Tech Tip: Another Meeting Notification System

http://www.meetwithagenda.com/

There are a lot of meeting notice sites out there. This one really is the easiest I've used. It does not require an account to get started. You can let the site send the email notices to your meeting attendees or you can elect to do that yourself.

For follow up, a simple link to "Attendance Details" allows you to see who has accepted or made a comment. Each acceptance generates an email to the organizer, besides.

Disclosure statement: I have no relationship with MeetingWithAgenda and I have not received any compensation or free product for mentioning this service. (This blog's only monetary reward comes through google.adsense links, which are selected by Google, not by me.)

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://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.

Recommended Gift for an Evaluator

Eva the Evaluator is not a story book. What it is… a low-cost, slim paperback with 4-color illustrations that resembles a children's book. Of course, it is intended as a children's book. I consider it a better choice for the adult professional evaluator it seeks to describe.

The story of Eva is not so simple. In fact, it demonstrates that evaluators' work is hard to explain. But this little book brought a smile of delight to the administrator I placed it before, making it the best holiday gift I gave this year.

Eva the Evaluator by Roger Miranda
ISBN-10: 0984158804
ISBN-13: 978-0984158805
Reading level: age 9-12

Disclosure statement: I paid for my copy of the book and I have not received any compensation or free product from the publisher for mentioning this book. (This blog's only monetary reward comes through google.adsense links, which are selected by Google, not by me.)

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://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.

Assessment Folks Will Appreciate Yale's High School Musical

My guess is that assessment folks will not be confused, irritated, or dismissive of the new Yale recruitment video, "That's Why I Chose Yale." The almost 17-minute production has drawn criticism from lots of viewers but also some good-humored appreciation.

This is why assessment folks will approve of the video:

1 - Every institution has a responsibility to communicate to prospects what students experience on the campus. It doesn't matter that Yale doesn't need to promote any more applications from prospects. The Yale video incorporates important factoids about the school: there are 17 dance troupes and 36 student publications, there's someone called a freshman counselor, "profs" join students for their study breaks, and on and on.

2 - Few prospective students read a viewbook cover to cover, or even a trifold brochure. The Yale video is engaging—teenagers will watch it to its end. (You may, too.) It doesn't matter that the songs are cheesy and the message is not subtle. The video addresses adolescents' need for self-focus just as cheesy-and-not-subtle video entertainment has for decades. Witness Beach Blanket Bingo, Saved by the Bell, Seventh Heaven, and High School Musical. All have spoken directly to adolescents' desire for wholesome happiness in spite of protestations to the contrary.

3 - The Yale video reflects real Yale students. Authenticity extends to the writing, the production, the performances. As the credits disclose, the talent ranges from Yale Class of '06 to Class of '13. The Dean of Admissions receives an acknowledgement (Class of '75) so the credits roughly reflect the ratio of old adults to young adults appearing in the video. The production does an excellent job of casting average-looking middle-aged people who cannot compete with the really talented and good-looking young people. It never hurts to differentiate between old adults and young adults when your audience is just entering the young adult category.

Perhaps Yale doesn't fret over how to document its recruiting methods but if there's an outstanding link to be included in an accreditation report, this is the one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGn3-RW8Ajk

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://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.

Tech Note: Getting More Tech

The single best easy-to-digest technology magazine geared to higher ed is Campus Technology. And it's free.

Subscribe online with the option to receive the magazine electronically or in print. The green choice is the electronic, of course. But the hard copy makes very good airplane reading; it's a habit I haven't dropped yet.

Publisher: 1105 Media Inc. Nee Syllabus. And sponsor of the annual Campus Technology conference. Nee Syllabus. The cost of the summer conference is not cheap but the cost of the publication helps to make up for that. If you qualify for the free magazine (every subscriber I know has qualified) you also have option to receive free email newsletters on focused topics.

Disclosure: Nope, no disclosure regarding this plug for 1105 products. I have no financial relationship with the company other than the dollars I have sent to them over the years for conference fees.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://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.

VALUE Rubrics for a General Beginning

In recent conversations with two graduate program administrators (on different campuses) a common choice was made about ePortfolio assessment: creating a custom rubric based on specialized accreditation standards. But the decision came after studying more general approaches.

The VALUE rubrics at AAC&U provide the general in what the web site describes as reflecting "faculty expectations for essential learning." And that means from across the U.S., across type of institution. AAC&U's rubric project (VALUE = Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) was part of a larger initiative, LEAP (Liberal Education and America's Promise).

The 15 rubrics include a basic definition of the focus (e.g., "Creative Thinking"), framing language, and glossary of terms. The rubric structure is traditional, with descriptive text in every cell. The rating levels are 4-Capstone, 3- and 2-Milestones, 1-Benchmark.

For fastest access, go straight to the VALUE Rubrics web page. From there you can explore "backward" to LEAP, the Essential Learning Outcomes, and more.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://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.

NCAT for Transforming Courses

I was recently reminded of the wealth of resources at NCAT, the National Center for Academic Transformation. Those are the folks who began with PEW grants and subsequently FIPSE monies in guiding institutions through the redesign of courses. Mainly large courses.

Using technology and systematic planning, institutions are able to improve their course offerings, serve more students, and reduce costs at the same time. The conference is worth checking out although travel-sensitive offices may not be able to tolerate the fee for non-members ($650+). More affordable is the free newsletter, The Learning MarketSpace. Subscribe or just read the archives—equally easy from the web site.

Carol Twigg leads the effort. Many of us have learned from Carol's articles. They are not always easy lessons. But always wise.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://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.

TechNote: Free Use of BrainHoney

2009 marked the transition from GoCourse to BrainHoney, products that Agilix describes as learning management environments (not necessarily learning management systems, or LMSs). BrainHoney reflects these principles: user-friendly course authoring, facilitated alignment with objectives and state standards, student-performance progress tracking, and easy course management.

I became a fan of Agilix products through work with a higher ed client; now, I get to play with BrainHoney outside of any institution. (I have no financial relationship with Agilix.)

Agilix offers free hosting to anyone who wants to set up a web-based course. Think moodle in terms of access, and then enjoy the Agilix version of support while you experiment with the software.

To register (minimal contact information required) and set up a space (as an individual, without committing your institution), go to http://www.brainhoney.com. BrainHoney will make you a better LMS consumer just by seeing what Agilix programmers have achieved.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://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.

One More SACS-related Link

Dave Eubanks shared his notes from the SACS Annual Meeting (December 2009 in Atlanta) at this link. As he put it, he tried to soak up everything he could on 5th Year Reports (SACS' requirement for reporting between 10-year reaffirmations). I'll repeat Dave's advisory: his notes are his own and do not reflect SACSese. (Nice word invention.)

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://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.

New Listserv for the New Year

Celebrate the new year with a new assessment-focused listserv:

To subscribe, send email: SUBSCRIBE SACS-L
to this address: LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UHD.EDU

You have all the information embedded in the subscription instruction, right? The focus is on SACS. And the host is University of Houston - Downtown.

New discussion forums are almost always informative and stimulating; the SACS-L lives up to that. The focus on one regional accrediting body holds promise, too.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. Email contact: bold[AT]marybold.com. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://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.