Google Desktop Saves the Day

Ever make a mistake and lose the version of a document or file that you REALLY wanted to keep? Google Desktop <http://desktop.google.com/> can save us!

I was reminded of this last Saturday afternoon when I was about to begin my opening presentation for the NCAD2006 Conference and discovered that Internet access had disappeared. I had built a Web page both to outline my main points and to provide links to resources I might want to display – including audio clips. I had NOT set my browser to make that Web page available offline.

But I use Google Desktop and it creates cache copies of lots of things… including Web pages I’ve recently visited. So I used Google Desktop to find and display a recent copy on my own laptop of that Web page www.tltgroup.org/ncad2006.htm and a copy of one of the audio files I needed. That wasn’t as good as having real access to that Web page and all the items that can be reached through it, but it was good enough to avoid disaster. And it provided an excuse for telling the audience about Google Desktop and how it can bail you out when you’re working too late or too long and accidentally delete the file that contains all your most recent changes.

I strongly recommend Google Desktop. It has enabled me to find documents and files – including email messages – much more easily and quickly than I ever could without it. And it’s available as a free download.
If you know any reason for NOT using Google Desktop, or other benefits, I hope you will add a comment to this posting.

Basically, Google Desktop indexes files on your own computer somewhat the same way Google indexes files on the Web, and then it permits you to do Google-style searches entirely limited to files stored on your own computer. It creates “cache” copies of files on your computer much the same way Google creates cache copies of Web pages. For more info about Google’s cache copies, see:

http://www.google.com/help/features.html#cached

Here’s an excerpt from that Web page as of 7-28-2006:

“Google takes a snapshot of each page examined as it crawls the web and caches these as a back-up in case the original page is unavailable. If you click on the "Cached" link, you will see the web page as it looked when we indexed it. The cached content is the content Google uses to judge whether this page is a relevant match for your query.

“When the cached page is displayed, it will have a header at the top which serves as a reminder that this is not necessarily the most recent version of the page. Terms that match your query are highlighted on the cached version to make it easier for you to see why your page is relevant.
“The "Cached" link will be missing for sites that have not been indexed, as well as for sites whose owners have requested we not cache their content.”

Also, see: http://www.googleguide.com/cached_pages.html

And if you want to look for copies of material on the Web even further back in time, see what you can do with the Internet Archive “Wayback Machine” at:
http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

WARNING: When you put something on the Web, even if you delete it, it is probably not entirely gone! If you decide that something on one of your Web pages is offensive or out of date and you delete, update or replace it, you have NOT succeeded in making the old version disappear forever from everyone… [Is there a way to delete Google caches of one’s own Web page?]

REQUEST: Can anyone find or compile a COMPLETE list of postings from AAHESGIT and TLT-SWG? You can start with the most recent items at
http://listserv.nd.edu/archives/tlt-swg.html - but that only begins Feb. 2003. AAHESGIT began in 1994!

My Favorite Online Tools [& Info Tech Devices]

Here [below] is a list of the online tools, resources, and related devices that I use most often, depend on, or just really like - they are mostly new, Web-based, and free. My list is probably unique in the universe - almost like a fingerprint - and you probably have a unique list too. [See "reprint" about Fingerprint Computers in previous TLT-SWG blog posting: "Fingerprint Computers" vs. Standardization [Revisited].< http://tlt-swg.blogspot.com/2006/07/fingerprint-computers-vs.html>

If after reviewing my list you think I am missing some terrific tool or new Web-based resource - one of your favorites - please share that info with me and others by adding a comment to this posting. If you would like to add your own separate list, let me know and I will give you editing access to the Writely document I use to accumulate/modify my own list.

