Web-based Applicaiton review

In reviewing a couple of web-based applications for office suites and image editing I was amazed at the free products that are out there. Office Suites The office suite application that I tried out was Thinkfree. Thinkfree is an online tool where you can create and share office documents and access them through a web browser without installing special software on your computer. They also have a product for mobile devices where you can view, edit and collaborate on projects with others. I was very excited to use this tool. Their document, spreadsheet, and presentation software is modeled just the same as Microsoft office suite. It was very easy to navigate within the document. Some of the best features are the ability to share the document with cloud technology so that multiple users can edit and make changes. It also has a mobile application, that really takes everything on the road as long as you have web connection. This is one of the features that I think would be nice to recommend to my co-workers. We travel for 3 months straight in the fall and are spread out and having to rely on e-mail to collaborate on documents with more back and forth, this cloud feature would allow co-workers to work on the same thing with out having to wait for an attachment. Also the mobile use is huge as we are expanding into tablet and mobile devices for all staff. Image Editing The image editing application I explored was PhotFlexer. I am very excited about this application as I come from a picture crazy family and especially because it is free. PhotFlexer is a photo editing software that allows you to upload pictures individually or from other image storage like flickr, facebook, picasa and more. Once you upload the picture there are so many fun editing options including, effects, distorting, retouching, layering, doodle options and again many many more. I really enjoyed playing with pictures. I did some pictures to really clean up and enhancing and also took some pictures and played with all the funny options that are there to distort and add in crazy effects. I really recommend this for personal use but also see fun ways to use it at work. Our student ambassador office creates newsletters, trainings and an big end of the year show where they use lots of pictures for all of them. This would help them to edit but also to be able to make a lot of the pictures fun. This really gives photoshop a run for the money with out the huge software cost.

Website

I created a simple website to begin a template for transfer students. While we have a large university website I thought this tool would give prospective students some quick access to key steps. I have a pages for academic advising tips and contacts, a page for transfer scholarships, a page with a checklist of steps to take to transfer as well as a page where they can check our travel calender to see when a representative will be visiting their community college. I even added a fun gadget of a virtual pet bronco! The website can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/transfertoolsforfuturebroncos/

I co-teach WMU's First Year Seminar class a 2 credit hour class that is offered in the fall for new incoming freshman. The course is designed to help them acquaint themselves to campus and the services offered, as well it includes a common read and a research introduction for students. Using the free concept map tools at I created a sample brainstorm for a group project for the students. As a class we would brainstorm the top five issues that incoming freshman face. We would then break into groups and they would each take on one of the issues and brainstorm the tools and resources that are available at WMU to assist them. This would give them an outline to do their group presentation about how WMU is equipped to help students in their first year at the university.

View WMU Tour route in a larger map My Google Map activity that I came up with again relates to my current position and one of my functions as training coordinator for our student ambassadors who are campus tours guides amongst other things. Every semester we train our ambassadors with our tour route of campus as well as give them a guided script on what to be sure to cover or highlight on the tour. I created this map as a training tool that I would have our student trainers create the key points on campus with talking points associated that a trainee could interact with and visually see the route. I would give this assignment to have them create a talking point for every building on campus. The example map I have started with some key areas on the tour route but it needs to be expanded. I think once this is complete not only can this be used for tour training but it is also something we can share with prospective students who cannot come visit campus or to help them navigate campus. Many time we have family members who are not physically able to walk the almost two mile tour route if we had this in our presentation room we would be able to walk someone virtually through the tour route.

Screencast on where to find what will transfer

I created a screen cast that I could easily use in my recruitment of transfer students. We just launched a new admissions website and this screen cast shows students step by step how to find and use our community college transfer guides to WMU. We get many phone calls and e-mails from transfer students as well as do live chats. Having these screen casts on hand we could easily walk a student step by step through the process and e-mail them the video. I think this takes hands on training to a whole new global level. I am very excited to try this out with other things for recruitment purposes.

WMU Arts and Sciences Advising Podcast

Signmark

Had to share this youtube video from Signmark. I learned about his talent during a staff training today from the University's Disability Services Office. Signmark is the first signed deaf rapper and he tours colleges to share his message.