What do you get when you smash Bill Clinton, a UNLV grad, MTV, Bill and Melinda Gates, College Board, and Facebook? No, not that. (It was my first guess, too.) A Facebook App that matches college student with any financial aid they qualify for. The vast powers of social media being used for good, not evil. So relieving.

It’ll be out this fall. Have fun with it, and avoid all the student loans you can.

Further Reading:

Pres. Clinton Announces MTV and College Board Collaboration on First-Ever Social Media Tool for Financial Aid
“Get Schooled” College Affordability Challenge
The Gates Foundation Kicks Ass

Posted by Alexa Harrington

CourseSmart just released the results of a study by Wakefield Research. The study clears up any questions we all may have had with regard to how addicted college students are to their technological gadgetry. Students really, really need their Smartphones and their laptops and cannot go more than ten minutes without checking their devices for any updates from the outside world.

I would scoff and begin dishing out pen-and-paper snobbery if technology-is-for-sucks me didn’t also require her Smartphone, laptop, and iPod to get through the day. I mean, I don’t NEED my devices, and it goes without saying that I can stop anytime I want. But then I would be out of several social loops, I would have no idea what I should be doing or where I should be going, I would miss appointments and dinner parties and deadlines, and I would be unable to do my job or complete my coursework.

Which is to say I do not require technology in order to survive, but my life would deteriorate rather quickly if I were to unplug and stick with a pen-and-paper lifestyle. I choose life, people, and for that I prefer sexy, sleek little devices that connect me gracefully with my world. What a wretched thing to admit. I may have just rolled over in my future grave.

From the press release:

CourseSmart today announced the results of its “Digital Devices in Higher Education” survey, conducted by Wakefield Research. The new survey provides insight on the digital devices students are using, how often they use them and how these devices are changing the traditional college experience. The findings include:

“¢ Nearly all of the students surveyed (98%) own a digital device
“¢ 38% of students surveyed said that they could not go more than 10 minutes without checking in with their tech device
“¢ 63% have read an eTextbook on their device at least once
“¢ 46% reported they would be more likely to complete their reading if it was in a digital format
“¢ 85% of students reported that technology saves them time when studying—an average of two hours per day

Digital Dependence of Today’s College Students Revealed in New Study from CourseSmartâ„¢
Findings show college students feel helpless without technology—checking their devices at least every 10 minutes and foregoing face time for Facebook®

SAN MATEO, Calif., June 1, 2011 — CourseSmartâ„¢, the world’s largest provider of eTextbooks and digital course materials, and Wakefield Research, a consultancy specializing in strategic and tactical research, recently completed a survey of more than 500 currently enrolled college students, providing insight on how mobile devices and technology have changed the traditional college experience and the role technology plays in students’ academic abilities and success. Today’s students are truly carrying a digital backpack with nearly a quarter (27%) of students surveyed listing their laptop as the most important item in their bag—almost three times the number of students who chose textbooks (10%).

The findings further reveal that students are completely dependent on technologies—eReaders, Smartphones, laptops and more—to get through their daily college routine. Nearly all of the students surveyed (98%) own a digital device. And 38% of students surveyed said that they could not go more than 10 minutes without checking in with their tech device—about the same amount of time it takes to walk to class. Largely based on the fact that technology helps students learn more efficiently, 85% of students reported that technology saves them time when studying—an average of two hours per day.

Given this shift in behavior towards technological dependence, it’s unsurprising that almost three-quarters (73%) of students surveyed claim they would not be able to study without using some form of technology. Additionally, it is clear that laptops and Smartphones are two types of devices that students are using to further their academic potential. Nearly half (48%) of all students who own a tech device frequently read eTextbooks and 63% have read an eTextbook on their device at least once. In fact, of the 91% of students who said they failed to complete required reading before classes, about half (46%) reported they would be more likely to complete their reading if it was in a digital format.