In the list below, I've indicated the tools/resources I rely on most frequently, completely with a "*". I've marked those that were new to me in the past year with a"&". Those that are free - or almost free (legally!) are marked with "-$". Those that have a significant but reasonable fee are marked "$". The list that follows has 4 sections; within each section the items are listed in alphabetic order - not in order of preference or quality:
1. MOST DEFINITELY - WILL FIGHT TO KEEP THESE! - Free or very inexpensive
2. MOST DEFINITELY - WILL FIGHT TO KEEP THESE! - Significant but reasonable fee
3. STANDARD – FOUNDATION TOOLS, RESOURCES
4. NOT SURE YET – BEGINNING TO USE MORE OFTEN
5. DEVICES
6. SERVICES


1. MOST DEFINITELY - WILL FIGHT TO KEEP THESE! - Free or very inexpensive
Amazon.com * -$
Audacity *& -$
Bank of America online banking * -$
Blogger *& -$
Bloglines *& -$
eBay -$
Feed2JS *& -$
Google * -$
Google Desktop *& -$
Google Local *& -$
Google Maps, Directions *& -$
MERLOT - collection -$
MERLOT - sharing tools -$
-$ Print FedEx Kinkos
Skype/Skylook [free/inexpensive phone via Internet + dial from Outlook contacts + record directly onto computer] *& -$
Solitaires (Spider, Free Cell, ...) * -$
Spybot Search & Destroy -$
Yahoo Widgets [analog clock; weather; wireless meter *& -$
Writely *& -$

2. MOST DEFINITELY - WILL FIGHT TO KEEP THESE! - Significant but reasonable fee
Flashlight Online * $
Income Tax Software (TaxCut) * $
iVocalize *& $
RoboDemo (or equiv...) $
SecondCopy * $
Skype + Skylook *& $

3. STANDARD – FOUNDATION TOOLS, RESOURCES
AOL * $
AVG (virus protections, etc.) * $
MS Windows Media Player * $
Quicktime Player *
Adobe PDF *
Google Pack http://pack.google.com/ *

Microsoft Office Suite * $
FrontPage
IE
PowerPoint
Outlook
Excel


4. NOT SURE YET – BEGINNING TO USE MORE OFTEN
Acez & -$
Concept Mapping -$
CrystalTech & $
Digital Voice Editor 2 & $ [Sony Digital Voice Recorder]
Feedburner & -$
FeedForAll & -$
iTunes & -$
MS Money $
Photo editing software (e.g., Picasa2) -$
Trillian Pro & $ (easier management of multiple IM "channels")
Voice Recognition - cell phone? $
Voice Recognition - transcription $
Voice Wizard Editor & Voice Wizard + [Digital Voice Recorder] $

5. DEVICES
Laptop * $$
Cell Phone
PDA
Digital Camera (stills, videos) * $$
*&Treo 650 - Cell Phone + PDA + Camera * & $$
*Digital Voice Recorder * & $
*Telephone recording adapters * $
*Internet-Phone Gizmo * $ [Links Internet audio sessions with telephone conference calls]
*Headsets * $
Headset - Bluetooth & $
Copier/Scanner/Printer/Zoom * $

6. SERVICES
Telephone conference calls * $
Telephone conference calls toll free * $$
Skype/Skylook * & [$]

"Fingerprint Computers" vs. Standardization [Revisited]

Excerpt 1: "... How can we each have our own 'fingerprint' computer and still be able to do our work without interruptions due to problems or changes in the technology we use? -- Especially when the 'Support Service Crisis' is widening and deepening? Of course, we want to allow each individual computer user to take full advantage of the many varied and exciting
options available to modify his/her own system to fit with his/her own working (& learning & teaching) style. Of course, we want to standardize in ways that can make it easier, quicker, cheaper, and more reliable to maintain and improve and learn to use our own machines and systems - even when wonderful new features are added.

Has anyone found an optimal - or even a reasonably good - approach for dealing with the tension between individualization and standardization in this context? ..."

Excerpt 2: "...to take full advantage of new educational uses of information technology, we need to:
- plan and operate more flexibly (have back-up activities ready);
- be undaunted by occasional dysfunctions;
- have realistic expectations about the quality and speed of support services available to help us when things go wrong with any of the technologies we use;
- respect others whose tolerance levels may differ from our own for the uncertainty and interruptions that accompany new instructional options;
- help colleagues benefit from what we learn from our own successes AND FAILURES. ..."

