The Campus Tech Connection (#CTCX) had a great chat with the CEO of GoingOn, Jon Corshen, on Monday (5/7/12). For those of you who may remember, GoingOn was a sponsor for the inaugural #NASPAtech conference in 2011.

GoingOn Networks is a San Francisco based education technology company that has created an Academic Social Network to enable colleges and universities to streamline communications, foster connections, and simplify collaboration across the extended campus.

Here are a few thoughts from Jon that is cross-posted on the GoingOn blog:

New social technologies provide powerful tools for creating a “connected campus” where students and faculty can more effectively engage in all aspects of their academic life, far beyond the confines of the course.

Schools have invested millions of dollars deploying institution-wide portals with good reason: they do several things very well. Most importantly, they provide users with a central place for accessing a myriad of disparate back-end systems, including the LMS and SIS. More advanced portals also provide easy access to transactional processes, such as registration, grades, and financial aid. But the other core vision for the portal was to provide a central way for students, faculty and administrators to access school-wide information and to connect with the people and resources that help them succeed. In this area, portals have been a dismal failure.

As CEO of GoingOn, I have talked to hundreds of universities about what is essentially a communication problem: how to get the right information to the right people at the right time. Today’s students (and increasingly the faculty as well) are not willing to go to portals and navigate a maze of menus and pages to try to find information. They want relevant and timely information “pushed” to them in simple and actionable chunks. Short of having an effective way to do this, most schools have resorted to “institutionalized” spam. My sister-in-law, a professor at a California state university, told me that she gets over a hundred emails a day from a myriad of generic list servers and email groups. She reads about 15% of them.

So where do we go from here? To find the answer, you simply need to look as far as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. These companies have done in five years what major companies like IBM, Oracle and Datatel could not accomplish in the prior twenty years: crack the code on collaborative modalities. These solutions have been so effective as to spawn global revolutions. The key reason for these product successes lies in the core design tenants on which they are based, including “push-based” activity streams, sharing, liking, following, in-line commenting, and, increasingly, intelligent recommendations. Take a look across the current academic technology stack (LMS, SIS, Portals, etc.) and you will not find a single system that effectively utilizes these essential concepts. How can we possibly engage today’s students if we do not adopt these new online models for facilitating communication, connections and collaboration?

GoingOn and a handful of other early innovators are developing a new generation of Academic Social Networks. These private institution-wide networks allow schools to extend their current systems and to apply social models to the critical goal of student engagement and faculty empowerment. The result is higher retention, integrated curriculum, and most importantly, a more rewarding academic life experience.

If you were not able tune in live be sure to check out the podcast here:

READ the storify:

Have you ever wanted to give back to you alma mater in a meaningful way? Be sure to check out this week’s Campus Tech Connection podcast as we welcomed  @tomkrieglstein back to the show to learn how alumni can contribute to the crowdsourcing student potential with @AlumniChoose.

 Tom is a passionate education entrepreneur who’s journey of re-inventing higher ed started seven years ago when he co-founded Swift Kick as an educational training company to help colleges and universities increase student engagement outside the classroom, in the informal learning spaces, as a key element to student retention, graduation, and alumni giving. His company worked with over 250 schools, and their training was recognized as the top college training program for three years in a row.

Since then, Tom went on to co-founded Red Rover as a tool to help student connect together around shared interests and build informal learning groups and mentor/mentee matching. Currently, Tom is working on AlumniChoose which is what we will be talking about on the #CTCX show this week.

AlumniChoose is an online fundraising tool for colleges and universities that leverages social media, crowdfunding, and mass-personalization. The mission of AlumniChoose is to help student leaders realize their full potential by spending less time fundraising and more time doing.

Three by-products of the AlumniChoose mission include:

• Empowered student affairs professionals who can easily say yes to projects they, and their students, are excited about by taking the hard work of resource gathering off their plate.
• Increased total donations and donor pool for development/alumni departments and at a cheaper institutional cost.
• Individual donors’ $25 feels like a million dollar donation by linking them to projects most exciting to them and sharing in the project’s success.

