Monday, December 20, 2010
Tech Training site for parents
If you or someone you know needs some techie lessons, here is a site that is sure to help: Parents Techie Training
Monday, October 18, 2010
Excellenct Online Instructor
Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt podcast on the Excellent Online Instructor
Better get Shot!!
A guide to vaccinations men and women over 50 need
by: Dara Chadwick | from: AARP Bulletin | September 16, 2010 Tdap vaccine (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) (available for adults since 2005) Who should get it: Adults 50 to 64; 65 and older receive Td booster only.
The guidelines: A resurgence of pertussis-also known as whooping cough-has led to a CDC recommendation that adults 50 to 64 receive a booster immunization that protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. California currently has a "raging epidemic of pertussis," says Poland of the Mayo Clinic, adding that Canada recently issued a warning to its citizens planning to travel to California.
What to consider: If you have young grandchildren or frequently spend time around infants, it's important to have a Tdap shot to boost your own immunity to avoid infecting children you spend time with, Poland says.
I had a colleague from another campus email to say her husband here in Brooklyn Park, had whooping cough!! Consider getting a booster.
by: Dara Chadwick | from: AARP Bulletin | September 16, 2010 Tdap vaccine (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) (available for adults since 2005) Who should get it: Adults 50 to 64; 65 and older receive Td booster only.
The guidelines: A resurgence of pertussis-also known as whooping cough-has led to a CDC recommendation that adults 50 to 64 receive a booster immunization that protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. California currently has a "raging epidemic of pertussis," says Poland of the Mayo Clinic, adding that Canada recently issued a warning to its citizens planning to travel to California.
What to consider: If you have young grandchildren or frequently spend time around infants, it's important to have a Tdap shot to boost your own immunity to avoid infecting children you spend time with, Poland says.
I had a colleague from another campus email to say her husband here in Brooklyn Park, had whooping cough!! Consider getting a booster.
Monday, October 4, 2010
MERLOT Content Builder
Building content and getting ideas/tools is tough. Merlot.org has a course content builder to check out.
Cal State Course Authoring Site
A very nice site to wish we had something like this: Digital Learning
Monday, September 20, 2010
NYU Offers Free Online Learning Classes
Very interesting article to follow.
http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2010/09/07/nyu-to-offer-free-online-courses-enhanced-student-versions-for-credit/
http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2010/09/07/nyu-to-offer-free-online-courses-enhanced-student-versions-for-credit/
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
College Dropout Factories
This article is so true and so sad. I think that the same holds true for those of us holding an ABD. I just think how unfortunate it is that so many bright people end up like this student.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Hello and welcome back!
It was great to see everyone in today’s training sessions for D2L and Web Accessibility! We conduct individual training sessions with you, just email Kathy Grady, kgrady@nhcc.edu or me ssteinke@nhcc.edu and we will schedule an individual appointment. We have evening hours available too!
If you don’t see the Online Teaching Best Practices Sharehouse resource course in your D2L, email one of us and we will get you into the Sharehouse. Feel free to add rubrics and other great teaching and learning examples so we can all benefit from this resource! Follow the discussions in the course too! Add a discussion too!
Upcoming Training: September 9 from 2:30-5:30 PM in ES 116.
Follow us on the blog for articles and updates
It was great to see everyone again and let us know how we can serve you best!
It was great to see everyone in today’s training sessions for D2L and Web Accessibility! We conduct individual training sessions with you, just email Kathy Grady, kgrady@nhcc.edu or me ssteinke@nhcc.edu and we will schedule an individual appointment. We have evening hours available too!
If you don’t see the Online Teaching Best Practices Sharehouse resource course in your D2L, email one of us and we will get you into the Sharehouse. Feel free to add rubrics and other great teaching and learning examples so we can all benefit from this resource! Follow the discussions in the course too! Add a discussion too!
Upcoming Training: September 9 from 2:30-5:30 PM in ES 116.
Follow us on the blog for articles and updates
It was great to see everyone again and let us know how we can serve you best!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Bullies and Professors
I am hearing of more of these instances, even on our campus, of bullies and professors.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Upcoming D2L Training
The countdown to the start of the new semester is on! Next week on August 9 and 10 we will great new faculty with Jane. eFolio World Summit is on August 12--Can't wait! That conference is always good. August 18 is the next D2L and Web Content Accessibility Training from 1-2:30 pm in ES 116. See you then.
Just in Time training sessions are being scheduled now and will be posted for the first two weeks in September.
