eSchool News White Papers_June 2012

This exclusive White Paper Library brings you the latest white papers in education technology, covering topics like Student Performance, Classroom strategies, NCLB scores, Data Analytics for decision making, and so much more. New white papers are added to the library often so check back for the most recent white papers available. Schools Plug Into BYOD: Mobile Devices Transform Learning at Katy ISD Case Study Provided by Cisco Katy Independent School District transformed instruction, improved engagement, and breathed new life into the curriculum by: • Introducing Web 2.0 tools into classroom instruction • Focusing on digital citizenship • Allowing students to bring their own Internet-enabled devices to class... How helping students become multi-lingual prepares them for the global job market Provided by Rosetta Stone Are your students prepared for the global job market they will graduate into? Download the Forbes Insights white paper to see the impact globalization is having on the business community, and the skills your students will need to be competitive.. How one pain-free upgrade streamlined student information and multiplied district services Provided by Focus School Software The need – Manatee County School District wanted a modern student information system (SIS) to run on their new server solution with existing administrative applications for future growth. The solution – Manatee worked with IBM Premier Business Partner Premise, Inc. and Focus School Software to employ an IBM Power 740 Express server running IBM .. A Roadmap for BYOD Adoption White Paper Provided by Enterasys Increasingly, students and staff are bringing their own computing devices to schools. In some districts it’s part of an official “bring-your-own-device” initiative; in others, it is used to augment a 1-1 initiative. Managing the infrastructure and support requirements of the modern school network presents K12 IT managers with enormous challenges. Download this valuable analyst white paper.. How enterprise-grade Wi-Fi supports interactive learning Provided by Aerohive This paper examines how schools can apply 802.11n enterprise-class Wi-Fi technology in ways that pay while overcoming such traditional challenges as shrinking budgets, high network management costs, and nagging performance and reliability troubles.. Why top-flight data management enhances achievement and avoids disasters Provided by SAS This white paper explains how Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, which had information from 80 schools spread across 22 databases, integrated its data resources to provide faster, more meaningful data that makes a difference in student performance and success... Avoiding an Infrastructure Cost Explosion as You Move to Exchange 2010 Provided by Metalogix Exchange 2010 usually involves an expensive infrastructure re-fresh. Informed educational organizations have discovered a better way, creating a self-managing and low-cost email storage environment using third party technology. Learn how you can keep Exchange 2010 lean and mean while absorbing massive data growth with a low-cost, secure, and searchable archive The 12 Key Benefits of Learning Platforms Provided by Its Learning A learning platform supports and enhances teaching and learning in 21st century classrooms at all grade levels. It provides support for educators as they create, use, and manage a wide variety of digital resources to develop best practices such as: blended learning, flipping the classroom, personalized learning, professional learning communities, and many other innovative practices Top Ten Education IT Systems Management Pain Points Provided by Kaseya Managing IT for a university, community college or K-12 school system doesn't have to be difficult or require tons of overtime. Establishing the right IT systems management strategy can help you manage your IT assets more efficiently, helping you do your part to improve productivity and raise your reputation within the organization. Download this report... Using Student Response Systems to Improve Student Learning Provided by Mimio While student response systems can be a valuable tool for teachers, they are not often used in a way that will actually improve student outcomes. In this in-depth white paper, Dr. Karen Mahon, Learning Scientist and Educational Psychologist, provides a comprehensive view of student response systems, and important insight on how to use this technology... eSchool News, 7920 Norfolk Ave Suite 900. Bethesda, MD 20814 | Phone: 301-913-0115 . Fax: 301-913-0119 www.eSchoolNews.com | custserv@eSchoolNews.com  Contents Copyright 2011 eCampus News. All rights reserved.

eSchool News White Papers_June 2012

American Association of University Professors - The AAUP Online

 

