Guest Blogger: Ashley Noel, Campus Liaison for the University of Wisconsin at Stout
Students can use the Netter's Anatomy Flashcards iPhone App to study for an exam!
Not just a fad, iPhones are rapidly proving themselves to be a successful tool for students in the classroom. Introduced back in Summer of 2007, Apple’s new and innovative cell phone was quickly named “Invention of the Year” by Time Magazine.
In an article written by Simmi Aujla, Abilene Christian University gave an iPhone to every first-year student in 2008 to increase the quality of communication between students and professors. Students admitted to using the technology at least once a day for their school work. Executive Vice President of the University had nothing but rave reviews on the students behalf for the new program. In addition, it was acknowledged that with the given time frame of how new the program is, there is not enough conclusive data to prove that the success rate of students has risen; but that the first step of getting students enthused has been accomplished.
As a devout BlackBerry user, I had to investigate further as to what applications the iPhone offers that would benefit students such as myself. Mental Case, an interactive application that begins with a Mac computer, allows flashcards to be created and synced to your device. I can see this application being most popular, as this is a great tool to cram in the last bit of studying while riding the never-ending bus ride to school. Record a Lecture is a fantastic way to share class lectures with your fellow absent peers; another app feature allows the recording to be sent via email. Lastly, iHomework, is an assignment calendar allows you to stay organized using your iPhone and eliminates the need to carry around the obnoxious day-planner. This application allows the user to stay on top of deadlines by sorting assignments by day, week, and specifically by course.
iPhone is currently skimming the surface with all of the opportunities to reach the student demographic and to add value to the education system. In my opinion, Apple is off to an incredibly engaging start! Check out more Apps for Students!
I have a bold prediction about facebook (or “the facebook” for us old-timers). I am making this prediction based on keen observation, scientific analysis and guessing…..mostly guessing.
I have had a love-hate with facebook from the start, and from the start I mean 2004. Ever since they started with the vanity URLs I have become a bigger fan, and I do not see the facebook momentum in any area slowing down anytime soon with one exception. My prediction is: within 5 years, college students will start to leave facebook, or at least it will not be their primary social hub. I know you think I might be crazy, but hear me out.
Facebook is big. If there is a word that embodies a more descriptive meaning than big, then that is the word I need. Perhaps, huge, massive, or gargantuan is a more appropriate term to use when describing facebook. Yet, according to a recent article on Mashable “…Facebook is valued higher than CBS, Discovery Communications, and Macy’s.” Facebook, which started as a tool for college students to connect, now has over 250 million make that 300 million users worldwide with over 150 million unique logins in everyday. And I think they are just getting started.
The 2 reasons I am making this prediction: 1) Parents. 2) Corporations.
Facebook’s fastest growing demographic is no longer first-year college students, it is people ages 35 years and up. That means parents, uncles, aunts, or other authority figures that may (depending on your privacy settings) have access to view your activities or photos. You should ask your students the start of every year how many of them have parents on facebook to see if the number increases over the years. My Aunt that joined facebook last week and she just turned 69. I think it is cool so I can keep up with her, but her soon to be college grandkids may think differently. And when my parents joined last week I did not know what to think.
Facebook has had a few major development changes that I think are interesting, but the one that affect this issue is the creation of fan pages. Pages we create for corporations and organizations easily have a presence and advertise on facebook. They were given the first opportunity to create vanity URLs such as facebook.com/vitaminwaterbefore people had the opportunity to create their custom URL. In the current world of marketing, facebook is becoming an essential step in any marketing campaign that can quickly distribute information to a mass audience.
When facebook hit the college campus it was their thing. You had to have a “.edu” email address, while everyone else could go join MySpace or Friendster. College students embraced thefacebook.com and Mark Zuzkerberg, but now it is starting to become a place of commerce. It is like showing up to the mall, or any personal hangout spot, and your parents are hanging out there. So I ask: when was the last time college students wanted to socially interact in a corporate location with their parents?
Today’s guest blogger, Kate Klingensmith, is Director of Research for Inigral, a San Francisco-based education startup company. With a degree in Cognitive Science and four years experience with teaching high school biology and physics, Kate has a strong interest in college matriculation, technology integration in the classroom, and student engagement. Her blog, Once a Teacher, is a record of her quest to research and collaborate with others to find ways of incorporating web 2.0 tools into both education and administration.
What is a PLN?
If I had to define what a ‘Personal Learning Network’ is, I would keep it simple and broad:
n. – the entire collection of people with whom you engage and exchange information, usually online.
