Archive for February, 2009
February 23rd, 2009 by Chris Norris
This will be my last post as the workgroup leader for the DAS workgroup, as we move into the new organizational structure announced by Mike Roy at the last all-LIS staff meeting. Here are some of the projects and tasks that DAS staff members have been working on during the past month…
Mike Schuster
- Several Revisions to Room Draw SSB forms and lots of testing
- Added new student search dropdown box and removed boxes used by students to enter group member IDs.
- Modified procedures so as each student is selected, several eligibility checks are made.
- Modified message text displayed when students are ineligible.
- Modified WebTailor Infotext for links.
- Added logic to allow the group representative to remove group members when they’ve accidentally selected one.
- Created a database view of instructors to be used by new online catalog web page.
- Modified web directory script to correctly select on leave graduate students during winter term.
- Created database tables that will be used by custom Monterey web admissions applications forms.
- Assisted the registrar’s office with running the Term Student Type Update program(SHRTYPE) and the Learner Curriculum Conversion Program(SOPLCCV).
- After the registrar’s office runs SHRTYPE for a particular term, I create a population selection in Banner and run SOPLCCV with that popsel.
- Reviewed Clearinghouse Self-Service Authentication documentation and sample code.
Liz Whitaker-Freitas
- Supporting Hyperion BI+ for functional & technical users
Ian McBride (Full list at: https://www.yammer.com/users/imcbride)
- Completed MiddMedia plugin for WordPress
- Assisted with completion of RFP for Web Makeover
- Created conference registration form for VCC
- Developed payment form for Print Management
- Modified Athletics Recruiting application to remove Primary Sport
- Designed database sync script for the Course Catalog
- Launched CSO and Judicial Boards sites
- Upgraded Key Survey to version 7.1
Travis Stafford
- Troubleshooting cForms issue
- Testing cForms 10.3
- Two cforms trainings (Chemistry Department, Institutional Planning and Diversity)
- Finished first wave of BLM implementation (is now live) as well as fixed various bugs
- List Manager Configuration for newsletters / MiddCMS Newsletter support
- General support and Heat tickets
Rob Pekor
- Re-aligned parent Donor codes for “Feb” students.
- Removed obsolete region codes related to “CA Mailing”.
- Enhanced existing “pledge installment” view.
- Investigate poor query execution between databases (production and non-production).
- Created table to hold local data for the Harris Online Community project.
- Sent sample dataset to Harris thus enabling them to begin on data mapping on their side of the implementation project.
- Continued to fine tune the web pages for Phonathon segment creation
- Created new indicator for “young Alumni” (alumni for only 1-10 years) for the Banner List Manager project.
- Create stewardship project codes for Athletics (ATHSTW) and the Axinn Center (AXNSTW)
- Rewrote of slow performing fiscal data view for CA
Chris Norris
Staffing
- Transition planning for organizational re-structuring with DAS staff, Area Directors, and workgroup leaders
Project Work
- Reviewed Phoenix BIA summary presentation
- Drafted spec for remote DR web presence
- Revised Banner-ListManager project requirements with DAS staff
- Revised Broadcast Email Newsletter request document
- Configured four new Broadcast Email Newsletter editions with DAS staff
- Completed work on 2008 Summary Web Statistics for Web Makeover project
- Completed work on Stakeholder Reports for Web Makeover project
- Completed work on GSA (Google Search) for MIIS sites
- Began configuration and setup of Google Apps for Education (alpha instance)
Meetings
- Participated in Web Makeover project team meetings
- Met with HR staff regarding OpenHire “internal job site” project
- Met with Brett Wilhelm regarding departure considerations
- Met with members of the web subcommittee of the Sexual Assault Oversight Committee regarding a new web presence
- Participated in College Advancement Operations team meetings
- Participated in Harris online community project team meetings
- Participated in Pay for Print project team meetings
- Participated in MIIS technology team meeting
- Participated in College Data Workshop with IR, Faculty, and other LIS staff
- Conducted final DAS staff check-in meetings
Systems Administration
- Ongoing monitoring and problem resolution of online services
- Configured new GO rewrite rules
- Ongoing tuning of GSA to improve search results
- Renewals of College-owned domain names
- Transferred UWAC domains to College-managed account
Help, Support, Training, Workshops
- Updated Middlebury’s United Way web presence (campaign stats)
- Provided support for Broadcast Email Newsletters, CMS editing, BLWC Submission Manager, HEAT tix, and various ad-hoc help calls
- Conducted a Broadcast Email Newsletter training with Young Alumni staff
- Conducted a Broadcast Email (advanced) workshop for CA staff
Vendor Related Activities
- Participated in Sun-Guard/SCT Banner DBA weekly status calls
- Participated in Velaris Hyperion SysAdmin weekly status calls
- Participated in Google Apps for Education project team call with Google
- Transitioned Hyperion SysAdmin vendor (Velaris) relationship managment to Jeff Rehbach
- Provided IMA (eCommerce) details for Harris online community project
February 23rd, 2009 by Elin Waagen
Are you an artist or craftsperson?
