BlueView & MYDUSIS down this weekend

FYI...

blueView and MyDUSIS are scheduled for extended maintenance starting at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, December 14 and ending at approximately noon on Sunday, December 16.

Comings & Goings

Congratulations to Amy who is graduating this December. (yahoo! Way to go!)

Welcome to Peggy who was just officially accepted into the program and joined my group of advisees!

Some info on fall grades

I know many of you need your grade information for reimbursement so here's some info on grades:
Faculty have between today and Jan 2 to enter grades. Students should be able to see grades one day after they are entered, which means your grades can show up in MYDUSIS anytime between Dec 11 and January 3. Of course when grades are entered depends on the due dates of your projects and your professor's schedule.

If you need to submit your grades for reimbursement before some specific date in December, I'd recommend contacting your professor and I'm sure s/he will be as accomodating as possible.

Enjoy your winter holidays!

Graduation Tasks

I believe I've spoken with each of you for whom this is relevant, but just-in-case...

if you're planning to graduate December 2007, Spring 2008, Summer 2008:
--congratulations!

--you need to complete a graduate application which is available in the Dean's office in the School of Education

--your graduation date is whenever you finish, but graduation ceremony is only held once a year in the Spring. Each of the three completion dates listed above are eligible to participate in the Spring 2008 graduation ceremony

--if you are participating in the graduation ceremony (and I think you should!) be sure to order your cap and gown rental at the bookstore. The required date for this is BEFORE JANUARY 3. (generally you can order a bit after that, but you're likely to get the "cheaper" robes in your rental. After all this effort and time, I think you deserve the nicer robes...so get there before the 3rd!)

Let me know if you have questions.
Robin

Cancelling/postponing classes due to winter weather

You may have seen the recent email from Provost Troyer on closings/delays/cancellations of classes due to winter weather.

One additional note: because our classes are offered on the weekend, the usual outlets for sharing the closing information (TV, BlueView, weatherline 515-271-4545) may not be up-to-date. The weatherline is likely to be the most accurate, however the best bet is to contact your instructor. Better yet...before the bad weather begins, make an agreement with the instructor/class as to how information will be shared about class cancellations/delays due to winter weather. (FYI: in my classes we'll talk about it, but in general I email students and post the info on Blackboard)

(also see my earlier post on Drake's emergency response plan)

Blackboard Outage

FYI:
------------------
Attention all Blackboard Users:

Re: Critical Information concerning the availability of Blackboard

The Office of Information Technology has rescheduled the upgrade to the Blackboard system for
Sunday, December 2 beginning at 6 A.M. and lasting until approximately noon.Blackboard will be unavailable to users during this time.A notice will be posted when Blackboard is once again available following the upgrade. Check the Announcements channel in BLueVIEW for the update status.

For specific information regarding the features provided by the upgrade, see the attached document.

If you have questions, please contact:
Dr. Peggy SteinbronnManager, Instructional Technologypeggy.steinbornn@drake.edu515-271-4510

GREAT Learning Resource for Learning Computer Applications

As part of your tuition (and tech fee) you have access to the entire tutorial library of Atomic Learning. These are online tutorials for a wide range of software from the MS Office suite (word, excel, powerpoint, access), other popular applications (like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Illustrator), the Apple iLife series (itunes, iphoto, imovie, garageband), development applications (like Flash and Fireworks), online applications (like Google docs) and a whole lot more!



You still need to have the application on your desk to use the product (i.e. you can learn about Photoshop with the tutorial, but you still need to buy Photoshop if you want to use it to edit your photos), but it's a great resource.



Atomic Learning is a subscription site so you can't navigate to it directly, you need to go through BlueView. Once you've logged in to BlueView and arrived at the home page, click on "How do I" and Atomic Learning will open in a new window.




So...if you've always wanted to learn how to use some new software, or make better use of the software you already have, check out Atomic Learning!

Leadership: Networking & Relationships

I know several of you are in the leadership concentration. Here are a few blog posts from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL--one of the premier leadership development organizations in the world) describing:

• 10 behaviors that will make a difference in creating effective relationships in the workplace
• Rethinking networking from a leadership perspective
• as well as six ways to strengthen your network

Maybe not earth-shattering...but good, quick, reminders!

