Harvard BSchool Publishing…
In: General Whatnot
30 Jun 2009you can kiss it. The Distant Librarian said it all so well here (without the cursing that I would use).
Gates Foundation Awards for Remedial
30 Jun 2009From the CHE, Monday June 22, 2009
Gates Foundation Chooses 15 Community Colleges for Grants Under New Program
By CHARLES HUCKABEE
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has chosen 15 community colleges and five states as grant recipients under a new program intended to improve remedial education at the college level and raise graduation rates, the Associated Press reported on Sunday.
The grants, to be announced today, total nearly $16.5-million and are being awarded to college programs in Connecticut, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia, the news agency reported. Of those states, all but North Carolina are also getting money for state programs in support of remedial education.
The foundation announced last fall its plan to double college-completion rates of students from low-income families by 2025 and awarded the first round of grants toward that goal in December.
Two other nonprofit organizations working with the Gates Foundation toward that goal are the Lumina Foundation for Education, based in Indianapolis, and MDC, which received the largest of the initial grants. The organization, which is based in Chapel Hill, N.C., manages Achieving the Dream, a national effort at more than 80 community colleges to find strategies that help students complete remedial education, move on to college-level courses, and receive a degree or certificate.
The 15 community colleges selected for the latest grants have more than 133,000 students taking remedial classes, the AP reported.
CJCLS Sponsored Session at ALA
In: Uncategorized
30 Jun 2009Going to ALA? Check out the Community and Junior College Section’s session on First-Year students:
ACRL CJCLS Annual ALA Conference Program
McCormick Place West – Room 196c
Saturday, July 11, 2009 – 10:30 a.m – 12:00 p.m.
“FYE: Connecting First-Year College Students with the Library”
Donna Younger, a nationally recognized educator, will identify best practices leading to student success in First-Year Experience programs. Librarian panelists will suggest strategies for integrating the library into these college programs for freshmen, based on their own institutional experiences.
Welcome
Lora Mirza, Moderator, Georgia Perimeter College
Keynote Address
Donna Younger, Oakton Community College
Panel Remarks
· Olga F. Conneen, Northampton Community College
· Sarah Greene, Tidewater Community College
· Judith Arnold and Carrie Croatt-Moore, Wayne State University
IT “help” for students
In: General Whatnot
30 Jun 2009All IT staff who work with student systems need to take classes in how write directions. They simply bury the information the student needs in dense, dull text. So, the student is frustrated because they can’t use the system they need to use for class, then they have to literally wade through IT’s self-absorbed ass protecting text. Just put the information right out there so they can grab it and go do what they need to do! I don’t know why people who use systems every day of their lives can’t create help pages that they themselves would want to use. They should know better than anyone how Help utilities are used, right? Right??
Scenario: I am a student and I need to log in to my school email for the first time. I am given a login box. I type in my credentials, nothing happens. There’s no link that says something to the effect of “login help.” The help link is called “need more info.” um…ok. Remember that I am a first time user. Here’s what the “need more info” link gives me: [and what the student is thinking when and if they actually read this carefully]
What is my Log In ID?
Your Log In ID and initial e-mail password were sent to you in a letter when the account was created. [what letter?]
If you are not sure of your MyCOD student portal Log In ID, you can find that information in MyAccess (https://myaccess.cod.edu). [I thought I was in the student portal already. What's the student portal then? Isn't that where my email is? Shouldn't both usernames and passwords be the same?] After signing into MyAccess you will find your email address listed by first selecting “MyAccess for Students” on the Main Menu and then by clicking on “My Profile” in the “Academic Profile” section of the “MyAccess for Students Menu” page. [What? Where is this?] The part before the @dupage.edu in your email address is your Log In ID for the MyCOD student portal. Do not include @dupage.edu as part of the Log In ID. [Oh, so this is a different thing...I wonder what my login information is for that.]
What is my initial password? [for the email or for the other thing?]
The initial password, for a new account, is shown on the letter you received from registration. [letter? which of the five letters I got in the mail might have this information?]
If you were enrolled in classes between Fall 2005 and Spring 2009, your default password is the first two letters of the city you live in, plus your PIN. For example, if a student lived in West Chicago, and had a PIN of 1070 then their initial password would be: we1070. If you were not enrolled in classes at COD between Fall 2005 and Spring 2009 then your default password takes the form mmddyy where mm is the month of your birth, dd is the day of your birth, and yy is the last two digits of the year of your birth. For example, if your date of birth was January 4, 1984, your default password would be 010484.
[oh, ok...what? Why can't all new user passwords be the same format?]
What if I changed my password but cannot remember it? [changed it from what again?]
First, try following the “What is my password?” link above. You will be prompted with your password hint. [why don't you give me this link in the first place?] If you are unable to recover your password using the password hint, you’ll need to call the Student Support Helpdesk at 630-942-2999. [I called the student helpdesk. Instead of telling me what to do, they took my SS number and reset my password...and now I can't access my account until 6:00 am tomorrow. I give up.]
How long after registering for my first class at COD should I expect my account to be created?
As of May 1, 2009 all accounts are created the night that you register and should be ready for your use the next day. An informational letter will be sent to your house after your account is created. [oh, THAT letter...]
iPhone App Overload? Never!
