My Tuition Condition

LMS updates & implementations

2011-09-15T18:00:00.000-04:00

Faculty 'buy-in' of a LMS is crucial to the success of the implementation or migration from an old LMS long after the technical issues have been resolved. If they can't get their courses to look and behave as they expect in the new LMS, they may feel anxious or discouraged.

Do we advise course builders and content managers to mimic their course design in the new LMS as it was in the old LMS, thus 'molding' the new LMS to be like the other LMS?

If we do that then we never give the new LMS a fair chance to stand up on its own. The alternative is to somehow enable them to put aside preconceptions and start fresh, to rethink how they deliver their online courses materials and engage their students in online conversations and activities. That is a huge undertaking and I have no idea how to do it effectively for most faculty.

It would be easy to suggest rebuilding in the new LMS in the format they used in the old LMS, however this completely negates the point of moving to a new LMS.

So, what's your approach to getting faculty to re-think the structure of their online course resources, activities and their approach to teaching with an LMS?

Rethinking Selective Release

2011-06-14T14:45:00.004-04:00

Selective release in a learning management system (LMS) is an option to pre-schedule or conditionally release content for student consumption. The content may be a quiz or survey, an assignment or a folder of content. The selective release criteria may be related to a date/time, such as the release of a quiz on a Friday at noon, or may be related to instructional scaffolding, such as the release of a quiz after a homework assignment has been submitted.

Recently, in an LMS user list-serv, someone inquired about selective release options for a quiz. The option is not available in the quiz itself, but is available in a module. I wondered why the LMS developers designed it this way. Was it an oversight in that they did not see a reason to add the function to individual pieces of content, or was it intentional, in that they wanted to force course builders to re-think their content delivery methods? Regardless of why it's not there in every piece of content, the fact that it is in the module function is interesting and is worth consideration.

We know that a computer does not teach, although much can be learned by using a computer. We know that course content standing alone may be useful, but is much more effective when presented in a way that facilitates learning. Selective release may be considered a tool to deliver course content in a way that facilitates learning. For example: a document, an assignment, a discussion forum and a quiz delivered on a course website. Some students may skip the reading and the discussion, complete the quiz and turn in the homework while others may begin the reading, find difficulty with the material and never complete anything else. With selective release, the course material can be organized in a way that guides students through the material and directs their experience in a predetermined way. The reading and discussion board could be released simultaneously; the assignment could be released after the student has participated in a discussion and the quiz could be released after the homework has been submitted and/or graded.

Selective release can be set, in most cases, for specific dates/times. However, with recognition for different learning styles it may be a better approach to release upon completion of a prior task. This way, students can move through content at their own pace. Also, the instructor can monitor student progress through LMS reporting tools to track groups and individuals progress. For students who need additional help, the instructor may wish to redirect individually, or present guidance to the group as a whole. S/he may wish to enlist the aid of more advanced students to go back and help the struggling students complete their modules. Again considering learning styles, s/he may wish to develop advanced modules for students who quickly complete tasks, providing opportunities for higher order thinking.

Because the LMS has designed their product so that selective release is only available in the module tool, the migration period from the old LMS to the new LMS is a good opportunity to revisit course content organization and delivery methods.

Questions:

In what ways do use selective release in your teaching? Or, for technologists and designers, do you advocate for use of selective release? If so, why and how?
If it could be determined that selective release does improve learning, do you think there would be a different approach for its use in traditional courses vs hybrid vs fully online courses?

Editorial assistance by Bonnie Greer, awesome proof-reader. Thank you!

Tweet this NERCOMP, part 3: Take advantage of a situation with Twitter search

2011-05-24T10:40:00.006-04:00

In #highered there are predictable events that are perfect opportunities to connect with people online, to follow and be followed by colleagues. I took some time this month to use Twitter search to add to my 'following' and 'follower' counts. Looking at Twitter stats I can see it paid off, with @NERCOMP finally hitting and passing the 300 mark this week.

It’s commencement season. Faculty dust off their regalia for the ceremony. Big name speakers fly in to give speeches and receive honorary degrees. Graduates and their families hustle from one gathering to the next, taking note of every detail about this milestone. For college Twitter users, there is much to share.

Students move out of the dorm. Seniors say goodbye to friends and professors and distribute their contact information, asking for reference letters. Families infiltrate area hotels and wander aimlessly around campus, taking photos of each other in front of buildings, statues, iron gates. Facilities workers scramble to keep up with spring rains, subsequent floods and sudden, urgent needs for tents and canopies over outdoor events. There is much to see and do, and even though school is now over, there is much to discover.

While Twitter still isn’t widely used among Americans aged 12-22, it is used by college and university departments. A simple Twitter search for #commencement yields valuable data. It’s an easy way to data mine for college Twitter accounts. I have been taking time to run this simple search to add to my ‘nehighered’ Twitter list (north east, that is, not New England), a list that helps me keep tabs on news and info in my field.

The #commencement tweets also make good RT’s for @NERCOMP. Sharing updates from a variety of campus ceremonies is a fun way to help area #highered Twitter users connect with each other. If I (via @NERCOMP) RT something from @TuftsLive maybe someone from @BryantUniv will start following them, and someone from VT Law School might follow as well, creating a minor surge in #highered community building. Twitter is still new and there is much to learn in using Twitter for marketing and communications, so tapping into the #highered Twitter community knowledge base is helpful. If the @NERCOMP account can facilitate those connections, it's #awesome #winning.

And by searching for #commencement tweets, not only did I find the ‘official’ Twitter accounts for several NE colleges, I also found more tweeting faculty and staff which I added to my list. I look forward to their regular work-day tweets after commencement season has closed, and to engage and develop professional relationships with them. There is no telling when I would have come across those folks - finding their #commencement tweets was an unexpected reward in this endeavor.

What other types of campus events are good opportunities for engaging social networks?

What to tweet and when: Twitter for an organization. Part 2

2011-04-23T18:09:00.004-04:00

There are times my Twitter stream is afire with interesting and re-tweetable information. Other times, not much grabs me. Maybe it's me, maybe it's a slow news day. Whatever the case, when I’m tweeting for me, it’s not a big deal. When I’m tweeting for an organization, it matters.

Conversation is something not everyone does well and not even the best at it are good 100% of the time. On Twitter, it's no different. For my account, if I got nothing to say, I tweet nothing. But tweeting for NERCOMP presents a challenge - I need to keep the conversation going. Fortunately, there is a plenty to choose from when selecting tweets for those days when there doesn’t seem to be much to tweet about.

1. Events: NERCOMP hosts events all year round. The annual event in March and dozens of SIG (special interest group) events plus board of director meetings, committee functions and assorted member gatherings. Lisa DiMauro keeps us posted on what is happening through the member email list. It is real easy to add these events to Twitter and they can be tweeted more then once- such as when registration first opens, a few weeks later, and then just before the event. Calls for events, such as the annual conference, are good, too.

2. Organization news: Organizations with boards and committees have regular meetings, announcements and news to share. Tweets can be crafted from meeting minutes, organizations updates such as committee elections and board nominations. I generally wait until the big news items hit the org’s website, then not only do I know I am sharing information that is already public, I can add a link to the site so readers can get more info beyond the 100+ character note.

3. Member updates: Following members’ Twitter accounts is helpful. Keep an eye on what member institutions are doing and RT some of their events and announcements. Celebrate their good news and add to the community and conversation building.

Tweet this, NERCOMP: Twitter for an organization. Part 1

2011-04-10T10:46:00.010-04:00

A little background

While with my former employer I set up a Twitter account for my department and nurtured it to over 1750 followers. When I left for my new job I immediately missed managing a Twitter account for a group or organization. So I found an alternative. As of March this year, I am officially tweeting for @NERCOMP (http://www.nercomp.org) the Northeast Regional Computing Program, an affiliate of EDUCAUSE.

Dave Wedaman, @wedaman on Twitter, and treasurer with the NERCOMP Board of Directors, help to create this position. Together he and I defined responsibilities affiliated with this role and drafted a short list of goals. It was a a good exchange of ideas and concerns to which we easily came to a mutual agreement. Dave is a regular Twitter user (that’s how we met) which helped a great deal. It would not have been easy to make this arrangement if I had to sell Twitter to Dave; he was already a loyal consumer. After obtaining official organization approval, Dave gave me the go ahead to get started.

First things first

@NERCOMP already had an account and someone tweeting from time to time. There were slightly over 200 followers which isn’t bad for a lightly used account. But NERCOMP has over 270 member organizations so I knew there must be hundreds more potential followers out there. Building follower relationships requires engagement. Twitter is an ongoing conversation. To build relationships our part of the conversation must be engaging, thoughtful, and interesting. Having robust conversations requires followers. In summary: post interesting things to gain followers and communicate with followers to find more interesting things to share. But before I could begin, I needed to clean house a bit and set up a means to monitor the account and track activity.

Twitter tools

First I swapped out the old purple with yellow stars background and the old Twitter layout. I used COLOURlovers Themeleon http://www.colourlovers.com/themeleon/twitter) to update the look and feel of the page. I didn’t go nuts with customization; I simply chose a theme that was modest and clean. The next thing I did was update the profile info on the account so when we have visitors from outside our region they could understand who we are. I was sure to include the fact that we are an EDUCAUSE affiliate; it gives us a little higher ed street cred.

Next, I associated the account with the few Twitter tools I have found to be reliable and helpful when managing a business or organizational account.

HootSuite (http://hootsuite.com): I love this web based Twitter client. I can easily access and post to my Twitter accounts (as well as my Facebook, Linkedin, Foursquare and Ning accounts). It provides some simple tools for tracking clicks and includes the option for scheduling tweets (more on that in a future post). There is also a page to view followers and see how many followers they have along with klout score.
TwitterCounter (http://twittercounter.com): Every week I get an email with a quick at-a-glance summary of follower activity. I can grab a few snapshots of recent activity (number of tweets compared to number of followers) to save as an archive of account growth. These weekly snapshots as a visualization of our engagement - when I see a spike in the data I can go back and track down that day or a specific tweet and find out why we had significant activity.

Gmail (http://gmail.com): I created an alias account in Gmail. Whenever the NERCOMP Twitter account has a new follower, an email is sent to that alias GMail account, and it is filtered and tagged with a label. It gives me a heads up about new follower activity in between TwitterCounter reports. When I see a big name in higher ed now following, I can follow back and shoot out a welcome and thanks message to them. On the days I see a surge in new followers it is because of something recently tweeted or retweeted, thus drawing my attention to whatever was effective for building relationships in that instance.

In the last month we have gone from 216 to 262 followers. Modest growth considering we just had our annual conference, but the quality of engagement is good. Those new followers are adding something to the conversation and sharing our tweets with their followers. My goal is to keep growth steady, by nurturing the relationships and reaching out to a broader audience.

More post coming on this endeavor, including why I use a Twitter client to manage the account; deciding what to tweet and when; followers and following; conference and event tweeting and organization representation.

Viral Marketing With The Oatmeal - Matthew Inman SXSW

2011-04-05T10:34:00.001-04:00

I rarely do this, post other people's stuff on my blog. But this is too good to not share. It is an hour long video/audio lecture capture of Matt Inman's SXSW session in March 2011. If you like web comics, web marketing, zombies, cats, unicorns and laughter, it is worth a viewing. Or two.

Viral Marketing With The Oatmeal - Matthew Inman SXSW

View more webinars from @JESSEDEE.

That’s how we work the day away, in the merry old land of Oz

2011-02-21T10:48:00.002-05:00

For this post I pulled a few quotes from the Wizard of Oz movie as I was reflecting on my first weeks of my new job.

Patience seems to be the common thread here, so after writing this, I have set new objectives for myself: 1) go to bed earlier to get more sleep, in an effort to combat irritability 2) take walks during the day, to combat restlessness and 3) keep things in perspective, especially perceptions of power.

Cowardly Lion: I- I- I hope my strength holds out.

Tin Woodsman: [hanging by Lion's tail] I hope your tail holds out!

I haven’t done anything significant in months. My last two months at UMass were tying up loose ends, drafting transition plans and having farewell lunches. I can now understand the frustration my husband has been feeling in the last 4 or five months since his business slowed - he goes to his print shop every day but there is nothing that needs printing; he is stagnant, waiting for orders to come in. I have also felt stagnant - like I’m not doing enough each day. Its a horrible feeling for a project-centered, task orientated overachiever like me to not be able to do something significant. My irritability may be a result of too few opportunities to do what makes me happy. I need to be patient with the situation and perhaps find another outlet for the time being, so I don’t burn out. The irritability may also be due to my being overly tired, considering that I start my day an hour earlier but still go to bed at the same time as I used to.

Dorothy: Where do you want to be oiled first?

My tendency is to find things that need fixing such as to update old content, rebuild broken pages, streamline processes, weed out unnecessary tasks and develop new strategies to attack work. I love to create things, build things, make things pretty and well functioning. A large part of me feels ready to dig in. But, I don’t know enough yet.

I can’t start fixing things because I don’t know what’s broken. I can’t start building things because it is not clear yet what my boundaries are. I don’t want to step on any one’s toes and I don’t want to waste time doing something someone else is doing or planning to do. So it’s a bit frustrating - wanting to work on things and solve problems, but not knowing what to do or where to begin. It’s been a significant down-shift since leaving my old job, from go-go-go to wait-wait-wait. I need to be patient and find something to do to get my mind off it. Spring is coming. The few warm days we’ve had I took advantage of by going for walks at lunch time. One day I left the office, walked to another neighborhood, found a place for lunch and just hung out for an hour. It felt good. I may need to do that once in awhile to combat the restlessness and mild sense of lack of control.

Wizard of Oz: You, my friend, are a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate impression that just because you run away you have no courage; you're confusing courage with wisdom.

Part of what I loved about UMass and why I was so successful there is that I got to pick and choose my projects, manage my own time, and take the lead on most of what I was involved in. I worked in an academic department with great support and enthusiastic approval from the chair’s office. At first the perception was that I was support staff in the department, but I left as a department leader, and perhaps even an institutional leader. I made a name for myself there by listening, to people, making connections, innovating and sharing what I learned along the way. I pushed the boundaries and worked hard to be taken seriously and earn respect of faculty and administrators. Those things did not come with my position title nor were they in my job description.

I am not sure yet what the true organizational schema is here. Yes, there is a traditional org chart, but there are many, many MANY references to a collaborative environment. It will take some time to find out exactly what that means. I also work on the institutional level, in the general all purpose computer services area. There are significantly different business needs between an academic department and a computer services department. Its going to take some time to come to terms with my role in the system here just as it was at UMass. What is unknown - and scary - is where the boundaries lie.

A challenge is for me to not over-think the title given and the box I’ve been placed to work in. I need it to figure where I am and what I can do here in this new (to me) organizational structure. I can’t confuse the on-paper org structure with the real org structure because sometimes things aren’t always what they seem to be.

Wizard of Oz: To confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards.

Without question the biggest benefit of this transition is the people. I like my coworkers. I enjoy their company. I like the conversations we have when we’re brainstorming and troubleshooting. I like learning about tools and applications they find useful. I like that we all speak the same language when it comes to technology for teaching and learning. I can learn from them and they can learn from me. I look forward to the work we will do together.

I used to outsource my need to connect with like minded people to Twitter. I would always turn to Twitter friends when I needed help with troubleshooting code, needed a second opinion on a page layout, needed recommendations for an app or platform. I turned to Twitter because in my stream of highered and web professionals, there were real live people who could answer my questions and provide help. In real life, at the time, I was in an office by myself in a department where no one really understood what I did or how I did it. Now, at Brown, I am in a room with people who do what I do. Question? Say it out loud. Need help? Ask. Need an editor? There’s two or three right there. It’s very different, and very cool.

Source for quotes: internet movie database http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138/quotes

Goals for 2011

2011-01-09T14:55:00.004-05:00

Setting goals for 2010 early in the year was helpful as I reported in the fall. I hadn't given much thought to setting goals for 2011 until I caught Sarah Stewart's 'What are your goals for 2011?' post last week.

Like Sarah, time management is an issue for me; it always is. I find myself working many more hours than required. And because my work is in technology, I find myself spending far too much time around computers and the internet. I used to have 'tech-free Sundays' but that sort of fizzled after a bit, and I'm not even sure when it ended. I think having at least 2 completely tech-free Sundays would be a good goal. I'll have to reconcile that with the iPod Touch I got for Christmas because, dammit, that thing is addictive as hell.

Professionally, I need to get a paper finished. I started working on a paper detailing the development and launch of the Lois Green Learning Community, a Ning network for medical professionals in palliative care and hospice medicine. I need to focus on that for the first half of the year and try to have something for submission by late spring. That point will mark the time when I when can begin taking classes again, although I've not yet decided what course of study will I pursue. However, I do know that I will take classes as soon as my tuition assistance benefit kicks in.

Socially, I plan to continue to involve myself in the Worcester Bloggers scene. There are a decent amount of people who blog about the city, its citizens and politicians, and the variety of community activities happening. Although Worcester is not my primary interest, the people who blog about it are. What interests me are the processes, applications and results of efforts. It's inspiring to be around people who don't get paid to do what they do, are not professional journalists, but who are regarded as significant members of the community. In that group are a handful of higher ed professionals so its great to talk with them in a more casual setting about interests aside from building web pages, developing social media strategies, and working with faculty.

Personally, I will continue working on some sort of health and fitness regimen. Hiking, walking, disc golf, gardening were all good last year. I can still do more. Maybe that will come into play with the tech-free Sundays. I'm toying with the idea of climbing Mt Wachusett once a month throughout the year. Before I commit to that fully (although I sort of did by writing it here) I need to find out how many months the trails are open for hikers. If anyone knows, please pass along the info.

UMassMed to Brown

2010-12-30T15:28:00.007-05:00

A few photos from my last visit to UMassMed and lots of photos from my first walk around Brown. The different between the two campuses is striking. There was some construction going on at Brown, however it was maintenance on hundreds year old buildings.

Collaborative blogging during a winter storm using Posterous

2010-12-27T15:52:00.006-05:00

Sunday & Monday December 26-27, 2010

The National Weather Service predicted 12-22 inches of snow in our area beginning Sunday afternoon. By Sunday evening the amount was cut to 8-14 (which is roughly what we did accumulate by Monday afternoon). The wind was gusting, bringing down tree limbs and whistling through the siding on the house, creating huge snow drifts outside the windows. I spent my afternoon and evening launching a Posterous blog for local bloggers to track the storm in and around Worcester. http://worcesterbloggers.posterous.com/

I had been hoping for a chance to try out Posterous with a small collaborative blogging project. This storm and my free time was a perfect fit. As soon as the idea struck, I set up an account and created the site. I scanned my Google Reader for local bloggers and found a few with public email addresses. I added them to the site as contributors hoping they'd take the bait. ((NOTE: Posterous does not give site admins a means to customize an invitation to potential subscribers/contributors.)) Then I linked my first post to Facebook where I knew some key people would see it and share it with their Friends. I quickly threw together a simple How to Contribute page for the site.