Spring Registration

Hopefully you've all seen an email announcing the times/dates for spring registration. Registration starting date/time is based on the number of credits you've already earned. Just in case you missed the email, here they are again:

• if you have 25+ credits as of the end of summer semester--registration opens Oct 22, 3:00pm
  
  
• if you have 13+ credits as of the end of summer semester--registration opens Oct 23, 3:00pm
  
  
• if you have 1+ credit as of the end of summer semester--registration opens Oct 24, 3:00pm
  
  
• If you have <>

Of course, you register online through MYDUSIS.
Let me know if you have any questions.

Another member to our advisee group!

Welcome Kimberly who is not new to ALOP (having taken classes for several semesters) but is new to our advisee group. Welcome aboard Kimberly!

Registration and a Resource

Registration
We're narrowing in on the registration dates for Spring semester...it will start the week of Oct 22!

Another Resource
Drake has always offered professional and career development services for undergraduates and now they are extending the invitation to graduate students. They might still be on a bit of a learning curve with grad students, but give them a try...they want to help! Support from them might include career assessment, review of cover letter and resume, mock interviews, etc. You can access them through the website or by contacting Kelli Turner (kelli.turner@drake.edu, 515-271-1978)

Spring/Summer Schedule

I have emailed you the ALOP class schedule for Spring and Summer 2008. I don't have the final dates yet for registration (it's in the end of October/beginning of November timeframe), but I'll let you know once I hear when it is. In the meantime, if you want to meet to talk about your schedule before registration, just let me know and we can set something up.

You'll notice that the dissemination night for ALOP 291 -- Applied Research, our capstone class-- is May 1, 7:00pm. This is a night that's open to the public, during which the ALOP 291 students share their research. It's a great time to support your classmates, learn something new, and (if you haven't taken research yet) get some insight into the kinds of research projects students undertake! Consider putting it on your calendar and joining us!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Emerging Technology Blog

As many of you know, I'm teaching a new elective this semester called "Using Emerging Technologies for Learning" (ALOP 265). I'm not blogging TOO heavily in that class (I'm too busy reading student blogs!) but I will have a post every week or so. If you are interested, feel free to take a look at my blog for that class.

Drake Emergency Response Plan

It's possible for a variety of emergencies to occur at Drake. This includes weather emergencies, and since we're on the cusp of winter (I realize it's going to be in the 80's today, but it is the end of September!), I thought this would be a good time to remind you of some emergency procedures.

To help faculty, staff, and students be as effective as possible in emergency situations, Drake has just released its most current emergency response plan. I encourage you to take a look at it...it's located in BlueView, on the home page, under Campus Alerts.

Here are a few highlights:

• Drake security: Drake's security can be reached at: 515-271-2222 (non-emergency) and by dialing 811 from campus (emergency).



• Communication: Primary communication will be through the Drake's intranet. In case of emergency, I encourage you to monitor BlueView, your Drake email, and http://www.drake.edu/ (which will be the information channel for the public.)



• Severe weather/class cancellations: local TV and radio stations will announce closures. You can also call the Drake Cancellation line, 515-271-4545. If possible, closures will be announced on http://www.drake.edu/. However, since the people that handle the communication work during the week and our classes are on weekends, you will often need to rely on your instructor to communicate class cancellations. For me...I will email students to let you know about class cancellations and will post an announcement on Blackboard and/or any other class communication tools (like a class blog). You are, of course, also welcome to call me. It's likely other instructors will do the same thing, but you may want to discuss this at the start of your classes.

Hopefully now that we have this information we'll never have to use it...but we've got it just-in-case!

Collaboration

We just had the first night of the "Using emerging technologies for learning" class and we spent some time talking about collaboration. It got me to thinking: how much does how we individually define collaboration impact our participation and success when we collaborate?

For example, what about the purpose of collaboration? if I see collaboration primarily as a faster (better, more efficient) way to achieve a "right answer" or some kind of result; do I collaborate differently than if I see collaboration primarily as a about a communication process? What about structure? Are some of us more or less likely to collaborate depending on the amount of structure or control in the environment? What about the amount of investment/engagement I have in the topic: is there such a thing as a silent collaborator? Is it only an outwardly process? Is collaboration a strickly volunteer activity? Can you "make" people collaborate? Does this limit when people are really collaborating?

