What I learned at school today...

When I became a professional I thought I had reached the finish line. 
What I didn't know was that I had just begun the most grueling, intensive, exclusive, living-off-a-high marathon ever. 
For the last eight years I have been training for this marathon. 
I have a funny feeling that this marathon does not end in 26.2 miles. 


So today I learned that there are eight different intelligences.
Eight different ways to learn, see the world, collaborate, grow and teach.
These are not boxes of identity but tools to overcome the boxes of identity and a road map to becoming more comprehensive.


Today I learned that education does not stop on the stage. 
I understand now that "professional development" simply means that we go to class with no grade.
However, no grade does not mean there's no test. 
To which there are many.


This test may come at four in the morning or it may be four years from now.
Some say we must act now!
Some say the future is ours... or yours... or theirs...


So I cut out my graphic organizers, create my soundtracks, snap pictures, solve logic puzzles, go on a hike, have an intimate conversation, create a budget, work on a team project, yearn to be heard and watch so I can listen.


I am thankful that this race has just begun. 
I am in mile one and mile two will sneak up on me soon.
But for tonight I will watch the moon.


While I listen...
to voices of our youth in the hall
music playing above my head
keyboards tapping
and doors knocking.


I live with the future and this is test one.
Listen and learn.

Digital Advertising on Campus

This past week I invited REACH Marketing to do a webinar for my colleagues and I. I first became aware of REACH Marketing or similar services through my work with campus recreation at two other universities.

The concept is simple. Use TV monitors to advertise on a network all across campus. Now I know those of us in higher education are cringing at the idea of spending money especially on TVs, computers and a software license.

However here is something to consider:
- The cost of paper.
- The cost of ink for printers and copiers.
- The shelf life of flyers around campus.
- The man hours spent discarding old or torn down flyers/posters.
- The effectiveness of flyer/brochure centers

The alternative:
- No paper/ink costs for flyers/posters.
- Interactive marketing and advertising in full color.
- Ability to capture audiences with video "commercials".
- Ability to generate revenue to cover expenses.
- Ability to condense flyer/brochure racks/centers.
- Ability to display a scrolling calendar for the area.
- Ability to utilize touch screens with features such as on-demand printing, registration and emailing.

During the webinar we saw demonstrations of all this great technology and the softwares abilities. As we progressed I saw the eyes of my colleagues light up with the potential. Suddenly this concept for our department is branching out into a campus wide possibility.

The things my colleagues and I were most interested in:
- The amount of compartmentalized control over various sites on campus.
- The ability to display the site's calendar. (i.e. great for conferences, reservations, etc.)
- No more paper, litter and old announcements being posted.
- Possible sustainability advantage.
- The ability to generate revenue from student organizations, campus departments, career services, etc.
- In short we were really looking at the campus wide buy in.

REACH typically services recreation centers, gyms and some student centers. We are considering using REACH for housing across 12 different facilities.

Questions for the audience:

1. Are students ready for a flyer free residence hall? campus?

2. Is there a positive carbon offset between printing flyers and using digital advertising?

3. Is your campus using anything like this?

4. Would Student Orgs, Departments or Local Businesses pay to advertise?

If this sounds like something your campus might benefit from like 300+ other campuses visit REACH here.

First attempt using Prezi

After attending NASPA 2011 in Philadelphia I came home ready to use every bit of media I had learned about. With Community Assistant Selection as one of my collateral assignments I decided to embark on using Prezi.

The concept of Prezi is to compile your presentation in a more innovative manner than using PowerPoint, a program I personally loathe! Prezi uses a single art board which the user can manipulate by zooming in/out, rotating the board and add photo/video to be visually stimulating.

I spent one evening testing out this new tool to see what I could come up with. The result is a semi-lengthy presentation for the position information and FAQs. Since there is no stand alone audio player (only video for now) I did not add sound. I hope to add narration in the future so we can post the Prezi to the department website. The trick to not add too many zoom in/outs and rotations as it could make one have nausea so I attempted to balance all of it out.

Overall, I am excited about using this tool for educational and personal purposes as well as expanding my Prezi knowledge.

This is what I came up with... and feedback is always welcome.

Community Assistant and Community Assistant Coordinator Selection on Prezi