A few shots posted to flickr of clouds gathering west of Portland before an evening of thunderstorms on May 24. We didn’t get much of the storm near our house but some rain after a walk to pizza and ice cream. Nice lightning show for the way home.
Acrobat.com Beta
Mark on the acrobat.com team left a comment on my previous post about a snag they had this morning. It seems service was available soon after I tried but I had to go on to other things. I have had a chance to play around a little tonight though.
I still like the Buzzword interface as I reported on before, but the conglomeration of pieces in acrobat.com seems a bit fractured. I am in the Share area where I can upload files and share but this is apparently different than my Buzzword documents that I can also share.
Personal Injury Warning System
I just recently learned of Jonathan Corum‘s Personal Injury Warning System. It is a fun trip through his historic record of personal injuries and the warning signs that might have prevented each incident. Despite the extensive injuries, Jonathan retains a highly detailed memory. Here is my first attempt at a PIWS sign.
1973 Texas
Hide-and-seek does not mean you are invisible or able to pass through immovable objects.
Permanent Damage: Small scar dead-center forehead.
Looking Back: Too bad I didn’t have Dan’s advice to get me through that lamp post.
Create your own historic record.
Buzzword now part of Acrobat.com beta
A new “beta” has been hatched. Acrobat.com is Adobe’s new collaborative platform which integrates Buzzword for collaborative authorship, ConnectNow for online meetings and presentations, PDF creation, Acrobat.com offline AIR application and apparently more. I wrote about my pleasant experience with Buzzword and noted the parent company’s acquisition by Adobe, so it is interesting now to see the resulting offering.
I’d like to tell you of my first experience with the new Acrobat.com beta, unfortunately it will have to wait. The world must be knocking at the door, they are “service unavailable.”
Guess I’ll have to try again in a little while.
Challenge Your Senses
A fun little senses challenge where you’ll get to size up King Kong and learn a little too much about Parmesan cheese. BBC has some great interactive Science and Nature content.
Google Apps for Education
Just ran across an archived EduCause Live! presentation on Outsourcing E-Mail and Other Commodity Services (June 2007). It is a good discussion on the reasonings and concerns around Northwestern University partnering with Google for email and other services. Some of it is dated, so the Google offerings have expanded but here are a few factoids of note:
Any limit on the number of accounts imported to Google?
No, Google has taken on providing accounts for all high schools and universities in Egypt — 12 million accounts.
How is Google addressing accessibility?
No good answer here other than that Google was assessing where they are in terms of Section 508 compliance. For email there is mention that POP/IMAP connections could be used to access email via an accessible client.
I did a quick search and didn’t find much of any updates. I believe most institutions are relying on the valid, but unfortunate, argument that Google email is most likely more accessible than the current tools in use now. (Reference)
Will it always be free?
No identified plans for charging, contractual agreement runs four years which ensures no cost during life of the contract.
Identity protection for Northwestern University?
The University will allow students to request an identity-protecting account name instead of the default firstname+lastname+admissionyear.
FERPA Issues
Google is contractually and legally responsible to protect information. A note is made that they are not obligated to be FERPA compliant — since Google itself is not required to be — but that they work with the institution to ensure their privacy needs are met. Northwestern feels that Google security is a contractual requirement that the institution must agree to (so should support their needs) and is better than what many institutions can provide.
Email Usage
It is interesting that Student Government started this initiative by asking for a better email platform. Most students (90%) already had a private personal email account with 20% forwarding their institution account to this personal account. Two-thirds of these forwarded accounts were to Google email accounts.
Value-added Service
Outsourcing these student and alumni services to Google would improve the services we provide, and be a positive thing to do… IF security, privacy, and policy concerns are adequately addressed.
If email is a commodity service, is it in the best interest of an educational institution to provide this expensive and resource consuming service? If the institution is not providing a service that is unique to the educational environment, would the resources be better served where our institutional expertise is critical? It seems that in most cases an external partner could provide better email services at a lower cost than the institution.
Of course any decision to outsource email must evaluate functionality, security, privacy, policy and cost concerns within the institution’s community. Given that many institutions have already outsourced these services to Google and Microsoft, we can assume that many of the security, privacy and cost issues have been addressed. Functionality of services like Google’s have already proved themselves, as many of us and our students have already declared our preference.
Most issues will revolve around institutional policy and political readiness. This is a difficult process that is reflected in the long list of identified stakeholders and institutional conversations from Northwestern University’s experience.