I think collaboration is worth thinking about for several reasons:
(1) certainly it's relevant to ALOP; both for you as a student who is "forced" to collaborate as part of your learning process and as someone who likely works and helps others learn in some measure via collaboration. How can being more mindful of collaboration help us in our graduate work, or in our professional work?

(2) I also think it's useful for us to think collaboration with us as an advisee group. Are there ways we can collaborate with each other (in small groups or as an entire advisee group) to maximize our time together in graduate school? Are there "holes" or additions in what we want to learn, that we aren't getting in our coursework? Or can we extend/deepen/expand what we're learning in our coursework through some kind of collaboration with each other?

I'd love to hear your thoughts about collaboration in general, and advantages or the potential of collaboration amongst our advisee group.

More APA Resources (headings)

In an earlier post I asked you to provide comments with advice and words of wisdom for our new ALOP students. There's one piece of advice so far and it's about the importance of learning/using APA. Of course I agree with that :-) and I want to remind you we had an earlier post with some great APA resources.

(By the way--why is there just one piece of advice for Elisia and Jason and the rest of the new ALOP students? Surely there are more tips you can pass along...share your wisdom!)

Back to APA: In my experience, one of the toughest things for students to wrap their brains around is how to use and format subheadings in papers. The purpose of subheadings is to organize your paper into "chunks" to make it easier for the reader to follow along and grasp what you're writing.

Think of the papers and books that you've read: it's likely that whatever it was did not contain one giant section...more likely, it was broken down into chapters, sections and maybe even subsections under that, which gave an organization or structure to the writing that made it easier for you to follow along with the author. What's the right number of sections? There's no definitive answer for that question...it's whatever makes sense for that paper and what will make it easier for the reader. What's the best way to format headings? There IS a definitively correct answer for that...and the answer is explained in sections 3.31 and 3.32 in the APA manual. (APA is like the I Ching...if you look hard enough you can probably find the answer to all of life's questions in the APA manual! :-)

Here's comes a tip...not only is formatting headings in APA sometimes tricky for students; but it's also one of my pet peeves when it's not done right (after the second time, or third, or fourth, or fifth, or sixth, or seventh....well you get the idea). Seriously, if you take a little time to understand it, it will be easy for you after that.

So here are a couple additional APA resources for you:

• The first is a little powerpoint tutorial I put together. It describes how to format headings in APA and walks you through sections 3.31 and 3.32 of the APA manual. Beware...it launches automatically and has sound, so you'll want to know where your volume control is before you start (or wear headphones!)
  
  Besides the APA information, I think this tutorial is a good example of two other things: (1) how you can put together a little online tutorial pretty quickly if you just want to lecture with some powerpoint slides to create a brief learning situation that students can continue to access and, (2) that this is probably not the most compelling bit of learning you'll ever experience (nor is the narration "flawless" when you do it without a script and just talk off the top of your head!) But it reminds us of the tradeoff we always face in training and other performance improvement interventions: that balance between optimal learning/engagement and speed/getting it done. There are advantages and disadvantages of tipping too far to one side and in tipping too far to the other side of that balance. Anyway...consider taking a look at the tutorial if you need to brush up on your APA heading formatting.
  
  
• If you want to skip the tutorial and the APA manual, here's a great website that let's you click on the number of heading levels you have in your paper, and it will show you how to correctly format the headings.
  
  
• And, of course, you can always ask me or any of the faculty any of your APA formatting questions!

Instant Messenger

Just a reminder, I run AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) at work and home. It's a great way to ask me questions, stay in contact and just say "hi!". My AIM name is: RLIndbeckDrake.

Actually I have several instant messengers (IMs) that I use (I have clients and others on different IM systems). Of course, most of these IM systems won't communicate with each other. Fortunately, there are several programs that "merge" all your IMs into one viewing area (officially, they are "multi-protocol instant messenger clients"). The one I use is Pidgin. If you also run multiple IMs consider giving it a try!

