Most of the time a new year is accompanied by a fresh perspective.  It allows everyone to take a look back and plan for a better future.  Maybe to change your ways, add new skills, improve relationships or decide to "make things happen"!  In 2010, eLearningToolBox is determined to make things happen!  We are planning great things and can't wait to share with you what is on the horizon. 

While the political power hangs in the balance, as the economy see-saws and the housing market flip flops, when education budgets are being slashed, as unemployment stabilizes, one thing remains...if you keep doing what you've always done, then you'll keep getting what you've always gotten.  It's time to look at things differently in 2010. 

As we work hard in 2010, to close out this decade, it is time to ramp up our efforts to increase product awareness, establish closer relationships with clients, and find more meaning in the services that we provide.  We are ready to make 2010, look different...are you?

2010 Looks Different

One of our newest READI clients, American Sentinel University, has just launched a press release announcing their implementation of READI.  ASU recognized the need to implement a tool that would help students gauge their skills, measure technical proficiencies, and provide resources for support.  Dr. Richard Oliver, CEO of American Sentinel University said, "succeeding in an online university environment requires a different set of skills than in a traditional campus-based setting".  To read the complete article click here.

American Sentinel University Launches READI

eLearningToolBox Newsletter Summer 2009
The Latest in Distance Learning READI Announces Integration with the eCollege Learning Management System eLearningToolBox.com, the provider of READI, is pleased to announce that it has completed a project through which READI can be integrated into the eCollege learning management system.  Students of schools which are using eCollege can now access READI from within their eCollege course without having to re-authenticate into the READI system.  This single sign on capability reduces the number of user names and passwords that schools and students have to keep track of.  A student can also submit their READI report internally through the communication features of eCollege to their instructor for review.  If students and/or their instructors need to access the student’s report at a later date, they may do so through eCollege. eLearningToolBox.com has several client schools which use eCollege and requested this integration.  The next learning management system which is slated for integration with READI is Blackboard.  If your school is interested in learning more about the integration of READI into your learning management system please contact your Account Manager or support@readi.info.  What's New in the ToolBox? Personalized Online Student Readiness Report Are you interested in knowing how your students compare to the national averages of online student readiness? Recently we launched the 2009 Online Student Readiness Report. It included data collected from over 150,000 students at 272 institutions. We are now offering a personalized report that contains data from your students. For a small fee, you can have access to statistical information to help you understand your students' strengths and weaknesses. This data can provide guidance for future course design and insight about remedial tools that you may want to consider in your planning of the online program. To view a sample of this school specific report or for a price quote, contact your Account Manager. The Most Efficient Way to Find Out What Students Really Think It is coming! PostCourse 2.0 will be available next month! It will feature easy data upload with an integrated wizard, intuitive real-time reporting, tiered role-based administrative access, unlimited surveys and much more! Account Managers are setting up demos in August and Setptember to highlight the new features. Postcourse is a web-based tool that will allow administrators to totally manage all data through an administrative control panel. If you would like to find out about how much you save over your current process, contact an Account Manager today at sales@eLearningToolBox.com. Change is Good New Feature Added to READI READI Administrator, do you have a student test taker login group that needs to be inactivated but not deleted? Often times, schools create new login groups and although they want to keep the data in the old group, they do not want students to accidentally login using the old information. We've added a new feature to READI that allows administrators to choose "inactive" for login groups. This allows administrators to continue to view the data in the group but prevents a student from using the old user/pass combo. To access this feature follow the instructions below. 1. Login to http://admin.readi.info 2. Click on "Manage Account" 3. Click on "Admin & Test Taker Groups" 4. Click on specific test taker group 5. Use drop down box to select "active or inactive" 6. Save and close (Notice the login group is now designated with a red button instead of green) Neat to Know How to export READI data Go to admin.readi.info and login to your account Click on "Test Search and Export" Designate preferred filters Once you reach "Data At a Glance" click "Export Data" For more READI tips, visit our tutorials link at readi.info/tutorials Water Cooler Tips to Increase Website Participation for Students 1. Require it; Making assignments optional will generally result in little if any participation. Even those who are motivated to succeed will generally use extra time on tasks they see as most important which are generally "required activities". Requiring participation, helps motivated students to prioritize and unmotivated students to keep up. 2. Play hide and seek. Hide extra credit activites, special notes for the test, create scavenger hunt clues, make it fun, and reward those who follow through. 3. Make it fun by adding new content weekly like a personal top 10 list, music, or a funny slideshow. Do you Tweet? If you want to learn about what's going on with eLearningToolBox first, follow us on twitter. Blog What do we have to say about things? Check out our blog at eLearningToolBox.com/Blog for weekly updates of our two cents.	In this edition: The Latest in Distance Learning What's New in the ToolBox? Change is Good Neat to Know WaterCooler Free Stuff Coming Soon There is Still Time to Cash in on Our FREE Summer Webinar Series! Are you looking for a way to squeeze in some training this summer before school gets started? You've come to the right place! There is still time to take advantage of our FREE Summer Webinar Series. Don't have time or money to travel to a classroom session? No worries, you are invited to our virtual classroom. To register, just click on the session below. All attendees will be entered into a drawing for $50 cash! Thursday, July 30th, 2:00 pm central Academic Integrity in Online Education Featuring - Lori McNabb, University of Texas System TeleCampus Thursday, August 6th 2:00 pm central Tools for Enhancing eLearning Featuring - Dr. Mac Adkins, CEO eLearningToolBox.com Coming Soon! Fall Webinar Planned in late September forREADI Administrators We have READI data but... "What Do We Do With It Now?" This webinar is designed to help you understand the READI data and how to use it. We will also explore ways to use READI data to assist you in your planning process. Key points of discussion will be: What can I learn about my students from the READI data? How can I use it in developing courses for the future? What resources should we be providing based on our READI scores? Who should be looking at the data? How do my students compare to those at other colleges and universities? FREE READI Training Webinars Do you need some additional training on the administrative features READI has to offer? Check out readi.info/webinars to find the complete schedule and register for the sessions that fit your schedule. Looking for someone to teach your online classes? Are you tired of sorting through the stack of paper resumes? Facultyfinder.com can help. Go to www.FacultyFinder.com for unlimited free searches! Search our database of over 10,000 profiles to find the right person for the job. EXTENDED OFFER! PLACE A JOB AD ON FACULTYFINDER.COM FOR JUST $50! NO DISCOUNT CODE NEEDED