Just in Time training sessions are being scheduled now and will be posted for the first two weeks in September.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Microsoft and Nasa
"Imagine having the ability to take a virtual tour of the cosmos from your living room. Not just a flat, two dimensional tour, but an experience so engrossing that you have the ability to see the entire sky at once then zoom into detailed views of distant galaxies. The Terapixel project from Microsoft Research makes all of that possible, by creating the largest and clearest image of the night sky ever produced—a terapixel image, now available in the WorldWide Telescope and Bing Maps."
Here is the tool
Here is the tool
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Three generations of distance education pedagogy | Anderson | The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning
Three generations of distance education pedagogy Anderson The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning
If you have been searching for a presentation discussing the pedagogies of distance education, then this is the presentation for you!
If you have been searching for a presentation discussing the pedagogies of distance education, then this is the presentation for you!
Faculty Member Lauded for Online Course Approach - UT Dallas News
Faculty Member Lauded for Online Course Approach - UT Dallas News
Here is an article about a faculty member who is using her experience from her online degree to make her online courses more interactive and engaging. It would be great if we, as a system, had a System Innovations In Online award and sharing event. What a great opportunity to see what others are doing well and look at incorporating those ideas into our own online courses!! Happy Summer!
Here is an article about a faculty member who is using her experience from her online degree to make her online courses more interactive and engaging. It would be great if we, as a system, had a System Innovations In Online award and sharing event. What a great opportunity to see what others are doing well and look at incorporating those ideas into our own online courses!! Happy Summer!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Cheating in the Online Environment
Cheating is an issue that we all deal with in our classes. Here is an interesting article about a Cheating Online Study.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The New Employment Model Demands Worker Flexibility
The New Employment Model Demands Worker Flexibility
I added up all the careers or career jobs that I have had and I am currently at 12. Some studies say that the average person will have up to 11 different jobs in a lifetime. Imagine what that same study will soon be saying, as far as the number of jobs that an individual will have in a lifetime. The flexibility and the diversity in range, ability, and cross-training will now be the most important characteristics of workers. Specializations are great, but covering a wider base of knowledge will provide better employment opportunities.
I added up all the careers or career jobs that I have had and I am currently at 12. Some studies say that the average person will have up to 11 different jobs in a lifetime. Imagine what that same study will soon be saying, as far as the number of jobs that an individual will have in a lifetime. The flexibility and the diversity in range, ability, and cross-training will now be the most important characteristics of workers. Specializations are great, but covering a wider base of knowledge will provide better employment opportunities.
Monday, April 26, 2010
NHCC Education Students Learn eFolio
North Hennepin Community College students are taking an EDU course in which they are asked to begin to learn eFolio. eFolio Minnesota is available to all Minnesota residents free of charge, for life. Create as many eFolio sites as you need in one spot! Go to eFolio Minnesota and sign up today!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
eLearn Magazine: Education and Technology in Perspective
eLearn Magazine: Education and Technology in Perspective
If you haven't subscribed to this newsletter, perhaps you should consider it.
If you haven't subscribed to this newsletter, perhaps you should consider it.
Monday, March 1, 2010
RightNow Tool Reduces Workload
University of Houston Reaps 1,117% ROI With RightNow-Based “Ask Shasta” CRM Software System
Goals:
•Reduce a near-overwhelming volume of phone calls and emails
•Deliver quality information to students and prospective students online
•Ensure the information given to people is accurate and up-to-date regardless of how they contact the university or who responds to their question
Achievements:
•1,117 percent annual return on investment through workload reductions
•Consistent, accurate information available across all communication channels
•Subject-matter experts freed from having to field repetitive phone calls
The University of Houston faced a classic business challenge. The state continued to cut the UH’s budget by 5-10 percent annually. Yet, at the same time, UH had to successfully capture and retain students in the increasingly competitive higher education market.
It became essential for UH to “do more with less,” especially when it came to student-facing operations. Somehow, it had to improve the quality of the student experience while also reducing costs.
And that’s just what happened with RightNow. In fact, RightNow is saving the University around $1 million annually by substantially reducing its phone and email workloads. That savings—which the University calculates based on the tremendous number of questions RightNow answers automatically via the web—doesn’t include the more difficult-to-quantify benefits RightNow has delivered by making UH staff more efficient. But it does add up to an impressive return-on-investment of around 1117 percent every year.
At the same time, the RightNow-based CRM software system (dubbed “Ask Shasta” after the name of UH’s cougar mascot) is enabling UH to provide faster, better service to students and staff across all communication channels.