Resource: Drake Writing Workshop

Here's information on the Drake writing workshop It's called a "workshop" because it's a place for you to "work" on your papers/writing, but they work with you one-on-one (it's not a class). It is a great resource! (and one that I think is really underused by our students!)
-----------------------------------------------------------

The WRITING WORKSHOP is now open for student appointments.

There is a new sign-up procedure. Students can sign up online at the following website:
http://turing.cs.drake.edu/wws.html

Students may also phone the workshop 271-2729, Elizabeth Robertson (the director) 271-3806 or the English Department, 271-3777 with questions, or if they are having difficulty making an appointment.

Writing workshop hours:

• M-Th: 225 Howard Hall (various morning and afternoon hours available.)
• M-TH: Room 23 Cowles Library 7-10 pm
• Sunday: Basement, Herriot Hall 7-10 pm

(Here's a Drake campus map if you need to look up these buildings.)

ALOP Glossary wiki

It never fails that each class presents vocabulary and acronyms with which students are unfamiliar. Prior to this semester, I tried in each of my classes to get a list going of acronyms and terms (and the related definitions). Sometimes these lists would be on flipcharts, sometimes in Blackboard, but inevitably we started over in each class each semester. So to end that madness, and help us all, I started an ALOP Glossary wiki that we'll use in all my classes from now on.

What is the ALOP Glossary Wiki?
This link will take you to a glossary wiki that everyone can add/edit to create a useful glossary for current and future students!

What's a wiki?
A wiki is a webpage with content that anyone can easily edit and change without knowing any programming. It's another tool in the broad category of social media that allows for collaboration and the sharing of ideas. Although wiki's have been around for about 10 years, they were much less well known prior to the development of wikipedia (an encyclopedia the content of which is developed through a wiki), which is certainly the most well known wiki.

Here's a great short video by Lee Lefever at Common Craft that goes through an explanation of wikis. (I pointed you to his RSS in Plain English video in an earlier post. I love these videos--yea!)

Wiki's can be hosted on local servers or accessed through third-party websites for free or for a fee. Of the free sites, I use wikispaces which has easy to use text formatting, choice between private, open, and limited control over who can edit, but there are pop-up ads. I sometimes also use PB Wiki which used to have limited formatting (still does in its "classic" editor) but who recently came out with a fairly full featured editor and there are no ads. (it still defaults to the classic editor, so if you try it out select choose "point-and-click edit" in the upper, right corner of the screen to get to the new editor.)

(wiki trivia: the name "wiki" comes from WikiWiki which means quick in Hawaiian.)

How do I use this (or any) wiki?
Using any wiki involves the same steps:

1. Go to the wiki page
2. Get into edit mode
3. Make your additions, edits, deletions
4. SAVE YOUR CHANGES

Really, you can just go to the ALOP Glossary wiki and get started. But if you want a little more explanation, here are some specific instructions for how to use the wikispaces wiki (which is where the glossary wiki is located).

Note: because the ALOP Glossary is on wikispaces (and not part of Blackboard or any other Drake-specific system) you can access it directly from any browser.

Welcome two new advisees!

We have two new ALOP students who have joined my group of advisees: Elisia and Jason.

Feel free to leave comments with your words of welcome and, just as important, your words of advice! (maybe the things you wish someone had told you when you were starting the program!

Welcome Elisia and Jason!

RSS

I mentioned in an earlier post that it's possible to have a "home" page (also called a feed reader, or an aggregator) that checks for new content in a variety of blogs and news posts...saving you from having to check each of these sites each day. To do that, you use RSS (Real Simple Syndication). Here's a great little video by Lee LeFever at CommonCraft explaining the concept of RSS.

For example, I have a feed reader where each morning I can scan about 15 blogs I've identified with content on technology, training & development, leadership development, breaking news, the weather, and even a few sport scores! It saves tons of time while still keeping me in the loop!
I encourage you to learn more about this! (maybe it's something you want to work on together?)

("what's a blog?" according to USC Anneberg Online Journalism Review site, blogger.com, and wikipedia.)

Watch out for Quechup

As many of you know, I'm teaching a class on emerging technologies this fall. So collaborative technologies are more on my mind than usual!