Do you have any artistic and creative pursuits you would be interested in exhibiting?
I am trying to gauge interest in an LIS staff arts and crafts exhibit in the main Library at the end of March.
Please consider sharing your work with others in LIS and across campus.
Contact Elin Waagen if you are interested.
February 20th, 2009 by Doreen Bernier
Conference Report – ALA Midwinter Meeting
January 23-26, 2009 – Denver, CO
Joe Toth
A. Committee Work:
I’m a member of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), an ALA subdivision. In the Collection Management & Development Section (CMDS), I serve on the Collection Development and Electronic Resources (CDER) committee, which I will chair from July 2009 through June 2010. (Soon, I will be schooled in ALA protocols of note-taking, submitting program proposals, sponsoring e-forums, and the like, all of which will imbue in me the spirit of administration I thus far lack.) CDER had two scheduled activities:
1. CDER Committee Meeting Topics:
o preparations for CDER-sponsored program at 2009 Annual
o ALCTS E-Forum (we’ll host one in the Spring)
o brainstorming Program Topics for 2010 Annual
o CDER Committee Chair nominations and other member business
o professional matters on our minds (”It’s the economy, stupid”)
o CMDS Executive Board Discussion Topic: “Organizational Adaptability”
At ALA Annual in July, we’ll host a program entitled “Collecting for Digital Repositories: New Ways to Disseminate and Share Information,” in which speakers from institutional (Nebraska), disciplinary (NLM), and data (Johns Hopkins) repositories will present perspectives on the state of their endeavors. Our E-Forum probably will concern e-books, and the subject of our next program might be on “big deals”.
2. ALCTS Collection Development in Academic Libraries Discussion Group / CDER meeting:
CDER co-sponsored a meeting to discuss issues raised at the 2008 Charleston Conference; the topics were usage statistics and e-book issues. Eighty (80) people attended, a good turn-out for midwinter. Half the room gathered to speak on usage stats, the other on e-books. Topics included: policies on how usage statistics are used in collection development; methods of gathering usage stats; making sense of e-book packages; use of e-books by faculty & students; and models for academic libraries and consortia.
3. ALCTS CMDS Executive Board Meeting:
I sat in as CDER representative for our committee chair. The executive board has a secretary who takes exhaustive notes, so I was relieved of that burden. We spoke of the new web site, of past action items, and most importantly, of “organizational adaptability,” a topic proffered to all in ALCTS for discussion. Given the advancing age of ALA members, the relative dearth of new enrollees, and the structures of the current economy, ALA and all of its subgroups have to examine how they plan to do business in the future. We must reorganize to reflect the organization structures of contemporary libraries, and we must unbundle sections so librarians have the option of joining smaller groups.
B. Program Attendance:
I attended a few programs and discussion sessions before and after my committee chores.
