College Stuff

Teaching and Technology

/ dwakimoto / 2 Comments

I’m very sorry for the lack of posts the last couple of months. It has been an extremely crazy quarter–very busy and every time I think I’ll have time to post, I get something else dumped on my plate. However, here is finally a post for this month and it is about a topic I feel is quite important: teaching and technology, or teaching with technology. As more and more classes go online and students expect technology to be used in their classes, instructors need to become not only competent, but innovative, in their uses of technology. So here are a few links to get your brain juices flowing.

Really, everyone should read this article, “Students unimpressed with faculty use of ed tech”. Yes, faculty members should use technology, but it is almost worse to use technology poorly than to not use it at all. I think that we need to offer more opportunities for training faculty in how to use technology tools both from a nuts-and-bolts perspective and also from a pedagogical perspective. There are tons of great technology tools out there, but if you don’t use the right one for the job, it is kind of pointless.

And, if you need another instance of why being comfortable with technology is important, check out “Universities’ virtual campuses growing fast”. Many students are clamoring for online classes, especially when they are asynchronous, because of the convenience.

Speaking of cutting edge technology, check out Lifehacker’s article on Google Wave’s best use cases. If you haven’t gotten invited to Google Wave, try to get an invite because it looks very cool and I think will be really useful for online collaboration. Combining Google Wave with a class Google Site populated with Google Gadgets sounds like a pretty good way to create a dynamic and interactive online environment for teaching.

So get out there and try some new technology. Trust me, Twitter doesn’t hurt, Google Wave will not cause you to drown, and Ning is actually fun and useful. I’d love to hear about your favorite tools for teaching online.

I’ll hopefully be back relatively soon with another post on libraries, technology and other good stuff. Until then, have fun, read a lot, and, as the Vlogbrothers would say: Don’t forget to be awesome!

Thinking

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

I think my current mood can be summed up by the quote by Don Marquis that says, “If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you. But if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.” Can we tell that it is the middle of the quarter here on campus? Sometimes it seems that thinking gets the short shrift on campus where frenetic movement and the appearance of busyness count more than actually taking the time to think and ponder before acting. I try to instill in my students, and those I help at the reference desk, the acknowledgement that thinking before action will ultimately save time in their school work and that this is a good idea to take out beyond the campus’ boundaries too.

But I hate to be gloomy so here are some great resources that will make you think and that might just be good conversation starters for those times when you can’t think of anything else to say.

Windows 7 is out, which is lovely. And, as always, Lifehacker is making our lives easier by its post on the Best Window tweaks that still work in Windows 7. Definitely a must read if you are considering (or already have) switched over to Windows 7.

This is kind of a scary article, but a definite must read for those of us who are teaching others how to evaluate sources: 1 in 3 kids think top search rankings most truthful. This is definitely a good talking point for a discussion on search engines and result rankings.

And, finally, because we all need a good laugh, here is a post on 100 hilarious college courses that really exist. Seriously, this is a fabulous list and great for a few laughs before getting back to work.

I hope everyone is having a terrific week and I’ll be back sooner rather than later (I hope) with more great tools and tricks for your techie, library-oriented life.

Working in Less Time

/ dwakimoto

I taught my first classes of the quarter yesterday, so the quarter finally feels like it has begun. It is crazy busy in the library as both new and returning students attempt to use our new printing system and navigate all the hurdles of registering for classes and finding textbooks on the cheap. Therefore, being able to get more done in less time is a really appealing to me. I think it is one of the reasons I like working from home occasionally. At home, I get more done in four hours than I can get done most days at work because I can truly focus in on what I’m doing at home. This post has some links to great articles and tools to help you get more done and actually have a life outside of work.

Lifehacker has a great article on the best sounds for getting work done. If you like to listen to music while you work, definitely check out this article. You might find some new favorite music to listen to while you are cranking out the reports.

I absolutely love and support this thought: “If you need to work better, maybe try working less”. I find that scheduling deadlines and tasks definitely keeps me on target and I get more accomplished than when I have more amorphous goals for the day or week. And I completely agree that it seems like we operate under the assumption that being at work late into the night or overworking and under-sleeping are signs of greatness or badges of honor. But actually taking time off and having a life makes one not only a happier, healthier individual, but someone who will actually be able to accomplish more. It is great to have some studies backing this common sense idea.

If you still haven’t used Wolfram Alpha, you really need to go there and check out what everyone is talking about. Wolfram Alpha’s retirement calculations is just another great feature of Wolfram and especially appealing in today’s turbulent economic times. It is another tool to add to your arsenal while you are planning your retirement.

This is a fantastic post on being at the point of need for our users. This post has some excellent tips and ideas that I think libraries need to think about implementing for the sake of our users.

Well, that is all from the Waki Librarian for today. I’m off to hold office hours. Enjoy the rest of your day and don’t forget to read and grow!

