Arriving at the Orlando Airport for my 7 pm speaking engagement, I checked my phone for a reply to my request for details. Neither of my emails to the 20-something coordinator had resulted in a reply. On the tram from the satellite terminal to baggage claim I tried the cell number again, but there was no answer. In my frustration…
How would you answer the following questions? What are the top three influencers in a teen’s life? What is the subject matter of the top five books on the youth reading list? What are the lyrics to the top five most played songs by teens? What do you know about the artists’ lives and lifestyles? The really great news is…
Sounds like a sitcom or an afternoon “Soap Opera” title doesn’t it? But in reality it is the address or at least the intersection where all your students live today. They live in a technology saturated and dominated society. I am not trying to find a demon behind every bush, but I think we have to be alert to the…
There are just some topics that cause you to draw a line in the sand…choose sides…decide to share your viewpoint…or debate if nothing else. A couple of tech articles I recently read might fit into that category. Let me be quick to say that I am not trying to pick a fight or cause you to circle your wagons. But…
What is X-24 Europe…answers may vary from, “I don’t have a clue!” to “Isn’t it an X-Box game?” to “A new European alliance.” to “Oh man, I know this.” X-24 Europe is a global exercise recently carried out using social media to test communication of emergency information. This is an intriguing idea that is getting some global traction. If you…
I am speaking at the Word of Life Snow Camp several times this season and one of my topics is Textual Purity. No I am not talking about the exegeting of the scriptures; I am going to be addressing the use of media in our lives. I am not asking the students to abstain from using social media or smartphones;…
This past fall I read The Digital Handshake, Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media by Paul Chaney. Most of you reading this post are in ministry rather than business, but I believe this book can benefit your ministry as it has mine. Ministry is about people, so I am not suggesting you treat students or leaders…
Would you be in favor of implementing classroom practices that led to: 20% of students completing extra assignments for no credit Chronic absenteeism reduced by a third Overall grades up 50% What if it meant bringing social media into the classroom? If you are reading internet articles, blogs and surveys, then you are well aware of the debate over using…
Perhaps you have seen the recently released Nielsen report on Internet usage or at least you have heard the buzz. According to new stats, sites like Facebook and Twitter now account for 22.7% of time spent on the web; the next closest activity is online games, which make up 10.2%. This information is like gold to marketers and those who…
Okay, so you probably read the report in USA Today (Wednesday) released by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The headline on page one read “Kid’s digital day: Almost 8 hours.” It appears that the time spent with media for kids 8-18 has increased by 79 minutes in the last decade bringing it to 53 hours a week. So…what does all this…