Cudos to Chris G. from our President :)

Over the last couple of weeks, Chris G. spent a lot of his time ensuring that the web conferencing install was working properly in the Board Room. Tracy commented on the work he did, saying that "he is absolutely a “can do” person and has done a fabulous job of facilitating our Board room project. He has such good people skills in working with contractors, folks in my office and today, our Board Chair. We are lucky to have him on our team!"

Ditto that! We are lucky to have you on our team, Chris!

We'll have our own AA Day!

So apparently it was Administrative Assistants day on Wednesday, and I totally missed it. So this means that we get to have our own AA day when we can acknowledge the work that our AA's do for us. This includes both Donna and Liz! They organize us, bring us food, schedule things, buy things, and overall take care of a lot of the very important details.

So let's make next Thursday, May 5, our very own AA day. Take a moment out of your day to acknowledge Donna and Liz for the work they do for us! Let's plan to get together for afternoon treats and tea at 3 in TE3213.

eCampus Reviews, etc.

We've received a number of course reviews back from eCampus in the last while, and they have consistently been very positive. The reviewers have commented on the courses being well designed, well written, interactive, etc. Thanks to all of you for the hard work you put into ensuring these courses meet quality standards / expectations. You are the people who make this happen, and even though it's good to get positive reviews from eCampus, it's more important to know that we are providing students with a quality learning experiences!

We have a reputation at the eCampusAlberta table for developing quality courses. Sheila, the lead reviewer, always tells me that our courses are a pleasure to review!

You may find it interesting to know that the combination of centralized and decentralized organization at Lethbridge College around DL / online learning is quite unique. We (EET) are the "centralized" in this process as we support course development as well as advocate for DL / online learning across all College processes, including such areas as the DL Operations Team, registration, DL / online instructor pay, PD for online instructors, orientations, etc), while the programs have responsibilities as well for determining which courses get developed, who the SMEs are, and who teaches it and when. It's a very collaborative process. Many of the other institutions are decentralized, so the programs are responsible for the entire process, including development, registration, etc. etc.

I learn about these things when I attend the eCampus Alberta meetings, listen to the other institutions describe their environments, and talk with the other reps about the challenges we all face. We have a good thing going!

More budget news

Yesterday Tracy sent out a budget update that stated that the Board of Governors approved the budget yesterday. It's good news for sure that no full time, continuing staff or faculty positions have been affected by the tight budget. We have a number of project positions in EET that are dependent 0n external funding, and we continue to monitor this situation carefully - and continue to scan the horizon for future opportunities that will continue to support these positions.

We can expect to see reductions related to travel (not PD), college functions (yes, this means food), and gifts for next year, but I think we can live with this! You'll know more when I know more . . .

Two positions posted on HR site

Two positions within EET are now posted on the HR site. These include the Instructional Development Coordinator / Lead ID position and the Curriculum Consultant. Both are full-time, excluded / non-faculty positions. The competition closes on May 4.

If you know anyone who you think would be good fits for these positions, please pass the info on.

Architectural Glass

When we met with the architects to discuss EET needs in the library planning, they mentioned architectural glass and how it might impact our work environment. Check out this video to show what we may have to work with. It's quite amazing. Thanks to Ian for sending this our way.

Architectural Glass Video

Congratulations Rebecca! -

An instructor nominated Rebecca for the Service Excellence Award. This is one of the new awards associated with the Make-it-Count campaign!. Here's what the nomination said about Rebecca:

"Your open and approachable manner provides encouragement to colleagues and instills confidence in students. Enthusiasm for service excellence is noted in your nomination, which speaks of your unwavering resolve to tackle technical challenges head-on until you find solutions that benefit the team and your clients."

Accurate description - and well deserved nomination! Congratulations!!

Videos on innovation, creative work spaces . . .

Thanks to Tyler for providing these links to three YouTube videos on a very innovative industrial design company called IDEO. All videos provide insight into how an innovative team works, as well as the space they work within. Lots to learn . . . well worth watching. Here are a few quotes:

They call their brainstorming a "deep dive", with a few guidelines

• Encourage wild ideas

• One conversation at a time

• Stay focused

• Defer judgment (ring a bell if someone criticizes)

• Build on ideas of others

They refer to their work environment as "focused chaos". And chaos can be constructive and teamwork!

Other quotes . . .

• Fail often to succeed

• Enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of a lone genius
• This is where the crazies work!
• Being playful is important to being innovative!

Staff within EET are already demonstrating some of these ideas? What ideas can you see us incorporating to take it further?

Part1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUazVjvsMHs&feature=related

Part2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_civr9fr4iw&feature=related

Part3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zddv5Bv7da8&feature=related

Articles on Mobile Technology

Here's a link to an Educause publication that is highlighting mobile technology this month. It has six articles on such topics as ebooks, iPads, website, devices and change.

Getting a Handle on Mobile: Perspectives

Presentations on Web 2.0 and Connective Learning

Jackie, Chris A., and Tyler recently presented twice at a K-12 PD day for teachers - once on Web 2.0 and again on Connective Learning. They are planning to present again as part of the Refresh Conference on May 3. Jackie provided a link to both presentations that were built using Slide Rocket.