“RightNow has had a major impact on the quality-of-experience we are providing to all of our constituencies,” declares Betty Roberts, UH’s associate vice president of technology support services. “It has also allowed us to achieve significant cost savings during a period when such savings have been essential to our survival.”
Too Many Phone Calls, Too Many Emails
UH began to look for a better way of handling communications with students and staff as a growing volume of phone calls and emails threatened to overwhelm its limited human resources. Subject-matter experts who had other responsibilities were constantly distracted by phone calls that front-line staff couldn’t answer. Students and prospective students would often have to make several calls to track down the answers they were looking for. UH even had to create an office called “OnCall” specifically to act as a clearinghouse for the information callers were seeking.
There were several issues contributing to the problem. As a thriving institution, UH simply had more students asking questions and more things for them to ask questions about. Also, as with all universities, UH had a wide range of information “domains,” including various academic areas, admissions, financial aid, and campus life. And UH was under-utilizing the web as a communication channel—which put additional pressure on its phones and email.
After seeing a presentation from a RightNow sales representative and checking the experiences of other universities using RightNow, Roberts was confident that RightNow’s CRM software system could address the University’s communication challenges. She wrote specifications for a system that would provide UH with a searchable knowledge base that could be used on the web for unassisted support and internally to answer phone calls and emails.
“Several other vendors submitted proposals, but none of them could match RightNow in terms of either technical sophistication or proven success in the university world,” Roberts says.
Preserving Departmental Independence
Once Roberts and UH acquired RightNow, the next question was how to best implement it. Universities tend to operate in a very decentralized manner, and UH is no exception. At first Roberts and her team contemplated giving each functional area its own RightNow interface. Early experimentation, however, quickly revealed that this approach wouldn’t work. “Creating a bunch of totally separate knowledge bases would have defeated the whole point of giving people a single place to find their answers,” she explains.
Instead, a hybrid strategy was adopted. Each functional area had its own project liaison and content manager. Each could determine how to present the knowledge base within its individual area of the UH website. And each could determine how to use RightNow internally for phone and email. However, the knowledge base would be a common one, and search results would show users all relevant answers across all functional areas.
“We came up with a solution that allowed each area to maintain its independence without undermining the benefits of having a cross-university information resource,” Roberts boasts. “It really allows us to enjoy the best of both worlds.”
Tangible Results Across The Organization
The first areas to implement RightNow were financial aid, the registrar’s office, undergraduate admissions and IT. These were quickly joined by law school admissions and the undergraduate advisory department, with other groups slated for subsequent activation. Links to the Ask Shasta system were featured prominently on the UH home page, and it was promoted vigorously through UH publications and other programs.
All participating departments have experienced similar results. Use of the web by students and other constituencies rose dramatically from approximately 11,000 answers viewed monthly in the fall of the first year to almost 22,000 a year later. As a result, phone calls and emails have decreased substantially—in some cases, as much as 25 percent. In addition, entry-level department employees can use the RightNow knowledge base to answer all kinds of questions instead of having to refer them to subject-matter experts. This saves UH even more money, while allowing department experts to focus on their primary work responsibilities.
Plus, because they’ve been reviewed and approved by assigned content managers, the answers given by phone, email and on the web are always consistent and accurate.
University of Houston Support Site
University of Houston Homepage
About The University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas' premier metropolitan research and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 35,000 students.
Goals:
•Reduce a near-overwhelming volume of phone calls and emails
•Deliver quality information to students and prospective students online
•Ensure the information given to people is accurate and up-to-date regardless of how they contact the university or who responds to their question
Achievements:
•1,117 percent annual return on investment through workload reductions
•Consistent, accurate information available across all communication channels
•Subject-matter experts freed from having to field repetitive phone calls
The University of Houston faced a classic business challenge. The state continued to cut the UH’s budget by 5-10 percent annually. Yet, at the same time, UH had to successfully capture and retain students in the increasingly competitive higher education market.
It became essential for UH to “do more with less,” especially when it came to student-facing operations. Somehow, it had to improve the quality of the student experience while also reducing costs.
And that’s just what happened with RightNow. In fact, RightNow is saving the University around $1 million annually by substantially reducing its phone and email workloads. That savings—which the University calculates based on the tremendous number of questions RightNow answers automatically via the web—doesn’t include the more difficult-to-quantify benefits RightNow has delivered by making UH staff more efficient. But it does add up to an impressive return-on-investment of around 1117 percent every year.
