From NMSU Hotline: NM online learning policies and practices ranks nationally

Great news from VSS, but forgot to report here. NMSU Hotline for today reminded me:

New Mexico’s eLearning support system, IDEAL-NM (www.ideal-nm.org), has been ranked number six in the country for online learning policies and practices by The Center for Digital Education. IDEAL-NM provides eLearning services in partnership with K-12, higher education and state agencies.

Two programs administered through NMSU, NM Learning Network Program (www.nmln.org ) and RETA (reta.nmsu.edu), have been integral to the success of IDEAL-NM.

Google Sites and Notebook Webinar Tonight, NMSU Families Webinar Tomorrow

Find out more about these free webinars at http://webinars.nmsu.edu.

Fabulous Friday Following

Just a few things for you to look out for on this Friday, October 10...I'll try to help you see the forest through the trees.

MoodleMoot New Zealand 2008 just ended, but you can stream some very fresh information reported on twitter nicely via hashtag #mmnz08 (ie: what's up with Moodle 2.0, what Martin Dougiamas recommends Moodle communities should invest in, issues involving students identity management, etc). It's worth a moment of your Friday time, especially if you are a Moodle administrator. If you get especially curious and want to go more indepth, follow my shared Moodle feeds here to see aggregated Moodle tweets from throughout Twitter alongside recent blog posts by attendees.

The Twitter 20 is an effort by Jay Baer to conduct real time, '20 question' interviews of 20 influential Twitter stars. It happens this morning, follow it live, if you dare ;-). I think this would be interesting for those of us who are looking at educational possibilities of microblogging or uses of twitter for learning. I love how the format is presented...

140 character questions (x20).
140 character answers.
In real-time.
On Twitter.

I'll be with Melody and Kerry as we try to persuade folks at the Community College Roundup to try out Everybody's Business. We look forward to expanding users across campuses to widen the institutional knowledge community.

I realize these are all random weak-tie-style connections to Moodle, Twitter and Higher Ed Social Networking... maybe you'll find something here for you. If not, stay tuned. Next week I will be with some amazing colleagues at the New Mexico Technology in Education Conference and chatting up all sorts of things from Moodle to Adobe Connect to Professional Development Ecosystems to Web 2.0. And yes, there will mobile blogging and probably even a Twitter hashtag, #NMTIE08? any other suggestions?

Have an amazing-super-fabulous-glimmering Friday!

To the beat of a 'distance' drum

Online learning tools are used in many different ways. Educators often play their distance learning drums to a unique beat, playing up their strengths, improvising at times, but always listening for subtle changes in tempo and mood. When distance learning jams come together, the community can be a powerful source of inspiration - harmonious collaboration. This week, NMSU is celebrating National Distance Learning Week with a number of different distance learning events and RETAMoodle Open House. Please extend our invitation to all of the distance learning drummers you know.