Thursday, May 29, 2008
Free Business Plans: Bplans.com
Bplans.com contains the largest single collection of free sample business plans online. In addition to that, it has helpful tools and know-how for managing a business. Bplans.com includes practical advice on planning, interactive tools, and a panel of experts who have answered more than 1,400 questions from people like our students.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Warning to Colleges from Accreditors
If colleges want to avoid onerous and ham-handed forms of government regulation, they should become much smarter about analyzing and responding to their own internal student-achievement data. That, in a nutshell, is the message that six representatives of major regional accrediting organizations delivered during a panel discussion Monday at the annual conference of the Association for Institutional Research.
The accreditors told the assembled scholars that they have a responsibility to persuade their deans and faculty colleagues of the importance of using internal data to improve student learning.
Several of the panelists emphasized that their accrediting organizations would continue to respect colleges' distinctive missions. But colleges must be candid with the public about how they measure their success, the accreditors warned, or risk inviting government regulation that is not so respectful of colleges' individual identities. Read the entire article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education May 27, 2008
The accreditors told the assembled scholars that they have a responsibility to persuade their deans and faculty colleagues of the importance of using internal data to improve student learning.
Several of the panelists emphasized that their accrediting organizations would continue to respect colleges' distinctive missions. But colleges must be candid with the public about how they measure their success, the accreditors warned, or risk inviting government regulation that is not so respectful of colleges' individual identities. Read the entire article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education May 27, 2008
EPA Libraries Re-open in Tiny Spaces
Closed Environmental Protection Agency libraries return in shamefully small spaces. Political appointee assert control over all libraries.
Ordered by Congress to re-open its shuttered libraries, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is grudgingly allocating only minimal space and resources, according to agency documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). At the same time, EPA is issuing a series of edicts placing virtually every aspect of library operations under centralized control of a political appointee.
In a May 8, 2008 e-mail to EPA employee unions, the agency announced its plan for re-opening four of the closed libraries effective September 1. The unions were given until May 22 to reply or object. The announced plan for the Chicago library, for example, formerly the largest regional library serving the entire six-state Great Lakes area, stipulates:
The re-opened library will be in a vacant reception area on the 16th floor of a federal building;
The re-opened library will occupy less than one-tenth the area of the closed library and will be only slightly larger than the typical men’s restroom in that same building; and
No provision is made to restore the unique Great Lakes ecological collection or to recover any of the other holdings from the former library.
Source: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
Ordered by Congress to re-open its shuttered libraries, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is grudgingly allocating only minimal space and resources, according to agency documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). At the same time, EPA is issuing a series of edicts placing virtually every aspect of library operations under centralized control of a political appointee.
In a May 8, 2008 e-mail to EPA employee unions, the agency announced its plan for re-opening four of the closed libraries effective September 1. The unions were given until May 22 to reply or object. The announced plan for the Chicago library, for example, formerly the largest regional library serving the entire six-state Great Lakes area, stipulates:
The re-opened library will be in a vacant reception area on the 16th floor of a federal building;
The re-opened library will occupy less than one-tenth the area of the closed library and will be only slightly larger than the typical men’s restroom in that same building; and
No provision is made to restore the unique Great Lakes ecological collection or to recover any of the other holdings from the former library.
Source: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
Facebook-based Alumni Connections
Harris Connect has launched a new alumni and student relations tool built on the Facebook Platform. Dubbed "Community Connections," the application is designed to provide secure connections between schools and their Facebook-using constituents and keep them engaged with news and other information.
Read More!
Read More!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Some New Books
Now or coming soon to Goodwin Library:
Skinny Bitch by Freedman and Barnouin
Our Iceberg is Melting by John Kotter
Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut
Audition by Barbara Walters
Oxymorons: The Mytth of the U. S. Health Care System by J. D. Kleinke
New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle (Oprah's Book Club)
Curious You: On Your Way by H. A. Roy
Flipping Brilliant: A Penguin's Guide to a Happy Life by Chester & Regan
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Just War: The Just War Tradition: Ethics in Modern Welfare by Guthrie & Quinlan
Skinny Bitch by Freedman and Barnouin
Our Iceberg is Melting by John Kotter
Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut
Audition by Barbara Walters
Oxymorons: The Mytth of the U. S. Health Care System by J. D. Kleinke
New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle (Oprah's Book Club)
Curious You: On Your Way by H. A. Roy
Flipping Brilliant: A Penguin's Guide to a Happy Life by Chester & Regan
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Just War: The Just War Tradition: Ethics in Modern Welfare by Guthrie & Quinlan
Basics of Investing
Smart Money University teaches the basics of investing - stocks, bonds, mutual funds, taxes, asset allocation, building portfolios, choosing a broker, and more. It includes a glossary of financial terms, and worksheets to help business students and others assess current finances and plan for the future.