eLearningToolBox Newsletter Summer 2009

Just released from PRWeb

The 2009 Online Student Readiness Report (OSRR) has been released and is now available! The report was officially released at the recent DLA conference in St. Simons Island, Georgia.  Presented by eLearningToolBox.com, OSRR makes observations from data taken from 150,065 unique students from 272 higher education institutions who took the READI assessment from June 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009.

Highlights in the report include the following statistically significant differences between the means of the variables of gender, ethnicity, institution type, age range and number of prior online courses taken as they relate to student readiness for online learning:

Gender – Females scored higher on the constructs of individual attributes, learning styles, typing speed, typing accuracy, and reading recall.  Males scored higher on technical competency and technical knowledge.

Ethnicity – Caucasian/White reported higher means for learning styles, technical competency, and reading recall.  African American scored the highest on individual attributes.  Asian or Pacific Islander had the highest means for technical knowledge, typing speed and typing accuracy.

Age Range – For constructs related to personal maturity, older students had the highest means.  For constructs related to technical matters younger students had the highest means.

Institution Type - Doctorate GrantingUniversities reporting the highest means for learning styles, technical competency, technical knowledge,and typing speed. Special Focus Institutions (schools preparing students for specific careers) reportedthe highest means for typing accuracy and reading recall. Baccalaureate Colleges reported the highestmeans for individual attributes.

Number of Prior Online Courses – The results strongly demonstrated that with online learning experience matters.  The greatest difference in means from students with no prior online course experience and those who had taken five or more courses was in the area of technical knowledge. This indicates that with experience students can learn to use the technology required for online courses.

A full copy of the report is available at http://www.readi.info/documents/2009_Online_Student_Readiness_Report.pdf

READI – Readiness for Education At a Distance Indicator is a web-based, diagnostic tool that measures student’s strengths and opportunities for improvement in five areas related to distance learning.  Those include learning styles, individual attributes (such as procrastination, motivation, etc), technical competency & knowledge, typing speed & accuracy, and on-screen reading rate & recall.  Serving over 300 institutions, READI is the premier readiness tool delivered in a custom user interface, complete with an administrative panel that includes access to student data, data export, communication tools, and custom features.

eLearningToolBox is owned and operated by the parent company DECADE Consulting (http://decadeconsulting.com).  eLearningToolBox.com provides tools that make eLearning better.

2009 Online Student Readiness Report

Social Networking is a vital part of a successful marketing strategy.  At eLearningToolBox.com, we are including Twitter in our efforts to keep you informed of what's going on with us, what's happening in distance learning, and helping you stay connected with all of our promotions and new product launches.  Follow us on Twitter today at twitter.com/eltb.  All new followers will be added to a drawing for $50 cash.  Offer ends June 15th so start following us today! 

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