An article on A List Apart on public speaking tips got me thinking on some of my hard-learned presentation lessons: Read the rest of this entry »

What is the continuing role of electronic portfolios?  An article in Campus Technology reviews the issues related to ownership of the content, and what happens when the student graduates.  A student-centered approach seems most logical to me — effective use comes when the student feels ownership of the content and  sees a practical use for its existence (like getting a job).  If they find the portfolio tool useful after graduation it seems short-sighted for the school to terminate the relationship.  If the institution accepts that the student ‘owns’ the content, and that the school simply provides a service — just like facebook or any other such service — then this relationship, and any risks, should be clear.  You have an acceptable use policy, and if users abuse the policy their accounts get shut off.  But this also means accepting some institutionally uncomfortable, or at least potentially uncomfortable, situations.  Welcome to the world of user-centric content!

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I  co-presented on e-portfolio use at our school yesterday, joined by Sarah Stevens-Morling from the drama school and Monica Reed from the music school.  Here is the official description: Read the rest of this entry »

Innovation is hard.  Sure it sounds like a good idea in the abstract — but when the everyday pressures of cost, time and keeping people happy come into play, the old familiar solutions normally win out.   I fall into this trap myself more often than I care to admit.  For instance lately I’ve been shopping around a really cool idea — a complete game changer for one of our key web sites.  We’d replace a bunch of custom web programing with Drupal, integrated with our CRM system making content updates much easier, quicker, and distributed across more staff.   We found two organizations doing something similar who would even share their custom modules.

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Nercomp recently opened registration for the upcoming WordPress University workshop on April 8 in Norwood, MA.  And people are already signing up (thanks Pat!)  It is going to be a great day with fabulous speakers and lots of good networking opportunities.  I’m also planning some type of WordPress meet-up at Nercomp’s annual conference coming to Providence, RI March 8-10.  More on that coming soon.

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Gobal Ignite Week is coming March 1 – 5 — and it looks like there may be events here in New Haven.  Could be fun — I’m following the twitter feed.  Could be fun.

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