Rebecca Rice, Globe University-Woodbury massage therapy student. Globe University-Woodbury massage therapy students along with their instructors gathered at the 2015 Twin Cities Tour de Cure for the American Diabetes Association for the second year in a row. Together they gave more than 100 massages to the cyclists who rode in the fundraising event. Tour de Cure is a series of cycling events nationwide to help raise money as well as celebrate those who live with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. "I love helping others and giving back however I am able," said Tiffany Maya, massage therapy student. "This is my second year in a row volunteering at Tour De Cure, and it was amazing to be able to help the riders and know that it made a difference to them." Tiffany Maya, Globe University-Woodbury massage therapy student. Globe University-Woodbury dean of faculty and massage therapist, Denise Radcliffe was thrilled to volunteer to her time for such a great cause. She continued by commenting that this is an excellent way for the massage students to gain hands-on training with real patients while giving back to the local community. The students used a variety of techniques on the riders based on troubled areas. They did chair massages, Thai massages, sports massages, as well as deep tissue massages. "I had several riders approach me and say it was great to see us (Globe University students) here again this year," said Tiffany. Diabetes in Minnesota: According to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), One in five Minnesota has or is at high risk of developing diabetes. 294,000 Minnesotans have diabetes, 971,000 have a form of pre-diabetes. Every year, 15,000 Minnesotans are newly diagnosed with diabetes. The massage students and instructors were among the other 2,000 riders and volunteers at the 2015 Tour de Cure helping raise critical funds for diabetes research, education and advocacy in support of the American Diabetes Association. "We look forward to many more events like this where our students are able to help with such a great cause and further their skill-sets at the same time," said Denise. The post Massage Students Gain Skills and Give Back at Tour de Cure appeared first on Globe University Blog.

Click here to enlarge | Source: Find more e-Learning Infographics This info graphic above presents five ways on how online learning improves educational productivity. Increase access to educational resources and experiences Engage students in active learning with materials and resources Individualize and differentiate instruction based on student performance Personalize learning by building on student interests Make better use of student and teacher time by automating routine tasks In what other ways do you believe that online learning improves education? Feel free to leave a comment with your ideas!

In this episode of MEP, the co-founder and CEO of Achievery, Damian Ewens, joins the program to chat about badging, micro credentialing and skills-based education. Don’t miss it! Guest Bio: Damian Ewens is the CEO of Achievery, a global platform for recognizing and verifying new and emerging skills, standards, and credentials. Damian holds an MA in Education (Mathematics) fromStanford University and a BS in Economics from Santa Clara University. He taught in grades 6-12th in some of the most innovative schools in the country. After teaching, he worked closely with the founders of Big Picture Learning, an international system of schools based on personalization and real world learning, where he supported overall strategic initiatives. Prior to Achievery, he led the development of one of the first credit-bearing after school systems in the country as the founding Director of The Hub, the high school initiative of the Providence After School Alliance. A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Damian is also an avid surfer, local DJ and events producer. He lives in Providence with his wife, Stephanie Alvarez Ewens, and their two daughters. Show Notes: (2:00) Damian’s background (09:30) What was it that you did make a connection about in the formal setting as a learner yourself and the kind you’re seeing through the students you’ve had and now, the customers you talk with? (10:55) What is Achievery, what are you trying to accomplish, and what kind of progress have you made so far? (14:50) I was wondering, in the formal K-12 setting, who is threatened by this [credentialing] or what are you seeing as far as skepticism? (19:55) If colleges are not willing to differentiate themselves, or attempt to differentiate themselves and actually show value through the market… (23:20) Are you working with schools such as Southern New Hampshire University,Western Governors, those type of schools, and also, are you working with companies, and in what way are you working with them? (26:00) If you could have dinner with one person you admire, past or present, who would it be and why? *Richard Feynman For more episodes featuring thought leaders in education visit MeetEducationProject.com, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and follow Nick DiNardo on Twitter.