Source: Smart Money Magazine online
Source: Smart Money Magazine online
Global Perspective with British Podcasts
The British newspaper, The Guardian, provides audio articles in a wide range of categories that will give our students an international perspective on current events. They may search or browse audios by categories. RSS feeds are available for the 13 subject-specific weekly podcasts.
Source: Marylaine Block, Librarian
Source: Marylaine Block, Librarian
Learn About Learning Communities
The reort on learning communities published by the National Center for Postsecondary Research has implications for Goodwin College as well as community colleges. As we know,community colleges have taken great strides in recent decades in providing access to college for millions of students with diverse ethnic and academic backgrounds. Now, however, community colleges and private colleges must tackle an even more formidable challenge: how to help increasingly large numbers of academically underprepared students succeed in college. The developmental courses to which over half of entering students are directed often prove to be too great a hurdle, and the majority who hope to earn a certificate or a degree, or to transfer, drop out before reaching their goals.
Learning communities are a popular strategy that community colleges nationwide have embraced in support of developmental students. In a learning community, a cohort of students takes two or more courses linked by integrated themes and assignments that are developed through ongoing faculty collaboration. Learning communities are intended to foster active and collaborative learning and to create stronger relationships among students and between students and faculty. These elements are theorized to increase students’ motivation and sense of belonging, which in turn drive their effort, learning, persistence, and, ultimately, success.
Read the whole report.
Learning communities are a popular strategy that community colleges nationwide have embraced in support of developmental students. In a learning community, a cohort of students takes two or more courses linked by integrated themes and assignments that are developed through ongoing faculty collaboration. Learning communities are intended to foster active and collaborative learning and to create stronger relationships among students and between students and faculty. These elements are theorized to increase students’ motivation and sense of belonging, which in turn drive their effort, learning, persistence, and, ultimately, success.
Read the whole report.
Health Information Technology: Costs and Benefits
Many people believe that health information technology (health IT) has the potential to transform the practice of health care by reducing costs and improving quality. The Government Budg just released a significant study, prepared at the request of the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, examining the evidence on the costs and benefits of health information technology.
“Health IT” generally refers to computer applications for the practice of medicine. (Those applications may include computerized entry systems for physicians’ orders for tests or medications, support systems for clinical decisionmaking, and electronic prescribing of medications.) Relatively few providers—as of 2006, about 12 percent of physicians and 11 percent of hospitals—have adopted health IT.
Source: Congressional Budget Office
“Health IT” generally refers to computer applications for the practice of medicine. (Those applications may include computerized entry systems for physicians’ orders for tests or medications, support systems for clinical decisionmaking, and electronic prescribing of medications.) Relatively few providers—as of 2006, about 12 percent of physicians and 11 percent of hospitals—have adopted health IT.
Source: Congressional Budget Office
EPA's Report on the Environment
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued the 2008 EPA Report on the Environment yesterday, a document that provides the American people with information on trends in the condition of air, water, and land and related changes in human health in the United States.
The EPA 2008 ROE is a valuable resource that will inform and focus EPA activities to improve and protect America’s environment. The report frames key questions related to the protection of human health and the environment, and addresses each issue using scientifically sound indicators that have been developed with extensive public input. The 2008 ROE updates a draft report released by EPA in 2003. EPA’s 2008 Report on the Environment: http://www.epa.gov/roe.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA 2008 ROE is a valuable resource that will inform and focus EPA activities to improve and protect America’s environment. The report frames key questions related to the protection of human health and the environment, and addresses each issue using scientifically sound indicators that have been developed with extensive public input. The 2008 ROE updates a draft report released by EPA in 2003. EPA’s 2008 Report on the Environment: http://www.epa.gov/roe.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Homeland Security Students: Trial Database!