AAUP will hold its annual governance conference in October, and is now accepting presentation proposals on topics relating to governance. The conference will take place at the Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel in Washington, DC, October 26–28, 2012. In addition to presentations, the AAUP conference will once again include a series of training workshops for current and future governance leaders that will be spread out over the three days of the conference. Submit a Proposal Proposals are sought from individuals or groups on topics relating to college and university governance. Proposals can be configured variously as twenty-minute individual presentations, paired or group presentations, or roundtable discussions on particular topics. Proposers are encouraged (but not required) to explore connections between their institutions and other institutions, and to consider the relevance of AAUP governance policies to problem-solving solutions. Possible areas of focus: Corporatization and challenges to governance Governance and assessment, account ability, and accreditation Faculty participation in budgeting, financial exigency, or strategic planning Principles, structures, and best practices of shared governance The role of faculty in hiring, promotion, and tenure Faculty governance, pedagogy, and curriculum Governance and collective bargaining The relationship of faculty governance to central administrations & legislatures Motivating faculty to participate in shared governance The role of contingent faculty Departmental governance issues Proposals of one to two pages should be sent by August 24 to: Lenore Beaky, AAUP Committee on College and University Governance, at lbeaky@hotmail.com. Proposals submitted before August 1 will receive notice of acceptance or rejection prior to the August 24 deadline. All accepted presenters must register for the conference. The early conference registration fee of $300, due by October 5, includes a reception on Friday evening, breakfast and lunch on Saturday, and a closing breakfast on Sunday. The late registration fee will be $350. Special room rates of $169 per night will available for conference participants.

The AAUP Online is an electronic newsletter of the American Association of University Professors.  Learn more about the AAUP. Visit us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

American Association of University Professors - The AAUP Online

TCU eLearning: Mapping Tools

http://tcuelearning.wordpress.com/2012/06/19/mapping-tools/

Mapping Tools by kate marshall

Where in the world are we? A handful of great digital mapping resources have come to my attention lately. In addition to geography courses, these websites would fit nicely in history, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, foreign language, and even literature courses; maps are also a wonderful addition to digital storytelling projects.

First, a few specific resources:

If the ancient world is your thing, ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World would be a wonderful classroom addition. Like a travel site for ancient world, users can select their departure point and destination, the time of year travel is to take place, their method of travel, and their goal (speed or cost savings). The site then maps a route. No better way to bring home how ideas, people, and commerce might - and might not - spread. (Thanks to Chris Clark at Notre Dame's Kaneb Center for tipping me off to this resource.)

There are two great interactive projects related to slavery in the United States. First, National Geographic has a great digital branching story about the Underground Railroad. In this simulation, users make choices and receive feedback as they attempt to journey from Maryland to Canada. Though plenty of historical images and rich descriptions accompany each step, there are no useable map images.

The above site, however, would pair nicely with Visualizing Emancipation, a project from the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond (funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities). Visualizing Emancipation specifically focuses on the emancipation of slaves during the Civil War; data was gathered from a detailed study of primary documents including runaway slave notices, articles about returned slaves, troop locations, seasonal patterns, and instances of African-Americans helping the Union. For another review, you can consult the article in Chronicle of Higher Education about the project.

And now some more general digital mapping resources:

The United Nations Cartographic Section has a great list of regional political maps (all in an easy to use and re-use PDF format), maps about current peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions, and a small selection of institutional, historical, and regional maps. If you'd like a map of the Okavango River basin, they've got it. For more extensive geopolitical maps and facts,the CIA World Factbook is a great resource; this site even supports country-to-country comparisons, audio files of national anthems, and includes detailed information about each country.

I'd be remiss not to direct to you one of the finest digital map archives online, the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas. Like the UN site, they have maps related to current events, but their collection also includes general interest maps, historical maps, and fully digitized versions of several historical atlases.

For a more interactive map experience, check out the University of Oregon's Mapping History Project. Broken down by region and time period, these maps allow you to move a slider along the bottom of the map to illustrate the chronological progression of political, social, economic, and intellectual events. Sadly, they seem to be missing a section on Asia.

