College App Time!

As high school seniors are finishing up their first semester they are starting to apply to colleges. The interesting part isn't what they see it's what university admissions see. Chapter 14 of Measure What Matters talks all about how to measure higher education.
We know from experience they send us bunch of stuff in the mail, and we sometimes fill out a survey about our visit, but we don't know everything else they are doing. I know people that say all colleges and universities are alike. However they are very wrong, Katie Paine says in order to start measuring the university college has to have some unique quality to stick out. After that is established, you can start.
First you want to prioritize the target audiences. Universities/colleges are interested in not only getting students to study at their facility, stay there and eventually support it as an alumni. Next you have to ask the questions that you want to measure, remembering that this will define you. Katie Paine however doesn't want universities/colleges to get too consumed in creating a benchmark, though peer organizations are important. She suggest having 3 comparators. Once this is all set up pick your topic, and collect the data. Think outside the box, and don't go for the easy numbers like enrollment rate verses graduation rate. It's important to know the academic environment, what people think (including what people say about you), and behavior. Finally analyze, make changes, and combine to measure.
Schools should keep this in mind when looking through enrollment applications.

Are you 'Pinterested'?

While looking at what's new in social media, I came across something interesting about Pinterest. They have launched a new visual search tool. The tool "Lets you find all those things you don't have words to describe." I saw new icon (a magnifying glass in brackets) but I didn't understand what it was for.
Being an avid Pinner this tool is fantastic. I often can't describe what I want to look up, so I will definitely be using this new feature. To use the new feature start by searching something similar to the item you are interested in, say a laptop. When the results come up, click on one to make it bigger. In the top right hand corner there will be a magnifying glass in brackets, click this and "crop" the item. The new results will be at the bottom, and you can scroll through just like you normally would.
The visual search tool seems really great especially if you are redecorating a house. The only down side I can see so far, is not being able to take a picture of something you want to look up, but like with all things they will figure out a way.
Happy pinning!

Change it Up.

Sunday was a day full of change. I like to color my hair, and not get it cut. This however is not the best thing to maintain long luscious locks. I'm so tired of my hair not being healthy so jokingly I asked my hairstylist if I would look good bald. She said no, but short hair would look good. 

So I went to Pinterest, looked up hair styles then called my mom. I didn't need permission, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't about to make a big mistake. She said yes and my hairstylist started cutting. 

After 4 rounds of cutting then styling my hair, I decided that the pixie cut was perfect. It is a huge change seeing I haven't had a real hair in over 5 years. I have been getting asked why I did it, and honestly there isn't a reason. I wasn't planning on cutting my hair, I just did.