NEW TRIAL STARTED TODAY IN YOUR HONOR!
International Security & Counter-Terrorism Reference Center™ (ISCTRC)
This database offers information on virtually every dimension of security & counter-terrorism and is designed to inform the analysis process, as well as to enhance the general understanding of security and terrorism-related issues. ISCTRC provides a comprehensive Open Source Intelligence Resource for analysts, risk management professionals, and students.
Content includes hundreds of full text journals and periodicals, hundreds of thousands of selected articles, news feeds, reports, summaries, books, blogs, FAQs, and proprietary Background Information Summaries that pertain to terrorism and security. ISCTRC also combines deep background from scholarly writings with expert commentary from a variety of organizations, agencies and publisher and timely reviews of recent developments across the international political, military, economic, social and technical spectrum.
An Images file of over 9,000 pertinent images has been added to the database. Users can access applicable images on a Result List, under the Images sub-tab.
Access: On library pagelook under Library Resources in "Find Articles-Databases." Then click on "EBSCO databases" and choose ISCTRC or
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=isctrc
International Security & Counter-Terrorism Reference Center™ (ISCTRC)
This database offers information on virtually every dimension of security & counter-terrorism and is designed to inform the analysis process, as well as to enhance the general understanding of security and terrorism-related issues. ISCTRC provides a comprehensive Open Source Intelligence Resource for analysts, risk management professionals, and students.
Content includes hundreds of full text journals and periodicals, hundreds of thousands of selected articles, news feeds, reports, summaries, books, blogs, FAQs, and proprietary Background Information Summaries that pertain to terrorism and security. ISCTRC also combines deep background from scholarly writings with expert commentary from a variety of organizations, agencies and publisher and timely reviews of recent developments across the international political, military, economic, social and technical spectrum.
An Images file of over 9,000 pertinent images has been added to the database. Users can access applicable images on a Result List, under the Images sub-tab.
Access: On library pagelook under Library Resources in "Find Articles-Databases." Then click on "EBSCO databases" and choose ISCTRC or
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=isctrc
Monday, May 19, 2008
What they're Reading on College Campuses
1. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
2. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Obama
3. Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut
4. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
5. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
6. Flipping Brilliant: A Penguin's Guide to a Happy Life by Chester & Regan
7. Curious You: On Your Way by H. A. Roy
8. Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
9. I Am America (And So Can You) by Stephen Colbert
10. Skinny Bitch by Freedman and Barnouin
2. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Obama
3. Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut
4. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
5. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
6. Flipping Brilliant: A Penguin's Guide to a Happy Life by Chester & Regan
7. Curious You: On Your Way by H. A. Roy
8. Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
9. I Am America (And So Can You) by Stephen Colbert
10. Skinny Bitch by Freedman and Barnouin
Thursday, May 15, 2008
New Open Access Humanities Press
Scholars in the sciences have been light-years ahead of their peers in the humanities in exploring the possibilities of open-access publishing. But a new venture with prominent academic backers, the Open Humanities Press, wants to help humanists close the gap.
The nonprofit operation—described by those involved as "an international open-access publishing collective"—made its official debut last week with a roster of seven already-established journals in critical and cultural studies and related fields: Cosmos and History, Culture Machine, Fibreculture, Film-Philosophy, International Journal of Zizek Studies, Parrhesia, and Vectors.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
The nonprofit operation—described by those involved as "an international open-access publishing collective"—made its official debut last week with a roster of seven already-established journals in critical and cultural studies and related fields: Cosmos and History, Culture Machine, Fibreculture, Film-Philosophy, International Journal of Zizek Studies, Parrhesia, and Vectors.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
English class With an Edge
English teacher Andie Brown in Manchester, MO, believes in sedition--well, a form of it, anyway. She purposely gives her students the assignment to challenge the status quo, and they use technology as a means toward that end. The result is truly meaningful education; students learn that what they do may have a powerful impact. In her Vonnegut class, they study contemporary satire. The final assignment is for students in groups of two or three to create a three- to five-minute satiric film. (They used Mac computers and imovie as well as Youtube.)
"Ms Brown says, "figuring out a way to take advantage of something like YouTube was my aha moment. Students today sometimes don't believe that they can make a difference in society. In a pendulum swing that's polar, where my generation tuned out, this generation has plugged in, but the effect is the same. When the students see their small movie projects screened and really get to feel the response of the audience, they seem to deeply understand the place satire has in a free society. They also see that there are many, varied ways to seek change, but that humor and art are two of them." Wow!
