Word count plugin
February 12th, 2009 at 12:11 am
I realized that when I actually sit down and write in this blog I tend to write a really lot. Even though I’ve never considered myself a writer. In spite of going to a college which focuses heavily on writing. Also, I used very poor grammar in those first few sentences.
In response to my own fascination about writing such long entries I installed the Post Word Count plugin. Now you’ll see a word count near the bottom of each of the individual post pages.
Ecommerce Webcessibility
February 10th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Everyone seems to have a very strong opinion (partly because these battles are hashed out on the Internet, breeding ground for flamewars) about how to go about building the “best” websites. There are still table-advocates, semantic-markup cheerleaders, CSS gurus, W3C fans and cynics, and those who comply with section 508 grudgingly – the whole spectrum. I’ve taken the approach that table-less, W3C valid, and accessible websites are the best way to go, and have worked at educating others to that effect too. Today I’d like to focus on accessibility, particularly for e-commerce.
Taking care of our students: advising, retention, mentoring
February 1st, 2009 at 11:59 pm
As I’m sure many (most? all?) colleges are right now, my employer and alma mater has been talking a lot about the “current economic crisis” and how it will impact the institution. Before all this drama hit we were also in the midst of a college-wide strategic planning process started by our still relatively new President. Well, these discussions have had many interesting and sometimes frustrating facets, but at one of these meetings the issue of retention came up. That is, once we admit the students, how do we make sure they’re happy enough to stay here?
The meeting attendees threw out ideas: Do we have tutoring for struggling students? What warning signs does the Dean of Studies office pick up and how do they act on them? How does general campus morale (including mood of the staff who interact with students) make an impact? What is the role of the adviser?
It is the last of these questions that sort of struck me. At this institution, we have a strong tradition of close relationships between adviser and advisee. As I’ve talked to students, both when I was one and since then, I noticed that they convey a range of very different relationships between themselves and their advisers.