Desire2Blog

Desire2Learn sent out an eCard today about the D2L User Conference to be held in Duluth this summer. I like the way they've done this. I can't embed it here but you can follow this link to see and listen to the eCard.

A few tidbits from the online press and blogosphere: Expect a longer post soon about the D2L connection with Respondus LockDown Browser for increased test security. For a while now there has been an ongoing discussion about the preference for a PLE (personal learning environment) over a LMS (CMS/IMS/whatever). Here's a brief explanation of this distinction and a couple of embedded links to other useful sources. A question and answer post about Personal Learning Environments. "Whether elearning shifts toward the open source LMS option, or to some looser confederation of social web tools, sites, and services, the days of elearning-as-licensed-software are clearly numbered." Read this story at Edugator . I thought this was rather humorous, not that a strike by union faculty is pending or ongoing, but that there must have been doubt in some minds about whether a strike would include online classes . Desire2Duplicate your acronym. "The Graphics Lifecycle Management sy...

When we were choosing keynote speakers for the upcoming Desire2Learn Users Conference I had two top choices of my own. Will was one and he will be in Duluth this summer for one of the keynotes, and Kathy Sierra was the other. She won’t be in Duluth this summer, not because she has just cancelled all her speaking engagements, just because we never fully connected on the possibility of her delivering a keynote. Her blog is called Creating Passionate Users , which to me seemed to be a natural for us to hear her perspective at a conference that is all about the “Community of Users,” D2L users, that is. If you aren’t familiar with her blog, then you might need a little context. Her blog is (was) very widely read, and generally highly regarded. As with all women who make themselves highly visible in our world, she has her detractors and many people (mostly males, go figure) have taken their pot shots at her over the past couple of years. But her most recent (and possibly final) post has cr...

I spent the better part of Monday, March 12 visiting with the fine people at the Ho Chi Minh Information Technology College (ITC). By the afternoon we were ready to sign an MOU stating that we have a desire to work together and will continue to plan to attempt to offer programs in Business Administration, Accounting, and possible Nanotechnology to Vietnamese students who want a degree from a U.S. school. The MOU really is just a first step in deciding whether we can find ways to collaborate with these programs. ITC wants to offer one year of English training to the students, followed by two years of completing our associate degree program in either business or accounting. During those two years of study, students would take LSC online courses for part of their studies and study abroad in Minnesota for the other two years. The exact makeup of those two years is yet to be determined, and might be decided on a student-by-student, at least regarding the mixture of online and onground cou...

On Friday, March 9, 2007 at 2:00 PM Vietnam time, Minnesota Online and the Vietnam Association of Community Colleges signed a memorandum of understanding related to the delivery of online educational opportunities in Vietnam. In addition, I accepted on the behalf of Minnesota online, a framed certificate of associate membership in the Vietnam Association of Community Colleges. Minnesota Online is the first and so far only associate member of the newly-formed VACC. As the preamble of the MOU states: “Building on the cooperation between the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the Vietnam Association of Community Colleges (VACC), Minnesota Online and VACC will promote further cooperation within the framework of self-funded partnerships with the aim of improving the learning environments at our respective institutions.” The MOU lists seven areas of future cooperation: Online and Distance Training Delivery Customization of Minnesota Online Programs for the Vietnamese Conte...

I had three different meetings Thursday at Tra Vinh University. The first meeting was with the TVU Rector Board, which would be similar to their President’s Cabinet. The second meeting was with their Computer Services LAN Manager and the Department Head of Academic I.T. (computer programs instruction). The third meeting was with the Director of H.R., the Program Development Unit Head, and the campus Registrar. A great deal of ground was covered during the day. At one point or another, we discussed the following: We talked in generalities about e-learning in Minnesota Online and the state of e-learning in Vietnam (almost non-existent). I explained to them our concept of interactive e-learning, not electronic independent study. They explained to me that TVU was a community college (TVCC) until just during the past year when they were"upsized?" to a university. Still, they consider themselves to be a "community university" with much the same mission as they had as a CC...

Not much time to post right now. Let's just say that I was royally welcomed at Tra Vinh University by the Rector Board. We had a very pleasant formal discussion and then I was given a tour of the campus. This afternoon it is back to the campus for more focused discussions about e-learning in Vietnam and possible collaboration between Minnesota Online and the VACC and TVU.

I had a great meeting today at SEAMEO RETRAC with Mr. Than Trong Minh and Ms. Phan Thi Ngoc Mai. I had the pleasure of first meeting both of them back in October when I first visited Saigon with the AACC delegation. SEAMEO RETRAC is an acronym for Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Training Center. Mai is the Program Director for the Overseas Study Department and Minh is the Assistant Director of International & Academic Affairs as well as the Dean of English Language Training, Teacher Development, and Technology. Yes, we did talk a little bit about wearing many hats. Unfortunately, the Center Director Dr. Do Huy Thinh, was unable to join us today. He is an extremely engaging and energetic gentleman who I very much enjoyed meeting last October. The only significance of the photo above is that this was one of the thousands of pedicabs that I did not take as I walked back to my hotel. He is the only one who didn't ask me. Our conversations today were ver...