Personal Learning Networks, or PLNs, have been around forever. Originally, they were your family and friends, maybe people you worked with, but as the internet and web 2.0 tools have become nearly ubiquitous, PLNs can include tons of different communities – social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, social bookmarking tools, LinkedIn, and so many more. Basically, anyone that you interact with is apart of your PLN, whether they are social contacts, professional peers, or experts in their field. Most of the ‘learning’ takes place on-line now, because it is simple to find and connect with others with similar interests from around the world.
PLNs have immense value!
So, why bother thinking about your PLN? Whether you’re a full-time mom, a full-time administrator, or a full-time student, your PLN can be extremely interesting and helpful. The beauty of people communicating online is the ease of finding and sharing information and – if you ask for it – the group feedback that you get on ideas and projects.
Here are some ways that people are using their PLNs:
- Professional development – learn from experts in your field
- Locate free resources, such as websites and software
- Get event and marketing ideas
- Learn about new technology and how to integrate it into your role
- Find collaborative solutions
- Find interesting links to higher ed news
When you have a large group of people combing through vast amounts of information and collectively identifying the most useful, entertaining, or valuable parts, it makes a lot of sense to tap into this collective knowledge!
Build Your Own PLN
If you’re interested in expanding your PLN, here’s a directory of some of the best web 2.0 tools:
Category
Value
Examples and Guides
Social Networking
Keeping up with personal, more social contacts like friends, family, and alumni
Great sources of information such as recruitment best practices as well as personal opinions; Blogs monitor the heartbeat of new trends in every field and the commenting back and forth leads to many great ideas and relationships
RSS means “Real Simple Syndication” – an RSS reader is a tool that allows you to keep up with many of your favorite blogs, all in once place
(see this video ‘RSS in Plain English’)
Live, on-line presentations or conferences, with real-time chat, hosted by experts on specific topics; Great way to learn about new things and to meet new people
When there are neat (and expensive) conferences that you can’t attend, follow conversations and links about the highlights
Twitter search – use acronyms like ‘#educomm’ or ‘#heweb09’
What to Expect – Stages of PLN Adoption
There are certain stages that most people seem to go through when building their PLN before settling into a comfortable niche. It may take a little time, but you’ll eventually find that a rich PLN can elevate both your personal and professional life to new heights.
You have an online space even if you do not claim it. A student of the McCombs School of Business (probably an alumni now) created a Facebook account for Red McCombs the namesake of the school 4 years ago. Red McCombs is a brand, he did not claim his space, so someone else did.
Recently there was an article in the Chronicle about fake twittering presidents from The University of Texas and Georgetown University which leads me to think who is monitoring your universities brand? Have you claimed your space? Are people not only talking about you, but talking for you?
Integration Enables OrgSync to Release a Premier Treasury Solution for Higher Education
OrgSync is excited to announce that it has integrated PayPal into its co-curricular management platform. With PayPal, student leaders and campus administrators can electronically issue invoices and collect payments online. The integration brings convenience and security to collegiate treasury management while decreasing administrative burdens and saving campuses time and money!
“We are pleased that OrgSync has chosen PayPal to provide student organizations and campus administrations with a safer and more convenient way to send and receive money online,“ said Glenn P. Lim, General Manager of Alliances and Vertical Markets at PayPal. “We look forward to working with OrgSync to make the security and convenience of PayPal available to college campuses everywhere.”
OrgSync continues to evolve, offering campuses a partnership to build the ultimate campus management solution together! “PayPal’s payment service is a great match for the needs of OrgSync’s technology platform,” said Eric Fortenberry, CEO of OrgSync. “OrgSync has developed an unparalleled company culture, forming unique relationships with each one of our campuses. We share a vision with our clients to build a solution that will benefit the Higher Education community as a whole and accelerate student involvement and success. OrgSync has found the same zeal and values in PayPal and is excited to provide additional treasury benefits to its clients.”
This past March, the SXSWi opening keynote speech, presented by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, highlighted the importance of developing a strong company culture and explained his company’s revolutionary vision of customer service.
Zappos’ philosophy of success is similar to that of OrgSync’s in many ways. Above all, we believe strongly in adhering to company culture and core values. At OrgSync, our success is driven by three core values: 1) Giving the customer the largest stake in the future of the OrgSync platform, 2) Empowering organizational leaders through technology, and 3) Making positive contributions to our communities.
First, as a hosted solution, we believe that development of a premiere product is best accomplished by giving our clients the largest stake. Every month, we encourage our clients to meet with our in-house development team to discuss new product ideas and trends. Through this method of communication, our development team is able to quickly design and implement new features for the entire client base to use. Moreover, OrgSync recently released an Application Programming Interface (API) that will provide campus IT departments the flexibility to create automated processes based on the needs and requirements determined by the school or organization. OrgSync also has a 24/7 customer support line that clients are encouraged to call whenever they need a question answered.