About an hour later I had my first collaborator, followed quickly by a second and third, then more. People began posting photos of their homes, streets and neighborhoods. Then people began posting info from the city and the Dept of Public Works regarding traffic, plowing and cancellations, including an important trash pick-up cancellation. A water main break was reported in a neighboring town. A power outage was reported in a large neighborhood. Soon, local Twitterers began linking to the site in their tweets and page views quickly accumulated like the snow outside. I added a @Twitter page listing local Twitterers.

I stayed up until midnight tweaking the template, which required my learning their CSS formats and diving into the Posterous Developers Knowledgebase. I spent some time troubleshooting user accounts with someone who somehow ended up with 3 profiles. We also worked on issues using the iPhone Posterous app. Another user had issues with the Android app, but I was unable to help him because I had no Droid to test.

When I woke up in the morning, I logged in and found a few user complaints in my email - people who I had added as Contributors in the beginning. They said they were buried in emails and wanted out. ((NOTE: Posterous does not allow Subscribers/Collaborators without Posterous accounts to unsubscribe or manage frequency of emails. This is a major #fail.)) I did my best to diplomatically handle these issues and created a Help (FAQ) page. I also added Google Analytics to track site visits, page views and browsers.

Plowing and shoveling wasn't bad. I grabbed a short video of my hub plowing the driveway and a photo of the stairs after I shoveled and posted them. Likewise, other bloggers shared pics of their sidewalks, driveways and stairs. Posterous is so easy to use to share images and conducive to collaborative blogging by people with mobile devices. Very cool for this type of project.

It stopped snowing around 2pm on Monday afternoon. People got on with their lives. Pictures and posts kept trickling in and the site continued to record visits and views. I'll be curious to see if this project has any legs beyond this storm. We'll see if local bloggers keep using it and maybe we'll discuss it at a future #worcbloggers gathering.

New Twitter name options

2010-12-20T10:51:00.006-05:00

I'm one of those people who never thinks of the right thing to say when I need to say it. The best comment, one liner, zinger or conclusion seems to hit me after the fact. This makes choosing a new Twitter name difficult.

So far, this is all I have come up with:

@justcarriejo: carriejo is my nickname; but someone already has it in Tw, hence the 'just'
@IDCarrie: because my field is instructional technology/instructional design; and my new title is instructional designer
@clsaarinen: my first and middle initial and last name; same as my Linkedin account
@carrie_at_brown: OK, the cat is out of the bag; I am going to work at Brown University in Providence Rhode Island

You can vote in the poll or add other suggestions in the comments or tweet me. Your ideas are welcome!

I know there is a perfect name but I probably won't think of it until after I have updated everything, or even worse, it will strike me a month from now. I predict a #facepalm.

What happens when you change your Twitter name?

2010-12-17T10:46:00.005-05:00

The transition to a new job continues

I have handed off tasks at work.
I have had farewell parties and luncheons.
I have cleaned out my filing cabinets, removed wall postings and given away plants.
What's left to do is tidy up online connections (web links on department sites that drop email in my inbox) and update my profiles with a temp email until I get settled at my new edu.

PLEASE ADVISE:

My Twitter name is @carrie_at_umass. I need to change it! (Read: /2010/12/new-job-means-new-twitter-name.html) What's going to happen when I do? If you have changed your Twitter name, please let me know what happened, if anything, and what you learned. If there is something I need to do to prep my followers I'd like to get it done.

Leave your words of wisdom in the comments. Thanks!

I ♥ highered

2010-12-06T14:55:00.010-05:00

#lovehighered meme started by @MalloryWood Dec 6, 2010

@carrie_at_umass: I #lovehighered. Youthful, creative culture. Challenging, engaging discussions anytime, anywhere. Always learning. Always changing.

Worcester is home to ten colleges. (Or is it 11 now with the Mass College of Pharmacy? ) I have my fair share to pick from. And New England is super-U central anyway, with several big name schools within a 75 minute commute of where I live. I could not be luckier.

I had little exposure to college while growing up. Neither parent went to college. My older sisters and my brother didn't go to college so I never experienced the family excitement and drama associated with SAT test scores, applying to colleges, acceptance letters, packing and moving and coming home for Christmas. I never spent time on college campuses, aside from attending a few films and concerts at Clark University while I was in high school. I did spend the night in a friend's dorm room at MassArt once after seeing the Ramones play in Boston, but that was pretty much it.

After high school I was living in a mid-western college town with a vibrant music and art scene. I enjoyed all the benefits of the college town without the college debt. It wasn't until my mid-20's and moved back to Massachusetts that I decided to get a degree; it was when my brother needed a degree for a promotion and he bet me I couldn't beat his GPA (I did). I liked college so I started working in higher ed immediately after, then went on to get my master's. Grad school was an amazing experience; I loved it all (which is why I blogged about it with this blog for 2 years!). Now I'm gearing up for a career transition and the only place I've considered is higher ed. I can't imagine working in any other environment.

What I like is the easy, casual vibe of the college campus. I like the youthfulness of the general population - the 18 year olds for sure, as well as the gray haired profs in their Chuck Taylors. I like the cultural diversity. I like the cyclical change in campus atmosphere running concurrently with the seasonal calendar. I like that everyone is on a self-centered track, working to better themselves - I find it inspiring. I like the libraries. I like the lectures and seminars and campus orgs. I like that it is cool to sit under a tree and read a book (and be photographed for the school website). I like that it is cool to stay up late reading. I like the innovation and discovery. I like the ingenuity and freedom for creative interpretation. I like the community.

And I love that the higher ed community extends beyond any singular campus. I have met hundreds of people in higher ed over the last five years and had amazing conversations with them. I value my higher ed relationships - the people are interested in what I do, are supportive and fun. Likewise, they are doing interesting work, share what they know, and inspire me to try new things. Most of these folks I have met face to face only one or a few times. Some of them I have only met online. For some reason, these relationships have sticking power. Part of it may be the openness and collegial quality that makes higher ed so special.

My next blog post will discuss my pending career transition. Stay tuned!

A new job means a new Twitter name

2010-12-06T10:13:00.014-05:00

My Twitter name will have to change (carrie_at_umass) because I am leaving UMass this month and will be starting at another university in January. I have never experienced such a long and intensive career transition as this one. Never have I had two outstanding offers from two respected institutions resulting in a very difficult decision to be made.

I learned a great deal about the art of negotiation. It was an exercise in decorum, diplomacy and organizational politics. It was an entirely new experience, which left me with the conclusion that I really really REALLY need a mentor who understands my field and my interests and can help me navigate my chosen career path. (If you wish to apply to be my mentor, please let me know!)

The hardest part was deciding if I wanted to leave the niche field of academic medicine to work in the general higher ed circuit. In medical eduction I am special because there are few instructional technology professionals. I have 5+ years experience considering theories of teaching and learning as applied to the unique practices of medical school. In general higher ed, there are many people who do what I do which makes me less special. It was a tough decision to leave my unique, special and familiar pond for a big, crowded unknown pond.

I admit I have fears. Most of it is social anxiety - will they like me, will I fit in, will I like them? A lot of it is wondering about my personal comfort - new work environment, shared office space again after 1.5 years of private space and new work equipment (I will miss my elevated desk and dual monitors!).

For the most part, I am excited. I am still somewhat awestruck that I got the job offer at this major university, but it is beginning to sink in that I will be a part of it. I loved the look on my 93 year old grandfather's face when I told him about the offer; he was very impressed, and proud of me. I am looking forward to my first day, my first week, orientation, a campus tour, settling in at my new desk, listening in on co-workers conversations, getting to know my way around. (They have 3 libraries!)

I'll have a new Twitter name in January 2011. Until then, if you are wondering where I am going, we can play 20 Questions in the comments here or via Twitter or email.

Making time for social media

2010-11-19T15:00:00.007-05:00

There are many blog posts and newspaper and magazine articles in relation to common debates surrounding social media use in business and education. Some say it is a waste of time while others herald it as the most important revolution in communication since email. I have asked friends and colleagues in medical education to blog this week about their time management strategy regarding social media use. See the original call for action on the Social Media in Education blog.

Is social media a distraction?
When social media grabs my attention and pulls me away from my daily work, it’s because something interesting is happening. I’m not distracted by kitty videos and Wal-Mart shopper photos. But I am distracted when Google Calendar goes down. I see tweets and status updates about it in my network, triggering me to check my websites which display Google Calendar. I’m distracted when a hashtag I follow trends unexpectedly, such as during the Great Keynote Meltdown at #heweb09. During that ‘distraction’ I learned a great deal about the importance of audience engagement and real-time response (or lack thereof) by a presenter. If I had not been monitoring Twitter at the time, I would have missed the real time development but would have later caught the subsequent blog posts and online discussion, which included valuable assessment, professional insight and best practices.

Efficiency or overwork?
On weekend mornings I check my work email (not unusual) but I also tap into the Google Alerts I have set up to capture web mentions of the university and our medical center. If there is something interesting and timely, I’ll post it and monitor the conversation if one emerges. This type of marketing strategy is valuable – finding and reporting information that highlights your organization is a good thing. However it doesn’t need to be done a weekend and I could certainly use that time for other things, like to feed the cat, mow the lawn or do laundry. But for me, the real time web is much more fun.

Twitter: waste of time?
Friday is the worst day to visit Twitter for the first time. It is confusing enough for new users as it is, let alone on a Friday when many tweets are labeled with the popular #FF or #FollowFriday hashtags as well as oddball end-of-the-work-week commentary and discussion. On Fridays it does seem like a waste of time. Or does it? Once a user learns to navigate the Twitter waters, it is easy to find value in the seemingly nonsensical jibber jabber.

#FollowFriday is a simple way people tell other people about good Twitter users. It’s just Twitter-speak for “Hey, this guy/girl posts a lot of great information and I think you should start following them so you can learn from them like I do.” It is no different than when at a conference a respected colleague introduces you to someone s/he admires. I have been mentioned in #FF lists many times and it is a huge honor, so there is value as well as professional validation. No one is going #FF someone who tweets boring or idiotic posts, but they are likely to #FF experts in your field or area of interest. Introductions to experts; no conference registration, travel or lodging required.

General productivity and tools of the trade
It has been easy for me to start using social media tools and applications because web stuff is what I do; it’s an area I am comfortable with. That is not the case for medical professionals and educators, generally speaking. For many it may be like learning a second language and trying to use it as they learn it. It may be uncomfortable; some may make embarrassing mistakes; some may never master it. These are valid concerns that could become barriers for adoption and implementation.

I think I have a pretty fair grasp on things but there are days, or weeks, where it seems the amount of new and interesting content is completely out of control. But I don’t have to be engaged 24/7. I rely on Google Reader to keep my blog subscriptions and search alerts in check. Reader’s folder tool keeps my subscriptions organized in categories: Higher Ed, Medical Education, Technology, UMass, and Web Design. I open the UMass and Medical Education folders to find the most recent news and information when I’m working on web updates and marketing initiatives. Likewise, I hit the other folders when I need to know what’s happening in those areas. I have other folders, too, for personal interest blogs and feeds, such as local music, art and culture.

I have three Twitter accounts and I use HootSuite to manage them. I can access all three accounts, monitor the online discussions for each, add or drop followers/followees, check stats and trends, as well as participate in the conversation. HootSuite also allows me to pre-schedule tweets, which is super handy for the department Twitter account. There are similar tools (a popular competitor is TweetDeck) which allow users to do the same thing. A tool like this is helpful for advanced Twitter users, but anyone can use them to manage their account.

I keep HootSuite open during the work day. There is no one else in my department who does what I do so I use my networks to find professional advice and support. Through social media, I have hundreds of experts in my field available to answer questions or critique a project or review a new webpage. Likewise, if someone in my network needs help and I know the answer, I lend my support thus demonstrating my expertise and perhaps gaining some respect in the greater community of medical educators and higher education web professionals.

My social media time management strategy
On Monday mornings I review Google Reader for news and information about UMass. I use this information to generate tweets about our school, our programs, our medical center, etc. I also use these sources as web content for our department website. For example I might find a reference to an obscure small town newspaper that mentioned one of our community hospitals.

On Wednesdays I scan online publications I subscribe to find hot topics in medical education and biomedical science that may be of interest to our community. I tweet links to these articles, or email them to faculty, or post a link on our university’s Linkedin group. It only takes an hour or two, but often generates discussion that may lead to a new innovation or an evaluation of current practices. On Fridays I receive an automated message from Linkedin which informs me if anyone commented on the articles I have shared in our university group; I then follow up on comments and questions.

Once per month I analyze my social media strategy by checking statistics gathered in HootSuite and other tracking tools. I compare activity with our web analytics reports to see how many web visitors were referred by my tweets or other people’s tweets or blog posts. What I am looking for is a return on investment (ROI) so I can report out to my boss and others and prove that social media is not a waste of time.

To make a long story short (too late)
Social media is valuable once it is understood, used with some discretion and time is managed appropriately. My advice is to find tools to help manage the information overload before it becomes daunting. Suggest that you use the applications to learn about the applications. And keep practicing; you’ll get it.

Yes, yes, yes - Changing Education Paradigms, with Sir Ken Robinson

2010-10-27T09:19:00.000-04:00

Local blogger shares cancer stories

2010-10-26T10:29:00.005-04:00

Jeff Barnard fist came onto my radar screen a few years ago when I ran a Google search for the keyword 'Wormtown'. My husband is the person who originally coined the city's nickname so we frequently scan the net to see who is using it and in what context. Jeff has a blog called Wormtown Taxi. As you might surmise, Jeff is a taxi driver in Worcester. He is interested in the city itself, its people and its politics. His blog posts were of general interest - some great city scape photos, random tales of taxi cab riders, and commentary on City Hall happenings. Some of his most notable blog posts were in response to a city ordinance requiring people to shovel their sidewalks lest they be fined. Jeff shared many pictures of the un-shoveled walks of city councilors that winter, and gained hundreds of fans, followers and friends.

Earlier this year, Jeff was diagnosed with cancer. An openly engaging member of the local community, he shared the diagnosis on his blog and has been chronicling his misadventures with chemo, pain meds and the challenges now found in completing mundane household chores. He has continued writing about the city he loves, the politicians who run it, and the people he enjoys spending time with - whether they be family, close friends or the local bloggers who are rallying to support Jeff during his illness. Recently the podcast team behind 508 visited Jeff in his home to do an hour long episode of their local news podcast with Jeff. You can watch the video podcast on the Pie and Coffee blog

This week Jeff reached two milestones - he had a stair lift installed in his home and he received handicapped placards for his car. He also talks about the significant difference Social Security is playing, now that he is officially handicapped. Just reading it makes me choke and its hard to believe he's not choked up when he's writing it. It amazes me how gracefully some people can handle health crises. I can't imagine, if it were me, a day without massive sobbing and feeling sorry for myself. Jeff amazes me with his positive mental attitude when he writes - "It really does make a big difference, too, because we've had a long dry spell here for the last four or five months, financially. People have helped, and I've really appreciated the generosity, to be sure. But I think we've finally made it to the other side of this money rift, and I thank everyone who helped out to get us through it. Things are looking up."

The man knows how to keep things in perspective, focusing on day to day needs, being thankful for whatever help he gets, and counting his blessings. Many of us without cancer have a difficult time doing that. You can read Jeff's 'Things are looking up' blog post here.

Another important thing about what Jeff is doing - he is a patient using social media to write about his illness (reflection can be therapeutic) and share his experience (outreach) and find support for himself and his friends and family. Social media is powerful. Jeff is shut in his house most days but he can contribute to the community and connect with people with the Internet. He has a sense of purpose. He has something that is his, that he has control over, and that he finds satisfaction in doing. I think that is amazing.

Social Media in Medical Education | AAIM2010

2010-10-21T09:08:00.001-04:00

Had a great time at national conference #1 this fall. Looking forward to national conference #2 in November.

Slides from Social Media workshop for medical educators at Academic Internal Medicine Week 2010. Presenters represent 3 different universities and different roles in medical education. Please contact us for further information and re-use or for guest speaking engagements. We do birthday parties.

Social Media in Medical Education | AAIM2010

View more presentations from Carrie Saarinen.

SlideShare: Publish your presentation graphics online

2010-09-30T13:37:00.000-04:00

What is SlideShare?

SlideShare.net is a free online service that allows you to publish your presentation graphics (ie PowerPoint, Keynote) online. You can create a profile, upload presentations and associated documents, and share them publicly or privately with other SlideShare users. Your presentations can then be searched for, accessed, viewed, rated, tagged, saved, and shared by many other people. You can use SlideShare as a means to archive your presentations then include them in your website, blog or other social media profile, such as LinkedIn, to demonstrate your expertise. You can search for and find other users' presentations to view and share.

Why would I want to do that?

SlideShare is a social media tool. What that means is SlideShare.net is a place where you can find other people with similar interests (social) and see what they are creating (media). If you want to either learn about the wine industry or medical simulation, odds are you can find presentations about that subject on SlideShare.net. Finding those topics on SlideShare means you can connect with people who are interested in that subject, just like you. Reviewing their content can either inform you of something new and lead you to other resources, or remind you of your own expertise and perhaps compel you to share your knowledge via SlideShare.

By contributing your slides you demonstrate your expertise and allow other people to learn from you. Does this mean you should create brand new slides just for SlideShare? You could, but most users don't. Most users upload their slides after they have given a presentation or series of lectures. It's a way to share the slides with people who attended your lecture or seminar AND share them with people who were unable to attend.

What are the risks?

To avoid negative effects of sharing your slides publicly: Publish under your own name. Don't publish someone else's slides - publish only your own work. Practice copyright adherence in all that you create. Double-check all materials prior to publishing on SlideShare. Do not - ever! - publish confidential material. Do not publish company or institution information (ie internal information).

View my SlideShare!

After you have started an account and published a slideset or two, share it! Let people know that you published something so they can check it out. If it is a lecture you present at a national conference, email a link to your colleagues. If it is a slideset from a seminar you led, let the attendees know they can review the material online. If you create a tutorial on cooking with wine, let your friends and family know.

You can view my SlideShare profile here: http://slideshare.net/carrisaari, or check out this slideset on Plagiarism in Academic Medicine which I created for a graduate school course: http://www.slideshare.net/carrisaari/plagiarism-in-academic-medicine.

NOTE: This post also published simultaneously on the http://socialmediainmeded.blogspot.com/ blog.

