"Whatever you're doing now is wrong”-Gilbert's Corollary to Moore's Law [About central/decentral tech support.]

"Whatever you're doing now is wrong."  
That's still my best answer to "Should we be centralizing or decentralizing our tech support?" a question I've been asked many times in the past 30 years.   I try to soften the blow by adding "Whatever you're doing now is right, too." and then explaining why.
[See also BYOD "outsource your I.T. department to Apple" - TLT-SWG Posting]

Since 1965 we've been living with Moore's Law, which has become both a prediction and a prescription:  "performance of digital computers doubles every year or two".  So, every few years some of the functions that took advantage of the capabilities of the most powerful digital devices can be adapted to new personal devices. Of course, technology and consumer products can change much more rapidly and often than organizational structures - in businesses as well as educational institutions.  

• Every few years we want a more decentralized, flexible support system that focuses on individual needs, personal devices, and tools neither owned nor controlled by the institution. 
• And every few years we want a more centralized, stable, expert technology support group that focuses on providing access to resources neither owned nor controlled nor accessible to individuals.

CC Search - Helpful way to find legally useable images! And more!

"not a search engine, but..access to search services provided by other independent organizations."
Creative Commons (CC) Search Portal = http://search.creativecommons.org/ can be used to find "music, video, writing, code, or other creative works"!
NOTE: CC wisely advises "always verify that the work is actually under a CC license by following the link... If you are in doubt you should contact the copyright holder directly, or try to contact the site where you found the content." - From CC Search Portal

I admire and recommend Creative Commons for its continuing commitment to facilitate sharing and creating intellectual works worldwide, especially via the Internet. CC provides licensing options that are described simply and clearly enough to enable each of us to decide the preferred limits for others' use of our own work and to communicate those limits effectively and legally. - Steve Gilbert

More about Creative Commons & CC Search Portal

Need Better Listening in Higher Ed. Why? How? Join us FridayLive! 9/23 2pm ET

Free Online Webinar Registration for "Mindful Consulting: 

Protecting Ourselves and Faculty from Tidal Waves of Information" Guest presenter, Ben McFadyen, Academic Technology Consultant from Teaching and Learning Technologies and the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, Elon University.

IMAGE

Photo of person whispering into giant upholstered ear on head, "maybe it will help.. whisper@ gemeentehuis den haag" by Hans van Rijnberk, June 21, 2008, 
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3254/2598234846_4dba75c81e.jpg
 Some rights reserved by Hans_van_Rijnberk

Usual support for local students taking distant education consortium shared courses: Tech/admin YES. Academic NO.

Common practice(?) in "Local Facilitation" [See example below Hudson Valley Educ. Consortium]
1. Staff from each participating institution and/or staff from the consortium enable students to register, pay, get academic credit recorded appropriately for online consortium courses almost as conveniently as for local classroom-based courses.
2. Students are responsible for attendance, participation, communication, transportation as needed.
3. Proctoring or other student identification/security measures for testing and related activities are provided by the consortium and/or participating institutions.
4. No academic support is provided for online consortium courses. Students may be eligible for academic support in general from the participating institution in which they are enrolled.


EXAMPLE: HUDSON VALLEY EDUCATIONAL CONSORTIUM

"What is connectedness?..feeling in your bones that you are not alone..there is a hand for you in the dark.” E. Hallowell

Oklahoma City 1995, NOT NYC 9/11/2001

Time again for Edward Hallowell's idea of "connectedness."
"While ambition drives us to achieve, connectedness is my word for the force that urges us to ally, to affiliate, to enter into mutual relationships, to take strength and to grow through cooperative behavior.

"What is connectedness? It is a sense of being a part of something larger than oneself. It is a sense of belonging, or a sense of accompaniment. It is that feeling in your bones that you are not alone. It is a sense that, no matter how scary things may become, there is a hand for you in the dark. "

[p. 196] This is Edward M. Hallowell’s definition of “connectedness” from an essay of the same name: "Connectedness," pp. 193-209,  in Finding the Heart of the Child, Association of Independent Schools in New England, Inc., 1993.