ABOVE EXCERPTS FROM TLT-SWG-93: New Balance Between Insecurity and Accomplishment; "Fingerprint Computers" Revisited; 11/6/03. TLT-SWG-93 also included the following, which still too aptly describes and partially explains the "Support Service Crisis" of 2006 & 2003 - as well as 2001. The "reprint" below ends with a description of a conversation with Vijay Kumar of MIT that produced the list of recommendations above.

Repeat of posting #97 from 4/17/2001: "Fingerprint Computers vs. Standardization"

How can we each have our own “fingerprint” computer and still be able to do our work without interruptions due to problems or changes in the technology we use? -- Especially when the “Support Service Crisis” is widening and deepening?

Of course, we want to allow each individual computer user to take full advantage of the many varied and exciting options available to modify his/her own system to fit with his/her own working (& learning & teaching) style. Of course, we want to standardize in ways that can make it easier, quicker, cheaper, and more reliable to maintain and improve and learn to use our own machines and systems – even when wonderful new features are added.

Has anyone found an optimal – or even a reasonably good – approach for dealing with the tension between individualization and standardization in this context?

For an extended version of the above, see below.)
Steve Gilbert ============================================
=== Finally back in the office after spending a long =====
=== weekend “reconfiguring” our household after moving. =
=== In some ways, the process is just as frustrating and =
=== debilitating as dealing with our recent email and ====
=== Web problems. Meanwhile, as I still face more =======
=== unpacking, I keep thinking of the motto I heard a ====
=== few weeks ago: “Less stuff; more fun.” [Citation?]=
==========================================================

Fingerprint Computers vs. Standardization

In my recent visits to campuses and conferences, I find that, unfortunately, I no longer need to explain the “Support Service Crisis.” Everyone I encounter is living it and knows what I mean. Sadly, the phrase now applies much more broadly, not only to the technology support professionals. This crisis now encompasses librarians, faculty development professionals, student affairs professionals, registrars, and many other categories. Most academic administrators are suffering from closely-related pressures. Chief Academic Officers and others are being asked to make more decisions of rapidly increasing magnitude and complexity about educational uses of information technology. The most recent trend toward attractive institution-wide implementations further raises hopes AND the stakes, the uncertainty, and the likelihood of delay or disappointment.

One of the more seemingly plausible solutions for the technical support service crisis is to be sure that everyone within an institution -- or within some sections of it – has the same kind of computer, configured with identical components, software, and features. This uniformity or standardization would reduce the variety of knowledge and skills required of support personnel. It would also reduce the variety of replacement parts, upgrades, updates, and “fixes.” Further, the users themselves would be better able to help each other informally because they would each face the same challenges.

The commitment of many (hundreds?) of institutions to “ubiquitous computing” seems to provide one path in this direction. However, most institutions are not yet prepared to adopt policies that provide or require that everyone has and uses the same computer (or computers with the same essential features). [NOTE: Beware of the elusive definition of “essential features.”]

So, for most colleges and universities, standardization is still on an ever-receding horizon, and I wonder if things are getting worse.

I’ve mentioned before how each of us now seems to have a unique computer, and that the configuration of my computer might almost serve as a “fingerprint” distinguishing me from all other human beings! Due to competition in the information industries and the ability of human beings to invent new ways of using these remarkable tools, we keep having more hardware, software, and information options and more choices than we can easily make individually.

In the last few weeks, the TLT Group has been experiencing the consequences of our own Support Service Crisis. We’ve been having trouble with email and our Website as we have moved those functions from our own server to another, and now (I hope finally) to a third. We find that the necessary reconfiguration of our computers with each shift requires individual expert attention – because each of our computers has become unique as we have used them. Each of us has elected slightly different options within the operating system we share, and each of us has selected different configurations of the “suite” of basic tools we all use. We’ve each added other programs and pieces as we do our work – especially as we use the Web.

