This week, try to find some time and register for a free webinar.  What better time to get some professional training than National Distance Learning Week?

NDLW FREE Webinars

Recently we held our first READI Best Practices Webinar and it was by all accounts a success!  With over 70 participants there was a great showing from our current users.  The READI Best Practices Presentation was designed to give clients new ideas of how to implement READI, how to monitor  data, and what to do with the READI student data.  The case studies were by far the most popular element of the presentation.  Christine Lustik, long time client Western Wyoming Community College, demonstrated how READI is used in their orientation process and gave specific examples of how they get remedial helps to their students.  Ray Mercer from Columbus Technical College, showed how his students use READI integrated in their OLE orienation system (Online Learning for Everyone).

The majority of participants agreed that they came away with new insight and ideas of how to better utilize READI.  One client said "READI is going to the top of their to-do list!".  When asked if clients would like to participate in this kind of webinar on an annual basis most everyone said YES!  One client offered a great suggestion to schedule the webinars two times a year corresponding with beginning of terms. 

During the presentation we briefly discussed a list serv or discussion loop.  Based on the positive feedback received we've decided to create a new product related forum.  It will debut in our next newsletter due out next month.  Watch for details coming soon about how you can register and subscribe!

Thanks to all those who participated!  We have the best clients and appreciate your time and feedback. 

READI Best Practices Webinar Feedback

eLearningToolBox Newsletter Summer 2009
The Latest in Distance Learning READI Announces Integration with the eCollege Learning Management System eLearningToolBox.com, the provider of READI, is pleased to announce that it has completed a project through which READI can be integrated into the eCollege learning management system.  Students of schools which are using eCollege can now access READI from within their eCollege course without having to re-authenticate into the READI system.  This single sign on capability reduces the number of user names and passwords that schools and students have to keep track of.  A student can also submit their READI report internally through the communication features of eCollege to their instructor for review.  If students and/or their instructors need to access the student’s report at a later date, they may do so through eCollege. eLearningToolBox.com has several client schools which use eCollege and requested this integration.  The next learning management system which is slated for integration with READI is Blackboard.  If your school is interested in learning more about the integration of READI into your learning management system please contact your Account Manager or support@readi.info.  What's New in the ToolBox? Personalized Online Student Readiness Report Are you interested in knowing how your students compare to the national averages of online student readiness? Recently we launched the 2009 Online Student Readiness Report. It included data collected from over 150,000 students at 272 institutions. We are now offering a personalized report that contains data from your students. For a small fee, you can have access to statistical information to help you understand your students' strengths and weaknesses. This data can provide guidance for future course design and insight about remedial tools that you may want to consider in your planning of the online program. To view a sample of this school specific report or for a price quote, contact your Account Manager. The Most Efficient Way to Find Out What Students Really Think It is coming! PostCourse 2.0 will be available next month! It will feature easy data upload with an integrated wizard, intuitive real-time reporting, tiered role-based administrative access, unlimited surveys and much more! Account Managers are setting up demos in August and Setptember to highlight the new features. Postcourse is a web-based tool that will allow administrators to totally manage all data through an administrative control panel. If you would like to find out about how much you save over your current process, contact an Account Manager today at sales@eLearningToolBox.com. Change is Good New Feature Added to READI READI Administrator, do you have a student test taker login group that needs to be inactivated but not deleted? Often times, schools create new login groups and although they want to keep the data in the old group, they do not want students to accidentally login using the old information. We've added a new feature to READI that allows administrators to choose "inactive" for login groups. This allows administrators to continue to view the data in the group but prevents a student from using the old user/pass combo. To access this feature follow the instructions below. 1. Login to http://admin.readi.info 2. Click on "Manage Account" 3. Click on "Admin & Test Taker Groups" 4. Click on specific test taker group 5. Use drop down box to select "active or inactive" 6. Save and close (Notice the login group is now designated with a red button instead of green) Neat to Know How to export READI data Go to admin.readi.info and login to your account Click on "Test Search and Export" Designate preferred filters Once you reach "Data At a Glance" click "Export Data" For more READI tips, visit our tutorials link at readi.info/tutorials Water Cooler Tips to Increase Website Participation for Students 1. Require it; Making assignments optional will generally result in little if any participation. Even those who are motivated to succeed will generally use extra time on tasks they see as most important which are generally "required activities". Requiring participation, helps motivated students to prioritize and unmotivated students to keep up. 2. Play hide and seek. Hide extra credit activites, special notes for the test, create scavenger hunt clues, make it fun, and reward those who follow through. 3. Make it fun by adding new content weekly like a personal top 10 list, music, or a funny slideshow. Do you Tweet? If you want to learn about what's going on with eLearningToolBox first, follow us on twitter. Blog What do we have to say about things? Check out our blog at eLearningToolBox.com/Blog for weekly updates of our two cents.	In this edition: The Latest in Distance Learning What's New in the ToolBox? Change is Good Neat to Know WaterCooler Free Stuff Coming Soon There is Still Time to Cash in on Our FREE Summer Webinar Series! Are you looking for a way to squeeze in some training this summer before school gets started? You've come to the right place! There is still time to take advantage of our FREE Summer Webinar Series. Don't have time or money to travel to a classroom session? No worries, you are invited to our virtual classroom. To register, just click on the session below. All attendees will be entered into a drawing for $50 cash! Thursday, July 30th, 2:00 pm central Academic Integrity in Online Education Featuring - Lori McNabb, University of Texas System TeleCampus Thursday, August 6th 2:00 pm central Tools for Enhancing eLearning Featuring - Dr. Mac Adkins, CEO eLearningToolBox.com Coming Soon! Fall Webinar Planned in late September forREADI Administrators We have READI data but... "What Do We Do With It Now?" This webinar is designed to help you understand the READI data and how to use it. We will also explore ways to use READI data to assist you in your planning process. Key points of discussion will be: What can I learn about my students from the READI data? How can I use it in developing courses for the future? What resources should we be providing based on our READI scores? Who should be looking at the data? How do my students compare to those at other colleges and universities? FREE READI Training Webinars Do you need some additional training on the administrative features READI has to offer? Check out readi.info/webinars to find the complete schedule and register for the sessions that fit your schedule. Looking for someone to teach your online classes? Are you tired of sorting through the stack of paper resumes? Facultyfinder.com can help. Go to www.FacultyFinder.com for unlimited free searches! Search our database of over 10,000 profiles to find the right person for the job. EXTENDED OFFER! PLACE A JOB AD ON FACULTYFINDER.COM FOR JUST $50! NO DISCOUNT CODE NEEDED