Evidence of Spring
The Evidence of Spring gallery documents blooms and growth blasting our half-acre with color. The tour includes photos taken over the past two weeks. Unfortunately some early bloomers were missed: Damson Plum and other plum blooms. There are more blooms awaiting the camera, they’ll be added if time permits. Enjoy your spring tour of our yard.
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Gabriel Takes Second in 1K Competition
Congratulations to Gabriel on second prize in the Seagate Billionth Drive 1K Competition run by boingboing Gadgets.
The challenge…”send us the most ingenious work of art, writing, code or whatever takes your fancy that fits into a kilobyte or less.”
There were numerous imaginative entries with Tiny Mona being one of the most artistic. Yes, I am biased since I know Gabriel but his miniature version of the Mona Lisa is awesome.
SunGardHE Summit: Usability Evaluation of myWSU Portal
(Notes from SunGardHE Summit on Tuesday, April 15)
Wichita State University shares information gathered over two myWSU usability tests. Results were similar to many of our findings.
It was interesting that they noted a similar problem with students not really recognizing the existence of tabs in the Luminis layout. The difference being that WSU noted this issue across both usability exercises. In our second test which happened two years after the first exercise we noted a distinct awareness of the MyPCC tabs. Both tests included a mix of new and current students, and both communities consistently noticed and made us of the tabs. While we aren’t positive why the tabs were now “visible” there was discussion that the growing use of websites such as MySpace and Facebook helped with the overall comfort of our audience with complex web applications. In the case of myWSU, the speaker noted that the strong header graphic of myWSU might be an influential factor in the invisibility of their tabs.
In their testing they included some eye track mapping. They were wondering if a mini-‘f’ pattern would be seen for each channel within a portal page. Tests of two-column and three-column layouts were shared. The two-column mapping showed an ‘s’ pattern across and down rows. Three-column layouts were more of a zig-zag pattern starting in the middle-upper column, back to the left, back across to the right and then down and back to an ‘s’ pattern. These tests were done with textual layouts so that graphics would not impact results.
It was interesting to learn that the testing was conducted by a WSU faculty member associated with their Software Usability Research Laboratory.
SunGardHE Summit: Recruiting the Millenial Generation
(Notes from SunGardHE Summit on Wednesday, April 16)
Neil Howe spoke on recruiting the Millenial generation. Millennials are the generation born since 1982 with a childhood era including culture wars and the 1990s boom. What will their coming of age look like?
I thought I was a late boomer but his facts say Boomers are 1943-1960. Gen X is 1961-1981. I still think I’m a boomer, yeah I was maturing with MTV and rap but don’t relate to it. I relate more to the typical Boomer ties. And based upon his discussion, fall in the Boomer scenario.
Generations of College Youth
GI Generation (1901-1924)
- Loved to be regimentalized (Boy Scouts formed during this time)
- Percent of high school students earning degrees jumped from 15% to 50%
- New image of a college graduation: constructive teamplayer (“technocrat… power elite”)
Silent Generation (1925-1942)
- Didn’t want to change the system, they wanted to work within the system
- Called the “fortunate generation” because of the overall prosperity
- Impact on education is that they “inherited the system”
- New image of a college graduate: credentialed expert (“organization man”)
Boomer Generation (1943-1960)
- Self-oriented, self-sufficient
- “Generation that wanted legalized drugs to think outside the box, today gives their kids drugs to think within the box.”
- Boomers “rejected the system” in regards to education
- New image of a college graduate: assertive visionary (“yuppie… cultural elite”)
Gen X (1961-1981)
- Like to think they don’t belong to a generation
- Gen X children ignored, got in the way
- Opinion polls found parents believing that it is more important to find out who you are, instead of staying together for the kids
- Note the chronology of the evil-child movie era: Rosemary’s Baby, 1968, through Children of the Corn, 1984
- Philosophy of life is not as important as being financially well off according to polls of incoming college students (change happened in early 1970s)
- Gen X got by without the system, don’t trust the system, assume no one is in charge
- New image of a college graduate: get-it-done contractor (“free agent”)
Millenials (1982 – ?)