Plans for 2010: UPDATE

2010-09-10T08:32:00.005-04:00

In January, I posted my Plans for 2010. Today I stumbled upon that post while searching for another post. I figured it was a good time to reflect to see what goals I have hit, and redirect as necessary to hit those I have missed.

Getting physical
In January I was bored with the treadmill routine and vowed to be more active outdoors. I started walking to the park down the street (2.3 miles) in the spring, then began the garden installations after graduation. Once the gardens were established I began weekend hiking trips with a gal pal - we've hit Mount Wachusett, Purgatory Chasm and Moore State Park as well as covered the 6 mi rail trail numerous times.

Gadgets & toys
Got a MacBookPro at work, just in time to learn Mac stuff in order to lend assistance to faculty who are now teaching the incoming class of med students who were required to have a laptop for class, and who chose Macs (>90% of the class of 2014).

The battery is dead on my personal laptop so I picked up a netbook on Woot! as a travel unit. Just in time for fall conference season! Woot, indeed.

Never did get the camper I longed for in January, but I did get to camp out in the tent a few times at Nickerson State Park in Brewster.

Social interaction
Disc golf has been fun and social. Also my weekend hikes with a friend have been social. I have hit a few more events, clubs and house parties than in recent years. Been a bit more social at work, too.

Professional development
In January, HEWEB2010 was a definite on my list. However, it's not going to happen. I submitted proposals to two national medical education conferences and was accepted for both. They happen to fall just before and just after HEWEB so traveling to a 3rd conf in October just isn't going to happen, even though HEWEB is the coolest high ed conf on the planet. Attending is just as important as presenting, so I will be hitting the #140conf in Boston in September as well as a regional seminar series sponsored by the university system that employs me. I have also requested admission to a Sloan-C mini-course on social networks for learning which runs during the fall semester this year.

I have pretty much eliminated the idea of a PhD or EdD. I would be more likely to get a second master's at this point or a CAGS. I'm still not sure which route I want to take - instructional design and technology, content management and marketing, or teaching and research. I don't feel pressure to decide. When it's right, I'll know it.

Goal setting, for work
The social media seminar series was great. I worked with the campus library team and developed a 4-part seminar series which was well received, well attended and well evaluated. Over the summer we began developing sessions for both the fall and spring terms this academic year. However, I lost the library co-sponsorship and since then I have been floundering, not sure I can commit to manage it all on my own. I'm not surprised that I put it aside - in January I actually predicted there not being 'room for growth' in academic medicine, and by that I meant academic medicine is not supportive of the new technologies I am ready to explore. I wondered then, in my January post, if I could commit to 3-5 years here, an optimistic prediction that in that time, the university would awaken to the concepts of social media and mobile technologies and incorporate them into their academic and business practices. I find that I can't hold my breath and wait that 3-5 years, and even if I did, it would be naive of me to think they would choose me to lead the efforts. There are other opportunities out there - I would be a fool to ignore them.

Goal setting, for home
I have done a great deal on the home front. Installed an 8x16' raised garden and have grown cucumbers, tomatoes, pumpkins, beans and peas. Have installed more flower beds and have grown perennials both from seeds and from starter plants I've gathered from friends. I built a 2-bin compost unit. We installed a new mailbox, a gift for my hub from his daughter on Father's Day, and added some garden mums around it. Never did get to the shrubs, but then there are still a few weeks to do that before frost season begins.

How did you do on your goals this year?

Pumpkin update

2010-08-12T07:05:00.003-04:00

Until my brain and I return from our annual August camping trip and write a real blog post, here is a pumpkin growing contest update. The contest manager says I am in the lead.

Aug 10

Aug 3

July 26

Great Pumpkin 2010

2010-07-20T14:06:00.003-04:00

Now that grad school is done and I have FREE TIME! again, gardening is a priority. The fresh air, the dirt, the sunshine, the pleasure found in growing things from seeds. I am living it.

A group of us are engaged in a pumpkin growing content. We all shared in the seeds of a gigantic pumpkin from last year's harvest. We each took 3 seeds. Here's mine so far (top to bottom: 7/19, 7/13, 7/4, 6/15)

Why I Love HootSuite Today

2010-07-14T12:25:00.001-04:00

I recently posted my 2,008th Tweet. I marked it as a special occasion because I started using Twitter in 2008. Of course there was a typo in that special tweet so the following post was simply #facepalm.

But I do love Twitter. It has been 2+ years of thousands of 140 character or less updates that have led to great working relationships with higher ed people (tweeple) around the world. And one of the reasons why my experience has been so good is because of HootSuite.

In the video below I proclaim my love of HootSuite and in particular, the 'show conversation' tool. There will be more of these screencasts. Stay tuned.

Caution: lack of blog posts

2010-06-15T21:27:00.001-04:00

Gone to the beach. Back soon.

Summertime blues. For real?

2010-06-01T20:34:00.004-04:00

Two weeks after graduation and I MISS SCHOOL. I miss the mental stimulation. I miss the collaboration, the discussions, the debates. I miss someone giving me a list of reading and a few thought provoking questions to ponder.

Actually I have been missing all that for several months. My last semester was finishing up my research project and writing my paper. I haven't had a real class since last fall. Oh, I do miss it. Yes, dork, loser, whatever. But I like - I mean REALLY LIKE - developing new ideas and studying theory and debating principles and applications.

My best guess is that I'll end up back in school within a year.

with highest honors

2010-05-23T14:38:00.001-04:00

May 20, 2010

It was a beautiful summer-like day. After the 1.5 hour drive, Hub and I stopped for lunch at a harborside restaurant before heading to campus. The ceremony was just for the graduate schools so the audience was fairly small although there were hundreds of graduates. The auditorium was overly warm and everyone was wishing the event had been scheduled outside. People were restless through the commencement address given by Sara-Lightfoot Lawrence whose speech was unnecessarily depressing, a litany of the atrocities committed by the human race in the last 60 years, from racism, to genocide to 'priests raping our children'. Not ceremonious, nor inspiring. Finally the graduates were called forth to receive their degrees. After we filed outside to find...nothing. Budget cuts eliminated the traditional champagne toast and chocolate covered strawberries. Hub and I left and headed for the brewery where we had a feast and cooled off in the AC before driving home.

The next day I completely crashed. I was wiped out - physically and emotionally drained from the last 2.5 years of hard work and study and the final weeks of anxiety and elation.

Graduation is the day after tomorrow

2010-05-18T14:33:00.004-04:00

And I haven't got a thing to write about!

Been busting hump on finishing the graduate assistantship project that has plagued me, er, that I have been working on since last fall.

Been busting out ideas for continuing the social media seminar series in the fall. I actually have enough material to do a semester long course so if any of you higher ed peeps out there need a PT or temp faculty, let me know!

Oh, and I have gotten in a few rounds of disc golf, so that's a good thing, too. And I have seedlings growing in the back yard. My 2nd attempt at getting some blooming perennials into the yard; last years seedlings did not take. And its been warm enough and not raining in the evenings so I get to walk outside after dinner. Nice.

And Here Is How I Work…Everyone else is blogging about it so why can't I?

2010-05-11T15:26:00.003-04:00

Bloggers this week are posting answers to a few work related questions. I'll jump on that since all I seem to do is work.

1. How many days do you work per week?
I work 5 but more often than not I am logging in to check work email and rid my inbox of simple random tasks that could really ruin my Monday morning. Sometimes it is just adding an event to the web calendar, or replying to a simple question. I spend 30 -60 min over the course of the weekend doing that. If I have something due Monday I'll work on it over the weekend to be sure it is ready and done correctly. Last weekend I spent about 5 hours working on lecture materials for a talk I was giving.

2. How many hours do you work, in total, every week?
50-60, depending on what's happening. In higher ed everything goes in cycles - recruitment, orientation, training, exam prep, exams, break, training, exam prep, exams. In medical education the cycles are shorter, vary from academic year to year, and run July 1- June 30 so there are no breaks. I like my work. I am happy with work so I don't mind. When I start to feel burned out I cut it back by taking on fewer projects. I am lucky to have a great deal of autonomy where most of the time I can pick and choose projects.

3. Do you have a fixed work routine? How does it look like?
Email and phone message come first. Anything that can be handled quickly gets done immediately. Anything that is fun or interesting gets done second. Anything dreadful or dull gets done last.

I take care of routine web updates on Mondays (news, events) and manage the list-serv tool (adds, drops, stats). I get into major web creation and renovation on Tuesdays. Wednesdays I use for scheduling meetings and consultations, so I get to spend the middle of the week out & about, meeting with people in different places on campus. Thursday is project day - working on pieces of whatever projects I have going. Friday is 'Photoshop Friday'. I save any graphic design stuff (banners, buttons, templates) or digital imaging work (scanning EKGs, manipulating clinical images) for Fridays.

4. How many times per year do you take vacations, and how long are they?
In June I go to the beach for a week - I go without any technical stuff. I go with my beach chair and a stack of books. In August I do the same but camping instead of the beach. I take a few days off between Christmas and New Years, too. I schedule a few long weekends here and there to do gardening or to do nothing at all.

I consider my conference attendance as vacation, too. I try to hit one national and one regional higher ed or med ed conference each year. The national ones are 3-4 nights away from home. This year it'll be San Antonio TX. Regional ones are day trips.

5. How many hours per day do you spend on email?
I'm in email all day. Since I work in web tech, people are always emailing stuff to me - Can you put this on our web page? Can you add this to the web calendar? It is a steady stream of such requests. I don't let them pile up since I'm logged in most of the time anyway.

6. When you are not working, what are you doing?
The last two years have been grad school. I look forward to being done and having real free time again and lots of it! I have plans for landscaping the front yard. I'd like to paint the shed and finish staining the woodwork in the kitchen and living room. I'd like to improve my disc golf game. I might get a bicycle.

If you write a blog, answer the same questions to continue the meme.

View the source of this meme here: http://www.dailyblogtips.com/interview-12-top-online-entrepreneurs-share-how-hard-they-work/ , Daniel Stucco on DailyBlogTops.com.

Cap. Check. Gown. Check.

2010-05-07T07:10:00.000-04:00

The photo is crappy but you get the point.

GRADUATION IS MAY 20th!

Create a fun staff development day activity

2010-04-23T08:51:00.009-04:00

Today I caught this random tweet and it brought in a memory from about 8 years ago when I worked at a residential facility for at risk youth. I caught myself smiling immediately, remembering planning a fantastic staff development day. In this tweet, a teacher reflects on a young student activity using a camera to complete tasks on a scavenger hunt. She adds that the photos were really good. I remembered how much fun my teams had and how impressed my boss was with the result. I want to share the project in more detail than Andrea was able to in her tweet. It can be adapted for many different things and is really a fun and engaging large-to-small group activity for team building, training and program development. Can be done with any age group of students or adult learners, or staff and faculty.

Background & Purpose: The facility where I worked was a Job Corps center. Kids, aged 16-24, lived there 7/days/week. They had educational and vocational activities during the weekdays, and recreation and residential activities at night and on weekends. The day staff and night and weekend staff were very different, obviously having very different goals and responsibilities. Because of the 24/7 operation with 3 different shifts, often the evening and weekend staff did not know the edu and voc staff nor had they ever been in the classrooms or shops while students were in class. My plan was two-fold: to introduce the night and weekend staff to the day staff and also let them see their kids at work so they could get a better sense of the day program.

Method: I split my team of residential advisers (RAs) and recreation staff (Rec Aids) into small groups of 6 or 8. Each group was given a Polaroid camera and 2 packs of film and the scavenger hunt task list. The task list included things such as "Go to the Masonry Trade facility. Find the trade instructor and the student foreman. Take a group photo with them in front of the cinder block pile.", and "Go to Culinary Arts. Put on aprons, chef hats and rubber gloves. Pose for a group photo with oldest and youngest culinary students." and "Go to Ms Murray's math class. Sit at the student desks to pose for a 'class' picture."

These types of varied activities required that they interact with the students and instructors at each site and not just 'drive by' to look around. Of course the day staff all knew what was happening so they could plan accordingly, but we kept the students in the dark. The students LOVED IT because they were pleasantly surprised to see their RAs and Rec Aids visit the shops and classrooms. The had a really good time showing off their work and projects and introducing teachers to their dorm staff. Many of our kids had broken homes or were foster kids and their RAs were sort of surrogate parents on some level, so this type of teacher-'parent' day was very moving and inspiring for them.

When the small groups were finished with their scavenger list, they were all to come back to the training room to finish the exercise. I had drinks and snacks brought in so they could have some refreshment. Each group was given a large poster board, glue, tape, and markers. They sat in groups to review their photos and create a poster board to share during 'brief-out' with the large group. On the poster, they were instructed to write what they learned about each place they visited. This ensured the group discussed their experience together, by talking about the program, what their students did during the day, the instructors they met, and the campus locations they rarely got to see.

Wrap-up: The small groups briefed-out to the larger group, by sharing the things that impressed them or surprised them most. In some cases, staff reported being surprised to learn that a notoriously disruptive kid in the dorms at night was actually very good and hardworking in trade class, or that a very shy student was a reading class tutor. These insights helped night and weekend staff understand that maybe some kids were bored outside of class or that they simply hadn't been recognized for their strengths and abilities. Some staff were pleased to know that instructors knew their names because students had spoken highly of them at some point. Small groups hung posters on the wall for the rest of the day and people enjoyed looking at all the photos. The teams had gotten very creative with their group poses!

My boss was pleased with the outcome of this event. It did improve communications between day staff and night staff. It helped all staff feel more welcome to communicate because the name/face connection was made. And it improved student/staff relationships. Students who do well in trade were proud to show off to their RAs and students who needed extra help were identified and started receiving it.

Reflection: One of the reasons I wanted to get my master's degree in education is so that I can have a more important role as a facilitator, leader and program developer. I don't know where this road will take me. I am excited to discover the possibilities. My ability to plan engaging staff development activities is an asset. Now, how do I market that and create opportunities to use it?

Huzzah! I feel validated!

2010-04-16T06:43:00.003-04:00

This morning over coffee and Rice Chex, I checked my email and found this message,

Hi carrisaari,

Your presentation Social Media Seminar 3: Google, beyond the rainbow is currently being featured on the SlideShare homepage by our editorial team.

We thank you for this terrific presentation, that has been chosen from amongst the thousands that are uploaded to SlideShare everday.

P.S - Why not blog/twitter this and let the world know about this awesome masterpiece you have created?

Oh, hell yeah. Need validation for work? Uh, our school logo is being seen by a thousand or more people today. Hell yeah!

Social Media Seminar 3: Google, beyond the rainbow

View more presentations from Carrie Saarinen.

Overdue for a blog post

2010-04-14T06:46:00.006-04:00

The run down, real quick as there are just 13 minutes left until I need to get ready for work.

1. The social media seminar series I launched at work is going great. Good turnout for all sessions. I am learning a great deal about teaching - real teaching. I have so work to do to master the skills - staying on time, on topic during the course of a 1.5 lecture is a challenge for me. I can talk web stuff for hours so I get carried away. We have one session left and then I have 2 goals: 1) secure funding to continue the series next year and 2) leverage the experience to land a PT teaching gig at a college somewhere.

2. Home is good. Have done some yard work since we had a few weeks of unseasonably warm weather. Feels so good to be outside in the sunshine everything smells good and looks good and the birdies are chirping. Love this time of year. I remembered to put up the little green wire fence around the garden this year so no one (deer, rabbit, woodchuck) has eaten my daffodils and tulips. I have yet to increase my physical activity (one of my goals for 2010) but walk 3mi/day, 5 days/week. I have friends training to do a 5k walk and I realized that I do a 5k 5/days a week. I definitely need to move up to something more challenging. Hub is doing OK; still out of work, but OK. We are counting down days until we head to the beach for a week. This year our 1st summer vacation week falls shortly after graduation so I am extra doubly excited.

3. GRADUATION! May 20th I am officially done school and have earned a master's degree in education. I have been diligent with my ePortfolio. I have made progress on my research project. I am feeling good energized and completely fulfilled. I am just happy. I have a boatload of work to do between now and then. An MD at work the other mentioned Steven Covey's Important/Urgent metric while we discussed prioritizing web updates for his division site. So I printed it out and have it taped to the monitors at home and at work. I need it right now as I finish up my two semester long research project. Maybe after grad school that last item in the 4th quadrant won't seem so impossible.

ePortfolios 3

2010-03-31T21:30:00.008-04:00

Ok, so after considering all my options and even looking at new-to-me tools like Posterous and Weebly, I decided to go with good ol' Google Sites for my ePortfolio.
So far I am having fun building it. Its definitely more functional than Epsilen. I am building pages to showcase all my social networks - LinkedIn, SlideShare, Google Reader, Delicious, YouTube, so far and there will be much much more. A hidden objective is to use it to land a part time teaching gig in the fall. Holler at me if you want a sneak peek!

Below, a table of options as requested by a reader. ((Scroll way down - sorry for the gap - I have tried tweaking the template CSS but can't seem to get the table to fall correctly in this post.))

	Epsilen	Blog	Wiki
Text	Fill in the boxes	Posting	Pages, with various layouts nad variety of design options for color, height& width
Images	Yes; upload/insert standard formats	Yes; upload/insert standard formats or embed from web	Yes; upload/insert standard formats or embed from web
Attachments	Yes; standard formats or via link to pre-pub	No. Link to prepublished document; linking out to Google Docs works fine	Yes; standard formats or link out to pre-pub docs
SlideShare	Link to site	Link out and/or embed	Link out and/or embed
Video	Link out and/or embed	Link out and/or embed	Link out and/or embed
Feedback	Allowed for authorized users	General blog comment tool with options	Comments section can be toggeled on or off for each page; login may be needed to add comments (depends on platform and privacy settings)
User interface	Traditional layout with traditional left nav	Reverse chronological posting with comments. Modules/widgets depend on platform, template and layout options Nav based on posting date, or tags	Functions like a website. Variety of nav options - top, left, right, bottom and combined. Customizable nav options, modules and widgets; tables of content can be added to any page for subpage nav.
Template	Color options only	Variety depends on platform and your knowledge of CSS and HTML	Variety depends on platform and your knowledge of CSS and HTML
Layout	No variations	Single 2- or 3- column options. Variety depends on platform and your knowledge of CSS and HTML	Variety depends on platform and your knowledge of CSS and HTML
Accessibility	Open (Public) or access key required. Access key prompts for content sections	Open (public) or private.	Open (public), private (login required to view); or combined (read-only; login required to add comments)

eportfolios, part 2

2010-03-17T08:47:00.002-04:00

Me to colleague on sister campus, via our campus technology Google Group:

AK,

Neither (grad school) nor (work) had an eportfolio platform. (Work) was promised eportfolios via Blackboard years ago (I'm sure you remember) but it never came to fruition. So, on my own, I started exploring tools with RCampus and Epsilen. Epsilen won out because of cleaner appearance and simpler UI. Note - I have web dev background so it was easy to figure out modules and folder structures, adding files and managing links - a 'normal person' might be stumped without formal training in either environment.

