July 2016 archive

ISTE 2016 tech tools

15 Tech Tool Favorites From ISTE 2016

15 Tech Tool Favorites From ISTE 2016

Google Expeditions

Flippity

Google Science Journal

Google Cast

Google Art Project

World Wonders Project

Constitute

YouTube – database of YouTube Channels by subject to help educators with discoverability

SafeShare.tv

YouTube Time Machine

Zygote Body

Pixlr

Build With Chrome

Google CS First

Androidify

posters about Google Apps For Education

 

mine social media

How to Successfully Mine Your Social Media Data

by Alex York on June 22, 2016

http://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-data/

social media has a strong return on investment (ROI) – how to

Social media data is the collected information from social networks that show how users share, view or engage with your content or profiles. These numbers, percentages and statistics provide better insights into your social media strategy.

social media analytics to make sense of the raw information.
media data as the ingredients to your meal and the analysis as your recipe. Without the recipe, you wouldn’t know what to make or how to cook it.

Some of the raw social media data can include:

  • Shares
  • Likes
  • Mentions
  • Impressions
  • Hashtag usage
  • URL clicks
  • Keyword analysis
  • New followers
  • Comments

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are the various business metrics used to measure and analyze certain aspects of your business. Social media KPIs are the metrics that likely factor into your social media ROI.

Facebook business page, you can analyze some KPIs within the social network. The most essential Facebook metrics include (see entire article).

Twitter Analytics

  • Engagement Rate: Total link clicks, Retweets, favorites and replies on your Tweet divided by total impressions.
  • Followers: Total number of Twitter followers.
  • Link Clicks: Total number of URL and hashtag links clicked.
  • Mentions: How many times your @username was mentioned by others.
  • Profile Visits: Total Twitter profile visits.
  • Replies: How many times people replied to your Tweets.
  • Retweets: Total Retweets received by others.
  • Tweet Impressions: Total of times your Tweet has been viewed whether it was clicked or not.
  • Tweets: How many Tweets you’ve posted.

LinkedIn Analytics

Here are the top LinkedIn metrics:

  • Clicks: Total clicks on a post, company name or logo.
  • Engagement: Total interactions divided by number of impressions.
  • Followers: Total number of new followers through a sponsored update.
  • Impressions: Total times your update was visible to other users.
  • Interactions: Total number of comments, likes, comments and shares.

Google Analytics

  • Average Session Duration: Average session times users spend on your site.
  • Bounce Rate: Percentage of users leaving your site after one page view.
  • New Users: Total number of new users coming to your site for the first time.
  • Pages / Session: Average number of pages a user views each session.
  • Pageviews: Number of pages loaded or reloaded in a browser.
  • Sessions: Total times when users are active on your site.

need to decipher what’s most important.

If you wanted to track audience growth on Facebook, consider engagement rates, new followers, Post reach and organic Likes.

For example, if you launched a social media campaign, track data that highlights your ROI. According to Mashable, your ROI cycle for a social media campaign should be set up in three stages:

  1. Launch
  2. Management
  3. Optimization

41% of companies and agencies no clue about their social media financial impact. It’s nearly impossible to figure out data overnight. Instead, it takes months of tracking to ensure your future business decisions are valuable.

Sprout’s suite of social media analytics tools give you presentation-ready reports on major social networks.

++++++++++++++

more on social media analytics:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=social+media+analytics

more on social media stats in this IMS blog

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=social+media+statistics

 

Library Technoculture

Cultivating a Library Technoculture: We are Tech Workers!

Your registration for this webinar has been confirmed. All of the information you need to join the webinar is below. Click the “Join Meeting” button to be connected to the webinar.

You will be able to hear the audio for this event through your computer’s speakers. If you prefer to call in, the phone number is listed below.

Conference ID: 27993347

This webinar will be recorded and archived on the TechSoup for Libraries website. Please register for this webinar to receive an email notification when the archive is available.

Please contact webinars@techsoupglobal.org with accessibility requests for live captioning at least 72 hours prior to the event.

