Educational Technologies and Mentoring

Archive of 2008-09 articles -

2009-09-17T13:54:00.004-05:00

This blog will not be used to post new articles but contains many useful articles written in 2008-09. The Tags to the Right do not work, so we have listed useful articles, with links, below.

1/20/-09 Cool Cash Introduction. The following articles were posted each week from January through May, and students were encouraged to view the T/MC library, look at these and other links, then post comments about what they found in the Cabrini Connections StudentVolunteer collaboration portal.

1/21/09 - Science, Math, Engineering, homework help links

2/2/09 - homework help; writing links

2/9/09 - Black History Month links

2/18/09 - Social Science learning links

3/4/09 - literature and arts activities

3/10/09 - college and career planning

3/17/09 - college and career web links

3/20/09 - college resources

3/27/09 - blogs on philanthropy, mentoring, networking, learning

3/27/09 - blogs and forums on education

4/3/09 - Business involvement and diversity resources

4/10/09 - Choose your future/career planning

4/17/08 - Street Gangs - many students commented on this

4/28 - Summer Activities for youth

5/6/09 - Leadership Strategies

5/13/09 - Networking and Fund Raising

5/20/09 - Social Capital links

Additional blog articles of interest

12/16/08 - introduction to new Student Volunteer Collaboration Portal

Tutor/Mentor Exchange - new site launched

11/25/08 - reflections from Nov. 08 Tutor/Mentor Conference

6/3/09 - reflections on Tutor/Mentor Conference

Ideas, work and results

2009-06-03T15:08:00.001-05:00

Another Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference has come and gone and… it was a huge event. It was a chance to participate in a variety of interesting workshops, discuss new ideas (and how to make the old ideas work better) with old and new colleagues.

How barbers can help after-school programs was a presentation held by Mr. Ishmael Alamin, Owner of the Hyde Park Hair Salon, the Official Barbershop of President Barack Obama. Barbershops are social places where people come regularly. No matter your income or what your political favorites are, you have to come to a barber shop. For example, as a Presidential candidate candidate, Barack Obama traveled each week to the Hyde Park Hair Salon for a trim.

And, since barbershops are where discussions start about everything and anything, why shouldn’t we be inspiring discussions about the value of tutor/mentor programs? – asked Mr. Ishmael Alamin. In his barbershop, thought-provoking maps of the availability of tutoring/mentoring programs are on the wall and brochures about tutor/mentor programs are in the reception area. What a great way to start a discussion about how each of us can help!

Twitter - How It Can Benefit Tutoring and Mentoring Programs was the last workshop, presented by Mrs. Lovette Ajayi. To twitter or not to twitter, that is the question no? Come on; don’t tell me that you’ve never tried Twitter or some other micro-blogging application. It is fun and it can be very valuable. Mrs. Ajayi has 651 twitter followers. Therefore, whenever she twitters, 651 people receive that message. I know, some of us have newsgroups with much more e-mail addresses, but practice says that only 2-5% of receivers actually read those messages. Therefore 651 is a huge number. How to twitter and how to generate so many followers… well, you were supposed to come to the Conference. As an alternative, you can attend the 2009 Making Media Connections Conference http://communitymediaworkshop.org/mmc09/, to find about new media formats like Twitter and how to use them.

Impact Evaluation: From Basics to Best Practices, presented by Jenny Ellis Richards, was an excellent introduction into planning and results evaluation. Everything we do, we do to achieve some specific results. Impact or results are not just a bureaucrats’ wish, but the reason why each institution exists, why each of us is coming to a job or to a school. Right?

To evaluate the results, Mrs. Richards uses a Theory of Change methodology. A Theory of Change is a logic model for program; it is a picture of why your program should succeed. It is called ‘theory’ – because it has to be evaluated, improved on daily basis. Very interesting and very useful – just as many other workshops at the Conference.

Program of Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference is available at http://www.tutormentorconference.org/agenda.asp. I encourage you to check it and think about the next conference – in the autumn. Will you come?

Social Capital

2009-05-20T15:36:00.005-05:00

Summer… just that word makes me feel relaxed, makes me think about vacation time, think about time with my friends, family, neighbors. During the school year we are all busy; school/work, daily duties – so some of us forget how it is important to have a good connection with people in our network, how it is beneficial to have a big network, how it is good to be able to reach people in other networks. That is why we should invest time during summer in our social capital.

What is social capital? Social capital is the connections within and between social networks. Something like glue that holds our society and institutions/groups together. Just as a printer (physical capital) or an education (human capital) can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so do social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups.

For example, if we have a task to do something, and thru our social network we can reach people who can provide us with ‘know how’ to solve that task, the task will become ‘a piece of cake’. Furthermore, social relationships and the social environments of school, family, and neighborhood influence students with respect to school performance. It influences adults too.

So, what do you plan to do with your social capital?

A few nice articles about social capital are linked in Tutor/Mentor Exchange Links Library: T/MC Links Library : Research, Resources : Social Capital

So, let’s check a few of them.

Social Capital article at InfEd.org (a site dedicated to promote and support INFormal EDucation) is a great way to start. The article (http://www.infed.org/biblio/social_capital.htm) provides all the most important data about social capital in plain English. Social capital for starters, Types of social capital, The decline in social capital, The benefits of social capital are just a few of interesting sections of that article. Find more about social capital at: http://www.infed.org/biblio/social_capital.htm

A New Conceptualization of Social Capital is an article that attempts to improve the conceptualization of social capital by incorporating a number of new factors that have previously not been considered

Read more at: http://www.gnudung.com/improvedconceptualisation.html

Conceptualizing Social Capital among Young People is an article written by Nicole J. Schaefer-McDaniel and focused on new theoretical framework of social capital among young people.

The author describes social capital among young people to consist of three components:

Social networks/interactions and sociability;
Trust and reciprocity; and
Sense of belonging/place attachment.

Find more about beneficial outcomes of social capital at http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/14_1/articles/article6full.htm.

What are your thoughts about those articles? Of course, you can fine much more links about social capital at T/MC Links Library : Research, Resources : Social Capital

I am very enthusiastic about your comments here or at Cool Links and Cool Cash >> Social capital,

Networking & Fund Raising

2009-05-13T12:45:00.007-05:00

Hi,
Last week we had 28 posts in Cool Links – Cool Cash. Fantastic! It is the second time we’ve had participation over 20%. Great job and great posts!
So, let’s continue, let’s make even better results this week. Right?
And, do not forget that Cabrini students will be rewarded with $2 for each post!
OK; ready?

This is a fundraising week - we will have a Fundraising meeting for volunteers on Wednesday and Thursday. Therefore let’s check out the Networking and Fund Rising category in the Links Library (T/MC Links Library : Event Information : Networking & Fund Raising)

scottwallard.com/blog/ is a blog about social policy and poverty in America maintained by Scott W. Allard - an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration. Professor Allard is a passionate supporter of the social safety net.

What it the social safety net? The social safety net refers a collection of services which prevent individuals from falling into poverty beyond a certain level. For example, if single mother unable to work has several children, she and all her kids can be caught up in the hopelessness of extreme poverty.

However, by receiving money to support her children, along with universal health care and free education, she and the society (social safety net!) can provide her and children a better chance at becoming successful members of society, a better chance to become successful taxpayers…

In his blog Professor Allard wrote:

With more than 50 million Americans living near or below the poverty line and need on the rise, it becomes important to have an accurate grasp of what the safety net is, how it functions, and where the gaps in assistance are most severe. The written work presented here address challenges facing today's safety net.

Find more at: www.scottwallard.com/blog

UmbrellaMag.com is an online magazine devoted to charity events, volunteering and philanthropy in the USA. At this moment UmbrellaMag.com has 6 editions for 6 USA cites – including Chicago. Umbrellamag.com serves as a volunteering and philanthropy stock market. You can search for charity events or volunteering opportunities or you can promote your own volunteering event.

Find out more at www.umbrellamag.com

The Social Marketing Institute is being created to advance the science and practice of social marketing. Social marketing is a marketing process where the primary goal is ‘social good’. In classical, 'commercial marketing' the goal is primarily 'financial'. For example, Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection marketing strategy is focused on marketing of mentoring programs – because each mentoring program is a social good that benefit kids’ lives and communities.

Find more about social marketing and the Social Marketing Institute at: http://www.social-marketing.org

What are your thoughts about these sites, about these issues?

I am very enthusiastic about your comments; here or in the Cool Links and Cool Cash forum.

