EHHP Operations and Accreditation

No matter where the complaint comes from or who the complainer is, we all have to handle complaints from time to time. Here, from Faculty Focus, are some guidelines to assist us all. C.K. (Tina) Gunsalus, author of The College Administrator’s Survival Guide, has these suggestions:

1. Don’t take it personally: Avoid the temptation to take complaints personally and become defensive. Find out what action the person making the complaint expects from you; perhaps listening is all that is required. Keep your demeanor calm and courteous.
2. Never act on only one side of the story: Many problems stem from differences in perceptions. As you collect information, keep your stance neutral and remind people you are gathering data in the face of a problem presented to you.
3. Nobody knows what everybody knows: If someone tells you “everyone knows” something, it is a good idea to drill deeper into the facts of the case. Often, things that some believe are common knowledge have little basis in truth.
4. When in doubt, leave it out: If you are thinking better of making a statement or putting something in writing, don’t do it. Emphasize facts and decisions, not opinions and motives.
5. Never attribute to malice that which incompetence will explain: Most bad things happen not through nefarious intent but through inattention, inaction, or miscommunication. Ask for clarification of facts, and repeat back what you have heard until you get it right.
6. Say what you’ll do, and do what you say: Just as giving a screaming child a candy bar trains that child how to get a treat, you can also train adults to behave inappropriately if you break the rules out of pressure or desire to have the problem solved. Let the person know the plan of action and its timeline, and stick to it.
7. In the absence of facts, people make things up: If you leave people hanging for a long period of time waiting for the next step or response, they will imagine the worst. Stick to your time schedule to alleviate this kind of worry.
8. Keep notes: The notes can serve as everything from reminders of your action plan to facts required for a lawsuit. Only four things belong in notes: the date, who was present, the facts brought to you, and the action you promised. Leave out speculation, analysis, and thoughts.
9. Trust your instincts: If you have an anxious or fearful feeling about a situation, don’t hesitate to call in someone else to help handle the situation properly with the appropriate boundaries.
10. Some problems require formal process: It is possible that most of the problems brought to you will require only a calm ear to listen. However, some situations, like reprimands, discipline, and terminations, will require formal action. The more complex the problem, the more likely it will require a formal process. Acquaint yourself in advance with the resource people on your campus.

The author has these further tips:

• Recognize challenges to your neutrality and authority, and respond effectively.
• Proactively set the tone for discussion.
• Gather input from all sides.
• Recognize and defuse aggression spirals.
• Focus on principles and facts, not personalities.
• Know and protect your own hot buttons.
• Choose your language carefully.
• Know when to rely on instinct.
• Document consistently and properly.
• Establish and adhere to follow-up plans.

Check out Mendi Benigni’s blog–she is blogging about each ISTE session she’s attending! Don’t miss this!

http://blogs.cofc.edu/benignim/

Want to find the lyrics to a song? Put the song title in “” or not in GOOGLE

Want to find a song? Sing or hum the tune in your computer microphone with MIDOMI. OR play part of the song on a virtual keyboard with MUSIPEDIA.

Want to find the name of a song you hear on the radio? With SHAZAM on your mobile device, turn it on and Shazam will “listen” to the song, give you the title and singer/musician, and even take you to iTunes where you can purchase it! There’s a free SHAZAM app that has worked great for me–you don’t need to pay for it.

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man
by MariaPopova

Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man from Brandon McCormick on Vimeo.

In 1900, L. Frank Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which went on to become one of the most beloved children’s books of all time, reprinted and reinvented in a myriad stage plays, films, TV series, musicals and other adaptations. But Baum’s original tale featured a little-known backstory about the Tin Woodsman – a morality tale about a man who gets so caught up in his work that he loses sight of what really matters in life.

Director Brian McCormick decided to capture this poetic tale and the hidden love story about a simple woodsman and a beautiful maiden in Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man — an artfully shot short film, viewable for free online.

Additional behind-the-scenes footage reveals the production process and meticulous craftsmanship of the film’s art direction, sound design and cinematography.

