Enjoy the Labor Day Weekend!

It's nice to end the first week of class with a long weekend. Even though summer weather lingers in Texas for a few more weeks, most of us think of Labor Day as marking the end of summer. Labor Day is our last chance to get out on the lake, barbeque, and get together with friends.

Labor Day was first designated over 100 years ago as a celebration of American workers. The first Monday in September, Labor Day is "a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. " (taken from the U.S. Department of Labor in the 21st Century website)

To learn more about "Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means" go to: http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm

Hello Wiki and Goodbye Textbook

At many colleges and universities, wikis are used mostly as a supplement to primary teaching tools like textbooks and labs, while other Web 2.0 technologies -- such as social networking sites like Facebook -- have become a staple of student life. In one Boston College professor's classroom, however, wikis have become a primary learning tool, replacing textbooks and allowing improved collaboration among students. The wiki is even used to let students submit possible questions for examinations, many of which actually appear on tests. Read more at:http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=16&articleId=9030802&intsrc=hm_topic

(Taken from Steven Bells - The Kept-Up Academic Librarian)

College Students Wield Connections, Concern and Consumer Clout

August 15, 2007

From Alloy College Explorer research, which shows how much college students have changed in the past four years (they are way more wired). The key stats are below:

They are totally wired:
- Close to all students (93%) report owning a cell phone (up 15 points from four years ago)
- Digital camera ownership has just about doubled since 2003. Today, 64% of students report owning one and 16% cite intention to purchase this year
- In 2003, 17% of students owned MP3 players - and the iPod was not yet a staple - today more than half (58%) own one.
- About one-third (28.9%) of campuses now offer blanket wireless coverage and almost two-thirds claim to have a wireless strategy plan in place.
- Down with desktops: there was a 21 point increase of laptop ownership in the last two years alone (63% today vs. 42% in 2005)

More students = more money to spend
- A 14% increase (from 2003) as 13.3 million students head back to campus with $198 Billion in consumer spending power (up 31% from 2003)
- Three-quarters of students now report employment during the year
- 56% of college students are female, about 1.1 million more than reported in ’03

They're influencers
- 27% choose to stay in touch with friends via social networking site over face-to-face communication, at 11%, or over phone, with 23% reporting
- More than half (54%) of college students (ages 18-30) visit a social networking site in a typical day
- 25% actually claim they have “never” visited a user-generated site
- 66% of students are learning about brands, products and services from their friends
- 61% report being influenced by word of mouth WOM (up 48% from 2004)
- Students cite they are most likely to look to friends for advice for movies (60%) and electronics (48%)
- More than half of students claim they played the deciding role in recent decision to buy a computer (57%), a digital camera (57%), or a cell phone/PDA (66%)

Some of them want to make a difference
- 35% of students reporting they feel that people their age have the greatest ability to impact positive world change and up from last year
- 37% cite they are more likely to purchase brands that are socially and environmentally responsible (33% in 2006)"

The original press release from Harris Interactive's Alloy, states it quite clearly:

Class of 2011 Heads Back To Campus Wielding More Connections, Concern and Consumer Clout Than Any Class Before Them
"We're faster than you.
We're bigger than you.
We've got more clout.
We're louder than you."

Facebook (and MySpace)

Check out this post and this post to discover 12 ways to use Facebook (and MySpace) professionally.

The short list:

1. Think of it like personalizing your desk.
2. Look for old co-workers and current connections.
3. Add friends selectively.
4. Add apps selectively.
5. Edit your news feed preferences.
6. Edit your profile and security settings.
7. Incorporate the tools you’re already using into your profile.
8. Join Groups related to your business interests.
9. Limit time wasted on Facebook.
10. Be philanthropic.
11. Ask Questions.
12. Look for events.

(Taken from Stephen's Lighthouse)

One-Minute Book Reviews

Need some ideas on what to read (or not read) this summer? Take a look at One-Minute Book Reviews, a blog written by Janice Harayda, journalist, author, and an adjunct professor of writing at various universities. She is a former book columnist for Glamour, book editor and critic for The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, and vice-president for awards of the National Book Critics Circle.

She reviews both serious and fun books, which are not freebies from publishers. Her reviews include the best line and worst line from each book. She even writes reviews of "books I didn't finish," and tells you why, and recommends other books if she thinks one is bad. She also gives out "Delete Key Awards" for "the worst writing in books," which she describes as "such things as clichés, bad grammar, or writing at an elementary-school level according to the readability statistics on Microsoft Word."

I discovered this blog when I was looking for some discussion questions for one of my book clubs for Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an autobiography published earlier this year. Many publishers are now producing "reading group guides" as part of their marketing efforts for a book, but Janice writes "Totally Unauthorized Reading Group Guides" for "many books that groups might love [such as] new hardcover nonfiction or for classic works of fiction." Her guides will sometimes "quote unfavorable reviews, [and] encourage you to compare a book to others...[to] promote the lively debate about the merits of books that most book clubs enjoy."

Those with degrees still enroll!

These days, thousands of people who enroll in community college programs already have four-year degrees — or more — in hand. Almost 11,000 students pursuing an associate's degree or a diploma in the N.C. Community College System in 2006 had a bachelor's degree. More than 2,500 students had a master's degree or higher. The reason for pursuing another degree is usually related to job marketability.

Read more at:http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070625/NEWSREC0101/70624001

Diplomas Count

A new report published in Education Week looks at the skills required to get jobs in every state and concludes that, at both the state and national level, people need to complete at least some college to earn a decent wage.