Source: The Journal May 2008
"Ms Brown says, "figuring out a way to take advantage of something like YouTube was my aha moment. Students today sometimes don't believe that they can make a difference in society. In a pendulum swing that's polar, where my generation tuned out, this generation has plugged in, but the effect is the same. When the students see their small movie projects screened and really get to feel the response of the audience, they seem to deeply understand the place satire has in a free society. They also see that there are many, varied ways to seek change, but that humor and art are two of them." Wow!
Source: The Journal May 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Student Retention
Student Retention: Are Schools Taking Advantage of Technology?
College and university administrators consider personal attention to be the most critical factor in retaining at risk students. But what role should technology play in the effort? While many consider technology-based interventions important to student retention, few seem to be using such solutions, and only 2 percent have any kind of early warning system in place to identify at risk students, according to data released to Campus Technology by higher education strategy firm EducationDynamics.
Read Complete Article:
http://www.1105newsletters.com/t.do?id=1182711:1202596
College and university administrators consider personal attention to be the most critical factor in retaining at risk students. But what role should technology play in the effort? While many consider technology-based interventions important to student retention, few seem to be using such solutions, and only 2 percent have any kind of early warning system in place to identify at risk students, according to data released to Campus Technology by higher education strategy firm EducationDynamics.
Read Complete Article:
http://www.1105newsletters.com/t.do?id=1182711:1202596
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
National Library Legislative Day May 14
We need your voice to be heard on National Library Legislative Day (May 14)!
We need you to join the thousands of other librarians, library workers, trustees, and library users participating in "Virtual Library Legislative Day!"
Please take 10-15 minutes today or tomorrow to send a message to all of your congressional representatives, letting them know how important libraries are to society, and the need for:
more federal funding for libraries
a certified school media specialist in every school
fair copyright laws
an expanded role for libraries in E-Government
national security letter reform
ALA's Legislative Action Center provides you with talking points on these important issues. You can use them to craft your message as you wish, and send it to all of your representatives.
Thanks so much for taking a few minutes out of your day to help libraries across the nation
We need you to join the thousands of other librarians, library workers, trustees, and library users participating in "Virtual Library Legislative Day!"
Please take 10-15 minutes today or tomorrow to send a message to all of your congressional representatives, letting them know how important libraries are to society, and the need for:
more federal funding for libraries
a certified school media specialist in every school
fair copyright laws
an expanded role for libraries in E-Government
national security letter reform
ALA's Legislative Action Center provides you with talking points on these important issues. You can use them to craft your message as you wish, and send it to all of your representatives.
Thanks so much for taking a few minutes out of your day to help libraries across the nation
Book of the Week
Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John Kotter
This is a simple fable about doing well in an ever-changing world. The fable is about a penguin colony in Antarctica. A group of beautiful emperor penguisn live as they have for many years.Then one curious bird discovers a potentially devastating problem threatening their homes--and pretty much no one listens to him. It is based on Eight Steps that produce needed change in any sort of group. This book is now available in the library and was recommended by Jack Matthews.
Idea for Homeland Security
Idaho State Simulates Emergency Response in Second Life
Imagine entering the virtual world Second Life to discover that a flu pandemic requires you, a health care professional, to attend to stricken patients lying on the streets around an over-capacity virtual hospital. When you report in to collect your virtual uniform, you're told what your responsibilities will be during the disaster and to whom you'll report.
Read Complete Article:
http://www.campustechnology.com/articles/61150
Imagine entering the virtual world Second Life to discover that a flu pandemic requires you, a health care professional, to attend to stricken patients lying on the streets around an over-capacity virtual hospital. When you report in to collect your virtual uniform, you're told what your responsibilities will be during the disaster and to whom you'll report.
Read Complete Article:
http://www.campustechnology.com/articles/61150
Friday, April 25, 2008
Celebrate Arbor Day
Today, April 25, is Arbor Day.a day to celebrate trees. Arbor Day is a nationally-celebrated observance that encourages tree planting and care. Founded by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska in 1872, National Arbor Day is celebrated each year on the last Friday in April. Visit the Arbor Day Foundation online for more information.
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