information would have disappeared somewhere along with the names of the guys who shot Tupac and Biggie and the Iraqi WMD’s.
So, Chapter 3 starts where the IT guy warns me that he was nearing the end of his effectiveness, as, most likely, we didn’t have access to the student database that we needed to cross reference the IDs that we swiped so that we could actually make something reasonable out of the data other than just a collection of scrabble like number combinations. Quite literally, the data we were collecting would be useless without access to this database.
Let’s pause here for a little personal interlude. After we’d figured out that we could in fact collect the IDs with our swipes and save the information, I was feeling particularly empowered. I went across the hall to @curtistmed’s office and immediately told him that, not only were we good to start collecting data, but that we would eventually be able to use it. Frankly, I had nothing to back this up at the time. However, we all know that the university is largely about politics. Going into an assistant vice president’s office and saying “we need to collect some data and use it” is a far different than “we’ve been collecting this data all semester but IT won’t let us use it”. Huge difference, in fact. Question 1 is complex and multi layered, Question 2 is not complex. My political clout, if you will, to get what I need, would ultimately be in the data that we were going to collect and I knew we would be able to collect it.
Personal interlude 2 – I’m relentless. Keep turning me down and I will keep knocking at your door. Acting like that is a stupid philosophy when you’re being selfish. Acting like that when you’re trying to do the best job possible at work, and the thing that you’re trying to get will make you better at your job is smart. Play your political cards correctly, push when pushing is wise, and step your game up when pushing isn’t wise. I should explain the step your game up piece – going and whining to your AVC when you haven’t done your research and due diligence is foolish. If you’re going to appeal to a higher power, then at least do your due diligence. I’m reminded of the story about the man drowning on the roof of the house and praying for God to save him and he sees a man with a raft, a man with a plane and a man with a hot air balloon (or was it a jet ski or something? I swear I’ve never seen a hot air balloon just randomly flying over a flood. Maybe it was a dinghy), but he turns down all three rides . When God comes back, the man says “you didn’t save me” and God says “who do you think sent the boat, the plane and the balloon?” Don’t be that dude. Regardless of your religious affiliation, I hope you understand that the idea is about using all the resources at your disposal before you start wasting your AVC’s time. The AVC is the nuclear option. If you play your cards right and utilize all your resources, you shouldn’t need to use them, unless you get to the point you really can’t do anything else. Then it’s time to push the red button.
Anyway, back to the story.
So, the IT guy sets up another appointment to come by and check out whether we had access to this student database on Banner. I’m going to spare the argument that I think could (and maybe should) be made about whether all of us should have access to these files. He was surprised to find that our office did, in fact, have access to all of the student records through Banner, and within about five minutes of clicking around in Microsoft Access, we had a query set up to pull student data like Year/Classification/Age/Housing Status/Meal Plan/Major from the student files. The one piece we don’t have access to was, this is slightly hilarious, the file that actually contains the data we’re collecting. In IT guy’s opinion, this was not especially secure information and he saw no reason that we shouldn’t be able to get access. I concur. It would be even more fun to go into our AVC’s office and say “i’ve been collecting data all semester, can i please access it?” The access has been requested, though, so we’ll see how it goes.
At this point, I felt comfortable to approach our interim director, the Assessment Director for our Student Affairs Department about the process I’d been going through and how far I’d made it, and I think it’s fair to call her reaction complete and total shock. I won’t go into the details of the conversation because that’s for her to share, but suffice it to say, she was shocked that I’d been able to get this access to data and the ability to swipe cards to tally who was attending events. My reaction “i really wish I could tell you this was complicated and I’d done something magical, but I genuinely think people had had difficulty getting access to the student data that they need, so they just started telling people they couldn’t event track attendees at all and shouldn’t waste their time”. Obviously, that statement was complete conjecture on my part, but it’s my best guess to why I got to where I did and others haven’t. I should add that the overwhelming assistance from the man in IT was a huge help. IT man, if you read this, I owe you a beer (or six).
I posted back in April about what I thought student affairs assessment should look at. The inspiration for that post was my own work, where our assessment program has been essentially non-existent and as I was trolling through the data we do have, I was realizing that it was woefully inadequate to provide the sort of information that I was looking for. I’m no fan of surveying, but I think with some data collection, we might be able to better figure out more about what exactly is going on within our department.