The report bases such findings on an analysis of data from two sources: a U.S. Department of Labor database that classifies jobs based on the education, training, and experience that they require, and U.S. Census Bureau statistics showing how many people work in various types of jobs and how much they earn.

"At both national and state levels, our research shows that a high-school diploma alone is not sufficient for students to access the jobs that will provide a real future and to thrive in our economy," said Christopher B. Swanson, who conducted the analysis as director of a research center affiliated with the newspaper.

In other findings, the report estimates that about 30 percent of ninth graders fail to graduate from high school with their peers four years later. For black males, the four-year graduation rate is 46 percent; for Hispanic males, it's 52 percent.

Based on an examination of state policies, the report says that just 11 states define what students should know and be able to do to be prepared for credit-bearing courses in college, and 14 states are working on a definition. Twenty-two states require high schools to administer exit examinations, while three others plan to do so. The number of states basing their exit exams on standards set at the 10th-grade level or higher has risen from six in 2002 to 18 in 2007. —Peter Schmidt

Read the entire article at http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2007/06/12/index.html

100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know

Just fun with words

Press Release

100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know by Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries (Editor)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSTON, MA — The editors of the American Heritage® dictionaries have compiled a list of 100 words they recommend every high school graduate should know.

"The words we suggest," says senior editor Steven Kleinedler, "are not meant to be exhaustive but are a benchmark against which graduates and their parents can measure themselves. If you are able to use these words correctly, you are likely to have a superior command of the language."

The following is the entire list of 100 words:

• abjure
• abrogate
• abstemious
• acumen
• antebellum
• auspicious
• belie
• bellicose
• bowdlerize
• chicanery
• chromosome
• churlish
• circumlocution
• circumnavigate
• deciduous
• deleterious
• diffident
• enervate
• enfranchise
• epiphany
• equinox
• euro
• evanescent
• expurgate
• facetious
• fatuous
• feckless
• fiduciary
• filibuster
• gamete
• gauche
• gerrymander
• hegemony
• hemoglobin
• homogeneous
• hubris
• hypotenuse
• impeach
• incognito
• incontrovertible
• inculcate
• infrastructure
• interpolate
• irony
• jejune
• kinetic
• kowtow
• laissez faire
• lexicon
• loquacious
• lugubrious
• metamorphosis
• mitosis
• moiety
• nanotechnology
• nihilis
• mnomenclature
• nonsectarian
• notarize
• obsequious
• oligarchy
• omnipotent
• orthography
• oxidize
• parabola
• paradigm
• parameter
• pecuniary
• photosynthesis
• plagiarize
• plasma
• polymer
• precipitous
• quasar
• quotidian
• recapitulate
• reciprocal
• reparation
• respiration
• sanguine
• soliloquy
• subjugate
• suffragist
• supercilious
• tautology
• taxonomy
• tectonic
• tempestuous
• thermodynamics
• totalitarian
• unctuous
• usurp
• vacuous
• vehement
• vortex
• winnow
• wrought
• xenophobe
• yeoman

Presidential Campaigns Create Student Jobs

Job prospects for college graduates are looking up thanks to the 2008 presidential candidates. Eighteen contenders and counting translates into plenty of campaign hiring of promising but untested newcomers, especially in states with early nominating contests. Laurin Manning is taking a break from law school to work as Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's jack-of-all trades, earning about $2,300 a month. Her office walls are bare, and her title for weeks was a work in progress. Read more at:http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/08/ap3803068.html

It's Mesmerizing...Hypnotic...Addictive! It's Flickrvision!

Flickrvision is a really cool mashup that combines the power of Google Maps with the worldwide usage of photo hosting website Flickr.com. Flickrvision lets you see the location on Google Maps of new pictures posted to Flickr as they are uploaded in real time. You can click on a photo to get an expanded view with some more details (such as the photo title and description if available).

Creator Dave Troy says, “We use geotagging data from the actual photos where it is available, and then rely on the user's profile location in cases where it is not. Because less than 1% of photos [on Flickr] are geotagged, we rely on user profile location heavily. This is why when you look at the expanded view of each photo it says 'posted less than a minute ago from London', etc."

Content from O'Reilly Radar, Gadling.com, and Google Earth Blog.

What are you doing this summer????

Traveling? Working? Going to Summer School? Backpacking in Europe? -- Tell us about your summer plans. Post a comment and let everyone know what you are doing!

Check out this Library - from You Tube.

Great Job Market for Graduates

From the Chronicle of Higher Education - Students graduating from college this spring face an exceptionally good job market, with almost 60 percent of employers saying they plan to hire more new graduates in 2006-7 than they did in 2005-6, according to survey results released in summary form this week by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. That translates into the hiring of nearly 20 percent more new graduates this year than last. The demand for employees has driven up starting salaries in a number of fields, according to another survey conducted by the association. The most-sought-after new workers have degrees in business, engineering, and computer-related fields, the association said. —Andrew Mytelka

View article...

Turn Off Goes Green...

A Joint Project of Earth Day Network and Center for SCREEN-TIME Awareness

Did you know that the average television consumes 200-300 kilowatt-hours per year, accounting for an estimated 3-4% of the annual electronic usage in the USA.

That’s a whopping 46.9 billion kilowatt-hours a year! Or, in environmental terms, approximately 36 million tons of carbon dioxide, a global-warming causing pollutant.

Next week on April 22nd is Earth Day - do you part and turn off your TV!

Find out more at the Earth Day Network. http://www.earthday.net/default.aspx