Teaching in Higher Ed

Resources

Keeping Up to Speed

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It is definitely getting harder to keep up… with our industries, research, teaching techniques, political affiliations, books-of-interest, and whatever else aligns with our passions and goals.

Rss

I use RSS feeds to stay up-to-speed on what most interests me. In my case, I use Outlook 2007 on my primary computer and it has RSS Feed capability built right in. You just look for the orange RSS feed indicator on your favorite site or blog and it will automatically add the feed inside of Outlook with two clicks of your mouse.

It doesn't make your in-box crowded, because the RSS Feeds are kept in a separate folder (see graphic above for an example straight out of my RSS feeds). You get to decide when you'll invest the time to catching up on your various feeds.

If you don't have Outlook, there are plenty of other free feed tools. Google Reader is one of the best ones out there and it links with your Gmail Account, Google Calendar, custom Google homepage and whatever other apps you use from Google.

Think it will be too hard to learn?

With Common Craft's video: RSS in Plain English, it couldn't be easier
(and they're pretty darn funny, too).

Let’s Get Visual

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Commentary about the ineffective uses of PowerPoint are ubiquitous. What is often left unsaid is what techniques and tools should be used in its place. I recently read and highly recommend ‘The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures'.”

Napkin

One of my lectures in my Introduction to Business class on financial statements uses nothing but the whiteboard. I compare and contrast a business' use of a balance sheet, a statement of cash flows and an income statement with an individual's use of these three common financial statements. While I love using PowerPoint effectively and other means of communicating ideas visually, sometimes there's nothing like an old-fashioned white board to get your ideas across.

Dan Roam gives even us non-artists a means for communicating visually. He has a whole system of how to go about doing this, but it does provide for you to pick and choose which techniques you'll use and add to your ability to convey your point using pictures. His message is written to business people, but educators can easily apply his ideas to our environment.

Let's Get Visual

By | | | XFacebookLinkedInEmail

Commentary about the ineffective uses of PowerPoint are ubiquitous. What is often left unsaid is what techniques and tools should be used in its place. I recently read and highly recommend ‘The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures'.”

Napkin

One of my lectures in my Introduction to Business class on financial statements uses nothing but the whiteboard. I compare and contrast a business' use of a balance sheet, a statement of cash flows and an income statement with an individual's use of these three common financial statements. While I love using PowerPoint effectively and other means of communicating ideas visually, sometimes there's nothing like an old-fashioned white board to get your ideas across.

Dan Roam gives even us non-artists a means for communicating visually. He has a whole system of how to go about doing this, but it does provide for you to pick and choose which techniques you'll use and add to your ability to convey your point using pictures. His message is written to business people, but educators can easily apply his ideas to our environment.