18 December 2008

Tech Note: The Current and Future Web

[The Higher Ed Assessment blog will be "off" during the winter holidays. Back on January 6, 2009.]

Accessibility standards are updated per the December 2008 announcement by the World Wide Web Consortium (known by the acronym W3C). The strategies for making and keeping web technologies accessible by all users are labeled Success Criteria and written as testable rules. The new standards, expected to be widely adopted, provide for future developments in what some describe as a technology-neutral manner.

Recommended quick read for the new standards: the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 are detailed on the web page How to Meet WCAG 2.0. Non-technical readers can gain a sense of the scope of WCAG simply by scanning the Table of Contents. (Scroll down just a little from the top of the web page for this section.)

Another December release from W3C is much more limited but has import in light of a December report from Pew. The "minor update" from W3C is the CSS Mobile Profile 2.0, concerned with how cascading style sheets (CSS) are implemented on mobile devices such as cell phones. The W3C profile is of interest to technical readers; the related Pew report is more digestible to non-technical readers.

The Future of the Internet III is the product of the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Internet experts were surveyed on what we might expect about web computing in the year 2020. Strong agreement was registered for two assertions made in the survey: that the Internet will be improved (not replaced) and that mobile devices such as cell phones will provide the primary connection to it.

[The Higher Ed Assessment blog will be "off" during the winter holidays. Back on January 6, 2009.]

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as legal or professional advice. Bold is the co-author of Reflections: Preparing for your Practicum or Internship, geared to college interns in the child, education, and family fields. She is a consultant and speaker on assessment, distance learning, and technology.

17 December 2008

Final FERPA on Emergencies

The U. S. Department of Education web page for "Federal Register: Final Regulations, Priorities, and Other Rules" posted the Final regulations for FERPA on December 9. The regulations take effect January 8.

HTML version

PDF version

These regulations for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act are published by the Department of Education's Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. Prompted by the shootings at Virginia Tech, proposals were developed to increase flexibility in handling student information when health or safety of students and other individuals is threatened. The resulting changes and clarifications to FERPA include increased ability to share information with students' parents in some situations.

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as legal or professional advice. Bold is the co-author of Reflections: Preparing for your Practicum or Internship, geared to college interns in the child, education, and family fields. She is a consultant and speaker on assessment, distance learning, and technology.

16 December 2008

SACS Follow-up: Ordering Conference MP3 Recordings

Just yesterday the SACS web site posted a copy of the order form (PDF file) for MP3 files of conference sessions. The annual meeting held a couple of weeks ago in San Antonio is represented by more than 120 recorded sessions available on CD.

Cost ranges from $49 + shipping (a pre-ordered set of 12 to 16 sessions or a self-selected set of 5 sessions) to $379 for all sessions (no shipping charge on this order for 8 disks).

Recommended: CHEA's Dr. Judith Eaton's gritty (but not necessarily all doom and gloom) address, GS-2 - Accreditation After the 2008 Reauthorization Act.

To help make selections, use the search function of the draft program posted in September. Few changes were made in the program since that time, so the file can be put to good use to locate abstracts of presentations.

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as legal or professional advice. Bold is the co-author of Reflections: Preparing for your Practicum or Internship, geared to college interns in the child, education, and family fields. She is a consultant and speaker on assessment, distance learning, and technology.

11 December 2008

Tech Note: NING for Evaluators

Evaluation Practice is a social network for evaluators, assessors, and anyone interested. At 193 members, it's not the largest social network or even a mid-size group for a list serv. But it is an inventive approach to shared space.

Of course, Facebook and LinkedIn and other web sites famously host groups in the tradition of SIGs (Special Interest Groups). It's not unusual to see groups of thousands or tens of thousands of members.

What's new about Evaluation Practice is that it's not a social network within a social network. It is its own parent organization courtesy of Ning, free software for setting up your own social network.

Ning numbers are good-sized (3019 for a Barry Manilow fan network) and the company claims "hundreds of thousands" of networks that have formed using the software. The web site says that "Ning powers the largest number of social networks on the Internet."

Ning software is free, as is basic file storage for the social networks. The company makes money by posting promotional links and ads on the pages. A network can have the ads removed for $25/month or the network can run its own contracted ads for the same fee of $25/month to Ning. Space beyond the default allowance (10gb storage and 100gb bandwidth) can be purchased for $10/month.

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as legal or professional advice. Bold is the co-author of Reflections: Preparing for your Practicum or Internship, geared to college interns in the child, education, and family fields. She is a consultant and speaker on assessment, distance learning, and technology.

10 December 2008

ePortfolio West Coast Summit

A low-cost conference on ePortfolios, Day of Dialogue, is set for February 29, 2009, in San Francisco. The Day's fee is $125.

Conference sponsor California State University maintains a helpful web site called ePortfolios in the CSU. A clever conceptualization on the site captures major themes for ePortfolios with graphics and phrases.

The CSU site is of highest value to institutions searching for a starting point in selecting an ePortfoio system. Enough platforms are mentioned to drive home the important point: there is no single recommended software. Even though needs vary from one institution to the next, some guidance in selection procedure is possible and the materials here provide that.

