Jes
Jes's Latest Posts
Blackboard 9.1 Feature Spotlight: Add Test Student
Late last week we added a new tool to the Blackboard 9.1 server called “Add Test Student.” This tool allows instructors to easily create a student account on the server “YOURUSERNAME_s” that you can enroll into any of your courses. So the first question that comes to mind is: ‘Why would I want to do […]
Wikipedia! Wikipedia… Wikipedia??
While we all acknowledge that Wikipedia is not primary literature and should not be cited as a resource in most academically oriented works, we also are cognizant that Wikipedia is the first stop for many of our students on the way to more in depth research. Not today! Today Wikipedia’s English language site is in blackout mode! Why you might ask? It political […]
How are our students communicating? Let me count the ways!
As the new term approaches many faculty across campus are beginning to reach out to their students. This got me thinking about the what tools our students using for electronic communication. According to the 2011 ECAR National Study of Students and Information Technology in Higher Education (http://www.educause.edu/library/ERS1103), Email and Texting are students’ two most common electronic communication tools […]
Rethinking composition: Bring on the audio!
As we head off to the holiday break many of us are thinking about how courses will run in the Spring semester. For some it is logistical question, but for others it may be larger questions of course delivery and project design. I was reminded recently of an interesting article in EDUCAUSE Quarterly on rethinking […]
How do we collaborate? Let me count the ways!
col·lab·o·rate – verb \kə-ˈla-bə-ˌrāt\ 1: to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor – Merriam Webster Online Collaboration is at the heart of the WPI project system but, as many teams know, collaboration can be hard. You need to keep people, documents, and tasks all organized and this can be a […]
YouTube meet PowerPoint!
Everyone has heard the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but sometimes a picture just does not do justice to a what is being presented in the classroom. This is where video can come in! Video has been a part of classroom educational technology since 1910 (Saettler, 2004) and its use has continued to grow […]
Securing Your Mobile Device
During this busy travel season it is important to take some time and ensure that your mobile device is secure in case of loss or theft. I know, no one wants to consider these possibilities, however unfortunate things can happen and having security measures in place on your device can help to make the experience […]
The New Kid on the Social Media Block: Google+
As many of you are already aware, Google has decided to throw its (metaphorical) hat into the social media realm. There has been great hype over Google’s newest foray with news outlets both TV and Internet covering the beta release of the new Google+. Wait, Beta? Yeah that’s right, Google+ is still in a limited […]
What might your reCAPTCHA be helping with next?
Back in April we posted on the ways in which reCAPTCHA, an anti-spam mechanism, was helping Google to digitize many older novels as well as the the entire New York Times archive. Well, now that it has been a few months we wondered: ‘what might reCAPTCHA be helping with next?’ Turns out approximately 250,000 books from the British Library! […]
The ATC TTL Group Welcomes their newest member!
The Academic Technology Center’s Technology for Teaching and Learning (TTL) Group has grown! We would like to welcome Joseph Cotnoir, the newest member of our team. Joe joins us as an Instructional Technology Support Specialist, and will be extending the support hours of the TTL group by working evenings and some Saturdays throughout the year. Joe […]
