How to host a meeting from your computer

During the frenzied end of the year activities, there can be a lot on your plate, but you still need to get everyone together to make decisions. What's the best way to get the team together without trying to find a miracle hour where everyone is available? I found this great tool through my class's e-book called Padlet. This is a free online tool available here.  If you use some of the advanced tools or want to do frequent bulletin boards, you will need to choose the subscription service.

What does this tool do?  It is an online bulletin board that can be shared with other users.  This creates an online collaboration space that users can post and edit different items all from one spot.  Users can visit it when they have time and add items or edit them.

What's great about this tool is how intuitive the set up is and how easy it is for other user's to share it.  You could post excel graphs, spreadsheets, word files, videos, and even do doodles right in the program.  This tool is even a great place to use to organize all of your own thoughts on a project into one single location with the ability to switch between files quickly.  

So the next time you are playing the "when can we actually have this meeting?" game, I suggest you give this easy tool a try.  There is password protection available, or you can make the board able to be viewed by the public.  IF you are working on a group project in class, start with setting up a padlet and allow the other members of the group to post items as they finish so everyone's progress can be viewed real time.

This is a fun tool with lots of possibilities.  Please give it a try!  

Tell me how you really feel!

This week I would love to share a great new tool I was shown how to use during one of my college classes.  I am very excited to show a survey from Survey Monkey!  This is a great tool that uses all kinds of social media to gather responses.

Evaluation, prior to, during, or after a process is so important.  Last semester I took Evaluating training and one of the key things we looked at was sometimes anonymous surveys are important.  While making an anonymous web based survey used to require the employ of a computer programmer, now you can use the Survey Monkey tool to make one.

Create your own user feedback survey
I created the questions after creating a free account.  There are some paid functions, which I did not use.  I would advise you to remove a logo if it auto adds it, as it did for me.  This is a paid feature and while it does make the survey look more professional, it is not necessary to send out a basic evaluation.

In my other class, instructional technologies, I just taught a cooking class called Healthy Swaps.  I made the survey embedded above as what I would use as a Level One evaluation that I could send my students if it was a real class.  Survey Monkey allowed me to pick how I wanted the responses to be recorded and even evaluated if my survey was too long.

Please give this program a try!  It can be an important tool in your performance metrics.

Making the Connection

For the last two years, I have been utilizing my employer's tuition assistance program to go back to school with the goal of changing careers.  I feel very lucky to have the job that I have, but I would like to be able to grow and do other things.  The main focus of my education has been to work towards a position in performance improvement, or performance analysis, my passion.

With this specific goal in mind, it's important to make connections with both future employers and other people in the field.  I have already created a career development plan, however I am severely lacking in professional connects with where I am headed for the future.  These connections are so important.  Not only can a network of people help share information about openings but can give much needed advice.

What's a great way to make these connections?  Programs like LinkedIn have changed social media into a workhorse for the modern professional.  LinkedIn has many tools to help recruiters and help applicants find each other.

In your profile, you can set up different skill sets.  This task is very easy and creates a powerful tool for helping future bosses search for the right person.  It's a great way to make your skills very marketable.  LinkedIn has a nearly endless list of skills, so it's important to choose the right ones.

I recommend making an initial list of 5, then going back and adding more.  Try looking at job postings that you are interested in and remembering which skills are listed that you already have and go back and add these to your profile.  This will help attract the kind of connections you are really looking for.

If you have not already, go make a profile on LinkedIn.  It's super easy, and can help make the professional world bigger and smaller at the same time.  The hardest part is taking a picture.  I spent 30 minutes trying to find a basic background and picking out an outfit, but you can skip that step to start with.

You have Messages!

I have posted a video for how to make navigation form in Access a couple of posts ago.  I use Access for much of my shared data entry type procedures.  There are some basic and easy ways to use this program, but to really use a lot of the great features, there is almost an endless amount of options you can use with both Macros and VBD coding to customize your Access database.

Often times you will create a database, but you will be handing off the reins to different users for data entry. Good database design involves helping users that you may not be training yourself, on how to enter data into your system.  To make sure users get the information when they need it, you can create message box pop ups to help users understand more about what they need to do. 

On the last database I created, I made a message box that appears when a user selected a certain type of error in the system for receiving.  The message lets the user know the next steps.  Learning how to do this process involved some trial and error.  Since then, I have found the wonder of Youtube videos to help me learn how to do the process.  I can't stress enough how great of a tool Youtube videos are for finding ways to use more of Access great features. 

I have linked the video below that will help you learn how to put in message box.  Please watch it, but also use this as a jumping off part to use more of what Access can do.

Making a Statement

While Metrics make my heart go pitter patter, I have to admit, they are not everyone's cup of tea.  It unlikely that very many people will be excited by a 100+ report on an organization's performance.  However, recording performance is not very effective if no one reads it. 

So, how do you make looking at reports more appealing?  Enter my friend, the infographic.  Infographics can help in a variety of different ways.  First, they help create context.  It's very hard to look at a large list of numbers and know how they compare.  Making a visual gives quick understanding and will be a lot easier to get the people who need to look at the numbers, look at the numbers.