According to the survey, eReaders and eTextbooks are some of the emerging technologies helping students save time while still being effective. While 69% said an eTextbook is easier to carry than a traditional textbook, 61% cited that eTextbooks make it far easier to search within a text (thus saving time), 60% mentioned that eTextbooks save them money, and 55% said that they are easier to read “on the go.”

Additionally, new media options are increasingly engaging students, who said they use tools such as CourseSmart (39%), videos and podcasts (24%) and iTunes® (12%) to access study materials from a professor — a far cry from the library card catalogues and encyclopedias of previous generations. Students are also spending their time using email (89%) and school Web sites (83%) for gathering course materials from their professors.

The library is not the only college campus fixture fading into the past; office hours are quickly becoming an antiquity as well. Students seem to prefer Facebook® to face time with the majority seeking extra help from their teachers via email (91%), cell phone (13%), or social networking sites (8%).

Furthermore, outside of everyday reading and studying, students also use digital devices for many of the tasks that previously required a pencil and paper to carry out—writing papers (82%), research (81%), taking class notes (70%) and making class presentations (65%).

Posted by Alexa Harrington

According to my favorite tech nerd, Jane Hart, Twitter is a viable learning tool for surgeons. See? Not the career for me.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Have we not learned this particular life lesson yet? The combination of Facebook and photography is one of the most treacherous of our time. Much like a hydrogen-filled zeppelin, only not actually flammable.

Here’s some shockingly obvious advice for college students everywhere that have big dreams of succeeding in life: Don’t photograph yourself with body parts, placental or otherwise, and post it on Facebook. I don’t care if Doyle Byrnes’ intentions were educational and were meant only for her close family and friends; it still counts as heinous. Grow up.

In nursing school, or any other health-related field, students are taught the legal and ethical rules by which doctors, nurses, and all other healthcare professionals must follow. Photos of patients and/or their body parts is one of the more punishable offenses. Maybe Ethics & Common Sense 101 should be taught before anyone is allowed near the anatomy lab.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

I was never concerned as to whether or not today’s school-age kids were going to be considered fully functioning adults someday; anyone who can seemingly mind-meld with a computer (or a cell phone or anything gizmo-ish), understand it, and make it work is probably going to do just fine once they’re let loose on the world.

Despite feeling that kids these days were good to go on the technology front, I was a wee bit worried that the whole writing portion of their lives was headed for much suckage. I was caught in the admittedly old-fashioned (lame!) idea that all forward progress in the land of tech can only lead to less and less well-rounded humans. The telephone, for instance, led to a severe decline in letter-writing. (Of course, the electric light bulb led to everyone staying up later and getting more work done, but let’s ignore that for the moment.)

Clive Thompson’s article in Wired has calmed me down. Thanks to all the e-mail and texting that goes on these days, kids are doing more writing than anyone has since correct cursive and perfect penmanship were qualities to strive for. Now we’ve got technologically savvy kids who can express themselves with the written/typed word like nobody’s business. I’m stoked that society will not be taking one-way trips in any hand baskets.

From the article:

The fact that students today almost always write for an audience (something virtually no one in my generation did) gives them a different sense of what constitutes good writing. In interviews, they defined good prose as something that had an effect on the world. For them, writing is about persuading and organizing and debating, even if it’s over something as quotidian as what movie to go see. The Stanford students were almost always less enthusiastic about their in-class writing because it had no audience but the professor: It didn’t serve any purpose other than to get them a grade. As for those texting short-forms and smileys defiling serious academic writing? Another myth. When Lunsford examined the work of first-year students, she didn’t find a single example of texting speak in an academic paper.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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Screwed anyone over publicly lately? Virally or plain old socially? Don’t be an ass@#$%. Pay attention to what you’re putting out there. Nikki Massaro Kauffman at .eduGuru wrote an enlightening and educational post about Teaching Privacy: Friends Don’t Let Friends Post to Facebook.

