April 2012 Blog Posts (9)

Thanks to Catherine Provost from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars for the introduction to Yammer. 

Yammer brings the power of social…

I was just thinking that our interconnectedness with social media is almost frightening and I feel the pain of, I believe it was, Bellamy Brothers  singing "I'm just an old hippie and I don't know what to do....should I hang on to the old, should latch on to the new" except my song is "I'm just an old IT director and I don't know what to do....."     As a sporadic blogger I am certainly no Wes Fryer faithfully…

Notes and a Summary of the AACC 92nd Annual Conference Opening Session covering the 21st Century Report

(MY THOUGHTS ARE IN ALL CAPS)

Key Quotes From Opening Session…

Unplugging from the Commercial Software Grid: Why Free is Better Even If you Have a Budget



Developing a strategic road map for open source software and free services, such as Moodle, Open Office and Google Apps for Education is important for higher education.  As budgets are squeezed and software compatibility issues abound, it is time to determine if open source and alternative software services can be strategic tools in the higher…

Moodle Moot 2012 - May 30, 31 & June 1st

The early response to this Moot has been amazing. We are very excited about the folks that are not only speaking (coming from all over the world) but also the diverse list of participants joining us from all over the US.…

Many of you know when I married, I spoiled a pure German heritage, well I was just thinking that in honor of my inlaws and my beloved espousa's German heritage I would eat at the restaurant next door to my hotel for my last night of the Inspire Document Imaging Conference.  Well...I had the best brats I have ever had at der Old Heidleberg.  I mean…

About Kent

Kent Brooks is the IT Director at Casper College in Casper Wyoming, is a blogger on various technology topics for his own blog KentBrooks.com, a contributor to MoodleNews, and Wes Fryers Internationally acclaimed "Speed of Creativity" blog.  He served as the Chief Technology Officer/ Dean of Distance Learning at Western Oklahoma State College in Altus Oklahoma  for 15 years. While at Western he led an effort to transform a struggling rural institution to a significant…

Rodeo and Cowboys are about as American as it gets, but what does that have to does with the sales of textbooks. A lot actually. Let’s first explore a phrase, “Cowboy Up” My favorite definitions of this are from the…

I was just thinking what a great couple of days I just had at the Campus Technology Summit in Palm Springs California.  I love learning from and interacting with people engaged in the delivery of technology services for higher education.  What a dedicated, hardworking, intelligent group of people…I am sometimes amazed they let this ol’ hog farmer (technically I don't have hogs anymore, but did grow up showing hogs in 4H) …