Last, to round out this survey of mapping resources, here's a great little animation reviewing how astronomers learned to measure celestial distances.

TCU eLearning: Mapping Tools

Tomorrow's Professor: University Governance and Common Pool Resources

http://derekbruff.org/blogs/tomprof/2012/06/25/tp-msg-1189-university-governance-and-common-pool-resources/

University Governance and Common Pool Resources

Aligning faculty incentives to desired institutional outcomes is a challenge to university governance. One reason for this difficulty is that academic departments jointly produce and use common pool resources (CPRs). Faculty members share the costs and benefits of building and maintaining the quality of a department. Because a department?s benefits and costs are shared, there is a tendency for some faculty to minimize the time and effort devoted to improving the common pool while claiming a large a share of the pool for themselves. They may seek to freeload on the efforts of others. Department chairs will gain insights into governance by considering the resemblance between university departments and CPRs.

Most analyses of CPR management focus on solving the classic ?tragedy of the commons.? In this exemplification, herders share grazing land. They all have incentives to overgraze the shared land because the individual herder will not bear the full cost of feeding his or her herd; the cost will be largely born by other grazers whose cattle will have less grass. The common grazing land will be overused. Recognizing that analogous situations are present in academic departments will help explain why some practices exist and also help guide departmental governance.

An Academic Department as a CPR System

The shared resources in an academic department are difficult to identify because they are more abstract than natural resources. Consider the CPR nature of a department: Quality students, a vibrant intellectual environment, a support budget, and a good reputation are among the resources that faculty members share. Each individual benefits from a quality department that is jointly built. For instance, a good crop of students represents a jointly produced resource and provides joint benefits.

No single faculty member can claim total responsibility. Cohorts of good students help ensure that faculty members will be able to teach their specialty courses or perhaps have opportunities to teach in the summer or intercessions. Certainly, teaching can be more fun with a classroom of students willing and able to grasp and advance traditional course content. Better prepared students make better student workers. Similarly, a lively intellectual environment contributes to the research goals of individual faculty members and enables fruitful discussions on academic topics. A department?s reputation helps generate consulting opportunities for individual members and even contributes to promotions and external job searches. The list could go on. Within a department, faculty contribute to the web of jointly produced CPRs.

An incentive problem can arise when some faculty members attempt to use the CPRs while minimizing their efforts to produce those same resources. Faculty who extract resources from the common pool may believe they can maintain those benefits without extending their own efforts. Lags between the production of departmental resources and their visible dissipation reinforce the idea that lower effort may not reduce the CPRs. Accordingly, there are incentives for individuals to contribute little or nothing to their department?s CPRs while sharing in the benefits of ample students, intellectual energy, good reputation, and so forth. The caricature of the faculty member ignoring important duties to pursue a hobby having nothing to do with the job is well known and may be rational behavior.

Principles for Governing an Academic CPR System

Traditionally, only two solutions to inefficiencies created by CPR were considered: (1) reward individuals for the full costs and benefits of their actions (privatization), or (2) give government authority to set the rules. In a university setting both approaches imply micromanagement in the form of either developing very specific performance criteria and compensating faculty members according to their performance under those rules, or administratively dictating work duties. Both approaches are often associated with the corporate governance model. When applied to a department, these approaches are likely to be inefficient because faculty jobs are neither standardized nor routine. Attempts to make them so risk resulting in ?work to the rule? behavior, uncovered tasks, and missed opportunities.

Elinor Ostrom received the 2009 Noble Prize in economics for her analysis of successful CPR governance systems that were biologically based (such as fisheries and irrigation systems). She concluded that institutions can successfully govern CPR systems without either detailing a reward structure or centralized task assignments. She identified eight design principles that characterize successful CPR systems. To the extent that academic departments have CPR characteristics, Ostrom?s design principles

may be recognized in departmental policies and provide guidance for departmental administration. A caveat, however, is that the design principles cannot be implemented in a mechanical manner. They should be customized to fit the characteristics of individual departments.