From the post:

I’ve been wanting to do a post about some of the privacy training I’ve been doing for faculty and staff since the last time Facebook updated its privacy policy. It’s hard to keep track of when, where, and how many times Facebook has changed its privacy policy. But this is not a post about quitting Facebook. It’s not a how-to on tweaking your privacy either.

We are constantly learning how to handle our relationships and privacy. Preschoolers eventually learn that they can’t blurt out every observation they make lest they reveal a surprise or offend someone. School aged children eventually learn that keeping a friend’s secret is more important than gossip. Adults wrestle with the ethics of keeping a confidence over revealing a truth. All of our struggles with privacy are hard enough when we’re just talking about the ethical issues of face-to-face communication. But now we’ve supplied an arsenal of communication tools to everyone with a computer and access to the Internet. More…

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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Researchers analyzed 30,000 teens and the relationship between screen time (tv, video games, surfing the net, etc.) and the teens’ tendency toward experiencing routine backache and headaches. The study was just released, and the findings boil down to this: cumulative screen time, even in young, healthy bodies, causes headaches and back pain.

I’m pretty sure this can easily be applied to college students and full-fledged adults as well. Ergonomics, massage therapy, and a reduction in screen time: Know it. Live it. Love it.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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You can download AVG’s new LinkScanner for Macs for free. There’s a PC version available as well.

Not yet paranoid enough to make you feel the urge to be responsible? Watch this SANS security expert discussing security issues with modern technological gadgetry:

Posted by Alexa Harrington

A year ago I was writing and reading wretchedly hopeless posts and articles about newly graduated MBAs who could not get jobs and were swarming back to their recently ditched high school digs to cite the Home is where they have to take you when you don’t have anywhere else to go! rule to their confused parents. Parents who had long since turned their kid’s bedroom into a taxidermist’s suite.

The job market still blows for MBAs (and almost everyone else). But it’s managed to move ever so slightly up the flagpole of income opportunity. I’d say it’s improved at least three eighths of an inch.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the meek and the less-than networked will be living on the streets or pursuing another career entirely. Any freshly MBA-ed twenty-something who wants to fulfill their business destiny has to be willing to network to the nth degree, drive the networking and coffee-buying machine, and work their pants off to even get one cup’s worth of sit-down face time with a breathing human who may (or may not) lead to an interview.

In the interest of acquiring the motivational energy required for pursuing a business career in this economy, I would advise first nailing down the minimum wage job most capable of making you loathe yourself and every sunrise you witness. Possibly the best launching pad available is hitting bottom and having to scrounge around in the slimy muck for a while. Which situation makes you run faster? The beautiful cornfields you pass on your evening jog? Or the pissed-off bull someone forgot to latch the gate on, that is now hell-bent on obliterating you on the lame-ass, country-road asphalt of life?

Basically what it comes down to is this: If you’re sniffing flowers and pondering sunsets and saying, “Aww…pretty!” you are not ready to traject (I made that word up). But if you’re hating your bull moment so intensely that you’re running fast enough to leave the words, “Son of a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii*ch!” far behind you, then you, my friend, are ready for the real world and will be kicking much business-world butt.

If you require more advice and fewer asterisks, please refer to the helpful articles below.

Further Reading:

State of the Job Market for MBAs
Where MBAs Are Finding Jobs
Post-Grad Assignment: Find Work

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(images: angry bull and cornfield)

Wired magazine calls him “the explainer.” Michael Wesch is a social anthropologist who teaches at Kansas State University. In his 15-minute TED talk, he explains the effects of media (social and otherwise) on learners, on humanity, and on the classroom environment.

Wesch also manages to squeeze in a bit telling other educators how to take advantage of all the media and the technology humans have available as a way to make students more “knowledge-able” than just knowledgeable. It’s not just memorizing facts and theories anymore—all the information is out there, students need to learn how to find it and ponder it and bring their own thoughts and theories to the table.

Watch it. It takes about 15 minutes; that’s less time than it takes to drink a cup of coffee. And no way one cup of caffeine will blow your mind like Michael Wesch can.

Posted by Alexa Harrington