The AlumniChoose Core Values:

1. Lead With Why: Always think about our mission and lead with that when making decisions.
2. Chase Butterflies: Think big. Chase after what scares you. Keep growing.
3. D.A.M.: Do As Macgyver. Be resourceful. Be a life hacker. Create creative solutions.
4. Infuse Love: Show passion/compassion/empathy in all the work you do both internally and externally with our community of users.
5. Open Door, Open Hearts: Share your work, results, and emotions with those around you and know that through openness comes
6. Think Play: Tackle any situation/project/task as a child would to a new challenge. If you’re playing, you’re learning, and if you’re learning, you’re growing.
7. Raise Tides: We are in this together and our work isn’t just for our gain, but for the gain of everyone around us, the whole team, and our whole community

#CTCX No. 62: Crowdsourcing Student Potential with @AlumniChoose

http://breakdrink.com/2012/04/22/ctcx-no-62-crowdsourcing-student-potential-with-alumnichoose/

Storified by Laura Pasquini · Mon, Apr 23 2012 14:14:25

Daily Dose of Student Affairs 3.20.12 (Audio)

Southern Mississippi Students Disciplined After Racist Incident at NCAA Tournament (#SoMissStep)
Five members of the University of Southern Mississippi pep band have had their scholarships revoked and have been removed from the band after they yelled a derogatory chant at a Puerto Rican player during an NCAA basketball tournament game last week.

The school announced the disciplinary action in a statement Tuesday, saying the five “have been forthcoming, cooperative, contrite and sincerely remorseful.”  “They acted rashly and inappropriately, and now see the gravity of their words and actions,” Vice President for Student Affairs Joe Paul said. “This is a teachable moment, not only for these students but for our entire student body and those who work with them.”

The students will also be required to complete a two-hour training course on cultural sensitivity, the school said. The school has not identified the students.

TV cameras captured the incident during the University of Southern Mississippi-Kansas State University game at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh on Thursday.  As Kansas State point guard Angel Rodriguez shot free throws, several people could clearly be heard chanting, “where’s your green card.”

The university’s president apologized to Rodriguez, saying the chant wasn’t representative of the university.

Kansas Spirit Squad Saves Man Trapped Under Car (#KUHeroes)
On their way to the KU women’s basketball NCAA tournament on Sunday night the KU Spirit Squad and pep band came across a man who was trapped beneath his car. The squads were getting ready to load up the bus when they heard someone yelling for help. They dropped their items and ran to the direction of the noise. As they got closer to the scene they noticed a man trapped underneath a car. The car had apparently been propped up on a jack but had rolled off pinning the man beneath the car. Nine of the squad members lifted the car so the man could crawl out. The rescued man was a little disoriented but free from injuries. After the incident the cheer squad went on to cheer the women’s Jayhawks basketball team onto a win against Nebraska 57-49.

Arizona is At It Again (#AgainAZ)
Members of the Arizona legislature are proposing at least five new controversial bills for the state’s public colleges.  The legislation includes items such as:

1. No Swearing or profanity from professors in the classroom. A school would be required to terminate a college instructor who  commits three offenses of using curse words in the classroom. The law is proposed by State Sen. Lori Klein (R-Anthem).

2. Colleges would be prevented from collecting federal funds if their campus allowed students to possess medicinal marijuana. The law is proposed by State Representative Amanda Reeve (R-Phoenix).

3. All students would have to pay $2,000 of their own money towards their tuition (except for college athletes who would be exempt). The bill was proposed by State Senator John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) but was later withdrawn.

4. There is a proposed bill allowing anyone with a permit to carry guns on the campuses of Arizona State, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona. If the law is passes the campuses would be allocated $13.3 million dollars in onetime expenses for construction of gun storage lockers so that guns could be stored outside of the classrooms and for additional police officers on campus. There would be an annual $3.1 million given for regular expenses to support the law.

5. Arizona’s HB 2770 would make it illegal for college faculty to be discriminated against or fired based on their religious and political views. The bill is sponsored by the socially conservative Center for Arizona Policy. Despite evidence that there have been any cases based upon these viewpoints the Center is working to insure that it doesn’t happen in Arizona.

Daily Dose of Student Affairs 3.13.12 (Click Here to play)

UCLA Deciding If It Should Inquire about Sexual Identity (#UCLAreg)
The UCLA Academic Senate recently recommended that students be allowed to identify as LGBTQ on their “Statement on Intent to Register” if they choose to do so. Proponents believe this will give the university the opportunity to identify ways in which they can support LGBTQ students on campus. Catharine McGraw, student affairs officer of the LGBT Studies program and a member of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Affairs Council believes that a valuable result of gathering this data about the incoming class would be to compare the graduation rate of LGBT students to the general student population. This data would also help UCLA’s LGBT Campus Resource Center more accurately gauge how many students identify as LGBT and allow them to tailor their programs and efforts more effectively to serve those students.