So…here’s my update….
I honestly anticipated this process of creating what I want to be like pulling teeth. The general opinion from everyone I’ve talked to was that, not only was the data unavailable, that IT wouldn’t allow us to get the data and use it, they’d tried and no one would let them at it, and they’d appreciate if I’d quit asking, thank you very much! Okay, that’s a little dramatic. But the general idea of all conversations was something like “we’ve tried to get that, it doesn’t work and IT won’t help you”.
So, I set up a meeting with our swipe card office, expecting a war, instead I got no resistance whatsoever and was told that, not only can we help you, but we think what you’re looking for already exists! WHAT???? Needless to say, I was pleased and began to contact the necessary parties to make this happen.
After a quick call into the department that had the system I needed to copy, I contacted the IT department person by email who was in charge of their project. After not hearing back for a month, I anticipated I’d hit a snag. I decided to call and the IT person couldn’t have been more helpful.
And here’s the kicker….we already had what we needed.
Not only that…we also had instructions in a cabinet to do what we needed.
So…what in the hell is going on here?
Obviously, there had been some information lost in the turnover between staff; I think you have to actively catalogue said information in the process (particularly with technology that’s so different from workplace to workplace) or it disappears. In the transition, the move had been made to use a “good enough” solution for the program in question due to not understanding the full functionality that was at their fingertips. I think all of that’s going to happen with technology implimentation processes.
But I’m more curious about the no’s.
I go into situations assuming that something can be done when it comes to technology. I know what I need, I know how I think it can be done, but instead of saying “i need ____ technology to do ________”, I say “I need to get ________, how do I do that?” I’ve found this to be particularly effective for acquiring any information or service that you need, but particularly positive in this situation or with technology in general. It’s the difference between saying “i need to be on twitter, how do i do that” and saying “i need to communicate with students and I think I need to be online, what do you recommend?” The core goal isn’t to be on Twitter, the core goal is community building and communication; in this situation, the core goal isn’t Banner utilization, the core goal is data gathering, I’m agnostic as to the method.
So, I plan on keeping you updated as this process proceeds forward. It’s crazy to me that we’ve made it this far with essentially no new information. I, possibly wrongly, attribute it to persistence and asking people who know the technology the right questions and trusting their expertise could help. I’d like to hear your stories of tech implimentation!
This week at the Google I/O, a conference that “brings together thousands of developers for two days of deep technical content”, Google announced that it’s cloud computing computer project has reached fruition and is ready to go to market. The first computers available for massive sale will be the Acer and Samsung editions, with slightly different hardware systems, and coming in at price points of $349 and $429, respectively. However, they will have in common the Google Chrome OS system, a system that operates on the “cloud” and functions without what most users would recognize as an operating system (or a hard drive, really) and instead uses web applications and the internet. The focus is mobile, decentralized connectivity, all of these computers tout being “always connected” as an asset. However, the “always” may often mean using the 3G service that’s available in the area, a prospect that is intimately attached to a high cost for the user.
One place that will face less of an issue with needing 3G connectivity is college campuses, a place with nearly ubiquitous wifi, which makes the second piece of Google’s chromebook strategy more intriguing. Google will offer chromebooks (presumably the Acer and Samsung versions) for rental to schools and universities for a rental fee of $20 per month. No details about the plans (legalities, for example) were released at Google I/O, but nonetheless, this idea caused a minor stir. Would our students (or perhaps our offices) be interested in renting a chromebook for $20 a month?
I was lucky enough to be one of the users who was allowed to beta test a pre-release version of the chromebook and I’ll admit I’ve been impressed. I’m a high user of the cloud, operate nearly my entire day with a browser open, and am initiated to the google app suite; in a way, I’m an ideal user for the Chromebook. That being said, I see the potential of these machines. They don’t have the tiny, almost toy-ish, appearance and attempts at a workable OS that many netbooks have and are specifically made for a net addicted generation. Aside from the Chrome OS not playing nice with Skype (a software I use regularly), I haven’t run into any issues; the chromebook has actually become my primary home computer, overtaking my serious lenovo. I’m addicted to the simple user interface, long battery life and highly portable yet not overly tiny hardware. The system works and it works well. It’s too early to say what the impact is of this machine, but it seems safe to say that Google has made a strong entry into the laptop market, into the cloud market and will make many higher ed folks reconsider their next laptop purchase.