Of course, we want to allow each individual computer user to take full advantage of the many varied and exciting options available to modify his/her own system to fit with his/her own working (& learning & teaching) style. Of course, we want to standardize in ways that can make it easier, quicker, cheaper, and more reliable to maintain and improve and learn to use our own machines and systems.

Has anyone found an optimal – or even a reasonably good – approach for dealing with the tension between individualization and standardization in this context?

During a delightful early morning walk yesterday in Anaheim with Vijay Kumar of MIT and two other old friends, we discussed the continuing Support Service Crisis. Vijay suggested that most faculty, students, and staff need to become more comfortable with the uncertainty associated with rapidly changing technology combinations. Vijay half-joked that something like the Twelve Step addiction recovery programs could help more of us stop depending on the fictitious uninterrupted availability and functionality of most attractive information technology tools.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=


Conversation with Kumar - November 5, 2003; Anaheim

During a delightful early morning walk yesterday with Vijay Kumar of MIT and two other old friends, we discussed this continuing Support Service Crisis. Vijay suggested that most faculty, students, and staff need to become more comfortable with the uncertainty associated with rapidly changing technology combinations. Vijay half-joked that something like the Twelve Step addiction recovery programs could help more of us stop depending on the uninterrupted availability and functionality of most attractive information technology tools.

We need to learn how to accept more frequent breakdowns of equipment, networks, and software as part of the price we pay for more powerful and diverse academic tools. We need to learn to accept that often we will not find or be given any rational explanation for a dysfunction -- that the problem may disappear as mysteriously and suddenly as it arrives. We need to accept the role of a higher power or random elements in causing disruptions to our plans.

In conclusion, those of us who try to take full advantage of new educational uses of information technology need to learn to:
- plan and operate more flexibly (have back-up activities ready);
- be undaunted by occasional dysfunctions;
- have realistic expectations about the quality and speed of support services available to help us when things go wrong with any of the technologies we use;
- respect others whose tolerance levels may differ from our own for the uncertainty and interruptions that accompany new instructional options;
- help colleagues benefit from what we learn from our own successes AND FAILURES.

"Two Mules?" [2 Mins. Audio - Cajun Academic Humor]

Another Boudreaux story "Two Mules?" is now available.

MORAL: Important to know you’re part of a team!

For more Boudreaux stories – Cajun Academic Humor - go to:
http://www.tltgroup.org/listserv/tlt-swg.html
I hope you enjoy them!

Steve Gilbert

NOTE: David E. Boudreaux, native and resident of Thibodaux, La., is Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Nicholls State University. We appreciate the warmth, good nature, and underlying care for humanity that often emerges from his unique "Cajun Academic Humor." Boudreaux's stories have provided welcome breaks in our ever-busier, ever more fragmented lives, and helped us regain a broader, healthier perspective.

MySpace & FaceBook - Real & Rhetorical Questions

New Internet “activities” MySpace and FaceBook are spreading faster and further than their predecessors -- especially among people less than half my age.

REAL QUESTIONS: Can we find ways of using these new “Social Networking” or “Web 2.0” tools responsibly? To improve teaching and learning?
Do you know examples of constructive educational uses of MySpace or FaceBook?
RHETORICAL QUESTION: Does it make any sense at all to try to address these issues without the help of students?

Here we go again. Just as I’m BEGINNING to figure out how to take advantage of blogging, podcasting, RSS Feeds, etc.! FaceBook has already become the FIRST “place” my undergraduate daughter goes for communications with her friends from college and elsewhere – often BEFORE checking cell phone voicemail, text messages, instant messages, and email.

3 PROVOCATIVE EXCERPTS:
1. STUDENTS' NEW WAYS?“Most students today arrive at college assuming that a Google search is the first choice for doing research, that MySpace is the model for creating online content and building peer communities, and — perhaps most important — that multitasking with various electronic devices, often from remote locations, is the traditional way to do class work.” - “Beyond Google: What Next for Publishing?” Kate Wittenberg of EPIC, the Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia U.,< kw49@columbia.edu > – see below for more text, citation, link.

