As stated in previous posts, distance workers are at a disadvantage when it comes to meetings, especially large ones. This past week my new division held its inaugural division-wide meeting. Because of the logistics over phone service in the location of the meeting, I was unable to attend. While I was not too upset over getting to miss a meeting, the event did provide me with another example of how organizations who employ distance workers must make concessions in order to include everyone in events.
Overall, my college has gone to great lengths to provide support on several fronts to make sure this work environment remains productive and enjoyable. However, I do think for an institution to make telecommuting a long-term employment method, considerable policy decisions must be made early to ensure a comparable experience for all employees.
When I consider the impact full-time distance working will have on faculty, the communication aspect becomes very important. Colleges will have to devise ways to get information to remote workers in very timely fashions. One method that comes to mind is platform such as WebEx (http://www.webex.com/) where colleges could hold large virtual meetings with presentations. WebEx offers service for $375 a month for five users, $75 for each additional user. There are other companies with different prices and services, but the benefit of web meetings over missed interactions can cost more. It is in my nature to find a low-cost mid-tech solution to problems such as this, and if the college’s Voice over IP system could do multiple site conference calls, one could use free Google Presentations as the delivery method instead of a WebEx-like service.
None of the above-mentioned issues is without a solution. It simply comes down to the institution committing to the idea of telecommuting and devoting time, money, and human resources into the planning and execution of the initiative.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Internship Presentation
This Friday, the internship class will present to each other about their experiences. Because of the distance to the nearest ITV site, my professor has allowed me to send a narrated presentation. I have moved a non-narrated version to Google docs (located here).
This week has been very busy. I traveled to Florence Darlington Technical College in Florence, South Carolina to tour their Math Hub with nine others from HCC. The Math Hub is a lab-based learning environment we hope to simulate for our Quality Enhancement Plan. Along with learning about FDTC’s success in lab learning, I was very interested in learning about the differences between our two community college systems. In South Carolina, they are funded each year based on their fall enrollment, whereas our schools are funded based on fall and spring term. The FTE funds are distributed by the SC System Office to each of the 16 schools, and the colleges keep all proceeds from tuition.
Another interesting discussion I had with the VP of Academics was the notion of developmental education at the university level. I asked if the local four-year schools had remediation programs to which she replied, “Not ones they will tell you about.” While this policy is great for the community colleges, it can send some students into “provisional” purgatory while they try to get prepared for college work.
Back at the college, we are preparing for the SACS review with back-to-back meetings. I am able to multi-task other work items while the conversation is off of my areas, so it is working to my advantage.
This week has been very busy. I traveled to Florence Darlington Technical College in Florence, South Carolina to tour their Math Hub with nine others from HCC. The Math Hub is a lab-based learning environment we hope to simulate for our Quality Enhancement Plan. Along with learning about FDTC’s success in lab learning, I was very interested in learning about the differences between our two community college systems. In South Carolina, they are funded each year based on their fall enrollment, whereas our schools are funded based on fall and spring term. The FTE funds are distributed by the SC System Office to each of the 16 schools, and the colleges keep all proceeds from tuition.
Another interesting discussion I had with the VP of Academics was the notion of developmental education at the university level. I asked if the local four-year schools had remediation programs to which she replied, “Not ones they will tell you about.” While this policy is great for the community colleges, it can send some students into “provisional” purgatory while they try to get prepared for college work.
Back at the college, we are preparing for the SACS review with back-to-back meetings. I am able to multi-task other work items while the conversation is off of my areas, so it is working to my advantage.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Quarterly Review
I am happy to say I will be continuing my work with the college as a distance worker. I met with the President for a little over two hours last week, and she did not have any negative comments regarding my performance. In fact, she admitted later concern that I was going to announce I had found other employment closer to home during our meeting. During the meeting, I asked her questions, which will be used for my interview, paper later this semester but I can give a few highlights for this post.
The President stated a non-work related concern for her was my interactions with the college at large. She did not want me to feel isolated and distant for the rest of the college when it came to events, convocations, and gatherings for information dissemination. While she did not state the actual legal precedent, there is apparently a legal requirement to give all employees access to information in some formal structure.
The President would like for me to work towards documenting my experience so that the college can have other workers work remotely. When I told her about the blog, she was more than pleased. An interesting benefit of distance working for small rural colleges, especially those located in less areas lacking diversity, is the ability to hire faculty and staff from other cultures without requiring relocation. The President stated telecommuting will be a piece of her plan to bring greater diversity of employees to the college in the future.
