UNHCE Information Technology & Distance Education Blog: May 2007 Archives

The folks at Common Craft have posted the following video that describes wikis in a straightforward way:

An article titled, "The Seven Principles of Good Practice:
Using Technology to Improve Learning Outcomes" is available at: http://www.tltgroup.org/seven/seven-other.htm

Students in the UNH Occupational Therapy 872 class did an ergonomics project involving UNHCE staff. They observed several UNHCE staff members in their offices, and noted the most-frequent workstation ergonomic issues among our staff.

As a project, they developed a brochure for UNHCE staff, incorporating information & recommendations for optimal ergonomic positioning (See brochure.) It is designed to be printed as a brochure. Feel free to print a copy for your reference.

A Glossary Features, tools & terms used in Distance Learning and Course Management Systems is available at:
http://www.edutools.info/glossary.jsp?pj=4

CIS is offering free training in BlackBoard (a course management system) to UNH employees.

Anyone in the UNH Human Resources database is eligible to have a BlackBoard account, which can be used to deliver and take classes. (Note that classes may only be accessed by others with UNH BlackBoard accounts, so BlackBoard cannot be used for volunteer training.)

For information on their upcoming classes, including a QuickStart (Intro) class and a class on Discussion Boards and Workgroups, see the CIS website at: http://training.unh.edu/default.html

Proper ergonomics can maintain or improve your health. No one in Extension has ergonomics as part of their role. There are, however, external resources available to UNHCE staff, based on the category or funding stream through which they are employed.

For information on where you can get advice or resources to meet your ergonomic needs, see: http://extension.unh.edu/blogs/itde/Erg4CE.doc

A decision-making matrix which contains information on features, costs, and considerations for various distance learning technologies has been posted to our web site.

To view the on-line version, go to: http://extension.unh.edu/blogs/itde/DLmtrxOL.pdf
Note that this is a large document (11x17 landscape mode.) For that reason, you may want to view in full-screen mode, and magnify the document (using the magnifying glass icon) to see the details more clearly. Use the scroll bars on the right and bottom of your browser window to scroll through the various features.

The printable version is housed at: http://extension.unh.edu/blogs/itde/DLmtxPrt.pdf

Don't spend your time checking websites for updated information, get all the updated information in one place. Many sections of our Extension site allow for this (Extension Update, ITDE Blog, News, NH Outside, Profiles in Extension, and the Gazette) through the use of something called RSS (Real Simple Syndication). You can also subscribe to updates from any blog and almost all news sites (e.g., NY Times, NPR, Concord Monitor)

Here's a short video that will introduce you to the basics (courtesy of CommonCraft):

Click To Play

I recommend using either Google Reader or Bloglines for web-based solutions. You can also use FeedBlitz to have updates mailed to you daily. You can subscribe to Extension news updates via FeedBlitz using the consolidated Extension subscription form.

What's all this about Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 refers to a second generation of Web-based services--such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, tagging, and folksonomies--that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users.

A 90-minute recorded session titled "Ten Steps to Web 2.0" is available on line at eXtension at: http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/p79691970/

This previously presented session was conducted by Beth Kanter. Beth Kanter was recently recognized by NTEN as the most valuable member of the nonprofit technology community.

You can learn more about Beth Kanter at http://www.bethkanter.org/ and read her blog at http://beth.typepad.com/.

Beth Kanter will be providing an eXtension session titled, "Tagging for Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing" on May 9 from 3:00 - 4:30 Eastern Time.

This session will answer the questions: What is tagging? Why is it useful for individuals as well as groups? What are the pitfalls? What is social bookmarking? What does a community tagging project look like?

Beth Kanter is an experienced coach to "digital immigrants" in the personal mastery of using new web tools. Her work primarily deals with educational technology and working in communities. Many of the things she writes and presents about fit closely with Extension.

You can learn more about Beth Kanter at http://www.bethkanter.org/ and read her blog at http://beth.typepad.com/. If you missed it, see the Recording of "Ten Steps to Web 2.0" that she presented in April. It's linked from the About eXtension wiki's Recordings of eXtension
Professional Development Sessions page at http://tinyurl.com/2c3lzk.

To attend "Tagging for Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing" via Connect (formerly Breeze) go to http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn . Please join the session 5-10 minutes before the starting time at 3:00-4:30 Eastern Time. Telephone access is also required.