Today CAT welcomes Sue Frantz who will be showcasing some essential technology in The Academic's Toolbox. We're learning plenty which we'll be sure to share in the weeks and months ahead.
Author: Bart Everson
Creative Generalist in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development at Xavier University of Louisiana
RT8 Video Now Online
Rising Tide 8 is over — but video coverage of this "conference on the future of New Orleans" is now online. If you missed the live event, which has been hosted at Xavier and sponsored by CAT for three years running, you can still experience some of it vicariously.
All of the main stage panels offered substantive content with potential application for teaching and learning. I've linked these below with suggestions on what disciplines might find the content most relevant.
- Beyond Tourism, Beyond Recovery (Business)
- Charter School Access & Accountability (Education)
- Creating Community for Writers of Color: MelaNated Writers Collective (English, African American Studies, Communications)
However, for sheer inspiration and oratory, keynote speaker Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré surely takes the prize. There are some minor technical problems with the audio, but the substance of his speech more than compensates. Listen to this for a strong and stirring message on social and environmental justice in Louisiana. It's a true "call to arms" and must be seen to be appreciated.
Keynote: Lt. General Russel Honore
Of course, no matter your special area of interest, all these videos will be of interest to anyone who cares about the future of New Orleans.
Curation Presentation
For those who missed this week's presentation — or for those who'd like to review:
Content Curation for Teaching & Learning from XULA CAT on Vimeo.
More info & credits on our wiki.
Conversation #20: Values Education
Download Conversation #20
We want students to "think outside the box." Those boxes have been handed to them, and they are going to create new boxes. As educators, our role is to point out the boxes both new and old.
A conversation with Eric Bain-Selbo of Western Kentucky University, on teaching, learning and values education.
Links for this episode:
Post scriptum: CAT is pleased to welcome Dr. Ray Lang as our new podcast host for the 2013-2014 academic year.
Creating Community for Writers of Color: MelaNated Writers Collective at Rising Tide 8
This is just one of the compelling programs on offer at Rising Tide 8. Register now.
Far too often writers of color are unheard, under-represented, and undervalued in the literary world. MelaNated Writers Collective (@melanatednola) was established in 2010 to create a network of support and resources for writers of color in New Orleans. Members of MWC will discuss its struggles and success as a collective and why New Orleans is a ripe city for literary rebirth. Panelists will discuss how the group’s mission, vision, writers workshop, and how it engages community and partners with other locals.
...continue reading "Creating Community for Writers of Color: MelaNated Writers Collective at Rising Tide 8"
Bacon Reduction
Do you enjoy email? Do you want to spend more time managing your inbox? Do you look forward to sorting through lots of messages each and every day of your life?
If you answered yes to these questions, then you'll love bacon.
That's right, bacon. You're probably already bringing home plenty of bacon, and the future holds more. Don't worry about a thing, just keep on doing what you do and you'll collect more bacon every day.
If, on the other hand, you find your email inbox cluttered and sort of overwhelming, then you may be interested in learning more about bacon. You may benefit from understanding what it is, why it's so insidious, and what you can do to reduce it.
What is bacon?
Bacon is email you kinda sorta want. At least you thought you wanted it once upon a time, and maybe you still do. Perhaps you signed up for an electronic newsletter from your favorite musical act, or political cause, or health and wellness blog, or the latest social media site. Electronic alerts and notifications of all sorts can be classified as bacon.
It's not spam, not quite. After all, you asked for it.
It's bacon. It's been a round for quite some time, but the term "bacon" originated a few years ago, at Podcamp Pittsburgh in 2007. NPR covered the story then, including speculation that "it won't sizzle for long." Au contraire, mon frere! Check out this Mashable article from March, 2011, and be sure to pay special attention to the accompanying infographic.
The trend has only gotten stronger since then. There's more bacon flying around than ever before. More and more people are putting content out there on the net. More and more people are discovering email messages are a cheap way to reach an audience. The number of electronic newsletters and semi-automated messages is ballooning. The competition for your attention is increasing.
Insidious bacon
Spam filters have become pretty effective. You may not even be aware of how much spam they catch. Personally, I couldn't operate without spam filters.
Bacon is insidious because, unlike spam, you may actually feel a desire, a compulsion, even an obligation to read these messages.
Nevertheless, the amount of bacon you're getting can gradually increase until it's just as overwhelming as unfiltered spam.
At some point, you may need to ask yourself if all this bacon is becoming a problem. Is it distracting you from other tasks? How much time in each day is getting tangled up in bacon?
Debaconating
I recently took stock of my personal and professional email situation. I discovered I was getting about twenty bacon messages per day. I decided to take action.
With any given source — let's call it a baconstream — there are two options available. You can create filters so that you keep receiving the bacon but file it away for future reference. That way you don't see it right now, and it doesn't distract you. You'll read it later, on your own terms, when you get around to it.
Yeah, right.
The other option is what we might call the nuclear option: unsubscribing.
Many people do not unsubscribe because they think it will take too much time or too much effort.
I took some time on a recent Friday afternoon to try it myself. I let the bacon pile up for a day, then I went on an unsub spree. I simply looked for an unsubscribe link at the bottom of each message.
It took me 21 minutes to unsubscribe from 18 baconstreams. That averages just over one minute per unsubscription effort. So yes, it does take a little time. But now that a couple weeks have passed, I can report that it was time well spent. My inbox is less clogged than before.
New tools
Email programs are offering new tools to help you manage your bacon. For example, this summer Gmail has been rolling out a new tabbed inbox which automatically classifies your mail into categories such as Promotions, Social and Updates.
These tools are pretty handy. Though users have pushed back, and marketers are panicking, some experts believe it's a helpful innovation. By separating messages into defined categories, cognitive overload may be reduced.
