SharePoint Templates for Academic Departments

One of my Top 10 eLearning Predictions for 2010 was “Lots of SharePoint”. I received the following inquiry in between the time I finished writing my predictions and when it went live:

I found your post, SharePoint Examples, regarding finding others using SP in training organizations. I have recently been charged to lead a team to assist with the design, look, feel and governance of our existing SP deployment. I work at a University and one of our first task’s is to work on a template that might meet 80% of an Academic Departments needs. Things like a policy and procedures, meeting agenda, budget, etc. I’m wondering in your search if you’ve come across others who may have created a more customized template that better suits the needs of a department vs the out of the box templates that you might be able to share.

This is an example of a kind of request that is going to happen quite a bit. I actually don’t know where to find templates that might go behind the kinds of use cases that I discuss in Using SharePoint or that is described above. In fact, I don’t believe these are even called templates, so …

What would you call what this person is looking for?

How would this person find SharePoint templates that they could use / modify for their purposes?

Please help.

Read more: http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/#ixzz0eI2XsQDy

Value of an Online Degree : eLearning Technology

Related to my recent post about eLearning Certifications, someone went back through some of my older related posts such as eLearning Certification, Online Degrees Get No Respect and particularly: Lower Value of Online Degree Programs and asked:

I am curious, now that things have changed over the last three years, where do you stand with online degrees, specifically, WSAC (regionally) accredited online PhD degrees?

Don't you think that a person with an accredited PhD and has real world experience should be a top candidate versus a PhD who has been going to school for the last 10 years?

It’s great to have someone willing to call you out. They are likely referencing my statement back in 2006:

I personally hire mostly folks with undergraduate degrees and mostly they are technical. I look at the individual first and foremost - but that said - I definitely am looking for an undergraduate degree from an in-person program first and foremost. For graduate programs, I probably have less of a bias and I would value an online graduate degree from a bigger name higher than an in-person from a local, lesser name program. That said, I still would value the in-person higher than the online for the same university. Given my passion around distance learning, it's a bit weird to admit this bias. But, I wonder if this isn't shared and that people should be aware of it?

My thinking has definitely changed over the past few years, but if I’m being honest, I still value an in-person degree a little bit higher. But look closely. If going for an online degree allows you to attend a better program, then that ranks higher than a lower quality but local degree.

Also the person asking the question also asked about “real world experience” combined with a degree, e.g., a PhD. Of course, that’s going to come in above someone who has no real world experience. And since a lot of people who are doing online degrees are also working, there’s a lot to be said for finding a quality program online and attending while you are working.

In our field, that may have even higher value as the experience of having attended a quality online program likely will give you a leg up. As an example take a look at: Discussion Forums for Knowledge Sharing at Capital City Bank. Becky really learned how to have effective online discussions by going through a great experience herself.

All that said – my guess is that there’s still bias – even three years later.

What do you think?

Read more: http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2010/01/value-of-online-degree.html#ixzz0eI2GWTrt

ClassRunner.com website

ClassRunner.com is a technology teacher in Ontario, and recently I started ClassRunner.com in order to help teachers bring online learning environments into their classes in an easy and affordable way.
Many teachers I know have wanted to extend their class online, but have balked at the complexity. My goal is to provide a simple, friendly yet powerful option, giving teachers just what they need, without any headaches.
Using Moodle, I setup, host and manage very affordable course sites for teachers, which can provide a class message-board functions, blogs, assignment posting and collecting, online markbooks, posted resources, glossaries, calendars, etc...
I hope you think your readers might find it appealing. With your permission, I will be adding a link to your site on our 'links' page, and if you think it appropriate, perhaps you could reciprocate?
I am currently trying to find a SME experienced with Moodle (a CMS/LMS) and WizIQ (synchronous web class technology). I posted a query about this to several of the groups that I've joined on LinkedIn and have received about a dozen responses so far. I have yet to discover (through further research) which (if any) of the responses will be most helpful to me. This is definitely a knowledge work task where talking to someone will help. Just yesterday (after having joined this ning as my first ning ever) I found a ning on the topic of Moodle, and I posted my question there. But how long do I have to wait to receive a response to my query? I need information faster than that.

So in this screencast, I look at what I would do given this need. How would I get a conversation going with someone on this topic? A big part of my answer is to go to the individual, don't always rely on group answers. Connecting and scheduling a 30 minute call can often be the best.