{"id":11545,"date":"2019-02-12T16:21:11","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T00:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/?p=11545"},"modified":"2019-02-12T16:22:55","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T00:22:55","slug":"some-things-are-worth-trying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/2019\/02\/12\/some-things-are-worth-trying\/","title":{"rendered":"Pack it Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"backpack<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I headed to Nebraska to visit Hastings College<\/a>. I did a keynote<\/a> and a workshop<\/a> and had a wonderful time. They are doing some transformative work at Hastings<\/a> that it was fun to catch a small glimpse of during my time with them.<\/p>\n

Whenever I travel, I think back to the post I wrote with guidance on how to ease the process of moving throughout the world<\/a>. Much of the post still holds up and is worth a look. However, the best part came in the comments.<\/p>\n

Robert Talbert recommended getting TSA pre-check<\/a> – and that advice has paid off in spades for me and for our entire family.<\/p>\n

If you follow Robert on social media, you might have seen that he is currently recovering from heart surgery. You can learn more about it on his blog<\/a>. He has also invited some of us to help him queue up some posts during his recovery. Watch for one from me toward the end of February.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

As I think back to my Nebraska trip, I have a few other travel-related resources to share, plus a request from a listener to participate in his research.<\/p>\n

PackPoint<\/h3>\n

I had grown tired of fumbling around with my packing list in Evernote. Each time I traveled, I copied the text over to a new note and sometimes even had to uncheck the checkboxes, if I had messed up my system the last time I used it. Yes, Evernote has templates now, but they still don\u2019t go anywhere as far as my new packing list find.<\/p>\n

\"packpoint<\/p>\n

PackPoint<\/a> is a great app, which has features I didn\u2019t even realize I needed. As soon as I purchased it, I could easily integrate it with my TripIt <\/a>account. PackPoint<\/a> then knew that I was headed to Nebraska – and that it was cold there. It added a heavy jacket to my packing list without me even needing to lift a finger.<\/p>\n

It bases packing lists around activities. There are many built-in activities, such as essentials, swimming, business casual, hiking, and so on. It was easy to set up my own built-in activities, such as the one I created for the various electronics that I bring and their associated chargers.<\/p>\n

Tom Bihn Backpack<\/h3>\n

I received a new Tom Bihn<\/a> backpack<\/a> for Christmas and this was my first long-distance trip with it. I like the way it can expand to fit a large number of items, yet isn\u2019t awkward when there isn\u2019t much stuff in it.<\/p>\n

The Synapse<\/a> has a place for a water bottle in the middle of the bag, which I discovered I like a lot more. It centers the weight and also I don\u2019t have to worry about the bottle falling off the side when I\u2019m moving about.<\/p>\n

Noise Canceling Headphones<\/h3>\n

I wrote my first travel tips post in 2017, before I discovered the joys of having noise canceling headphones. I purchased a pair of Beats<\/a>, but candidly didn\u2019t do a bunch of comparisons before diving in. They have a long battery life and are easy to connect to my iPhone or iPad during a flight via bluetooth.<\/p>\n

TextExpander<\/h3>\n

The other tool I am always happy to have on the road with me is TextExpander<\/a>. In full transparency, they are a regular sponsor of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, but I was recommending them long before they started supporting the show.<\/p>\n

There were quite a few weather delays during my trip to Nebraska, which made me grateful that I had all the tools I needed to get some serious work done during that time. With TextExpander, I can have access to all my snippets across my computer, smartphone, and tablet – with everything syncing across all of those platforms.<\/p>\n

I use TextExpander to save time with my email signatures, letters of recommendation for students, data I forget all the time (like my work phone number), and for longer pieces like creating the show notes for each episode.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a post I wrote in 2018 with more about TextExpander<\/a>, including a demo of how I use it.<\/p>\n

Participate in Educational Podcasts Research<\/h2>\n

Even though it has nothing to do with travel (except for the way in which podcasts help us go different places in our minds), I did want to extend an invitation to you on behalf of a listener. The last thing worth checking out is participating in Scott McNamara\u2019s research on educational research.<\/p>\n

He writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cHello, I am Scott McNamara, Ph.D. at the University of Northern Iowa. I am conducting a study to examine the motivational factors for listening to educational podcasts. This study consists of completing a short 20-minute survey. To participate in the study, you must be in the field of education (e.g., pre-service teacher, higher education professor, education administrator, practicing teacher, related service provider) and have listened to an educational podcast.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you are interested in participating in this study, please visit this information on the Survey<\/a> to find out more. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please email Dr. Scott McNamara at the University of Northern Iowa at scott.mcnamara@Uni.edu.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Please consider supporting Scott\u2019s research, as we will all be able to benefit when he publishes his results.<\/p>\n

Your Turn<\/h2>\n

What have you been packing up for your trips, lately, that have helped reduce the stress of travel and enjoy yourself a bit more?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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