 

gamification position

Tenure Track Position in Gamification Tampere University of Technology

http://www.computeroxy.com/announcement,a2945.html

Tampere University of Technology (TUT) is an active scientific community of 2,000 employees and more than 10,000 students. The University operates in the form of a foundation and has a long-standing tradition of collaboration with other research institutions and business life. Many of the fields of research and study represented at the University play a key role in addressing global challenges. Internationality is an inherent part of all the University’s activities. Welcome to join us at TUT!

The University of Turku is a world-class multidisciplinary research university which offers interesting challenges and a unique vantage point to national and international research and education.

Tenure track (Gamification)

The tenure track position is shared between Tampere University of Technology and the University of Turku. It supports the co-operation in teaching and research in the area of gamification between the two universities.

The professorship is especially associated with the TUT Game Lab (Pori Department, TUT) and the Digital Culture research group of the Cultural Production and Landscape Studies degree programme (School of History, Culture and Arts Studies, UTU). These research groups currently have five on-going research projects related to games and playing.

The TUT Game Lab brings together learning scientists, developers and humanists to conduct research and develop new ways of utilizing games in learning. The aim is to develop and study high-impact digital games that address real world challenges.

The main research objectives of TUT Game Lab are:
– Developing scientifically justified games to demonstrate and conduct research
– Studying the impact of educational games
– Exploring ways to combine learning and assessment in games
– Studying and modelling the playing experience

The Digital Culture research group (UTU) has three research focuses:
– cultural appropriation of technologies
– social media
– game cultures.

The Digital Culture research group specializes in the study of the cultural history of digital games and the uses of digital game histories in contemporary culture (so-called “history culture”). Furthermore, the research group has participated in various digital game exhibition projects as well as practical game design and gamification projects combining digital and non-digital elements. Digital Culture is a part of the Cultural Production and Landscape Studies degree programme which also incorporates two other major subjects: Cultural Heritage Studies and Landscape Studies.

Job description:

We invite applications for one (1) tenure track position in the area of Gamification.

The area of gamification covers:
– research of games and gamification
– games and playing as a cultural phenomenon
– game mechanisms, edugames and pervasive playing
– utilization of games in business, e.g. in new products and services

The emphasis of the position can be tailored according to the specific expertise of the candidate. Suitable educational and research backgrounds for the position include e.g. media studies, cultural studies, information technology and business and management.

The successful candidate is expected to:
– pursue and supervise scientific research in the field
– lead, conduct and develop education in the field
– participate in the activities of the national and international scientific communities
– acquire external funding
– interact with society
– commit to the strategies of TUT and UTU.

The successful candidate will participate in teaching both in the master’s degree programme in Management and Information Technology (TUT) as well as the subject of Digital Culture (UTU) by integrating the gamification theme into the existing course selection, in particular. Supervising theses and conducting doctoral seminars are also essential areas of responsibility.

The position will be filled at the level of Associate Professor.

The successful candidate will be employed by TUT. For more information on TUT’s tenure track career system, please refer to tut.fi/openpositions – Tenure track.

Requirements:

All candidates considered for a tenure track position are expected to:
– hold an applicable doctoral degree
– demonstrate a record of achievement in research that meets high international standards in the field of gamification
– demonstrate the capacity for independent scholarly activity
– possess the teaching skills required for the successful performance of their duties and
– have the ability to co-operate in a multidisciplinary university environment and with industry.

We appreciate experience and a track record in acquiring research funding, along with collaboration and leadership positions in research networks and industry.

For more information on the criteria for each level of TUT’s tenure track, please refer to tut.fi/openpositions – Tenure track.

We offer:

Both TUT and UTU have ambitious and challenging goals in effective, high-quality research, education and social influence. We offer an active research community with a good team spirit, intense cooperation with industry and business, public organizations and students, and opportunities for growth and advancement in academia. Our international cooperation is active and recognized, both in research and education.

We offer the successful candidate an opportunity to contribute to the creation of a new research area that combines gamification with areas such as cultural studies, information technology and business.

TUT offers a wide range of staff benefits, such as occupational health care. Since 2014, TUT has held the European Commission HR Excellence in Research recognition.