eLearningToolBox Newsletter Summer 2009

Is your travel budget under lock and key?  eLearningToolBox.com presents our FREE Summer Webinar Series providing you with valuable information and no travel involved.  With featured speakers Dr. Michael Theall,  Lori McNabb, and Dr. Mac Adkins, our webinar series will be covering a range of topics in distance learning like faculty/course  evaluation, academic integrity, student perceptions and ways to enhance your distance learning program.  The webinar series will be a strong professional development resource for you. Similar webinars can cost up to $700! We want to help give your training budget a break without missing out on these valuable resources.   Space is limited so sign up today at www.eLearningToolBox.com/webinars!

FREE Summer Webinar Series

Now that most of us have settled in for the fight ahead wrestling with the economy and obvious budget cuts, it is time to reevaluate the way we do business.  While reducing spending is a great place to start, reallocation is also a crucial step in restructuring business practices that impact the bottom line.  While our time continually proves to be our most valuable resource, what we do with it can make a difference in these tough economic times.

Travel budgets.  The dreaded words!  If you’ve ever worked on a budget committee, you know that travel or other “unnecessary spending” is the first to go on the chopping block.  And while travel may be an obvious first step in cutting back, the repercussions can be costly.  Typically travel through colleges and universities include conferences that cover valuable information to keep faculty and staff up on the latest offerings and often times include required credit for certifications or licenses.  Unfortunately even though travel budgets are cut, the need for new information and networking with colleagues is not mitigated.  So what can a school do to minimize the impact low travel budgets have on morale and potential training credit?  In response to this need, many companies are now sponsoring webinars on a variety of topics that allow multiple participants from one location with no travel involved.  Wimba, a leading provider of collaborative learning software solutions and services to the Higher Education and K-12 markets, conducts many free webinars in various topics of distance learning.  Elluminate, Inc. provides proven, best-in-class solutions for real-time online learning and collaboration that deliver exceptional outcomes, including enhanced learning experiences, increased retention and completion rates, and higher ROI.  Elluminate is another company that has a complete list of free webinars.

Organizers of traditional travel conferences have been painfully aware of the budget cuts, based on low enrollments.  Texas Distance Learning Association is doing something about it!  Through a clever marketing plan, the annual TxDLA conference hosted in Corpus Christi decided to create a Corkboard.  This provides attendees a place post classifieds such as needing to carpool to the conference or looking for a roomy to share the hotel bill.

At eLearningToolBox, we are also doing our part to help ease the burden of costly seminars and travel associated with tradition conferences.  This summer we begin our first annual Webinar Series.  Topics include testing integrity, student authentication, finding qualified online faculty, and student readiness.  The best part about the webinars is they are FREE.  Featured speakers include Dr. Mac Adkins, CEO eLearningToolBox, Dr. Michael Theall, Assoc. Professor of Education, Youngstown State University, and Lori McNabb, Assistant Dir. Student and Faculty Services, University of Texas System TeleCampus.  Don’t miss out on learning about the latest challenges in distance learning and robust solutions that will help your institution.

Now is a good time to ask yourself, why did you get involved in education?  Use those creative thinking powers and think outside the box to invent new ways of meeting economic challenges.  Travel is one of many budget line items to discuss.  Come back next week to learn more about crucial aspects of planning for the future.  While I can’t promise a crystal ball to see into the future, we will discuss some clear signs of where educational programs should be heading based on current events.

Economic Downturn Part 1 - Impact on Travel Budgets