Flash FWD 2.5 years and now it's time to finalize my eportfolio for submission. Most students in my grad program submit a CD-R with files on it. Boring! And hello, this is a teaching w/technology program - let's use web resources, people! I return to Epsilen to start updating. I see changes such as there are more templates to personalize it, but it's still not robust enough for my liking. It's online storage, essentially. So I am considering building an eportfolio in a wiki, so I can create pages and embed my slidedecks from SlideShare and my tutorials from YouTube. Neat, hunh?

But then I learn from a member of my PLN that her grad school rejected her online eportfolio because it was too complicated. So she had to go back to standard document files on a CD-R. She was disappointed and annoyed, as you can imagine, because what she built was dynamic and engaging - the panel simply didn't bother to take a few minutes to explore; they obviously just wanted a list of files they could check off. So this makes me take into consideration people who will be viewing my eportfolio. I like building and I may be able to use it in the future, so a wiki portfolio would be cool. And maybe I'll put it all on a CD-R, just in case.

-Carrie

Sometimes people say exactly what you need to hear when you need to hear it

2010-03-09T16:46:00.007-05:00

Here's a snippet from a conversation I had with a faculty member today. Note, this conversation was a text-message conversation. She is the only faculty member who I converse with this way. I think it is useful, powerful and easy to do - we actually get a lot of stuff done via text-chat.

We were talking about adding Twitter or Polleverywhere or something like that to an upcoming 1/2 day student event. We were talking about the faculty involved and their level of tech. We talked about the event and what the agenda is looking like so far. Then we talked about the audience and where they are at right now (med students have it rough, this group of students in particular). This is the summary of our text chat late this afternoon as I started to wrap things up and get ready to hit the treadmill.

I had had a difficult morning having to 'go there' with a colleague. I felt stressed, emotional and pinned down most of the day because of that morning encounter. Having an intelligent, productive conversation with this faculty helped to shake off that 'icky' feeling from this morning, but what she said in closing really made me smile. Sometimes people say exactly what you need to hear when you need to hear it. My treadmill won't get such a beating now.

me: don't like the ads. don't see a mobile app for it. never mind... : (
might work for the (project) though, if we ever needed an online chat room.

suzanakm: yup.. might work there... :)

me: At any rate, could talk more about the (student event) and adding a tech piece to it. But i dare repeat: know your audience. They are tired (student group), at this stage in the AY most of 'em are just wanting to get their rotations over with and move into 4th year and start applying for residency. If you can engage them somehow so the day is fun that's good, but the fun should support the learning objective first & foremost.

suzanakm: ok.. That makes sense. Keep it simple, focus on the learning objectives, pick tech that can enhance and avoid that which can distract - and don't overuse. Does that summarize it?

me: you got it, suzanakm!

suzanakm: btw - EVERYONE loves you at UMMS!

me: LOL....thanks. i needed to hear that today.

suzanakm: all I need to say is "Ca..." and I am interrupted with fabulous, positive words and sentences about you. I ask, You are speaking of (carrie@umass), aren't you? They nod enthusiastically. :)

me: LOL... : )

Quickie End of February Post

2010-02-28T20:13:00.006-05:00

February was filled with head colds, flu-like symptoms and trips to the MD with hub. We had plenty of snow and opportunities to shovel. There were shows to hit and bands to see. A few run-ins with family members here and there but no major drama like we had in January when my nephew died unexpectedly.

In prep for writing final reasearch paper for school, I have been reading Groundswell. Excellent book! Great big ideas in simple language to help relate info to non-social media types. I think reading more stuff like this will help me push my social media initiative forward at work - what I lack is the ability to convey what I'm doing in a way that non-users can understand. Its simply a matter of learning to translate my native social media language to that of the powers that be. On deck after Groundswell is Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody.

Got some projects in development and am working with MDs from Washington DC and Chicago to develop conference workshop proposals. Conference acceptance might mean trips to Washington DC, San Antonio TX and Cincinnati OH in the fall. I have been wanting to hit Capitol Hill as an adult (only trip there I was 13 and soooooo not interested in history) and bring hub along. I think he'd really dig the Smithsonian museums, so I am hoping my work group and I get accepted for the DC conference. When I first heard about HEWEB2010 I was thinking Cleaveland not Cincinnati - so I'm a little bummed that I couldn't hit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on that one, but maybe a trip to WKRP would be cool, too.

Considering putting in an application to speak at commencement. The apps are due March 8th so that's not much time. Do I need the additional stress? No. Would it be fun? Maybe. Is it something that goes on my CV? Not likely. Do I like standing in front of people to talk? Yep. We'll see how my week goes. I'll jot down some ideas and see if anything gels.

Tomorrow is March 1st. I look forward to doing some brush burning. I look forward to warm sunshine in the afternoon. I look forward to robins in the yard, crocuses poking up in the garden, and deer eating the daffodil and tulip buds (must remember to put the garden fence up early this year!).

New stuff I learned about and got to play with included GoingOn.com, a social learning platform, and Google Buzz, respectively. Very excited about GoingOn.com. Shot some emails back and forth with one of the project leaders after attending a virtual meeting on the subject. The concept is dead-on with my grad thesis. I will be looking for opportunities to learn more, do more in respect to social learning environments and platforms. Google Buzz was sort of fun to play with, but more interesting was watching the media buzz on it - the entry, the fallout, the subsequent backpeddling. I think Google knew exactly what they were doing and intentionally side-stepped user preferences (they made it opt-out instead of opt-in) because of what they learned with their less than stellar release of pre-beta Wave. Google got much more useful info via user complaints about Buzz than they did user feedback about Wave.

So that's the haps, my friends!

eportfolios

2010-02-08T13:00:00.007-05:00

A cosmic occurrence in my PLN this morning. My email delivered an invite to a campus tech users meeting at the end of Feb on ePortfolios. Then I got an email in my regular email from grad school detailing eportfolio requirements for graduation with a link to Chalk & Wire.

Because I didn't know we had Chalk & Wire at grad school, I have been building an eportfolio on my own. I have tried several platforms - rCampus and Epsilen have decent packages, although I do like opportunities that exist in free-form atmospheres like wikis and blogs.

At any rate, so these emails come to me this week and then as I catch up on Twitter and Google reader to find that @sarahstewart has blogged about a preso on eportfolios. So I check out the SlideShare she linked to and find it to be useful and informative info. It also helps to review the basics as I finish up building my own portfolio, and it ties into my social media initiative and our campus need for eportfolios. Cool, I think.

It is interesting that (according to the work event invite) the people who will present their eportfolio project chose Adobe Acrobat Pro as the format. I wonder how long they have been working on this project and I wonder why they made the decision they did. I also wonder if they are sharing the portfolios via Adobe server. If so, does that mean we have a functioning Adobe server and someone that can manage it? Important questions, I assure you, and the answers could be helpful to many of us looking for an internal mechanism to share forms and collect form data.

I know that the Acrobat Pro portfolio tool does offer some neat and easy to use tools for formatting, layout and color scheme. It is also fairly easy to slurp a folder of Word Documents into the portfolio without having to convert each individual file. That's cool. But I wonder about delivery of the portfolio, or sharability. Acrobat does have easy tools to make things look pretty whereas with a web option like a blog or wiki you have to a now a little bit about web publishing (although there are some platforms that are simple to use). I just think about who the portfolios are for. Why build a portfolio that only you and your teacher sees? You both have already seen your work.

Having to email the portfolio as a file requires that you make a decision about who is going to see it, and/or hope that someone asks you if you have a portfolio to share and provides you with their email address. If your portfolio is online, it may be discovered when someone Googles you; it could be a link on your Facebook, LinkedIn or Blogger profile. Why email an Adobe folder when instead you could include a link to a website in your email signature? Your portfolio is supposed to be exemplary work that you are proud to share as proof of your ability and knowledge and skill. Share it! You worked hard. Show it off!

Even though my grad school did not provide guidelines or platform for online eportfolios last year when I began building, I am happy to see they have ventured that way.

Below, what Sarah shared on her blog (org slide source: Helen Barrett).

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Co10 Feb10

View more presentations from Helen Barrett.

Plans for 2010

2010-01-16T16:46:00.008-05:00

It's 2 weeks into the new year and I'm still seeing fellow bloggers publishing their to-do lists for 2010. I am a planner by nature and my 5-year plan only took 2.5 years so I'm behind the 8-ball. I definitely have that, 'OK, now what?" feeling and it is causing me to procrastinate work on my final project for school, simply because I don't know what I'll be doing when I am done.

WebWorkerDaily contributors (a new favorite blog in my Google Reader) have been posting their plans for 2010 and today's post by Nancy Nally's is what inspired me to write mine. I appreciate her post, as well as Simon Mackie's, where they set simple goals to improve their quality of life, professionally and personally. I think that is what is about - improving quality of life. It's not about changing who you are/I am because there is nothing wrong with you/me. It's about taking steps, moving forward and growing. So, here we go.

Getting physical
I'm starting 2010 more physically fit than I started 2009. My daily 3-mile walk on the treadmill plus getting an elevated workstation at work has helped tremendously. I feel less tired at the end of the week. My posture has improved. I simply feel better. The human body is just not meant to sit at a computer desk for 8 hours a day.

This year I'd like to spend more time outside - walking outside for sure, once spring arrives - and spending more time in the yard and less time in front of the computer. The vitamin D and fresh air will do me good, and the bending, squatting and stretching of working in the yard won't hurt either.

Gadgets & toys
For work I want a Macbook. I have already gotten a price from our campus vendor. Just need approval. Sweet.

Last year we looked into getting a camping trailer. If we get the axle on the Jeep fixed, maybe we'd have something to tow one with. So maybe we'll get back to looking at campers.

Social interaction
I'd like to try to add disc golf to my routine. I've played before but never regularly. I'd like to get in with some people who play weekly, who can teach me to play and who are cool to hang out with. If I could play every weekend, that would be awesome. OK, at least twice per month. The point is to do something fun, outside, with cool people.

Professional development
Must. Hit. HEWEB 2010. I love conferences and HEWEB (High Ed Web Association) is one of the best in the country. I must also find a conference to present something on academic medicine, perhaps something on social media use for professional learning networks.

I discussed PhD pursuits with a colleague at work. She is in her 3rd year. Since I cannot financially commit to a program at this time, she suggested I do find a program that interests me, contact the program director and see about taking a few of the required courses. It would help me stay focused on prof dev and it would knock out some credits toward a PhD if I do decide next year to go for it. I think that sounds OK. So the hunt is back on for a program.

Goal setting, for work
I must think about where I am professionally and envision where I'd like to be in five years. Its about creating a need and then filling it. Part of that is committing to staying where I am for another 3-5 years, which is significant commitment. I worry that there isn't enough room for growth in academic medicine. But then again, as I just mentioned, it is about creating a need and then filling it. Can I create a need for myself where I work?

Goal setting, for home
Dammit, this year I am tackling the front yard. Flowerbeds, shrubs, maybe decorative split rail fencing. This is the year. Got to get me a rototiller. Dig up some wild shrubs from the back yard and put them out alongside the steps to the front porch. Put in perennials on either side of the walkway and install a new mailbox.

Do you set annual goals for yourself? How does goal setting affect our self-esteem? our mental health?

Imagine

2010-01-02T09:34:00.002-05:00

On New Year's Eve, when someone asked me if I made any resolutions for 2010, I replied no, I am more of a five year plan kind of girl.
The five year plan I made at age 35 took less time to complete than I expected so here I am 2.5 years later needing to set some goals.
I have pretty much ruled out pursuing a doctorate. I simply cannot afford to do it. Not right now anyway, not in this economy with my husband out of work. I did get excited when I read about Harvard's new PhD program in education and my brain was happy to imagine me having a PhD from Harvard hanging on my wall. Imagine.

Although there have been some frustrating moments at work in recent months, it has not been unbearable. Am I getting itchy to do something new? Yes, I cannot deny that. Sometimes I feel like I am driving in the far left lane and people at work are in the middle and right lanes. I'm not driving crazy fast, but am moving a little faster than the pack. This happened at GJCC, too. I have the same feeling I had there about a year before I left that job for the university gig. I have no plan other than to be open to new opportunities.
The need for a salary increase may become more significant in the new year if no work options for spouse materialize when his unemployment runs out. Other than him I have so many friends and relatives who have been in dire straits for that last one or two years. There could be no better thing than to see a significant improvement in the job market this year. I would love to see my hub and many friends go back to work this year. What a sigh of relief it would be if the unemployment rate dropped significantly. Imagine.

Counting down the months until summer vacation at the beach. That 2nd week of June on the Cape has become an important touchstone for me, for us. I look forward to it a great deal. 6 months and 1 week from today we will be packing the truck and driving down to Pretty Penny, our little rental on the dunes, the sun sparkling on the heads of the little seals in the water as the waves move in and away from the beach. Imagine.

SANTA!!!!!

2009-12-23T06:58:00.002-05:00

I love Christmastime. I do. I love the lights and little Santas, gnomes and snowmen I put all over the house. I love setting up the tree and making new ornaments. I love settling in to watch Christmas movies on TV. I love sleeping, one night at least, on the couch by the tree like I did when I was a kid until my mom got me my own tree for my bedroom.

This year we're doing our Christmas Eve Open House. Last year was a lot of fun and I was surprised to have as many quests as we did. I hope we have a good turnout again. I fear the 'sophomore slump' may come into play for our 2nd go around with this new annual event. I keep trying to think of more people to invite as insurance that all the ziti & meatballs will be eaten. Then again, it would suck to walk into the living room, look around at people I either don't know or don't like, and have my first thought be, 'Who the hell invited you?'

I have decided to use vacation all next week so I can gave 11 days away from the office. I am even bringing back my work laptop today and will stow it away there so as to be too tempted to VPN in my work computer and chip away at things next week. I need the mental break. I need to read, to nap, to indulge in selfish little things like visit friends, play Scrabble, and go to movies. Oh, quite right. All the Oscar contenders are coming out now. Nice!

Merry merry Christmas to all of you in Blogland and my other social networks!

In a nutshell what has been happening with school, work, home

2009-11-27T15:35:00.004-05:00

Winding down the program, feeling tired. The time change and amplified work load causing me to feel like I only have 19.5 hours in a day and not a full 24. Not sure what happened to what little free time I had - for you know, eating lunch and paying bills - but I am definitely working more than ever before.

What's been happening in the last 6 weeks since my last blog post? Let's see if I can get my brain to untangle and present it in a way that makes sense to those of you who live outside my head.

In my last post, I was a bit frustrated with something happening at work; school was well, normally as abnormal as it gets; and home was stable. Let's catch up:

Home is still stable.

All is well. Celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday with hub at my brother's house. The turkey was actually good this year although the stuffing was soupy. My brother opted to become angry with and embarrass his wife instead of hollering at his kids and making them cry. My dad's girlfriend had laryngitis and was relatively quiet. My cousin is separated from his wife so they weren't together which means they weren't arguing, although he looked miserable without her. My hub and I had a decent time and came home to unwind, have a beer or two, and watch old Steve McQueen movies.

I am looking forward to the Christmas season- it's my favorite. I like the tree and other household decorations, the music, the movies and the general excitement. It will be a lean Christmas this year. With hub out of work and my student loans looming in 2010 I need to keep my cash in the bank. But you know what?, it doesn't matter. I can't think of anything I need or want. It has been a good year - other than hub's layoff and broken toe - I have everything that makes me happy.

School is OK.

The graduate assistantship isn't moving along at any significant pace. I made some headway, created a new CSS for the portal pages and sent out a sample for review. A week went by and I heard nothing, so I pinged the project leader. He said he'd get back to me. He hasn't. And that was weeks ago. I'm not stressing out over it. It's his project - he hired me - he should be the one on top of it. If he's not worried, I'm not worried. If we don't renew in the spring, nothing lost on my end.

Classes are winding down. In the one regular class I have, the assignments have been moderately interesting and the class discussions have been OK. There are two people that I have have started working with outside of class, via Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn, so that's cool.

My other class is a graduate research project that I have tied in with work. I have been staying late at work to meet with faculty collaborators and doing a lot of late evenings building, designing, reading. It's coming along nicely. My faculty partner has a lot more to do on her end to launch the program so I am trying to help as much as I can.

I did attend the graduate honors program a few weeks ago. It was nice to see and chat with the dean and the chancellor again. It's good to have that face to face connection. I won't feel like a loser when I go up to get my diploma because I know they know who I am. All in all, the honors program is fantastic and I am happy to have been one of the students at the ceremony. I really like my school and I am happy I chose it.

Work is crazy, in a good way.

I have moved into a private office which is fabulous. The first day I had a webinar and it was awesome to be able to use the computer speakers and lapel mic instead of having to use a headset for an hour long session. I love having a door I can close when I'm on a phone call and there are people out in the hall. (hospital, school = always people in the hall).

My social media initiative is starting to bear fruit. I have secured some interested parties and we are working together. We have an 'Intro to Social Media' session scheduled for Dec and are talking about next steps. I have also been instigating discussions on LinkedIn and I have noticed more people joining campus-related groups and making connections with other campus dwellers. It is neat to watch it develop a little bit. Will these folks remain active or become more active in the network? I do not know. Time will tell. But the coolest thing is the Twitter stuff.

I set up a departmental Twitter account in April this year. I started adding random bits of info from our events listings and publications and grant news and before I knew it, and I wasn't even advertising the account, we had 100 followers. Note, these followers weren't people at our institution but people in the industry (med ed). So then I added 'Follow us on Twitter' to my email signature, to the footer of our department list-serv mailings, and on our department home page. Our followers continued to increase yet still none from our institution. Once we hit 200 followers I started tracking more closely via HootSuite. I was able to get a better picture of our follower activity. I also started tracking adds/drops. I searched for and found more med ed community people to connect with by following conference tags during the summer and fall.

We are now over 425 followers strong. I also track our website hits - in the top 25, #19 is Facebook and #21 is Twitter. I think that is amazing. In only a few months social media sites are ranking as referrers to our dept homepage. Very cool.

So what's next?

Finish up this class. Wrap up Phase-I of my grad research project. Get ready for Phase-II, which is the only 'class' I have in the winter/spring term. Get ready for graduation in May 2010. Get ready for the graduation party in May 2010. Keep on trucking at work. Keep the homefires burning at home.

It has been a good year.

oh my god oh my god oh my god, my head is going to explode.

