My colleagues and I at NIU were recently notified of the publication of our article, Measuring digital professional development: Analytics for the use of web and social media. Purpose As faculty professional development increasingly occurs online and through social media, it becomes challenging to assess the quality of learning and effectiveness of programs and resources, yet it is important to evaluate such initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to explore how one faculty development center experimented with using analytics to answer questions about the use and effectiveness of its web and social media resources. Design/methodology/approach The case study was based on direct observation of the center’s practice and review of selected data generated by the analytic tools. Findings Unfortunately, while some analytics are available from a variety of sources, they are often distributed across tools and services. The center developed an analytics strategy to use data from Google Analytics and social media reporting tools to assess the use of online and social professional development resources. Initial results show that the center’s online and social professional development resources are widely used, both within and outside the university. However, more work is necessary to improve the strength and scope of the available analytics. Practical implications As a result of the analysis, the center has streamlined online resources, targeted social media use, and has begun developing methods to allow faculty to report online resource use as professional development for academic personnel purposes. Originality/value Many faculty development centers have not explored methods of evaluating online and social media resources. This paper outlines a strategic evaluation plan to measure the usage of online resources as well as engagement and interaction through social media. Citation Rhode, J., Richter, S., Gowen, P., & Krishnamurthi, M. (2015). Measuring digital professional development: Analytics for the use of web and social media. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 7(1), 19-31.

Today I’m sharing with you 10 textures of old tile glue. I’m in the process of redecorating my bathroom, and I after tearing down the tiles the old glue was left on the wall in all it’s beauty. I hope you can use them for something cool. Enjoy! Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (57.2Mb) Did you like these textures? Let us know by leaving a comment, and you can even post a link if you used them in your artwork. Related Posts Free Texture Friday - Black Leather Free Texture Friday - Grunge Screens Free Texture Friday - Worn Concrete Free Texture Friday - Misc Wood Free Texture Friday - Vintage Stone Wall 2

The 13th Annual SLATE Conference will be held on October 21-23, 201 at the Northern Illinois University regional campus/conference center in Naperville, IL, which is along the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor (thirty minutes from downtown Chicago). My colleagues from NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center will once again provide logistical support for the conference and look forward to participating in the conference, having already submitted several presentation proposals. This conference has become a premier event in the Midwest and has attracted participants interested in supporting learning and technology in education from around the world in higher-ed, K-12, government, and the corporate sector. Over the past twelve years more than 3,200 people representing almost 200 unique institutions from the Midwest, across the country, and around the world have attended this conference. Recognizing that deployment issues, support concerns, teaching strategies, learning styles, best practices, etc. are common among the varied CMS/LMS clients (Blackboard, Moodle, Sakai, etc.), this conference invites all faculty, system administrators, CIO’s, Web developers, instructional designers, librarians, students, and user support staff from institutions that are deploying and/or currently using any Web-based tools, applications or programs, in their teaching and learning. Call for Presentations Submissions are invited for presentations, panel discussions, or working group activities (now through June 30, 2015) which can cover a broad range of topics that relate to best practices, innovative, engaging, and pedagogically sound uses of technology in teaching and learning, etc. Speakers are encouraged to submit proposals whose general focus is the use of technology in teaching and learning regardless of the platform or tools being used. Other topics and ideas will also be considered. If you have an idea for a panel discussion and need some help in getting people together, contact the conference coordinator, Ken Sadowski, and he can help to connect you to others who may have already expressed similar ideas. Some of the topics presented in past conferences included: Using Podcasting to Meet the Needs of Millennial Students Platform-Independent Course Design Teaching Writing Using Blogs and Wikis Student GPA and Course Delivery Methods Using Technology Tools to Ensure Faculty Success Online Assessment Strategies Using Your CMS as a Retention Tool More detailed information can be found at the following: SLATE Conference home Proposal Submission Form SLATE home page I hope to see you @SLATEConference #slate15! If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact: Ken Sadowski SLATE Conference Coordinator email: ken@slategroup.org cell: 708.744.9448

Washington Monthly.com posted a list of the top 10 worst colleges in the U.S. The ranking was based on a variety of reasons. The list and reasons the colleges made the list are below: First was high tuition fees with a poor quality education leading to a high drop out before graduation. This leaves students with huge loans and a large amount of debt with no degree in sight.                             A second chart lists the top 20 worst colleges using the graduation rate as the criteria for rankings.                         The third chart ranks the worst 20 colleges according to, "… debt statistics using its borrowing rate. This acknowledges that a college where 90 percent of students borrow and many default is much different than a college where only 10 percent of students borrow and, of those, many default. This grouping also sidesteps the problem of part-time students being excluded from graduation rates by only counting the ratio of degrees per 100 full-time equivalent students, which includes all students, full-time and part-time."               The last ranks the worst colleges according to minority numbers. This uses demographic and socio-economic statuses to set the rankings.

