Local news report on Lethbridge College's Tech Plan

Mike McCready picked this up on Twitter yesterday. It's an article on a local radio station website about our 3 year "tech plan". It sounds like the DL Strategy. Nice coverage from the Senior Leadership level for sure!

http://www.country95.fm/news/news-detail.asp?ID=4390

Reminders . . .

1. Remember to get away from your desk at lunch time. I'm telling myself this too :)
2. Livestrong today at noon! Be there!! Well, and livestrong every day too of course . . .
3. Document your hours on projects - consistently! This is an integral part of the work you do!
4. When you see one of your colleagues doing an amazing job, tell them about it.
5. Follow up on your PD goals. Remember that EET meeting in August where we formed groups around specific topics. We'll be sharing our experiences with this at our November EET meeting. If you need a quick reminder about your topic and group, visit the Google doc one more time . . .
6. Stories - Remember to add your stories to our growing list. This information is very valuable as we'll be using it for reports, showcases, etc. Brief, informal descriptions are all we need so it's quick!
   

Registration Stats for DL Courses

Thought you might be interested in these registration stats as well. The visuals in the spreadsheet (and above) will show you that DL registrations have increased from 1481 / year in 2005 to 3019 / year in 2010/11. It's doubled in six years. It will also show you that average class sizes have also steadily increased. Your work is making a difference!

Interesting Stat re Completion Rates in DL / Online Courses

We're presenting this information today at the DL Operations Team meeting, but I thought many of you would find this interesting. This visual shows the increase in completion rates for students taking D and E section courses between 2008 and 2010. The completion rates have grown steadily over the three years, from 63% in 2008 to 66% in 2009 to 70% in 2010.

Many of you have contributed to this increase through your involvement in developing quality online courses and in supporting DL / Online instructors and in Angel training and video production and the list goes on. There are many contributing factors in students successfully completing their DL / Online courses.

Update from Management Forum last week

Last Wednesday the Management Forum met for the first time this year. The main focus of the meeting was to discuss the results from the "Start, Stop, Change" brainstorm in the spring and then to form four working groups in response to these results:

• Revenue Generation Working Group (Lead: Dennis Sheppard; Tracy Edwards will be hosting the initial brainstorming session on October 5)
• Employee Engagement (Lead: Coreen Roth)
• Service Review Working Group (Lead: Karen O’Dwyer)
• Program Viability Review and Process Working Group (Lead: Karen O’Dwyer)
  

" The focus of working groups is to discuss and vet opportunities or problems that, if addressed, would assist in moving the institution forward – making things work better without compromising the institution. The leads identified will help in creating and leading/facilitating the working groups moving forward." (email from Peter Leclaire). Additional working groups on Sustainability and Communication will likely be formed in the future.

These focus areas were identified through the brainstorm we had last spring.

Livestrong Event tomorrow (Friday) at noon!

Let's all try to participate in the Live Strong Event tomorrow (Friday) from noon to one. Jeff Hamilton sent a special invite to all of us in EET - and you have three choices:

All of us have been affected by cancer. On September 30 we will hosting Livestrong at Lethbridge College. We encourage everyone to wear yellow on that day in support of the people fighting cancer. This is not a fund raising event as there are many venues to donate; it is a celebration. We have organized 3 activities at the noon lunch hour (12:00 - 12:45 p.m.).

• Bike Ride (bring a bike)

• Coulee Walk around the top

• Coulee Hike to the river

Meet at the Centre Core at noon to muster for the 3 treks. BYOWB (water bottle). All participants will receive a yellow Livestrong bracelet and will be entered in a draw for Livestrong apparel.

EET Planning for 2011-12

We started planning last spring for 2011-12 and this included a variety of activities:

• We started by looking at the activities from 2010-11 and asked the EET team to identify things we needed to start, stop and change.
  
• We met with representatives from many Schools / programs to gather their requests for EET support.
• We asked for and received requests from other schools / programs that were not able to meet with us.
• The leaders from each team within EET identified priority areas for the coming year on this spreadsheet (which is still in development)
• And then we compiled it all into one main spreadsheet titled DL Strategy / EET Planning for 2011/12
  
• On Tuesday, we took this information to the Academic Leadership Team (ALT) that consists of all the Deans, the VP Student Services, and the VP Academic / Chief Learning Officer for discussion (and direction / approval).
• Today at our EET meeting, we'll spend some time analyzing this information for two main reasons:

1. Everyone on the team needs to be aware of the scope of work listed on the spreadsheet. Many of the projects are underway already, which is great. The next step is to priorize and plan, which includes identifying which projects will be started when, what resources are needed, etc.
   