PDF OF FULL TEXT OF GILBERT'S INTRO [EXCERPTS FOLLOW] AND HALLOWELL'S CHAPTER "CONNECTEDNESS"
Steven W. Gilbert, December 31, 1995, AAHESGIT [later, TLT-SWG] listserv.
As I neared home Tuesday night I saw two policeman talking
with my wife in front of our house. 

Straighterline.com re: faster, cheaper college credits is offering "bad advice to other people’s children”

Because “.. the only thing more expensive than going to college is not going to college." 

- from "The main lesson from a down job market? Stay in school. As long as you can." - The Washington Post By Anthony P. Carnevale, Published: September 16, 2011

For every new technology, there are zealots who prove that it is possible to accumulate credits, certificates, and degrees without getting an education.  See:   A Course is not a Pizza "Pizza & course materials can be delivered. Courses cannot. Even online. 'Delivery' denies interaction.  - TLT-SWG blog posting May 2, 2011.

"Straighterline is an awesome way to obtain college credits for courses."
"Remember, colleges want you as a student. Remind them you can do your learning elsewhere."
- Above from Straighterline.com "Transferring Credits to Other Schools and Universities"

Frugal Innovations: Colleges/Univs SHARE Courses, Faculty at a Distance? Examples? Challenges? 3 Central Questions

As part of our Frugal Innovation initiative, I'm looking for different ways in which colleges and universities can share courses, especially at a distance. Do you have suggestions, examples, or resources that might help address these important emerging questions:
1. GENERAL
What could be done by each collaborating institution to encourage and enable its own students to BENEFIT from taking courses in which the lead faculty member is based on a distant campus - too distant for face-to-face meetings?
2. DISTANT FACILITATION
What could be done by the lead faculty member and other academic professionals to support the "distant" students in a course that has both "local" students AND students who participate only online?
3. LOCAL FACILITATION
What could be done by a faculty member or other academic professional at your own campus to support local students who are taking courses in which the lead faculty member is based on a distant campus - too distant for face-to-face meetings? This is especially important to avoid having students who participate in such courses online not feel disenfranchised if some other students can participate in the same course face-to-face on campus with the instructor.

Many thanks for your help.
Steve Gilbert, President, TLT Group

"Local Facilitation" - Better Term for Home-Campus Support of Students Taking Distant, Online Courses? Examples?

"Support provided by a faculty member or other academic professional at the home college/university for students who are taking courses in which the lead faculty member is based on a distant campus - too distant for the students to participate in face-to-face course meetings"

I've been referring to this support as "local facilitation", but I welcome suggestions for a label that gets this idea across more simply, or a term that is already being used to refer to this kind of support.
Please recommend a better term.
I'm also looking for examples of different ways of providing "local facilitation" - face-to-face, online, synchronous, asynchronous, provided by peer students, specially trained and assigned staff, ....

Exchange Grad Program Tuition Waivers: Policy, Guidelines, Course Registration Form - Western Canadian "Deans' Agreement"

"reciprocal enrichment of graduate programs":  
tuition waivers for grad & undergrad credit courses that are "an integral part of the applicant's graduate degree program" for "visiting students" who are "paying normal required tuition fees to their home institution."  See links, excerpts below for more details.

• Western Canadian Deans of Graduate Studies - Policy on Shared Interuniversity Graduate Programs
• Guidelines for the Distance Delivery of Graduate Programs
• Authorization & Course Registration Form
• Western Canadian Deans' Agreement [excerpts follow]

"Planning Fallacy" Limits Efficacy "in the grip of a big, complex mess” e.g. Curriculum Revision. Need Frugal Innovation!

"When you are in the grip of a big, complex mess, you have the power to do discrete good but probably not systemic good." - From "The Planning Fallacy," by David Brooks, in print on September 16, 2011, on page A29 of the New York edition of the New York Times. More excerpts below.

"Frugal Innovation" is a constructive approach that can work under the daunting circumstances and within the limits to efficacy that Brooks' describes.

• Frugal Innovation is guided, supported, visionary, and persistently incremental.
• Frugal Innovation demonstrates commitment to improving teaching and learning by taking better advantage of available resources (including rapidly changing technology) without sacrificing what matters most to us all.