The President was also pleased in the performance of my department, including the Quality Liaison who reports to me. This part of the conversation was a clear indicator of her approval of my management style and outcomes.
Overall, the entire trip back to the college was a success. My review with the President went well: I was able to meet my new Executive Director in person, I met with the SACS Vice President who apparently was so impressed with my data collection and reporting methods for the QEP she wants me to help lead a roundtable discussion at the annual SACS meeting this year, and I was able to see some old friends amid everything going on.
I will be finalizing my presentation for this course this week, and I will post it to the documents upon completion.
The President stated a non-work related concern for her was my interactions with the college at large. She did not want me to feel isolated and distant for the rest of the college when it came to events, convocations, and gatherings for information dissemination. While she did not state the actual legal precedent, there is apparently a legal requirement to give all employees access to information in some formal structure.
The President would like for me to work towards documenting my experience so that the college can have other workers work remotely. When I told her about the blog, she was more than pleased. An interesting benefit of distance working for small rural colleges, especially those located in less areas lacking diversity, is the ability to hire faculty and staff from other cultures without requiring relocation. The President stated telecommuting will be a piece of her plan to bring greater diversity of employees to the college in the future.
The President was also pleased in the performance of my department, including the Quality Liaison who reports to me. This part of the conversation was a clear indicator of her approval of my management style and outcomes.
Overall, the entire trip back to the college was a success. My review with the President went well: I was able to meet my new Executive Director in person, I met with the SACS Vice President who apparently was so impressed with my data collection and reporting methods for the QEP she wants me to help lead a roundtable discussion at the annual SACS meeting this year, and I was able to see some old friends amid everything going on.
I will be finalizing my presentation for this course this week, and I will post it to the documents upon completion.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Broken Ladders
As I was preparing for my first quarterly review with the President regarding my telecommuting, I found myself reflecting on the accomplishments I have made in the last four months:
- Successfully, in my opinion, operating the Research Office from 325 miles away
- Competing 65 individual research/data requests (an average of 1.5 each business day)
- Building the beta release of the Workforce Preparedness inventory
- Taking a major role in the implementation of the Informer data reporting tool for Colleague/Datatel
The dilemma I face is a simple one: do I continue as long as I can at my current position, which is a job I can do with a measure of competence while working at home, or do I use these experiences to build my resume and look for local employment? Personally, I would like to work for my current college as long as I can. I know the institution, the employees, and will soon complete work on the SACS re-affirmation as a Core Team member.
I guess I will find out if there are any plans for the future at my review. I will have a report from that meeting, as well as my interview with the President regarding telecommuting in future posts.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
A New Boss
My department, which had been directly under the President, has now been folded into a new division of the College: the Division of Information Technology and Instructional Support Services. I am one of four “managers” reporting to an Executive Director responsible for Information Technology, Distance Learning, Library Services, and my department – Research.
To be honest, I was very concerned with how well my working situation would be accepted by someone I had never met. I was pleased to find her to be excited to be working with a telecommuter. For our first meeting we met over video conference, an experience some find to be uncomfortable especially with the bandwidth issues. She was interested to hear my opinions on the new department and my ideas on the community college. We will be meeting each week via video conference, similar to my departmental meetings, and will be working very closely on many projects including SACS.
For the next week, I will be preparing for my first quarterly review with the President. I am not sure if I will be meeting with my new boss from here on out, but for now I am just concerned with getting ready for next week. The President and I will be reviewing her opinion of my work, the “fit” of telecommuting for my position, and reviewing the current research projects. During this same visit back to the college, I will be meeting with our institutional contact from SACS. The representative will be on site to answer any questions and to look over our processes to offer advice.
To be honest, I was very concerned with how well my working situation would be accepted by someone I had never met. I was pleased to find her to be excited to be working with a telecommuter. For our first meeting we met over video conference, an experience some find to be uncomfortable especially with the bandwidth issues. She was interested to hear my opinions on the new department and my ideas on the community college. We will be meeting each week via video conference, similar to my departmental meetings, and will be working very closely on many projects including SACS.
For the next week, I will be preparing for my first quarterly review with the President. I am not sure if I will be meeting with my new boss from here on out, but for now I am just concerned with getting ready for next week. The President and I will be reviewing her opinion of my work, the “fit” of telecommuting for my position, and reviewing the current research projects. During this same visit back to the college, I will be meeting with our institutional contact from SACS. The representative will be on site to answer any questions and to look over our processes to offer advice.