- Child as devil movies end
- Baby is adorable movies start: Baby Boom, Three Men and a Baby
- As they get older, kids helping parents get better movies: Sleepless in Seattle
- Most risk factors for youth considerably lower (Resource: Monitoring the Future)
- Violent crime against youth is way down since 1980
- Teen pregnancy and abortion also very much lower
- Suicide rates have a sizable reduction
- Most diverse U.S. generation (non-whites are 41% of this generation)
- Peer personality traits: sheltered, know they are special (everyone talks about them) and so on
- Drug avoidance messages used to be negative for Gen X (e.g., “This is your brain on drugs”, “Just say no!”), now the message is positive (e.g., “I want you to be proud of me”)
- Bringing technology back to the community (twitter, chat, im)
- No privacy concerns (parents put cameras in baby’s room, now the Millenials put cameras in their own room and take themselves online)
- High school volunteerism is way up
- Ideal employers more team and interaction/community oriented from 2007 poll: Google, Walt Disney, Apple, US Deptartment of State, Peace Corps
Personality Traits of the Millenial Generation and How to Address in College Recruiting and Retention
Special Generation
- Co-market to parents, get ready for helicopter moms and dads, channel their energy (partner with the parents)
- Students expect to be treated as VIPs, leverage their specialness (“Yes, you are special. Because of this special things are expected of you.”)
- Tech expectations: show they are special, let them customize portal to their special needs
Sheltered Generation
Take note of all the child protection policies since 1982 (e.g., child restraint devices, helmet rules)
- Market a safe campus
- Millenials love counselors
- Less FERPA concerns
- Promote “collegiate” small school feel
- Banish anonymity (high touch, small learning communities even in a large institution)
Confident Generation
- Stress good outcomes, long-term commitments, personal progress plans
- Help students perform as professionals (internships, especially working from school labs on remotely-located internships)
- Be male-friendly: create contextual, project-based and career-oriented environments
Team-oriented Generation
- Showcase live/learn groups
- Teach team skills
- Strong links to the community
- Promote engagement in classes and residential life
- Use technology to empower constructive social networks
Conventional Generation
Millenials like being with family, there isn’t the value gap between parent and child today as between past generations. Howe noted that generations compete with each other when each is strong, Millenials don’t compete with Boomer parents because Boomers are weak in terms of community. He related how High School Musical embodies all that the Millenial generation is.
- Define college as a big-brand bonding experience
- Stress a single “core” curriculum
- Use rituals to celebrate collective progress
- Assume a need to share and find consensus and a desire to see faculty as role model
Pressured Generation
Millenials see little time for unstructured play and an excess of protection. There is an overall obesity issue, hours of sleep are down and homework hours are up.
- Stress long-term planning, expect big changes in grad schools with a need for structure
- Stess overall mastery goals
- Make tasks achievable with coninuous testing, assessment, feedback and redirection (Millenials and their parents want tight cycles of feedback)
Achieving Generation
Howe shared samples for the winning words in the national spelling bee across the generations.
- 1950s: psychiatry, condominium
- 1970s: croissant, vouchsafe
- 1990s: milieu
- 2001-2007: pococurante, appoggiatura (oh, boy)
- Get ready for new insistence, especially from parents
- Empower students and make use of technology to create teaching efficiencies
Howe related how we’ll also see a change as the Gen X parents of Millenials move into midlife.
- Skeptical of institutions
- High attachment to child
- Less optimistic, more calculating
- Not helicopter moms, they’ll be stealth fighter moms
- Price shoppers (Boomer brags how much paid for BMW, Gen Xer brags how low a price they got)
- Modular mentality (opt in or out)
- Seek transparency, standards
- Like accurate data, better rankings
- Want personal accountability
- Expect real-time service (do you pass the Fed X test)
This talk was very revealing of the Millenial generation, and my own. It left me wondering more about the cycle of generations. Are Millenials like the GI or Silent generation? How much do generation characteristics cycle and what influences the similarities and differences? How is technology impacting generations?
While at the conference and visiting Disneyland we experienced a father suffering with the community ties of his Millenial daughter. The daughter had a cell phone with little battery life left. She wanted to leave Disneyland due to this extreme hardship. At first the experience finds me thinking the daughter is quite silly and I, too, would have been a very frustrated parent. Who would want to leave Disneyland? During the presentation it dawned on me that, perhaps, this was a Millenial losing touch with her community.
It also reminds me of my attempts to communicate with a nephew. Chatting online one evening I struggled to get much out of this young man. I felt insulted that he wasn’t focused on our conversation (the Boomer in me, I am important) and wondered about his ability to communicate. After enticing a little information out of him, I came to realize that he was not only communicating with me but with twelve friends at the same time. Millenials are in their community 24/7, and me, being on the outskirts of that community, “suffer” because of my own generational community expectations.