A University of Calgary Student’s Campaign Poster Gets Noticed at the Urinal (#Calgarycamp)
Hayley Wade recently won the campus wide election as the Vice President of Student life with a controversial campaign poster. Wade’s campaign pa number of posters above urinals in men’s room with the usual campaign slogan of “Vote Hayley Wade” underneath the call to action was another statement that simply said, “Great Dick bro!” The posters are now the subject of controversy not only because they were posted in bathrooms (which are a no campaign zone) but also for what some students have deemed as sexist language and messages. The newly elected Wade believes, “”The poster speaks to students in a language they know, understand and find funny,” “Part of my platform is all about student engagement on this campus, and effective communication with students.” Hayley was elected with 50% of the votes during the recent campus election.

Physical Restraints Overused in K-12 Educational Environments (#EdRestraints)
A recent report released by the Education Department details the practice of “seclusion and restraint” in K-12 education. The report shows that 70% of all students subjected to restraint and seclusion techniques are students with disabilities. The report highlights incidents where students as young as preschool were duct-taped to chairs or locked away in rooms by themselves for hours. Although these reports are not necessarily widespread they still cause alarm to parents and activists alike. The data also showed that while black students only make up 21% of students with disabilities in the report, they account for 44% of students who are subjected to mechanical restraints. The survey highlights results from 85% of schools nationwide who self reported during the survey. Some Members of Congress are looking at how they can prohibit use of seclusion and restraints while allowing leeway in cases where there is danger of serious bodily injury. Similar legislation has passed the House of Representative but has failed to leave the Senate.

If you would like to follow along or discuss any of today’s articles please use the hashtags included with the articles. Be sure to include #breakdrink too!

Join the Campus Tech Connection (#CTCX) podcast LIVE today (2/13) from 12-1 pm CST as we have an action-packed line up of guests to share how to get connected in Higher Education. Our guests include:

#CTCX #SAtech Highlight of the week:

@katieschmalzel and @jjwil325 from the @SAFirstYears team will tell us about their blogging adventures at Student Affairs – the First Years. This blog connects first year professionals and graduate students share their stories and experiences of life, work, and play in student affairs. Learn about how the 10 writers post each week to attract over 2,000 on their blog.

Bob Ertischek [@profology] founder of Profology a professional social network created exclusively for higher education faculty, staff and administrators. Bob has been an adjunct and full-time faculty member, teaching classes in Political Science and Business Law at Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY. He has also worked in non-faculty roles in higher education in distance and online learning as a faculty developer and instructional technologist at Rochester Institute of Technology. Bob was a member of the Horizon Project Advisory Board in 2004. Prior to working in Higher Education, Bob practiced law and received his Juris Doctor degree from Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia. Bob is married to Faith and has two daughters, Lily and Miranda. Learn how this social network is evolving to connect our higher education peers!

Mark Mruss [@MarkAtAndromo] is a developer at Andromo - a free and easy-to-use professional Android app maker. He’s been programming ever since his parents got him CoCo 3 computer for Christmas. Mark majored in Computer Science at the University of Manitoba, and joined Indigo Rose shortly after graduation. He spent about ten years writting software in C++ designed for Windows developers, and then in early 2011 the company decided to look in a different direction to began mobile development. Although Mark taught himself Python & blogged about it – he does get a chance to leave his nerd behind while hanging out with his son, listening to music,  and riding his bike to work (in the summer – because Winnipeg is COLD). Mark is a beer lover who has been homebrewing for the last two and a half years, and he even grows hops in his own backyard. Come learn how a non-programmer can create an mobile app!

How to connect to #CTCX:

• Streaming LIVE from Blog Talk Radio-BreakDrink
• Tweet your thoughts using the hashtag #CTCX
• Call or Skype during the show:  (646) 652-2342  or breakdrink

The Campus Tech Connection (#CTCX) podcasters are making a list… and checking it twice on TOMORROW’s (12/23) podcast.

Join us as the #CTCX elves compare lists of gadgets, tech, past shows and MORE from 2011 from 12-1 pm CST. What’s on your “best of” list for 2011? 

University Offers Contest for Free Tuition for Life!

Not only would the winner of the competition at Cardiff University have their undergraduate degree fees of £27,000 paid in full, but they would also be funded to do MA, MBA, PhD and continuing professional development courses.

The total value of the scholarship is therefore at least £50,000, Cardiff said.

In order to win the prize, applicants will have to “undertake a series of tough challenges, which will increase in difficulty” between now and spring next year, the university said.

“The university will be looking for a student with outstanding passion, commitment and intelligence, reflecting its reputation as one of the UK’s leading academic institutions,” Cardiff said.