1. Defined beneficiary of success.

In academic contexts, this principle implies that individuals who benefit from the accomplishments of a strong department must be limited. The restrictions prevent other claimants in the university from totally dissipating the rewards earned by another department?s efforts. This design principle does not negate the possibility that some benefits from one department spill over to other units, but it ensures that a certain portion remains with the department. Clear boundaries are necessary to make certain that departments can be effective units from which to launch the efforts needed.

2. Convergence between rules and environmental conditions is necessary.

In the case of academic departments, this principle implies that governance rules should conform to the characteristics of the discipline and the university. For instance, the rules governing student performance, external service, or publications should differ among departments because they function in different environments.

3. Individuals affected by the rules should have a voice in modifying the rules.

This principle is satisfied in most departments, although the degree of ?voice? does vary between strong and weak chair systems. Within university contexts this principle is important because of the variety of specialized tasks that faculty perform. When departmental standards are modified, faculty members probably know the consequences as well as or better than higher level administrators.

4. Contributions necessary to develop and use common resources should be monitored by individuals who developed and use the CPRs.

This rule puts the responsibility for monitoring activities closest to the individuals who have knowledge of those who are shirking activity and the incentive to avoid it. For instance, faculty members are likely to know the value of their colleagues? scholarship, teaching, and service better than anyone else. The principle is manifest in peer review evaluation processes.

5. Sanctions for inadequate performance should be graduated.

Suppose a faculty member is cutting office hours in order to consult?a relatively minor infraction at most universities. If no sanction occurred, the violator may decide that no one?s behavior is monitored and so others are freeriding. Thus, he or she will too. Graduated sanctions may curtail the nonconforming behavior, inform violators that others who disregard the rule will also be sanctioned, and increase the expected costs of future violations. An initial sanction might be as small as

?I noticed you missed office hours. Is anything wrong??

6. Conflict resolution mechanisms should be available.

Good administrators know there are at least two sides to every story. Yet some management models implicitly assume the existence

of an omnipotent judge. Faculty members violate rules for a variety of reasons including willful, honest mistakes, or the vagaries of circumstance. Lacking a conflict resolution mechanism, all violations would be treated the same.

7. Individuals producing CPRs should have the ability to devise their own ways of achieving ends.

This principle implies that departments should have a degree of rule-setting authority and the chair should support individual faculty members? decisions of authority. If a central administration assumed that only they have rule-setting authority, it is likely the department members will refrain from introducing new, more efficient ways of doing things.

8. Governance systems are organized in nested enterprises and each organization must conform to larger systems.

This design principle clearly applies to biological systems where interdependence is the touchstone of ecological perspective. Departments are nested within colleges, which are in turn nested within universities, which are nested in statewide systems. Establishing rules at one level that are inconsistent with rules at another level will create inefficiencies or a systems breakdown. For instance, if a department has a travel policy that differs from the university?s, faculty could build plans around a conference, only to find that their plans will not be funded.

Conclusion

Ostrom?s design principles reflect features common to many long-lasting CPR governance systems. Like other CPR systems, academic departments rely on resources that are jointly produced and shared; thus, departments must address efficiency problems common to other organizations that use CPRs. The recognition of the CPR nature of academic departments helps explain the reasons many departments are governed as they are. Chairs can also use the design principles to create and modify concrete rules and processes tailored to their unique and changing contexts.

------------------------------------

Emily A. Wickelgren is associate professor and vice chair of psychology at Sacramento State University. Nathaniel J. Blair is lecturer in psychology at Sacramento State University. John P. Blair is professor of economics at Wright State University.

Email: wickelgren@csus.edu, nblair@csus.edu, john.blair@wright.edu

References

Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Tomorrow's Professor: University Governance and Common Pool Resources

13 Websites That Offer Free eBooks for Teachers

http://www.goedonline.com/13-websites-that-offer-free-ebooks-for-teachers

Are you looking for a way to save you and your students some money? If you’re not against going digital, try perusing these 13 websites for FREE electronic versions of the books you teach in class. On average, using one free eBook instead of a printed copy can save your class around $450!

