EDU Internet Strategies 2.0

BlogAbroad Auditions are open!

admin — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 21:46:04 +0000

Schools, send this along to your students. It’s a great way to get them involved in the study abroad community, help other students decide on whether to study abroad or not, and earn $500 bucks!

Blogging has been proved to be a perfect way to communicate and share thoughts, ideas, and experiences. Our BlogAbroad project has been uber successful and we need your students! It’s also a great way to get the name of your school and program out there

So send em along to audition!

Blogged with Flock

Adult Education Website Lets Audience Become the Marketers

admin — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 15:42:52 +0000

Anyone looking to put a personal stamp on a national website, get a foot in the door of the marketing world or just make some extra money during the holidays may have a chance. EducationforAdults.com, an online directory of adult education programs, is running a contest to develop a new tagline.

Colleges thinking about banning Skype

admin — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:28:57 +0000

Are you into technology? Do you keep AIM on 24 hours a day? Are you waiting (im)patiently for your very own Nintendo Wii? Do you use Skype to stay in touch with friends on other campuses? Well, you may not be able to use Skype much longer.

The Educational Operating System

admin — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 13:47:25 +0000

An operating system is probably the most important part of someones computer experience. We all use one. Windows, Mac OSX, some of you real geeks use Linux. I love Linux. It’s a free and open source operating system. I saw something today that really got me excited about open source (free) software.

Check out this project called “Edubuntu“.

Linux for Young Human Beings

“Ubuntu” is an ancient African word, meaning “humanity to others”.
The Edubuntu Linux distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to schools,
through its customised school environment. The current version of
Edubuntu is aimed at classroom use, and future versions of Edubuntu
will expand to other educational usage, such as university use.

I love it. Check out some screenshots, this is NOT too techy for everyone. Kids are learning Linux in school, the next generation of students are going to be so tech savvy, it will blow your mind.

Check out the Edubuntu project and learn. Do not be afraid of technology.

Blogged with Flock

Nothing Describes Studying Abroad like Video.

admin — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:22:24 +0000

Andrew Congdon likes to shoot video. Andrew Congdon also likes to travel. Andrew Congdon is currently studying abroad.

Video + Study Abroad = A Winning Combination.

Watch and Enjoy

Blogged with Flock

Erasing Divide, College Leaders Take to Blogging

admin — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:13:58 +0000

A great NY Times article came out and it talks about the use of blogs in higher education. I recently did a presentation for the Access Group, which I’ll be posting more of (and posting the actual powerpoint), but here is a great article to see why you would use a blog at your school.

While some colleges and their presidents have seen their reputations
shredded on student blogs, and others have tried to limit what students
and faculty members may say online, about a dozen or so presidents,
like Dr. McGuire, are vaulting the digital and generational divide and
starting their own blogs.

Veterans of campus public relations
disasters warn that presidents blog at their peril; “an insane thing to
do” is how Raymond Cotton, a lawyer who advises universities and their
presidents in contract negotiations, describes it. But these presidents
say blogs make their campuses seem cool and open a direct line, more or
less, to students, alumni and the public.

“When I first started
learning about blogs, I said, ‘Well, here I like to discourse on issues
of the day, connect with the campus community,’ ” recalled Dr. McGuire,
who said she wrote all her own entries. “Here’s a way I can talk a
couple of times a week to everybody.”

Read the whole article here.

Blogged with Flock

Why Technology in Higher Ed is important

Drew Olanoff — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 14:50:35 +0000

Or….”What I did this summer”

Everyone knows about web 2.0. You’ve heard us talk about how web 2.0 is sharing, community, communication, information gathering. But some folks aren’t sold yet. Hey, I completely understand. A lot of the time, you’re a 2 or 3 (or sometimes 1, eek!) person shop at your school. We feel your pain, we understand. But please listen to us when we say that the 2.0 technologies coming out are not only there to communicate with prospective students, they will make your lives easier.

Services that will help you are coming out every single day. Want to collect photos? flickr is your friend. Want to make an easy database? Well then dabble with dabbledb. Want to make easy podcasts (video or audio), then get hip with Hipcast.

These services will let you do what you want to do to communicate with students. It’s what they’re doing, so you have to join them sooner or later. Do you have a place on MySpace? Do you have a video cut on AOL Uncut? Pressed for communication with students? Try a blog with Wordpress.

You should. Because after all, getting the word out about your school and program is the #1 thing you can do to recruit. Why not use the tools that are available?

Have Questions? I have Answers.

Make Your own Google

Drew Olanoff — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:52:08 +0000

Yup, you heard it right. Google has set up a service that lets you create your own search engine. What does this mean? It means that you can add the sites that interest you and then let your web visitors search on those sites only.

It’s alot like the Rollyo service, but Rollyo only uses Yahoo, and I’m personally a bigger fan of Google.

For example, if your school has multiple websites, you could add them all to this list and then let people search only on those sites. You could set up a search engine for only a specific department of your school if you like.

Give it a try!

I would like to create a search engine of just higher education focused bloggers, so send your blog link to andrew@edudirectories.com to be included!

Instant Messages - To Be Private, or not to be Private

Drew Olanoff — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 14:11:36 +0000

That is the question raised by this recent article on Ed-Tech Insider.

Amid recent congressional scandals that I won’t get into, new attention is being paid to whether the government should be able to control Instant messaging on the internet. As you know, companies who provide instant messaging (AOL, MSN, Yahoo) contest that they do not save conversations, nor do they spy on conversations. I’m not sure how true that is, but that’s what they say.

The government is saying that there should be some laws governing instant messaging. Why? Plenty of bad things are said in personal conversation, are we going to be able to carry small recorders with us at all times now? That’s just flat out ridiculous. Sure there are bad people online doing bad things, especially to underage kids. But that means that parents need to educate their kids on what to look out for, just as we were told to look both ways and not talk to strangers “back in the day”.

The internet is the future. The internet is now. Right now, kids are living in everyones future, and it’s time to accept and embrace it. I don’t think our privacy rights should be taken away while talking online. As we know words can be taken the wrong way in person, imagine how it will be online. Can you picture sitting in court explaining how your personal sarcasm works in an instant message? Oy.

Educate your kids, educate yourself. Don’t fire away at the technology, look inward first.

Wiki University

Drew Olanoff — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 17:59:57 +0000

Not sure what a Wiki is? Maybe you are but you don’t know it. Ever heard of wikipedia? It’s the largest open source for encyclopedia type information on the internet. It has been mentioned in every major publication in the world at some point or another, and it stands for a medium and a platform that is growing in use AND popularity. That’s always the goal right? We have to show that people will really use it before a school or program will get involved. It’s an ugly thing called “checking into things first and playing it smart” am I right?

I might be wrong actually. There are mediums such as blogs, podcasts, wikis, and social networks that are currently underutilized in higher education. Why? Mostly because you guys don’t have the time to manage things like this or even look into what these things are. It’s unfortunate, you’re missing out.

A wiki is a place where people can collaborate on a single subject or a group of subjects. Wikia.com just launched a special service for higher education.

Stanford is on board.

Please take a look at what they’re doing, then go google the word wiki. Take a half hour to see what’s going on at wikipedia. Come back and visit me and lets talk. I’m available, it’s what I do. It’s time to open up the conversation with the ones who matter. The students.