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

Author Archives: Julie Meloni

Teaching the Concept or Teaching a Tool? Or, using Status.net for classroom microblogging

March 11, 2010 in Products by Julie Meloni

Although the title of this post hints at a bigger question, in this post I talk about possibilities for using a new product, Status.net, in your classroom.

A Few Ways to Back Up Your Website

March 1, 2010 in How-To by Julie Meloni

Backing up your primary workstations is important and has been the topic of several ProfHacker posts. But in this post I discuss some methods for ensuring that your website content is backed up and retrievable should your hosting provider have "issues."

Using Google Chrome and Chrome Extensions for Speed and Productivity

February 23, 2010 in Productivity, Products by Julie Meloni

Google Chrome is a web browser available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is SPEEDY. With an expanding extensions library, Chrome can become your primary web browser. In this post, I talk about some of the popular and helpful Chrome extensions.

What’s the buzz? Tell me what’s a-happening.

February 16, 2010 in Products by Julie Meloni

The world has had a week to live with Google Buzz, and it has been a wild week for both users and Google engineers. In this post I discuss some Buzz-related incidents (both good and bad) and some general tips for using Buzz in your daily social networking routine.

How 15 Minutes Can Save 24 Hours of Stress

January 29, 2010 in Life, Productivity by Julie Meloni

A 15-minute break at the end of the day (or any time, really) can set you up for a successful next 24 hours.

Tools for Synchronous and Asynchronous Classroom Discussion

January 11, 2010 in Pedagogy by Julie Meloni

In this post, I discuss a few features of synchronous and asynchronous discussion models and the various tools that can help you achieve your scholarly needs—both in the virtual and physical classroom.

On Writing for the Web

January 4, 2010 in How-To by Julie Meloni

"Writing for the Web" can mean writing for an audience of humans reading your work online, or it can mean writing for the search engines that index your content so it can be found by others. However, many tips for writing on the web cover both situations—handy, that! Find some in this post.

Talking About Fair Use in the Classroom

December 14, 2009 in Pedagogy by Julie Meloni

Fair Use is often difficult to explain and is fraught with misunderstandings, but students should be aware of both Copyright and Fair Use when creating scholarly works of their own. This post suggests some material for teaching these topics, and looks to ProfHacker readers for others.

Managing Facebook Privacy Settings (round 2)

December 11, 2009 in How-To, ProfHacker 101 by Julie Meloni

Facebook once again announced a change to their service, this time asking all 350 million of its users to personalize their privacy settings. But what does that really mean, and what are they really pushing you to do?

Using Super Smartphones for Productivity

December 3, 2009 in Productivity, Products by Julie Meloni

iPhones, Android-based devices, and other "app phones" offer tons of productivity tools while still fitting in your pocket. In this post, you'll learn a little bit about using a "super smartphone" for productivity (and phone calls), as well as what to consider when thinking about purchasing such a device.

Considering OpenOffice? You Should.

November 24, 2009 in Productivity, Products by Julie Meloni

We talk a lot about Google Docs and other Google tools for productivity, but OpenOffice is a free and open productivity suite available for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and Solaris. Did I mention it's free?

Working with Creately—happy diagramming

November 19, 2009 in Products by Julie Meloni

Creately is an online diagramming application that is free, costs a little, or costs a little more depending on the collaboration and privacy features you would like. The application itself is full-featured at all levels, meaning you can forgo Microsoft Visio in favor of this wonderful tool that will meet many, if not all, of your basic diagramming needs.