2. ANYTHING GOES?[From a middle school teacher] “Unlike my generation, which tends to use MySpace to keep in touch with friends across the world, the generation of students I teach uses MySpace as a prolonged, entirely unsupervised locker break. This adolescent MySpace is filled with profanity, dangerously personal information, sexually explicit pictures, drug references and, in some cases, even pornographic videos. Usually these posts are riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors. But the message is clear: Anything goes. During this locker break, there are no hall monitors, no teachers watching for trouble and, clearly, few parents who are anywhere nearby.” - “MySpace Gone Wrong,” Cheryl MacPherson, of Gunston Middle School, < macpherson@apsva.us > – see below for more text, citation, link.

3. NEW RESTRICTIONS IN MYSPACE?“…MySpace.com is planning new restrictions on how adults may contact its younger users in response to growing concerns about the safety of teenagers who frequent the popular online social networking site. …MySpace has no mechanism for verifying that users submit their true age when registering. That means adults can sign up as teens and request to join a 14-year-old's list of friends, which would enable the full profiles. …Driven largely by word of mouth, MySpace has grown astronomically since its launch in January 2004 and is now second in the United States among all Web sites by total page views, … The site currently has some 87 million users, about a quarter registered as minors, according to the company.” - “ MySpace Plans New Restrictions for Youths,” Anick Jesdanun, – see below for more text, citation, link.

SEE BELOW FOR MORE FROM THESE SOURCES, ADDITIONAL COMMENTS FROM ME, AND SOME RELATED LINKS!

COMMENTS [Steve Gilbert]
Apparently, MySpace expects new “members” to be single, non-smoking, non-drinking people who don’t want to have children. When I created my own MySpace account this morning I discovered those interesting “default options” (i.e., the choices selected FOR me if I didn’t make an active choice in response to some questions – note that “no answer” was the default option for some other questions, but not those). And then I discovered that I already had a “friend” – someone named “Tom” whose photo looks like a head shot from an actor aspiring to a role in a TV reality series. He lists millions of “friends” – beginning mostly with photos of attractive young women. It was easy to “de-select” him from my list of “friends,” but now I have none.

If you haven’t heard of MySpace or FaceBook, you should find out about them. You can get an account for free in less than a minute. My college junior daughter doesn’t like me to watch the screen when she’s online with FaceBook, although she has been willing to tell me a little about it and let me see some examples. It has become the FIRST “place” she goes for communications with her friends from college and elsewhere – sometimes even before cell phone, text messages, instant messages, and email.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=--=-=

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE EXCERPTS: MACPHERSON IN WASHINGTON POST 7-16-2006
“MySpace Gone Wrong,” Cheryl MacPherson, Washington Post, p. B8, Sunday, July 16, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/14/AR2006071401186.html
“I joined MySpace.com at my best friend's urging. … I started to realize the difference between my MySpace and their MySpace.

“Unlike my generation, which tends to use MySpace to keep in touch with friends across the world, the generation of students I teach uses MySpace as a prolonged, entirely unsupervised locker break. This adolescent MySpace is filled with profanity, dangerously personal information, sexually explicit pictures, drug references and, in some cases, even pornographic videos. Usually these posts are riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors. But the message is clear: Anything goes. During this locker break, there are no hall monitors, no teachers watching for trouble and, clearly, few parents who are anywhere nearby.

“As a teacher of these talented young people, I am uneasy about this virtual world and unsure of my role in protecting my students from the damage it can cause. … I would not condone any 14- or 15-year-old living alone in an apartment and driving a car. So why do we allow these children to live independent lives online?

“And so, this fall, during parent-teacher conferences and back-to-school night, I am going to provide every parent I meet with detailed directions for creating a MySpace profile, making MySpace friends, posting comments and reading bulletins. And for those young adults such as myself who want to take back MySpace from the too young, send me a message or comment. You know exactly where to find me.