For more information, please visit tut.fi/en – About TUT – Careers at TUT
(http://www.tut.fi/en/about-tut/careers-at-tut/index.htm)
(http://www.tut.fi/en/about-tut/quality-assurance/hr-excellence-in-research)

Salary:

The salary will be based on both the job demands and the employee’s personal performance in accordance with the Finnish University Salary System (YPJ).

The advertised position is typically placed on the job demand level 7 (Associate Professor). In addition, the employees receive performance-based salary and they are covered by TUT’s bonus system.

Trial period:

The appointment is subject to the satisfactory completion of a trial period of four months.

Other:

The position will be filled for a fixed-term period of four years. The appointment is expected to begin on 1 December 2016 or as mutually agreed.

The duties are mainly located on the Pori campus in close co-operation with the main campuses in Tampere and Turku.

For the candidates with the most potential for the position, the selection process will involve an external assessment, individual interviews, aptitude assessments and a trial lecture.

For more information, please contact:

Director of University Consortium of Pori, Professor Jari Multisilta, e-mail: jari.multisilta@tut.fi, tel. +358 40 826 2910. Best availability for enquiries: 7 July–15 July and 1 August- 10 August.

In questions concerning the recruitment process, please contact HR Specialist
Eveliina Nurmi, e-mail. eveliina.nurmi@tut.fi, tel. +358 50 3015253. Best availability for enquiries: 15 June – 8 July and 8 August-10 August.

How to apply:

Applications must be submitted through TUT’s online employment system. The closing date for applications is 10 August 2016 (10:00 pm UTC). All applications and supporting documents must be submitted in English.

The applications must include the following documents prepared according to TUT’s instructions:
1. Curriculum Vitae (.doc or .pdf)
2. Research plan
3. List of publications
4. Teaching portfolio
5. References

Additional information on TUT’s tenure track system and attachments to applications.

Teacher Leadership in Schools

7 Qualities That Promote Teacher Leadership in Schools

7 Qualities That Promote Teacher Leadership in Schools

three shifts in policy and leadership culture may help move these efforts forward:

  1. New types of assessment are gaining ground. Several states are piloting performance-based assessments to replace standardized testing.
  2. Exemplars in the business community are now promoting flat organizational structures, where employees work in smaller teams and have more voice and power over how they work.
  3. Teachers are more networked than ever before, providing a unique opportunity to share and spread good teaching practice.

crucial decisions about curriculum, leadership roles and discipline.

While the hybrid roles that teachers play at teacher-powered schoolsmay seem like a lot of work, they give teachers the power to decide what programs, textbooks, software, etc., should or should not be used in order to make space for the community’s vision. And when teachers decide together on the vision and strategy to reach all students, they are often more invested and excited by the change they are creating from within.

7conditions

Some of the best available examples of how to improve teacher quality and promote teacher leadership lie in models offered by other high-performing places, like Finland and Singapore.

Seven qualities must be in place.

  1. A vision and strategy for teacher leadership, “with stated goals and clear images of tasks to be done, must be in place.”  Teachers must feel part of creating this vision in order to buy in.
  2. A supportive administration. “Principals must be willing to share power with teachers and must have the skills to cultivate them as leaders,” most educational leadership programs focus on supervising teachers, not supporting them as leaders.
  3. There need to be appropriate human and fiscal resources.
  4. Work structures that enable authentic collaboration are crucial. While more resources help on this point, there are creative ways to stretch limited dollars.
  5. Supportive social norms and working relationships are key to teacher leadership. “All too often, policymakers develop incentives to motivate teachers and administrators,” . “Instead, policies and programs should be in place to value teachers spreading their expertise to one another, allowing teaching to be exercised as a team sport.”
  6. Organizational politics must allow for blurred lines between roles. Teachers can only take on leadership roles at the expense of principals and district-level administrators. This also requires teacher unions to act more as “professional guilds” and for districts to follow the example of some for-profit businesses that are flattening bureaucracies.
  7. The school and system must be oriented toward risk-taking and inquiry. Just as students need hands-on applied learning rooted in inquiry, so, too, do teachers need powerful driving questions to push their work forward. “School systems must be able to interrogatethemselves about the extent to which they create opportunities for teachers to learn and lead in ways that spread teaching expertise and improve student outcomes.”

 

1 2 3