Friday, October 12, 2007
The cost of travel
As my college and I go through the experience of telecommuting, we learn what works and what doesn’t. After my first trip back to campus, I submitted my request for travel reimbursement, about $280. The following week, the President’s office issued a statement saying they were going to pull the telecommuting policy from the Board of Trustee’s agenda because the college needed to look at the impact of travel on the policy- which had no stipulations or guidelines.
The issue is this: telecommuters are not on campus. The institution has decided to allow this person to work at a location, be it their home or an office somewhere else. In theory, a person who lives very close to the college could telecommuter due to illness or some other event making it unsafe or unwise to come on to campus.
I think the important question should be asked: Why should someone be called back to campus, and is this something that can be done by some other means? I have always been a fan of video conferencing- it’s the Star Trek fan in me. If colleges were a little more creative in planning their meetings, days of travel could be avoided, as well as thousands of dollars each year. When I first started in the community college system, I noticed there were a lot of conferences, seminars, and symposiums. These of course translate to lots of travel. I guess there is, and continues to be a conference culture in the academic world. While I understand the need to physically network with peers, I myself have benefited from the hallway “So what were you describing in the meeting?” conversation, I think a large majority of the one-sided meetings could be delivered in some other way.
We will never get away from the physical meeting, nor will we replace the need. However, if colleges move to distribute the workforce away from the institution, they must be ready to think about the implications of the ad-hoc meeting.
The issue is this: telecommuters are not on campus. The institution has decided to allow this person to work at a location, be it their home or an office somewhere else. In theory, a person who lives very close to the college could telecommuter due to illness or some other event making it unsafe or unwise to come on to campus.
I think the important question should be asked: Why should someone be called back to campus, and is this something that can be done by some other means? I have always been a fan of video conferencing- it’s the Star Trek fan in me. If colleges were a little more creative in planning their meetings, days of travel could be avoided, as well as thousands of dollars each year. When I first started in the community college system, I noticed there were a lot of conferences, seminars, and symposiums. These of course translate to lots of travel. I guess there is, and continues to be a conference culture in the academic world. While I understand the need to physically network with peers, I myself have benefited from the hallway “So what were you describing in the meeting?” conversation, I think a large majority of the one-sided meetings could be delivered in some other way.
We will never get away from the physical meeting, nor will we replace the need. However, if colleges move to distribute the workforce away from the institution, they must be ready to think about the implications of the ad-hoc meeting.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Getting The Wires Crossed
As I have posted about several times now, communication and collaboration are two of the biggest challenges to telecommuting. On a recent conference call, these two challenges became very clear.
In a discussion about an assessment process, we came to a point where I disagreed with a few members of the group. Once I expressed my thoughts, and the appropriate time of “group reflection” passed, the conversation continued as if I had said nothing. The observation I made was this: Telecommuters face an up-hill battle when it comes to winning boardroom confrontations, especially in work cultures or with peers not fully accepting of the situation. Where as in a face-to-face meeting you can stand your ground or use your physical posturing to influence the outcomes, the phone is just a little box that crackles to life every so often.
On a much larger scale, this scenario plays out to be very important to the impact telecommuting can have on higher education. If colleges distribute their workforce and only those who are on site weld the real power and influence, those who are forward thinking enough to successfully work remotely will have reduced influence on the institution. Even if the telecommuters can attend the meetings, they lose out because they do not have “boots on the ground” at the campus. As for faculty, this issue is extremely important because it dilutes their input on the operations of the college, a common complaint of faculty who are already on site.
A solution to the phone call show down is video conferencing. Unfortunately, my college does not have the bandwidth to support a two-hour video conference, but there are plans to change that. Currently, when the video conferencing fails to perform it only further taints the opinion of telecommuting to some on campus staff.
In a discussion about an assessment process, we came to a point where I disagreed with a few members of the group. Once I expressed my thoughts, and the appropriate time of “group reflection” passed, the conversation continued as if I had said nothing. The observation I made was this: Telecommuters face an up-hill battle when it comes to winning boardroom confrontations, especially in work cultures or with peers not fully accepting of the situation. Where as in a face-to-face meeting you can stand your ground or use your physical posturing to influence the outcomes, the phone is just a little box that crackles to life every so often.On a much larger scale, this scenario plays out to be very important to the impact telecommuting can have on higher education. If colleges distribute their workforce and only those who are on site weld the real power and influence, those who are forward thinking enough to successfully work remotely will have reduced influence on the institution. Even if the telecommuters can attend the meetings, they lose out because they do not have “boots on the ground” at the campus. As for faculty, this issue is extremely important because it dilutes their input on the operations of the college, a common complaint of faculty who are already on site.
