You Never Forget Your First...YouTube video!

Well, I finally did it....posted a video on YouTube! These things usually spend a long time in our minds as an idea, thinking it through and visualizing the results. This project has been on my mind for almost a year, and it is now a reality. My hope was to create a video that demonstrates just how technologically literate we 'digital immigrants' really are. Technology rules the day and gets us through as we continually reach-out to the community, communicate with family & friends, and celebrate life.

Over the next 2 weeks I will be teaching several hands-on technology sessions for educators, so I will be using the video as an example. Can you help me share this video?
RL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5-HIJAj_8E

Title:Digital Immigrant: A Day in the Life

You Never Forget Your First...Journal Publication!

I have heard people in Extension say this, and I suppose I will say it one day too. My first article was recently published in a peer reviewed journal!

The Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences, Spring Issue 2009, Volume 101, Number 2. The article is titled The FCS Message via Blogs, page 67.

Online Surveys

Several weeks ago I started creating online follow-up surveys using Survey Monkey. The program has been very useful in reaching program participants and gathering follow-up data! It seems to me that session participants have an easy time clicking on the survey link I provided in an email message asking for follow-up information. I am amazed at the number of responses I am getting on several surveys. This tool has made data collection easy from people who have email addresses! Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone in our healthy lifestyle educational sessions used email and could respond to surveys so easily??? I give Survey Monkey two thumbs up for being such a user-friendly program.

Sometimes a Techno-Blunder!

When working with technology the golden rule is: always have a Plan B ready, just in case Plan A does not work. This is forever true when working with students in a classroom, or presenting to the community. I always have my presentations on my laptop, saved in cyber-space via email to my administrative assistant just in case, have a printed hard-copy in my hands, saved on 'at least' one travel drive, and usually saved on one of my many wikis. Do you think that is over-kill? It isn't. Once in a while we run into a situation where technology fails us.
This week has been one of those times for me. A TV spot, recorded a few months ago, has aired during a variety of programs on NBC40 ten times between July 3 and July 10. During the same week the Health Update can be seen online at www.nbc40.net. Of course, this week the video link on the Health Update page is not working, so I have yet to see the spot message. I know the message is being aired since I have had two requests for programs as a result. I know the kind folks at NBC40 are aware of the problem and have been trying to correct the situation. It's just another one of those techno-blunder things....happens once in a while. At least the video clip will be seen in the Health Update Archives for along time to come! Long live technology!