-- Cheryl MacPherson, Alexandria, [Virginia] teaches eighth grade at Gunston Middle School in Arlington. © 2006 The Washington Post Company
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE EXCERPTS: WITTENBERG IN CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION JUNE 16, 2006
“Beyond Google: What Next for Publishing?” Kate Wittenberg, EPIC – Columbia U., The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Chronicle Review, June 16, 2006

This is G o o g l e's cache uses the following 2 urls – but I don’t know if they will work for everyone… : http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:LsuSP0wEqQEJ:chronicle.com/temp/email2.php%3Fid%3DpDkJXkCtFVXSDfNJTFBHrgsmgNFbVj58+chronicle+higher+education+myspace&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2&client=firefox-a
or
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:LsuSP0wEqQEJ:chronicle.com/temp/email2.php%3Fid%3DpDkJXkCtFVXSDfNJTFBHrgsmgNFbVj58+Beyond+Google:+What+Next+for+Publishing%3F+advertisement+Printer+friendly+E-mail+article+Subscribe+Order+reprints+By+KATE+WITTENBERG&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
“…If ‘digital natives’ are the next audience for our scholarly resources, shouldn't we be thinking about new ways to organize, store, and deliver our content? In fact, is content even what we should be focusing on for this next generation of users, or are the tools, functionality, and access built on top of the content what are of real value?

“…Until now we have spent most of our energies in rear-guard actions: fighting Google over copyright infringement in its plans to digitize library books, for example. It's time to think ‘beyond Google.’

“Going forward, our work must take a more experimental turn. We need to get serious about developing online publications that allow students to freely explore the vast array of content and tools available through the World Wide Web, while still allowing an appropriate level of guidance concerning how to select and evaluate the sources that they find. And we must look at methods to deliver and store content in ways that allow students to use their remote devices to access it and that work through and enhance the online communities where they spend so much of their time.

“…One strategy we could pursue involves meeting users on their own turf… build a networking space focusing on the information needs of students…enable dialogue and collaboration among its users, discussion of readings, and creation of multimedia class projects. Faculty members and librarians could create profiles of their own, with commentary on the subject under discussion, and users could decide how to integrate the content and tools we provide into the environment they create for themselves.

“…Keep in mind that we are all mutually dependent, and that no group is in a position to dictate the discussions or the outcomes: Search engines need the content provided by publishers and libraries to provide a high-quality experience for users; libraries need stable, robust technology platforms, wide use of their collections, and growing communities of new users; scholars and students need more effective access to information and the skills to determine its quality and value. So it is alarming that those groups are so often in conflict that they end up in court rather than at a conference table.”

Kate Wittenberg is director of EPIC, the Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia; http://chronicle.com
Section: The Chronicle Review; Volume 52, Issue 41, Page B20; Copyright © 2006 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE EXCERPTS: JESDANUN IN WASH. POST JUNE 21, 2006
“ MySpace Plans New Restrictions for Youths,” Anick Jesdanun, The Associated Press,
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/20/AR2006062001768.html

“…MySpace.com is planning new restrictions on how adults may contact its younger users in response to growing concerns about the safety of teenagers who frequent the popular online social networking site.

“…MySpace has no mechanism for verifying that users submit their true age when registering. That means adults can sign up as teens and request to join a 14-year-old's list of friends, which would enable the full profiles.

“…Driven largely by word of mouth, MySpace has grown astronomically since its launch in January 2004 and is now second in the United States among all Web sites by total page views, behind only Yahoo Inc., according to comScore Media Metrix. The site currently has some 87 million users, about a quarter registered as minors, according to the company.

“…At MySpace, which was bought last year by News Corp. for $580 million, users can expand their circles of friends by exploiting existing connections, rather than meeting randomly or by keyword matches alone.

“…It offers a mix of features _ message boards, games, Web journals _ designed to keep its youth-oriented visitors clicking on its advertising-supported pages.