2. This spreadsheet will be our guide over the next year, but it's also fluid. Since we discussed this with ALT on Tuesday, I've received 2+ more requests for major projects that will have to be discussed with many of you before we commit.
   
3. All of you need to check the information listed. Are we missing anything? Is it accurate?

We need your stories . . .

We've had many great things happen in the past couple of weeks as we've supported instructors and students. Can you all please all help us capture these stories so we have anecdotal evidence of the work we do to support both instructors and students?

This information will be used to provide updates to Peter, evidence in DL Strategy implementation updates, . . . justification for new positions. We could also do some highlights on the EET site, develop posters that showcase instructors (saw this done at RDC and it was very effective) . . .

I've started a Google doc so we have somewhere to collect this information, so feel free to add very brief descriptions as they happen . . .

Thanks to all for your help with this. The more stories we can collect, the better.

Tobiah's introduction

We sent the following introduction out to DL Instructors, Chairs, and Deans this morning, and I thought it would be good for all EET staff to know more about the focus of Tobiah's half-time position. Tobiah, I think you are going to be one very busy coordinator. Welcome aboard!

DL / Online Instructors,

My name is Tobiah Goldstein and I am the new DL/ Online Learning Coordinator. I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and promote the services I provide to instructors at Lethbridge College.

My role with the Educational Enhancement Team is to support DL and online instructors in providing a high quality, engaging, and accessible learning experience for students. Many of you have been involved with course development and are now transitioning to teaching DL. Others may be teaching an online course for the first time and are unfamiliar with the online teaching resources, tools, and teaching methods that are often used.

I will be the main contact person to handle concerns and questions you may have as you begin to deliver your courses in an online or even blended environment. This may include working to make your teaching ideas work well online, helping you gain confidence with unfamiliar online teaching tools, and troubleshooting in Angel. I'm excited to collaborate on projects and help instructors work through barriers as they arise in this unique learning environment.

I encourage you to contact me with questions, concerns, and ideas as you begin teaching your online courses this semester.

• Office - TE3215
  
• email tobiah.goldstein@lethbridgecollege.ca
• Phone ext 5396 (1.800.572.0103 - ext 5396 - Long Distance within Canada)
• I will be in the office Mondays-Thursdays from 1:00-4:30 and on Fridays from 11:00 – 2:30
  

I look forward to supporting you in your teaching and helping you to make the courses your teach online work well for you and your students.

Sincerely,

Tobiah Goldstein
DL/ Online Learning Coordinator
Lethbridge College

The Unintended Consequences of Innovation

It would be great to get some discussion going around this YouTube video titled The Unintended Consequences of Innovation.

This is a 16 minute TED talk by Edward Tenner says that it's not that easy to now the lessons we learn from innovation, that the work we do often has unintended consequences, some positive and some negative. He gives lots of good examples (bedbugs, spam . . .) Great quote at the end: "Chaos happens - let's make better use of it".

It also has some interesting connections to this very interesting article that talks about the unintended / unexpected outcomes of an iPod project at Duke university. One very interesting consequence was students' responses to the "old school" assessment methods the prof used in a course with a very unique and innovative approach.

Thoughts?

Skype!

We need a consistent way to communicate among the staff in EET, as well as with external clients, through instant messaging (and phone, video, etc. when you want to use it). Because a majority of staff - and the external clients we work with - use Skype, everyone in EET needs to have a Skype account that is set to open automatically when you boot up your computer.

Liz or Donna will be gathering everyone's Skype addresses by the end of next week, Sept 16, and we'll be distributing this information across the department.

We'll set up a session next week for anyone who needs assistance setting this up.

Here's a description of Skype features. You are only expected to get a free account, but other options are available if you want to upgrade on your own.

And here is the link to the Get Skype download for your computer.

If you have questions, please come talk to me . . .

Course Development Assistant Position - Update

Here's an update on the Course Development Assistant position. Marina will be coming back from her mat leave on September 14, and she will be back at work for approximately six months before her next mat leave starts. Yes, Marina is expecting another baby - very exciting for Marina, Josh, and Sadie.

To ensure continuity in the work that the Course Development Assistant is responsible for, we have figured out a way to keep Liz working so she can continue on through Marina's next mat leave. She will be working in EET every morning from 8 to 12, and then working for Accessibility Services in the afternoon.

I'm thrilled that Marina is coming back to EET and also thrilled that we can keep Liz working with us part time. This is an opportunity to utilize both Marina's and Liz's strengths as we decide what each of their responsibilities / workloads will consist of.

Liz will continue to do much of the financial work to ensure continuity, and you'll know more about each of their responsibilities as we figure them out.