Friday, April 23, 2010
Campus Technology Resources and GOOGLE Free 1-Hour Webinar: Vanderbilt and Google: Innovating Communication in Education
Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Time: 9 AM (PDT)/12 PM (EDT)
Vanderbilt University needed to replace their legacy open source student e-mail system with one which students could relate. This new system had to:
• Empower users to work and communicate collaboratively
• Deliver a better technical experience
• Provide a search solution that could handle large volumes of searches through its public website-nearly 300,000 per month
• Handle an inventory of 4 million documents
After carefully weighing alternatives and reviewing vendor ratings with third-party analysts, Vanderbilt selected Google Apps Education Edition, a free version of Google Apps optimized for on-campus use.
Within thirty days the new system was up and running, delivering an opt-in email solution for the university's undergraduate population that provided new e-mail and collaboration tools which students welcomed and quickly put to use.
Join us to hear how Vanderbilt:
• Migrated student e-mail to Google Apps for Education, providing e-mail and collaboration tools at no cost
• Implemented the Google Search Appliance (GSA) across the school's search experience
What they accomplished:
• Saved $750,000 on storage costs, not to mention additional server expenses
• Freed up IT resources to address legacy data issues and focus attention on more strategic, university-wide projects
• Dramatically improved user experience on the Vanderbilt website by adding advanced search functionality
Distance Education Report Online Seminar: Growing Successful Online Programs at a Small School
Featured Higher Education Presenter: Carol Williams, Ph.D.
Date: Thursday, 6/3/10
Time: 12:00-1:30 PM Central Daylight Time
Cost: $199 ($224 after 5/27/10)
Three easy ways to register!
Phone: 800-433-0499 / 608-227-8182
Email: support@magnapubs.com
Demand for online education is on the rise. Could your school take advantage of this growing income opportunity? Smaller institutions are usually overlooked in discussions of online educational programming. Typical seminars on distance learning focus on large institutions with existing continuing education structures on which to build an online program.
This seminar is different. It is aimed specifically at smaller schools that are developing an online program for the first time. Even small institutions can find big success with distance learning–especially when they know which steps to follow and understand how to maximize their available resources.
In Growing Successful Online Programs at a Small School, Dr. Carol Williams will explain how to establish thriving online education programs at institutions with fewer than 5,000 students.
This seminar will cover:
• Developing a revenue stream with online education
• Articulating a clear online mission
• Selecting a lead administrator
• Initiating effective marketing efforts
• Admissions
• Faculty buy-in and incentives
• Developing fair compensation plans
• Instructional design
• Appropriate administrative structures
• Providing online education support services
• The 5 key areas small colleges must consider before starting an online program
Participants will also identify the key questions and crucial online course development personnel for their own campuses.
Expert presenter
Carol Williams, Ph.D. has served as both dean of the graduate school and associate provost for distance education at Abilene Christian University. She managed the transition of selected graduate programs to online platforms and oversaw growth from 66 students to over 464 in just four years. She continues to supervise the ongoing expansion of distance programs at ACU as the new associate provost for online programs.
A price even a small campus will love!
An online education program will involve multiple departments at your school. Why not invite them all to attend this live audio online seminar? Our per-site registration policy allows an unlimited number of participants to attend this presentation from a single location for one registration fee of just $199. This is an affordable way to get the online education conversation started at your institution.
Questions welcome
Have questions about online education at your school? Bring them to this live session for the opportunity to receive an individualized response from our expert presenter. Your institution CAN join the exploding online education market. Find out how by enrolling in this strategy-packed seminar today.
Who should attend
If you’re involved in developing and implementing strategy at a small college, this seminar is for you! Specific job titles that should plan to attend include:
• Chief academic officers
• College deans
• Professional development leaders
• Department chairs
• Chief information technology officers
Magna Online Courses: Courses Online - Step by Step! Learn the skills you need to take your courses online!
Phone: 800-433-0499 / 608-227-8182
Affordably Priced: $299 for each participant (price discounts for additional registrants)
The top three problems faculty cite when it comes to teaching online:
I don’t have the time.
I’m not a techie.
I wouldn’t know where to start.
Solved, solved … and solved!
But the truth is, getting there is not that difficult. In fact, you’d be surprised how painless the process can be. Especially when you anchor your efforts with Online Courses: Step-by-Step, a program tailor-made for faculty seeking a simple and efficient way to get online.
You'll learn how to teach online ... one step at a time!
In three content-rich modules, Online Courses: Step-by-Step will help you feel at home in the online classroom. You’ll discover:
• How to develop a course that provides academic rigor and strong outcomes.
• Which assessment tools to use, and why.