1. ALCTS Continuing Resources Section College and Research Libraries Interest Group
(slides: http://wikis.ala.org/midwinter2009/index.php/ALCTS)
– Peter McCracken (Co-founder & Director of Research, Serials Solutions): A KBART Update – Improving Patrons’ Access to Electronic Resources. UKSG commissioned a research report (Link Resolvers and the Serials Supply Chain) ‘to identify the new relationships and information exchange requirements … [necessary] to maximise the benefit of OpenURL linking.’ See the KBART report at: http://www.niso.org/workrooms/kbart.
– Beth R. Bernhardt (Electronic Resources Librarian, Univ. of North Carolina Greensboro): Dealing with Free E-Journals: Are they worth the effort? Sources for free journals: HighWire; Open J-gate; Scielo; EMIS.
– Nicole E. Engard (Open Source Evangelist, LibLime): Serials Management in KOHA’s open source library software.
2. CMDS Discussion Group for Practitioners — Open Forum:
For ninety minutes, thirty to forty people sat around a large table and traded stories on how they’re coping with tough economic times. It’s clear that ARL members worry that budget cuts directly attack the definition of their mission, to collect the entire work product of academe, and that state schools are suffering through the bleak vicissitudes of state budgets. One piece of news leap out at me: UMass-Amherst will reduce its book budget over the next two years by 83%. Concomitantly, the Five Colleges will create a shared approval plan to address book buying jointly. This development displays a response/counter-response I hope is noted by NExpress members!
C. Roaming the Exhibits:
I don’t roam exhibits very well, as it smacks too much of shopping. Instead, I look for people I know to trade information with. All of this is done expeditiously–and free samples are avoided, for I hate to carry anything. However, I did have a chore to perform. I sought out the makers of BSCAN (http://www.dlsg.net/bscan.shtml), production capture software that permits staff to collapse steps in the article ILL lending process and thus improve workflow and efficiency. We’ve been in contact with DLGS, the parent company, so I met with them to follow up on our mail messages and to look at the WideTEK scanners firsthand. Interlibrary Loan has submitted an equipment request for a BSCAN/WideTEK set-up, which would cost between $17,000 and $23,000 one-time monies and $1500 to $2000 per year maintenance fees. (These prices are quotations–we haven’t pushed back on the numbers.) This request is a long-shot, to be sure, but it’s helpful to record unit aspirations so others may see in what direction we wish to grow.
February 20th, 2009 by Bob Cole
Submitted by Bob Cole, MIIS
The Teaching & Learning Collaborative in coordination with the Digital Media Commons at the Monterey Institute is training an army of podcasters. The one unit, fifteen hour workshop titled Digital Media for Change meets Friday afternoons from 2-4pm. Participants are exploring new communication skills with digital media with a particular focus on affecting change. We’re reading and discussing the workshop text by Garr Reynolds, PresentationZen, and we have gathered online on a homegrown social network hosted by Ning: http://dm4change.ning.com. Participants will be helping the Institute build our capacity to capture campus events, speakers, and other stories that distinguish our community and reflect our mission. We’re building an army of graduate students, staff, and faculty to help us! And yes, we like cupcakes.
As the workshop coordinator I am using this as an opportunity to experiment with alternative course management tools and blogging. We welcome any and all who might be interested in what we are up to, so please feel free to join us on our Ning, or grab the RSS feed for the Dm4change blog that is being piped into the main page for workshop updates and thoughts from yours truly.
February 20th, 2009 by Brenda Ellis
Submitted by Brenda Ellis
For anyone using Facebook (or thinking about joining), this is useful information:
submitted by Brenda Ellis
February 13th, 2009 by Carrie Macfarlane
Submitted by Carrie Macfarlane
We have formed five new faculty advisory groups, one for each academic division, to provide advice and feedback to LIS and the existing campus-wide Faculty LIS Advisory Committee. You can see a list of the five new groups on the LIS Advisory Groups blog. Each group will be led by a LIS representative and a faculty representative, and will be convened 2-3 times per year to share information and requests. Our hope is that these new groups will facilitate discussion on discipline-specific questions, helping us all to see where needs converge and diverge.