We need to track individual student’s attendance at events over the course of their time at the school. I’m not particularly interested in doing this for any purpose other than to see that student affairs programming is actually reaching all of the students. I suspect we’ll find that we’re hitting a small portion of the population. To my knowledge, the infrastructure does not exist to do this, but what I’m seeing in my head is an enormous spreadsheet with individual student ID #s and tracking of what events they attended. Frankly, this could be an entire student affairs (as well as athletics) effort to figure out what experiences our students are actually attending.
Learning outcomes listed and justified for EVERY event. I posted about the CAS standards here previously, and i’m thinking that you could list out individual learning outcomes for each event and then track these over the course of the year. In theory, each office (even better if this was a collaborative SA effort) should be hitting all of the learning outcomes repeatedly. Being able to cross reference these to determine what portion of our students are getting hit (not just shots in the dark, but actual individual students) by each learning outcome will give you some idea of what’s actually happening.
Cost per student for each event. If you’re tracking who attends, you should be able to get actual attendance numbers instead of estimates as well. Calculating cost per student will help to determine whether students are actually getting the value that they should be getting out of their student fees. A healthy look is to determine how much a similar experience might cost elsewhere; if cost per student is lower, you’ve done your job.
A few thoughts:
This plan places the responsibility on staff for accountability instead of surveying students to determine whether they’re engaged. We’re responsible for creating an environment for student learning and this plan tracks whether we’re actually creating that environment.
For the most part, student affairs learning/community building is tracked over a longer time frame than classroom learning. You can definitely learn chemical structures (okay…maybe you can’t…but i did) over the course of a day of studying. You can’t learn how to have meaningful relationships over the course of a day. Short time frame assessment, in light of this thought, is rather pointless and this system would provide the infrastructure to do a more meaningful long term study.
Self reported assessments of students are of marginal value anyway. Incentive exists for students to either not take these seriously, say what they think the surveyor wants them to say, or outright lie. In light of the incentives, the data received from these assessments (unless you’ve managed to limit these incentives somehow) is questionable.
Tracking financial expenditures with more accountability for said expenditures is imperative. I’ve heard SA folks refer to activities fees as “play money”. Please.
Tremendous research opportunities would be made available by tracking all of this data. I think we all know that’s needed.
I’m genuinely looking forward to reading the comments.
Thanks to Eric Stoller for this opportunity to get on Inside Higher Ed and share some thoughts about tech and student affairs.
My review on the Cr-48 and cloud computing is below…
You were selected by Google to beta test the Cr-48 Chrome Notebook. What are your initial impressions?
To give you and your readers a brief breakdown of what this technology is all about, it’s all centered around Google and the Chrome web browser; the computer is basically not operational unless you have internet access. If you’re familiar with the Chrome browser, the operational learning curve is essentially zero. I’ve been a Gmail user and admitted Google apologist since about 2002, and my job also uses the Google suite, so my life is essentially perfect for this operating system. I like the computer, the interface is clean and simple and the hardware seems to work well. I think this computer is what a netbook should be – light, portable, convenient, and web-centric.
What do you like/dislike about the Chrome OS? Favorite apps?
Not surprisingly, there are some challenges inherent of an entirely web and browser based OS. Even for me, a person who believes himself to be living essentially a web-based computer life, sometimes we don’t realize how much we use applications that are based in the non-web-based OS world. Skype doesn’t really play nice even though I do like Imo so far as a replacement. Netflix and Chrome don’t get along. Being a believer in our ability to work around challenges with tech, I think these are temporary issues though. I have found myself getting acclimated quickly to having a web-based OS and slowly have seen this computer taking the place of my other computing options. I had not been a major user of the extensions and apps in the Google web store, preferring the stripped down simplicity of Chrome overall. That being said, near as I can tell, the apps and extensions in the Chrome OS and the Chrome browser are essentially the same.
