Category: Editorial
October 10, 2010, 10:00 PM ET
ProfHacker Week in Review
This post wraps up another week of tips,
tutorials, and commentary on pedagogy, productivity, and technology
in higher education.
We certainly hope you found something useful from our posts this week, which included:
- Guest author Traci Gardner brought us the second installation of the Teaching Carnival—Teaching Carnival 4.2—which provided a ton of great links to blog posts on teaching and issues in higher ed.
- I reported on the success of DH Answers One Week In.
- Natalie rounded up some ProfHacker highlights and produced From the Archives: Be Prepared.
- A few posts asked for reader input: Heather asked how people keep up with job appliactions and George asked for Tips For Navigating Grad Student Limbo.
- George suggested a few, then asked for reader suggestions, for Online Tools For Collaboration.
- Jason discussed Sabbaticals and Productivity-Talk, while Nels suggested we all Get Lost.
- We...
October 8, 2010, 03:00 PM ET
Weekend Reading: Own Goal Edition
Sometimes, it's the thing you
don't do that helps you get things done. In the comments on my
"Sabbatical
and Productivity-Talk" post, someone wrote about how having a
successful surgery during sabbatical was the most important thing
they achieved. That made sense, because my worst decision of 2010
was to have elective outpatient surgery in early February. Not only
did things go awry with the surgery itself, which is never welcome
news, but it has had cascading effects on my entire year, since I
was more or less out of it all spring. What kills me is that that
setback was totally self-inflicted: I could've had the surgery in
the summer, or at any other time, and the consequences would've
been far different. All because I assumed that naturally everything
would go well, instead of considering that, just maybe, something
might not. The lesson: I'm an idiot.
A quick programming note:...
Read MoreOctober 6, 2010, 11:00 AM ET
Open Thread: Tips For Navigating Grad Student Limbo?
[Each week at
ProfHacker, George Williams hosts "Open Thread Wednesday." We
recently decided to devote each open thread to a specific issue or
question. The Commenting
and Community Guidelines still apply. And remember that you can
always suggest topics or ask us questions via email: ProfHackerCHE@gmail.com.
—Ed.]
This week, I'm passing along a question from someone else, a question that's very familiar to me based on what my experience of grad school felt like at times: “How does one navigate 'grad student limbo'? What are the best ways to get by when you're treated like a student (bumbling and inept) but expected to behave as a full fledged faculty member?”
Do you have any advice in response to this question? Please share in the comments!
[Creative Commons-licensed flickr photo by phonogalerie.com]
Read MoreOctober 4, 2010, 03:00 PM ET
From the Archives: Be Prepared
Although some of the ProfHacker team would
probably do better than others in handling a bear attack or the
zombie apocalypse, in general I think it's fair to say that part of
the ProfHacker mindset includes the old maxim "Be Prepared." A
little action now can save you a lot of time and frustration should
something unexpected occur.
Prepare for the Weather
As we head into fall, it's worth revisiting George's Anticipate the Commute (and the comments by other PHers), which recommends updating your regular auto maintenance tasks and switching out the summertime items in your trunk for rain, mud, and snow gear as appropriate for your region.
At a more pedestrian level, how many umbrellas do you have? Do you have them where and when you need one? Pick up a couple cheap ones to keep in your office or in your car for those mornings when you forget to check the forecast.
Back Up Your Digital...
Read MoreOctober 3, 2010, 09:00 PM ET
ProfHacker Week in Review
This post wraps up another week of tips,
tutorials, and commentary on pedagogy, productivity, and technology
in higher education.
We certainly hope you found something useful from our posts this week, which included:
- George started the week by describing his Ideal Classroom, Part 1: Information Technology and soliciting user responses.
- I was pleased to annouce Digital Humanities Questions & Answers (@DHAnswers).
- Mark refreshed A Rubric for Evaluating Student Blogs, which many of us have adopted (and adapted) for our own courses.
- In standing posts, Heather reminded us about the benefits of granola, while George opened a thread to discuss Personal Versus Professional Web Sites.
- Billie rounded up Writers' Boot Camp tips.