Tilt-shift photography is a type of selective focus and perspective control photography that makes even large objects seem smaller, almost like toys, and has a selected area of focus with the rest out of focus. Usually, such effects are created with tilt-shift lenses, but the effect can also be produced digitally. The results can be very cool to look at, especially with things that normally are quite large such as cities. Here’s some examples: Berlin Bundestag - Tilt Shift by Thpx Tilt n shift by Amsler Miniature Beach 2 by Noam Gordon Mall access by Nicolas Mini world by Simon Tidd Tilt Shift by Mtheis1987 Tilt shift by T? Lê Hùng Down town by Brad Marks NYC Tilt Shift byJewltUp Park Guell tilt shift by Andre Davis Adventures in Tilt Shift 11 by umblowsthebig1 Tilt shift by Andrey O NanoWorl:China by Blazej Mronzinski Olympiacenter Munich - Tilt Shift Pictureby Maaster Tilt Shift, Lamayuru Ladakh by Vivek Sheel Singh NY…TS by KOS TAS Tilt Shift F1 Racing 2008by MowCroft Tilt Shift Cannonsby Patrick Buechner St Geniez d’Olt by Bastien HAJDUK Tilt-Shift Castleby Hazza42 James Young Tilt Shack Fontanges Tilt Shift by Ali Bentelkhokh Crossing by Ahmad Amarullah Tilt Shift III - EPFLby b4silio Lionat Natalia Petri tilt shift Adventures in Tilt Shift 10by umblowsthebig1 Flat Iron by Rafael Peixoto Ferreira City lego tilt shiftby MrMixiz Tillt! Siena! Shift! by Vidar All the little people by David Merron Related Posts Fascinating Tilt-Shift Photographs 30 Marvelous Underwater Photographs 30 Photographs of Bicycles Rocks, Stones and Pebbles in Photography 30 Majestic Photographs of Horses

Have you read a blog post or article that stated that technology will be the saving grace for solving the problems with education today? In my opinion, technology alone is not enough to make a difference. Is technology enough? No, it’s not enough. Is technology with training enough to positively impact instruction? No, it’s not enough. Is technology with training, time to practice enough? No, it’s not enough. Is technology with quality, time to practice and time to debrief and share experiences? Possibly. As long as the professional development is quality and effective, building technology leaders and creating motivated users with a common vision. If it isn’t, it’s not enough. Debriefing and reflecting is an important part of the process and without the time to practice, try, fail, succeed and reflect upon a teacher’s strength and weaknesses using new technology hardware or software instruction will not significantly improve. Time to collaborate, take risks, share what worked and what didn’t is so important to professional growth and not enough time to learn and expand a teacher’s knowledge base will not happen without just that - time to learn. Just having the latest technology, even in a one-to-one situation, will not magically transform teaching. But having training on using digital media and slowly adding more technology tools to a teacher’s toolbox - that will pay off dividends in transforming teaching and learning. Real learning occurs when the three C’s take place - collaboration, communication and creativity. Just as students are learning and exploring how to effectively use technology in the classroom so should teachers. When something exciting happens while a student is using technology they share it with everyone. Same should be happening with educators. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm has been stifled by testing pressure and demands, ignored discipline issues in the classroom, just another program ideals, and a host of other personal and professional issues and demands that sap the life out of educators. This is why quality professional development is needed. Create leaders who can assist other teachers. Have teachers team teach with one another. Have the media specialist and technology specialist work with the teachers and model lessons. Do everything possible to share the good things instead of focusing on negativity to transform the teaching and learning culture. It isn’t an easy task but it is doable if you have effective professional development to train the teachers. Enthusiasm is catching and when you have teachers and students excited about learning to use technology, coupled with continued quality, effective, and innovative professional development you have quality, effective and innovative learning happening in the classroom. That’s my two cents - what are your thoughts? Is technology enough?

The University of St. Thomas Information Resources and Technologies and Faculty Development Center have created this excellent guide for faculty on how to structure a course for online learning and addresses both fully online and blended/hybrid delivery methods. There is a checklist at the end of the booklet to assess your "course readiness," and to help minimize any problems your students may incur as they acclimate to the online material, navigate the course and complete online activities. Also included is assistance for incorporating active learning strategies to help you plan your class time more efficiently and to assess where students are in understanding the material. Lastly, the basic tenets of how to design for accessibility, especially if you are using the Blackboard learning management system, are introduced.

With the holidays fast approaching, close attention should be paid to this blog post. Every woman loves to receive and wear jewelry and the items featured in this post might be on many holiday gift wish lists. Smartphone jewelry has arrived in the form or a necklace and several bracelet cuffs. There is a masculine cuff for the guys too! The items are similar to the fitbit cuffs but these are considered more of a jewelry item. The featured necklace has two gold overlays and communicates with the smartphone to let the wearer know that a phone call or text message has been sent to their phone. No more missed calls or texts when wearing the necklace! The cuffs let designed people know you need help. The app communicates with the jewelry via an electronic module and is charged in a mirrored jewelry box. The cuff is designed for activity tracking or safety purposes. One type of cuff tracks like the fitbit cuffs and ones similar to the one on the right informs those selected of your location with live audio and any other relevant information necessary to let selected parties know how to help reach you. This is great for those who travel or teach in areas that might be considered dangerous or are involved in abusive domestic relationships. You can pre-order the items now and read more about the details on their website http://cuff.io. You can view the informational video below on the three types of items offered. The cuffs start at $49 and are really pretty. The module with a simple charger is $29. Check out the website to see all of the different items that can be ordered and how they are used. I just love these technology items - so exciting! What do you think? Are these items on you or your family members’ gift wish list?  

One of the best ways to show off a web app or service is to show a screenshot of it. However, a standalone screenshot isn’t nearly as effective as showing it within a browser. This method of showing a contextual example helps reassure your users that your app looks good, works well and is compatible with their given browser. To show them off properly, you’ll need a browser to use, and luckily, designers have created tons of PSDs that you can download and use: Metro Browser Firefox on Freya Line Browser OSX Yosemite Chrome PSD Dark Browser Minimal Browser Free Flat Browser Mockup Simple Flat Browser Minimal 4K Browser Related Posts Free Flat Icon Sets to Download Free iPhone 6 Templates, Mockups and PSDs Free T-Shirt PSD Mockups for Designers Awesome New CSS3 Tutorials to Try Out Free Flat Icon Sets You Must Download

This checklist shared by Charles Graham can be used to assess where your institution is at in terms of providing strategy, structure, and support for blended learning.