• How to create a media-rich experience with text, voice, PowerPoint, social media and more.
• How to “reimagine” your regular course material for online use.
• What you can do with learning management systems, wikis, online research and shared document development tools.
• How to critique your online courses.
Each module focuses on a set of core principles that form the foundation of online success…
Module one:
• The history of the virtual classroom.
• Best practices in online teaching.
• Essential content delivery methods.
• Principles of class interaction and discussion.
• ADA issues online.
• And more.
Module two:
• Reconceptualizing your course(s).
• Basic development guidelines.
• Best uses for blogs, wikis and other social tools.
• How to integrate video and other media.
Module three:
• Class discussion.
• Assignments.
• Quizzes.
• Grading.
• Peer communication.
• Teacher-student communication.
Who will benefit from this course?
While this information is relevant to everyone who teaches online, it's most beneficial for:
• Instructors new to online instruction
• Faculty who need a refresher in online pedagogy
• Department chairs who supervise online faculty
John Orlando is the Instructional Resource Manager at the Norwich University School of Graduate Studies. He has delivered lectures on distance education administration and business continuity management for distance education at University Continuing Education Association conferences, at the University of Wisconsin Conference on Distance Education and Teaching, and through webcasts.
At one module per week, you’ll find the course fits comfortably into even the busiest schedule. It also fits into the tightest budget … the course fee, modest to begin with (just $299), drops even further for group registrations, starting at just two people. If there are others on campus who share your interest, you could save nearly $100 per person.
Now, thanks to Online Courses: Step-by-Step, there’s nothing to keep you from exploring the online classroom, making full use of educational technology, and adding an important accomplishment to your professional résumé.
Inside Higher Education: Data May Show HBCUs at Best, Worst
April 23, 2010
WASHINGTON
Historically black colleges and universities are expected to play a crucial role in improving the nation’s educational attainment levels by 2020, but they are likely to face some hard truths in the process. Speaking to a group of educators and policy analysts here Thursday, the man leading the White House initiative on HBCUs said he’s mining data that may show both what’s wrong and what’s right with these institutions. “We are not going to run from whatever news there is, good or bad,” said John Silvanus Wilson Jr., the initiative’s director. Wilson, formerly an administrator at George Washington University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was among six panelists featured Thursday at an Education Sector discussion devoted to improving success for minority-serving institutions. While he did not discuss specifics about his office's data collection efforts, Wilson suggested a broad range of data on student success rates at HBCUs was needed to make better informed policy and funding decisions.
To fulfill President Obama’s goal of achieving the world’s highest graduation rate by 2020, there is no question the 105 HBCUs in the United States will have to play a significant role. But in a sea of data already available, Wilson and others say it’s still hard to answer basic questions about success rates, including the performance of first-generation college students, many of whom are members of minority groups.
The data that are available do not always put HBCUs in the most favorable light. The Associated Press analyzed the six-year graduation rates of 83 four-year HBCUs last year, finding that just 37 percent of black students attained degrees within six years. More striking than the low completion rate was the fact that the national college graduation rate for black students is actually 4 percentage points higher than that of HBCUs collectively, calling into question the long-held notion that HBCUs are better at graduating African Americans.
The Associated Press report was met with consternation from some HBCU presidents, and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund argued that the federal data used to inform the report missed a crucial segment of transfer students who populate HBCUs.
Asked about graduation rates Thursday, Education Sector panelists suggested that funding levels could not be discounted as a significant drag on student success at HBCUs. “A lot of that [graduation] rate …. is grounded in money, lack of money,” Wilson said.
Some HBCU officials say they still encounter hundreds of academically eligible students each year who drop out of college because their financial need cannot be met with Pell Grants and other aid. The vast majority of HBCUs have small endowments, so there isn’t a pot of money to dip into when financial challenges arise.
“The capacity is not there. It’s an issue of dollars,” said Charles Smith, vice president for student affairs at South Carolina State University.
Smith and others are optimistic about a recent boost in Pell Grant awards, along with $2.55 billion allocated to HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions as part of a recently passed budget bill. Even so, challenges remain. Of the approximately $120 billion the federal government gives to higher education through aid and research dollars each years, HBCUs receive only about 4 percent, Wilson said. “That’s low,” he said.
Improving funding for HBCUs and other minority institutions, however, will require a change in tone and philosophy, Wilson said. Wilson, who holds degrees from Morehouse College and Harvard University, has been talking tough since Obama appointed him nearly a year ago, challenging HBCUs to prove their worth through hard data rather than just appealing to the better angels of those who control the purse strings.
“We’re not asking for this investment because we want you to do the right thing or we want you to have a good heart,” Wilson said.
— Jack Stripling
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