August 2009 Archives

I received this today from Melissa Martyr-Wagner who encouraged us to encourage faculty and instructors to take a moment to share their thoughts: 

See:  www.oit.umn.edu/cms-search to learn more.

*You* can provide input on the future direction of course mgmt systems here
at UMN.

For those of you who have used Moodle and/or Webvista (course management systems) here at the University, please share your thoughts.

Thank you much.

From the broadband blog of the Federal Government:   

One of the challenges facing the Broadband Task Force is a question inspired by the 1989 classic film, "Field of Dreams": if we build it, will they come?  As John mentioned in his post, the 37% of Americans who have not adopted home broadband have a unique set of concerns, needs and barriers to overcome. Our two afternoon workshops on Wednesday, "Low adoption and utilization" and "Programmatic efforts to increase adoption and usage," addressed this topic.

MinnPost has a nifty breakdown of the issues at stake and a link to the RSS feed:

Though they're unlikely to win any branding awards for the snappy name "Blogband" (sounds like bunch of high-schoolers who launched their garage band to sing about blogging), the FCC has launched that blog in order to foster public dialogue about the National Broadband Plan (PDF), an initiative with just over 180 days before the FCC's deadline to send that plan to Congress.

So if you care about broadband (and issues like net neutrality), then  snagging this RSS feed and putting it in your news reader or just following the blog would be a good idea.

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) is pleased to announce that our University Technology Training Center (UTTC) courses, formerly offered for a fee, will now be available to current faculty, staff, and students at no charge.

Offering technology training is a part of OIT's effort to further the University's goal to become one of the top three research universities in the world. Professional development opportunities such as this can help to build skills and create efficiencies affecting academic and professional success and advancement for the individual and the University community as whole.

*Course offerings*

Courses are designed to help build technology-based skills within the context of real-world scenarios for the University environment, including:

*Collaborating with Others*

Courses offered on Google Apps, myU Portal, NetFiles, and more.

*Communicating via Digital Media*

Courses offered on Media Production and Publishing, Presenter, and more.

*Publishing Information via the Web*

Courses offered on XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets, University Web Templates, and more.

*Improving Workplace Productivity*

Courses offered on UMCal, ImageNow 6, and more.

*Managing and Analyzing Data*

Courses offered on Access, Excel, SAS and more.

*Teaching with Technology*

Courses offered on Moodle, WebVista, Podcasting and more.

For a full list of in-person courses as well as online learning opportunities, visit the UTTC Web site.

Please note: UTTC's resources are limited. You are encouraged to register only for courses you are committed to attending. If there is a change in your schedule, a cancellation notice is required 48 hours prior to the start of the course so that the seat may be filled with someone on the waiting list.

*Custom training*

In addition, departments, colleges, and other campus organizations may arrange custom training for current University of Minnesota students, faculty, and staff at no charge.

UTTC can customize any of our current short course offerings to meet the specific needs of your group. Or, we can partner with you to co-deliver training.

For guidelines on what qualifies for no-charge custom training and to submit a request, please visit the UTTC Web site.

Also, please save the date for the next UTELL meeting on September 16 from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. in 101 Walter Library.