BuzzLion for January 27

Let's start BuzzLion with a post from Allan Gyorke, director of Education Technology Services (ETS), who is attending a meeting involving the Horizon Report, an annual publication put out by the New Media Consortium about the future of educational technology. Allan fills us in on some of the trends they are talking about. 

"I’m about to start Day 2 of a meeting to examine the 10-year history of the Horizon Report. Last night was scheduled as a reception, but that launched right into a couple of presentations and a large discussion about what the Horizon Report has done so far, what it has predicted accurately, and how we use it for inspiration as we look to implement new projects of our own. This is a panographic view of the visual summary created by David Sibbet that represents out discussion. Seeing that method of visual facilitation has already made this trip worthwhile."

Next we have Brad Kozlek, TLT programming manager, who comments on a recent Daily Buzz article about a Penn State student who used an iPad to save him from having to pay big printing fees. 

"Student’s classes were requiring so much printing, it costs a single student 15 dollars a week. That would 450 dollars after two semesters. The iPad doesn’t seem too expensive compared to that."

Dave Stong, TLT graphic designer, shares with us one of his iStudy for Success! comics. He makes a note about one of the characters, a returning adult student who is being bossy in a group project. 

"Deena was especially grating to me in this dialog. As a returning adult student, she has a few experiences and insights beyond those of her younger colleagues, and it's easy for someone in that position to come across to the rest of a team as bossy rather than helpful."

Heidi Watson, TLT instructional designer, often offers great tips Technology Training Community Blog. This week she shares with us a fantastic screen capture application. 

"This screen capture app does a great job with the normal screen capture. It also allows you to enhance your images with arrows, text and effects. SnagIt also works to “snag” websites, text and even video. With SnagIt you can record your screen actions as AVI. SnagIt stores images for later use even if you don’t save them. This program offers some simle editing  tools that help to manipulate images. Snag it allows you to share your creation via email and social media."

Carol McQuiggan, instructional designer with Penn State Harrisburg, attended a workshop titled "Teaching Millennial Students" and shares what she learned about this group via the Penn State Harrisburg Faculty Center for Teaching and Instructional Technology blog. 

"They organized the discussion around four topics: Environment: Classroom climate, Students: Mindset about learning, Instructor: Scaffold student learning, and Tasks: Student work. We began by collectively taking a quiz from the Pew Research Center - How Millennial Are You? (Also see http://pewresearch.org/millennials/.) This quiz is helpful to become familiar with characteristics of the millennial generation, and also to discover which characteristics you might share with them."

Finally, we would be remiss if we didn't acknowledge the passing of Joe Paterno, a huge loss for the Penn State community and beyond. Chris Long, associate dean of Undergraduate Studies at the College of Liberal Arts, offers a farewell that looks at Paterno's impact within his College. 

"Joe Paterno said that he wanted to be remembered as an educator who made Penn State a better place. However impressive his record as a football coach, his most lasting and meaningful legacy remains the contributions he has made to enrich the educational lives of our students.  Nowhere has this legacy been more palpably felt or more deeply appreciated than in the College of the Liberal Arts."

That's all for this week's BuzzLion. Thanks for reading.