Monthly publication - 

May 2001 Issue

IN THIS ISSUE:

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Welcome to the LCN.

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Management Strategies and Tips.

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Student Study Skills Tips

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Book Review.

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Visiting the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive.

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Communicating with your Staff: An effective system may be right under your nose.

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2001 Summer Institute

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Conferences.

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Chew on This.

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Student appointment scheduling via the web.

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Internet Resource of the Month.

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Software Pick.

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Windows Tips.

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MS Word Tip of the Month.

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On the Lighter Side.

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Quotes.

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Last Issue.

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Submission Guidelines.

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Feedback.

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About the Authors.

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Subscription Info.

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Welcome to the LCN

Welcome to the May issue.  Thanks to the efforts of volunteers who regularly submit articles, this newsletter offers a lot of useful and entertaining content to its readers.  These volunteers include Frank Christ, Lucy MacDonald, Susan Palau, and Martha Maxwell.  Please drop each of them a line to let them know that you appreciate their articles in the LCN and would like to read more articles in the future.  This will encourage these writers to continue sharing their knowledge and experience with us, and will let them know that we appreciate their efforts and benefit from their articles.  You will find the email address of each person in their column below. 

A week ago I attended the NTA annual conference in Indianapolis.  The conference had a lot to offer with pre-conference sessions by Dr. Skip Downing and Dr. Bernice McCarthy.  The keynotes speakers, Dr. Alvin Granowski and Dr. John Chaffee, made superb speeches and each received a standing ovation.  Though I did not make it to the opening reception, those who did enjoyed the performance of a magician that managed to immediately memorize everyone's name, and a surprise visit by a member of the Indiana Colts.  On Tuesday, Elvis dropped by to kick off the announcement for the next NTA conference, which will take place on April 21, 2002 in Las Vegas.  If you missed this year's conference, make sure you plan for next year's.  For more information about the NTA, visit its web site at http://www.ntatutor.com/ 

This issue we have a submission from Nick Schmitt on using technology to set up a good communications system with your staff.  We thank Nick for sharing this idea with us.  If you have something to share with your colleagues we would like to hear from you.  See the Submission Guidelines below for more details. 

As usual, we would like you to share this newsletter with your network.  All you need is to click on the link below and fill-out the email address of the recipient:

    Click here to share this issue with a colleague

Thanks.  Enjoy the new issue. 

Mon Nasser
Editor  

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Management Strategies & Tips

By Frank L. Christ

Email: flchris@mindspring.com     

Tip #11: Keeping Up-to-date with Technology 

It is difficult but not impossible to keep up with advances in technology that may be useful for learning assistance administrators and facilitators and for developmental educators. Regardless of the difficulty, keeping up with technology and its impact on your professional life and  campus related activities is crucial for increased academic visibility, recognition, and effective student support.   Here are some tips to help you do so. 

1. Attend TIDE, the premier technology event related to learning assistance and developmental education  at Southwest Texas University this July. Browse this URL for details: http://www.ci.swt.edu/TIDE/TIDEhome.htm

2.  Join either Nade's Technology Special Professional Interest Network  (SPIN) or CRLA's Computer Technology Special Interest Group (SIG). Check their web sites for details. Go to LSCHE at http://www.pvc.maricopa.edu/~lsche/resources/web_site_dir.htm for the web addresses to NADE and CRLA.

3. Subscribe to online newsletters like geteducated.com for online education news. You can do this at its web site:  http://www.geteducated.com

4. Get on the list for a free subscription to these two journals: Syllabus and T.H.E. Journal. You can do this from their web sites:  http://www.syllabus.com for Syllabus; http://www.thejournal.com/ for T.H.E. Journal.

5. Join your campus or local community computer club. Attend its monthly meetings to network and to see software demonstrations. Read its club newsletter and browse its club web site. 

6. Read at least one technology book a month. Get recommendations from your campus  IT people and librarians,  colleagues through LRNASST and at association conferences or browse the shelves at Borders,  Barnes & Noble, or other local  bookstores. Share your reading with colleagues. Write book reviews when appropriate for association newsletters and journals.  

7. Read the Caverly and MacDonald TechTalk column in every issue of the Journal of Developmental Education. Discuss it at staff meetings. Browse the URLS that Caverly and MacDonald cite in their column.  