“…MySpace has recently become a target of parents, schools and law enforcement officials concerned that teens who hang out at MySpace can fall victim to sexual predators.

“…MySpace also will beef up its ad-targeting technology, so that it can avoid displaying gambling and other adult-themed sites on minors' profile pages and target special public-service announcements to them.

“…The changes follow a number of safety-related measures that includes the hiring of a former federal prosecutor and Microsoft Corp. executive as its online safety chief. MySpace already has developed safety tips for parents and children and devotes scores of employees to monitoring the site around the clock.

© 2006 The Associated Press
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=
RELATED LINKS – EDUCATIONAL USES OF BLOGS, ETC.

Exploration Guide: Educational Uses of Blogs, Wikis, RSS Feeds, etc.For “beginners” in higher educationwww.tltgroup.org/blogs.htm

Barbara Ganley of Middlebury College blogs about Barbara Sawhill visiting there to “…give a workshop on using Web 2.0 technologies [blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, Skype, …] in second-language teaching. …”http://mt.middlebury.edu/middblogs/ganley/bgblogging/NOTE: This thoughtful blog can be VERY slow in loading.

Very useful Wiki probably created by Barbara Sawhill of Oberlin College. Sawhill Who MIGHT be involved with “Language Lab Unleashed” – which appears to be a very useful, interesting Website that never mentions who is running it or authoring most items!http://www.languagelabunleashed.com/mod/wiki/view.php?id=18

Listening, Caring, Empowering – A Flexible, Inclusive Alternative to Traditional Strategic Planning [with 3+ minutes of audio MP3 attached]

Traditional strategic planning that produces 4-inch thick 'dust sucker' plan books covering the next five years doesn't fit the conditions facing most colleges and universities these days. President David Eisler's approach is more flexible, more inclusive, and takes advantage of changing communications options. [THIS POSTING IS ACCOMPANIED BY AN MP3 AUDIO FILE OF THE LAST 3 MINUTES - THE CLOSING SUMMARY OF THIS INTERVIEW. FOR THE FULL 55 MINUTE MP3 AUDIO RECORDING OF THIS INTERVIEW OF EISLER - CONDUCTED BY STEVEN W. GILBERT, PRESIDENT, OF THE TLT GROUP - SEE NEXT POST BELOW IN TLT-SWG.]

Eisler, President since July, 2003 of Ferris State University, spent 80+ hours last academic year meeting face-to-face with groups of faculty, staff and students. These meetings are the heart of an organic planning process that he began when he arrived at Ferris State. This ongoing program invites everyone to help articulate and sharpen a vision for the university. Eisler models the importance of listening – listening to everyone, caring about everyone – and responding to the feedback he so actively, frequently solicits. [Ferris State, located in Big Rapids, Michigan, has 10,000 undergrads and 1000 grad students. See http://www.ferris.edu/president/homepage.htm ]

In another stage of this flexible planning process, Eisler creates one-year task forces – with both volunteer and assigned members – to address key issues and make recommendations to the most senior university administrators.

President Eisler also comfortably uses email, the Web, and other technology applications to support communication and collaboration among faculty, staff, and students. These simple, practical uses of technology – including an online “electronic suggestion box”- are quite effective and do not distract from or impede the fundamental goals of the planning process.

Most recently, Eisler has begun a similar series of meetings with Ferris alumni, another group he hopes to engage even more actively in building and achieving the emerging shared vision for Ferris State University. President Eisler is committed to empowering ALL Ferris stakeholders, getting them engaged in solving problems, and building connections among them.

Listening, Caring, Empowering: Pres. David Eisler, Full Interview 7-9-2006

Listening, Caring, Empowering – A Flexible, Inclusive Alternative to Traditional Strategic Planning.
Attached MP3 is recording of full 7-9-2006 interview (just short of one hour) by Steven W. Gilbert of David Eisler, President since July, 2003 of Ferris State University, located in Big Rapids, Michigan.





For more about Eisler and Ferris State University, see http://www.ferris.edu/president/homepage.htm