Five Friday Focus: A Batch of Technology, Education and other cool links

This is something I intend to post regularly on Friday afternoons. I will try not to repost links that have been shared for the week on #sachat and that are timely/current. Suggestions are always welcome!

1. Former President Clinton, MTV and College Board are teaming up to bring a scholarship social media tool to facebook.

2. ed Social Media: Exploring the Role of Social Media in Education

3. Why Social Media Can and Is Changing Education

4. Social Media Club Education Connection
                  Does your college/university have a faculty/staff social media club? The University I am currently at has a small one. We take turns presenting for each other, sharing tools and exploring different uses of technology and social media and their potential. It's essentially free monthly professional development!

5. Association for Social Media & Higher Education

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.