Social networking sites have been around for a while with some being mostly social (myspace, facebook), some targeted at business networking (linkedin) and others set up as a social network "for anything." (ning. I'm on a group looking at best practices of second life in higher ed that is using ning.com for all our communications.) You may have heard of these sites and may use some of the yourselves.

Recently many of us have become aware of a new social networking site called Quechup. I did want to bring you a "watch out" for Quechup. Apparently, in an effort to be helpful, Quechup looks at all the people in your address book to see if anyone is already a member of Quechup...to give a head start to your social network. Unfortunately, it also automatically sends invitations to join your Quechup network to everyone in your address book who is not already a member, and it does this without your knowledge, permission or control. (essentially you're SPAMming everyone in your contact list. So my advice, and based on the experience of others ...stay away from Quechup--or pay close attention during the signup and do not have it check your addressbook-- or you'll be sending emails to everyone in your contact list as well...apologizing!

This brings up a series of questions about software you "expose" yourself to, and the precautions you need to take for the safety of you, your computer and your privacy. And your reputation (as in this case where Quechup does not indicate that this is a result of a bot , but makes is seem as if it comes from you!) It also brings up the bigger ethical issue of exposing (involving?) someone else in an activity that has the potential for negative reprocussions for them (Quechup example: if someone responds to the automated invitation to join your network...when they join their entire address book is SPAMmed too! Getting them in potential hot water with their friends, family, customers, contacts, etc). Do we have an obligation/responsibility/legal responsibility if we involve someone to this kind of aggravation? (what's the obligation we have when we pass along a virus?)

Of course, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

More Back to School Info

(this was originally an email to my advisees)

People
The graduate student support position in the School of Ed (SOE) Dean's office (formerly held by Lori Richman) has been filled by Debbie Dodge (515-271-3727, Debbie.dodge@drake.edu). She's obviously on a learning curve since she's new to the position, but Debbie will be a great resource when you run in to problems with registration, forms, etc.

Dates
Here are some important upcoming dates:

• Oct 5 Spring 2008 schedule of classes are live on the web (spring registration dates are still to be determined, but will be in the late-October/early-November range)
  
• Dec 9 MYDUSIS opens for faculty to add grades. Grades are DUE Jan 2 by 10:00a. (students can generally view grades 24 hours after they are entered)

(Another) Informational Handout
I've emailed you (another) handout that lists useful information for new (and maybe even you more experienced) graduate students at Drake.

APA
As may of you already know, in the ALOP program we require papers to be formatted according to the APA rules of style. Why APA and not MLA, Chicago, or something else? Because the vast majority of the scholarly professional journals in our fields (adult learning, training & development, HRD, performance improvement, leadership, HR) use APA. We want you to be facile in APA to make it easier for you to consume articles from these journals, and to make the transition that must easier if you decide to write for some of these journals in the future!

I'm a fan of the APA Publication Manual (the official style guide for APA--the spiral bound is best because it will lay flat on your desk) I encourage students to purchase it, but many students don't feel it's worth it because you actually only need to know "a little" of the total APA formatting for the papers you write for our classes. So I want to point you to two other resources as well:

• Cecelia Munzenmaier, ALPD alumni and professional writer, will be doing a brief introduction to APA as part of ALOP 242: Living, Learning & Leading in the 21st Century. She's agreed to share her collection of APA resources with all the ALOP students. These resources include a useful 6-page handout, an editing checklist, links to online tutorials, and information about citation-making software. The Strategies for Learning APA handout is a 2-page introduction to basic principles and reliable resources. We definitely appreciate her willingness to share these with everyone!
  
• We also have some APA resources on the ALOP website (scroll down, there are lots of resources listed). My guess is that many of these overlap with what you'll find on Cecelia's APA website, but it's definitely worth a look.That's it for now. Have a great semester and let me know if you have any questions, etc!

Back to School Update

(This was originally an email to my advisees)
Hi Everyone-

It's the beginning of the semester, so brace yourself for a long-ish email!

