11 December 2000


MEMORANDUM

TO:  Participants in the AASCU Pilot Project on Campus Portals

FROM:  George L. Mehaffy

SUBJECT:  The AASCU Executive e-Seminar on Campus Portals

We're at the end of this pilot project and need your help in evaluating it.  As you know, our goal was to create a new approach to assist very busy senior university officials to become quickly informed about rapidly emerging issues.  We've struggled all Fall with what to call this kind of learning.  I've finally tentatively settled on the term AASCU Executive e-Seminars. 

I think we've had a very successful experience, indeed far beyond my wildest dreams.  We had 124 AASCU chief academic officers enrolled.  Dave created 51 web pages with more than 360 links to information, and some of that information was developed especially for this seminar.  There have been more than 2000 hits on the web page and another almost 800 on the development page, so we're approaching 3000 hits over the 2 and ½ months of this project. 

Almost 50 of you responded to the mid-term assessment, and those responses provided some very useful information.  A number of you have passed on the emails to colleagues on campus.  Most of you that responded were very positive about your impressions of this strategy for learning. 

One thing was clear:  we could not have done this without the commitment and dedication of Dave Eisler.  He designed the course, wrote the email narratives, found the material, and worked tirelessly on our behalf.  A special note of thanks to Dave for an extraordinary effort.      

Now there's just one last thing to do.  I'd ask that you provide a final evaluation of this project, so that we can improve it for the future.  I know how incredibly busy you are as the semester draws to a close, but Dave, Steve, and I would be very grateful if you would take a bit of time and reflect on this new approach.  For example, I wonder about how to make the seminar more interactive...but given your work load, is interactivity useful, necessary, or even possible?   

Thank you in advance for providing us one last perspective on this new approach. 

George

Evaluation of the e-seminar:

1.  What did you LIKE about the e-seminar?

2.  What did you NOT LIKE about the e-seminar?

3.  What CHANGES would you recommend in the e-seminar?

Impact of the e-seminar:

1.   What impact, if any, has this e-seminar had on you or your campus?



George L. Mehaffy
Vice President for Academic Leadership and Change
American Association of State Colleges and Universities
1307 New York Avenue, NW    Fifth Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005-4701
Tel. 202.478.4672   Fax. 202.296.5819
Email:  mehaffyg@aascu.org
http://www.aascu.org