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Student Study Skills Tips

By Lucy MacDonald, Chemeketa Community College

Email: lucy@chemeketa.edu

PROCRASTINATION SUCCESS

It's the end of the semester and you haven't started your long term project yet. Now it's spring and the sun is out and who wants to do a long paper anyway!

Most people can recognize this Procrastination Gremlin. However, the fix tends to be more negative than positive. Here is a new way to look at procrastination, which will help you move forward.

Procrastination is really a creative act. Students are very creative when they are procrastinating: they can think of lots of things to do, besides the thing that needs to get done. Some shine their shoes. Some watch long movies. Some clean their desk. Some clean the dorm's refrigerator. Anything, but what needs to get done. Look at all this creative energy.

Now instead of denying it. Turn that creative energy to your advantage. Admit that you are a procrastinator. Don't feel guilty. Now give yourself something to procrastinate about. Choose a job or task that you hate to do more than the one that needs to get done. And guess what. You'll procrastinate about it and not do it. Then the second item will get done! 

It works like this. If I want my husband to take out the garbage, he'll procrastinate about it. So I assign him to clean the garage. That's a worse task and a larger task, so he begins by taking out the garbage!

Now try this out for your school work. Be creative. Use that positive energy.

If you want to learn more about using creative energy for the little Bo Peep procrastinator and other characters, get the very reasonable book, The Procrastination Success Kit.

    http://www.justalyce.com/success.html

Lucy

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Book Review

By Martha Maxwell, Former Director of Student Learning Center, Retired UC Berkeley

Email: MMMarthaMaxwell@CS.COM

Book: Learning and Development: Making Connections to Enhance Teaching.
Author:  Sharon L. Silverman & Martha Casazza 
Publisher: Jossey-Bass. 
Pages: 288. 
Price: $32.95.
Order:  Click here to order on-line from Amazon.

(Sharon Silverman is the former Director of the Learning Center at Loyola University Chicago, and Martha E. Casazza developed and presently directs the Graduate Program in Developmental Education at National-Louis University, Chicago. She is also a former president of NADE.)

At last, a book that focuses on those important concepts that constitute the soul of developmental education - the affective and emotional factors that enhance or impede students' academic success. It will be a godsend to new teachers who are striving to understand today's diverse college students and to find more effective ways to teach them.

The book's chapters concern self- and identity, motivation, interactions with the environment, ways of knowing, learning styles and preferences, self-regulation and goal setting. Also the authors include useful information about how cultural background affects educational performance and discuss current theories of intelligence.

The book is organized so the reader is immersed in the research, theory and learning principles of each topic and shown how these can be applied in practice. To start, the authors introduce six brief case studies students you will easily recognize from those you have met such as the ESL student who wants to pursue a college degree but gets only minimal support from her parents who are, at best, indifferent to her goals: or the woman who studies very hard but continues to get poor grades or the man who has built a successful business but finds returning to college courses an overwhelming challenge-- in other words, the typical students who have frustrated us for many decades.

Their stories are woven into each chapter as part of the application of basic principles so you meet the same characters again and again.

Although the book does not directly address instructional methods, it provides a framework for assessing one's own teaching assumptions and techniques and deciding on how to adapt one's teaching in order to better reach students.

Satisfying and easy to read because the authors smoothly integrate current research into principles derived from theory and practice, this book joins the list of "must owns" of the learning assistance professional.

A few examples illustrate the benefits - the discussion of ways of helping the field-dependent student structure disorganized information so she can better understand and remember it; the reasons why students from cultures where silence is golden need more "wait time" and the problem that Latino students raised in a culture where collaboration and cooperation is rewarded and learning is considered "okay" have in being regarded as a good student by a US teacher whose stereotype of a good student is one who has a clear cut goals, is serious, very hard working and competitive.

The book is easy to follow since the major points are reinforced and applied, and the various sections are smoothly and seamlessly integrated. The authors do an excellent job of explaining the relationship between theory, research, and practice and making it easy to understand. It will help new instructors better understand and work more effectively with many of the students they find most frustrating. Experienced practitioners will gain new insights as they read the results of recent research that shows how affective concerns relate directly to achievement and how these principles can be adapted to their teaching. (I found the research update particularly helpful since it validated many of my experiences.).