At the same time, the RightNow-based CRM software system (dubbed “Ask Shasta” after the name of UH’s cougar mascot) is enabling UH to provide faster, better service to students and staff across all communication channels.
“RightNow has had a major impact on the quality-of-experience we are providing to all of our constituencies,” declares Betty Roberts, UH’s associate vice president of technology support services. “It has also allowed us to achieve significant cost savings during a period when such savings have been essential to our survival.”
Too Many Phone Calls, Too Many Emails
UH began to look for a better way of handling communications with students and staff as a growing volume of phone calls and emails threatened to overwhelm its limited human resources. Subject-matter experts who had other responsibilities were constantly distracted by phone calls that front-line staff couldn’t answer. Students and prospective students would often have to make several calls to track down the answers they were looking for. UH even had to create an office called “OnCall” specifically to act as a clearinghouse for the information callers were seeking.
There were several issues contributing to the problem. As a thriving institution, UH simply had more students asking questions and more things for them to ask questions about. Also, as with all universities, UH had a wide range of information “domains,” including various academic areas, admissions, financial aid, and campus life. And UH was under-utilizing the web as a communication channel—which put additional pressure on its phones and email.
After seeing a presentation from a RightNow sales representative and checking the experiences of other universities using RightNow, Roberts was confident that RightNow’s CRM software system could address the University’s communication challenges. She wrote specifications for a system that would provide UH with a searchable knowledge base that could be used on the web for unassisted support and internally to answer phone calls and emails.
“Several other vendors submitted proposals, but none of them could match RightNow in terms of either technical sophistication or proven success in the university world,” Roberts says.
Preserving Departmental Independence
Once Roberts and UH acquired RightNow, the next question was how to best implement it. Universities tend to operate in a very decentralized manner, and UH is no exception. At first Roberts and her team contemplated giving each functional area its own RightNow interface. Early experimentation, however, quickly revealed that this approach wouldn’t work. “Creating a bunch of totally separate knowledge bases would have defeated the whole point of giving people a single place to find their answers,” she explains.
Instead, a hybrid strategy was adopted. Each functional area had its own project liaison and content manager. Each could determine how to present the knowledge base within its individual area of the UH website. And each could determine how to use RightNow internally for phone and email. However, the knowledge base would be a common one, and search results would show users all relevant answers across all functional areas.
“We came up with a solution that allowed each area to maintain its independence without undermining the benefits of having a cross-university information resource,” Roberts boasts. “It really allows us to enjoy the best of both worlds.”
Tangible Results Across The Organization
The first areas to implement RightNow were financial aid, the registrar’s office, undergraduate admissions and IT. These were quickly joined by law school admissions and the undergraduate advisory department, with other groups slated for subsequent activation. Links to the Ask Shasta system were featured prominently on the UH home page, and it was promoted vigorously through UH publications and other programs.
All participating departments have experienced similar results. Use of the web by students and other constituencies rose dramatically from approximately 11,000 answers viewed monthly in the fall of the first year to almost 22,000 a year later. As a result, phone calls and emails have decreased substantially—in some cases, as much as 25 percent. In addition, entry-level department employees can use the RightNow knowledge base to answer all kinds of questions instead of having to refer them to subject-matter experts. This saves UH even more money, while allowing department experts to focus on their primary work responsibilities.
Plus, because they’ve been reviewed and approved by assigned content managers, the answers given by phone, email and on the web are always consistent and accurate.
University of Houston Support Site
University of Houston Homepage
About The University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas' premier metropolitan research and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 35,000 students.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
KSTP TV - Minneapolis and St. Paul - Minn. Colleges See Double-Digit Increases in Online Learning
KSTP TV - Minneapolis and St. Paul - Minn. Colleges See Double-Digit Increases in Online Learning
Great article about blended learning in Minnesota. Michal Moskow is a colleague I work with.
Great article about blended learning in Minnesota. Michal Moskow is a colleague I work with.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Learn a Language before your next Vacation
Library offers chance to learn foreign languages online
January 07, 2010 @ 12:00 AM
The Herald-Dispatch
ASHLAND -- Do you want to learn a foreign language, but don't have the time or money to go back to school? Or maybe you just want to brush up on that high school French?
Boyd County Public Library's newest online offering is Mango Languages, a free, fun, fast and convenient way to learn. The online language-learning system focuses on teaching actual conversation skills. Each lesson combines real-life situations and audio from native speakers with an easy-to-follow interface and simple, clear instructions. Because it is completely web-based, patrons can learn anywhere they have an internet connection.