A solution to the phone call show down is video conferencing. Unfortunately, my college does not have the bandwidth to support a two-hour video conference, but there are plans to change that. Currently, when the video conferencing fails to perform it only further taints the opinion of telecommuting to some on campus staff.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Board of Trustee’s Planning Retreat
The meeting with the Board gave me insight into what influences the strategic planning goals for a community college board. As you can see from the agenda located here, the college wants the Board to combine their knowledge with current and projected college data, and then merge those things with external trends and analysis.
The meeting was very successful, and the WPI application beta release is now on several people’s radar. The local Employment Security Commission sees our county in the middle of a small business boom with steady growth in those companies with 20 or less employees. This means the college must do a better job communicating with those businesses and making sure we can provide them with employees. This situation is much more difficult to get a hold of than when you just have a few, large employers to keep a relationship with. This a challenge the Board must address in their strategic goals as well as in their dealings with the college and the community.
The down-side to this meeting was the trip. I drove 5 and a half hours to do a 45 minute presentation. Unfortunately, we could not have the meeting in an Information Highway room, but I will try to move towards that in the future. In the meantime, trips back to the college are costing the institution about $400 for a one night visit. I think there is a better way.
The meeting was very successful, and the WPI application beta release is now on several people’s radar. The local Employment Security Commission sees our county in the middle of a small business boom with steady growth in those companies with 20 or less employees. This means the college must do a better job communicating with those businesses and making sure we can provide them with employees. This situation is much more difficult to get a hold of than when you just have a few, large employers to keep a relationship with. This a challenge the Board must address in their strategic goals as well as in their dealings with the college and the community.
The down-side to this meeting was the trip. I drove 5 and a half hours to do a 45 minute presentation. Unfortunately, we could not have the meeting in an Information Highway room, but I will try to move towards that in the future. In the meantime, trips back to the college are costing the institution about $400 for a one night visit. I think there is a better way.
First Visit Back To Campus
I had to travel back to the college for a presentation of the Workforce Preparedness Inventory (WPI) to the Board of Trustees during their annual strategic planning retreat (Covered in the next post). The trip allowed me to not only talk to my peers face-to-face about how they felt about my work situation.
All of my peers commented their only negative comment would be the phone calls that are sometimes dropped due to bandwidth. Otherwise, most said they could not tell the difference from me working off-site. During my trip down, I reflected on the communication pattern discussed in my post Keeping in Touch - Is there anybody out there? where there are different levels of courteousness based on the communication medium.
What I have noticed are these levels, ranked from highest to lowest, of inter-personal communication and the corresponding attributes, benefits, and complications.
Face-to-Face
Attributes: Participants are in close physical proximity to one another. Offers the best opportunity for communication because they must survive the encounter (get out of the room) with each other’s ego intact.
Attributes: Much like a face-to-face meeting, but facilitated over the telephone.
Benefits: Location of the conversation can be in a neutral or more comfortable location for both participants.
Complications: Participants are less formal and congenial. Without body or environmental langue to assist in the conversation, some context or meaning may be lost. Because the reaction cannot be measured, there is also less attention to framing the conversation towards more positive “feeling” reactions. Participants are less personable.
Email/Memo Correspondence
Attributes: Written communication via email or physical means.
Benefits: Email- Instant delivery of message. Memo and Email- Clear communication of reason for communiqué. Reader can interpret the message and respond accordingly.
Complications: Communication is one sided. Sender does not have to have any concern for recipient’s response to reading the message. Messages can be ignored or not opened. Messages can be short and quickly written; therefore lacking in the proper format for concern over the contextual interpretation of the message.
Instant Messaging
Attributes: Quick, information specific conversations using a messaging client of some type.
Benefits: Quick communication from almost any location with a variety of devices.
Complications: Instant messaging has an anagram language not know to everyone. This format also is the most impersonal form due to the quick nature of the conversation, which may or may not be performed during other work or social events.
Of course, none of this is backed up by any research; these are just my observations on the different forms of communication available in the workplace.