2009-10-14T21:47:00.004-04:00

i
am
so
over
whelmed.

Right now i just have too many things going on. It is crazy time.

1) work is nuts. good, but nuts. i think i could keep it all under control but there is this one little thing nagging at me. see, a few months ago i put a shout-out to the powers that be about starting some sort of social media initiative. i was just looking for the thumbs-up to go ahead and start playing to see what happens. but instead of a green light i get a bunch of random emails and phone calls and end up setting up a meeting. a meeting! it was an OK meeting but it seems like the powers that be had other conversations about the topic without me and i had no idea what they were talking about. so at the second meeting i went in there thinking it was out of my hands, it was going to be a bureaucratic nightmare...and it was. but by the end of the meeting we had drafted 6 'sessions' to 'introduce social media' to the campus community. great. BUT then, a week later, they are saying no, that's not what the plan is. so now I'm all confused and a little pissed off because i didn't want meetings and 'introductory sessions' to begin with. ugh. all i wanted was a green light to set up a coffee & cookie thing with whoever wanted to talk about social media for campus stuff. they turned it into a formal 'training/staff development' series and then turn around and say no to their own concept. ugh! double ugh!

2) school is crazy. i have one class with a really nice professor but the Blackboard section is a nightmare. i have no idea what i am supposed to be learning. i just looked at our final project assignment and it looks like something i did last AY so....uh, yeah. I do have a good prof for my grad project mentor. had a good meeting with him last month. working on a project draft now...med school is tough. i don't have a dedicated audience to 'play' with. it is leading me to think maybe traditional edu would be better for me. without a med degree i will never have a course with classes of students who i can try out my ideas on. humph. finally, my gradate assistantship project..ugh...overload!!!! doable, but OVERLOAD!!!

3) home. my hub is still out of work. his toe injury is healing and he is up & around more now. put him to work scraping and painting window frames and door cases outside. he's getting the outside areas - shed, tractor, equipment - ready for winter. i hope the plow truck makes it thru the season...cannot afford to replace that this year.

graduating in May 2010. i see the light at the end of the tunnel. omg i cannot wait to be done school!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW! What a compliment!

2009-09-17T09:00:00.005-04:00

First off, I have to just say I felt a shift with school this week. I spoke with both my project director for the history website graduate assistantship and the professor who will most likely mentor me for my directed studies. Woot! More on both those later...but now, for something completely different...

Janet Clarey, who is one of the best resources for tech in ed news and information, plus she is a fantastic webinar speaker and SlideShare'r, has nominated lil' ol' ME as a #Women2Follow on Twitter! No kidding! See, here's her actual Tweet from yesterday to prove it.

See? That's me - carrie_at_umass.

Is that cool or what??? I'm am honored, flattered and honestly, surprised that I caught and have held the attention of the great Miss Clarey!

Now, how can I leverage this little ego-windfall to boost my campaign to launch a SocMed initiative at work?

Summer's end

2009-08-22T10:05:00.003-04:00

Got an A in my summer course, but I had to work for it - the last four weeks were brutal. Homework until midnight most nights; homework all weekend, every weekend. But it's done. It's over. And I learned a lot about academic writing, which is immediately applicable in my profession.

Now I have to figure out how to handle this assistantship. My project director is lousy with returning emails and phone calls which is frustrating for me. Do I chalk it up to the fall semester not having started yet or do I assume that this is how he is and this is how it will be going forward? I have not completed paperwork for the job so I could wiggle out if I needed to. But I am doing it for the tuition assistance (husband is still unemployed) and I don't want to drop that financial support. For now, I am going forward as planned and hope things work out during the fall. If I need to drop it for spring, I can do that.

I have an appointment with my advisor next week to go over plans to finish up and graduate. Let's hope he brings my file with him so he can be more helpful than he was last time. I need to swap out another course this term because what I need is not offered and what is on my requirements list and is offered I have no use for. I feel another dance to the dean's office for signatures may be required.

OH MY GOD!

2009-07-20T20:42:00.004-04:00

ACK! Summer courses! I just got a B- on an assignment. ME! a B-??? Ugh...it hurts. Will write more after I stop crying....

Later.... I'm really struggling right now, trying to keep everything balanced. Work has been crazy insane lately. My husband is out of work and very bored/lonely so when I'm home, he wants my attention to talk and spend time together; which is great, but I feel guilty brushing him off because of homework or work commitments.

The past few months have felt unsettled - but in a good way. Like things are going to change, that there will be a shift somewhere, I think with my work. I feel fairly confident as far as job security goes so that's not it. They are moving my office but that doesn't seem like it either. So I don't know what's coming but I feel that something definitely is.

I have been offered a graduate assistantship for the coming academic year. I need to get a handle on my routine so I can do that, too, while I finish up my program. Its a lot, as I mentioned in a previous journal entry, but I know I'm up to it. Whatever this is that I feel is looming on the horizon I hope is a good thing and will help me and not be something difficult or draining.

Transitioning from summer break back to the edu routine

2009-07-13T21:21:00.001-04:00

After just a few weeks off between spring and summer sessions I really got out of the routine of work-study-read-research-write-sleep (repeat). I have to had to readjust to it again even though I am nearing the end of my program. I found I was filling my free time with >gasp!<>I got into a good exercise routine and I really really don't want to break that habit so I'm hitting the books much later in the evening, after dinner, after my walk, after my shower. I find I am going to bed later than normal and am sleepy, needing an extra cup of coffee, in the morning. On one hand, it makes me consider my commitment to finish in 2010, thinking maybe extending the program and cut it down to one class per term. On the other hand, its very exciting and so very challenging. Not everyone goes to grad school! How cool am I? And not everyone who goes to grad school knocks it out in 3 years or less...with honors! How amazing am I? So, yeah, I like taking pride in what I am doing and to me it is worth the extra (extra, EXTRA) effort to make it all happen.

As I think about the last 3.5 weeks of having homework-free weekends and study-free evenings, I look ahead and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Another 9 months or so and I'll see endless homework-free weekends and study-free nights. Unless, of course, I decide to pursue a PhD...

3 weeks

2009-06-17T09:13:00.001-04:00

Three weeks until my summer course starts. I am enjoying the homework-free weekends. And I am taking advantage of the homework-free weeknights by walking for an hour after dinner. I wonder if I can and will keep up that amount of physical activity once the summer term begins. And I wonder if I will be able to continue when I have two courses in the fall and spring semesters. I wish I had the ability to get up at 4:30am and do my 3 miles, then shower, then have breakfast and coffee and pack my lunch & snacks to take to work. I have never been an early riser so the odds of my doing it are slim. But I will continue to consider it. Maybe do that once or twice a week, to free up evenings for school work? I should commit to trying it for a week or two to see if I can adjust.

A few months ago I put in an application for a graduate assistantship. The program coordinator called me and was very nice, telling me she was impressed with my application. She hoped something would be suitable for me, but didn't have anything at that time. The caveat to the endeavor being that I will not be driving 2.5 hours to the main campus to fulfill the responsibility; it needs to be something for which I can telecommute.

While on vacation last week, our housesitter called to say someone from the college called re my application. I got in touch with him as soon as I got back to the office but he is away this week. I am anxious to speak with him. I hope we can work it out so I get the assistantship and alleviate tuition and fees for the next two semesters. As a state employee I do get 50% off tuition, but that covers just 25% of the overall cost for grad school considering fees equal the tuition cost and are not subject to the employee discount.

It was my plan to pay for grad school out of pocket so I wouldn't be sacked with additional student loans. I'll be paying undergrad loans for another 11 years as it is. This past academic year I worked within a grant funded project at work which paid me enough to cover 90% of my tuition & fees so that worked out perfectly. The assistantship would be perfect to finish off my program edu-debt free. Wish me luck.

Summer vacation

2009-06-03T14:15:00.001-04:00

I am just now starting to relax about school. The end of the term was very stressful - HUGE project due in one course and a tedious exercise in file sharing for the other one (just use the Blackboard Assignment tool already!). Then I couldn't get into the summer course I wanted, and started stressing about the course I did get into (will it be good/challenging?).
Today I am fully engaged in webinars and web editing at work. I am plugged into un-related webinars (read: online seminars) while I manipulate existing web content (from 1998!) and organize it into a logical folder structure prior to the upcoming editing project. The webinars so far have connected me with a few new Twitter followees and followers. The file folder-ing is giving me a headache (duplicates of almost everything with diff pub dates on each copy).
I guess i have to recognize the fact, here, that I getting ready to go on vacation. This technology binge is going to have to hold me over for 7 days/nights while I hole up in a beachside cottage without internet access. I have a stack of books - real books, made of real paper - ready to go with me. I have my MP3 player loaded with podcasts (I have saved listening to the most recent three 'This American Life' and 'Extra Life Radio' episodes for listening to on the beach).
School begins in July so after I get home I will still have a few weeks to relax and unwind before the final surge to the finish line. I plan to garden, and mow the lawn, continue my beach tan, and maybe even finish applying varnish to the trim in the kitchen, a project put off since i started grad sch in Jan 2008.
Writing this blog post is part of my technology binge so I apologize for typos and grammatical errors. I just had to get a post in before I log off for awhile.

Spring 09 is done! I need a break.

2009-05-13T20:48:00.002-04:00

Grades are in for the spring term. I got an A and an A.

I am exhausted, wiped out and so ready for vacation. (24 day to beach week!) It is unbelievable to think that this time next year I could be done and getting ready for graduation. I feel like I just started. Then again, I am very tired, feeling over-worked and I have no savings to brag about. I'm very happy I started when I did (instead of waiting until the fall term in 2008) and I am glad I have been paying for classes as I go along. If I can get the classes I need I should be done next May and ready for the next phase of ...who knows?

Pursuing a PhD isn't out of the question. I'd like to teach part time and see how that goes. I'd also like to have some free time. We'll see. For now, I have to make a tek out to camous to register for a summer course. I am opting for 2nd session so I can take a break in June. We're heading to the beach for a week in June so that is all I am really thinking about.

Yay me! Good term. LBS724 was fantastic!

Digital Piracy: What does it mean for copyright and plagerism in academia?

2009-04-19T11:45:00.007-04:00

Up late knitting the other night, I caught an episode of BookTV on CSPAN where author Matt Mason talks about piracy in the digital world. Mason's talk provided a lot of food for thought on the issue of copyright and plagiarism.

It is so easy to copy & paste content from one web site to another and to grab and reuse images from one web site then embed them in your own. Linking, copying and pasting loses the original source. Who owns what? And what content is freely available? Can I use the RSS icon freely in a tutorial about podcasting or do I have to seek permissions for use? If I need permission, who do I ask? There are hundreds of versions of the RSS icon on hundreds of thousands of web sites. We can assume it is public property but how do we know if it is or not? (Think about 'Happy Birthday to You'. It is a copyright protected song. It is illegal to sing it in public. If you sang it at a children's party at Chuck E. Cheese, you were breaking the law.... you pirate! you criminal!)

There are web sites which offer classic novels in digital format freely, and there are bands who share their music freely. At the same time, there are organizations out there working with the government to establish governance over these digital objects and manage copyright protection and enforce copyright law. And there are the users - millions of people who are online today, right now, all over the world, moving, copying, sharing, transforming, redefining, reusing and re purposing this information at a tremendous rate. When you think about it, it would be impossible to monitor or police all this activity. The organizations who are struggling to retain control over digital media (such as the RIAA) are fighting a losing battle.

Mason's talks about piracy, looking at pirate radio in the 50's and 60's as well as piracy in the film industry in the early 1900's, and considers how when the masses find something they really like and that is useful to them, they will do whatever they need to do to ensure they can continue to use it. He explains how piracy in digital media is actually a good thing, that since there are more people using existing digital media in creative and innovative ways, they are actually improving it not ruining it. And considering the overall number of people doing this and how much content they are shifting, moving, sharing the media is really becoming something else, a collective unit, and losing its individual identity. If that's the case, how do you police the activity?

What does this have to do with edu?

In regards to copyright and plagiarism of educational materials, we as a society really need to revaluate what we are doing and why. The Fair Use act and the TEACH act are two small steps toward breaking away from old standards of ownership of intellectual materials. The Fair Use act is good but the two year limitation is questionable. Why the limit? What is the point of that? If the material is used in a productive way and the students benefit from its use and the teacher using it is happy with the results, why limit the number of uses? It makes no sense. The TEACH act opens the door so that traditionally formatted teaching materials can be used in online teaching and learning (O-T&L). Again, a good step in the right direction, but publishers still drag their feet in producing materials in digital format because they are afraid of losing revenue generated from textbooks. Instead of saying no, we will not generate digital materials, why not find ways to generate revenues in other ways?

The American school system is in a crisis. No one has officially called it a crisis, but it is. There's no money, budgets are constantly cut, the student/teacher ratio is ridiculous, school buildings are old and decaying, the curriculum is generations old and is missing the fundamentals of today's society and has no focus on the future. Now is a good time to become educational pirates. Now is the time to become creative, innovation renegades. Now is the time to look at what resources we have and make new things, new media, new teaching and learning opportunities. We need to keep pushing the envelope. We need to encourage alternative uses of materials. We as IT professionals in the academic world are in good positions to revolutionize teaching and learning. We need to keep our eyes and ears open. We need to know and understand the laws. But we need to think and act creatively. Look at what is happening with digital media in other industries. It does relate to academia. Its not as exciting as the recording industry, it doesn't generate revenue like Hollywood but academia is a part of everyone's lives just like the entertainment world. We have to participate in the revolution or be left behind.

This week, in the news, the Swedish web site publishers of ThePirateBay.org were sentenced to one year in prison and a $3.6 million fine. Will it end illegal file sharing? No. Will it end illegal distribution of movies and music? No. So what is the point? The point is that Hollywood and the court system sent a message. The message they sent is this: 'We are strong and powerful and all that matters to us is money.' BUT... The message heard by pirates and people who participate in digital media piracy is this: 'We have no new ideas and we are afraid of and unsure of technology so we won't try to adapt to the changing times.' (Read article, PC World)

Instead of filing and managing this lawsuit for two years, what if they had spent the time and money coming up with a new business model which would allow them to retain the rights to their media while providing a service to the masses of people who obviously want the media but in alternative formats to what is currently offered?

Mason's talk is fascinating. You can watch the lecture online: CSPAN Archives or learn more about author on his web site and watch the shortened video summary of 'The Pirate's Dilemma'.

Keeping current on IT while being overwhlemed with everything else

2009-04-02T12:39:00.002-04:00

Setting up RSS feeds in Google Reader has been a fantastic way to stay up to date on what is happening in the industry. I have subscribed to dozens of blogs and web sites related to medical education, web 2.0, graphic design and educational technology. (I also subscribe to a few just-for-fun sites such as PostSecret, Indexed and TED, which keeps my inbox interesting.)
The great thing about an RSS aggregator is that it eliminates the need to establish a routine of visiting favorite web sites. You find a good web site, add it to your favorites, and then what? Do you really go back and check it regularly to stay up to date? Most likely not often enough to catch the majority of posts and updates.

What an RSS aggregator, or feed reader, does is pull in all new content from those blogs and web sites and arranges them in a nice neat way so you can scroll through and read the headlines. If something catches your eye, click on it to read more. Click again to go right to the actual web site it came from (good to know if there is a blog post you'd like to comment on). The reader I use allows me to add a star to an item to mark it for later review, and I can also add a 'share' tag which means friends and colleagues with my GMail address can view the items I have marked as 'share'. Another thing you can do with an RSS aggregator is add the feed as a widget to a web site. For example, you have a library web site and you would like to have a news feed on the front page so there is always something new and different for your visitors to see. An easy option is to add an RSS widget with your reader content. Its an easy way to add a news feed to your web site and also share the great resources you are gathering in your RSS aggregator.

Another way I stay in tune with what is happening in instructional technology is to attend conferences. Conferences are great for meeting people who do what you do at a different school or organization. Time for casual chatting is often limited, in between seminars and at break-out sessions, so it almost forces you to focus your Q&A and also exchange business cards for later Q&A. Many people have blogs or web sites now so it is good to ask for a web site address and share your if you have one.

I love it when a key note speaker or seminar presenter provides their web site URL, email address and Twitter name at the end of their lecture. I add the info to my PDA and am good to go. I'll still go up and introduce myself and thank them and exchange business cards, but I love the ability to plug into what they are doing without HAVING to do that. Sometimes it is just not possible to meet them if it is overly hectic after their speech.

Conferences are a great way to find people to collaborate with. If you have an idea for a project, talk to people. Listen to other people's conversations and jump in. Sit with people you don't know during coffee and lunch breaks. Ask questions. Share your thoughts, ask for feedback.

Technology is just technology. It is the people who use it and the ways they use it that matter. Pulling in industry professionals' blog posts and web site updates via RSS feed makes accessing their expertise simple. Meeting people at conferences is a great opportunity to find out first hand what is happening at other schools and libraries and build collaborative relationships.

Exhausted

2009-03-27T21:53:00.002-04:00

I don't what happened. I was cruising along just fine and then WHAM! exhaustion set in and for the last two weeks I have been a zombie. Just completely drained, wiped out.

Trying to graduate with honors, I bust my ass on every assignment (except the last PPT assignment; I think PPT assignments are LAME). Stay up late working on the computer until 11 or 11:30, then try to sleep but end up thinking about school or work until 6am, then get up go to work and sit in front of a PC all day. Well, actually work has been busier than usual with meetings and consults. It comes and goes in waves. I have some decent summer projects lined up and the residency website redesign went well so I'm predicting other programs will want the same spit & polish job.

Shot an email to advisor this past week hoping for some guidance. Did get a point to the dean which is great. Shot her a note asking for guidance. She put me in contact with the director for the MEd - High Ed Student Affairs program. Will try to take a class or two from that program to get away from this K-12 stuff for a while.

The blog project at work is wrapping up. I took yesterday and today off to get some rest (slept 12 hours Wed night, 10 hours Thu night) and spent 5.5 hours compiling data for the project and sent it off to be coded by my colleagues. One of the MDs secured a poster presenation in April, so we have that bit covered. We plan on writing a paper and submitting for publication, too. Very cool. No plans for a new project yet, for next academic year. We did launch a wiki in the 3rd year clerkship but we didn't think to set it up as a research project. I added some analytics tools to the wiki to track usage; we'll see if we get anything worth looking at more closely. The other clerkships will be keen on the idea; perhaps there will be a chance for future collaboration there.

My husband has been laid off since January. His profession is struggling so there is just no work out there. We always hoped he could retire early - he is definitely happier and more relaxed not working - but not now, while I have a car payment and am in school. Whatever will be will be. We are cautiously optimistic that something comes up for him to do for a a few years. Adn of course that my job is stable. I have more marketable skills than he does so I think I could always find work. But I know he feels bad, that traditional man of the house mentality is so deeply embedded in our society.

