shirleysmoneytalk1

This was a great learning experience.........

2008-10-14T18:54:52Z

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises?
I was expecially pleased about my blog experience and developing a connection to timely resources through RSS feeds. I have never felt very positive about the journaling experience but I find that I'm better at putting my thoughts into words when I word process -- if I don't call it a journal, I think I'll be fine! This experience, too, helped me learn about all the resources we have available to us from the U of M.

How has this program assisted or affected your everyday work?
Much of what I do in family resource managment relies on my keeping up-to-date on the world of finance -- the web certainly offers those options and now I am more familiar with tools to keep that info at my fingertips without too much searching. Almost all websites have an RSS feed so I can connect with that as quickly as I connect with my favorites list on my web browser. Those feeds get me to the most current info relating to a variety of personal finance topics.

Were there any unexpected outcomes or take-aways that surprised you?
The only unexpected outcome was that I could actually be part of a class with which I formerly felt that I was really "skill challenged". Many of these tools frightened me before taking this class. Now, knowing that there are "tutorials" at my fingertips with which I feel comfortable, I am not so hesitant to try something new!
What could we do differently to improve this program?

If another enrichment course of this nature were offered in the future, would you try to participate? Yes, this was very convenient and applicable to my ongoing work. Thanks, thanks, thanks!

I'm playing catch-up..........

2008-10-07T15:11:38Z

I had difficulty finding time last week to get into communication means i.e. UChat and Twitter resources -- it is so interesting to see how many options we do have to communicate through technology. Probably before you were born Amy, I read "The Electronic Cottage" in the 70's that predicted that we would no longer communicate with each other because we'd have our noses glued to the computer screen. This class has changed that prediction. It is like anything else though, there are so many options, it is difficult to make a decision as which choice would be the most beneficial to one's work.
This weeks' emphasis on web conferencing fits nicely into my continuing work with expanding the delivery systems for the Dollar Works 2 curriculum. We are investigating online options for the content and in preparation we are working through UMConnect to see if we want to sponsor some webinar updates for those who haveparticipated since April, 2008 in DW2 training face to face workshops. We met last week with co-workers using this delivery and we've decided that we need to start with a needs assessment process to make those decisions. Even with technology, we are using basic Extension programming principles to implement programs.

Still reviewing........

2008-09-23T15:34:44Z

I have done some work with social networking -- reviewed the options but have not taken any steps yet to get into the Facebook or any other options yet. Guess I'm still a little overwhelmed at the options. What I did appreciate was the UMN news article Education Benefits of Social Networking Sites. I thnk that I can use this info as a start to my own research on how this age group is involved in online shopping -- which could be very helpful to me for the article that I'm writing for the UofM news wire every two weeks. I have reviewed Forrester Research, Jupitor Research (a part of Forrester), Biz Rate, Consumer Reports, and even Weekly Reader (I read that in elementary school) for their data based regarding the consumer behavior of kids and young adults. I have feeds from Kiplinger and now Jupiter Research into my blog and am "impressed" with my new skills -- thanks to you Amy! Great class!

This is fun..........

2008-09-16T19:44:47Z

i just uploaded 2 news media files to Google docs. It was kind of fun and I'll now use this format to organize these files! I think I just did an extra assignment -- not bad for someone sometimes thought to be technology challenged!

Reviewing productivity.........