Leadership Strategies

2009-05-06T16:38:00.002-05:00

Leadership is one of the most important aspects of the organizational context. Where to go, how, who, what for… are just a few of questions challenging leaders. Leadership can be a role of one prominent person or role of groups, associations or even whole countries can be leaders. Each of us can/should be a leader as an individual or can be a member of a group that is leading school, club, corporation or… world into the better future.

In Cabrini Connections, we are trying to nurture future leaders; leaders that will help us build a society where everybody has a chance, where success is a choice – not something young people will or will not inherit from their immediate surroundings; a society that helps the development of each individual – to her/his full potential.

Here are a bunch of very interesting Leadership Strategies, which are well described at http://tutormentorexchange.net/leadership-strategies.
Can you check a few of them and send your comments. What do you think about those strategies?
Do you know a leader you would commend or… what would you do/are you doing as a leader?

I am very enthusiastic about your comments!

Summer is coming…

2009-04-28T16:42:00.004-05:00

Summer is coming…
OK, OK, summer officially starts June 21st, so we have more than a month to go. But… that is not a reason not to think about what you will be doing this summer right? For example you can have a rest – spend the whole day in bed, or you can have fun with friends & family. Maybe you can even travel… If you are an adult – you will probably have 10 vacation days and it probably will not be enough time to do everything you want to accomplish. But, what if you are a student and you have almost 3 months (June 12 – September 07) for summer vacation. Hmmm, maybe you can try a summer job: earn some experience, earn some money, and make a few new friends. Good combination; right?

So let’s check resources for summer jobs we have linked in TutorMentorConnection.org Links Library.

Youth Ready Chicago. For example the www.YouthReadyChicago.org/ program connects young people, ages 14 - 24, with internships, apprenticeships and jobs within Chicago’s public and private business sectors. You can get hands-on experience, gain marketable skills, see how you like a specific job, and of course – you can earn some cash. It is always good to have a little bit more money, but if it is money you earned through your own hard work – that is something special right?

Jobs For Youth-Chicago is a free program for teens and young adults ages 17 to 24.
It is a bit different that Youth Ready Chicago because you must have either a high school diploma or a GED and there is a 3 hour assessment test at the onset. Find more at: http://jfychicago.org/.

What about adults? Do we have a program to teach them how to organize the summer jobs how to work with kids?

Sure!
Youth Work Matters! is part of the University of Minnesota Extension Services. Program provides a highly interactive and very interesting online course that will help you understand youth and work with youth better.

The idea behind this program is that:

Our work with youth - both volunteer and professional - needs to come from an informed, intentional way of understanding their lives and the ways we support and promote their growth.

Sounds logical and worthy of research. Right?
Find out more at www.youthworkmatters.org
You can get enrolled in a course in less than a minute.

Check it out and send your comments; are you planning on working this summer?, can you recommend another resource, and what do you think about aforementioned sites?

I am very enthusiastic about your answers, here or at my.cabriniconnections.net >> Summer is coming… ?

Regards,

Vjeko

Street Gangs

2009-04-17T15:38:00.002-05:00

The future is already here - it is just unevenly distributed. That was the message from the previous post.

So what is your future? What about the future of kids you saw yesterday fighting on the street?

Yes, gangs pose a significant threat to community safety. Furthermore, they are a terrifying threat for the future of kids who are or may become gang members. Right?

So, what are we doing about it?

Now when a very successful community organizer on the South Side of Chicago is the President of the USA – we can see a new federal approach to America's high-poverty areas. Check for example http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/urban_policy/.

That document states that:

Obama and Biden support innovative local programs, like the CeaseFire program in Chicago, which implement a community-based strategy to prevent youth violence and have been proven effective.

A link to the CeaseFire website is available at our Links Library; in the Gangs section:

Links Library >> Law, Justice, Poverty and Prevention >> Street Gangs.

Therefore, let’s say a few words about those links and the challenges of gang violence prevention.

CeaseFire is the first initiative of the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention. It collaborates with community-based organizations to reduce and prevent violence. CeaseFire relies on community leaders such as outreach workers, faith leaders, profit and nonprofit organizations to intervene in conflicts, or potential conflicts, and promote alternatives to violence. Of course, CeaseFire cooperates with police and promotes the message that shootings and violence are not acceptable. Finally, it calls for the strengthening of communities so they become capable of controlling and responding to issues that affect them.

Find more at: www.ceasefirechicago.org

The BUILD Model is designed to develop personal competencies, strengthen commitment to education and community service, and as a result develop stable, productive members and leaders in their communities.

Therefore, if a young person is encountering risk factors like gangs, violence, substance abuse, truancy, poor academic performance she/he/they can be recruited to BUILD Core Groups, where they are engaged in activities designed to reduce risk-taking behaviors, set and reach educational and career goals and promote positive impact on community.

Find more at: http://buildchicago.org.

Crime maps. If you are interested in maps of crimes in Chicago, you can check http://www.spotcrime.com/il/chicago or http://gis.chicagopolice.org/CLEARMap/startPage.htm

How do you like it? Which do you prefer: the CeaseFire program or the BUILS Model?

There are much more links. Please check them out: Links Library >> Law, Justice, Poverty and Prevention >> Street Gangs.

And of course, send us your comments at: SVHATS Forums >> Cool Links and Cool Cash >> Street Gangs.

The future is already here - it is just unevenly distributed

2009-04-10T16:18:00.000-05:00

You have a mobile phone: Right? A small gadget with digital video & photo camera, radio receiver, MP3 player and… Probably, you can browse the internet with your phone and you have a few video games – just in case. OK, some of us have the ‘old models’ without some (all?) of those features… Me, for example. However, sooner or later we will have newer model and…

And you have your MySpace/FaceBook/Blog Right?

All of that was like ‘science fiction’ 10 or 15 years ago... It was science fiction for most of us. Aforementioned technology already existed - for example MP3 was patented in 1991. Just the majority of us did not use it; did not even know about it. It was as William Ford Gibson said:

The future is already here - it is just unevenly distributed

The future is already here …

So, let’s say a few words about Choose Your Future web site. It is a website developed by Chicago Public Schools to enhance postsecondary education and student development.

Link is available in www.tutormentorconnection.org Links Library : College & Career >> Education Resources >> Career mentoring.
Or simply click www.chooseyourfuture.org

Chooseyourfuture.org was developed to provide students with the resources they need to plan a successful path to graduation and post-high school success.

Therefore, check the site, find more about ASAP (All Students Are Powerful) group, make a plan for your future and send us your comments.

What do you think about that site?

Post your comments here or at SVHATS >> Cool Links and Cool Cash >> ChooseYourFuture.org

Think global, think diverse, think & act

2009-04-03T15:08:00.004-05:00

Barack and Michelle Obama are in Europe and it seams to be the most important news on the world. Yes, yes the G-20 summit is an important event. That is the reason why they went there. Right?

But it seams that Michelle Obama’s speech in the Elizabeth Garret Anderson Language School in London (one of the most diverse schools in UK) is more important for Brits. You remember when she said:

My husband – you know him? – he is going to be very jealous of my afternoon. He's meeting with important people, but it's not as much fun as being here.

A day latter, during his speech in Strasbourg (France) Barack addressed the challenges and possibilities confronting world and young people:

It would be a tragedy if all of you who are so talented and energetic -- if you let that go to waste, if you just stood back and watched the world pass you by.
Better to jump in, get involved -- and it does mean that sometimes you'll get criticized and sometimes you'll fail and sometimes you'll be disappointed -- but you'll have a great adventure. And at the end of your life, hopefully you'll be able to look back and say, 'I made a difference.

It seams Obamas made a great introduction to discussion about Diversity Strategies links,

You can find a full list of links at Links Library >> Business Involvement & Resources >> Diversity Strategies

The Diversity Pipeline Alliance is a network of national organizations dedicated to preparing students and professionals of color for leadership and management in the 21st century workforce. The “pipeline” symbolizes system that carries students from success in middle school through college, the MBA and successful leadership positions in today’s world.

Find more at: www.diversitypipeline.org

DiversityWeb is a project of Association of American Colleges and Universities’ Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives (ODEGI). Mission of the Diversity Web is to promote diversity and global knowledge as essential elements of any effort to foster civic engagement among today's college students. To acheive those goals, the office helps colleges and universities establish diversity as a comprehensive institutional commitment and educational priority.

Find more at: www.diversityweb.org

The Global Nomads Group (GNG) is an international NGO dedicated to heightening children's understanding and appreciation for the world and its people. Using communicational technologies such as videoconferencing, GNG brings young people together face-to-face to meet across cultural and national boundaries to discuss their differences & similarities, and the world issues that affect them.

Find more at http://www.gng.org/

What do you think about aforementioned sites? What about their mission? Will you use their service or join them?