(I will be on one of the panels at the Day of Dialogue in San Francisco. Hope to see you there.)

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as legal or professional advice. Bold is the co-author of Reflections: Preparing for your Practicum or Internship, geared to college interns in the child, education, and family fields. She is a consultant and speaker on assessment, distance learning, and technology.

08 December 2008

Live Blog from SACS

Perhaps SACS (and many more conferences) will move to streaming keynotes and presentations in future, but we're not there yet. Still, I am writing this from the general session on Monday morning, enjoying Dr. Judith Eaton's address from her CHEA perspective on "Accreditation After the 2008 Reauthorization Act." Yesterday afternoon, I heard the Honorable Henry Cisneros on "The Essentials of Leadership for the 21st Century."

Both addresses stimulate good thinking with, as you might guess, divergent foci. Mr. Cisneros moves us to ideals with demographic realities of the next half-century. Dr. Eaton points to more immediate pragmatic concerns of higher education, but with just as much vision and inspirational call.

While we await instant-conferencing to share conference keynotes such as this, we rely on recordings. At my first SACS conference, that meant ordering cassette tapes in the big white plastic holder. Today, the sessions come in mp3s on CDs. And that's a change just since 2005. Unfortunately, the company creating the mp3s doesn't provide a web address so all I can pass along today is Audio Master's email address: audio2k@bellsouth.net (toll free phone is 866-858-2475).

Dr. Eaton is wrapping up her speech. Yes, I was listening. But I'm also pleased with the multitasking possible. Thanks to SACS for the free wifi this morning. Now, I'm going to visit the vendors. Walking the show is actually something that's harder to stream via the web....

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as legal or professional advice. Bold is the co-author of Reflections: Preparing for your Practicum or Internship, geared to college interns in the child, education, and family fields. She is a consultant and speaker on assessment, distance learning, and technology.

04 December 2008

Tech Note: Telecommuting Calculator

SUNY's distance learning folks have a commuter's online calculator recently updated to calculate commuter savings with distance learning classes. It is based on gasoline cost of $4/gallon; originally programmed at $2/gallon, that historical version would actually be more accurate in some seasons. You may want to adjust your miles entry into the calculation accordingly.

As faculty, both full-time and part-time, increasingly redesign their work schedules to accommodate distance learners' schedules, there is more telecommuting to campus (and computer servers) than ever before. So, the SUNY calculator is just as valuable for instructors as for students.

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as legal or professional advice. Bold is the co-author of Reflections: Preparing for your Practicum or Internship, geared to college interns in the child, education, and family fields. She is a consultant and speaker on assessment, distance learning, and technology.

03 December 2008

Proactive Assessment: Example of Tracking Veterans in HE

An initiative at U of Arkansas, described on the institution's Daily Headlines web page, shows promise for tracking a population from the start of program: veterans returning from Iraq in December and January. Assessment is already being planned by a task force that anticipates increased enrollment by veterans taking advantage of expanded education benefits.

The work of the campus task force is largely one of coordination of campus services. The attention to assessment includes initial needs assessment from the veterans themselves to "identify ways to ease their transition into academic life."

University officials also contribute to the state's Yellow Ribbon Task Force, which addresses broader issues of veterans. The Task Force was established in mid-2008 to study reintegration efforts of soldiers, expecting to track their progress over years, not just the first months of return.

Similar programs around the country relate to the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, which will serve more than 2 million veterans. Additional supports will find their way to "vet-friendly" institutions, notably the ACE/Wal-Mart Success for Veterans Institutional Awards. ACE (American Council on Education) will also provide its own vet-friendly outreach in the form of a web site to explain veterans' options under the new Act.

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as legal or professional advice. Bold is the co-author of Reflections: Preparing for your Practicum or Internship, geared to college interns in the child, education, and family fields. She is a consultant and speaker on assessment, distance learning, and technology.

02 December 2008

New GI Bill: Higher Ed Story for 2009

A higher ed story for 2009 will be implementation of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, which will serve more than 2 million veterans. In January, the Department of Veterans Affairs will co-sponsor with the American Council on Education (ACE) open meetings to explain the Act's provisions and also hear concerns about how payments will be made for veterans' education. The open meetings are scheduled for:

* January 6, 2009: Los Angeles, California
* January 9, 2009: Washington, D.C.
* January 14, 2009: Chicago, Illinois

As reported on the ACE web page about the June 2008 Veteran's Summit, Charlie Reed (Chancellor, California State U System) challenged institutions to "do an assessment of how you're doing with programs and services for military veterans." For campus assessors who need an orientation to the issues, I recommend the ACE Issue Brief (12-page PDF) entitled Service Those Who Serve: Higher Education and America's Veterans.

FAQs about the new education benefits from the veteran's perspective are answered on the GI Bill web site of the Veterans Benefits Administration.

Tomorrow's blog will highlight the U of Arkansas initiative on campus services for and experiences of veterans.

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as legal or professional advice. Bold is the co-author of Reflections: Preparing for your Practicum or Internship, geared to college interns in the child, education, and family fields. She is a consultant and speaker on assessment, distance learning, and technology.