1. Bartleby
Bartleby publishes digital versions of thousands of free classics including literature and nonfiction.

2. E-Books Directory
E-Books Directory is home to around 1,700 free electronic textbooks, documents and lecture notes.

3. eBooks@Adelaide
The University of Adelaide in Australia offers a very user-friendly eBook search experience. You can browse the books it offers by author, title or by using the Google-powered search function.

4. Flat World Knowledge
Flat World Knowledge is the world's largest publisher of free college textbooks.

5. Free eBook-s
A free eBook search engine that allows you to search the internet for already-known eBook listings.

6. Google Books
With Google Books, you can search (shocking, I know) and preview millions of books from libraries and publishers around the world.

7. Many Books
Many Books is an index of over 29,000 free works that can be searched by author or title.

8. NeoTake
NeoTake is neat for a couple of reasons. First, this website has indexed over 5.4 million eBooks and ePrints (not all of which are free). Second, it allows you to read reviews so that you can select the best version for your class.

9. Open Culture
Open Culture provides links to 300 free eBooks including Don Quixote, Heart of Darkness, The Red Badge of Courage, Les Miserables, Animal Farm, MacBeth and The War of the Worlds.

10. Open Library
The headline on the Open Library website is, “The World's classic literature at your fingertips. Over 1,000,000 free eBook titles available.” ‘Nuff said?

11. Planet eBook
All of the electronic novels and books that are available on Planet eBook are free for you to download and share with your students and colleagues.

12. Project Gutenburg
Project Gutenberg offers 39,000 free eBooks. Some of the top downloads are The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Frankenstein, Dracula and Jane Eyre.

13. Science Books Online
I’m guessing that you already have an idea of the kind of eBooks that Science Books Online offers, but in case you’re not feeling very imaginative today, this website lists free science eBooks, textbooks, lecture notes, monographs and other science-related documents.