More Excerpts from Brooks - See esp. daunting history of curriculum revision below:

Calgary Instructors Video to Remote Classrooms with Local Facilitators

Part-time non-credit learning for adults

Community Learning Network: 

"The Community Learning Network provides ...leadership, resources and connections through partnerships and collaboration.

"Community Adult Learning Councils address the part-time, non-credit learning needs of adults within specified geographic boundaries.  Currently 80 in number,"

From Bow Valley Learning Council Success Story for September 2010:"A pilot series of video conferencing is about to run ‘Bridges for Rural Immigrants’ and this is being developed and delivered in partnership with Bow Valley College and the Hanna Learning Centre. The pilot project tests the development and delivery of English language programs to rural and remote areas using a videoconferencing platform and the SuperNet/Internet. The goal is to establish a community based partnership and a delivery model that is transferable to rural or remote areas with compatible technological supports. The project addresses local and regional needs related to access to learning, low class numbers, lack of transport, lack of LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada) funding for participants and high course fees. "

"Cross-Registration" available at 17 GCCCU colleges/univs.

Students attend/participate fully at teacher's campus or online.

"Cross-Registration" offered by 17 members of Greater Cincinnati Consortium of Colleges and Universities (GCCCU).  Since 1974.  It seems that all enrolled students have same responsibilities and opportunities for transportation, attendance and participation on campus and/or online regardless of whether they are enrolled at the "home" institution or at a different institution.

"Lead & Partner Model" eCampusAlberta

Student takes course from distant institution, gets services from nearby institution.

Excerpts from About Us | eCampusAlberta: 

"Lead and partner model

"The lead institution develops and offers the [fully online] course or program and provides the instruction and materials in an online environment. The partner institution offers support services, such as access to the library and exam supervision as well as research and study skills support.

"In addition to providing the infrastructure (website, server and software) that facilitates the learning experience for the student, eCampusAlberta also researches and shares high quality standards for online education with member institutions and offers monthly seminars and professional development opportunities for online educators.

"Participation in online education has increased steadily since the organization was formed in 2002. The number of registrations in eCampusAlberta courses increased by approximately 24 per cent to 16,213 in fiscal 2010/11, up from 13,107 in 2009/10."

More - Membership, Objectives of eCampusAlberta 

“independence, freedom within limits..respect..natural psych development..tech advancements"

New educ? Guess OLD source?

If you remove the student age references, most descriptions of Montessori-style education sound remarkably similar to innovations proposed for higher education ...  again and again and again... Why don't these old innovations take hold widely and deeply enough to satisfy their advocates?  In what ways, and where, are these innovations already working effectively?  For how long?  Montessori's ideas, practices, and materials have influenced many teachers and many schools, even beyond the thousands of institutions that operate under her name today. 

Maria Montessori

Full quote:
"Montessori education is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development, as well as technological advancements in society. Although a range of practices exists under the name "Montessori", the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) and the American Montessori Society (AMS) cite these elements as essential:[2][3]

• Mixed age classrooms, with classrooms for children aged 2½ or 3 to 6 years old by far the most common
• Student choice of activity from within a prescribed range of options
• Uninterrupted blocks of work time
• A Constructivism or "discovery" model, where students learn concepts from working with materials, rather than by direct instruction
• Specialized educational materials developed by Montessori and her collaborators."

From -  Montessori education - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sharing Courses? Sharing Faculty? Really?

9/16 2pm EDT Free Online tlt.gs/frlv 

Undergrad interinstitutional courses?

• How could a few colleges or universities each benefit from collaborating to enable their own enrolled undergraduates to take some of each others' courses? 
• What could be done by each institution to encourage and enable their own students to take courses in which the lead faculty member is based on one of the other distant campuses - too distant for face-to-face meetings?
• In what ways can faculty be shared among course-sharing institutions?

FridayLive Registration Info tlt.gs/frlv

100 FRLV Sharing Courses Frugal Innovation - Google Docs:

Frugal Innovation: Colleges Share Courses? - TLT-SWG 20110811

"Are You Ready For Online Learning?" WHAT KIND? Synchronous/Asynch? Text/Voice/Video?

2 self-tests from OntarioLearn.com for prospective online students below.  
Good prep/background for our FridayLive! session this week:  Frugal Innovation:  Colleges Sharing Online Courses Sept 16, 2011 Register (FREE) to receive login information.