I am very enthusiastic about your proposals, ideas and questions; here or at: SVHATS >> Cool Links and Cool Cash >> Diversity Strategies >> Think global, think diverse, think & act.

Education innovations

2009-03-27T15:46:00.004-05:00

Hello,

The College Month is over – and you probably knew which college is your college of choice. Right?

Excellent!

Then let’s talk about Education innovations links. Teachers and students were always looking for a better way to teach and to learn; a better way to educate. IT has provided us with numerous new tools… so let’s check some ideas, platforms…

You can find a full list of links at Links Library >> Blogs, Forums on education, philanthropy, etc. >> Education innovations.

Classroom20.com is the social network for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education. It won EduBlogAwards.com 2008 – for best use of social networking and 2007 - Best educational use of a social networking service. Check why and find more at www.classroom20.com.

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, or ASCD, is a membership-based nonprofit organization founded in 1943 as a part of National Education Association's. Since 1972 ASCD has became totally independent of the NEA.

It has more than 175,000 members from over 100 countries, including principals, teachers, professors of education, and other educators.

Confusing name? While ASCD was initially founded with a focus on curriculum and supervision, the association has extended its mission with goals like: develop programs, products, and services essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead.

The Spotlight Blog is a good source of the ideas and dilemmas shaping the future of digital media and learning. Therefore, if you want to find what's happening in the emerging field of digital media and learning, this is a good place to start.

Find more at: http://spotlight.macfound.org/

You can also check the http://digitallearning.macfound.org link… Because the MacArthur Foundation is running $50 million digital media and learning initiative to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life.

Experience Corps is an award-winning national program that engages people over 55 in meeting their communities' greatest challenge - education.

2,000 Experience Corps members tutor and mentor in 23 cities across the USA, providing literacy coaching, homework help, consistent role models and committed, caring attention.

It seems that makes all the benefits traditional tutor/mentor program does (Experience Corps boosts student academic performance, helps schools and youth-serving organizations become more successful) and in addition to that it enhances the well-being of older adults in the process.

Find more at www.experiencecorps.org.

What do you think about those innovations, those communities? Would you like to use some of them in your educational practice; would you like if your teachers were practicing some of them?

I am very enthusiastic about your proposals, ideas and questions; here or at: SVHATS >>Cool Links and Cool Cash >> Education innovations???

Education innovations

2009-03-27T15:46:00.000-05:00

Hello,

The College Month is over – and you probably knew which college is your college of choice. Right?

Excellent!

You can find a full list of links at Links Library >> Blogs, Forums on education, philanthropy, etc. >> Education innovations.

It has more than 175,000 members from over 100 countries, including principals, teachers, professors of education, and other educators.

Find more at: http://spotlight.macfound.org/

Experience Corps is an award-winning national program that engages people over 55 in meeting their communities' greatest challenge - education.

2,000 Experience Corps members tutor and mentor in 23 cities across the USA, providing literacy coaching, homework help, consistent role models and committed, caring attention.

Find more at www.experiencecorps.org.

What do you think about those innovations, those communities? Would you like to use some of them in your educational practice; would you like if your teachers were practicing some of them?

I am very enthusiastic about your proposals, ideas and questions; here or at: SVHATS >>Cool Links and Cool Cash >> Education innovations???

College Resources.

2009-03-20T17:24:00.001-05:00

Hello,

It’s the third week of College and Career Month. So, you probably know what you want to do; you know which career path is for you … or at least you know in which direction you want to go.

Of course a college education is an important component of your career voyage. Important and expensive! But do not worry; there are numerous resources to get a scholarship or loan for your education. In this post I will mention a few good starting points for your research.

You can find a full list of links at Links Library >> College & Career Education Resources >> College Resources.

FastWEB is an acronym for (F)inancial (A)id (S)earch (T)hrough the (WEB). It is a free online scholarship matching service and college search service founded in 1995. This company was one of the first 100 commercial websites in the United States. FastWeb is recommended by more than 16,000 high schools and 3,600 colleges.

Find out why on www.FastWEB.com.

www.college-scholarships.com will provide you with information on college scholarships and financial aid, free college scholarship searches, colleges and universities, and college and university admissions and financial aid office email addresses and telephone numbers. Furthermore, very valuable SAT and ACT test preparation tips can be found at the college-scholarships.com site.

Find more at: www.college-scholarships.com

allcareerschools.com will provide you with information on top colleges and vocational schools, and degree programs that are are right up your alley. Whether you're just graduating from high school or looking for continuing adult education programs, the allcareerschools.com website is a good place to start.

Find out more at: www.allcareerschools.com.

What do you think about those resources? Did you find a scholarship that can work for you? Or can you suggest a better resource?

I am very enthusiastic about your proposals, ideas and questions; here or at: SVHATS >> Cool Links and Cool Cash >> College Resources?.

College Career sites

2009-03-17T11:36:00.003-05:00

Hi,

It is time to continue with our research for the links to College Career sites. Right?

Therefore, let’s start with the PhD Project.

The PhD Project support business doctoral programs for minority students.

Participation in The PhD Project is available to anyone of African-American, Hispanic American and Native American descent who is interested in business doctoral studies. It is good to know that there is a program that helps minorities earn their doctorates. Right?

Why the PhD project?
The development of management educators and future business leaders within the African-American, Hispanic American and Native American communities is the cornerstone of The PhD Project's approach to workforce diversity. The shared mission is to increase the diversity of corporate America by increasing the diversity of business school faculty. As faculty, they serve as role models attracting and mentoring minority students while improving the preparation of all students for our diverse workplace and society.

Find more about the PhD project at: www.phdproject.org

www.study-online.net. Have you ever thought about getting a degree online? That is an option that more and more people are taking advantage of these days. This is due in part to the fact that more and more schools/universities are providing well done and globally recognized online programs. Therefore if you want an affordable program you can study while you are working – there is an online program for you. If you want to become a student of the world’s best universities – they have online programs for you. If you want to study online at Harvard, please check www.extension.harvard.edu/, if you are interested in an online degree from University of Illinois, please check: http://global.uillinois.edu/. Find out more about thousands of additional online courses at: www.study-online.net.

Bursa Beasiswa. You know what you want to study, but you don’t know how to find relevant resources? Check Bursa Beasiswa. Bursa Beasiswa is a reference point to browse and search for college scholarships: bachelor, master degree, doctoral, PhD, and postdoctoral

Find more at http://www.bursabeasiswa.com/

Check the links. There are 37 more links. Please check them out at: Links Library >>College & Career Education Resources .

Collaborate. And of course, send us your comments at: SVHATS >> Cool Links and Cool Cash >>College & Career Education Resources.

College & Career Education Resources

2009-03-10T13:36:00.001-05:00

Have you started career hunting yet?

Do you know what your favorite colleges are, and have you begun to look into funding for college?

Tough questions; right? But the right answers are extremely important. Therefore at Links Library >> College & Career Education Resources >> Community Partnerships you can find links to sites that will help you find the right answers for you.

In this post I will mention just a few of them.

Chooseyourfuture.org was developed by Department of College and Career Preparation (DCCP, Chicago Public Schools) to provide students with the resources they need to plan a successful path to graduation and post-high school success, because with the proper support, every student has the ability to choose their future.

DCCP’s work was founded on four essential principles: awareness, readiness, access, success. Therefore, you should ask yourself: Are you aware and ready for college? Do you have access to all important data; Is a successful career your goal? When you figure the answers to those questions check out www.chooseyourfuture.org.

NextStudent exist to make your college funding quick and easy. NextStudent can provide you with:

FREE access to more than 5.9 million different scholarships worth over $16 billion.
Low-cost student loans, borrower discounts, and flexible repayment options.
Free one-on-one counseling from your personally assigned Education Finance Advisor.
Financial aid top tips for how to get the most out of your college financing.

Find out more at: www.nextstudent.com

www.allcareerschools.com is a good starting point for your career hunting challenge.

You can get career advice, detailed information on job opportunities, earnings, college degrees, training requirements and much more. Check www.allcareerschools.com.

Indiana Department of Educations has made an amazing web site dedicated to supporting students’ success and to ensure knowledgeable and productive citizens through coordinated and relevant policies, standards, resources, evaluation, analyses, programs and services.

Find more at: www.doe.in.gov

The National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) is a voluntary, non-profit association of public research universities, land-grant institutions, and many state university systems with member campuses in all 50 states and U.S. territories.

The association’s overriding mission is to support high-quality public higher education and its member institutions as they perform their teaching, research, and public service roles.

www.nasulgc.org seems to be a good resource for your higher education research

Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count is a multiyear national initiative to help more community college students succeed. The initiative is particularly concerned about student groups that traditionally have faced significant barriers to success, including students of color and low-income students. Achieving the Dream works on multiple fronts, including efforts at community colleges and in research, public engagement and public policy. It emphasizes the use of data to drive change.