In the final analysis, though, it's up to each individual user to decide just how much bacon they want in their lives, to decide what's truly useful and what's a distraction. My recommendation: Develop your own personal policy and enforce it through judicious unsubscription.
It's working for me.
Note: Some services allow more sophisticated tools for managing your bacon; you might be able to tweak some settings and turn a daily notification into a weekly, for instance. But in most cases, it's all or nothing.
Photo credit: Bacon! / http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
Rising Tide 8 Request for Proposals
Rising Tide NOLA, Inc. will present its 8th annual new media conference centered on the recovery and future of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast on Saturday, September 14, 2013 at the University Center of Xavier University of Louisiana.
This year, Rising Tide invites participation from community and university organizations from across New Orleans by issuing this request for proposals for programming, panels, and presentations at the event. The conference is a one day event with programming presented in a variety of formats including - but not limited to - individual presentations, directed conversations, keynote addresses, and on-stage panel discussions. The space available allows for significant flexibility when it comes to programming proposals.
Successful proposals will address issues relevant to New Orleans and the Gulf South’s ongoing recovery, diverse history, unique culture, or emerging concerns. Additionally, proposals could focus on or incorporate aspects of new or social media, information technology and access, and creative uses of communication. Collaboration between organizations to present programming is encouraged to add multiple and diverse perspectives. While programming is free to address political topics, Rising Tide maintains a strict non-partisan forum, current elected officials and campaigning candidates for political offices are discouraged from participating in programming.
PROPOSAL FORMAT
Proposals should include the following: a brief description of the topic being considered, with an indication of the relevance of the topic to local issues and what the audience should take away from the experience; a list of participants/presenters that describes their roles to the presentation and describes their relationship to or expertise on the topic; and a draft facilitation plan for how the programming will be presented to the audience, and how the audience will be involved in the presentation through questions, participation, discussion, etc.
Please email brief (2 page max) proposals in plain text, word documents, or PDF attachments to Jeffrey Bostick, Katy Monnot, and Patrick Armstrong at programming@risingtidenola.com.
PROPOSALS WILL BE ACCEPTED THROUGH MAY 31, 2013.
Acceptance notifications will follow within two weeks.
CONFERENCE BACKGROUND
While hosting the event at the Xavier University Center, attendance has averaged more than 300 attendees, media, and volunteer staff annually. The conference content has been live streamed on the web with over 1000 unique viewers during each event, with archives on the Rising Tide website. For this conference, organizers are hoping to coordinate programming for three separate spaces: a large stage-oriented venue with seating for up to 200; a medium venue with seating for between 30 – 40; and a seminar or group discussion venue for seating around 20. Program length can run from a minimum of 30 minutes for presentations or directed conversations in the smaller venues, to hour and a half panel discussion for the stage-oriented space.
Previous conferences featured keynotes by acclaimed local writer Lolis Eric Elie and Tulane University professor of history Lawrence Powell, as well as panel discussions on the status and future of local journalism, changes to the education system, environmental impacts of the oil spill, development of cultural economy, parenting, entrepreneurship, and neighborhood activism. Past speakers have included Treme and The Wire creator David Simon, geographer Richard Campanella, journalist Mac McClelland, entertainer Harry Shearer, and authors David Zirin, John Barry, Christopher Cooper, and Robert Block. The full 2012 conference schedule and list of panelists can be viewed on the Rising Tide website, as well as a list of participating vendors and non-profit organizations.
Conference registration information and publicity will be available online at www.risingtidenola.com. There will be discounted student admission, lunch is included in the price of admission, and vegetarian options will be available.
More information is available:
- at the Rising Tide website: www.risingtidenola.com;
- at the Rising Tide blog: risingtideblog.blogspot.com;
- on the Rising Tide Facebook page;
- and the organization can be followed on Twitter @RisingTide.
Rising Tide 8 is sponsored by The Center for the Advancement of Teaching.
Rising Tide NOLA, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed by New Orleans bloggers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the federally built levees. After the disaster, the internet became a vital connection among dispersed New Orleanians, former New Orleanians, and friends of the city and the Gulf Coast region. A number of new blogs were created, and combined with those that were already online, an online community with a shared interest in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast developed. In the summer of 2006, to mark the anniversary of the flood, the bloggers of New Orleans organized the first Rising Tide Conference, taking their shared interest in technology, the arts, the internet and social media and turning advocacy in the city into action.
CONTACT: Programming Committee programming@risingtidenola.com
WHO: Rising Tide NOLA
WHAT: 8th Annual Rising Tide New Media Conference
WHEN: Saturday, September 14, 2013, 9am – 6pm
WHERE: University Center, Xavier University of Louisiana
2013 NCF Honorees
CAT salutes this year's recipients of the Norman C. Francis Faculty Excellence Awards. The university has produced a short video tribute to each faculty member. Here's one to whet your appetite.
Please give them all a look.
Conversation #19: Interteaching
Download Conversation #19
A conversation with Bryan Saville of James Madison University, on teaching, learning and interteaching.
Links for this episode:
- a sample record sheet
- a prep guide from Dr. Saville's Research Methods course (Prep Guide #13)
- interteaching article from the Psychology Teacher Network
- practice prep guide for the interteaching article
All documents courtesy Dr. Saville.
Conversation #18: Online Engagement
Download Conversation #18
A conversation with Dave Yearwood of University of North Dakota, on teaching, learning and online engagement.
The one thing I'm really cautious about is making sure these technologies are not used as souped-up dump trucks. Meaning you load them up with content and you just drive it to where students are and you drop off the content and say to students, "Now you work with it." That's the one thing I try to stress that we have to be careful about not doing with our students.
Links for this episode:
- E-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning by Ruth Colvin Clark and Richard E. Mayer