2008-09-16T19:07:48Z

I'm a week late but I've been spending some time reviewing productivity tools -- too many other things to do on my schedule -- to see if I'm going to adapt work to any of them. I've worked a little with Todoist but I think I need to work with it a while. I was hoping for a stronger tutorial -- I thought the three I reviewed were very weak and did not do a very good job of explaining the process. Maybe I'll have to listen to them again. I also explored some on Basecamp and U of M netfiles. I probably have to re-think how I organize information files before I use netfiles. I am familiar with UMCal and try to do as much as I can organizing information just through the outlook calendar. I have a new cell phone which also offers me the option for a calendar. I did put that new calendar (productivity tool) to work for personal/family activities. That will be convenient since I'm usually near my cell phone. I'm now registered with Google docs so I may put that to work in the next few days since I and a co-worker are now doing 2-3 news columns per week for the U of M wire service. That may be a good new point of landing for those documents. As I think of how I now organize information, I rarely use the file cabinet located across from my desk. I do most of my organizing of hard copy in a few written files in a basket on my desk or 2 small file drawers in my desk -- although I don't look in those very often either. I organize in word document files and in outlook e-mail files. E-mail is so much a part of my work that that seems to be the most efficient for retrieval. I'm pretty good at organizing by subject and then also try to move these to those files within a few days of their arrival. My original documents are mostly filed in word. I thing those systems have impacted my productivity -- now it's time to perhaps try some new systems. Thanks for continuing to keep us informed! This is a great class and a great way to learn in a fast-paced educational setting in which we work!

Dollar Works 2 Wiki

2008-09-09T18:25:14Z

The discussion on wiki is interesting to me because as a member of the Dollar Works 2 curriculum team, we are in the process of implementing the new curriculum in hard copy and DVD form but feel that we need to incorporate more means of technology for delivery systems. To this point, we have concentrated on more traditional delivery methods that would be appropriate for the more formal classroom and one-one setting, but it is time that put a more high tech spin on this curriculum. I'm reviewing the examples on the Extension Learning site (and encouraging my team members to do as well) so that we can learn from our co-workers, especially to find out what is working well and how to be successful. I just wish I had more time to spend on this -- I am going to try harder!

money management solutions

2008-08-26T20:46:11Z

I'm surprising myself at these new technical skills -- I just added Money Management Solutions to my blog feed. I think this resource will be helpful especially as I write news releases for the U of M news service on family resource management. The site does cover a variety of areas beyond just families but I think this will broaden my thinking about writing for families and strengthening their money management skills. It is truly amazing what is available out there once you start looking! Thanks Amy!

Flickr is what we need........

2008-08-19T16:13:53Z

I just took the Flickr tour and found it quite fascinating -- thanks Amy for telling me I'm not technology challenged -- I think I am when it comes to Flickr so I may enlist the help of my husband because we need something for "managing" the pictures of our two grandchildren! It would be great to be able to organize all these photos using this amazing process. The kids are only 1 1/2 and 1 month old so if we start now, we can keep up!

For the office, I'll need to bring my camera to work because my "technology challenged" cell phone does not take pictures -- I probably need to go shopping for a new phone. I can see the uses of Flickr in my money management work although there is always the need to consider privacy when taking photos of people. Our local collaborative on financial literacy uses photos on its website and the privacy issue is always a concern even though we use several photos to emphasize personal finance strategies. So, this week, I'll be exploring more with Flickr -- this class is a great experience.

A New Experience

2008-08-14T19:20:33Z

Thanks to my co-worker Neil, I was able to more fully understand RSS and Feedreaders. He so nice, he even said he learned something, too! Going through the steps to accomplish the task was a little overwhellming because I consider myself "technology challenged". Addressing my challenges each week through this work should strengthen my abilities. I'm glad to have this opportunity and new experience. Now I have to figure out how to make this an ongoing part of my work.

This new blog.......

2008-08-05T20:45:36Z

I'm learning more about blogging in an online course through U of M Extension during August. I'm glad that I have this class because I have a better "excuse" to practice my blogging! Sometimes you need an excuse to strengthen your technology skills -- the old ways of communicating seem to rise to the top of the communication list before things like blogging. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks.

New Ways of Handling Money Decisions

2008-08-05T20:29:35Z

As an educator in personal finance, I'm always interested in how people make decisions with their money. Those behaviors help us to address the critical needs in our programming.

The media suggests that the housing crisis is only getting worse. People are considering different options especially if they find themselves with a mortgage payment that is just way beyond their income. This week I heard someone say "so what if someone just gives their house back?". I think that comment suggests a teachable moment!