Next, it's unlikely in today's busy world that someone is going to have time to sit down and read a novel on performance.  Making information faster to digest will make it more likely the reader will make it to the end.  Most will not even start if confronted with solid text and pages of table.

It can be hard to take the time after spending hours and hours gathering data to make it look attractive.  However, there has been a large proliferation of inforgraphic programs that are web based that do not take a graphic's art degree or a significant investment in time.  I tried out Piktochart and found it very easy to use.  It certainly makes a better report front page than anything I could have made in Word with the same amount of time.

Just look at it...

It's so much more inviting than a plain white background word document.  It certainly has a leg up on the clasic APA title page.  I invite you to give Piktochart a try.  It's a fun program and may even get more people to read your hard work!

Not an All Access Pass

I spend a lot of time creating metrics that measure our performance.  An important part of that task is looking at data and how it's entered.  Awhile back we had a log that was created in Excel that would show which items we had received and when.  At first, using Excel seemed to work ok.  However, there were some significant problems.

1.)Multiple users could not log on at once.  We would spend the afternoon calling each other to find out who had the spreadsheet open and have to ask people to close it.  If someone left on vacation or was sick and had the spreadsheet open, it meant we either had to create a new copy or wait until that person got back.  Not a great way to do work.

2.)Data integrity became questionable...fast.  We had people who did not understand how to appropriately sort data try to look for a name, and only sort with the name field.  Pretty soon we had no idea which line belonged to which.  We could no longer have an confidence in recorded issues being listed on the correct record.

With these issues, my management asked me for some ideas.  We did not have any funding, and what I was going to create needed to be user friendly and was going to be created by me, who is not a programmer.  A large stack of Access books later and a 30+ hours of youtube videos later, I built our group an Access database that has managed a lot of our issues.

The video linked below shows one of the first actions I took with our brand new database, and that was to create form entry and to hide the data sheets from view.  This is not the database I created, but is similar in design.  I hope this helps get you started if you decide to start using Access for data entry.

Say Um....

Back in 2007, my sister and I loved reading books and blogs by our favorite author, The Yarn Harlot.  She loved to knit, and I loved to spin.  We decided to start a yarn and fiber business and we created a Podcast called The Sassy Sheep.  At this time, podcasts had just become popular.  Finding new content was pretty challenging.  We listened to a lot of other podcasts to learn about trends, and sometimes this would give us a direction to go in. However, we enjoyed our sessions the best when we got to do interviews.

One interview sticks out the most in our minds and changed how to did business.  We had been dying yarn in the microwave.  You need heat to set acid dyes.  It is a very cumbersome way to dye and it took us an entire day to make ten skeins of yarn.  There is quite a famous dyer of yarn in Montana called Mountain Colors and they actually decided to let my sister and I interview them and tour their facility. 

These ladies are some of the most amazing women I have ever met.  They decided to create their business model to allow other women to be able to love working and still have time for their family.  They created an environment that allowed for completely flexible hours and even found ways to have tasks that people who worked from home could do.  There was a set of workers that would pick up the just dyed yarn, dry it in their homes and package it for sale.  I watched a large group of very busy people focused on work, but every single person had the most amazing smile on their face.  This company was important to them. 

My poor sister always had to do the audio editing whenever we were done.  Normally, she would drag her feet.  Until you do editing of your audio, you will never know how many times you repeat words and phrases.  One time she called me after a particularly wandering podcast and informed me I had "um" over 40 times.  I am not sure that I will ever make another podcast, and am almost certain the ones we made have been lost to the internet forever, but the chance to meet the ladies and other people while doing was a life changing event.  Meeting people who know the industry and can act as mentors can completely change your perspective and outlook.

Here Comes the Sun

Last week I got to play with a new tool, Jing.  This is a great free tool (there is also a premium tool available) that does screen capture.  I was unfamiliar with it until last week and now might be mildly obsessed.  I even put in a call to our IT department to see if I could convince them to allow me to download it.  (Unfortunately, the answer was no, darn the luck!)

Why do I love Jing?  It's a fantastic tool to show people EXACTLY what they need to do to make something work.  I used both the screen capture to make a stagnant picture and utilized the tool to record a video.  It did take me a couple of tries to make a good video, but it was very intuitive to use and worth the download space on my computer.  Recently I was trying to create some forms and macros in Access and used a lot of YouTube videos to figure out how to create these items.  I can't remember the last time I tried to read a computer book to do something like this.  My rate of success to try and learn something new with a video is so much more than a book.

Give Jing a try!  Here is a link.  I urge you to go try this tool.  There are some drawbacks as I was unable to upload the video directly into my blog last week and it does use flash.  However, it's a very easy to use tool the next time your friend wants to know how you made that awesome form in Access!

A Line in the Graph

Like my blog title suggests, I spend a lot of my work time making reports and metrics.  While I may know what the numbers mean, they lack real value unless they can be easily communicated. Companies spends millions on reporting, and each will have a different way they do it.  My particular organization is not very sophisticated in the reporting scale and does not utilize a lot of statistical analysis.  This is good, because it's me that does it and while I have taken some classes in statistics, it's not my strong suit.

