Congratulations to TWU's own Dr. Bob Martin - Recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal

President and Mrs. Bush Attend Presentation of the 2008 National Medals of Arts and National Humanities Medals

The Presidential Citizens Medal was created nearly four decades ago to recognize Americans who have performed exemplary service to our nation. It is among one of the highest honors that can be conferred on a citizen. As President, I rarely have the opportunity to surprise anybody. (Laughter.) It is tough to be stealthy -- (laughter) -- with a security detail that comprises a 20-car motorcade. (Laughter.) That makes me especially pleased to present the President's Citizens Medal to four outstanding -- and unsuspecting -- leaders in the arts: Bruce Cole, Dana Gioia, Adair Margo, and Bob Martin. (Applause.) Please do not rush the stage. (Laughter.) Remember the big security detail? (Laughter.)

As former Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Bob
Martin has helped preserve our treasured collections and bring libraries
and museums into the 21st century with new technology. He's helped recruit
and train a new generation of librarians to replace the many skilled
library professionals who are preparing to retire. I know of such person
preparing to retire. (Laughter.)

Process Engineering in Higher Ed?

M'hammed Abdous and Wu He provide an engineering oriented summary of what's commonly known as business process review.  It's from the Hammer and Champy school of thought, which is not such a bad thing.  I found this article thanks to George Siemen's weekly newsletter.  As George says, the article is a bit too focused, but with a little brainpower applied one can easily see the big picture implications of this article.  And that's why I include it here.

In this paper, we propose a conceptual and operational framework for process reengineering (PR) in higher education (HE) institutions. Using a case study aimed at streamlining exam scheduling and distribution in a distance learning (DL) unit, we outline a sequential and non-linear four-step framework designed to reengineer processes. The first two steps of this framework – initiating and analyzing – are used to initiate, document, and flowchart the process targeted for reengineering, and the last two steps – reengineering/ implementing and evaluating – are intended to prototype, implement, and evaluate the reengineered process. Our early involvement of all stakeholders, and our in-depth analysis and documentation of the existing process, allowed us to avoid the traditional pitfalls associated with business process reengineering (BPR). Consequently, the outcome of our case study indicates a streamlined and efficient process with a higher faculty satisfaction at substantial cost reduction.

Getting the DATA

BbWorld'08 DevCon - Greenhouse Grant Panel

From: ekunnen, 3 months ago

BbWorld'08 DevCon - Greenhouse Grant Panel

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: panel bbworld08)

SlideShare Link

I’ll Take My Lecture to Go, Please | EDUCAUSE CONNECT

My view = Lecture capture as SUPPLEMENTAL...NOT PRIMARY learning resources - a valid technology.  From other sources, here's a little snippet from Andrew Guess in Inside Higher Ed and referenced by Educause:

"It looks like students can be open-minded after all: When provided with the option to view lectures online, rather than just in person, a full 82 percent of undergraduates kindly offered that they’d be willing to entertain an alternative to showing up to class and paying attention in real time.

A new study released today suggests not only a willingness but a “clear preference” among undergraduates for “lecture capture,” the technology that records, streams and stores what happens in the classroom for concurrent or later viewing."

Another interesting point was the survey finding about costs and willingness of students to pay:

"Over 60 percent of respondents said they would pay for lecture capture capabilities, and of those, 69 percent said they would be willing to pay on a “course-by-course” basis rather than bundled fees."

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/09/23/capture

Jon Mott's Blog - Very Insightful Reading

The End in Mind » Blackboard & the Innovator’s Dilemma

Jon's blog gives voice to the concepts and thoughts that a lot of us have, but aren't smart enough to organize it well like he does! For example, this nugget stood out for me

"...the real disruption in educational technology will come (and is already coming) via learner-centered technologies and networking tools. A rapidly growing number of people are creating their own personal learning environments with tools freely available to them, without the benefit of a CMS. As Christensen would say, they have hired different technologies to do the job of a CMS for them. But the technologies they’re hiring are more flexible, accessible and learner-centered than today’s CMSs. This is not to say that CMSs are about to disappear. Students enrolled in institutions of higher learning will certainly continue to participate in CMS-delivered course sites, but since these do not generally persist over time, the really valuable learning technologies will increasily be in the cloud."

I encourage you to check out the full post and the other things on Jon's End in Mind blog. (Thanks to colleague Jean Mankoff for pointing out this article)