Overall, things are good. I think some extra sleep this weekend will help me get through the next few months. We'll be off to our week on the Cape in June. Can not wait to read, nap and relax on the beach!!!!

Another lazy post...but damn! How cool is this?

2009-03-17T14:09:00.003-04:00

use graphics to enhance not entrance

2009-03-07T19:30:00.002-05:00

Yes, I am getting lazy with writing and have been embedding video to do the talking for me. Here's another one. I was actually at this event. I revisited this lecture today while involved in a debate over webquest design - information versus decoration in use of graphics.

Enjoy.

Multigenrational Learning (and teaching)

2009-02-27T10:37:00.002-05:00

Because I work in a multi-generations institution, the issues related to finding the best methods ot deliver training and understanding those who deliver the training (i.e. senior faculty) are always on my mind.

Thanks to Janet Clarey at Brandon Hall for another great SlideShare.

Multi Generational Learning

View more presentations from jclarey. (tags: generations learning)

Killing Creativity in Education

2009-02-14T13:20:00.003-05:00

This video was shared by a classmate in my LBS course.

I love what he says about educational systems being designed to provide training for people to work during the industrial revolution. How schools and educational programs were designed to prepare people for higher education. How we have placed no value in creative arts for no reason and therefore dissuaded people from pursing creative things that make them happy and that they may be good at.

Our society places a great deal of value on young people who can run and jump and catch balls on a playing field or in a stadium, but little value on young people who move their bodies to music in dance.

We see promise in young people who can stand in front of a room and make a speech and little value on young people who sit quietly and write stories in journals and diaries.

We applaud the young person who sketches the blueprints for a high rise office building but ignore a young person who draws and paints in an art studio.

If we could recognize and teach to student strengths and talents and interests instead of teaching them to further the interests of the industrialized nation, perhaps overall our society would be more advanced on more levels than we currently are.

Are all subjects equally suitable for the web?

2009-02-07T10:56:00.001-05:00

A woman in my class asked this question, in relation to a discussion on web research: Are all subjects equally suitable for the web? She was searching for information on Quaker education and wasn't satisfied with her search results.

Excellent question. And I think the answer is yes.

The internet began as a searchable and accessible database for a small group of researchers. It expanded to what it is today because a million different interests can be served by it. Considering the number of internet contributors today, the variety of resources on any topic goes beyond anything we could imagine.

On a subject such as Quaker education, speaking with a subject matter expert would be great. But you may not have access to one, or perhaps you have but you'd like to find a contradictory viewpoint for comparison. Audio and video interviews on the web give you such resources. If you still haven't found what you are looking for, you could search the web and identify interview candidates from around the globe, even carry out that interview with a web based tool such as Skype or DimDim.

Google Scholar gives you access to published, peer-reviewed articles from around the globe. Shopping web sites give you access to books you won't find at the library. News aggregators provide lists of subject-related news articles. Chat rooms give you an opportunity to speak with others interested in your topic.

My answer is a clear, resounding yes. And I love your question. What a great lead-in to a conversation about research, marketing, publishing, instructional design, e-commerce, and e-learning.

Winter/Spring semester

2009-01-28T21:34:00.002-05:00

Oh, thank God. I have a really good class this semester. Its the first week - hell, its the third day - and I have three assignments and I have already learned about 5 new things about search engines. Considering my eternal love affair with Google, it is surprising that I have learned something new about Google. What's even better is that I am being forced to leave my beloved Google and explore and evaluate other search engines and meta search tools. Very cool. Expanding my horizons.

THANK YOU, LBS724! You are an awesome course!

Coolness here: Clusty
Go ahead, loyal readers - pick a search term and compare your experience on Google and Clusty.

Happy New Year, happy new semester

2009-01-19T12:55:00.002-05:00

The syllabi for my spring classes have been posted. One course looks very well organized - the prof uses Blackboard well. Her documents are well written and she has included an audio component so we can hear her voice. She conveys a decent sense of humor and she spelled out her expectations clearly. She has provided a great deal of introductory material on several levels - for the less internet savvy to those of us who have a great deal more experience - which covers her personal teaching preferences and methods along with links to information about those methods (constructivism, UDL). I am excited about working with this professor; I believe I can learn a lot from her.

My husband got laid off last week. Not a good way to start the new year. Upon hearing the news my brain automatically goes into overdrive - making mental lists of what I need to do to ensure we stay afloat financially, calculating our savings and projecting the number of mortgage payments we can make before the shit hits the fan, determining how I can fit in free lance work between my regular job and grad school. I found a contract job available for an instructional designer in Boston; I submitted an application for it. I have been asked to build a website for a local psychiatrist, so I'll have to follow up on that. And the local night-time adult education program is accepting proposals for classes so I might put together something there.

I'm in crisis prevention mode. I hope it doesn't exhaust me. I will have to take care to ensure I include some fun time, down time and family time so I don't become lost trying to save us. Of course, there is a chance too that he will find work in his field, even though the economy is so horrible. Here's to hope!

ahhhh...winter break

2008-12-29T12:51:00.003-05:00

Its the last week of December. I am enjoying the first of 4 vacation days. I went to the bank to pay the mortgage, stopped to fuel up the Subaru, came home & started laundry and am now catching up on web surfing. The rest of my to-do list includes cleaning out a closet full of unworn old clothes and hauling away branches that fell during the ice storm.

Not having heard from my prof or academic advisor in over a week, I surfed on over to the school website and logged in to see if grades had been posted. I got an A in both classes. Did I earn As in both classes? I don't know. Grading is subjective, isn't it? Prof's grade differently based on the course content, their expectations, overall performance of the class as a group, and individual contributions. I will be a tough grader. I must try to keep my expectations reasonable.

Christmas was fantastic this year. LB and I had an open house on Christmas Eve and a lot of the local rock people came over. At one point we had about 18 people partying with us; otherwise we had 8-10 at any given moment between 3pm and 11pm. It was great fun. Now that the kids are grown and the family dynamic has shifted, we can do this sort of thing. Its quite nice! Christmas Day was tame - thankfully - we went to my brother's house at 1 and left before 5pm, then went to the Malone's and had some laughs until midnight, when we wished Heidi a happy birthday and then headed home. The last Christmas activity was Dan & Gail's annual broo-ha-ha on Saturday. Unusually crowded and unusually rockin' this year. I had a really good time. Overall - the best Christmas I can remember.

Spring classes begin in late January so I have a few weeks to relax, do some knitting and make a dent in the pile of novels I have been collecting to read.

Fall 2008

2008-12-21T10:39:00.005-05:00

the semester is over. not sure why i am feeling the happy dance. it was not a good semester at all.

one class:

didn't learn anything new

other class:

no instructor until 8 weeks in
argumentative, unmotivated classmates
didn't learn anything new

I don't want to be that student

2008-12-03T13:29:00.003-05:00

I don't want to be a student who is in it only for the diploma/certificate/possible pay raise upon graduation. But with all the CRAP I have been dealing with this semester with poorly organized classes or no classes due to no professor, and then yesterday having met with my advisor who was 45 minutes late because he didn't pay attention to details in his email...well, it just puts me closer to being one of those student checking off the credits and counting down the days.

I am in it to learn. To develop skills. To grow. To become better than I was. In order to do that I must be challenged and taught and paid attention to. Last night, when my advisor finally came to the room he told me to meet him in, he was completely unprepared. He couldn't remember what classes I had already taken or what classes I needed or what classes WE decided I would take when I spoke to him on the phone last month. Geesh! While waiting for me in the wrong room, why didn't he crack open my file (if he keeps a file on his advisees...) and remind himself what's going on with this one student, who he ought to remember, has to travel 180 miles, round trip, for a meeting with him on campus.

My expectations are not too high. I expect professionalism and I expect to be able to rely on my advisor and the school. Silly me.

Continuing saga in continuing ed

2008-11-06T08:55:00.002-05:00

Recent developments in the class without a teacher. This after I emailed the class telling them I called the program director to voice a complaint:

I can't afford to have this course called into question; I need to finish my program on schedule.

Considering the circumstances, I think [name of school] should not only just give us program credit for this class, but a free class as well.

I'm much more focused on finishing up my coursework and receiving my degree on time than I am in achieving any benefits from this specific class.

I can't afford to retake this class. I don't have the time or the money. I am trying to get thorugh this program as quickly as possible and I am very close to the end of my program (2 classes left).

I can't afford to have this class questioned either. I don't have the time to retake it, nor the money. My feeling is if they give us a new professor this close to the end that person is going to pile on the work and we will all be over our heads, and we will be over our heads because we have done nothing this semester.

My reply:

I'm not surprised to hear that at least 50% of the class doesn't care about learning something in this class, but that makes it no less disappointing to read your replies. We are all in the business of teaching and learning, which makes it all the more difficult to digest your comments.

to learn or not to learn

2008-10-29T21:12:00.004-04:00

a class email circulating today:

"I haven't seen any new discussions, posts or assignments since the one due on Oct. 18th.

note: the assignment due on the 18th was assigned in Sept. nothing happened between the assignment being released and the due date, so technically, there has been no class activity since mid-Sept.

"Something must be going on with the prof. I certainly hope it is nothing tragic.

"I have also been concerned with missing out but I am trying to see the glass half full and enjoy the extra light workload.

"I've been checking most every day and haven't heard anything either - but hey, I couldn't be happier!

Happy to NOT learn anything? Happy to pay tuition for a class that doesn't have a teacher? 'Extra-light work load'?

Good God.....I am extremely disappointed this semester. This class has nothing happening and the other one I am in is entry-level software apps which is not challenging me at all. Ugh.

What really gets me is that so many people think online programs are diploma-mills and up until now I have been happy to report that I have learned a great deal, have been challenged, and could say with conviction that online learning is intensive. Now I worry that the first three classes were a fluke. What if my next term is like this one and not like last spring and summer? I hate to speculate but I really don't want to waste my time and money. I would consider a transfer.

ePortfolio

2008-10-28T11:30:00.002-04:00

For my program, I am required to create a portfolio for review prior to graduation. If you recall, dear reader, my final two choices for grad school were one with 80/20 online/F2F learning + eportfolio and a 100% online course with traditional portfolio. I chose the 100% online course with the plan of making an online portfolio, hoping they would accept it and if not, would spend a day printing doc's and making a binder cover.

After 3 complete courses I have material to put into my eportfolio so it was time to begin building. I looked at several free eportfolio tools - RCampus and Epsilen. Both tools are free web-based eportfolios. Both tools offer security features so you can set up accounts for your advisor and professors to view selected components. Both allow for file upload and management. Both have email and calendar/scheduling tools. They are capable of handling multimedia.

I chose RCampus and began building. But after the first day, I didn't like the tools for building - they were clumsy and annoying to work with. There is no way to disable the tool tips, so the build screen is cluttered. I gave it a second try but still felt underwhelmed by the lackluster building experience. So I decided to try Epsilen. I am more happy with Epsilen's build tools and the overall look and feel of the portfolio is good. So far.

The next step is to grant access to my advisor and see if he likes it. When I meet with him in December, when I sign up for spring term courses, I'll talk to him about it.

Sweet Potato Quesadilla

2008-10-21T13:17:00.001-04:00

I made this recipe up this past weekend while planning a party for my girl-friends. It was big hit!

Package of Manny's Cafe Style Corn Flour Enchilada wraps (or your fave flour tortilla)
Jar of Newman's Medium Black Bean & Corn Salsa (or your fave salsa)
Box of Near East Parmesean Couscous (or your fave couscous) - cooked
1 large sweet potato
Cup of shredded carrots
Cooking spray
Spices: minced garlic, salt, ginger, clove, cinnamon, cilantro
1/2 stick real butter
Large non-stick skillet
Pot to boil potatoes

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into cubes. Boil until fork-tender. Drain. Return to pot with 1/2 stick butter. Mash up with a fork. Season to your taste with garlic, salt, ginger, clove, cinnamon, and cilantro.

Warm skillet over med-low heat. Spray with cooking spray. Place one tortilla in the pan.
Spread the tortilla with a layer of sweet potato mash - not too thick, but enough to cover.
Dot small spoonfuls of salsa onto SP mash.
Sprinkle with layer of shredded carrot.
Top with light layer of couscous.
Top with a 2nd flour tortilla.
Let crisp fully in pan before flipping gently.
Crisp second side.
Remove to cutting board and let stand 3-4 minutes before cutting into triangles.

Very yummy!!! The ginger, clove and cinnamon goes really well a medium-heat black bean salsa.

Fall semester

2008-10-20T19:44:00.002-04:00

I am sooooo bored this semester. There aren't any weekly assignments, no required reading, no required discussions, no class interaction all, and one of my instructors fails to answer my emails. ugh. It is painful to think of the money I am spending and the time I am investing in comparison to what I am learning, which is nothing.

The basic rules of teaching an online course are these:

Course design:

include goals and objectives not only in the syllabus but in each section of the course and include specific goals associated with an assignment.
provide dynamic course content with links to readings, audio, video and sample work
provide alternative options for self-guided learning - no two people click int he same pattern; make sure all learners can easily access information

Course content:

provide the same information you would in a love session: a presentation, questions & answer time, small group work, open discussion, team projects, individual homework
remember the principles of engaging and educating: MOTIVATE your learners - spark their interest in the topic; INFORM your learners: teach them something; give students opportunities to APPLY new knowledge; and TRANSFORM their learning into new ideas and develop new concepts.

Assessment:

provide assignments which allow students to demonstrate their learning
provide detailed commentary on student work which encourages reflection and further learning

If my fall semester instructors are reading this: GOOD! Read it!

The class still haunts me

2008-09-30T15:23:00.002-04:00

Here's a video I found on www.i-am-bored.com for you all to enjoy. The feeling you get in your stomach is the same feeling I got this summer during my diversity class.

What Do Kids Prefer, White or Black Doll? Children don`t lie, they show the truth about racial views.

One last post before the end of September

2008-09-29T19:04:00.004-04:00

So we're nearing the end of September. Leaves are starting to change color. We had the last watery ears of corn from the farm stand up-town. The neighbors are placing pumpkins on their front stoops.
It is an election year. The economy is pitiful. We're paying over $3/gallon of gas and over $3/gallon of milk. National morale is low, and sinking. Not even the possibility of electing the country's first black president can raise peoples' spirits. Unemployment is higher than it has ever been and we are looking at a long, cold, harsh winter in this high-cost of living area we call New England.
My husband and I are counting our blessings while we carefully monitor our combined physical and financial standing. He suffers chronic health problems and although we hope for an early retirement for him, unexpected job loss due would be devastating. I check the job listings regularly, seriously weighing the options of moving away from a job I love in order to make a few extra bucks each month, just in case.
We've done as much as we can to keep the house weather proof, having had work done on the foundation this summer and having had an energy audit done by the state. We are waiting for bids on insulation for the attic and basement and we hope to get that done before the snow flies. We have locked in to a price on heating fuel and will keep our fingers crossed that the small locally owned oil company we chose will not be forced to sell out to the regional oil overlords like our last company did.
I can't imagine how we would make ends meet if I could only mow lawns or drive a school bus. I feel sorry for the families who highest earner is making $8 or $10 or $12 an hour. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to be facing winter with energy prices as they are with that level of income. Scary. Scary as all hell.

temporary online obsessions

2008-09-16T16:38:00.005-04:00

1) Lipstick Jungle. Thanks to internet television and the networks being ever-so generous with their offerings, I can watch back-to-back-to-back episodes of whatever crap grabs my attention. This week it's Brooke Shields' fem-drama Lipstick Jungle. The sudden whirlwind romance for 'Victory' is so so so silly. Brooke's marital troubles are predictable, but the addition of Lorraine Bracco as her arch enemy is fun; if Bracco can make Tony Soprano cry, think what mentalness she can inflict on Miss Shields! The Nico's (stupid name) hot & sexy fling with a guy named 'Kirby' (another stupid name, but he has great abs) makes this trash-TV, much like Desperate Housewives, so don't look for intellectual fare here. Its pure entertainment; no brain power required.

2) MySpace and Facebook. Although I have had a LinkedIn account for quite awhile, I am the last of our circles of friends to succumb to the lure of social networking on the two most popular sites in the universe. Facebook is more 'real'. Its clean, simple and unobtrusive. MySpace is so Yo!Yo!Yo! and flashy and unreal. For the first week I was totally hooked on both FB and MS, logging into both while watching TV with hubby, anxiously waiting for a 'friend' to come on line, looking forward to seeing what someone might post on my 'wall. I admit the excitement waned quickly and I'm not on all the time now, but I am still curious to see what happens now that I am out there. What ghosts will show up? What skeletons will emerge?

3) The Stock Market. I am making myself miserable by watching my IRAs and 403(b)s plummet. I don't know enough to make hardcore stock market gambles. I know some people get rich during recessions. That won't be me. I just want my accounts to stop giving me updates in (-negative) numbers. It's killing me. I need to stop watching. It's going to continue to slide and then, after we elect a democrat into office, things will turn around. If I work my math skills - which are horrible - I can make it seem like the amount I am losing isn't more than what I would be paying in taxes if I took it off the market.

making up is hard to do

2008-09-03T08:57:00.004-04:00

Not happy with my summer class, as you can see by reading this summer posts. Was given a B+. I am fighting it. I want an A, and she said she'll give me an A- if I can submit another paper on diversity prior to the due date for final grades. I have a draft done - 8 pages - which I will edit today and get in to her before Friday morning.

Yes, I can be a high-maintenance student. I am a high achiever. I realize this. But honestly, the final paper assignment included a section which specifically asked for an 'action plan' i.e. a way I would incorporate diversity and cultural awareness in the classroom. Before writing the paper I emailed the prof and repeated for the umpteenth time 'I AM NOT A K-12 TEACHER!' and asked for guidance on how to meet the assignment requirements. She didn't give me any clear answer. So I did the best I could and sent it on in. Then she grades my paper with comments along the lines of 'there is no action plan here' and 'the first half starts out strong but then loses focus'. Really? Hmm.

I then began to suspect she has a TA managing the class assignments because the prof doesn't seem to have a clue as to what I do for work, even though I had to mention it in pretty much every discussion so that my classmates would understand where I was coming from with my discussions. Either that or she was unable to veer away from the course outline & assignment rubrics to make slight modifications for my situation. I believe these things could have been tweaked for my situation. (and I find it hard to believe she hasn't had someone else from higher ed in her class before.)

So I have written a lengthy paper on diversity training in medical school. If I edit the text down to the 3-5 pages she wants, the may be two pages worth of footnotes explaining what PPS and LPP is. So be it. I am trying to make it work the best I can.