For more, please check www.achievingthedream.org.

Check the links. There are 25 links more. Please check them out at: Links Library >>College & Career Education Resources >> Community Partnerships.

Collaborate. And of course, send us your comments at: SVHATS >> Cool Links and Cool Cash >>College & Career Education Resources.

Because: Together We Can.
Right?

Technology! ...comes at a cost

2009-03-06T12:23:00.001-06:00

Technology is a great thing. It allows us to do…almost everything. Imagine life without technology;

How would we commute without cars, trains, ships… even without bikes?
How would we communicate without the internet, phones, letters, books and TV?
How would we cook without microwave ovens, stoves?

Luckily, technology provides us with good solutions for each of these tasks.

But… technology comes at a cost; not just as a one time investment in hardware and software, but as a continuous investment in maintaining and improving the system, learning about technology.

Therefore, if you want to save money on technology - sooner or later - you will face challenges & problems.

Web server. Just like we have had during last 2 weeks. The particular issues we had with our web server are described in the Challenges, Results and the Budget article (along with some possible solutions).

Local server. This week we had a huge problem with our local network server.

What happened? Some irregularity with the electricity supply occurred in our office. Therefore, Monday morning, half of the lights did not work and –as you probably guessed – our server crashed! Some files were corrupted and we had no internet, no access to our files for almost three days!

How did it happen? We did not have money for Local Network Server IT support. As you probably know - Network Servers are the heart of every modern organization: all e-communication flows through them, all files are backed up on them. And yes, they are a powerful and essential part of an organization – just as a heart is a powerful and essential part of our body. And yes, they often require professional support.

Professional support & price. Chicago IT Help can provide us with server support for $300 per month. That is a very good price and their services are excellent. However that is $3,600 per year – and we can not afford that right now.

Help. Therefore we need your help.

Donate. If you want help us, so we can afford IT support for our servers you can do it through the www.cabriniconnections.net donation form, or if you have knowhow about the servers, your help would be more than welcome.

Together We Can. Help us – so instead of managing crises with our servers – we can focus on our mission – helping students to start successful careers. Help us, and become a part of each student’s success. >> www.cabriniconnections.net

Literature and the Arts

2009-03-04T00:04:00.003-06:00

Hi, this week our topic will be Literature and the Arts Links,

It is one small but cute category from the Tutor/mentor Connection link library.
[ Links Library >> Homework help, tutoring resources >> Literature and the Arts ]

Ready?

Guys read
Guys read is site dedicated to guy tested and guy approved books.

Why, how, who? The data from data from the National Center for Education Statistic suggest that boys consistently score lower than girls on national reading and writing tests.

In an effort to engage boys in reading, former schoolteacher Jon Scieszka has launched an Internet initiative called Guys Read. The idea is to provide boys a place to meet and talk about reading.

So, boys check it. Girls are welcome.

Teaching Animation to Students

Film Education is a charity with mission to utilize film as a powerful educational tool. And… they have been doing that since 1984. Remember, 1984 was a time without YouTube, digital cameras, a time without e-mail… even without Google.

Their long tradition and big community (National Schools Film Week a nationwide festival that was attended by 400,000 young people in 2008) has resulted in very interesting and useful web site at: www.filmeducation.org.

Check it; free resources cover a wide range of curriculum areas and include film clips, Teachers' Notes and a range of activities.

Where peace lives

www.wherepeacelives.org is a site developed with mission to teach effective conflict-resolution and peace building skills to build bridges of cultural understanding and mutual respect through art and media forwarding the conversations for peace in the world.

Check it out; find a way to use art as peace generator.

And send us your comments: SVHATS >> Cool Links and Cool Cash >> Literature and the Arts

Challenges, Results and the Budget

2009-02-25T14:25:00.002-06:00

Challenges. Last week the Cabrini Connections website and eLearning portal (my.cabriniconnections.net) faced a big technical challenge. Therefore, for 3 days the site was not available.

What was it about? Why/how did it happen?

Well… To understand the challenges we faced, it is important to know something about our Web development background and about some new things we have developed at www.cabriniconnections.net.

Background. For many years CabriniConnections.net was hosted by an Australian hosting company. We had a lot of hard drive space, but there was no possibility of hosting more advanced web applications.

Upgrade. Therefore we have started developing and testing new web applications at a new, very powerful Apache server. Furthermore, since our e-learning application moodle, hosted for the time being at my.mentorforme.org, can support 25 concurrent users for every 512 MB of RAM, we had to upgrade our servers to Virtual Private Server business plan hosted by www.host.co.in.

2 sites. So, we had the official web site, cabriniconnections.net hosted on old server and a powerful new server where we were using mentorforme.org domain name. On my.mentorforme.org we had an eLearning portal and on mentorforme.org we had the new version of CabriniConnections.net.

New Cabrini Connections website is a dynamic web site that runs on Joomla Content Management System (CMS). Joomla is the most popular and one of the most powerful CMS. It has numerous features that will enhance our collaborative web development and improve users’ browsing experience. Suspicious? Well check out www.cabriniconnections.net... And send us your comments.

Cabrini Connections eLearning site (SVHATS) was developed and tested at my.mentorforme.org and recently it has been moved to the my.cabriniconnections.net webadress. It runs on the most popular Learning Management System - Moodle. Moodle is used by numerous schools, universities, corporations, lifelong learning centers, governments (especially in European Union). To serve as an illustration: at this moment there are 50078 moodle sites from 206 countries.

Pioneers? According to my research,- there are no other tutor/mentor programs that are currently using/maintaining software like moodle in Chicagoland. So, although moodle is widely used, we seem to be the first tutor/mentor program to be taking advantage of it :).

Google Applications. We also started integrating Google applications Education Edition into our domain; so all our students, volunteers and staff can use very advanced Google tools inside the CabriniConnections.net domain. Just some of the Google tools we can use are: gCalendar, gSites, gDocs, gMail (but in our CabriniConnections.net domain – so we call it cMail), 8GB of webspace per user…

That is our background and those are our results – in brief.

So what happened last week?

We had problems with cMail (gMail in our domain), so I contacted our hosting company for help, and… instead of fixing the problem with our mentorforme.org domain, they deleted mentorforme account – with both web sites; mentorforme.org and CabriniConnections.org.

So it took a few days to restore everything.

Who is to be blamed?

Well, I contacted the hosting company, so I am involved… The web hosting support team made a big mistake – deleting an account instead of just domain name.

However we have chosen the cheapest web hosting solution ($45/month for virtual private server with 512 MB of RAM). So, is that the reason why we did not have appropriate support?

I mean, none of this would have happened if we had an experienced professionals working for our hosting company. However, an experienced professional costs $70/hour and has the skills and expertise to warrant their higher cost. To summarize; these problems could have been avoided if we had money for high quality web hosting.

Can you help us to upgrade our web hosting?

Social Science Links

2009-02-18T04:45:00.006-06:00

Hi,

A new week brings new challenges. Right?

Therefore this week we will talk about the Social science links on the Tutor/Mentor Connection Link Library..

Ask Asia. The first site is AskAsia.org. This is an educational website for students and teachers covering some thirty countries that comprise Asia today. The site features material that ranges from early civilization to current events.

Find more at: www.AskAsia.org.

History Learning Site. www.historylearningsite.co.uk is the address of History Learning Site. This is a commercial British site that provides numerous historic facts about selected periods of history. However, since it is a commercial site, it is full of ads, which can be quite distracting.

Topics covered on this site include: Ancient Rome, Medieval England, Tudor England, Stuart England, Britain 1700 to 1900, World War One, World War Two, The role of British women in the Twentieth Century, Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, Inventions and Discoveries of the Twentieth Century.

Find more at: www.historylearningsite.co.uk

Mr. Woodside's Virtual Classroom is hosted at http://mrwoodside.com. On this site Mr. Woodside combines the principles of video game design with a mastery model of education. Therefore the result is, as Mr Woodside says: World History Adventure, a year-long exploration, educational game.

Although this site is designed primary for Mr. Woodside’s students, it is a worthwhile resource for everybody.

Furthermore, this site is a good example how multimedia presentations, interactive history simulations, socratic discussions, and other history activities can make learning fun. We call it edutainment. Right?

Find more at http://mrwoodside.com.

Mr. Roughton's site is quite similar to Mr. Woodside's Virtual Classroom. You'll find history lesson plans, assignment ideas and more. It is nice to see how much effort some teachers invest into the quality of education they provide. Find more at http://mrroughton.com.