All of my peers commented their only negative comment would be the phone calls that are sometimes dropped due to bandwidth. Otherwise, most said they could not tell the difference from me working off-site. During my trip down, I reflected on the communication pattern discussed in my post Keeping in Touch - Is there anybody out there? where there are different levels of courteousness based on the communication medium.
What I have noticed are these levels, ranked from highest to lowest, of inter-personal communication and the corresponding attributes, benefits, and complications.
Face-to-Face
Attributes: Participants are in close physical proximity to one another. Offers the best opportunity for communication because they must survive the encounter (get out of the room) with each other’s ego intact.
Benefits: Participants are very aware of the other’s body language, mood, and attention.
Complications: The physical meeting has a separate layer of thinking where the individual is trying to maintain decorum appropriate for the conversation. This monitoring may alter the conversation in order to ease or expedite the end of the meeting (i.e. make it out of the room).
Phone ConversationAttributes: Much like a face-to-face meeting, but facilitated over the telephone.
Benefits: Location of the conversation can be in a neutral or more comfortable location for both participants.
Complications: Participants are less formal and congenial. Without body or environmental langue to assist in the conversation, some context or meaning may be lost. Because the reaction cannot be measured, there is also less attention to framing the conversation towards more positive “feeling” reactions. Participants are less personable.
Email/Memo Correspondence
Attributes: Written communication via email or physical means.
Benefits: Email- Instant delivery of message. Memo and Email- Clear communication of reason for communiqué. Reader can interpret the message and respond accordingly.
Complications: Communication is one sided. Sender does not have to have any concern for recipient’s response to reading the message. Messages can be ignored or not opened. Messages can be short and quickly written; therefore lacking in the proper format for concern over the contextual interpretation of the message.
Instant Messaging
Attributes: Quick, information specific conversations using a messaging client of some type.
Benefits: Quick communication from almost any location with a variety of devices.
Complications: Instant messaging has an anagram language not know to everyone. This format also is the most impersonal form due to the quick nature of the conversation, which may or may not be performed during other work or social events.
Of course, none of this is backed up by any research; these are just my observations on the different forms of communication available in the workplace.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Creating a Distance Working Culture
I am not sure as to what my part was to making this happen, but this week my college sent out a new “Telecommuting Policy & Procedure.” Employees can petition for a review of their job and duties to see if they are suitable for off-campus work. One of the biggest influences on this situation is the speed and response issues of our curriculum course management system, Blackboard. This term is the first where the service is hosted off-site. This is great for providing high-speed communication to our off-campus students, but when our faculty are on campus, they cannot communicate with the server efficiently due to the college’s low bandwidth.
The impact of allowing faculty to work from home is wide-ranging. The institution would no longer have to buy a PC for them to use, provide electricity and facilities for their offices, and the administrators gain a little more trust from their subordinates because they are showing they trust and respect their staff as professionals. The policy is slightly different from my contract as it establishes protocols for checking email and voice mail, and times the worker should be available. Because of my equipment setup here, I am connected just as if I were on campus. I don’t foresee the college pushing out IP phones to people’s homes.
I do wonder about tech support issues though. If your computer breaks and you use it to do college work, who fixes it and upgrades the software. How will remote users get to their network files, and if they use the VPN like me, who will trouble shoot that? This is where we will begin to see the economic and HR issues begin.
While there have not be any takers, yet, I will be interested to see if there is any financial impact of telecommuting reflected in the budgeting decisions this fiscal year. I also wonder how this will affect the organizational structure of the departments if they are broken up with some working from home and other, either less tech-savvy or apathetic traditional workers staying back on campus. What will department chairs do to keep themselves in the loop while giving the faculty or staff member the freedom to work remotely? I also wonder what this might do to the endless strings of meetings we have grown accustomed to.
The impact of allowing faculty to work from home is wide-ranging. The institution would no longer have to buy a PC for them to use, provide electricity and facilities for their offices, and the administrators gain a little more trust from their subordinates because they are showing they trust and respect their staff as professionals. The policy is slightly different from my contract as it establishes protocols for checking email and voice mail, and times the worker should be available. Because of my equipment setup here, I am connected just as if I were on campus. I don’t foresee the college pushing out IP phones to people’s homes.
I do wonder about tech support issues though. If your computer breaks and you use it to do college work, who fixes it and upgrades the software. How will remote users get to their network files, and if they use the VPN like me, who will trouble shoot that? This is where we will begin to see the economic and HR issues begin.
