21st Century Scholar

Today’s post offers follow-up commentary on the IGNITE format I introduced in a previous post. To quote myself: IGNITE is… a [new] format for good ol’ fashioned PowerPoint. Nothing fancy, just some new rules. The parameters are simple: (a) presenters are limited to 20 slides, and (b) the time allotted to each slide is 15 seconds, no [...]

Today’s post is a shameless plug for AERA’s IGNITE session. First, let’s get the facts. IGNITE is not a new software platform or digital technology thingamajig. It’s a format for good ol’ fashioned PowerPoint. Nothing fancy, just some new rules. The parameters are simple: (a) presenters are limited to 20 slides, and (b) the time allotted to [...]

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 [...]

Today’s Thursday is TechDay offers two options for avoiding the monotony of filling out online forms. Signing into a new website can be tedious. Registering for a conference or buying a book on Amazon are both form-based processes, but how to avoid having to type out your e-mail, address, phone number, and password every time [...]

My children attend a no-tech school. It’s no-tech not because of an articulated philosophy shunning all things digital, but rather because it’s a charter school and they don’t have the funds to provide computers in the classrooms. I actually love the “old-school” student-centered, constructivist approach they have been exposed to. The teachers are so creative [...]

I’ve been thinking about writing (and reading) in the 21st century and the emphasis higher education has begun to place on pre-K–20 college preparation. But I’ve also been thinking about online writing (and reading), and the public policy dialogue that propagates the separation of paper-based and online literacy education. Perhaps if we—as researchers—begin to put [...]

In the age of “paper or plastic,” academe—and the print-based scholarship it produces—has green options. Today’s post is about online peer-reviewed journals, also known as Open Access literature. Online publishing is (of course) paper free, so it’s arguably better for the environment, but there’s more to it than just being green. Read on for an [...]

Personal technology at ASHE this year was notably present. The tablet seems to have entered higher education research at least as a fashion statement. I saw a few people using their tablets to write notes (pen and paper are still the preferred utensils), but just you wait … by AERA, I predict the stylus will [...]

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 [...]