The History Place, hosted at historyplace.com, provides lots of data about selected chapters of world history. However, the same way as www.historylearningsite.co.uk the historyplace.com site is full of commercials (covering 30% of used screen surfaces).

Find more at www.historyplace.com.

What do you think about these links?

Please send us your comments: SVHATS >> Cool Links and Cool Cash >> Social Science Links.

National African American History Month

2009-02-09T13:48:00.008-06:00

A few days ago (February 2nd), President Obama made a beautiful Proclamation of National African American History Month.

He ended with this paragraph:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 2009 as National African American History Month.
I call upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs that raise awareness and appreciation of African American history.

You probably knew that the whole Proclamation is available at www.whitehouse.gov (I encourage you to read it).

So, how will we celebrate the Black History Month? What activities we will do?

What. This week we will do collaborative e-learning activity Black History Links.

How. Our goal is to prepare a list of the 10 best websites about Black History. When we finalize the list, we will publish the links in the Tutor/Mentor Connection Link Library.

Action. So, what are your favorites?

Proposal. This is a list of sites I consider to be excellent sites about Black History (full list is available at Links Library >> Homework help, tutoring resources >> Black History Studies):

National African American History Month, 2009 A Proclamation by the President
African American History Month Website
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
African American History @ about.com
Wikipedia about African American History
Wikipedia about African Americans
African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
Black History Hotlist by pacbell.com
www.blackpast.org - this site is dedicated to providing reference materials to the general public on African American history
Africans in America
PBS overview of African American history includes excerpts from primary sources.
Civil Rights Documentation Project
Project emphasizing civil rights legislation from 1963-1965 includes primary sources and a timeline.

Collaboration. Would you add any site to that list? Do you think that some of the aforementioned sites are not good enough? Or....?

That is a challenge for today. There are a few more interesting links in Black History Studies .

Why I did not mentioned them here? Well… some things you have research on your own. Just go to Black History Studies and browse.

And send us your comments: SVHATS >> Cool Links and Cool Cash >> National African American History Month.

I’m very enthusiastic about your comments.

Homework Help >> Written skills

2009-02-02T12:03:00.002-06:00

Starting to write an article or to speak a new language can be a challenge. Right?

Everything seems to be so easy, understandable, but when you have to put it on a paper (type in a computer?) or say it in an another language … well…

That’s why on the TutorMentor Connection web site we have the link category Homework Help >> Written skills.

So, let’s check the websites mentioned there.

NoodleTools is one of the leading bibliography software on the Internet, transforming bibliographic instruction methodologies. NoodleTools software supports the entire research process by.

Searching intelligently
Assessing the quality of results
Recording, organizing and synthesizing information using online notecards
Formatting your bibliography in MLA, APA, or Chicago/Turabian style

Full NoodleTools service is for members only (you have to pay), but there is lots of free stuff.

www.theeasyessay.com provides an automated information organization program. You know the dilemma I mentioned at the beginning of this article: Everything seems to be so easy to understand, but when you have to put it on paper ( or computer) … well… it is hard to find a way to start and it can be even harder to present those thoughts clearly. That is where the www.theeasyessay.com website can help. Try it. And send us your comments.

WorldChamp.com is a site that provides numerous language learning tools for almost any language in the world – for free. Of course, if you are ambitious, you can hire a tutor…

If you want to check BBC language learning tools, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/. There you can find well illustrated, very interactive tutorials for all world languages. Some of the tutorials are in the format of a game. For example ‘Japanese Challenge - Can you avoid social embarrassment?’ is a game that puts you in the center of Tokyo and challenges you to find a way how to communicate properly.

eSpindle Learning, a nonprofit parent initiative, helps students gain a rich vocabulary, creating confident readers, writers and spellers. It provides numerous interactive spelling & vocabulary building activities. Try it. A 10 day trial is free, otherwise it is $9.50 per month.

The last website mentioned in this category is www.wordcount.org. Word Cont site visualize the way we use language. It presents the 86,800 most frequently used English words, ranked in order of commonness. I am not certain how we can use it, but it is interesting to see that word ‘Tutor’ is on 6584^th place and word ‘Mentor’ is on 16931^st place. Right?

What are your thoughts about it?

Science, Math, and Engineering

2009-01-21T15:36:00.002-06:00

Hi,
Today’s featured links are grouped as Science, Math, and Engineering in the Tutor/Mentor Connections Links Database.

So, let’s start.

Volunteering Produces Health Benefits. Read the article A New Benefit for Future City Mentors: Volunteering Produces Health Benefits and find how Mentoring can increase your health.

Find more at: http://www.eweek.org/site/News/Eweek/2007_FC_mentor_benefits.shtml.

The Sloan Career Cornerstone Center is an ever-expanding resource for anyone interested in exploring career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, computing, and healthcare. Explore over 170 degree fields and find out about education requirements, salaries, networking, precollege ideas, and career planning resources

Find more at http://www.careercornerstone.org/

Consumers Guide to Afterschool Science Resources. On link http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/guide/science/ you can find the Consumer’s Guide to Afterschool Science Resources. Those pages contains reviews of high-quality, hands-on science content for afterschool programs.

Reviewed materials include semester and year long curricula, activity kits, instructor guides consisting of many related activities, and Web sites that offer content appropriate for afterschool programs. Users of this guide are able to search and sort entries by title, subject, grade level, audience, and cost.

Find more at http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/guide/science/

The Chicago 1st Black Inventors/ Entrepreneurs Organization's (CFBIEO) provide resources that will help members (you?) to convert invention into a successful product.

Find more at: http://www.cfbieo.org/about.htm

Edutopa.org. Kids today are the digital generation. Right? They use computers and superfunctional mobile phones better than we used a knife and fork when we were 12. Yet, our schools are still in the middle of industrial revolution. Big classes, uniform industrial educational approach – one model for everybody… Looks the same as it was 80 or 800 years ago.

It seems that there is a huge gap between the current state of our educational system and the needs of our students (the time we live in, the technology we use). Edutopica.org is a website created by The George Lucas Educational Foundation to address that issue. Check it, and you will find very interesting, multimedia reach, articles/videos about Project Learning, Technology Integration, Teacher/Mentor Development, Assessment and bunch of other things we can do in order to increase the quality of education/mentoring we provide.

Find more at: www.edutopia.org

Discover Egypt’s Pyramids by www.nationalgeographic.com. This well-illustrated tutorial about Egypt’s Pyramids is available at www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids. You as a visitor can scroll across the different pyramids, revealing their interior organization and a number of facts about their construction and so on. Let the research begin…

Fermilab is committed to enhancing mathematics and science education and stimulating science literacy. Laboratory education programs serve students from prekindergarten to graduate research scientists in training.

Find more at: http://ed.fnal.gov/

Project Exploration is a nonprofit science education organization that makes science accessible to the public—especially minority youth and girls—through personalized experiences with scientists and science. It serves as inspiration and tool to transform their lives by offering opportunities to interact with scientists and hands-on experiences with the wonders of science.

Check how we can use the project exploration method to help your mentee.

Find more: www.projectexploration.org

That is it for today. There are a few more interesting links in Science, Math, and Engineering .
Why I did not mentioned them here? Well… some things you have research on your own. Just go to Science, Math, and Engineering and browse.

And send us your comments.

Interesting; right?

BBC - Cool Site

2009-01-20T15:59:00.001-06:00

BBC Education. BBC or the British Broadcasting Corporation is the world's largest broadcaster (28,500 employees). It is incorporated in the European Union (UK) by government charter; with a mission "to inform, educate and entertain”. The BBC reaches more than 200 countries and is available to more than 274 million households (its nearest competitor CNN – is available in 200 million households).

As you can notice – everything is big with the BBC.
Big, maybe even too big. For example, two years ago BBC started an online educational service called BBC Jam (BBC Digital Curriculum) with annual budget of $200 million. However, since the BBC Jam, as an high quality, interactive, and free(!) service, outshone most of competitors from commercial sector, the European Commission suspended BBC Jam programming on 20 March 2007.

It’s regrettable, yes…… but,the allegations are true. Even now, after suspension of the Jam BBC, online materials and activities overwhelm most of the competition. Just check http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ or http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/ and you will find bunch of educational highly interactive (and entertaining) games, interesting content and interactive tutorials.

How do you like it?

Tutor/Mentor Connection Links Library

2009-01-20T14:25:00.014-06:00

Hi,

Have you checked the Tutor/Mentor Connection Links Library recently? It contains 1500 entries. Which ones are your favorites? Or which group of links? We share these links with people from around the world. We want to encourage you to get to know them, and learn to use them yourself.