PDF to Word is simple tool that extracts the text of your PDF documents and converts it to your choice of a Word document or rich text file (RTF). To use it, simply upload your chosen PDF, choose Word or RTF conversion, and enter your email address (don’t forget to opt-out of marketing emails, unless you like spam). PDF to Word will email you when your file is ready for download.

n 1865, Fyodor Dostoevsky found himself in a deep hole. He had gambled away his last savings and wracked up big debts. He also had to support the family of his recently deceased brother. Looking to make some quick money, Dostoevsky asked Mikhail Katkov, publisher of The Russian Messenger, for an advance. Then he began writing in earnest a novella that soon sprawled into a grand novel. The first part of Crime and Punishment would appear in The Russian Messenger in January 1866; the second part in December of that same year. Like The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky’s other major work),Crime and Punishment probes the dark side of human psychology and asks some hard existential questions. Nietzsche would later call Dostoevsky “the only psychologist from whom I have something to learn: he belongs to the happiest windfalls of my life, happier even than the discovery of Stendhal.” One of the masterpieces of the Russian literary tradition, Crime and Punishment is now available as a free audio book thanks to Lit2Go. You can download the novel in full via iTunes, or as mp3s via the Lit2Go web site. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a free etext version of the novel, you can find it in the following formats: Google Mobile – Kindle – Feedbooks – ePub.

http://www.google.com/goog411/ the YouTube video

This has been around for about a year, but thought I’d send a reminder.

All you do is dial 1800goog411 (1 800 4664 411); the voice asks for city and state, then asks for type of business. You’re connected! That’s it–for free.

Algebra, according to the Great Schools website, “is frequently called the gatekeeper subject.” It provides a solid foundation for later learning by teaching abstract reasoning skills. What’s more, its lessons apply to an increasing number of jobs in our technologically sophisticated society. So how can you increase the chances your son or daughter will excel at algebra? A new study provides a surprising answer: Have them learn a musical instrument. Researcher Barbara Helmrich of Baltimore’s College of Notre Dame examined a sample of 6,026 ninth-graders enrolled in six Maryland school districts. All had completed an introductory algebra course in either eighth or ninth grade and taken the HSA, a test that assesses how well they learned the subject. Helmrich divided the students into three groups: Those who had received formal instruction on a musical instrument during the sixth, seventh and eighth grades; those who received choral instruction during those same years; and those who received no formal musical training. She found the students who studied music significantly outperformed their peers. “Formal instrumental instruction impacted algebra scores the most,” she reports. “Choral instruction also affected scores, but to a lesser extent.” This achievement gap was particularly pronounced among black students. “For African Americans, the means of all three groups represented failing scores on the fifth-grade MSA,” she said, referring to a standard assessment of math knowledge and ability. “However, after the middle-school years, the means of both the instrumental and vocal groups represented passing HSA scores, whereas the mean of the group receiving neither instruction did not.” While Helmrich notes the link between music instruction and algebra achievement “most likely lies in a combination of factors,” she argues the primary effect is a matter of enhanced brain development. Middle-school music instruction “takes place during a time (age 10-12) in which a proliferation of new synapses occurs in the developing brain,” she writes. “This study corroborates the opinion that these new synapses are formed and strengthened, at least in part, by activities — music in this case — that are undertaken during early adolescence,” she adds. The particularly robust results for African-American students suggests “offering music education in middle school might present an alternative strategy for narrowing the achievement gap” between students of different races, Helmrich writes in the Journal of Adolescent Research.These findings emerge at a time when many budget-strapped school districts continue to cut arts education programs. California students must complete one year-long course in the arts or a foreign language to graduate, but in early June, the state assembly voted to allow students to substitute a “career technical education” course for that requirement. If those technical courses involve any higher-level math, the legislation may be sadly ironic. This study strongly suggests that understanding constants and variables is enhanced by the study of congas and violins.

IT offers these guidelines for both saving energy and automatically receiving important application and virus protection updates;

On Windows XP computers…

1.       Right click anywhere on your wallpaper and choose “properties” from the pop-up menu that appears.

2.       Click “Screen Saver” tab at the top of the next box that appears.

3.       Then click the “Power” button at the bottom of the next window.

4.       Recommended setting for these options are;

a.       Turn off monitor: After 20 mins

b.      Turn off hard disks: After 1 hour

c.       System Standby time: Never

d.      System hibernates: Never

5.       After you have adjusted these settings to your preference click “Ok” and then “Ok” again.

For Macintosh Computers…

1.       Click on the Apple in the top left hand side of the screen.

2.       Click on “System Preferences” in the menu that appears.

3.       Next Click on “Energy Saver” (looks like a light bulb).

4.       Drag the slider bars to the left to lower the sleep times. Recommended settings are;

a.       Put the computer to sleep when inactive for: 30 mins

b.      Put the displays(s) to sleep when the computer is inactive for: 20 mins

5.       Check “Put hard disks to sleep when possible”.

You can of course adjust the setting to suit your particular needs depending on how “Green” you want to be. If you would like to adjust these setting and need assistance feel free to contact theHelpdesk@cofc.edu and they will be happy to help.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sync-mac-contacts-calendars-events-windows-pc-syncmate/

Copy and paste this URL in your browser if you’d like easy instructions for syncing calendars, contacts, and events between your Mac and PC.