Lesson learned: contact the prof BEFORE the class starts and make sure he/she understands where I am coming from and why I am taking his/her class. I'll do this for the fall term and see if it works out better. I know someone who works here at my U who is in an MEd program at another big-U (I go to a state college for my MEd) and she has the same problems with profs not seeming to understand why she is in an MEd program if she isn't a K-12 teacher. So its not just me and that makes me feel better.

catching my breath

2008-08-19T21:52:00.002-04:00

whew! Summer session was very difficult. Tough class - not an easy breezy summer class which I would have preferred. I need to schedule an appointment with my advisor and register for fall classes, which means a trip out to the north shore in the coming weeks while I wait for my final grade for the summer session.

The class on diversity was emotionally challenging and mentally exhausting. All the diversity training have had in my life was ineffective and I was completely unprepared for such intensity int he discussions and debates. I wasn't the only one having some sort of cultural awakening; many of us in the class were exposed to some profound truths, truths which we have been sheltered from our whole lives. I am thankful for the experience and feel much more at ease with the subject now.

Work is busy now. I am gearing up for a meeting with someone to discuss re-grading my position. Comparing what I do and what I make to industry standards, I am way below where I should be. Advocating for change I can do, but advocating for myself is difficult. I am trying to stay focused on it as if I were advocating for someone else, to prevent becoming over emotional, which I tend to do when faced with a personal challenge.

Summer is coming to a close. The last few projects at the house are underway - the front stairs are being re-built and we are set for estimates on the insulation. I can't believe we are planning for winter already.

Summer session

2008-08-04T18:49:00.005-04:00

I am more than half way through the summer session. It has been difficult. The class is a 'global diversity' course (requirement). I'm not one who's big on diversity issues so I didn't exactly go into the class doing cartwheels.

The first few assignments were trivial. Get to know you's and testing of the waters. Then BLAMO, we get hit with some major black/white readings and assignments. Tough topic. Sensitive issue. Everyone has baggage related to race issues. Me, too. I know I do.

In a diversity class it is all about people and their issues. People get defensive and start playing I'm-not-a-racist-bingo, checking off a square for each lesbian, Jewish, black, Asian and Latino friend they have. The 'free' square in the middle is for anyone who has ever attended an Irish/Italian/Greek/Puerto Rican or gay pride festival. Give me a break.

This week's Post Secret included the following image, which pretty much sums up my thoughts on the subject. Note that the creator's final thoughts, what he/she learned, is covered by a label. This bit of irony is the point - it is what's beneath the label that counts.

Note: Since start of the class, author has been referred to as a social Darwinist, a racist and a meritocratist.

(than you, Raputa, for reminding to update my blog)

sigh

2008-06-29T21:10:00.002-04:00

I feel weird about my job right now. I love what I am doing, I look forward to what I want to do. Why do I still troll job postings? Compensation. Its true. I want money. More money, I should say.

I have never been one to lust for material objects. I live contently without HDTV and plasma screens and PlayStations. I drive a modest car and wear modest clothing. I don't go out to sparkly dinners at fancy restaurants. Its not really about the Benjamins. Its about compensation - recognition for what I contribute to the department. So what do I do?

I consulted with a couple of friends and went over my dilemma - to rock the boat or not is the question. And if so, how. I have never been assertive for myself. Argue for better equipment or software for the department? Absolutely- fight for it I will. But for money for myself? Never done it. Don't know how.

I need to learn how to be assertive and do it properly and successfully, so I don't grow irritable and unhappy with my employer. If I could hire an agent to represent me and present my case to the department chair, I would, to safe myself the sleepless nights, anxiety and pressure that will surely being to build as I psych myself up for a confrontation.

ch-ch-ch-changes & chipmunks

2008-06-03T14:44:00.003-04:00

School's out and my new work schedule has begun. I asked for the option of working from home one day a week, to cut down on commute time, fuel costs and related frustrations of driving through that wretched city twice each day. My wish was granted so now, each Tuesday, I can enjoy working in a t-shirt & shorts, in stocking feet, at home. Ahhhhh...

One semester into grad school and my mind is already wandering to the next phase of my professional life. I have been trolling the job boards, at work and in the general public, to find out what is out there and what it is paying. Ideally, yes, keeping my state job would be wise, but I would be foolish to neglect exploration of all opportunities. I have only 3 years in now and will have 5 by the time I have earned my master's and that's not exactly enough to warrant a full commitment to the state. I will thought keep state colleges and universities at the top of my list. And I'm just looking, anyway....

The home improvement saga continues with foundation repairs. Bill and Brett spend the day mixing cement and pointing the field stone foundation of our 80+ year old home. Last week they dug up the old apron, yesterday they had a truck up to pour concrete. Today was finish work.

While making dinner one night, Brett regaled us with tales of his work crew (city folk!) being spooked not only by the nest of snakes they uncovered while pulvarizing the cement stairs but also the den of a fifty chimpmunks they unearthed out front. Little bastards, those chipmunks. It has been they and the little red squirrels who have been pulling stone from our foundation over the last forty years, ruining the mortar and creating pathways for flooding. Evil. I can imagine the collective ire of the den of chipmunks when the backhoe removed the sod roof of their den and their daily respite interrupted with a diesel fueled eviction notice. Au revouir, mes chipmunks.

homework-free weekend

2008-05-11T11:23:00.002-04:00

I just got my grades - A in both classes. woo-hoo!

My summer course begins July 7th. That gives me two full months to relax and unwind. I got a call from a woman who wants to hire me to build a website for her production company. I have a meeting with here this week. Depending on what she is willing to pay and how much work it will take , I may or may not take the job. I am looking forward to some time off before the next wave of courses starts. Now that I know how much work grad school requires, I will keep my extra commitments light. even book group was tough during the semester. More than once I scrambled to find time to read the selection. But the night out with the ladies was worth it each time so I will keep book group on my agenda.

This is my first homework-free weekend. I decided to clean my home office. I moved everything except the desk and bookcase. Once the room was empty I decided I hated the McDonaldland colored paint on the walls. So I jumped in the car and drove to Aubuchon Hardware and picked up a gallon of antique white latex.

My husband cautioned I should prime the orange trim, but I was too eager to get rid of it and the yellow walls. I just dove right in to painting. By 6 o'clock, the trim was done - window, doors and baseboard - plus the corners were cut in on the walls.

This morning I woke at 7, but stayed in bed until 7:30, listening to the birds chirping and church traffic driving by outside. I put a pot of coffee on to brew and went to look at my room. The trim definitely needed a second coat and the corners I'd cut were revealing a hint of the gold beneath. I hoped I wouldn't need to get a 2nd gallon of paint.

After checking my email and nursing a few cups of java (and cleaning up cat vomit; poor kitty is sick) I got back to painting. I rolled out the walls with a generous amount of paint, hoping to deter the need for a second coat. I assessed what was left in the can - not much- and began brushing a light coat onto the trim to fill in what little orange was showing. Husband woke and came down and since he is much taller than me, pointed out a few spots above the window and doors which needed a hit of paint.

All in all the project was good one for my first homework-free weekend. My office is brighter and seems bigger with the white paint. It was too chilly to work outside yesterday but the sun is bright and warm today. Since it is barely noon and I am done painting, I will shower, change and go sit out for awhile to enjoy the rest of my day.

2 down, 10 to go

2008-05-04T16:38:00.002-04:00

My first semester is over. My first two classes are done. My first 6 credits are earned.
I am spent.

It was a lot more work than I expected - more time needed for reading and writing assignments. I am happy to have been challenged and I learned as much as I had hoped. The courses were slightly unbalanced - one being considerably better than the other - but overall it was a good first term.

It was difficult, as I feared, to be a student in an online course when what I do 75% of the time at work is make sure online courses look good, function well and have dynamic qualities to engage the learner. The course environment for my first term was boring. I didn't pick up any new ideas at all. This was disappointing since one fo the classes was called 'Technology in the 21st century classroom'. The online environment IS part of the 21st century classroom and I feel we should have explored that topic.

It was also a little weird, as I expected, to be in classes with K-12 teachers. I wish I had at least one adult educator in the course to chat with. And in the Theories course, the assignments were all based on K-12 learning requirements so I had a disadvantage. But I did well and am satisfied with what I am taking away.

I now have 6 weeks off before my summer class begins. I am looking forward to a full week on the Cape with my husband, and getting some work done in the yard at home.

weary in the last lap

2008-04-22T20:13:00.002-04:00

This is it - the end of my first semester of graduate school.
This is it - me growing weary of the read-write process.
Here I am - in the final leg of a long 12-week run of 2 courses. I am tired.

My plan is to do 2 - 1 - 2 (spring - summer - fall) so I can finish in under three years. But it seems I have a little issue with one of my courses now, where I am struggling to complete an assignment worth 25% of my grade. I have lost steam, I am looking forward to a few weeks off before the summer session crunch, and I find several new hoops to jump through.

What is the issue? Well, this class has an 'action research project' due and my research question relates to the medical students at work. Come to find out, I cannot do any level of research on students without permission from the institution.

Blaming: I discovered the need for approval early last week and promptly shot an email to instructor for advice. She didn't respond until today, which means I lost a week's worth of time of review process. And in her email, she asks me what I should do. Um, hello? I asked her because I don't know. So I contact the IRb and ask them about it and they sure go ahead, but I have to get a faculty member to sign off on everything, which means trying to find a faculty member to commit to working on this project which means school credit for me and diddly-squat for him/her.

Crying: This totally blows. I just want to say 'fuck it' and take a low grade. But I need to learn how to do research so I should persevere. But it hurts! It hurts to be dependent on so many policies and it hurts to try and operate under strict guidelines. It hurts because I am not used to it. Its a lousy thing to have to get used to...

Biting my lip, sucking air: Instructor hasn't answered my second email. I am at a loss. Unsure of how to proceed. So badly want to say 'fuck it'.

Counting to 10: I need to stop expecting immediate answers and learn to be paitent. That is what research is about - waiting, collecting.

Whining: ...but I don't want this class to drag out for 5 or 6 more weeks...I need a break.....

A brief interaction with life

2008-04-04T14:30:00.001-04:00

As usual, I left my computer and headed down to the cafeteria with a book to take a lunch hour away from the online world. The cafeteria isn't the most ideal location to read, but if I hit it right, I can get a 2-top in the back corner and at least be able to put my feet up and relax.

Chicken soup was on the menu so I poured myself a bowl and found a few packets of Saltines in which there were more full crackers than crumbs, and chose a milk from the fridge instead of a diet-whatever.

I am reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and am in the middle, when she finally finds a way to meditate successfully. I am happy she found some peace and success. She has decided to stay at the Ashram for longer than planned, just to further enjoy the new sensation of peace found in successful meditation. AT this part int he story, I leave me table and head back to my office, ready to tackle the remaining 3.5 hours of the workday.

There are 2 sets of elevator banks int he middle of the hospital - the patient elevators and the visitor elevators. There is no such thing as a faculty & staff elevator, so you have a choice of riding up with someone dying on a gurney or the crying weeping family members who are in to visit the man dying on the gurney. Generally I opt for the patient elevator bank and wait until one comes without any passengers - alive or dead - and hope it doesn't stop anywhere between level 1 and the 6th floor.

Today outside the elevator bank there were two gurneys waiting for rides up to the wards, so I walked past and peered around the corner of the visitor elevator bank. There was, as I expected, a large group of people waiting for one of four lifts to arrive. I hang back a little from the crowd, knowing I will wait until they all get on and then push the UP button and take an empty one myself, unless someone else comes along...

So an elevator arrives and everyone squeezes onto it, Styrofoam Dunkin Donuts cups in hand, and I see a woman whip out her cell phone, ready to see if in fact, someone can hear her now.

I see a large woman in a wheelchair a few feet away from this elevator as the doors begin to close. There is a dark haired, 30-something obviously mentally impaired woman behind her, looking around casually. The woman int he chair says, 'Rose? Come on Rose, we have to make the elevator.' I see the elevator doors close. The woman doesn't look helpless or upset, she just looks longingly at the UP button closest to her but is still our of reach. So I walk over and push the button for her. She smiles pleasantly and says,'Another one is coming, Rose. This time we have to be ready.' I wonder how many elevators Rose has missed.

So another small group gathers and several of them hurried people push the already lit UP button and wait anxiously. An elevator opens and everyone gets on. I stick my arm inside and reach around to the HOLD button and call out to Rose, 'Come on Rose! Let's go!' as if I am calling my Dad's dog. Rose smiles at me with her crooked eyes and wraps her chubby hands around the handles of her mother's wheelchair. They barely fit int he crowded lift, but they do and the door closes. 'What floor?' I ask.

Rose's mother tells me 2ICU Lakeside. Damn. I am not familiar with that one. But before I can think differently, the chime pings to announce our arrival on the 2nd floor and so I find myself helping Rose and her mom off the lift and out into the hall. Another young women had to help as well, since Rose couldn't push the wheelchair backwards and I was holding the OPEN button. This women jumped right back into the elevator and was whisked away as the doors closed behind her.

I looked at Rose's mother and asked where she was heading. 2ICU - Lakeside she repeated pleasantly. 'Come on, Rose,' I said. 'I've never been there, but I am sure we can find it.'

'We're visiting my husband,' Rose's mom says.

'My dad!,' Rose says happily.

'He fell and broke his lg in 3 places,' Rose's mom says.

'I am sorry to hear that,' I say to the mom and then again to Rose, looking each one sincerely int he eye and nodding my sympathy.

After roaming the halls for a short time, I flag down a little woman in scrubs and ask for help. We are in the Radiology Department and I know we're not in the right area. I give her the run down of how I met Rose and her mother and that I wanted to help them get where they needed to go. She understood and waved us along. We followed and entered the Radiology area. Rose either heard or saw the word MAMMOGRAM and started reacting in a frightened manner. Her mother tried to soothe her with words, 'Its OK Rose.'

'I don't want Rose to have a mam-o-gram,' Rose whined.

'No mammogram today, Rose,' I said. 'We're just going to see your dad.'

'Going to see my dad!,' she echoed and then bumped the wheelchair into the leg, unintentionally, and I smiled.

The little nurse takes us through the back way to the new Lakeside addition built onto the hospital last year. The walls in the hall are still drywall - not even taped and plastered yet, confirming the nurses' claim that visitors are supposed to go through the new Lakeside entrance and not up through the old hospital. I thank her repeatedly in between encouragements to Rose as we make our way through the bright new hallway, past doorways covered with plastic sheeting.

We emerge into a brand new chrome and teak wood foyer and the nurse leaves after a few more thank-you's from me. I look at Rose's mom and she says this looks familiar. We enter a waiting room through a pair of heavy glass doors which I hold open for Rose and her mother. I think to myself, Rose would never have been able to manage this without help.

I felt suddenly overwhelmed with pity and sympathy for this woman and her daughter. I imagined 35 or more years this woman raised this mentally handicapped daughter - wiping her, cleaning her, feeding her, and now has to rely on her to do the same for her. I cannot imaging how difficult it must have been the last day or two days or however long the husband, Rose's dad, had been hospitalized...and in the ICU! which sounds like the situation is much worse than a couple of broken bones.

We enter the waiting area and there is a hospital volunteer in a red polo shirt who nods at us. Rose's mother asks about the ICU and he points toward the back area. 'Come on Rose,' Rose's mother says and Rose begins pushing the wheelchair in the direction the mother indicated.

'She is here to see her husband,' I said, emotion bubbling up inside me. 'And I think her daughter is mentally challenged. They might need some help. Can you help them?' I can hear a note of begging in my voice as I say this, imploring that this is a serious matter. The volunteer smiles and says he'll be free from the desk in a few minutes and will check on them. He nods affirmatively and I have the feeling he's handles these types, and worse, situations in the past. I am more than willing to pass on my self-imposed responsibility at this point, as I feel a choking feeling in my throat.

I step away but don't leave. I look toward the back of the room and see Rose carefully navigating her mother's wheelchair around other visitors. I see another set of glass doors and I feel compelled to go down there to continue assisting. But I can't. I don't. I don't want to. I want to want to, but I can't. It hurts too much.

I begin walking back to the main hospital, back to my office, back to work. I am emotional. I have that ache in my chest that comes withs sympathy and sadness. I feel like I could cry, if I stumbled upon someone else crying, just to cry out the sympathy I felt for Rose's mom and for Rose. Oh, my heart aches for these strangers and my mind reels from the intensity of the challenging questions which arise in my mind after this brief interaction with life, death and family. Its all too much, this life.

In Review

2008-03-27T20:04:00.003-04:00

I had my review at work today. The vice chair of my department read his comments off the review form to me and we had a few laughs, especially when he said he couldn't give me all O's (outstanding) so there were a few E's (excellent) in there. We chatted briefly, I asked for a private office, he said that would be almost impossible. I asked for a PDA, he said sure. So all in all, it was a good review. What it will amount to in my check, I have no idea but I am sure it won't be enough to grant my husband an early retirement.

Evaluations are weird. I used to work at a place where the form was five pages long and instructions were to list 3 positives and 2 neutrals or negatives in each section. We as employees were encouraged to do a self eval and submit it to our supervisor. I was fortunate enough to have 5 years to master the self-eval and it ended up that 3 of my annual evals were almost word-for-word copies of my submitted self-eval. I was honest - I gave myself fair assessments. I knew I could improve my camaraderie with coworkers and improve my appearance, so I always put those in there. A few times I had to make stuff up - like attend more student functions or spend more time reviewing company policy (I could quote the manual, but never had the chance to prove it).

At the end was a section for the supervisor to write 5 goals and the employee to state an action plan to reach those goals. One manager noted my anti-social behavior and challenged me to interact socially - and I took it as a valuable challenge. I started going to lunch and chatting with staff. I joined the staff softball team. I volunteered to chair the diversity council. I was organizer for two annual 'fun days' and helped plan a family day. Another supervisor challenged me to dress more professionally. I didn't do too well at that, but I did start getting regular hair 'styles' not just 'cuts', and I increased my shoe collection from 2 pairs to 6 pairs. All good things.

The eval process there, I thought, was a good one. Some give and take, a balance of positive and negative commentary and some goals.

Here, at my current locale, the form is a simple 1.5 page list of check boxes with a few blank spaces for minor comments. Quality of work: Outstanding Interactions with others: Excellent etc. There isn't any space to note that I attended & spoke at a national convention, and attended regional conferences. I want it in writing that I have enrolled in graduate school so I can be of more service to the department and the school (and make more money, of course).

On this form there is no room for goal setting, no action plan. I don't like that. I need to be challenged. I can't even set a goal to get all O's because I am already there (according to my supervisor today). So what now?

