A recent report surveyed 3,154 families and showed that 80% of children age 0-7 use YouTube, and 59% use YouTube Kids. While most young children are likely using their parents' accounts, 11% have their own YouTube accounts and 16% have registered with the YouTube Kids app. On average, children spend 1.39 hours each weekday and 1.47 hours each…

Likely the most significant and life changing technologies of the 21st Century is the adoption of social media as major components of commercial, entertainment and educational activities. In this article, I overview the supposed benefits of the application of these tools within formal higher education programs. I then discuss the disadvantages and…

The North Carolina State University Libraries has long recognized the financial burden textbook costs place on students. By crosswalking information on use of our textbook collection with textbook cost and course enrollment data, we have begun to map the environment for textbook use at the university and identified opportunities for faculty…

Social reading can broadly be described as the experience surrounding the reading of electronic books, more commonly known as eBooks. Utilising eTextbooks and social reading at a university offers some powerful potential to engage students and help them succeed in their studies. A broad overview of the current landscape and recent initiatives…

With continuing advances in the digital world, a variety of technologies are becoming easily accessible in the classroom. Although teachers may be using some of these technologies in their daily lives, they may not know how to incorporate these devices to support classroom learning. This article provides a guide for teachers interested in using…

Increasingly, technology plays an important role in the daily lives of children, both at home and at school. Making informed decisions about the wise application and frequency of technology and media use can be both challenging and overwhelming for parents, caregivers and educators. Many issues surround the unwise use of technology and media by…

With continuing advances in the digital world, a variety of technologies are becoming easily accessible in the classroom. Although teachers may be using some of these technologies in their daily lives, they may not know how to incorporate these devices to support classroom learning. This article provides a guide for teachers interested in using…

Soon after the iPad's release in 2010, several universities decided to issue the devices to all incoming freshmen. At the time, critics scoffed at the moves as little more than marketing gimmicks designed to attract students. In truth, few of the schools required instructors to design curriculum around the iPad or had specific plans to measure…

Technology has become an integral part of landscape of higher education. Students are coming to college with an arsenal of technological tools at their disposal. These tools are being used for informal, everyday communication as well as for formal learning in the classroom. At the same time, higher education is experiencing an increase in peer…

Evaluating and communicating the results of 4-H programs are critical for Extension. The measuring of the goals and objectives guide the program. It helps with issues in Extension's accountability, program direction, and even one's personal satisfaction. This article focuses on a quick, easy, and exciting method to conduct program evaluation using…

Academic libraries have traditionally collected reference statistics using hash marks on paper. Although efficient and simple, this method is not an effective way to capture the complexity of reference transactions. Several electronic tools are now available to assist libraries with collecting often elusive reference data--among them homegrown…

Megan is a 14-year-old from Nebraska who just started ninth grade. She has her own digital camera, cell phone, Nintendo DS, and laptop, and one or more of these devices is usually by her side. Compared to the interactions and exploration she's engaged in at home, Megan finds the technology in her classroom falls a little flat. Most of the…

In considering the heritage preservation of higher education campus buildings, much of the attention gravitates toward issues of selection, cost, accuracy, and value, but the model for most preservation projects does not have a clear method of achieving the best solutions for meeting these targets. Instead, it simply relies on the design team and…

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) uses a Blackboard course management system (CMS) to support faculty and students. To supplement the CMS, the university created a custom "Check My Activity" (CMA) self-service feedback tool for students. In addition to comparing their online course activity against a class average,…

In recent years, researchers and practitioners in the behavioral sciences have profited from a growing literature on delay discounting. The purpose of this article is to provide readers with a brief tutorial on how to use Microsoft Office Excel 2010 and Excel for Mac 2011 to analyze discounting data to yield parameters for both the hyperbolic…