In: Cool Tools
25 Jun 2009I love my beautiful iPhone and the ten million apps and games I have on it. Well, there’s about 10 apps and the rest are games. Buckingham Palace Mysteries, Bookworm, Yard Sale, bloons, Myst (which I still hate after these many years of trying to complete that incomprehensible *%#&)….love the games. And I love the grocery list called Shopping with its tidy database. And the Yelp app which gives me real-people reviews of all the businesses near where ever I happen to be, the Mint app tells me how much money I have to spend at those businesses. I can check and respond to emails. Google maps helps me not get too very lost. And I can look up movie times. And I can pay the bills I forgot to pay when I suddenly remember them in the movie theater during the endless previews. I am completely besotted with my phone. I’ve dropped it to the ground twice and it still works, which means it loves me too. And I (knock on wood) haven’t suffered more than 5 call losses since I got it over a year ago. Not to mention it keeps my crucial-to-my-sanity audiobook collection right there in my purse when I’m driving. I’ve uninstalled a lot of apps too though, like the one for Twitter (made the decision that my not liking to Twitter isn’t criminal), the Whole Foods recipe thing (sucked), the Kraft Foods cooking vidtut app (boxed mac & cheese casserole ten ways anyone?) and the Amazon mobile app because I just didn’t like it. If only there was an app for chronic insomnia, I would so totally buy it for .99.
Talented People Awesomeness
In: General Whatnot
23 Jun 2009The Centered Librarian told me to tell you about this incredible A capella performance of Toto’s Africa. The thunderstorm in the beginning is awesomeness.
College of DuPage Island
In: Second Life
19 Jun 2009After two long years, we finally have an island in Second Life to work on. We bought an existing island from the Alliance Library System. Those good librarians have been a wonderful support for us, and a lifeline for me personally. Since the Linden Labs people can’t easily grasp higher order thinking, they are having a hard time making me the named owner of the island since we paid Alliance for the coming year of maintenance and transfer fees, etc. I am keeping up my zen chant of “We’ve waited this long so a little longer isn’t going to hurt.” Visit the vast emptiness here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/College%20of%20DuPage/135/82/27
People have been asking what we’re going to do with the island. Well, first I need to be able to apply a raw file to change the terrain. I’m planning to do a prairie landscape with lots of pretty wild grasses, ponds and streams. Then, I’ll decide where to put the Fashion faculty and their runway and store front displays. They are going to use SL to teach merchandising which is going to be way fun and useful for them. I have a small student commons area all ready to plunk down where we’ll have information about the College and help for students new to SL. We’ll have Tintern Abbey there again though I’m not sure if it will be used in a COD class. Its a popular build and we’ve gotten a lot of attention for its usefulness in teaching. There will be a big area for our chemistry students since they are so keen and have lots of ideas. I’ve invited to Literature Alive some space for one of their smaller homeless builds. I’m also going to put up a new Community Colleges resource center for my group (500 members now! eee!) We’ll have the social networking display again and I’m toying with the idea of a storytelling and folklore center too. Its so great to have prims! (If we ever get them…grumble)
I admit to having much less energy for SL than I did two years ago or even one year ago…its interesting how apathy can sort of weigh a person down. I’m sure that I will get my energy back once I get started on the new sim and see our students using it.
Transforming America’s CC’s
18 Jun 2009Scout Report told me to tell you about:
Transforming America’s Community Colleges: A Federal Policy Proposal to Expand Opportunity and Promote Economic Prosperity [pdf] http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2009/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2009/0507_community_college_goldrick_rab/0507_community_college_brief.pdf
Community colleges are the bedrock of American higher education, and young and old alike use their facilities to gain specific technical skills and explore the world of the liberal arts. This May 2009 policy brief from the Brookings Institution’s Blueprint for American Prosperity series offers a few policy suggestions on how the federal government might reinvest in community colleges across the nation. The twelve-page brief was authored by Sara Goldrick-Rab, Douglas N. Harris, Christopher Mazzeo, and Gregory Kienzi. The brief offers a number of concrete suggestions for the federal government, including the recommendation that they should establish national postsecondary goals and also devote a significant portion of existing funding to improve and evaluate teaching practices in these institutions.
Sita Sings the Blues is HERE!
In: General Whatnot
16 Jun 2009Yay! I love the time-sucking love fest that is the Internet Archive. Arguably one of the best online resources ever. The book collection alone can milk away hours upon hours of dead time.
Tomes and Talismans–A theory
15 Jun 2009I think that the entire phenomenon of library anxiety stems from this stupid television show. So, take all of these people were forced to watch this when they were kids. They were either bored, scared or both so they didn’t like to use libraries. Then they passed this on to their kids and here we are today. When I was in grade school, the nuns made us watch this really scary movie about strangers and little kids getting murdered in the woods. I was totally traumatized by this “educational” film. Anyway, to this day I’m afraid to go into the woods. Same principle.
Damn you, Miss Bookart! You killer of all that is interesting about libraries!
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- Denise: Oh sorry, SocProf. You have to have Second Life on your computer to redirect to that link. Get Seco [...]
- SocProf: :-( Firefox does not know how to open the link. [...]
- Monk Zymurgy: I have to agree..Sita Sings the Blues is super great. I loved it so much, i watched it twice already [...]
- Denise: You watched it. You can't un-watch it! ha ha ha. [...]
- SocProf: Wow... these are 9 minutes of my life I'll never get back! :-) [...]