Tips, tutorials, and commentary on pedagogy, productivity, and technology in higher education.

Author Archives: Alex Jarvis

Creating Workshops for Students and Faculty

March 9, 2010 in Pedagogy by Alex Jarvis

In January, I accepted a co-op position at Central Connecticut State University in our campus' Instructional Technology Design and Resource Center. The plan was simple; figure out a way to inject new technologies into the classroom in a non-obvious way!

All Things Google: The ‘Droid you’re looking for

February 4, 2010 in Productivity by Alex Jarvis

In my two semesters using it, It has become clear that Android is ready for the classroom arena. Android aids productivity by allowing the phone and the various web applications it uses to come closer together.

Defending RateMyProfessors.com

November 12, 2009 in Pedagogy by Alex Jarvis

In this Profhacker Post, undergraduate student Alex Jarvis dissects the pros and cons of using RateMyProfessors.com. Is it a useful tool, or innately immature?

An Introduction to All Things Google

October 13, 2009 in How-To, Productivity by Alex Jarvis

CC, Flickr user jurvetson

Here at ProfHacker, one of the things we like to do is share ideas about what’s working for us. A good number of us on the team find that we regularly use all things Google. This post, the first in a series titled “All Things Google,” provides a quick overview of which Google tools two of us use, and a brief explanation of why we use them.

Modeling Technology in the Classroom: A Student’s Guide

August 28, 2009 in Pedagogy by Alex Jarvis
Whether or not we are approaching any grand Singularity, technology continues to change in new and interesting ways. Users continue to stress the limits of any given system, and creators expand the system to accommodate new growth. Nevertheless, many professors – even, or perhaps especially, younger professors – still seem to be at odds with [...]

Notes toward an iPhone app: Reading Texts with Enkidu

August 20, 2009 in Pedagogy by Alex Jarvis
This past summer, I TA’d a pilot program in Jason Jones’ class where every student was loaned an iPod touch for the duration of the session. It was an admittedly bumpy process, though fun – several assignments were invented days – possibly hours – before they were assigned. [Ed. note: A full post on this--including [...]