EME 6414 - bdevies

One of my favorite components of this course is learning all the tools that I can use to be a better educator. As we continue to have increased virtual, online learning, these tools will make all of our classrooms immensely more engaging and allow for resources to be more widely shared. My favorite tool we learning this week was Padlet.  Padlet (free) allows for up to 3 boards. The platform seems very user friendly. I started my first board with materials for the class I am teaching in the fall. I was able to customize the background and choose the layout. I love the easy, seamless control the platform allows me! I also love that I can share so many types of media on the board and add titles and captions that will work better with using this platform alongside a syllabus and classroom leaning (also all easily editable). The links all have easy previews of what they are! I am eager to keep playing in this platform and adding more posts to my classroom board. See my first board with ...

I wanted to provide some context to my knowledge sharing/tracking assignment product here as I may not be able to share as much during my VoiceThread presentation since I will be focused on the tracking. After talking with Dr. Dennen about ways I could use this assignment to be useful in my teaching, I decided to explore two paths: Spotify and YouTube. I use a lot of podcasts and videos in my teaching so I wanted to explore platforms to curate playlists of both that could place all of these resources in one place (outside of Canvas) for my students but also for other educators. The class is on Gender and Leadership so the topics of mediums are on that topic specifically.  I started last week with Spotify and crafted the beginnings of a playlist but decided after a few days, it may not be my best platform choice for a few reasons. While the app is free, most students only use it with premium and therefore, there would be a pay wall between their utilization of the resource. My Spoti...

Hi all! Happy midterm season. In this season, I realized I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my experience in this course verbally with peers, colleagues, and mentors, but have not spent as much time in reflection in writing, like on my blog. It is my natural tendency to reflect and process verbally, which is why I sometimes struggle with online courses as they miss the verbal communication in most spaces. However, in challenging myself to adapt and learn alongside the course mediums, I wanted to synthesize some of my thoughts here. One element I continue to reflect on with the course itself is the grading philosophy Dr. Dennen uses. This "choose your own adventure" type of method has had me focused a lot more on vulnerable learning and developing rather than working to achieve a desirable grade. I typically am working to ensure I "pass" courses with excellent marks the way I am sure many of my peers can relate to as graduate students, but this method alleviate...

As COVID-19 is still impacting the delivery of the college experience, many campuses are beginning to imagine what a full semester could look like at least partially virtually. While curricular courses have managed to figure out online learning with years of academic research on the topic, ample tools and platforms, and entire offices dedicated to the topic, student affairs has had to adapt as they go. Never before have we seen a demand to transition student support services online in a prolonged, sustainable way. For example, many brilliant leaders at Florida State developed " Virtual FSU ". This one website is a catch all for the work done by 12 departments and over 1,000 employees daily. This website evolves daily as the Division leaders to adapt to the information they are given from FSU leadership and feedback from students on what they need. As someone who sits between academic affairs and student affairs, I continue to reflect on the need for scholarship to be done on ...

Ever since I was a child, I have loved reading for fun. I have vivid memories in my childhood home curled up with the American Girl series, Junie B. Jones, and the Boxcar Children. So you can imagine my excitement when I learned there was a social media app catered to avid readers, all about books. I joined Goodreads on April 22, 2013. Here is a breakdown of my profile: Books Read: 104  Want to Read: 285 Currently Reading: 10 (I know, I know. Some are course textbooks too) 2020 Reading Challenge: 8/12 Total Books: 399 Friends: 109 Following: 5 One of my favorite elements of Goodreads (and why I continue to sing its praises) is the book reviews on this app are about as honest as they get. As a community of avid readers, you can get an incredible sense of the book you are considering. Book breakdowns have ratings (1-5 stars), reviews (written), descriptions, details, preview, and an option to share on other platforms. You can also see which of your friends has read the book and what ...

Hi all, It has been a few weeks of "pause" on my blogging. I know a pause was needed when I feel energized to return to the space rather than drain or obligation. While I have paused from blogging, I have not stepped away from social media in the last few weeks because social media feels (now more than ever) like a critical space to be as there continues to be news shared, resources provided, support given, and more. What I do want to spend time reflecting on this week is knowing the need for a pause. When the end of 2017 came around, I was ending my first semester in my Master's program and was feeling distracted and homesick.  Upon some reflection, I realized that it was really hard for me to be living 15 hours away from family and loved ones and see their seemingly constant updates on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. I also realized that I was distracted from my studies and my new life here by feeling the need to always be checking my phone for social media...