Best Webcams for Teachers and Students — from techlearning.com by Luke Edwards
Get the best webcams for teachers and students to help with hybrid learning and more
Best Wireless Keyboard and Mouse for Teachers 2022 — from techlearning.com by Luke Edwards
The best wireless keyboard and mouse for teachers keep you connected to devices while staying mobile
2023 Higher Education Trend Watch — from educause.edu
Excerpt:
This report focuses on the workforce, cultural, and technological shifts for ten macro trends emerging in higher education in 2023. Across these three areas of shift, we report the major impacts and steps that institutions are taking in response to each trend. Some trends overlap with the 2022 Higher Education Trend Watch report. However, while some topics and issues remain consistent, significant shifts have occurred across many of the trends for 2023.
You want your students back in the classroom? Give them a good reason! — from educationalist.substack.com by Alexandra Mihai
Excerpt:
Right now what I would like to do is turn things upside- down and bring the physical classroom and the in-person teaching and learning into the spotlight. After almost three years of doing things differently, for better or worse, I believe this is a crucial exercise that will help us calibrate our practice moving further. Ironically, despite our expectations that students will happily rush back to campus, many of us noticed a different reality: low attendance levels and in some cases also low engagement.
So, a few questions we could start by asking ourselves are…
So the next time someone asks “why should students come to class?” let’s try to answer anything else than “because they have to”.
Washington State U Student Workers Vote to Unionize — from insidehighered.com by Colleen Flaherty
Excerpt:
Graduate and undergraduate teaching and research assistants at Washington State University voted to form a union affiliated with the United Auto Workers, they announced Thursday.
A Brilliant MIT Professor Shared 10 Simple Rules That Will Teach You How to Give a Great Speech — from inc.com by Justin Bariso
Excerpts:
How much would your life change if people valued all of your ideas?
In a recorded lecture that’s been viewed over 13 million times, MIT professor Patrick Winston takes a deep dive into how to be a better speaker. He explains that your success in life depends on your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas — in that order.
His point? No matter how amazing your ideas are, no one cares unless you can convey them in a clear, compelling manner — and with emotional intelligence.
Use an empowerment promise to explain to your listeners exactly what you can teach them, how they will benefit, and why it’s important.
2023 Top 10 IT Issues: Foundation Models — from educause.edu
Excerpt:
Recent times have brought about a Great Rethink that is upending previous models of management and working. Higher education is no exception. In 2023, institutional and technology leaders are ready for a new approach.
The EDUCAUSE 2023 Top 10 IT Issues help describe the foundation models that colleges and universities will develop next year and beyond, acting on what was learned in the pandemic and framed by the three building blocks of leadership, data, and work and learning.
See where things are headed in 2023 and beyond.
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From DSC:
At this point in time, I’d find your visionary, innovative, tech-savvy leaders out there — and not just for IT-related positions but for Presidents, Provosts, CFO’s, Heads of HR, and similar levels of positions (and ideally on the Boards as well.) Such people need to be at the table when strategies are hammered out.
For example, if your institution didn’t get seriously into online learning long before Covid19 hit, I’d clear house and go back to the drawing board on your leadership.
Also, data won’t save higher ed. New directions/pathways might. But I’m doubtful that new sources of data will — no matter how they are sliced and diced. That sort of thing is too much at the fringe of things — and not at the heart of what’s being offered. The marketplace will eventually dictate to higher ed which directions institutions of traditional higher education need to go in. Or perhaps I should say that this is already starting to occur.
If alternatives to institutions of traditional higher education continue to grow in acceptance and usage — and don’t involve current institutions of higher ed — those sorts of institutions may already be too late. If more corporations fully develop their own training programs, pathways, and credentials, there may be even fewer students to go around.
A final thought: Cheaper forms of online-based learning for the liberal arts may be what actually saves the liberal arts in the long run.
Also relevant/see:
Digest #166: Perfectionism in Education — from learningscientists.org by Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel
“Perfection is the opposite of done!” I came across this statement recently and it made me think about how perfectionism really affects one’s work and studying. Growing up, I always thought of perfectionism as a good thing, as something to aspire to. However, more recently I am questioning this thought. It adds unnecessary pressure that it difficult to live up to and sustain. I see that many issues that my students are experiencing can be traced back to perfectionism. To incredibly high goals and standards that are impossible to achieve and that makes your work not being “good enough” – when it actually is. The consequences of high perfectionism can be manifold and in today’s digest, I’d like to offer an overview of resources on perfectionism in education.
From DSC:
Somewhere along the lines, I heard that if an interviewer asks you to state a negative characteristic, choose something like perfectionism — to turn something that could be a negative into a positive. And back in my earlier days, I thought that made sense.
But I have to agree with Carolina here. The older I get, the more my empathy levels would rise if someone gave me that answer today. I’m a perfectionist and I can truly say that perfectionism is a joy-robber! It can destroy a good day. It can destroy a good mood. It can destroy joy. I don’t recommend it.
How do colleges decide when to schedule courses? — from highereddive.com by Rick Seltzer
Dive Brief (excerpt):
From DSC:
This is a tough one, as faculty members and staff members have obligations outside of work as well. They may have families. They may need to transfer kids to/from school or drop them off at music lessons, sporting events, etc. So many people working within higher education like to keep to “normal business hours” as much as possible. Obviously, that’s not always true and I’m likely painting with too broad a paintbrush.
That said, online-based learning opens up a lot of possibilities for faculty members as well as for students. Schedules can often be opened up quite a bit. This level of flexibility is becoming increasingly important, given the prices of obtaining degrees out there. Students often need to work as well — and their places of employment don’t always provide the required flexibility.
How to Cope With Presentation Anxiety — from chronicle.com by James M. Lang
Here’s how a professor and experienced public speaker has learned to deal with the academic version of stage fright.
Excerpts:
Build a pause into the initial minutes of a presentation, so that you can stop and catch your breath. I don’t mean the kind of brief pause you might make between two sentences. I mean a substantive pause in which you are able to stop speaking — for at least 30 seconds — because you have given your audience something to view, think about, or discuss.
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The remedy: Don’t envision yourself speaking for 45 minutes. Instead, soothe your brain and nervous system by persuading them that you only have to get through the next five minutes.
Your audience wants to learn from you. But real learning requires active thought from the learner. So use those early moments of your talk to start them thinking and take some of the pressure off you.
How college leaders can create a culture shift to stop burnout — from highereddive.com by Laura Spitalniak
Competitive pay and work schedules are important to attracting and retaining employees, according to a new ACE report. But so is valuing employees’ time.
Excerpt:
Amid the Great Resignation, higher education is facing particularly high rates of employee burnout and possible attrition. But there are tangible ways college leaders can change workplace culture and increase worker retention, according to a new report from the American Council on Education.
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Another highly requested benefit is a hybrid work schedule with the ability to work remotely. Nearly 70% of surveyed college employees want to work remotely at least part time, but almost two-thirds are working mostly or completely on campus, according to the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.