There are 24 links groups; if you are interested in public schools you have group designated just for that, if you are interested in content to enhance your or your child/mentee’s Arts, Science or Math skills – there are groups dedicated solely to those subjects as well. Therefore, if you have not checked it out yet – I encourage you to do so now.

You can probably guess that my favorite links group is educational technology. But… which linked website is the best; none of them – or all of them; it is hard to say. Therefore, let’s check some of them.

Starting this week, we're launching a new educational activity in SVHATS called Cool Links & Cool Cash. The goal is for students and volunteers to get to know the links in Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) site and, to learn to use these for school work, volunteer service, and college and career planning.

As an encouragement to spend time learning about these links, we're offering the opportunity to earn Cool Cash.

The rules are simple:

1. Each week I will describe a few websites in specific sections of the Links Library in my blog (blog.mentorforme.org). This week, I'm focusing on the section titled Science, Math, and Engineering.

2. Go to the Tutor/Mentor Connection Links Library that I've pointed to; Skim the links, and post a comment in SVHATS about the described web site. Why do you like it; why not. Would you recommend it to your friend… or not? Do you know about a better website?3. Earn Cool Cash. For each properly formatted post – you will get $2 (up to 2 posts per week).

4. Every Friday I will post a new blog article, describing a different section of the links library. You can review these from home, school or when you are at Cabrini Connections.

PS: If you are not part of Cabrini Connections, but a visitor from a different tutor/mentor program in Chicago, or a different city, we hope you will browse the links too, and use them in your own efforts to help kids through school and into careers.

www.tutormentorexchange.net

2009-01-13T12:40:00.008-06:00

The New Tutor Mentor Exchange site is online. Have you checked it? New design, updated content, a bunch of new features…how do you like it?

Joomla? Yes, yes, it is build on the Joomla! CMS engine. Joomla! is the most popular and one of the best Content Management Systems around.

Easier & better content management. Joomla! provide numerous features that ease content management. Therefore it will be easier to keep the content updated. Also, it will be easier to collaborate on content development. Joomla! allows 7 different group of users; three from the back (administrator) end and four from the front end. That means – it will be easy to share tasks and responsibilities.

And…

Enough about Joomla (you can find more about Joomla! at www.joomla.org). Let’s say a few words about the TutorMentorExchange.net site. That is the focus of this article.

How to! As you can notice, www.tutormentorexchange.net is full of interesting articles that will guide you how to start a program, how to plan a strategy, how to lead a program, how to network, how to find if there is a program in your neighborhood… and many other things.

T/M Management Handbook. It is something like a Tutor/mentor program management handbook. Everything you need to know about how to start/support a good tutor/mentor program. Actually… almost everything; your contribution is essential to utilize that knowledge. You are the one who will convert that knowledge into real action. Or you can share that knowledge to somebody who will utilize it.

Right?

Cabrini Connections Story video

2008-12-23T12:39:00.002-06:00

Have you seen the Cabrini Connections Story video:

There is much more available at http://www.cabriniconnections.net/video.asp.
What are your thoughts?

Results and challenges!

2008-12-16T14:57:00.000-06:00

Hey, our local network is done!
12 laptops, 7 PCs and 7 Macs are ready to serve our students and volunteers. All together we have 26 computers. It is not quite like one student suggested during the election campaign for the 2008 Cabrini Connections Youth Leadership Council – one laptop on each table (40 laptops)…but almost. And the server is now running perfectly and silently.

Now our task/challenge is to utilize that technology. Numerous things have been done to try to increase it’s usage now we have to follow through.

What has been done? At this moment we have online community environment that, inside one Moodle course, include:
• A private forum, wiki and chat function for each student and mentor pair

• A forum, wiki and chatroom for all students
• A forum, wiki and chatroom for all mentors
• A forum, wiki and chatroom for all parents.
• Forms each student has to fill at the beginning and at the end of each session to track their goals and activities with their mentors. Only mentor of particular student can see the results of these forms.
• Forms each mentor has to fill after each session
• Blogs, wikis
• Career dictionary – a learning activity wherein each student has to input at least one term. Additionally, they can grade and comment on other students inputs
• Planning forum. Question and Answer forum – where each student-mentor couple should present their plan for coming year. However, they can not see other students answers unless they have already posted their own plan. Furthermore, each student and mentor can grade (list of 10 comments) each plan.

I think that is quite a lot. Now, our task is to use it and to improve it.
What are your thoughts abut it?

Pure Rock ’N’ Roll

2008-12-15T15:25:00.011-06:00

It is pure Rock ’n’ Roll. You know that feeling. Energetic, optimistic, music, bunch of friends, happy people… Yes it is only Rock’N’Roll. You can feel it in the air, you can even touch it.

No, no, I am not talking about music, I am talking about the feeling that I can make a change, you can make a change, your friend can make a change… Some of us can make smaller and some can make bigger changes, but together we can change the world. Nice feeling, right?

Yes, yes, it is pure Rock ’N’ Roll. OK, some younger people call it different things: Hip-Hop, Rap, Blues, Heavy Metal, Punk-Rock, some of us will even call it Country or Electronic Music. It does not matter what you call it. It does not matter which kind of music you prefer. If you can feel that big chuck of enthusiasm, the feeling that together we can: that is it!

And that is what happened on Friday (12/12/08) in Schubas Tavern. 4 different bands, came and played different types of music, but they all had the same quality, the same good feeling.

Those bands were:

East Side Ramblers (they call it Jazz),
Black Collar (they call it Hip-Hop)
Trakan (they call it Power Indie Folk)
The Howling Poppies (they call it - you know Rock 'n' Roll)

Video presentation is below and pictures from the concert are >> here.

Check it. See how good it was. Will you come to the next concert? It is great way to have fun and do a good thing (support Cabrini Connections). Right?

Of course, if you for any reason can not come, but you want to/can support our program you are welcome to donate at: www.cabriniconnections.net/donate/.

Energy... was all around.

Cabrini Connections Web Development Strategy

2008-12-09T11:06:00.009-06:00

Large network. Over the years Cabrini Connections has built a very large and well-connected network of websites, blogs and wikis. It is nice to see so many good ideas and so much enthusiasm in one place.

Productive and progressive. Cabrini Connection was one of the most productive and progressive organizations, – constantly producing new web content and trying new technologies. Cabrini Connections even made an official technology strategy at the beginning of this century while almost half of American and the vast majority of the World’s universities lacked such a document.

Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.
Dwight David Eisenhower

Planning & Plans. Plans, especially technology plans are like a living being – they are as good as the amount of time and effort we invest in development and application.

Plan >> Act >> Observe >> Reflect >> Revised Plan >> act >> Observe…

- Cabrini Connections’ path to success

So, let’s say a few words about our Web sites. Sustainable web site development has become a big challenge.

Quantity. Cabrini Connections /Tutor/Mentor Connection have 7 web sites. Those are:

Cabrini T/MC Golf >> www.cabrinitmcgolf.org
Tutor/mentor Conference >> www.tutormentorconference.org
Tutor/mentor program locator >> www.tutormentorprogramlocator.net
Tutor/mentor connection >> www.tutormentorconnection.org
Tutor/mentor connection @ ning.com >> http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com
Cabrini Connections >> www.cabriniconnections.net

7 web sites? That is more websites than the number of Cabrini Connections staff. If Google worked the same way, they would have over 20,123 web sites since that is the number of staff they employ.

Google. Well… they did not do that. Probably because they do not have enough time, money and human resources to produce so many sites. Google.com is enough. If there is a big project/service as Google Maps, they simply create a short subdomain like maps.google.com

So, what happened at Cabrini Connections? Do we have time, money and human resources for this many sites? We have to develop them, we have to brand them, we have to maintain technology, pay for servers… but do we get the results that match the investment (Return Of Investment: ROI)?

Strategy. Let’s have a look how is it explained in Technology strategy. On page List of web sites and purpose is stated:

We work from many different web sites because:

they serve different purposes and/or
they were created by different volunteers at different times.

Reason one. As you can see, reason one says that all those sites have so different purposes that they can not be together.

Is that valid statement?

All those sites actually support the same mission/purpose and that is:

Supporting structured activities that make a life-changing difference for youth living in economically and educationally disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Strategy, mission and cost. There are minor differences in the particular strategies each site uses to support the aforementioned activities, but there is no doubt that they support the same mission (they serve same purpose). Furthermore, those differences are much, much smaller than the price we have to pay for the development, maintenance and branding of 7 different sites.