Eric and Jeff at NCLC
Second, OrgSync seeks to empower organizational leaders through technology. The OrgSync team has a strong background in higher education, and involvement in campus organizations. In fact, the very idea to create the OrgSync solution was generated from our co-founders’ experiences in running multiple student organizations at The University of Texas at Austin. Members of the OrgSync team are also regular attendees of the International Leadership Association Global Conference, the National Collegiate Leadership Conference, which is hosted on OrgSync, and the Lone Star Ruby Conference. OrgSync’s involvement in these conferences expresses commitment to innovation and leadership that will best serve OrgSync’s client base.
Lastly, OrgSync aspires to make positive contributions to the Austin tech community, and the communities of its clients. In February, OrgSync sponsored the Austin Twestival hosted by media maven Michelle Greer. Also, earlier this year, our company organized a daylong social media campaign on Twitter to raise over $1500 for Clean Water, whose objective is to provide sanitary water to natives of Africa.
OrgSync’s Cayce Stone uses the phrase “Everybody wins!” to summarize the OrgSync philosophy. By adhering strongly to these core values, OrgSync to provides a solution that makes management of your organization more efficient.
That following Monday morning, I received an email from Tony detailing where I could find more information about Zappos culture. He informed me that a copy of the Zappos Culture book I had requested would be arriving at my doorstep soon, and also extended an offer to visit the Zappos headquarters next time I am in Las Vegas. Thanks again Tony for being an excellent role model!
YouTube, the social media phenomenon that allows you to “broadcast yourself” has mainstreamed video sharing across the world! Currently we take video sharing for granted, but prior to YouTube streaming video was expensive, timely, and difficult to do. Now there are multiple platforms available to broadcast videos and create personal channels including YouTube, Viddler and Vimeo, to name a few. For purposes of this post I will stick with YouTube.
It was not until recently I realized the power behind the YouTube Phenomenon. For example, Soulja Boy was discovered in March 2007 from a rap video called “Crank That” which he made in his home studio and uploaded to YouTube . You can find 100′s of videos of people emulating the Souljah Boy dance including one of MIT professors and another of Prisoners in the Philippines. By May 2007 he had a record deal with his song reaching #4 on the Billboard charts and a Grammy Nomination. Another recent discovery on YouTube was Arnel Pineda, who had posted videos on YouTube oh himself singing Journey cover songs. Journeys talent agent came across Pinedas videos and quickly asked him to join the band as the new lead singer!
So what does this mean for Higher Education? Dr. Mike Wesch teaches a class at Kansas State University that requires students to interact with YouTube. His presentation at the Library of Congress is a must watch, and of course is broadcasted on YouTube. It is an Anthropological look at YouTube that explores the connectedness, culture, and power of this medium. If you have spent limited time on YouTube you will quickly discover how everyone can have a voice and be heard by the world.
Many departments across campus could benefit from video technology such as YouTube. Admissions Offices can actively attract prospective students and provide a better snapshot of their campus experience by posting videos of student life, campus tours and student testimonials. Campus administrators can also use YouTube to broadcast weekly or monthly addresses to the campus. How many campuses feel there are communication problems from administration to staff, or staff to students? This is an easy (and free) method of increasing communication on campus.
Create a video year book and document sporting event, guest speakers, concerts, and other memories you want to capture and share for the year. Kudos to the Universities that have created their own YouTube Channel and started putting content on there, but this is just the beginning.
What are additional ways YouTube can be used in the classroom or on campus? How do you Use it now?
OrgSync’s first year at the SXSW Interactive Festival was a great success! We met many people interested in advancing technology in Higher Ed. Many shared our goal to accelerate student success through out of classroom involvement and innovative service learning. We also met many companies interested in partnering to help spread our services.
Saturday was an exciting day, OrgSync CEO, Eric Fortenberry and Jeff Jackson, Director of Client Services and Leadership Development, were interviewed by Texas State professor Cindy Royal. They told the “OrgSync Story” and went on to discuss how our online hosted tools will help universities communicate better with their students and help students get engaged on campus. The interview can be seen here.
Eric and Guy Kawasaki
The Festival’s opening remarks were made by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. He emphasized the importance of a strong company culture and always working to make the customer service experience the best it can be. It was very interesting to see how similar the Zappos company culture and core values are to ours at OrgSync. We both understand the importance of customer service, flexibility and innovation to revolutionize our customer experience.
It was very exciting to meet some of the nation’s most innovative and successful entrepreneurs. Team OrgSync had the pleasure of meeting Kevin Rose, co-founder of Digg and Alex Albrecht co-host of Diggnation. As well as many other great entrepreneurs such as Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable, blogger Robert Scoble, and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki.