Topics for discussion in divisional meetings will be determined by the groups and their co-conveners. Some topics that we expect might be of interest include updates on academic technology assessments; budgets; classrooms and labs; emerging tech support needs; trends in scholarly communication; collection management; web presence; and in-class research instruction.
We’re excited at the prospects for increased communication that these new advisory groups raise. This is a pilot, though, and if it’s not as successful as we’d like then we’ll look for alternatives after two years. If you have any suggestions for meeting topics, contact one of your representatives (find out who they are at the LIS Advisory Groups blog).
February 13th, 2009 by Lynn Saunders
Submitted by Lynn Saunders
We have tax forms available. Paper forms can be found at the display area at the Information desk. The tax forms on cd can be found in the Government Documents CD collection under call number T 22.51/4:. The forms can also be obtained online at: http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html.
February 13th, 2009 by Carrie Macfarlane
Submitted by Carrie Macfarlane
We received a request for a “cell phone room” in the Main Library. We’ve posted a preliminary response here: LIS Suggestions – Cell Phone Room. Do you think that we should provide a soundproof space for impromptu phone conversations? If so, what should it look like and where should it be? We’ll admit that the idea of a bright red phone booth occurred to us. What do you think? Should we set aside an existing group study? Is there another (inexpensive) solution?
Or, is this something that falls outside of our responsibilities?
Please discuss!
February 13th, 2009 by Doreen Bernier
A group of folks from LIS and the rest of the College have been meeting to develop a plan for rolling out print management to campus this Spring. The system, which uses PaperCut to manage print jobs, initially will require people wanting to print to release their print jobs via a control panel. In the Fall we intend to begin issuing print quotas. After a quota has been reached, the person would need to pay for their print outs using a credit card. As the project moves forward, we’ll post more information.
This week we’ll be running a test print release station at circulation in the main library; come by and try it out!
February 13th, 2009 by Joseph Watson
Submitted by Joseph Watson
“Our roofs don’t leak.” That’s what the architects said in a meeting with library staff when the plans for the new library were first presented. Somebody in the audience noticed that much of the library was covered with a flat roof and pointed out that there was a history of flat roofs failing in the harsh New England climate. Their concern was met with firm assurances from the architects that they knew what they were doing and the roof would not leak.
Well, here we are.
Since the Main Library opened in 2004 we have had more than 20 water incursions. Four of them were from leaky pipes or malfunctioning HVAC equipment, which is bound to happen with new construction. The worst of these was when a part in a cooling unit in the server room broke, flooding the raised floor almost to overflowing. Five of them were from groundwater rising up and flowing in, which, hopefully, is a very rare event. Fortunately only the floors got wet. Twelve of them were from roof leaks, sometimes persistent ones. A particularly tedious leak started on the upper mezzanine on the north side of the building in the spring of 2006. For two years water intermittently dripped through the ceiling, ruining drywall and carpet, and distracting students studying nearby. Roofers were finally able to fix the leak in the summer of 2008.
Library materials have gotten wet only twice. The first time was when the building was new and window seals above the atrium failed allowing water to flow in around the window, travel along the sloped ceiling, and then drip down onto the art books. That leak was fixed and hasn’t recurred.
The second time books got wet was on Friday night, January 30, 2009. Just as the building was closing, a student stopped at the Circulation Desk and said there was water leaking onto book shelves on the upper level. Kellam Ayres investigated and acted to save the day. She informed Facilities Services who deployed “on call” personnel who were conveniently already on campus. Kellam worked with them to remove the wet books from the shelves, cover the effected book stacks with plastic in order to divert the water, and place buckets under the drips. (Pictured above.) She then set the wet books up to air dry. We in Preservation really appreciate the efforts of colleagues like Kellam who follow procedures and carefully ensure that damage to the collections is minimized. THANK YOU KELLAM!!! The leak continues to drip on and off. Facilities Services, who are also frustrated by these problems, had a roofer here this week to try to locate the source and they were unable to. We’ll be keeping an eye on this leak and will be on the look out for others.