Real world example. We mentioned how Google manages web development. But how do successful nonprofits do it? Let’s have a look at Public/Private Ventures (PPV.org) web site. Although they are a very big organization (national leader in creating and strengthening programs that improve lives in low-income communities, 60 staff members) they have just one web site. And if you click link [Program Areas], you will see that their activities are more diverse than ours. But still, all those activities are presented through just one site.

Reason two suggest that we have numerous web sites because they were created by different volunteers at different times.

What about that statement?

Knowledge then and now. 6-7 years ago, I would say ‘Yes’ that is a good reason. Why? Because at that time I did not know much about multiple FTP accounts and services as blogger.com or ning.com did not provide CNAME service; I did not know much about online collaboration. But today I know that there is no reason why 100, 1000, or more, like with Google.com’s website, users can not work together on one web site. All you need to know is how to create a folder or subdomain with separate FTP account and in no time you can have numerous individuals/groups working on a site or collaborating through the same site – everybody just in his own area or everybody together. So… today the answer is no: there is no reason why numerous authors cannot share the same domain.

To summarize, those statements are not valid anymore.

Statistic. Recently I conducted a small research study: 10 random students and 10 random volunteers were asked how many web sites we have? None of them know the right number.

The greatest danger for the new venture is to “know better’ than the customer what the product or service is or should to be, how it should be bought, and what it should be used for. Peter Drucker

SWOT analysis
SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project. It involves specifying the objective of the project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. So, let’s make SWOT analysis for ‘7 web site web development plan’ and compare it with ‘1-2 web site web development strategy’.

SWOT analysis for 7 website web development strategy

Helpful to achieving the objective

Strength
- Keeping Status Quo

Opportunity
- None

Harmful to achieving the objective

Weakness
- Time consuming
- Fragmentized web
- Expensive web development (different technologies, different websites…)
- Impossible branding
- Collaboration between users/sites is very limited

Threats
- Misleading: 7 web sites can give impression that we are doing a good job. Unfortunately, that is very misleading conclusion. It is not important how much web sites we have, it is important how effective they are.

SWOT analysis for 1-2 website web development strategy

Helpful to achieving the objective

Strength
- Easier development
- One technology
- Numerous users working together without technological problems
- Strong, recognizable web site

Opportunity
- Faster development
- Branding
- Becoming real Mentoring Web Portal

Harmful to achieving the objective

Weakness
- Change – reorganizing web site is responsable and time consuming task

Threats
- Losing data
- Inproper redirection

So, what can/should we do? How can we manage our web development? As I said (and as you probably know), this is a big network with lots of good content, 7 web sites, much more blogs, maps, 2 web applications.

Management is the specific and distinguishing organ of any and all organizations. Peter Drucker

Status Quo. One way to plan development is keep it as it is – keep the Status Quo. In short term this is much easier solution; not much work, not much responsibility. But if we think about progress, cost, mission and results, then that is not an option. Maintaining 7 web sites is a full time job for a big team.

Management. Another possibility is making changes in direction of:

Unifying technology. We should use trusted technologies that fulfill all our needs and are supported by numerous users. That technology should be easy to use, easy to maintain and if it is possible – it should be free (open source). Fortunately numerous open source solutions, that are extremely powerful, easy to use, supported by millions of users and… are ‘designed for us’ are available. For example combination Joomla Content Management System (CMS) and Moodle Learning Management System can serve all our needs.

Planned and gradual process. Unifying websites should be a well planned and gradual process. There are numerous links to our sites. Therefore we should keep all domain names we have now as aliases. I If somebody clicks on an old link, she will be redirected to a new site. For example www.tutormentorexchange.net can be an alias for www.learn.cabriniconnections.net.

University ChicagoLand Example. I will explain how it works on one classical example. In our example we will use ‘University ChicagoLand’. This is one fictional university situated at 7 locations in the Chicagoland Area. Some of the campuses are situated more than 50 miles apart. so students and staff have to spend a few hours a day in traffic just to travel from one part of the University to another and some student have to skip classes because it is imposable to arrive on time. Furthermore, the University is paying 7 gatekeepers, maintaining 7 different buildings, 7 independent computer networks… Fortunately, after research the University management decided to change 7 distant locations for one where everything is on one place.
However, numerous partners and alumni have the old university addresses. But, that is not a problem. Simply all mails that come to the old addresses will be forwarded to a new location. So, as a result we will have better working environment, it is cheaper to maintain, and without travel problems… students and staff can focus 100% on education.

It works the same way in the digital environment. It is cheaper, easier to maintain, easier to develop and achieve results if we have just one web site.

Branding. A branding of 7 web sites is mission impossible. But a branding 1 or 2 web sites is something we can do.

Partnership. Since sharing the data/results we have costs little or nothing, and there are obvious benefits like improved results, better quality control, sharing costs, partnership is the way to go.

Pedagogical DNA for 21st century

2008-12-02T13:08:00.003-06:00

Have you seen this movie?
It seams that we need a new teaching DNA. Do we need a new tutoring DNA? What about mentoring?

TMC Conference - potential for eLearning

2008-11-25T12:24:00.006-06:00

The Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference (November 21^st, at the Field Museum) assembled over 100 tutor/mentor experts and enthusiasts. It was a day full of intensive, interesting discussions, workshops and lessons about mentoring, managing nonprofit mentoring organizations and utilizing technologies :).

You know those timeless questions: Quality control, marketing, networking, designing students’ activities, digital natives (net generation) vs. digital immigrants, and of course, budget... we can not forget the budget. All of that was discussed throughout the Conference. Some workshops have become real brainstorming sessions. Unfortunately I was not able to participate in all of them, so I will describe just the most interesting ones that I participated in.

Panel discussion How to incorporate arts, writing and technology into a volunteer based mentoring program was almost ‘how to do it’ tutorial. Panelist Robbie Telfer (Young Chicago Authors, www.youngchicagoauthors.org), Mindy Feber (Open Youth Networks, www.openyouthnetworks.org) and Patrick Shaffner (826 CHI, www.826chi.org) presented very interesting and dynamic activities they are providing for their students.

For example Young Chicago Authors use ‘real world simulations’. One of them is: students are collaboratively writing a story for a journal. However, there is an ‘invisible evil editor’ who is constantly sending their story back for improvements. At the end, when they are almost certain that the story is good enough, the invisible editor sends a message that they need actually 30 stories, and the deadline is in 35 minutes. Panic… you can fill the tension in the air… How? We do not have time! Should we quit… Is there a solution?
Well, let’s make 30 different endings. Each student should make his own ending of the story. At the end of this dynamic game, they had 30 different stories, each student had experienced collaborative writing, individual writing, they felt a few real world challenges (team work, roles, boos, deadlines, quality control) and they had great fun. Those are great results for one evening. Right?

Idea. In their situation ‘the evil editor’ is a person who is behind a black curtains and they can see only her/his hand when s/he is receiving the article. In our situation (Cabrini Connections), the editor can be in his office (in NY or in the same room – who knows) and communicating with writers through the internet.

Workshop Nuts and Bolts of the Juvenile Justice System. Mrs. Elizabeth Clarke (Juvenile Justice Initiative, www.jjustice.org) presented the challenges that are confronting the Illinois Juvenile Justice System. You can find out more at www.jjustice.org. I will just mention a few interesting facts I heard during the workshops. Illinois is one of 12 states where minors (kids under 18 years old) can be tried as adults . And the USA is the only country in the world where kids can be tried as adults… The majority of minors that end under adult court jurisdiction are there because of nonviolent crimes.

Kids do stupid thing sometimes, and although those ‘stupid things’ are not something we should always tolerate, we should know that if we incarcerate a 17 years old kid – there is almost a 50% chance that s/he will become a professional criminal. Scary, right? That explain why states (and countries) that do not have juvenile prisons and do not send minors to adult courts have much lower juvenile crime rate than those who do. Find more at www.jjustice.org.

Workshop Social networking: who do you know and how can they help you? Marian Casey (www.answersforspecialkids.org) and Allison Youngblood (www.jlchicago.org) lead an interesting and very interactive workshop. How to network? Ways to network? Should we use technology or is face to face communication OK? Which technologies?… Those were just a few of the issues we discussed. This video summarizes the most important topics of this Workshop. So, please, turn on your speakers and enjoy the following 2 minute video presentation.

How do you build your network?

Cabrini Technology Wiki

2008-11-18T12:40:00.005-06:00

As you probably noticed, the Cabrini Technology Wiki is available at http://my.mentorforme.org/. Each Cabrini Connections member with an SVHATS account can collaborate on development of this document.

And here we are - working together – because together we can do it.

Why?