"Cover when we cough. Cover when we sneeze. Use a tissue.  Wash our hands. Let’s keep our own germs please!" This simple yet memorable song is exactly what Globe University medical assistant students spent an afternoon teaching to local first graders at Meadowview Elementary School in Eau Claire. Students from the Microbiology and Patient Care 1 classes came to show the kids the importance of washing their hands, using soap, and understanding how germs are spread. Using fun and engaging stations for the first graders made the afternoon a success. Medical assistant program chair and instructor, Gretchen Johnson, was not sure who had more fun - her students or the first graders. Here are some of the fun activities the kids participated in: Glitter High-Fives - Students applied glitter to their hands to show how quickly germs can spread throughout the classroom. Students gave the kids high-fives as they entered the room, only to find glitter was quickly everywhere! Sticky Germs - With soap, water, and pepper, the children learned how soap can help repel germs and keep their hands clean. Glow Germs - The kids were able to apply "Glow Germs" to their hands and were then instructed to wash their hands. With a black light, the kids were able to see how well they washed their hands and identify places they missed. Inspiring Creativity - Using the iPad, the kids were able to watch interactive videos while having fun coloring in coloring books, which a MA student created for the kids. Art - The first graders helped decorate a poster displaying the "Germ Stopping Song" using finger paint, which to no one’s surprise, resulted in even more hand washing afterwards! Gretchen applauded the students’ engagement in the activities and their preparation beforehand. She said "Seeing the students take ownership of the project was very inspiring.  They really saw the value in helping the kids and were fully engaged in the project from the beginning." The medical assistant students were not the only ones engaged.  According to one medical assistant student, "The kids were intrigued about what we were teaching them. They had a lot of fun." Gretchen also shared the value of the project to the students and how it met specific objectives within the classes. "This helped the students learn to interact with kids and educate at a pediatric level, something they may be required to do in their future careers." The post Globe University MA Students use Creativity to Educate Local Elementary Kids about Germs appeared first on Globe University Blog.

Making someone laugh always feels good. Making someone laugh while raising money for children’s charities feels even better. On May 21st, 2015 Globe University Online and Minnesota School of Business Richfield came together for Red Nose Day to raise money for charities such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America, National Urban League, Children’s Health Fund and OXFAM America, just to name a few. Red Nose Day Photo Booth Red Nose Day was created in 1985 and was launched on Christmas day during a live broadcast from Sudan. The creators of Red Nose Day, Jane Tewson and Richard Curtis believe that the power of media and celebrity can help raise awareness of poverty. Each year a live broadcast is held in order to raise money for many worldwide organizations. The Red Nose Day fundraiser has been traditionally only broadcast in the UK. Curtis saw the star power of US comedians and strived to have the US participate in Red Nose Day. 2015 was the inaugural year for United States participation in Red Nose Day. The two campuses staff and students participated in Red Nose Day by having a potluck, photo booth and accepted donations on the behalf of the Red Nose charities. The photo booth provided a lot of laughs for everyone who participated. It’s not every day you see our Campus Director, Chris Schmitz with a jester’s hat on his head and a giant red nose! Red Nose Day was a rousing success. Nationwide, over $21 million was raised. Globe University and Minnesota School of Business staff and students had a great time participating in such a fun day while supporting such great causes. Through this day we were able to share our school philosophy, "We Care." The post Showing "We Care" Through Laughter appeared first on Globe University Blog.

As previously shared, I plan to incorporate a number of communication media options for students in ETT 511: Advanced Instructional Media Design. After the very popular implementation of video from my last online course, which I recently presented at the Sloan Consortium International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Online Learning, I plan to incorporate video once again in my online course this summer, using YouTube’s built-in recording and captioning capabilities. While these videos will be embedded within the Blackboard course for my students, I’ve also setup an unlisted YouTube playlist that my students can subscribe to in order to easily access and view on their smart phones and/or tablets. The beauty about a YouTube playlist is that the video with playlist can be easily embedded within any LMS or other web-based tool. Here’s an example of the video with playlist embedded: Here’s an example of an alternative embedding option, just a single video without the playlist: I plan to also experiment with audio versions of the videos, distributed as a podcast. More details to come in a future post about the workflow and process I’m exploring.

By Angie Mellor Students in the Special Populations Massage class at Globe University-La Crosse have been busy this quarter. Recently the students invited Springbrook Assisted Living residents to campus to receive senior massages. Once their clients arrived, the students put their knowledge into practice by helping the seniors complete intake forms. "The massage therapy students also had an opportunity to ask about medications, medical conditions, and areas of discomfort," adjunct instructor and licensed massage therapist Shelley Shaker said. "They were able to practice overall communication with senior citizens." Students not only practiced their communication skills, they also learned to adapt their techniques. "We were able to practice safe massage techniques for the seniors and we saw how much enjoyment they received from it," student Tina Hendricks said. "We were also able to successfully modify our massage for seniors in walkers, wheelchairs and other assistive devices." Shaker agreed that the students had to make adjustments to suit the senior clients. "The students agreed that that this type of massage takes more patience and is more time consuming than a massage for a regular young and healthy client." This experience also helped students become aware of the diverse population they will serve in the future. "The goal was to have the students interact with this population," Shaker said. "With the baby boomer generation getting ready to retire, seniors want to stay healthy, and massage fits into this type of wellness." Student Brycia Delano noted that the applied learning experience also had her thinking about her future career. "The Springbrook event gave me a new perspective on the need for more avenues of massage therapy," she said. Similarly, student Tina Hendricks, felt the experience was beneficial. "The experience with Springbrook was a great one. Giving massages to the residents helped us prepare for the workforce and practice modified chair massage for seniors," she said. "This hands-on sessions really was the best way to learn." Not only did the students have a great learning experience, but the clients did too. "After the students completed the sixty minute massages, the clients asked if they could ‘come back next week!’" Shaker said. Visit the Globe University massage therapy program page to learn more. The post Students Get Hands-On Experience in Special Populations Massages appeared first on Globe University Blog.

