We have a backlog captian!

Hi everyone. The start of the semester has brought a heavy list of needs, wants, and to-dos. I apologize to you as this is creating a longer wait time for me to get to everyones issues. Know that I am working my hardest to get to your problem and hope to have things back to normal soon. I don’t like not being able to fix things as soon as they come to me. Thank you very much for the patience, as I know how frustrating it can be. If you believe that something has fallen through the cracks, please send me a quick email and I will get back to you as soon as hyper-humanly possible.

Welcome back.

Hello again everyone. Welcome back to te Spring 2009 semester. Got a couple of things for all of you.

Filemaker 10

The new Filemaker 10 (came out 1/5/09) is here. I will be updating people as the semester goes on. It is quite a bit different than older version. So far I think these changes make it easier and more efficient to use. You may want to take a look at the Filemaker webpage to check out some of the new features. If you want to be upgraded, let me know and I will hook you right up.

Moodle

The college’s Moodle server is growing nicely. I thank everyone for giving it a chance. Most people seem to be happier with Moodle than WebCT or Blackboard. We can be more flebible that those systems as we control everything about it. Also remember, it doesn’t cost us anything to operate other than my time. Call it doing our part in these tough budget times. Maybe we can get the University to give us some of our “cash cow” money back.

If you would like to use Moodle as either a supplement to face to face classes or a method of delivery for an online course just let me know. I am more than happy to sit down with you and make sure you know how to use it.

Professional Development

PD is going to be a bit different this semester. I am not going to be doing any face to face sessions. They just proved to be too difficult to attend for most people. Since schedules are so different it only makes sense to deliver some of that content online. So I will be posting video tips and tricks to this blog through out the semester. These will be a bit more introductory and meant to show you what is possible. As always, I am always ready to sit down with you and help you take things to the next level.

I hope everyone has a great start to the semester. Please let me know of any glitches you may have and more importantly ways that I can help you integrate technology into your teaching.

Fall 2008

Back to school again. I am just getting things under control and should start posting more for you all in the coming semester. I wanted to take a few moments and run over some bullet points.

• COEHD Moodle – Available at moodle.umeedu.maine.edu, is an online learning environment that is in use in K-12 schools around Maine. Free as in money and free as in liberty. Also, don’t think this is used just for online classes. Moodle is a great supplement to face to face instruction. If you want to get started, let me know.
• Grad Assistants – Jon Allen is my new GA. I am training him up on the things he needs to know and you will see him around as the year moves on. Qiuli Wang is also helping out at certain times.
• Office hours – Jon and Qiuli have office hours in the lab (35 Shibles) from 8:30-10:30 Monday through Friday. You will still need to schedule a time with me if you want to be certain to grab me.
• LCD Projectors – You should contact Roxanne Lee to sign out LCD projectors. She is in her office more often than me and this should give you greater access. Also, please try to keep the dongles (the white pluggy thingies) with the projector.
• Lab Sign Up – If you would like to sign up to use the lab please also see Roxanne.
• Interactive Whiteboard – 35 Shibles as a Polyvision interactive whiteboard. Let me know if you want a quick demo.
• Backups – Please make sure you are backing up your stuff. The college has a backup system that not everyone is on yet. I will be contacting everyone in the college to triple check people work related files are being backed up. To make things more interesting (read, frustrating) wireless users are no longer able to access the COEHD backup system. IT Networking has changed the way IP addresses are given out to wireless devices. I am working on a fix for the issue and hope to have a solution soon. In the mean time, make sure you are backing up to CD, DVD, or external hard drive AT LEAST once a week.
• Digital Cameras – The COEHD has three digital still cameras and eight digital video cameras for use by facutly.
• Microsoft Office 2008 – I have Microsoft Office 2007 (for Windows) and 2008 (for Macs). If you need an upgrade, please let me know and we can schedule a time for me or a GA to install it for you.
• Professional Development – Be on the lookout for a schedule of PD opportunities for Faculty, Staff, and Students. I will post the schedule here and push it out on email.
• If you have any tech-related PD need, please send me an email.

I also want to let you all know that if I don’t get back to right away or take immediate action on a request, I am not ignoring you. The start of the semester has brought a higher than normal load on the IT-fixit part of my job.  Be sure, I am working through my prioritized to-do list as fast as I can. Thank you for being patient with me.

Have a great semester everyone.

~Tim