The first rounds will take place online, while the final will “bring the best students to Cardiff University for a live head-to-head challenge”, the university said.

College Presidents at White House Roundtable

Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and several domestic policy advisers met Monday afternoon with chancellors and presidents from 10 institutions, including public universities, two private nonprofit colleges, and one statewide community college. The discussion lasted about two hours, with the president in the meeting for more than an hour, and the conversation was wide-ranging, participants said. (Officials from various sectors, including public comprehensive colleges and for-profit colleges, complained that they had no, or insufficient, representation at the meeting.)

In general, Obama and the college leaders focused on a few key questions: how colleges can become more affordable while producing more graduates, and how new efforts in affordability or productivity can be “scaled up” from one college to large state systems or the nation as a whole.

Sexual Assaults at Chicago Area Colleges Rarely Prosecuted

Cook County prosecutors rarely file felony charges against students accused of sexual violence on college campuses, according to a Tribune analysis. A survey of 16 local colleges found that police investigated 109 reported sex crimes since fall 2005, with 12 resulting in arrests and five in convictions. Two of the arrests — including a 2011 rape allegation at Dominican University in suburban River Forest — have not gone to trial.

The most common type of assault in a university setting is a student-on-student attack, and only two of the five felony charges fit that description. The others were men who, in three incidents, were accused of raping a woman after breaking into campus housing.

Connecticut Overhauling Community College System

Connecticut’s community colleges now share both a governing board and a bad state budget with the Connecticut State University System.

State legislators created the new Board of Regents for Higher Education in July, merging the boards and system offices of Connecticut’s 12 community colleges, Connecticut State’s four universities and Charter Oak State College, an online institution. The flagship University of Connecticut will remain separate.

The consolidation will save money and encourage better coordination, say its proponents. But as the plan took shape earlier this year, some community college leaders worried about a loss of autonomy and identity under the new system.

Gary and Julie were back to discuss the recent events in student affairs.

DC Human Rights agency says “single-sex dorms” are not discriminatory 

Controversy over Shorter University faith statment

Fisk University wants to sell Georgia O’Keeffe collection

UC Davis run down:

Recap of Town Hall Meeting

Video of Chancellor Katehi Waking to her car amid silent student protests

Statement #1 from campus Reverend Kristin Stoneking (note: you have to log in to facebook to read, but they are both public posts)

Statement #2 from campus Reverend Kristin Stoneking

Prof Doesn’t Show to Classes; Gives Everyone an A
A George Washington Medical School professor has resigned after students complained she never taught required classes, but gave the students A’s. Venetia Orcutt, who was an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies didn’t teach two out of three semesters of a course on evidence based medicine. At least 3 students complained after receiving a grade of “a” but no explanation on why the course wasn’t taught or the reasoning for their course grade. The university is currently investigating the situation.

FBI Investigates grade Tampering
Santa Clara University and the FBI are trying to find out who hacked the university’s computer system. Someone gained access to the academic records system of the university between June 2010 and July 2011 and changed a small number of current and former undergrads grades. The University President has noted that there is no evidence that any other personal information of students, faculty or staff was compromised.

11 Majors with the Highest Unemployment
The Huffington Post and the Wall Street Journal have identified 11 majors with the highest unemployment rate. Topping that list are those individuals with a clinical psychology degree who face a 19.5% unemployment rate. The remainder of the list includes degrees in Arts & Sciences (16.2%); US History (15.1%); Library Science (15%); Educational Psychology (10.9%); Military Technologies (10.9%); Architecture (10.6%); Industrial & Organizational Psychology (10.4%); Psychology (10.3%); Linguistics & Comparative Literature (10.2%); Computer Administration Management & Security (9.5%).

Enrollment Up for International Graduate Students
The Council of Graduate Schools released information that has reported an increase in graduate students from outside of the United States. The increase is the largest growth since 2006 and total growth is attributed in part to a trend of the continued influx of Chinese graduate students studying in the US. China has been a large contributor to graduate programs in the US but saw an increase of 21 percent over last year’s enrollment period.

Gary and Julie discuss Florida Governor Rick Scott’s recent plan to restructure Florida’s education system in order to increase support to majors with higher job productivity, campuses that use credit cards for student loan refunds, and the emergence of LGBTQ groups on military campuses after the repeal of DADT. We’ve also announced our new hashtag — #sacast. Keep the conversation going until our next podcast on 10.27!

Rick Scott Doesn’t Like Anthropologists

Student Speaks Out Against Higher One Credit Card Company (Learn more about Higher One.)

Norwich University Starts LGBTQ Allies Group