However, these tests would be more helpful if accompanied by better information about the kinds of online courses for which the tests have been designed.  The technology options for teaching/learning online are changing VERY FAST.  The self-tests should be introduced by explanations of how much, if at all, these courses can vary in schedule, pedagogy, media - should answer some questions like these:  

• Do these courses include synchronous options?  
• Is most interaction only via text online?  Live or recorded audio?  Video?  Are telephone conversations permitted, encouraged, or forbidden?
• Is most learning expected to be via reading printed materials?  Reading online?  Engaging in specific tasks that must be done independently?  
• How and when can students get feedback about their progress?  
• How and when are students tested or graded?
• How often and in what ways is the teacher available to respond to questions?

SELF-TESTS  DESCRIPTIONS & LINKS BELOW HERE

"Easy Rider" Space Potty? REALLY needs user-friendly ergonomics!

Only time keyboard SHOULD be attached to the screen! Otherwise, typical laptop configuration is undesirable. So if you have an iPad or other tablet computer, the on-screen keyboards are fine for brief use; but for other purposes, get  a keyboard that can be positioned further from the screen.  Being able to easily rearrange your screen and keyboard - and doing so often - is an ergonomic advantage!

"'You know what I think of? I think of Peter Fonda in 'Easy Rider' riding a chopper,' [Astronaut Michael] Massimino said of his preferred space toilet position, holding his arms up to grip the handles of an imaginary motorcycle. 'That's the right position for me.'" - from Space Potty Training Secrets Revealed by Astronauts | Space.com

See also Stand up. Move now! "Are you using your laptop unsafely?" - TLT-SWG Blog posting 20110223

Juncture vs. Crossroads - Optimism vs. Pessimism

Are the waters rising or receding?

What do you most want to gain? 

What do you most cherish and want not to lose?  

Where are we now? 

Where are we going? 

Where have we been?

 - from Fundamental Questions for Frugal Innovations: Transform? Preserve?, Steven W. Gilbert, TLT-SWG Blog August 1, 2011

"We still stand at the juncture of many possible futures." - from "Loss and Hope - As a nation, we can work to retrieve the compassion that surged after 9/11." New York Times editorial September 11, 2011.

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." - from "My Speech to the Graduates," Woody Allen, New York Times, August 10, 1979

Big Picture vs. Act Now - Both important in small collaborative groups!

Preview Guidelines for 9/9 2pm ET Online: 
Most groups include BOTH 

• Some participants who focus more on the "big picture" AND 
• Some who focus more on immediate action

See books by Peter G. W. Keen ("Counterimplementation" etc.)

Guidelines:  

• Respect the needs and capabilities of BOTH.
• Take advantage of the needs and capabilities of BOTH.

Above guidelines were added after TLT Group's 2011 Online Symposium.  

For more, see Sample Guidelines in "Guidelines/References for Frugal Innovation thru Small Group Collaboration:  Working draft from TLTG Annual Online Symposium 2011" tlt.gs/SGCguide, and, of course,

Join TLT Group's first free online FridayLive! session of 2011-2012. September 9 at 2pm Eastern.  Click here for more info, registration FREE! 

“Can Anyone Keep Up With Anything Anymore?”

"...use electronic resources to establish a personalized professional development program" 9/9 2pm ET Online Join TLT Group's first free online FridayLive! session of 2011-2012. September 9 at 2pm Eastern, includes an interview with Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian for Research & Instructional Services, Temple U. and ACRL vice-president/president-elect.

See work on Blended Librarians

9/9 Session working title:
Sharing Overabundant Good Teaching/Learning Resources More Effectively Through Small Group Collaboration and Other Methods
Finding, Browsing, and Drowning in Overabundance “You are not alone!” and “Why didn’t you tell me?”

9/9 session also includes Recap, Extension of TLT Group’s Online Symposium 2011 (4th Annual) "Frugal Innovation thru Small Group Collaboration "

Quotation excerpt at beginning of this posting is from Bell's article:  

"Keeping Up: Using E-Resources for a Personalized PD Program," Educause Quarterly V.26, N.3, Fall 2003.