The authors suggest reasonable approaches to applying findings and constructs. For example. they don't urge you to match your teaching preferences to the student's preferred learning style -- something that would be impossible to do in a class anyway, but rather they suggest you become better aware of your own teaching styles so that you can show students how to stretch their styles rather than trying to change them. In other words, they don't tell us to teach calculus to the kinesthetic learner through dance as some earlier writers seemed to imply.

Certainly this book will be an excellent text for a beginning course in developmental education but it is equally valuable as a resource for new college teachers in any field who want to better understand their students.

[This review first appeared Dec 13, 2000 on LRNASST.  Republished by permission]

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Visiting the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive

By Susan Marcus Palau
Director, Learning Center, Purchase College/SUNY
Email: Susan.Palau@Purchase.edu

Attention mathephiles and mathephobes! I have discovered an Internet site that should satisfy both. If you love math, this archives will provide you with enough arcane math facts and trivia to keep you quite challenged and contented. If you are a bit squeamish about math, this archive should calm your nerves while perking up your interest in the subject. The homepage is laid out in a clear, concise manner that allows you to navigate through the many interesting topics. Some of the major areas here are:

* Biographies Index - where you can access the life stories of your favorite mathematician by using either an alphabet index or a chronological one. There is even a "Female Mathematicians" hyperlink. It was very heartening to see that women are given their own special section and that indeed, it was written in the plural.

* History Topics Index - This is divided into two sections - "Mathematics in Various Cultures" and "Mathematical Topics". The former touches on Ancient Babylonian, Egyptian and Greek math, along with Indian, Arabic and Mayan mathematics. Naturally the splendid contributions of America and particularly Scotland were also given their own special hyperlinks. Under the latter topic, an overview of the history of math, numbers and number theory, topology and mathematical education are just a few of the many points of interest you can visit.

* Birthplace Maps Index - a colored map of Europe is the main feature of this site. You are asked to click on a country and see which mathematicians were born there. In addition, you can click on maps of the USA and Canada and India and Pakistan to learn about the math mavens who were born in these countries.

* Famous Curves Index - I was charmed the most by this index. Not having any great knowledge of the subject, I was still quite taken by the lovely names of some of the curves - "Pearls of de Sluze", "Witch of Agnesi", "Quadratrux of Hippias" and my most favorite - "Pear-shaped Quatric". (Could this be describing me?) There are 60 more curves talked about at this site. 

* Mathematicians of the Day - click here and you will learn which math stars were born and died on that day. When I visited on April 5th, Hobbes(1588) and Chaplygin(1869) were born and Brouncker(1684) and Bertrand(1900) died, among others.

Created by John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, the URL of this very rich website can be found at:

    http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/index.html

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Communicating With Your Staff: An Effective System May Be Right Under Your Nose. 

By Nick Schmitt, Heartland Community College

Email: nick.schmitt@hcc.cc.il.us

My tutoring staff consists of about 40 tutors who work in three different cities.  In the past, I have struggled to keep the entire group updated with announcements and miscellaneous information.  I tried using the e-mail system at our college to communicate with the tutors, but they had problems accessing it from different locations on campus, and most of them could not access it from their homes. 

While attending a training session for the on-line course platform being used at our college, I noticed that this platform had the features I was looking for to communicate with the tutors.  I asked our technology staff to create a bogus course for me.  Then I entered all of my tutors in the “course” as though they were students.  I recently began using the on-line course platform as a communication system for all of my tutors. 

I chose to include the e-mail, bulletin board, and calendar features (utilities) to communicate information to tutors, and to promote interactions between tutors.  The bulletin board feature allows us to generate public discussions (viewable by all tutors) on issues related to tutoring.  The calendar tool allows me to post important dates regarding training sessions, changes in service hours, and project deadlines.  I have been able to cut back on the use of paper because I can post the announcements using the e-mail and calendar tools, as opposed to sending reminders to the tutors in the mail.  I have also posted various handouts, articles, brief training exercises, and quizzes for the tutors.  

Now tutors at all locations can share information and participate in discussions.  Veteran tutors are better able to mentor new tutors, even though they aren’t working at the same time or in the same location.  I have also found that the on-line discussions generated by our tutors have given me clues as to the training needs of our tutors. 