Later that day, Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht hosted Diggnation live from Stubbs BBQ. The OrgSync Team got to watch the show from the VIP balcony alongside other entrepreneurs mentioned in Sarah Lacey’s book, Once You’re Lucky, Twice Your Good; a company favorite!
Nicole, Kevin Rose and Eric
Even more exciting was meeting John Schuman, Senior Worldwide Evangelist and Megan Stewart, Director Worldwide Higher Education for Adobe Systems. We discussed how we work with student organizations’ webmasters and how we’re interested in figuring out how to partner with Adobe so we can further provide student webmasters with the tools and experience they need to succeed.
One of the discussions held on Sunday consisted of a Higher Ed Panel focused on the challenges of the web in higher education. The panel discusses small budgets, and the generation gap between faculty and students as hindering the advancement of technology in the Higher Ed community. We were very pleased to see such a large audience working to bring advancements in technology to the classroom. Many agreed that students need to get involved more outside of the classroom to complement their academic studies and accelerate their success. We also tried to advance these discussions by sponsoring the 3rd annual SXSW Higher Ed MeetUp/ TweetUp at Buffalo Billiard’s.
Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed attending and exhibiting at SXSW and are already excited about next year’s Interactive Festival.
As an educator, the following video clip really resonated with me. Technology has advanced greatly since I was in school, but uses of technology in the classroom have not advanced that quickly. We may have transitioned from overheads to PowerPoints and from VHS to DVD, but the essence of the classroom is still the same; rows of students listening to an expert lecture creating isolation between student and teacher and student to student. Not a conducive learning environment for collaboration!
Kaplan University has run a series of commercials, and is basing their teaching model on the principal of “attend our online classes anytime, anywhere, 24/7.” Take a class at home, on your lunch break, or on the train during your morning commute. Thinking about what all my iPhone can do, it’s not a huge leap to image Kaplan creating an online class application.
Don’t get me wrong I do not want to do away with the “traditional” university model, but where is the classroom innovation? If we truly want students to learn, then why do we not teach them in a manner or style that is conducive to learning? Well I think Uncle Phil says it best in the new Kaplan commercial. “I think it is time for the University to start adapting to you rather than you adapting to it” and my favorite line “[It is time] To learn how you learn so we can teach you better.”
What are your thoughts? How could your University adapt better? What would an ideal learning classroom look like for your campus?
We are excited to welcome the University of Alabama, the University of North Texas and the University of Nevada at Reno to the OrgSync community. Jointly, these three universities will bring over 850 student organizations onto the OrgSync platform. We look forward to building great relationships on each one of these campuses and improving communications campus-wide!
“We are excited about providing all of our students a one-stop-shop for student organization management and a centralized place for students to get involved,” says Stacy Jones, Director of Student Leadership at the University of Alabama. Alabama plans to start the training process ASAP, followed by a full campus roll-out for all 250 student organizations. Stacy Jones has been working rigorously to bring the OrgSync platform to Alabama and is excited to start training and implementation.
The University of North Texas in Denton, TX has over 400 student organizations that will be using OrgSync to improve communication and organization management. “I am excited about everything that OrgSync will offer to our students. The entire program is going to help all aspects of campus, and the student body is ready for this move up in technology,” says Brooke Carter, Student Activities Coordinator at UNT.
Jason Entsming, Director of Organizations for the Student Government at Nevada, is especially excited to bring OrgSync to Nevada’s 200 student organizations. Having been mesmerized by OrgSync’s capabilities since Fall 2008, Jason is looking forward to implementing OrgSync for the Student Government to better communicate with and manage student organization needs. “Our students want and expect to be able to communicate online. OrgSync will allow us to setup an online community for our students and enhance their out of the classroom experience,” says Amy Koeckes, Coordinator of Clubs and Orgs at University of Nevada at Reno.
On behalf of the OrgSync team, I would like to wish all three of these schools a warm welcome to the OrgSync family!
PLNs have immense value!
“We are pleased that OrgSync has chosen PayPal to provide student organizations and campus administrations with a safer and more convenient way to send and receive money online,“ said Glenn P. Lim, General Manager of Alliances and Vertical Markets at PayPal. “We look forward to working with OrgSync to make the security and convenience of PayPal available to college campuses everywhere.”
That following Monday morning, I received an email from Tony detailing where I could find more information about 
YouTube, the social media phenomenon that allows you to “broadcast yourself” has mainstreamed video sharing across the world! Currently we take video sharing for granted, but prior to YouTube streaming video was expensive, timely, and difficult to do. Now there are multiple platforms available to broadcast videos and create personal channels including YouTube, Viddler and Vimeo, to name a few. For purposes of this post I will stick with YouTube.