Reducing Waste

/ dwakimoto

No, don’t worry, this post is not about recycling or composting or even the Green Movement. Instead this is about reducing waste in terms of your time, energy and inspiration. It is back-to-school time and the campus is crazy here. So this topic of reducing waste is really close to my heart, especially as more things get piled on my plate.

First there is this article about “An inside look at college costs”. While we can argue about the accuracy of the article’s claims (and I think we should definitely look at the “objectivity”), it still brings up an important point–the bloat that exists at a lot of campuses. Sometimes reducing waste means reducing administration or streamlining processes instead of trying to blame faculty salaries for the woes of the university’s budget situation.

Speaking of working more efficiency, take a look at this article, “Maker’s schedule, Manager’s schedule”. This article made so much sense to me–this is why I just dislike meetings so much (or at least one of the reasons). Meetings just break up my flow in the work day and I like the idea of scheduling meetings at the end of the day like office hours–that would make me so much happier. I wonder if we could implement this…

And, of course, Lifehacker comes out with a great post on how to Reduce your inboxes to streamline your workflow and reduce stress. This is such a great tip and really makes my life much easier. I highly suggest it if you haven’t already combined and/or reduced your inboxes.

So that is it for the Waki Librarian today. Have a wonderful rest of your week, read a lot, and I’ll be back next week.

Travel, Cooking, Chrome, & Copyright

/ dwakimoto

Yes, it is another one of those potpourri days on The Waki Librarian. It is a day to show off, yet again, how cool Lifehacker is and also to help you get ramped up for the back-to-school season (even if you aren’t going back to school). So without further ado, here are the goodies of the day!

Do you travel a lot? Do you want to be more productive? Lifehacker has come up with a great list of the Top 10 Tactics for Productive Travel. I plan on utilizing some of these tips on my next cross-country trip. Now if we could only get all the airports to offer free wi-fi…

Next we need to offer a happy belated birthday to Google Chrome. This is only belated because I hadn’t gotten around to linking to this great post on Lifehacker. Definitely check out the time lapsed video on the creation of the Google Chrome cake. I am a total Google Chrome convert and can’t wait to see what new tweaks and upgrades this next year will bring for Chrome.

Of course, with school having started (or soon starting) we have to talk about copyright. So here is a question for you, Should Copyright of Academic Works be Abolished? Full disclaimer: I haven’t finished this article yet, but I think it is a really interesting idea and would be very helpful to the open access movement.

Finally, here is Lifehacker’s An Exhaustive Geek Guide to managing Your Recipes Online, because we all know that no one wants to go hunting around for a recipe while trying to make dinner. I am continually amazed by the plethora of great recipes that I can access on the web. I guess I should get it together with these recipe organizers–right now all my recipes are simply bookmarked on delicious! And if you want a recipe to get inspired, check out this awesome recipe for ice cream gyoza.

Have a great day, read a bunch and the Waki Librarian will be back with more later this week.

Technology and Being Social

/ dwakimoto

I feel that everything and everyone is in back-to-school mode. I went to the store the other day, fairly early in the morning, and was amazed at the crush of parents and students stocking up on supplies for the school year. And all I wanted was a pack of Post-it notes! So in the vein of back-to-school, here is today’s round-up:

This is a very interesting article from USA Today, “Are social networks making students more narcissistic?” I don’t know if social networks are to blame for an uptick in narcissism, if there is actually one. But I do think that social networks often do encourage oversharing and way too much information! Definitely take the narcissism quiz. It provides some points to think about and a very rough idea of how narcissistic you are.

For something not about narcissism, but about being social, check out The Shifted Librarian’s post on another reason for libraries to make their sites social. The Mobile Revolution is here. I just wish blogs hosted by WordPress could have the plug-in. Sigh.

And something that might help you if you are looking for places to host your videos: Lifehacker’s 5 best video sharing sites. This is great for those of us who teach classes online and also for students that have to post videos for their classes. Not to mention, just some great sites to check out for new videos to watch when you need that all important study break.

Have a great day!

College, Technology and Other Stuff

/ dwakimoto

Wow, last week in August already. Hard to believe that the summer is almost over and that some students are already back at college. Luckily my university is on the quarter system so I have another month to prepare. But in the vein of back-to-school time, here are some interesting articles to check out about college, dropout rates and other stuff.

This is an interesting article about dropout rates for college students in the United States. Definitely check out the suggestions at the end for tweaking the educational system in order to retain more students. I definitely agree that the entire remediation course idea needs to be re-engineered.