Mango Languages currently offers 12 full language courses -- Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Greek, Russian and Mandarin Chinese, as well as ESL for Polish, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese speakers. Many additional language courses are planned.
In addition to the full courses, Mango has several quicker, basic courses - for those who don't have much time to learn, or who are planning a trip abroad within the next month or so.
To access Mango, go to www.thebookplace.org, then click on Reference tab, Tools, and the "Find an Article" link, which takes you to all of the site's database offerings. Or, use the Google site search -- keyword Mango.
January 07, 2010 @ 12:00 AM
The Herald-Dispatch
ASHLAND -- Do you want to learn a foreign language, but don't have the time or money to go back to school? Or maybe you just want to brush up on that high school French?
Boyd County Public Library's newest online offering is Mango Languages, a free, fun, fast and convenient way to learn. The online language-learning system focuses on teaching actual conversation skills. Each lesson combines real-life situations and audio from native speakers with an easy-to-follow interface and simple, clear instructions. Because it is completely web-based, patrons can learn anywhere they have an internet connection.
Mango Languages currently offers 12 full language courses -- Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Greek, Russian and Mandarin Chinese, as well as ESL for Polish, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese speakers. Many additional language courses are planned.
In addition to the full courses, Mango has several quicker, basic courses - for those who don't have much time to learn, or who are planning a trip abroad within the next month or so.
To access Mango, go to www.thebookplace.org, then click on Reference tab, Tools, and the "Find an Article" link, which takes you to all of the site's database offerings. Or, use the Google site search -- keyword Mango.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Google Docs upgrades storage to all file types
Google Docs just became even more amazing! My dissertation is going up, shortly, to be stored and I will do my edits from Google. Students can share and work on documents with other students and or faculty. Students who do not have word processing, spreadsheet or powerpoint software can use and download files within Google Docs. Store class presentations in the cloud, versus a portable drive that can become corrupt or "left-behind".
Google Docs upgrades storage to all file types
Google Docs upgrades storage to all file types
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Upcoming Training Sessions
Just in Time Training sessions mean you can stop in and ask a question and get your answer without making an appointment. Otherwise, if you have lots of questions and need more time, you may contact kgrady@nhcc.edu or myself ssteinke@nhcc.edu and we will work with you to find a time to set up individual training that is tailored to you!
Dates:
January 20, 2010 2:30-5:30 pm Room: CBT 167
February 4, 2010 2:30-5:50pm Room: CBT 167
Don’t forget to put the backup D2L website in your syllabus: https://nhcc.ims.mnscu.edu If you ever go to NHCC.edu and discover the site is down, print or save that url, but do use the main login site because you may miss important announcements and other resources that are provided on the regular login pages: http://www.nhcc.edu/main/ProgramsAndMajors/OnlineLearning.aspx
Dates:
January 20, 2010 2:30-5:30 pm Room: CBT 167
February 4, 2010 2:30-5:50pm Room: CBT 167
Don’t forget to put the backup D2L website in your syllabus: https://nhcc.ims.mnscu.edu If you ever go to NHCC.edu and discover the site is down, print or save that url, but do use the main login site because you may miss important announcements and other resources that are provided on the regular login pages: http://www.nhcc.edu/main/ProgramsAndMajors/OnlineLearning.aspx
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Something fun to subscribe to
Merriam Websters has a great subscription of the word a day. Have fun learning and using words. Here is today's selection sent to me and they have audio pronunciations for every word they send:
Merriam-Webster’s
Word of the Day
January 5
myrmidon
\'MER-muh-dahn\
noun
Meaning
: a loyal follower; especially : a subordinate who executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously
Example Sentence
The boss was more likely to offer promotions to her myrmidons than to those workers who occasionally questioned her tactics or proposed alternate solutions.
Merriam-Webster’s
Word of the Day
January 5
myrmidon
\'MER-muh-dahn\
noun
Meaning
: a loyal follower; especially : a subordinate who executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously
Example Sentence
The boss was more likely to offer promotions to her myrmidons than to those workers who occasionally questioned her tactics or proposed alternate solutions.
Times are booming for community colleges
By: RACHEL CANELLI
Bucks County Courier Times
Online learning boosts are part of the increase in BCCC's enrollment.
Between the economy, students considering less expensive schools, and online learning, the last decade has been community colleges' time to shine.
"Community colleges clearly have come into their own in the last 10 years," said Karen Dawkins, Bucks County Community College's vice president and dean of student affairs. "It has a lot to do with accessibility, affordability, the economy, the quality of education and the fact that students can transfer."
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