When conditions indicate threats such as heavy rains in warm weather or a snow covered roof with light rains in cold weather, I routinely inspect the upper level for leaks during the weekdays and Circulation Staff members do the same in the evening and on the weekends. We’ve been lucky that all parts of the building are pretty heavily traveled so leaks have always been discovered fairly soon after they start.
Each library Circulation Desk has an Emergency Manual in which procedures are outlined. These manuals can be consulted when something goes wrong. The portion on reacting to water leaks is excerpted below.
“Water Damage
1. Stop flow of water. As needed call Facilities Management: x-5472 (If Facilities Management is closed, call security x-5911 to reach “on call” facilities workers.)
2. As the situation requires, protect items not yet wet by covering with plastic or relocate them to a dry area. Turn off, unplug, and cover any computer equipment with plastic to protect it from water damage. (Supplies are located in closet next to 135.)
3. Until setting them up to dry:
Do not open wet books.
Do not separate single sheets.
Do not remove covers.
Do not disturb wet file boxes, prints, drawings, and photographs.
4. Notify the Circulation Desk Supervisor, who will in turn notify the Disaster Team particularly the Preservation & Processing Manager. The Disaster Team is responsible for preparing a plan of action. See contact information on page A-3 and call them at home as needed.
For more information on recovery from a water incursion see Section E”
February 13th, 2009 by Patricia Hornbeck
Submitted by Patty Hornbeck
Each month, the Criterion Collection curates a free online film festival on The Auteurs. January’s theme is Killer Movies: some great stuff, including Divorce Italian Style, Vengeance is Mine, and Deep Crimson.
February 13th, 2009 by Hans Raum
Submitted by Hans Raum
Wikileaks recently released a comprehensive set of reports by the Congressional Research Service that had not previously been available to federal depository libraries or the general public. The highly regarded and non-partisan reports had been previously available only to members of Congress and Wired magazine called their concealment “The biggest Congressional scandal of the digital age.” Senator Patrick Leahy, who is a strong advocate of freedom of the press, has fought for years to make the reports public.
The Congressional Research Service is regarded as “Congress’s brain” and has a budget of over $100 million a year and the reports written by their experts cover a broad range of contentious issues, from the U. S. relationship with Israel to the financial collapse. Public access to these reports is now available at http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Change_you_can_download:_a_billion_in_secret_Congressional_reports
Well over 2,000 reports have been updated in the past year and the oldest report goes back to 1990. The recent release of these reports is an important milestone in the development of a more open and accountable government.
February 6th, 2009 by Doreen Bernier
Candidates for New Teams (with sponsor in italics)
We will begin the roll-out of new teams by choosing from the list below three or four teams to start with.
- Curricular Technologies (Peddie )
- Digital Archives/Collections/Library services (Simpkins)
- Information Security (Cutter)
- Language Schools/Bread Loaf/MMLA support (Roy)
- LIS Web presence (Rehbach)
- Training/Workshops (including internal LIS cross-training) (Backus)
The names listed to the right of each team above is the team sponsor. The sponsor’s role is to help provide a framework for the team and the resources needed to ensure the teams success, but the sponsor is not the team leader.
If you are interested in being a part of one of these teams, please contact the team sponsor with the following information:
- why you are interested in this team,
- a brief outline of the projects/activities/services you think the team should pursue.
- if you would like to be considered for the role of team leader, please mention that and also submit a draft charge for the team
- you may also nominate others for membership and leadership of a team.
- please make your interest known by Friday February 20th.
- please note: in some cases, we may ask people to join a team who haven’t volunteered!
We’ll announce the first round of teams, team leaders, and team members shortly thereafter. We’ll post more detailed information — including expectations for team members, team leaders, and team sponosors — soon on the LISt blogspace.
Existing Committees and other team-like things
Here is a list of groups that already exist that are team-like in their approaches and membership; we expect that as we move forward with our roll-out of more formal teams, these groups will be included in our list of ‘formal’ teams. (If there are other team-like things not on this list, let us know and we’ll add them.)