Speaking of change, check out this article from The Guardian on the “quiet” academic library revolution. While this might not be news to those of us that work in academic libraries, it is always nice to see articles about what work is “really like” for academic librarians. It’s all about the teaching and the technology–even on the other side of the pond.

danah boyd writes some of the most interesting pieces on technology today. Check out her “It’s easy to fall in love with technology…” article. I love that she attacks the notion “digital native”. Many of my students aren’t comfortable with technology and I get tired of reading all the articles that say that everyone under the age of 20 is a pro with every technology under the sun. Really, take the time to read this article–it has many great points to think about and discuss with your colleagues.

Finally, because it is back-to-school time, I thought we could all use Lifehacker’s 10 tricks for creatively hiding your stuff. There is nothing like a clean room to clear your mind so you can get down to work.

Finally, because everyone needs a laugh, here is xkcd’s latest flowchart on computer tech support. Enjoy!

Tech Support Cheat Sheet by xkcd.com

Tech Support Cheat Sheet by xkcd.com

Making the Digital Work for You

/ dwakimoto

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to incorporate technology into one’s life without having it take over your life. This has probably come to the fore as I’m getting ready for teaching in the fall and thinking about cleaning my office. Technology was going to make life easier, right? And yet, it seems like there is digital junk all around, especially on our hard drives.

Are you as sick as I am of logging into your email and having 60 messages waiting for you, before 9am? If so, check out this great post on alternatives to email for collaboration. I wish we could decrease the amount of email sent at my college by using some of these techniques.

Speaking of way too many unnecessary digital files, check out this article on cleaning up your “digital closet”. As someone who was trained as an archivist and has kept up on the discussions around preserving digital media and content, I can say this is a truly timely and important article. Seriously, clean up your files, migrate them if you have to, but for goodness sakes get them off your floppy disks before it’s too late! And junk the stuff you don’t need–there is a delete button for a reason.

So now that you are getting a handle on your “digital closet,” you might want to take a break and have some fun learning about college slang. UCLA has come out with another slang dictionary that can help you translate what students are saying–a very important feat for anyone who interacts with college students.

This last article is on Edupunks. These people are using and engaging with students and technology in fabulous ways to rethink the way people are educated. I think this is fascinating and really opens up a great opportunity for discussion about what are our core values when it comes to higher education.

That’s it for this Wednesday. Have a great day, read lots and the Waki Librarian will be back soon.

Updating the Updates

/ dwakimoto

Do you ever feel like you just have a handle on technology and then it suddenly changes? I’m pretty much feeling the information overload lately, although that might be partially related to the lack of sleep. But as today’s post title says, I’m going to attempt to update some of the most recent updates about technology and tools that I’ve posted to the Waki Librarian blog. So here we go!

First off we have The Bookworm’s Guide to the Lifehacker Galaxy. A great article and compendium of book related websites and tools, some of which were mentioned in a previous post. But this is a great refresher and an excuse to think about books while online or under the guise of getting more organized.

Librarian in Black has a great post on text messaging, Pew Studies, and information overload. Since mobile technologies are so hot right now, it pays to read the study on text messaging and mobile use. As ever, more information to update you on the latest trends and ways of applying the data to your library’s needs.

And, as an update to news about college students and unemployment during this recession, take a look at this New York Times article, In Recession, Optimistic College Graduates Turn Down Jobs. This is something I just couldn’t believe until I read the quotes from students in the article. I can’t believe that someone would turn down a job now when I have friends that have been trying so hard to get employment for months. I am just flabbergasted; there are no words.

So that is the end of the updates of the updates. As always, read lots, have a fantastic day and the Waki Librarian will be back with more later this week.

Graduate School and Reading

/ dwakimoto / 2 Comments

I think a lot about reading and college. This is not surprising considering I work at an academic library. However, I think that I just might be obsessing a little more than usual lately. At my library, we are trying to conserve paper and printer toner to a greater extent than we already do. So I’m sitting, staring at my computer screen even more than usual and pondering issues at the academy when my mind wanders as I try to read yet another pdf online.

So what does this have to do with today’s post? Well, I’m glad you asked.

To help with online reading, check out Readable which allows you to change the font, color and layout of what you are reading to make it easier to read. And you get to customize it to your settings. I think this is fabulous and definitely need to spend more time playing around with Readable. This is a free application and would be great for manipulating content for easier reading for those with vision difficulties.

Now, about college, more specifically graduate school. U.S. News just put out its new lists of the Best Graduate Schools. I was happy to see that my alma mater, Simmons College, got into the top ten for library science and ranked even higher for the archives and preservation program. Though not perfect, it is an interesting ranking list to check out. And who doesn’t like lists or checking out who’s who in the rankings?

This is an interesting opinion piece from The Wall Street Journal: So you Want to be a Professor. Just another look at the academy’s tenure versus adjunct professor debate and the fact that some universities are admitting fewer PhD students this year. Just some food for thought.

Hope everyone has a great day. More fun, interesting, and helpful news later this week.