While there have not be any takers, yet, I will be interested to see if there is any financial impact of telecommuting reflected in the budgeting decisions this fiscal year. I also wonder how this will affect the organizational structure of the departments if they are broken up with some working from home and other, either less tech-savvy or apathetic traditional workers staying back on campus. What will department chairs do to keep themselves in the loop while giving the faculty or staff member the freedom to work remotely? I also wonder what this might do to the endless strings of meetings we have grown accustomed to.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Keeping in Touch - Is there anybody out there?
Being a technical person at heart, telecommuting would seem to be right up my alley. The majority of my work in on a computer, but when someone needs to talk to me or when I need to keep my peers up-to-date on projects I am working on, it becomes challenging to have a virtual “pop-in”. I have also discovered another challenge to telecommuting, especially when you are the only one, is finding creative yet modest ways to remind your co-workers and administrators that you are in fact still being productive.
I have discovered two technologies that have helped my immensely in these areas: Wikis and video conferencing. I am currently working on a “Workforce Preparedness” project with our President and Director of Community Services, which aims to show the relationship between education and job placement. My involvement in the project is to create an application to collect information regarding employers, industries, and occupations and match those to our programs of study. Before I left my campus job, the President would ask about once every two weeks the status of the project. I would attempt to communicate the small but significant accomplishments towards completion, but I knew that she was not catching everything. Because telecommuting can amplify these communication breakdowns, I started a new page on my personal research Wiki: http://research.pbwiki.cn/WFD-Project to catalogue each milepost in the application development process. Using this site, the President or anyone involved in the project can see the day to day progress (recall the previous post on day scheduling) on the project including screen shots and the current “To Do” list.
To help keep my personal relationships with my coworkers, I have implemented the use of video conferencing using a very simple free video client and PC-based web cameras. For larger scale needs, the software allows up to eight sites to connect at one time, making it useful for future telecommuting projects. I use video conferencing for my weekly one-on-one staff meetings with Geri and have attended several SACS meetings remotely. The one major hurdle in using this technology is the resources needed to adequately send and receive video and audio. At my home, I have a 3Mb DSL connection; however, my college has a similar speed connection with 500+ pieces of equipment competing for bandwidth. The video sessions can be clean one day, and unusable the next. The college plans to upgrade to a 40Mb connection soon, which should resolve these issues. On a managerial note: I have noticed a difference in the meeting content with Geri when we use the video conferencing as opposed to telephone conversations. We both seem to be much more personable and attentive when the other can see us. This, to me, speaks to the personal connections that are needed to work successfully and professionally. I will have a video post demonstrating the application soon, but for now, here is a screenshot of this week's SACS meeting.
I have discovered two technologies that have helped my immensely in these areas: Wikis and video conferencing. I am currently working on a “Workforce Preparedness” project with our President and Director of Community Services, which aims to show the relationship between education and job placement. My involvement in the project is to create an application to collect information regarding employers, industries, and occupations and match those to our programs of study. Before I left my campus job, the President would ask about once every two weeks the status of the project. I would attempt to communicate the small but significant accomplishments towards completion, but I knew that she was not catching everything. Because telecommuting can amplify these communication breakdowns, I started a new page on my personal research Wiki: http://research.pbwiki.cn/WFD-Project to catalogue each milepost in the application development process. Using this site, the President or anyone involved in the project can see the day to day progress (recall the previous post on day scheduling) on the project including screen shots and the current “To Do” list.
To help keep my personal relationships with my coworkers, I have implemented the use of video conferencing using a very simple free video client and PC-based web cameras. For larger scale needs, the software allows up to eight sites to connect at one time, making it useful for future telecommuting projects. I use video conferencing for my weekly one-on-one staff meetings with Geri and have attended several SACS meetings remotely. The one major hurdle in using this technology is the resources needed to adequately send and receive video and audio. At my home, I have a 3Mb DSL connection; however, my college has a similar speed connection with 500+ pieces of equipment competing for bandwidth. The video sessions can be clean one day, and unusable the next. The college plans to upgrade to a 40Mb connection soon, which should resolve these issues. On a managerial note: I have noticed a difference in the meeting content with Geri when we use the video conferencing as opposed to telephone conversations. We both seem to be much more personable and attentive when the other can see us. This, to me, speaks to the personal connections that are needed to work successfully and professionally. I will have a video post demonstrating the application soon, but for now, here is a screenshot of this week's SACS meeting.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Multi-Tasking vs. Multi-Threading
It used to be, the way we were encouraged to take on our jobs was via multi-tasking: switching from one thing to the next when our attention was diverted so that everything got attention… and we were busy as can be. This work style lends to piling on work, moderately giving attention to each new thing while old work is sifted to the bottom of the pile. At the end of the day, I really felt unfulfilled with my progress on projects because I was never paying total attention to anything.