Most parts of our technology strategy are fine as they are now, some parts can be improved, and some minor parts should be changed. But, probably more important than updating the Strategy is understanding the Strategy. Because… there is no strategy or plan that can be accomplished without support of volunteers, students, staff and sponsors (Bates 2004). Everybody should understand what we are doing, how we are doing it and why we are doing it? Additionally everybody should feel/know that Cabrini Connections’ technology strategy is designed to support her/his activities in Cabrini Connections. And everybody should know that our technology strategy is their strategy.

Therefore we all should discuss it. What do you think would be the best way to implement that strategy? Would you like to change or add something?

What are your thoughts?

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory .

Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Source: www.gpworldwide.com

Let’s collaborate!

2008-11-04T15:43:00.002-06:00

Have you checked SVHATS in the last couple days?

Yes, yes, that is because we are upgrading our web server. We are migrating from an expensive and insufficient virtual private server to one that is half as expensive but with better service. So, if you come to the SVHATS site in next few days, I am confident that you will notice the difference. A positive change.

Those days everybody is talking about change…
So are we :)

You will also notice a new design, a few videos incorporated into the site… Well, we are moving forward. Slowly but surely…

Soon we will add few e-learning activities. And…
Do’nt forget to check out our new computers. Actually they’re not really new, rather they are 4-6 years old, but we are reinstalling them and they now run like new!
Also, don’t forget to check your documents.

OK, first each Cabrini Connections member has to get a network password. Username is the same as for SVHATS: last_name.first_name. With that data you can log to any computer at Cabrini Connections as if it were your private computer: you will have your own documents, your own favorites… Of course there is also a shared folder, so students, volunteers and staff can exchange files with one another.
It seems to me that our e-learning environment is becoming much better.

OK, let me finish the technical part, and then we will talk how to utilize the technology.

New challenges

2008-10-21T12:44:00.003-05:00

I am back. The past two weeks I have spent in Croatia. I met many friends, relatives, and numerous colleagues.

In one of the coming posts I will talk more about e-learning in Croatia. November 11th I have a presentation at the Croatian Academic and Research Network Conference ‘E-course for E-mentors – behavior-changing educational experience’… I have participated in numerous video conferences. However, this is the first time I will be only a long -distance participant.

More about that later…

Because, now we have more interesting things.

The new server is bought, same as the software. Chicago IT Help expert team is configuring the server and in 2 days they should start working here: changing the old servers with a new one.

And SVHATS numbers are growing, slowly but persistently.

Although the number of views is constant (now everybody knew how it looks like), the number of posts are visibly growing.

Check the graphs on this picture:

It is time to summarize…

2008-10-04T16:46:00.002-05:00

Organization. “This week was interesting.” First 3 days I was working on our ‘hardware’. The challenge was to organize all staff we have. And we have a lot… starting from at least 150 electric supply cable cords for computers to 50 computer mice, 18 printers, and monitors. Newer staff is 7-10 years old and the older staff is older… Newer or older, there are a lot of very useful things. And it is good to have them organized.

Server/Laptop area. Then we reorganized the server area. Actually, if you come to Cabrini Connections now, it is now a laptop area. I assorted unused hardware in the other part of room, and then El and Chris and I moved the ‘set of newer servers’ next to ‘old one’, reorganized cabinets and… wow, we made a lot of space for laptops. So on Wednesday and Thursday we have 5 laptops in that area.

New laptops. When volunteers and students saw those laptops, they were very happy. ‘It is great that we have new laptops!’ were one of the comments. Well, the laptops are not new, but they are very useful. Also, all 4 Macs are now online. So now we have 7 more laptops + 2 more Macs working. You do not have to wait in line to do the SVHATS. Sounds good. Right?

Private Web server. As you probably remember, the SVHATS server was very slow, veeerrryyy slow. Therefore we upgraded the server and it should be much better now. Unfortunately during the upgrade process SVHATS were not working properly for a few hours. But now everything is fine. And fast!

To summarize, we have 18 computers for students and volunteers, much faster server and now we can focus on the SVHATS development, learning activities…

Activities. Did you try SVHATS Career Dictionary. It is an interesting and interactive learning activity through which each Mentor-Mentee team or each individual can add a term and description in the dictionary. Also they can add comments/suggestions to the dictionary terms submitted by your colleagues. And they will be able to suggest to you how to improve your terms.

Interesting, right?

There are many new things we will do now that I come back from Croatia!

Croatia? As you probably knew I left for Croatia on (Oct 4rd) and… No, no, I did not choose to have vacation when there are numerous interesting things happening in the Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection programs. I had a return ticket since last year. And this was the last term to use it. So it was use it or lose it.

New server. In meantime the new server should come: powerful PowerEdge 2900 III. Therefore now that I am back we should start implementing the new server, improving our network. Off course, we will have help of ChicagoIThelp.com.

Mercedes or...

2008-09-30T19:42:00.001-05:00

Finally, after weeks of thinking what and how we will do with our network, we have a conclusion. PowerEdge 2900 III, Ubuntu Linux 7.10 Server and virtual Windows Server 2003 R2.

Powerful and easy to maintain.

It was hard to make a decision. We have a set of three ‘newer servers’ (Dell 4560, Compaq DL 380 & DL 580 and one old one which has an active directory.

9 years ago those three newer servers were top of the line servers. Something like Mercedes C class in the car industry. Pricy (~20-30K) and powerful. Who would not like to drive a Mercedes C-Class, even if it is 9 years old?

Well, in IT industry time flies at least 3 times faster and progress is much much faster.
Therefore very affordable servers (1.5K) are much more powerful than old ‘Mercedes’.

Affordable, powerful and you do not have to pay costly mechanics.
Good solution. Right?

The New SVHATS 2.0

2008-09-23T15:27:00.004-05:00

Hi,

The New SVHATS 2.0 is working, all users have their accounts and… we are ready for SVHATSing!

Here you can see the graphic presentation of the activities. Interesting; right?

That is just beginning. New features (calendar, dictionary...) are coming soon - so check for the updates regularly.

Hope to see your post in our SVHATS.

With best regards,

V.

Team work

2008-09-05T13:39:00.000-05:00

First month. It has been one month since I started working as an e-Learning and Technology Coordinator at Cabrini Connections.

Challenges. And, yea, it is interesting and challenging.

First week I spent mostly by researching: eager to find what is done and how it is done. There is 6 websites with domain names, many blogs, wikis, maps sites, local network made of 22 PCs and 6 Macs. Of course, the central point is a Compaq ProLiant 3000R server with Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. 10 years ago it was A top model. Well, that was 10 years ago.

Priorities. Anyway, with hope that Compaq ProLiant 3000R will provide a quality service – as this server was doing for many years, we focused our energy on web development.

Therefore we both one affordable web site hosting package, so we can develop and test web applications without interfering with the existing web sites. On that site (MentorForMe.org) we made.

New SVHATS and online communication system is available at http://my.mentorforme.org/. It is based on Moodle. Moodle is one of the best (if not the best) and with no doubts, the most popular Learning Management System. Therefore, the new SVHATS provide us with many new and advanced features. The same software is used by some of the world best universities, corporations, elementary and secondary schools. And, of course, by Cabrini Connection volunteers and students.
Customer support center is available at the http://support.mentorforme.org/ web address. Customer support centre is actually ticketing system. So, whenever you have a problem with Cabrini website, or learning environment, you can send us a ticket, and we will fix it ASAP.
Improving Tutor/Mentor Exchange website. Plan for a new website is available at http://www.mentorforme.org/. There is still many things to do, but… please, have a look and send us a comment. Behind the new site is Joomla – one of the most powerful Content Management Systems in the world.
Proposal for Cabrini Project Management website is available at: http://dotproject.mentorforme.org/. It is made upon the dotProject - a web-based, multi-user, Project Management application. I believe that the dotProject is ideal tool to increase the result focused project collaboration and quality of project management in Cabrini Connections.

And we are almost done. A few more days and we can start moving that content from mentorforme.org to tutormentorexchange.net website.

Almost… It can take us more than a few days. Because our old friend – server Compaq ProLiant 3000R - wants to get retired. Last few days it was not working stable. Just today it crashed 2 times, the internet is not available at least 20% of time…, there is problem with the one of the hard disks and… The old boy is… old.

Therefore, as soon as we finish the website – our next priority is local network.

Hopefully our ‘old boy’ will serve us at least a next few weeks. Because, our new server is a big, demanding project, we will need a lot of help.

One powerful server with Windows 2003 was donated to us. However, we need somebody who can help us finish the migration from Win 2000 to Win 2003 server.

Can you help us?

Do you know somebody who can help us?

Knowledge, suggestion, support… everything is welcome.

Because,

Idea is Beginning,
Work is progress
Team Work is Success…

Right?

Cheers,

Vjeko