- Library Hours
- LIS Green Team
- Social Committee
- Institutional Repository Working Group (IRWG)
- Emergency Management Committee
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- Reference Collection Advisory Group
- Info Desk
- Collection Development advisory group
- Browsing team
- E-newsletter
- Special Collections
- Music Library
- Science Library
- Government Docs
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Teams Proposed to be formed later
Because we want to be thoughtful in how we manage the balance of responsibilities within teams and the responsiblities within workgroups and areas, we want to begin with a small number of teams, and then once we better understand how to do this, to launch additional teams. Teams that we intend to pursue later in the process include:
- Communications (include Orientation planning/info/documentation)
- General Web development, innovations, support (incl. ADA/universal access)
- Service Points (incl. Information Desk)
- Space Utilization (incl. ADA/universal access; classroom/lounge “tech infrastructure”)
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- Audio-Video capture/edit/distribution
- Databases & Data Warehousing
- GIS services
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As part of this initiative, we will be developing a series of trainings that will allow staff impacted by this to learn more about managing work through teams. This includes training on the definitions of roles on teams, communication strategies, project management techniques, and conflict resolution. As this progresses, we will keep everyone informed about these professional development opportuntities.
February 6th, 2009 by Doreen Bernier
Submitted by Linda Knutson
Beginning this Spring term the Helpdesk will be testing a new licensing management product called KeyServer. This product allows Middlebury College to provide software licenses for applications in a much more efficient way than we are today.
What is KeyServer?
KeyServer is a tool for managing software licenses over the network.
Why is it being implemented at Middlebury College?
KeyServer will help us make better informed decisions regarding software license purchasing and allow us to invest in more site/concurrent-use licenses instead of individual licenses. This will give more of our users access to certain software and save the college money by sharing the licenses and purchasing only what is needed to support concurrent users.
Do other colleges and universities use KeyServer?
Yes. Some of the organizations using KeyServer are:
- Brown University
- Cornell University
- Dartmouth College
- Georgetown University
- Harvard University
- MIT
- Princeton University
- Stanford University
- University of Arizona
- University of Massachusetts
- University of Vermont
- Wellesley College
- Yale
How are we implementing KeyServer?
We are testing KeyServer on some of the helpdesk computers and a few labs. The next step will be installing KeyServer in Axinn computing labs and the Wilson Media lab. When that pilot program has been running successfully for a semester, we will implement KeyServer in the rest of our computing labs. Finally, all college-owned computers used by faculty and staff will use this product.
How will this project impact faculty, staff and students?
KeyServer installs a program on each individual computer. This product will have very minimal impact on users and the network. We will be providing documentation to assist with the use of KeyServer. People who use software while travelling will be able to access software licenses through KeyServer.
We are currently in the process of completing a FAQ document which addresses questions and concerns. As we move forward, your input into this process will be helpful. Any feedback can be directed to Lisa Terrier at terrier@middlebury.edu.
February 6th, 2009 by jtoth
Submitted by Joe Toth
On Monday, April 13, 2009, LIS will host a meeting of the NExpress library consortium, members of which are Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Middlebury, Northeastern, Vassar, Wellesley, and Williams. This first-ever conference, billed as the NExpress Plenary Meeting, will consist of two rosters of concurrent sessions in which library personnel in units such as cataloging, circulation, and systems meet to discuss topics of importance, and a short opening or closing assembly. We’ve begun planning agendas for unit meetings by convening a group of Midd designates whose chore is to contact NExpress counterparts to solicit subjects. I’ll offer updates as we proceed.This event is significant because it might further forms of collaboration that cause member libraries to save money on material resources; to investigate combining or centralizing work processes now separate and redundant; and to speculate about and perhaps plan for enlarging NExpress’ membership and capacities.
February 6th, 2009 by Margaret Fischel
Submitted by Peggy Fischel
The Schools Abroad directors expressed interest in using the AlertFind emergency notification system at their schools. Liz Ross, associate director of Off-Campus Study, and I conducted two tests this winter with the directors and will train them as team administrators for their individual schools this summer.