Enter multi-threading: focused time and energy to one task, with a set queue for other items. I have split up my day into the three major tasks of my job: Data Mining, SACS committee work, and the Workforce Preparedness Application. By focusing on one job aspect at a time, I have found myself to be more productive, positive about the tasks, and objective about what I can accomplish in a day. 
Of course, this schedule is not for every day. I still have to attend meetings and produce emergency "ad-hoc" data and reports, but having this to help me on days where I feel aimless is very beneficial. Before telecommuting, my days were intersected with drop-in meetings, coffee machine talks, and post-meeting data requests. Without these normal "ticks" to break up my work activity, having a set schedule for work keeps me on task without allowing me to spend all day on a problem that could be solved with a good night's sleep and an fresh set of eyes.
A brief Google on the idea of multi-threading reveals it to be descriptive of the "Nonlinear New Student":
The new students perceive text-based, visual, and multithreaded multimedia "as a single entity" ("monomedia"), and they need an "Integrated Environment" including "Multi-threaded stream of discourse". http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~x28/en/36.htm
To summarize: Blame it on Nintendo. The gaming culture, of which I am a part of, has conditioned me to think on several levels simultaneously, but to see them as one experience branching off as needed. As applied to my work ethic, my goal- completion of my daily tasks, is accomplished by direct attention in lieu of broadcasting or multi-tasking.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Closed Daycare
One of the unique things about working from home is being available to be home, work, and watch over the kids when the daycare is closed or one of them are sick. While in theory this sounds like a great idea, in application it becomes much more difficult. Small children, which I have two of, require attention on a regular basis. My children are accustomed to attention by both parents, all of the time. The challenge to me is communicating to a 3 1/2 year and an 18 month old that dad does care about them- but he must be at the computer most of the day for his job; and when the phone rings it is not Mommy, but dad's work friends that really do not have a need to talk about Elmo.
What is fortunate about my telecommuting situation is I normally have long stretches where no one calls or I am simply writing a query or report- things that I can at do or at least think about while changing diapers or fetching juice.
The biggest downside, to me, is resorting to the TV nanny for the majority of the day. Thankfully, my boys like the commercial-free PBS kid’s channel- I can convince myself they are learning something in-between the occasional fighting over toys and dad's attention. We are all learning
What is fortunate about my telecommuting situation is I normally have long stretches where no one calls or I am simply writing a query or report- things that I can at do or at least think about while changing diapers or fetching juice.
The biggest downside, to me, is resorting to the TV nanny for the majority of the day. Thankfully, my boys like the commercial-free PBS kid’s channel- I can convince myself they are learning something in-between the occasional fighting over toys and dad's attention. We are all learning
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Welcome
Welcome to my EDHE 683-50 Internship blog. This site will be used as my internship journal- cataloging my intern experience with text, images, and the occasional video post. Each journal entry will be "labeled" to tie the entry to one or more of the five learning objectives for my experience.
The learning objectives of my internship will be (Learning Objective label in parentheses):
- Evaluate the impact of distance working on the professional behavior of an individual (Behavior),
- Assess the social, cultural, and economic impact of telecommuting on the community college (Impact),
- Evaluate the overall feasibility of telecommuting in higher education for both short and long-term employment, differentiating faculty and staff (Feasibility),
- Create and expand on uses of technology in a distance working environment to improve working relationships, productivity, and office processes (Technology), and
- Assess the impact telecommuting has on managing subordinates (Management).
The learning objectives of my internship will be (Learning Objective label in parentheses):
- Evaluate the impact of distance working on the professional behavior of an individual (Behavior),
- Assess the social, cultural, and economic impact of telecommuting on the community college (Impact),
- Evaluate the overall feasibility of telecommuting in higher education for both short and long-term employment, differentiating faculty and staff (Feasibility),
- Create and expand on uses of technology in a distance working environment to improve working relationships, productivity, and office processes (Technology), and
- Assess the impact telecommuting has on managing subordinates (Management).
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