BuzzLion for January 20

Welcome to the first BuzzLion of 2012. We've expanded BuzzLion beyond Teaching and Learning with Technology to offer blog posts on educational technology from beyond Penn State. We begin with Carol McQuiggan, instructional designer with Penn State Harrisburg, who is looking for feedback via the Penn State Harrisburg Faculty Center for Teaching and Instructional Technology blog. She wants to know what you think on teacher feedback to students, or, lack thereof. 

"Working, as I do, on a college campus, I learn in some very public places. Only two minutes ago, I overheard a group conversation in the ladies room. It went something like this: 'I got an 85 on mine. What did you get on yours? Did he write anything on your paper? No, he didn't write anything on mine either. He just gave me a number. I don't get it. I do the assignment and he takes points off. I don't even know why. It's stupid! Why can't he write something so we know why he gave us this grade?'"

Next, we have some art from Dave Stong, Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) graphic designer. Dave has a great post that gets inside an artist's mind (his own) on how he combines technology and traditional art methods to create a few outstanding scenes of State College's newly renovated Fraser Street. 

"I've drawn Fraser Street a few times before. The affect the view has intrigues me. Now, with the sweep of the new street layout and the fancy lights and sidewalk, it's more remarkable."

Giant bologna and RSS feeds are the subjects of a recent blog post by Brad Kozlek, TLT programming manager. He looks at an RSS feed tool for the iPhone and iPad, reeder, and how it has revolutionized how he reads blogs. You'll have to see for yourself what bologna has to do with all this. 

"I still use google reader and RSS as my main avenue for keeping up with blogs and news. Maybe I am old fashioned. I don’t use the google reader web interface anymore. I mainly use reeder on my iPhone and iPad. I use the mac version when I am checking on my laptop."

Rachael Green, an undergraduate English student, posted this week about the exciting new Knowledge Commons space in the Pattee/Paterno Library. Writing in the College of Liberal Arts LAUS @ PSU blog, Rachael offers us a sneak peak at this incredible facility. 

"The Knowledge Commons is a multi-million dollar, privately funded enterprise focused on making the library more user-friendly for all.  The renovations take up the first floor of Pattee Library, and there is a new head librarian specifically in charge of this area: Joe Fennewald, a librarian from the Worthington Scranton campus.  There will be a larger, more updated computer lab, which houses easily the coolest feature of the new library: the librarians who will always be around to help out with any questions students have.  These librarians will be able to take their extensive knowledge of books, the CAT, new technologies, and other library resources to help you with anything you may need, be it advice on projects, papers, or just a refresher on some of the new tech available for you to use in and outside of class.  Though the library has so much for us already, the Knowledge Commons will make it that much easier for everyone to have immediate access to the best resource our library has to offer: the expertise of those who work there."

Elizabeth Pyatt, TLT instructional designer, has a fairly radical proposal. She suggests "Ditching the Final Paper for a Blog."

"To break the mold for both the students and myself, I decided that the final assignment would be for students to use the Blogs at Penn State to create a mini-informational site. The topics would be similar to a final paper, but the product would be different."

Finally, it's getting closer than you think to TLT Symposium time - March 24 will be here before you know it. Get a quick update from Robin Smail, TLT disruptive technologist, on what's going on with planning for this always outstanding event. 

"Now that we're back from break and diving into a brand new year, preparations kick into high gear on the TLT Symposium. I can't believe that there's only 72 days until this year's event. There's still a lot to do, but I enjoy watching the event take shape as pieces begin to fall into place. Symposium is incredibly well organized, and I'm always amazed at how smooth operations and logistics are every year. It's really a pleasure to work on this event."

That's all for this week's BuzzLion - thanks for reading!