February 6th, 2009 by Margaret Fischel
Submitted by Peggy Fischel
With the recent announcement from the CFO that most College-owned cell phones must revert to personal service due to IRS requirements, Ginnie Bukowski kicked into high gear. She convened a well-attended Q&A meeting with affected parties who have Verizon Wireless service and is now consulting with small groups and individuals to help them through the process. LIS will continue to maintain the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and add users who require Outlook e-mail and calendaring service for business purposes.
The new cell policy was devised by the Controller’s Office with input from Telephone Services. Even if you are not entitiled to a College allowance, employees can get discounted service from Verizon Wireless. If other carriers offer discounts, we will add that information in the future.
February 6th, 2009 by Doreen Bernier
SPRING CONFERENCE
Friday, May 29, 2009
Connecting The .Edus:
Using Technology To Connect With Our Students
Description
Conference Format
The conference day will feature a mixture of hands-on workshops and interactive sessions, a plenary presentation, and networking opportunities.
The conference will be held at five different sites across New England and connected via video conferencing for our plenary presentation. The sites will be:
Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA
New England Institute of Technology, Warwick, RI
University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Call for Proposals
The Program Committee invites proposals that reflect the best in research and practice of college teaching in New England. Submissions may address all areas of teaching and learning that use technology.
- Here are a few general suggestions related to the conference theme:
- Classroom strategies that address the use of technology to reach different student learning styles
- Helping colleges and students bridge the technology divide
- Helping students connect with course content in and out of the classroom
- Supporting faculty who want/need to learn the new technology
- Creating community out of diversity with the assistance of technology
- Using technology to engage students of different backgrounds with peers, staff, and faculty.
- Supporting the digital natives (our students) while developing the digital immigrants (the faculty)
There will be two types of presentations:
Hands-on Workshops (120 minutes): Computer lab-based interactive sessions that encourage participant involvement through hands-on use of a technology. These sessions will be scheduled in a computer lab.
Interactive discussions (60 minutes): Interactive sessions that present new ideas about using technology in an academic environment and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of those systems. These sessions will be scheduled in a classroom.
Conference attendees overwhelmingly prefer presentations that give them at least one concrete, practical “take-away” idea to implement at their home campuses. If your presentation concerns a particular program or experience, please articulate how it might be transferable to other contexts and institutional types.
Please refer to www.nefdc.org to review important submission guidelines and to submit your proposal online.
Submission deadline is February 15, 2009; notification of acceptance will be sent out the week of February 26, 2009.
Questions? Contact Tom Thibodeau (tthibodeau@neit.edu)
February 6th, 2009 by Doreen Bernier
Shawn O’Neill and his daughters traveled to DC for the Presidential Inauguration and contributed to a blog for WPTZ. To read about his experience, here is a link to that blog.
http://www.wptz.com/politics/18471196/detail.html
February 6th, 2009 by Doreen Bernier
Submitted by Mike Roy
As most of you already know, we in LIS went through a goal setting exercise this fall, and established an ambitious set of goals for this academic year. As a way to make sure that these goals don’t just sit on a shelf gathering dust, we are building a regular review of our goals into our weekly AD meetings. Each AD has been assigned a set of goals to keep track of, and will provide an update to the group on the status of the goals (what’s making good progress; what’s done; what’s stuck, and why). For each goal, we’ve named a contact person. If you are that contact person, you can expect to be contacted three times between now and June to provide an update on your goals. All of this information will soon live on the web, so that anyone in LIS (or the world, for that matter) can track the progress we are making towards achieving our goals. (We’ll post the link soon!) While we recognize that this work of setting and tracking goals can be burdensome, we also believe that the way for us to make progress towards improving our efficiency, rolling out new services, and assessing our work is by being quite explicit about this sort of goal setting work. We intend to do this on an annual basis, starting in June of this year. As always, any thoughts you have about how to do this in the simplest and least burdensome manner possible are welcome.
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