Yes, I am happy that my work is appreciated and my supervisor is willing to gush about me to the big cheese. I'm just a little disappointed that he didn't give me a challenge for this year. If I did a self-eval I would have put, for goals:

Identify solution for cross-campus conferencing; implement
Identify problems with email distribution list; solve
Assess student technology needs; write summary and proposal
Assess faculty technology and training needs; write summary and action plan

So I guess those are my goals. The actual implementation or problem solving I can't guarantee because, since they aren't in my eval I don't have full departmental support. But I can do as much as I can on my end and will learn something in the process and make some headway across the technological divide. The great thing about school and work being so closely related is that I can craft school assignments into work-related projects. A few of the goals listed above could be projects I can get school credit for, so it definitely works to my benefit.

And I am very excited about getting a PDA! Hooray for tech toys!

spring break

2008-03-10T21:31:00.004-04:00

Beaches. Beer. Bar-b-que. Not for me.

Although it was on my schedule, in the syllabus, I really didn't pay any mind to the scheduled week off. Not until I fell behind in my homework. Then I rallied and made significant headway so that I, too, could enjoy the week off without the worry of unfinished business.

Because life is life and life is like that, this week hasn't been super wonderful. I have been logging on to the course website, just to poke around and peek at replies to my discussions posts even though I promised myself I wouldn't. And I have been stressing out just little because I haven't decided on an 'engaging question' for a research project I didn't know I would be working on. (I did read the syllabus, and re-read it; the information is unclear). But that isn't due until next week so I could put it on the theoretical back burner without guilt.

And it is tax season. So this week I have been working on our household taxes. Oh joy of joys. Why do people who have children get tax refunds and people without children have to leave their money with the federal government to spend? That makes no sense to me. I know it costs money to raise kids, but seriously. That tax credit needs to be dissolved into something either equally beneficial or equally penalizing.

So Sunday is Dad's 79th birthday. I'm not a big fan of family obligations. I hear the death march drumming as whatever event it is draws nearer. Budda-budda-bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. Budda-da-da-da-da-da bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. Its not that I don't love my family and I do enjoy visiting my brother and playing with his rugrats. Its the obligation part of it that bothers me. Everyone waits until its someones birthday and then scrambles to plan a get-together and no one has any idea of each others' schedule because we haven't seen each other since the last birthday. And you can tell just by looking around that everyone has somewhere else they'd rather be, even if its just at home at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon (like me). Not really - I see my brother regularly. I am just exaggerating to support my argument that family obligations aren't really very much fun. Because they aren't.

On the bright side, my office-mate is away for the week with her church, saving the souls of people in El Salvador, or building shelters or digging wells, or whatever. But it means that I have the whole office to myself AND there aren't twenty million people dancing in and out our door to chat with her. I love it. I'd love to have my own office. I had a private office three years ago, and it was a nice one, too, a corner office on a second floor with a view of 100 year old pine trees growing up and around a decaying old state hospital. It was glorious - the privacy, the seclusion, the autonomy. When I started with my current employer, my first position involved a cubicle. It was the worst working environment I could be assigned. It was right near a door, too, so every five minutes someone would enter or exit the suite and that door would slam. My nerves were shot after a few months - I'd jump out of my skin every time I heard the mechanism catch in the door handle. Plus it was a suite - there were four of us in there - one gay male, the boss, and three women. Talk about over emotional wrecks. Ugh. Terrible. But there was always chocolate around.

My office mate now is OK; she is nice, she tries to be friendly. But she is older and on the verge of retirement and she has a classic case of employee burnout - she knows too much, has been there too long, has seen too much change and is ready to leave but can't until she's earned her full retirement so she feels 'stuck' and helpless. She's a miserable pill. She talks to herself constantly, which would be funny except its kind of scary. She lives alone with cats - crazy cat lady? - and rarely takes time off. She might fall down dead the day after she retires because it seems all she has is her job. And her yearly trip to El Salvador. You'd think someone who comes back from a third world country would feel pretty good about life, but last year, she came back in an even worse mood. So I am not anxious for her return and definitely enjoying my week alone. I am having lunch in my office with my feet up on the windowsill. Its great. Even if only short lived.

All in all, everything is well balanced, I think. I am ready for classes to start up again next week. I am glad I had time to do my taxes - in fact, I'll try to remember this next year since it has worked out so nicely. And if my office mate goes away again next year, maybe I'll invite Dad to have lunch with me in my office and my brother and sisters can do the scramble on their own. Its all about learning from experience, right?

Procrastination, at its finest

2008-02-23T22:20:00.003-05:00

7:30am
I wake up with this ridiculous leg pain I have had for the past few weeks. I am annoyed with this unidentifiable discomfort and also annoyed to be wide awake at 7:30 on a Saturday.

I get up, wash up, and head down to the kitchen. After some stretches and deep knees bends to relieve the leg pain, I turn on the TV, start coffee and take out the knitting project I began last night.

I watch the news and an hour of home improvement shows, knowing full well that hours of homework await me and it would be in my best interest to begin before husband awakens.

9:00am
Husband comes down. We have breakfast and chat. We gauge how long we think it'll take to plow the driveway and shovel the walkways. We check the weather for signs of additional snowfall.

10:00am
We decide there is no need to head outside until lunchtime. I pull out my computer.

After checking email, deleting spam, reading the news headlines and washing the dishes, there is nothing left to do but start homework. Right? No, how about I look for ways to cut back on our monthly cable TV bill. Yeah...that'll kill 45 minutes...

I have a severe case of procrastination, brought by an unexpected bout of lethargy which was a side affect of having the flu for a week. 10 days ago I stayed home from work due to head cold. By the end of that day, I had a fever. The next day, sore throat and sinusitis. I was able to do a little work, thanks to a webcam and video conference technology along with VPN access to my workplace PC.

What I didn't get done was home work. I logged in for ten or fifteen minutes a day, to stay on top of discussion board postings and that was it.

So here it is the weekend, and although my head is still stuffy, I am feeling better and wanting to go out & about but I have 2 weeks worth of homework to do. Ugh. And no motivation to do it.

10:55am
Ok, So I grab my notebook and pen and login to my courses. I check one course - list my assignments due and scan the discussion boards. I check another course - my internet freezes up. I Check Mozilla and its working fine. But I have to run a virus scan and make sure there isn't anything wrong.....stupid Microsoft....

11:45am
13 tracking cookies detected by Ad-Aware and a cache of issues detected by SpyBot. I cleaned up my PC and knitted a row on my scarf.

This scarf is a new project and I am very pleased with how it looks and feels - tres shabby chic. Last night, because book club was canceled due to weather, I sat and knotted together all the purple and pink scrap yarn I have collected over the past year. Most of it is soft acrylic, but added in several yards of multi-colored cotton yarn and one long piece of blood red wool blend.
I began knitting on a 30mm long circular needle, size 9. I cast on 320 stitches and began knitting. I haven't been tracking my knit and purl rows, so it has an uneven vertical ribbing along with the varied vertical stripes. The effect is beautiful. I also threaded 10 purple buttons of various sizes/shapes and added those in on one row. I'll do it again, maybe 3 or 4 times, to add some interest. I have quite a bit of green scraps, too, so I may do a green version after this one is complete.

11:50am
Now....I am going ...to look at ...my homework....

12:34pm
I wonder if the reason I am procrastinating so much with homework this week is because assignments for both courses require me to create lesson plans for K-12 students. I do not work in a K-12 environment.

Both courses are focusing on teaching for all student abilities. My technology course homework is to build a UDL (http://www.cast.org/research/udl/index.html) lesson plan.

My theories course assignment is build an MI (http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm) lesson plan.

I would argue that it is impossible to teach in these manners more than 60% of the time. Maybe 80% for some courses. I argue:
How do you teach a blind student the color wheel in art class?
How do you create an MI specific lesson in math for a naturalist intelligence?
How much time should a teacher invest in lesson planning to create these all inclusive learning opportunities?

Inclusion in classrooms is fine. Its great. But its not always appropriate or effective. Yes, technology provides almost endless possibilities to teach to disabled students. Without a doubt, screen readers, a keyboard and a mouse break down barriers to learning. But teaching with technology and teaching without to he rest of class seems like a lot to ask of a teacher. Isn't this why they used to have 'special schools'? To make the most of specialists and specialized resources?

Sensitivity to individual personalities and interests is fabulous - but to tailor lessons to each MI for each lesson is unnecessary. It is more reasonable to plan a week's worth of lesson plans to include something for everyone. I have been trying to build this lesson plan and find it ridiculous to have to add in a special project in which 'naturalist's' can track the weight of recycled paper so that I don't exclude their natural intelligence in my math lesson. Couldn't' I just say that the math relay race I designed for the athletics will be played outdoors?

1:06pm
After drafting my UDL lesson plan, to teach addition & subtraction to blind and deaf students, I need a break and am going out to shovel snow.

4:03pm
I just submitted my overdue UDL assignment. Thank God for rubrics. I was able to edit the draft and then re-write to meet the rubric for this assignment. I hope I met the intermediate level. It was very challenging for me to do this. I felt irritable while doing this assignment and would rather have not had to do it. This is very close to what I expected the course work would be considering the program is geared toward K-12 learners. I much prefer the theories of learning, discussing school systems and types of learners and possibilities for change. Writing lesson plans is not fun for me.

I have assignments in theories to look at, now. One I already began, I just need to tweak it. The other I haven't even read yet....

4:57pm
Ouch. Completing that gave me a headache. I need to take a break. Honestly, I need a nap.

8:33pm
I didn't take a nap, but I did get sucked into watching TV and knitting, having a light dinner and doing dishes. Now I am doing my reading assignment, on which I have to write at least a single page reflection on the information.

10:17pm
Completed the overdue theories assignment and submitted it. Did my reading and one of the two written assignments due Monday. I have an outline for the 2nd assignment, which I will finish tomorrow.

I am exhausted. Still recovering from the flu? Tired from shoveling? From putting so much energy into procrastination? Who knows.

But I am now focused on the work. Having completed the over due work and made some headway into the newer stuff makes me feel better, less anxious and more ready to get back into the routine.

Your warm & fuzzies make me cry

2008-02-03T08:49:00.000-05:00

Not yet finished completing week 3 homework and I am exhausted.

Work has been very busy the last week and a half -- the grant, the proposal, a presentation, web development meetings.

Home life has been unusually busy, with the kitchen & bathroom remodel complete, I am moving boxes of kitchen stuff back downstairs, washing plaster dust off of it, and trying to put it all away in a logical place.

School is going well. I am enjoying learning and processing new information. Both classes are online so I can work on assignments piecemeal through the week, however I am not yet satisfied with a routine and find myself with more required reading to do on Sunday afternoon than I would like. Perhaps once we've settled into normalcy at home, (and my husband learns to leave me alone when I am 'at school')and work projects level out again I'll be able to successfully identify a schedule to complete my school work and still have an afternoon off away from a computer.

Today, I woke early and showered and brought the kitty downstairs with me for coffee. I finished a novel, Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett (this may explain the tone of my first post in this blog). The book has been sitting on my desk with only 20 pages unread, for the past 2 weeks. I then plugged in my laptop and scanned my email, my blogs, my GoogleGroups and the local newspaper headlines. Still too distracted to login to my online courses, I sprayed the waste basket with Mr Clean and scrubbed all the coffee stains off the sides of it. Kitty is fed and curled up, sleeping, on the living room couch. There are no dishes which need to be washed or put away. With a fresh cup of coffee, I sit to login to my online courses.

My first stop is course email. Some feedback from an instructor regarding recently completed assignments. All good. Next, I check the discussion boards to review posts added since my last login late Thursday night. I read through commentary on classmates required posts; I have already posted my 2 required comments and feel no need to comment further. At the end of the new post list, I come to several responses to my required post related to the Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Learning module assigned last week.

I have always been a creative writer. I find it easy to complete a written assignment and am able to add some flair to an otherwise monotone narrative, if it isn't inappropriate to do so. For this particular assignment, I created a reflective piece in which I detailed the process of completing the assignment -

At work this morning it occurred to me (recall) that I needed to do something for school. I was aware (comprehension) that I needed to print a few pages of module content and bring them home to work on because the task required focus and time. I then printed out the pages and put them in my bag to bring home (application).

During dinner, while slurping my soup, I read the instructions and each of the 21 questions very carefully. It was plain to see that solving the puzzle would require reason and the answer could be found with logical deduction (analysis). I finished my soup.

The feedback from my classmates has been postivie; but is tough to accept without doubt. My assessment of posts has been that they are 'nice' posts and not 'honest' posts. Because most of us don't know each other and many are new to discussion boards, people are posting niceties instead of constructive criticisms. Several have made progress through the MEd progam and know each other from on-campus classes, but for the most part, we are faceless personalities in the discussion board. I am trying to pay attention to who is who but their narratives run on into each other and there is not yet any apparent difference between them, for me.

Several of the women in the group have been posting things such as, "Oh my gosh, my cousin lives in your town!" and "Oh wow, I have a baby, too! Aren't they precious?" instead of "My cousin lives in your town; she was arrested last week for DUI; did you see it in the paper?" or "Yeah, I have a baby, too. It's so hard - I had no idea poopy diapers came in so many shades of brown & green!" Yes, I realize that the latter comments are not appropriate for the classroom discussion, however, neither is the first set if its pointless babbling.

That kind of trivial nonsense bores me to tears. Perhaps they find comfort, and feel safe, in volleying warm fuzzies back and forth. Perhaps because the discussions are evaluated by the instructors, they are guarded and trying to remain professional to the point that they refrain from showing their true selves.

Maybe I'm too harsh. Maybe by the end of the course I'll have made an honest connection with one or two people. Maybe next semester I'll post something warm & fuzzy such as, "Oh wow! Hi! We had ED737 together last term. Wasn't that a wonderful course?"

Life, death, work, school

2008-01-20T10:16:00.000-05:00

I planned my wedding while finishing my undergraduate degree. I was working full time and going to school two nights per week. We had already consolidated households and I had set up a home office. But with the living situation being new plus all the hubbub of wedding planning I had very little quiet time.

I had moved in with my husband who had the first floor of a two-family house. His mother lived on the second floor and he was her primary care giver. This was a big adjustment in itself - us living together, me getting used to the routine, them getting used to someone new to talk to and share dinner with. Compared to my tiny, quiet, and maintenance free apartment, my new living situation gave me a lot less free time and absolutely no alone time, even when squirreled away in an area I set up as a home office.

During this same period, my mother was diagnosed with cancer and began weekly chemotherapy treatments. I alternated taking her to treatments with my Dad. On my week, Mom and I played cribbage until she became sleepy and then I would do homework until her treatment was over. As the wedding neared, we made final decisions for the reception, and answered the nurses' questions about my dress, the food, the band, who was coming, etc.

Our September wedding was wonderful. My sister in-law, who was up from Florida, stayed at the house while we went to Niagara Falls for a week-long honeymoon. We came home and I resumed my crazy routine of work, school, housework, Mom's chemo treatments for three weeks. Then my new mother in-law became ill, and suddenly, quite expectedly, passed away. She left a tremendous void in my husband's life as he had been her best friend and caregiver for over 20 years, since his father died and because she didn't work or drive a car. My husband was sad, lonely, and lost with much less to do after work and on weekends, and missing someone who he shared a great deal of time with. I did everything I could to spend more time with him and help him adjust, and to grieve.

Somehow I was able to squeeze in a winter session class and thereby wrapped up the last of my required credits and graduated the following May. I walked with high honors despite the drama and sadness and family turmoil that had been happening. Mom sat with my father and her father in special seats I had arranged for them right near the stage.

The cancer inevitably won and Mom passed away 8 months later. Instead of taking her to chemo I was taking Dad out to eat once a week so he wouldn't be too lonely without her. That lasted for about a year and then I began weaning myself away, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I had some time to myself.

My husband and I decided to convert the house into a single-family dwelling, and so, having much more space to spread out and find our own forms of solitude and peaceful respite, we mourned and healed and began to look forward to whatever would come next. We accepted the change and challenges life had presented and together we grew stronger and adapted.

Last year I took a trip to Arizona to visit my eldest sister and there, exploring the painted desert, I decided that it was time to go back to school. I realized I now had the time. I had always had the interest and certainly the financial motivation to seek a promotion at work. I returned home satisfied with my decision and eager to begin exploring my options.

And so here it is. A new chapter in my life. Its a good time to reflect. I can't help but remember those days reading textbooks in the cancer clinic. I can't help but remember sitting at the computer at home, my husband stopping at my desk to say how happy he was I was there. I can't help but remember sitting in class exhausted, emotionally drained, tearful and wondering why I was doing what I was doing. And I remember my graduation day and seeing my mom so proud. I knew exactly why I was I doing what I was doing and it was worth every minute.

The Story Begins

2008-01-14T17:09:00.000-05:00

Today is my First Official Day of Graduate School. It has been a struggle to get to this day as the Gods of Education have seen to making the Road to Career Advancement difficult and treacherous. But here I am, victorious in my Quest for Enrollment.

The God of Administrative Bullshit was the first to demonstrate his power. With his Roll of Red-Tape in one mighty hand and the Irony of Murphy's Law in the other, he blindsided me as I merrily tripped my way to Sir Registrar with signed documents from my lord, the Earl of Employment. You see, in my village, anyone who wishes to attend school is granted a reduction in tuition. This is a great benefit and one which should be pursued at all costs. Once I was accepted into the program of my choice, I declared to my lord my intentions and he gladly made his signature on documents allowing a tuition reduction. The only condition of this arrangement is that the documents must be hand delivered to Sir Registrar at the school of choice. A journey, for sure, but one I expect to make just once per semester.

Documents in hand, I jumped into my trusty Subaru and made way to the North Shore. A tiring two and three quarter hour journey, but I was happy to wind my way between buildings toward Sir Registrar's Office. There I presented my Class Enrollment Forms, my identification, and the precious signed documents as described above.

Well, here is where the God of Administrative Bullshit stepped in.

'Oh, no!' he bellowed.' You cannot take this class! It is not for you! You are not in the right program for this class!'

'But I was told by my Advisor that these were two classes required for my degree!' I whined pitifully, the weariness of the journey catching up with me.

'Well, then, take it up with your Advisor!' he replied harshly. 'And come back when you have this sorted out.'

Come back? Come back? It was a half days journey to get there and back! And would I have to revisit the Earl of Employment to acquire new documents? And for what other class? Oh, I drove home disheartened.

The following day, I retold my story in a long email to my Advisor. He went, soon after, to meet with the Dean of Education, who declared that I could go ahead and take the course I was denied and I could register over the telephone. When my Advisor related this to me, my heart grew light again and I soon began to smile and look forward to today, this day, this First Official Day of Graduate School.