- Mark wrote An Open Letter to Part-Time Graduate Students, full of tips from others.
- Kathleen provided Five Nifty Tricks in Google Chrome and Amy Revisit[ed] Using Google ...
October 1, 2010, 03:00 PM ET
Weekend Reading: Defending Public Education Edition
Next Thursday, October 7, is a
National Day of Action to
Defend Public Education. Find out more at the website, follow
the organizers on Twitter, and connect with
others on
your campus to ensure access to quality higher education. As
always, one of the best things you can do is to join the AAUP, which has
information about a related week devoted to the idea that Higher Education Is a
Public Good.
This week's links:
- The new issue of Academic Commons focuses on educational uses for geospatial visualization tools. The case studies--all winners of NITLE's Community Contribution award--range from biology to study abroad programs to community outreach: As spatial data become more ubiquitous, we are challenged to chart new terrain for academic inquiry and pedagogy. Liberal education is increasingly called on to help students develop the visual and quantitative literacies they need to work...
September 29, 2010, 11:00 AM ET
Open Thread: Advice For Personal Versus Professional Web Sites?
[Each week
at ProfHacker, George Williams hosts "Open Thread Wednesday," a
discussion forum in which readers are invited to share their
answers to a particular question. The Commenting
and Community Guidelines still apply. —Ed.]
Do you separate your professional web presence from your personal one? If so, how? Why? And what methods do you use for keeping them both updated? Let us hear from you in the comments!
Have a question? Want to suggest a future “Open Thread” topic? Contact us at ProfHackerCHE@gmail.com. —Ed.
[Creative Commons-licensed flickr photo by phonogalerie.com]
Read MoreSeptember 29, 2010, 08:00 AM ET
Announcing Digital Humanities Questions & Answers (@DHAnswers)
Several months ago, we were lucky enough to have been
approached by the Association for Computers and the Humanities
(ACH) with an idea for
collaboration that would help broaden (and serve) the digital
humanities community—many of whom we know read the ProfHacker blog
and interact in the commenting community we have here. The result
of that idea, put forth by ACH Vice President Bethany Nowviskie, is Digital
Humanities Questions & Answers, a community-based
Q&A board you can participate in for free at:
http://digitalhumanities.org/answers/
(We also suggest you follow @DHAnswers on Twitter.)
The goal of DH Answers is to create a friendly and inviting space where people can help each other with questions about languages, tools, standards, best practices, pedagogy, and all things related to scholarly activity in the digital humanities (broadly defined). No question is too small, or too...
Read MoreSeptember 26, 2010, 02:00 PM ET
ProfHacker Week in Review
This post wraps up another week of tips,
tutorials, and commentary on pedagogy, productivity, and technology
in higher education.
We certainly hope you found something useful from our posts this week, which included:
- Although it came in the middle of the week, I was most excited (and shall feature it first because I can) about the developments surrounding Zotero Everywhere.
- But George started us off by describing how to Save Time and Effort by Subscribing to Products You Use Regularly.
- We had several posts about specific software: Jason asked Does Awesome Note Live Up to Its Name?, while Billie suggested Using Writer's Cafe for Writing Projects, Kathleen talked about Clean[ing] Out Your Inbox with Taskforce, guest author Meagan Timney discussed Using Mailplane to Manage Multiple Gmail Accounts, George talked about Using Text-Expansion Software to Respond to Student Writing, and (finally...
September 24, 2010, 03:00 PM ET
Weekend Reading: Fall Edition
One of the most interesting things you'll read about Star Wars is Michael Heileman's reconstruction of Chewbacca's transformations from script, through concept art, into the iconic character. What's fascinating about it is less its meticulously documented nerdery (awesome as that is) and more its reflections on creativity and originality:
Chewbacca didn’t spring to life out of nowhere, fully formed when Lucas saw his dog in the passenger seat of his car. That’s the soundbite. A single step. The reality is complex and human. From vague names floating around, the kernel of an idea, changing purposes and roles of characters, major restructuring, the design hopping from person to person, scrapping the existing concept and going down a different path, seeing existing things in a different light and having to conform a range of ideas to complement and enrich one another.
George Lucas...
Read More
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