Because this platform is web-based, tutors can login to the system from any computer with Internet access.  They are now using the system on campus and from their homes.  They have enjoyed the reliable access to the system and I have enjoyed the efficiency with which we communicate with one another.

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2001 NCLCA Summer Institute

The Summer Institute, sponsored by the National College Learning Center Association, is coming up quickly (June 12-16.)  If you are interested in getting to know Barbara Bonham, David Caverly, Jeanne Higbee, and Sharon Silverman a bit better, in a small group setting, and meeting a group of colleagues from across the country, then Summer Institute might be for you.

Our promotional materials set June 1 as a deadline for registration.  However, the university hosting the event has set May 10 as an internal deadline for finalizing numbers.  If you are considering attending Summer Institute, please visit the NCLCA website at http://www.eiu.edu/~lrnasst/nclca/nclcains.htm for information and the registration form.

We have made a special effort to provide a quality gathering at a very reasonable cost.  Transportation is readily accessible into Chicago (50 miles) or Milwaukee (30 miles.) Transportation from those centers into campus may require a rental car.

Registration may be faxed to Annette Wiesner at 262.595.2716 by May 10.

Your financing plans should be completed by June 1. 

We hope to have you join us.

Charlotte Short
NCLCA President

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Conferences

Lycoming College Conference on Teaching Excellence 
May 3-4, 2001 
Williamsport, PA 

Lycoming College is hosting its second Conference on Teaching Excellence on May 3rd and 4th.  The conference entitled Beyond Technique: Combining Creativity, Substance and Passion in the Classroom will feature Peter Seldin, a Distinguished Professor of Management at Pace University.  More details at this website address:

    http://www.lycoming.edu/teachingconference/index.htm 

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NCLCA Annual Conference 
October 3-5, 2001 
Evanston, IL 

The keynote speaker is Bunk Spann. The mission of NCLCA is to support learning assistance professionals as they develop and maintain learning centers, programs, and services to enhance student learning at the post-secondary level.  More information about the conference is available on the NCLCA website:

    http://www.eiu.edu/~lrnasst/nclca/index.html.

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ArkADE Annual Conference 
October 4-5, 2001 
Hot Springs, Arkansas 

For more info about the Arkansas Association for Developmental Education national conference, contact Sandra Kerr, ArkADE President at skerr@mail.eacc.cc.ar.us

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3rd National Conference On Research In Developmental Education
October 24-28, 2001
Charlotte, NC, MA

The conference theme is "Research 2001: Integrating Theory and Practice".  The will focus on this integration for the purpose of highlighting current research in the field, sharing research-based classroom techniques, validating current instructional methods, and networking among professionals.  

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LAANE 18th Annual Conference
October 26, 2001
Burlington, MA

The Learning Association of New England (LAANE) will have its annual conference at the Northeastern University in Burlington, Massachusetts.  The theme for this year's conference is "Student Retention!"  LAANE supports educators in meeting the academic and interpersonal needs of under-prepared, at risk, and nontraditional students.  This also includes students with disabilities and those for whom English is a second language.

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Let us know about conferences not listed here by emailing lcn@attendance-tracking.com

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Chew on this ....

A few quotations for your use when people oppose innovation from:

The “Eat Your Words” Department

“Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react.  He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.”
- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard’s revolutionary rocket work.

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“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.”
- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949.

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“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.

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“I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won’t last out the year.”
- The editor of charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.

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“But what … is it good for?”
- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

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“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”
- Ken Olson, president chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

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“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.  The device is inherently of no value to us.”
- Western Union internal memo, 1876.

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“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value.  Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?”
- David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urging for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

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“The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C’, the idea must be feasible.”
- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service.  (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

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“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” 
H.M Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927

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“I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.”
- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in “Gone With the Wind.”

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“A cookie store is a bad idea.  Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.”
- Response to Debbi Fields’ idea of starting Mrs. Fields’ Cookies.

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“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”
- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

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“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.”
- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

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“If I had thought about it, I wouldn’t have done the experiment.  The literature was full of examples that said you can’t do this.”
- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M “Post-It” Notepads.

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“So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us?  Or we’ll give it to you.  We just want to do it.  Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’  And they said, ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you.  You haven’t got through college yet.’”
- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.