Thanks for sharing these with us!

Thoughts on Library and Learning Innovation Project

Representatives from throughout EET met with architects doing the preliminary planning for the the Library and Learning Innovation Project (LLIP). The purpose of this meeting was to report back and get answers to questions that arose from our first meetings last month. EET is included in a separate section in the planning documents, and includes information on the following:

- Our role as a support unit
- Key activities
- Hours of operation
- Related activities: This is an interesting area as we'll have access to other innovative areas being planned for other parts of the library. Examples include a 'high tech' instruction room, project rooms, and the Learning Commons
- Workload: contains the names of each position, and how many staff we have
- External Relationships: This is information about relationships to other 'functions' / locations, such as the main entry, learning commons, Learning Services (Cafe), and the Dean's office
- Internal Relationships: Here are a few points from this section . . .

• Overall, provide an open, flexible, highly reconfigurable, transparent, and collaborative environment that is conducive to change and creative processes
• Provide opportunities for formal and informal, scheduled and ad hoc / spontaneous group interaction
• Faculty lab to be very flexible, video conference enabled, and provided with a smart board, whiteboards, multiple display technologies including flat panel monitors . . .
  
• Office to be easily configurable as needs change. Each office securable.

We had an interesting conversation about private office space. We've requested offices for staff who have reporting responsibilities or have other reasons why they need a confidential work space on an ongoing basis. We've requested extra, flexible offices that our staff could book when they need access to a private setting for work or private meetings.

We also requested a larger "creative, brainstorming" room with room for about 12 seats (we may have recommended we make this bigger).

There is a Functional Relationship Diagram that shows the physical relationship between functions in the department. For example, where are the media specialists and formatters in relation to the instructional designers? Where are the offices . . . in the middle, or on the outside walls?

And finally it lists space requirements for each position / work space. It will be interesting to see how much space we have been allocated when the final draft comes out. On this draft it's more than what we currently have.

I came across this article today that talks about Learning Commons, more specifically, "Seven Things You Should KNow about Learning Commons." The information presented in the article is consistent with the conversations we had about the Library project in general, so you might find it interesting.

If you have questions, or would like to see the current draft, please ask someone on this committee: Chris Goble, Jackie Doherty, Lorne Deimert, Donna Blanchard, Sue Huffman, Elio Girardi, or me. We also have two faculty reps: Ian Hepher and Carolyn Speakman.

Students addicted to technology

This was on CBC news this morning. It discusses a study where students were asked to shut down all media for 24 hours. This included phones, TV, iPads, computers . . . "Many students also reported mental and physical symptoms of distress and "employed the rhetoric of addiction, dependency and depression," when reporting their experiences of trying to go unplugged for a full day." They commented that their phones are both emotionally and physically comforting.

Makes me wonder what life will be like in a few years. Digital divide . . . learning environments . . .

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/04/06/technology-addiction-students.html

Innovative . . . focus on excellence and evidence based practice

We’re planning to submit workflows this week for replacement positions in EET, including a curriculum consultant and a course development coordinator. Considerable thought went into writing these position descriptions as we looked at department needs both now and in the future. What skills, knowledge, experience, and qualifications should the successful applicant have to enhance an already strong team?

In addition to the list of specific responsibilities and qualifications, we decided to emphasize two things in a separate sentence: “The successful candidate will be recognized as being innovative and focused on excellence and evidence based practice.”

We look very closely at “fit” when we hire for new positions. When all else is equal, who would be the best fit with existing staff and have the potential of taking all of us up a notch?

The positions will be posted on the LC website later this week or early next week.

Budget Update

First, about our EET budgets:

- Our software / hardware budget is gone for this budget year (which ends on June 30)! We’ve spent over $21,000 on software and hardware (mice, keyboards, external hard drives, etc.). All gone!
- We’re close in other areas so watch for future updates.

And second, please make sure you read Tracy’s budget updates that are going out to all staff. The budgets we submitted for EET 2011/12 were tight. Two weeks ago we were asked to go through our budgets one more time with the goal of helping to reduce the institutional budget by 1 million dollars. We made it half way, but there’s more work to do. Watch for Tracy’s next update – and I’ll also keep you in the loop as I learn more.

Agenda for EET Meeting Monday, April 4

Here's a tentative agenda for our meeting Monday morning:
1. EET Website

• Status
• Bios
• Launch date?

2. Feedback from Course Development Survey

3. Updates

• Staffing

- Congratulations to Sue
- Ads this week for new positions

• Student Technology Use Survey
• Budget
• MS Walk – Who can join us on April 16? Register by tomorrow.

4. Celebrations

- Completion of Online Course Development Funds (OCDF) commitments - “You Made This Happen Celebration” – date TBA

- Thank-you – and let’s help Connie, Julie, and Ian transition back to teaching full-time – date mid-May

- Date for EET Amazing Race and supper at Ian’s house – May ?

- Baby Showers! Taylors, Goldsteins, and Ruggles