However, we do use a very handy standard graph and I wanted to include a video that shows how to make one.  This is a pretty simple graph, but can quickly show if you have met your goal or not.  Now setting performance guidelines could be many many blog entries along with deciding what to track, but today I wanted to show this graph video

Using Twitter's powers for Good, not Evil

Recently one of my favorite authors, Jeff VanderMeer (he wrote Annihilation) is someone I follow on Facebook.  He is a sort of dry humor that regularly makes me laugh.  He uses social media extensively to discuss causes that he cares about, talk about his book and movie, and random comments.  It's interesting that his posts talk about the two sides of Twitter. 

The Bad...
Twitter can lead to a group think like mindset with some disturbing lack of morality.  Jeff discusses Twitter encouraging him to move a candle closer to someone who was leaning into his table while out to dinner.  Twitter is a giant rabbit hole that people use the anonymity of the internet to say or do nasty things.  Looking to justify a really bad behavior?  There is an entire dark web and multiple support groups to jump on it.  People will say terrible things to each other they would never say in person. 

The Good...
On the flip side of the coin, Twitter can connect people to things they would never run into.  Jeff twitted support for a relatively unknown author.  This created a significant amount of interest in the author and led a publisher to look deeper into her work.  Jeff also tries to use all social media platforms to bring awareness to his many causes, such as animal cruelty.

Twitter and the internet as a whole can be a very dark place.  It can be a city with no lights on being looted by mobs, or it can be a never ending library with an entire population of helpful librarians.  Twitter is what you make of it.

Free Information, not free for the taking

Back in 2000 when I was in high school, the interview became more and more widespread.  Bit Torrent and Napster were just coming into play and the online world of digital music downloads exploded like a dirty bomb on the internet.  College students were using faster and faster internet capability to rip and download music in a digital black market.  Viruses were rampant of the music industry was facing the end of hard media.  The music industry struggled, focusing on a legal fight, going after FTPs and downloaders. 

This gave rise to legitimate digital media distribution.  Now, streaming music is the norm.  Many pay for subscription and digital sale services are a multi billion dollar industry.  What does this mean?  Almost all music has become easily available.  I stress, most.  Some artists resist this change.  Unfortunately, my favorite band will not put their music online. 

Long ago my car was stolen, along with my cd collection.  Over the years, I have not replaced my cds, instead counting on digital music.  When I changed phones some of my old music did not transfer over.  Last night, I had to order a cd.  I have not bought a cd in over 7 years.  It is odd to wait two whole days for music.  However, I could listen to the music on youtube.  Individuals have violated copyright and put the songs on youtube.  But this isn't ethical.  The artists have not authorized their music to be put online.

Right now I only own one cd player and that is in my car.  Hopefully my favorite band, Tool, will decide to release their next cd online.  However, they have not released a cd in over a decade.  For now, I may be like a teenager driving around in my car so I can listen to my music.

Making a Better Final Product through PLN Feedback

This week I would like to explore what I view as the most exciting part of using a PLN (personal or professional learning network).  PLN's have many great applications, such as exposing users to outside ideas, introducing new technology and providing personal growth.  While most of these networks are focused on teachers, they can also provide significant benefit to students.  From a professional aspect, I am not a trainer, but I do find the possibility of feedback from people outside of my coworkers as the best part of having a PLN.

Last week my organization hosted people in similar jobs to mine from all across the country and we had three full days of informal workshops.  This lead us to have open discussions on issues we all face and allowed us to discus paths forward for new and emerging issues.  In one part of the workshop, we discussed a new government regulation and I posted a form that I had been working on to deal with it.  Everyone looked at the form and gave great feedback and will provide a much better product than I would have had without their insight.

 
However, it's not practical to fly everyone across the country more than once a year and we are working on starting a Skype meeting monthly.  Technology will be important for all of us to brainstorm emerging issues as a group.  Together we are stronger than the sum of all our parts!

Your Attention Please all Passengers

So far I have noticed a couple of key patterns with blogs that I like to read and what makes a blog post.

 

1. Start with an image that is clear.  The picture needs to be related to the topic and give the reader an instant idea of what the post topic is.
2. Have an interesting title.  Titles should form a relation in people's minds to the topic and maybe have a little intrigue.  
3. Keep it short.  In both the professional world and the internet, too much text is a turn off.  Readers want to get the information and get out.
4. Keep the topics relevant.  Blogs should tie into current events.  Posting about using obsolete equipment or technology will make a reader search elsewhere.

Let's get this started!

Hello classmates and anyone who has stumbled into this blog!

My name is Katie Kain and I am a third year student in the OLP program at ISU.  This blog's main focus will be on topics from my Instructional Technologies in HRD class.  I will use this blog to explore exciting technology that can be used in adult learning environments.  This is not my first blog, but any other blog I have done has been slanted towards my hobbies of spinning yarn and when blogs were brand new, about animal rescue.

I currently work at the INL as an admin.  I do get to help with training and look forward to finding out how this degree program and many of the important things I learn in this class can help me with career growth.  I also get to do our department metrics which are kind of my passion.