Our fall get together!
A belated thanks for those of you who were able to meet at the Drake Diner...for those of you who couldn't make it you missed a fun night (great malts) and hearing about a couple of very interesting exercise programs that two of us are participating in! There were a couple of topics that came up at the Drake Diner that I want to be sure to pass along.

• Each year you can get a copy of the current version of MS office
  (pc or Mac) as part of your tech fee. You can pick it up yourself
  in the basement of Carnegie, but I believe they close at 4:30.
  (The help desk should be able to provide you with more info: 515-271-3001)
  
• I also encourage you to get a student ID (available at Olmsted
  Center, but I believe they close at 4:30 as well). Your ID is
  your library "check-out" card, but it also can be used to get you
  student discounts and various products and services! Bridgette
  suggested I organize another ID/software-pickup night some Friday
  night after 5:00. I'll keep you posted.
  
• As a card-carrying, tuition-paying student you also have access to
  the fitness area at the Bell Center . For specific questions about access, services, and classes for students, I'd suggest giving them a call: 515-271-3173.

Advisee Survey
Thanks to those of you who completed the advisee survey I sent out in August. The survey was sent to 34 former and current advisees and 24 responded (71%). I'll be using this information to help me think about how I can help create an effective advising "community" for all of you. My hope is that, for those of you who are interested, the communication flow can go beyond the dyad of a student and me, and we can get conversation/support going between all of you as well. (there's a lot of knowledge contained in this group!) As you have ideas for our advisee group, be sure to let me (or each other) know and we'll see what we can make happen! In the meantime, here are some ways to communicate with me:

• email (obviously)
  
• cell phone: 515-707-0672 -- this is the best way to reach me...my office schedule is irregular, but you're welcome to try me there as well (office: 515-271-4701)
  
• AOL Instant Messenger: RLindbeckDrake (perfect for those impromptu
  questions during the day!)

I'd originally said that I'd given up on the advisee blog idea since you all favor email, but I've changed my mind (for a variety of reasons). I'm going blog but, at least in the near-term, I'll send you an email when I have a new post! (and at some point, we might want to talk about how you can get this blog--and others--on a "home" page that will check for new content for you rather than have you run out and check all the blogs!)

Of course, if you want to meet in person just let me know and we'll arrange a time!

New People

• Bridget Arrasmith (bridget.arrasmith@drake.edu, 515-271-2054) is the new administrative assistant in our department, replacing Bonnie Porter who retired last Spring.
  
• Brittney Flansche (bmf011@drake.edu, 515-271-4006) )is our new (part-time) graduate assistant.

Misc. info for this fall

• Drake email. For those of you who have been in the program for a while, you'll know that the LPD/ALOP professors have been pretty good about sending school-related things to your personal email vs. your Drake email. Unfortunately that's over. All faculty is now to
  send all info to your Drake email addresses. I realize it's inconvenient (one more email address to check) but it actually makes a lot of sense since ALL official Drake communication has been coming to that email address since the first semester you were registered. It's true all the email hitting your Drake email may not be mission critical for /you/, but you can set up your spam filter to eliminate some of it (like the weekly menus at the cafeteria). Fortunately, the new Drake portal, BlueView, makes it much more convenient to check your email. (you may have noticed that for most of you this email is going to your non-Drake email. We'll talk more about this later!)
  
• BlueView --of course BlueView is more than email--it's one-stop access to all your resources and information at Drake. Once you log in (use your student ID number and your MYDUSIS password. If you've never logged in, it will be your birthday in MMDDYY format.) You can get to BlueView from the main Drake webpage (upper right of the screen) or get to it directly by going here (take a look at the quick guide and change your password too).
  
  Once you log in to BlueView take a look around the screen and the tabs to see all the resources, information, and news to which you have access in one place. Among other things, you can get to your email, Blackboard and the library from this page (and no need to re-entry your ID and password again!) Give it a try, I think you'll like it!
  
• Phone List. I've emailed you a list of commonly called numbers at Drake for your reference.
  
• Petition of candidacy. Reminder: you'll want to complete a petition of candidacy by the time you have completed 12 credits. If you're getting close to 12 and you still don't have a petition, be sure to set up a time to meet with me this semester.
  
  
  I think that's it for now. Have a great fall semester!
  
  Robin