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“You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles?  It can’t be done.  It’s just a fact of life.  You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training.”
- Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the “unsolvable” problem by inventing Nautilus.

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“Drill for oil?  You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil?  You’re crazy.”
- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

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“Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.”
- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.

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“Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.”
- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.

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 “Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

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“Louis Pasteur’s theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.”
- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology, Toulouse, 1872

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“The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon.”
-Sir John Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.

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“640K ought to be enough for anybody.”
- Bill Gates, 1981

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Sponsor Announcements

AccuTrack WebLink Now Shipping

AccuTrack WebLink is an optional add-on to AccuTrack V6 that:

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Allows students to schedule appointments anywhere and anytime by simply using their web browser.

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Allows students to view their upcoming appointments.

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Allows students to cancel an appointment on-line.

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Allows tutors / consultants to view their upcoming appointments.

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Allows tutors / consultants to cancel an appointment on-line.

AccuTrack WebLink has an easy-to-use interface, yet you have complete control over its usage.  For example, you can limit access to registered users, set the minimum and maximum appointment duration, and decide on allowed start times.

For more info about AccuTrack WebLink, Click here.

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Internet Resource of the Month

QueenDom

Are You a procrastinator, perfectionist, brilliant, or depressed?   To find out more about yourself, take an on-line test at QueenDom.  The QueenDom web site contains over 200 tests and quizzes divided into these areas: Intelligence, Relationship, Personality, Career, and Health.   These test help you know thyself and they are fun to take too.  

Here are some samples of what you will find on QueenDom: Personality tests including tests on arguing style, assertiveness, conflict management, leadership, and coping skills.    Career tests include burnout, conflict management, sales personality, and time management.  Health tests include sleep hygiene, social anxiety, exercise myth, and depression.  IQ tests including tests of classical intelligence, concentration, emotional and logical tests.  

Queendom develops their own professional quality interactive tests. The site also offers advice, community, surveys and trivia quizzes on a multitude of subjects.  Visit QueenDom at:

http://www.queendom.com/

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Software Pick

FullDisk

Is your free hard drive space getting smaller and smaller?  Do you know what applications are hogging most of its precious space?  FullDisk will tell you.


FullDisk is a simple program that lets you view your hard disk contents in the form of a tree.  Each branch represents a folder and shows its size.  You can click on a certain folder to see its contents and their sizes.  Since the folders are sorted by size with largest at the top, its easy to see which folders or applications are taking the most space.  The pie chart on the left gives you an idea of the usage percent of each tree branch or folder.

FullDisk is shareware.  You get 30 days free trial and can register the program for $10.  Here is the download address:

http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?500000033856 

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Windows Tips of the Month

More Windows Explorer Tips

Last issue I showed you how you can transform your Windows Explorer into Internet Explorer by simply entering a URL (http address) in the address area.  See last month's tip by clicking here if you missed it.

So if Windows Explorer (WE) can morph itself into Internet Explorer (IE), can IE transform morph into WE?  To find out, launch IE.  In the URL address area, type "c:\" without the quotes.  Cool enough, IE will become WE, and you will be looking at the contents of your c drive.  

If WE defaults to the "large icon" view, you can change this to a more useful view by selecting "View" from the menu and then "Details".   This will show you more info about each file including last modification date and size.  This is helpful for locating files quickly.  For example, if you're browsing your documents folder, you can click on the "Modified" header in WE and the files will be sorter chronologically.  If you want to reverse the order (e.g. newest file first instead of last), simply click on the "Modified" header again.  This will help you to quickly find the document you were working on last for example.  If you know the name of document, click on the "Name" header to sort the files alphabetically.

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MS Word Tip of the Month

Figuring out changes between documents

Ever needed to find out the differences between two documents or text files?  Perhaps you have two versions of the same document, and need to see the changes made, or maybe you sent a file to someone who made changes to it, and would like to quickly identify these changes.  MS Word has a tool to make this job much easier.  

To use this tool, first open the first document as usual in MS Word.  Next select "Track Changes" then "Compare Documents..." from the Tools menu item:

 

A dialogue box will pop up asking you select the file you want to compare to the opened document.  Highlight the second file and click on "open".  Word will load the file, compare it to the first, and will then show you the differences between the two documents on screen.  Here is an example of what you will see:

Word will show a vertical line at the left of each line that is different between the two documents.  Text that is the same in both documents will appear in regular font color.  Text that is different will appear in red.  If the text appears in the original document, but not in the second document, it will appear in underlined.  If the text appears in the second document, but not in the first, it will be crossed out.

