Back by popular demand...we'll be doing a repeat performance of our recent UNT faculty training webinar.

Effective Teaching - How to Know it When You See It
Three Components of Effective Teaching Presented by the University of North Texas

Are you looking for keys to improving your teaching effectiveness? Would you like to understand the main factors in how your students view your effectiveness as an instructor? Join Nancy Fire, Ed.D. and Mike Simmons, Ph.D. from University of North Texas and learn 12 proven items that mark an effective teacher. With Nancy's 25 years of teaching and training and development experience and Mike's 16 years of teaching, extensive knowledge of course design, learning enhancement and assessment, this webinar will be complete with strong take-aways and examples to begin implementing in your classroom right away. The webinar is provided at no charge.  The webinar is on Friday, October 14, 2011, 1:00-2:30 pm CDT.

Register today, seating is limited!

Faculty Training Webinar

The recent 2010 Distance Education Survey Results released by Instructional Technology Council (ITC) lists the top 10 greatest challenges for elearning program administrators.  SmarterServices' tools lined up perfectly with the first three. 

1. Support staff needed for training and technical assistance - SmarterFaculty
2. Adequate assessment of distance education classes - SmarterSurveys
3. Adequate student services for distance education students - SmarterMeasure

It is very exciting as a company to be positioned on the edge of distance learning needs!  Our goal is to provide robust, yet cost effective solutions, to distance learning challenges.  We want to help you understand your data and make it useable.  So far we are right on track!

SmarterServices Matches Trends in Distance Learning

Released in May 2011, from the Instructional Technology Council, the 2010 Distance Education Survey Results: Trends in eLearning: Tracking the Impact of eLearning at Community Colleges, offers seven issues of relevant regulatory and legislative activity that are currently impacting the trends in distance learning.

1. State Authorization for Institutions Offering Distance Education to Out-of-State Students
2. Increased Scrutiny of For-Profit higher Education Institutions
3. Broadband Techology Opportunities Program (BTOP)
4. Failure to Enact the American Graduation Initiative
5. Passage of the TAA Community College and Career Training Grants Program
6. The Department of Education's National Education Technology Plan
7. The 2008 Higher Education Opportunites Act (HEOA)

Learn more by reading the full report.

2010 ELearning Trends - Instructional Technology Council

Last week at the TxDLA 2011 Conference in San Antonio, I had the honor of presenting on Tools that Assist Colleges with some Common Challenges in Distance Learning.  Ram DeLaRosa from TSTC-Harlingen, a long time client, graciously agreed to co-present.  They currently use SmarterMeasure™ and SmarterSurveys™.  Ram gave details about how his students benefit from SmarterMeasure and their plans to conduct a research study on student success.  Thanks Ram!

TxDLA 2011 Presentation

Don't we all want to "save"?  Saving trees, paper, time, or money, we all want to save something!  This week I read an article in the April issue of Campus Technology entitled "Lean Green Machines".  The focus of the article was sustainable eco-friendly initiatives that result in real cost savings.  Highlighting higher ed IT departments, Campus Technology selected eight of their favorite green practices. From their list I selected five.

1. East Los Angeles College - use solar panels to generate campus electricity.  One of the nation's largest green programs in history, the Lost Angeles Community College District has spent over $6 billion modernizing and greening its colleges since 2002.
2. Shippensburg University - launch campaign to teach energy awareness.  The "Environmental StewardSHIP" program was created in 2009, and since then has included education through the school newspaper and modifying power settings on student computers to use less energy.  Turns out knowledge is power, literally.
3. Creighton University - replaced their traditional paper-based end of course evaluation system with an online system.  Cutting waste by about 3 million sheets of paper, the school is making good on its promise to be more environmentally responsible while saving an estimated $40K per semester in paper costs alone. 
4. Butler University - use the heat from their data center to heat college building.  Now this is really clever!  Data centers produce a tremendous amount of heat, so much so that large air conditioner units are used to keep them cool.  In the Fall of 2010, Butler began repurposing this heat through transferring it to the building's hot water system, and is used to preheat outside air for use inside.  Officials estimate currently the data center is providing 20% of the heat production and when the data center is fully equipped as high as 40%.
5. Drexel University - use library books natural insulating abilities to cool the library.  Drexel learned to precool the building at night using their air conditioner when electricity prices temperatures are at their lowest.  During the day they turn one of the two units off.  The temperature in the morning is a comfortable 70 degrees and only rises about 5 degrees by the end of the day.  What's the secret?  Turns out all those books are natural insulators and store the cool air from the evening to keep things comfortable during the day.  With a savings of about $25K per year, this is an easy fix any school can implement.

To learn more about money saving, environmentally friendly initiatives your school can implement, read the complete article here.  SmarterServices™ is an environmentally friendly company.  We provide web-based tools that allow schools to collect data without paper.  In particular SmarterSurveys™ is an online end-of-course evaluation system.  To learn more about what makes SmarterSurveys unique watch this 2 minute video.  For a free, no-obligation virtual demo, click here.

Eco-Friendly IT Initiatives