Twitter in Higher Ed: the Report

Maybe I’m expecting too much from higher education, given how ingrained I am and how much I have at stake professionally …
Why some faculty members never tweet? “It’s not as easy as Facebook” “It’s too complicated”…what?
Well, maybe I’m biased. I don’t recall participating in the survey (but I could swear that one of the pro-Twitter [...]

The good, the bad & the online talk

Thanks to a recent blog by CogDog which made me laugh and want to readdress this draft post that I have been reluctant to share.
Talking at a conference is something I whole-heartedly enjoy; from the welcoming address to the sessions, the exhibits and the schmoozing, well, it is an undeniably enriching experience. Unfortunately, in May, [...]

Calico ‘09 musings

I was fortunate enough to have a paper accepted at the 26th annual conference of Calico ’09,  my first Calico conference ever. It was an experience that surpassed any and all expectations (how often can we say that?!). Different aspects of the conference that made it so memorable include the venue, the presentations, the participants [...]

E-Twinning: NJ & Trento

Why we learn foreign languages…to understand better the world in which we are living thus, in turn, understand ourselves and our homeland better. Except, with globalization people think barriers are being removed and everyone should just be able to speak English, since it is considered a global language.
But that is not globalization. Cultural globalization does [...]

Arriverderci AP Italian?

Just 4 years into it…and now this!
In the fall, I had published an article on Italian teacher training in Foreign Language Annals (the journal for the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages). Shortly before its publication, the editor had asked me to comment on the then recent decision of the College Board to [...]

Using the right tech tool for teaching…how did you decide?

I have deliberated this post to death, wanting to ensure that I made a positive contribution to the discussion of social network sites (SNS). As an educator, my use of SNS is always from a professional perspective (yeah, right), wanting to investigate different tools for language learning and teaching.
During one of the umpteenth [...]

Twitter in the Foreign Language Classroom – my investigation

Another update: paper has been removed as it is under revisions as  you read this. Will share once again in the near future…
update: if you would like to read the manuscript, it is password protected. Thanks for the head’s up Luke.
I’ll keep this post brief and to the point, as I should be concentrating on [...]

read-write web vs. academic publishing

Preparing this tenure application has led me to another question about academia in the age of social media. I have mulled over the process vs. the content in a previous post, the medium as the message based on Wesch’s article and also posted on how-to integrate technology in my teaching without disrupting the flow of [...]

counting, counting & more counting

I have just tried to update my vita with my accomplishments (?) from this past academic year. There is a specific layout which I am using (strongly suggested from my institution) that has me do a literal head count of my teaching, research and service. At my four year mark, I have accomplished the following:

I [...]

Podcasts and FL Learning

I was invited to provide some thoughts on podcasting and language acquisition. Maybe some of the comments may be published in an article in a popular business magazine, but in the meantime, I thought I should share them on my blog.
Podcasts (both audio and video) in foreign language (FL) learning are invaluable both as a [...]