Note that you can use this tools to compare text files as well as Word documents.

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On the Lighter Side

Reasons Why The English Language Is Hard To Learn

bullet The bandage was wound around the wound.
bullet The farm was used to produce produce.
bullet The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
bullet We must polish the Polish furniture.
bullet He could lead if he would get the lead out.
bullet The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
bullet Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
bullet A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
bullet When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
bullet I did not object to the object.
bullet The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
bullet There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
bullet They were too close to the door to close it.
bullet The buck does funny things when the does are present.
bullet A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
bullet To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
bullet The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
bullet After a number of injections my jaw got number.
bullet Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
bullet I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
bullet How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
bullet The combination "ough" can be pronounced nine different ways.  The following sentence contains all nine: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed." 

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Quotes

"The most beautiful things in the world can neither be seen nor touched, just felt in the heart."
- Helen Keller

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"We have to do the best we can. This is our sacred human responsibility." 
Albert Einstein

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"There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, pure, simple, and useful life."
Booker T. Washington 

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"We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems."
Lee Iococca

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"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
Michael Jordan

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"An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field."
Niels Bohr 

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"If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him.  An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."
Benjamin Franklin

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Last Issue

The The April issue of the Learning Center Newsletter featured:

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A tip from Frank Christ on keeping up with the information explosion.

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A tip from Lucy MacDonald on planning textbook reading.

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A review by Martha Maxwell of the book "Issues in Web-Based Pedagogy : A Critical Primer".

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Dr. Linda Thompson, our April Person of the Month.

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Touring the SBI Website by Susan Palau.

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Awareness, Accommodations and Technical Assistance for University Students with Neurological Disabilities by Reagan-Lorraine Lavorata.

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DSSHE Listserv.

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Password Plus, software for storing your web passwords.

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Quick Navigation in MS Word.

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And more.

To view the April issue, click here.

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Submissions Guidelines

Get involved in the learning-assistance community via The Learning Center Newsletter by:

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Submitting articles of interest to learning-assistance professionals.

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Reviewing books and other learning-assistance resources.

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Informing us about conferences and other happenings.

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Nominating your favorite learning center professional for the Person of the Month column.

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Sharing resource information with your peers: web sites, publications, etc.

The average article length is one page written in 12 points size and single line spacing.  If the article is long, we might put it in a separate page and show the first few paragraphs in the newsletter with a link to the full article.  Send your articles in ASCII text or MS Word format.  We will take care of the html conversion.  If you want to include images with the article, the preferred format is jpg or gif, but we will convert images in other formats if needed.  

The newsletter is usually released during the first week of each month.  The deadline for each issue is the 25th of the previous month, so if you would like to submit an article for the next issue, we need to receive it by the 25th of this month.  By submitting articles, you give us the right to publish and edit them if needed.  

The subject of submitted articles must be of interest to learning-assistance professionals.  The editor of this newsletter reserves the right to reject articles at his discretion.  

Submitting your article will make you more famous and will help your colleagues worldwide!  E-mail your submissions to:

        newsletter@attendance-tracking.com

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Feedback

We certainly hope you find this newsletter useful and entertaining.  We welcome your suggestions and improvements ideas.  To send in your comments,  simply click here.

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About the Authors

This newsletter is sponsored by AccuTrack and edited by Mon Nasser from Engineerica Systems, Inc.  My thanks to this month's contributors: Frank Christ, Lucy MacDonald, Martha Maxwell, Susan Marcus Palau, and Nick Schmitt.

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Subscribe / Unsubscribe Info

Subscription to The Learning Center Newsletter is free for learning-assistance professionals.  To subscribe simply fill-in the quick subscription form at this web site:

        http://www.attendance-tracking.com/join_lcn.htm

Only those who subscribe to The Learning Center Newsletter receive notifications of new issues .  If you wish to unsubscribe, e-mail to:

        unsubscribe@attendance-tracking.com

Note that the process of tracking members and emailing them is currently handled by humans.  If there is an error in your subscription, please email us.

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Last Modified: January 13, 2004 10:22:39 AM