21st Century Scholar

Thursday’s Thursday is TechDay is about internet slang. Yes, that discourse that started out with the mysterious LOL that has now entered the public consciousness. My mother uses it. For those who may not be familiar with formal literacy terms such as discourse, here’s a mini-lesson. Discourse indicates the use of language to proxy social [...]

Over the last several years we have had an increasing emphasis on educational research that tells us “what works.” The assumptions behind this drive are relatively straightforward: If we are going to invest finite monies and time into something, then we should know with absolute certainty that the prescriptions that are being employed are effective. [...]

A growing amount of the discourse on bolstering the U.S. workforce has emphasized how higher education can facilitate such growth. Particular emphasis has been paid to vocationally-oriented institutions of postsecondary education and if they are doing a suitable job in preparing students and getting them jobs. My own research agenda now centers on providing an [...]

In my last post, I discussed the use of Evernote as a tool to store and organize fieldnotes. For this blog, I transition to the writing process. I am fortunate to have mounds of digital data from my dissertation. I also have a list of papers that I am either planning or authoring. Although I [...]

Today’s Thursday is Techday is anecdotal, an extract (from my classroom observation field notes) about how teenagers in one urban high school are using mobile technology for academic purposes. I’ve posted before about the iPhone as teenage fashion statement, and I’ve also shared stories about students passing a cell phone like a relay baton in [...]

The intrepid anthropologist enters the field. He carries his essential tools, a pen and notebook. Over the next months, he gains entrée and acts as a participant observer. Here and there, he steals a moment or two to record the local culture in his notebook. At the end of the day, he sits in a [...]

Over the holidays I was in Sydney, Australia for a conference and then some travels. When I consider those experiences that have impacted my life certainly living abroad and traveling to different countries has made its mark. Indeed, cross-cultural life has made such an impact on me that I worry at times about the insularity [...]

I’m currently conducting an ethnographic study of two Advanced Placement English classrooms: one at a high-performing, the other at a low-performing high school. While my empirical focus is the use of language within these classrooms, I can’t help but notice how cell phones are being used in similar ways in both classrooms. I’ve seen many [...]

Who’d have thought your phone could become a tool for thick description. While it’s debatable whether or not this app would receive Geertz’ blessing, it’s certainly a product worth discussing in the context of Thursday is TechDay. The app is not new. It debuted in 2009 by a UK-based research agency called EverydayLives, but the [...]

About a month ago I had an engagement that took me to Northern Iowa University. The trip reminded me of a previous life. I flew into the small Cedar Falls airport, rented a car, and drove to the university. I took the back roads on my return to the airport. For about a decade after [...]