13 Websites That Offer Free eBooks for Teachers

Dillard Today - A Monthly E-Newsletter From Dillard University - June 2012

A Monthly E-Newsletter From Dillard University June 2012 ________________  Quick Links Give to Dillard Admissions Bleu Devil Athletics News & Events ________________  Alumni Links Job Opportunities National Alumni Association Alumni Authors Survey Alumni Making News ________________  Calendar of Events 6/20-6/24 -- National Association of Black Journalists' 2012 Convention 6/27 -- A Farewell to Interim President James Lyons, 5-6:30 p.m., Kearny Hall 7/9-7/20 -- Summer Youth Leadership Institute (grades 10-12) 7/9-8/10 -- Dillard Theatre/Art Enrichment Camp (ages 5-13) Click here for more events. ________________ Baccalaureate Gallery Click here to view! ________________ Join Us Online Visit Our Social Media Page ________________ Contact Us Dillard Today 2601 Gentilly Boulevard New Orleans, LA 70122 dillardtoday@dillard.edu ________________ Welcome to the June 2012 edition of the Dillard Today E-Newsletter. The weather is heating up here in New Orleans, and folks are setting their air conditioners to full blast. But even in the middle of summer, there's plenty happening here on the Avenue of the Oaks. We were especially happy to welcome students back to campus this week for the academic Summer Session. Read on for more news from Fair Dillard. Ex fide fortis! Sincerely, Mona Duffel Jones Senior Director, University Communications A Farewell to Interim President James Lyons The Dillard University community is invited to attend a farewell reception for Dr. James Lyons on Wednesday, June 27, as his interim presidency draws to a close. The reception will be held on the second floor of Kearny Hall from 5-6:30 p.m. A member of Dillard's board of trustees and a former president of three different universities, Dr. Lyons proudly represented Dillard throughout the 2011-2012 academic year while it searched for its next chief executive. As we look forward to July 1, when Dr. Walter Kimbrough will become the seventh president in Dillard's history, let us pause to thank Dr. Lyons and his wife Jocelyn for the leadership they brought to Dillard this year. We hope you will join us in congratulating them on a job well done. Student Success: TFA, Public Health Leaders   Teach For America, the non-profit organization that enlists high-ranking college graduates to teach in poorly performing schools across the U.S., was the top employer of Dillard University's Class of 2012. Arielle Calloway, Markeecha Forcell, Ashely Leigh, Jasmine Preston, Juan Serrano (pictured) and Tess Williams have accepted offers from TFA to become corps members. They will participate in an intensive summer training institute and begin their two-year teaching commitments this fall. Congratulations to these six Dillard grads as they go out into the world and make a difference in communities around the country! In other student news, Leatrice Wilson ('12) and Byron Caulton ('13) of Dillard's School of Public Health have been chosen to participate in the Future Public Health Leaders summer program at the University of Michigan. The program, funded by a $4.2 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control, aims to increase minority involvement in the field of public health. The program's first cohort arrived in Michigan earlier this month. Congrats to Leatrice and Byron!  National Black Journalists' Convention Dillard University is proud to be a part of the National Association of Black Journalists' 2012 convention this week in New Orleans. On Tuesday, Dillard's School of Mass Communication hosted a public forum in the PSB to explore New Orleans' beleaguered public school system and seek solutions from panelists and residents. Norman Robinson of WDSU-TV moderated the discussion, and panelists included local parents, education activists, university professors and more. On Friday, Kiki Baker-Barnes, Dillard's athletic director and head women's basketball coach, will speak at a panel called "A Brand New Game: 40 Years Since Title IX" about the impact of the landmark 1972 legislation that forever changed women's high school and collegiate athletics. Later in the day, Bernard Griffin, the Bleu Devils men's basketball coach, will be recognized at the convention's Sports Pioneer Awards Ceremony. Incoming Dillard President Walter Kimbrough will also address the convention on Friday at a panel called "In the Wake of No Child Left Behind, Where Do We Go From Here?" Fridays events will be held at the Hilton Riverside New Orleans hotel, and are only open to convention registrants.  Theatre/Art Summer Camp, Ages 5-13 The Dillard University Department of Humanities will host its first Theatre/Art Summer Enrichment Camp for students ages 5 to 13 from July 9 to Aug. 10. The program will focus on theater, art and music and run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, with options for after-camp care. The program aims to assist parents during the period of summer when many camps have ended and they find themselves at an impasse - trying to find somewhere safe, affordable, enriching and easily accessible to place their children until school begins. Campers will act, paint, write, draw, sing, dance and play musical instruments. They will also go swimming, watch movies, and take arts-related field trips. The camp will culminate with an event on its final day that will enable students to display their art, musicianship and acting abilities to their friends and families. The five-week camp costs $250 per child (or just $10 per day), with $25 discounts for siblings. After-camp care is available for an additional cost. Interested parents (and volunteers and donors) are encouraged to contact Zena Ezeb in the Department of Humanities at (504) 816-4450 or (504) 816-4689 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, to learn more or to enroll their children. Voice messages will be returned promptly. Alumni In Focus: Darryl Kilbert In December 2006, Darryl Kilbert was appointed superintendent of the Orleans Parish Public School System. As chief academic/administrative officer, he is responsible for all operations of the district and for advising and making recommendations to the Board of Education. Under his direction, the school district has received an unprecedented four consecutive unqualified financial audits, achieved an average of 95 percent attendance, instituted model technology classrooms throughout the district, and reduced teacher-pupil ratios. Currently the Orleans Parish School Board has ranked first in state cohort graduation rates (students graduating in four years) for two straight years. Click here to read more. A retirement gala celebrating Mr. Kilbert will be held on June 30. To attend, contact Pearl Noel at (504) 304-4171 or Yolanda Johnson at (504) 330-4445.

Dillard University | 2601 Gentilly Boulevard | New Orleans | LA | 70122

www.dillard.edu

Dillard Today - A Monthly E-Newsletter From Dillard University - June 2012