Apps I like:
News – Huffington Post app, NPR for chrome, New York Times
Social Aggregators – Layers, PostPost (if you’ve tried flipbook on the
ipad, these are similar)
Productivity – ScratchPad – a quick notepad
Social Media – Tweetdeck, Almost.at – provides a way to aggregate social content from major events
Diversions – Isle of Tune – game where you build beats using houses,
trees and plants, GoodFood – fun cooking app.
How do you think cloud-based computing will impact student affairs / higher education? Any specific functional area uses come to mind?
The cloud is all about having data and information accessible any time, any where, from any computer. I think it’s going to impact our whole society and not just student affairs. But with regard to student affairs in particular, our whole operation is supposed to be about being able to serve the students where they are. With cloud computing, that becomes quite literal. I’m no longer bound to my desk for advising meetings, instead just needing an internet connection and a computer that can access it, and the need decreases for toting around your primary office computer (wouldn’t that be fun for us desktop users?) to be functional. Frankly, I think this applies across functional areas.
For the rest of the interview – follow the link below:
We had a really interesting end of semester meeting at my institution today, and I think it’s illustrative to bigger issues going on within student affairs and higher ed in general. During the meeting our VP read a report from the campus planning commission that expressed support for student affairs as critical to the educational mission to the university (that’s good right?) and that they would continue to support any program that directly connected with the mission of the university to build a strong student life program (uh oh). Did you catch it? I did and I don’t think I was the only one.
The kicker was directly connect. We need to show that our programs directly connect to the mission and foster student life at the college. But what does this mean exactly? Well, here’s what that means at TCNJ. Go ahead and read that and I’ll continue. Back? Good.
I want to focus on the phrase “student-centered and learning-focused”. Folks, gone are the days of “this event was for fun” or “stress relief”. It’s bullshit, we all know it, and it’s going like a poof of smoke in the wind.
Coming are the days of justifying pennies, defending why this program existed and directly connecting it to learning. If you can’t do that or if you’re NOT PREPARED to do that, prepare to be excised or marginalized.
I love the fact that the big wigs on campus are expressing support, but I think what people missed is that it also comes with a cost of needing to justify that support. I hope we’re ready.
I feel like I must defend cost per student as a method of assessing the quality of programs. I feel that I must defend it because I was told it was worthless and “not worth digging into”. Frankly, I disagree with this view and I think this view (at least partly) arises out of desire to run from the accountability and fiscal responsibility that said metric demands.
During my grad school internship in assessment, I stated that the currency of student affairs was learning outcomes. After thinking about this comment for almost 2 years, I’ve realized that I was wrong. Our currency does certainly lie in outcomes and the assessment of those outcomes, but more than that, the currency lies in a need to provide the best possible efficiency, and it follows quality, of programs with the dollars we’ve been provided.
At it’s root, looking at cost per student is at the root of what we should be understanding, no? The current calculation is to use the overall cost of a program and divide that by student attendance and that gives you cost per student. My analytical mind tells me that this is grossly oversimplified though and does not measure all of the metrics needed to determine success in a program. Shouldn’t learning outcomes also be included in the equation? I say yes.
Another question…can we figure out a way to estimate attendees for a particular program, as well as cost and thus in theory determine whether we SHOULD do an event? If we can apply learning outcomes, get an estimated attendance figure and an estimated cost per student, then shouldn’t this allow us to ask the “should we do this?” question a little more clearly? I think so.
Either way, if we’re looking into the question of whether an event is worth it (either pre or post event), cost per student is a key efficiency metric that we need to make better decisions about the true cost of our events and programs.
Draw on Chickering (FREE) 
Let’s backtrack.
mortgage industry with Wells Fargo. During my time there, I’d be admitted to grad school and the rest, as they say, is history.
something I love.
So, Chapter 3 starts where the IT guy warns me that he was nearing the end of his effectiveness, as, most likely, we didn’t have access to the student database that we needed to cross reference the IDs that we swiped so that we could actually make something reasonable out of the data other than just a collection of scrabble like number combinations. Quite literally, the data we were collecting would be useless without access to this database.