I’ve been a long-time proponent of podcasting in education and I shared back in 2012 how to create a course podcast using Dropbox. The process I shared at that time, while free and workable, was still a bit cumbersome a presented a few minor technical hurdles that faculty needed to overcome in order when implementing. I recently learned of a new tool, JustCast, that removes the previous technical hurdles and makes podcasting using Dropbox super simple! This 2-minute tutorial demonstrates how easy it is to create a podcast using Dropbox: I decided to give JustCast a try myself. Below are the steps I took to setup a course podcast for my summer course, ETT 511: Advanced Instructional Media Design, in less than 5 minutes! Before following my steps below, you’ll need to first have a Dropbox account, which you can sign-up for free at dropbox.com. Step 1: Sign-up for a Free Account After I viewing the tutorial at justcast.herokuapp.com, I signed-up for a free account. In a matter of just a couple of clicks, I had approved the JustCast app in my Dropbox account. After logging in, my JustCast Shows page looked like this: Step 2: Edit "example" Dropbox Folder Name As part of the JustCast install process, it creates a folder called "justcast" in your "Apps" folder in your Dropbox folder. Within that "justcast" folder will be a subfolder called "example" that is meant to be the placeholder for your first podcast. I renamed that folder to the name of my course podcast, "ETT 511 - Summer 2014″ so it appeared as follows: Step 3: Place .mp3 File in Podcast Folder With my course podcast folder renamed to "ETT 511 - Summer 2014″ I then simply dragged and dropped the .mp3 file for my first podcast episode into that folder within Dropbox on my computer, which then sync’d with my Dropbox in the cloud. Once sync’d, I could see that the audio file for my first episode was within my Dropbox/Apps/justcast/ETT 511 - Summer 2014/ folder For each new episode to be added in the future, the new .mp3 file will simply need to be added to this folder. Step 4: Edit Podcast Details I then went ahead and edited my podcast show details in JustCast. Clicking the "Edit" button I added the following show details and attached a square graphic to be used as the thumbnail artwork for the podcast. After saving the edited show info, the podcast appeared in my list of shows as follows: Step 5: Share Podcast RSS URL The final step was to click the "RSS" button for my show to get the RSS feed for my course podcast, which is http://justcast.herokuapp.com/shows/371/audioposts.rss Students can copy/paste this URL into their own podcast app of choice, such as Downcast, Instacast, Apple’s Podcast app, or others to subscribe and be able to easily download & access all future course podcast episodes directly from their mobile device. I’ve been very impressed thus far with JustCast, even though it is currently just beta. I plan to continue using it for my course podcast this summer and I’d encourage other educators looking for a simple and free podcasting solution to give it a try! The free plan currently limits to 100mb of uploading per month, with an unlimited monthly upload option for just $5/mo. Have you tried JustCast and/or found these steps helpful? What has been your experience thus far with podcasting using Dropbox and JustCast? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

By: Katie Heisler, ABC club president and student ambassador Recently, the Globe University-Wausau ABC (accounting, business and criminal justice) club officers took part in the festivities surrounding the Fun Run in Marathon, Wisconsin to support Special Olympics. The Fun Run event is combination of a motorcycle rally, 5k run, Strong Man competition and semi pull.  All proceeds from this event benefit Special Olympics. Motorcycles from surrounding communities lined the streets in support of this event and added a sense of excitement to the day. "At 5:26, at the end of the ride, all you could hear was the sound of engines," said Katie Heisler, president of the club. "Over the music, over the crowds, over everything was this rumble of engines. I’ve never heard anything like it." Katie Heisler, Tiffany Karlen and Katie Syring with one of the many motorcycles at the Fun Run event Men and women from all over the state came to Marathon to test their strength in the Strong Man competition and the semi pull. The Strong Man competition had many different events the participants had to do to show their strength. The most impressive was being able to pull a cement truck! It was intense with all the adrenaline rushing around the crowd as these teams gathered to pull the truck.  Cheering could be heard blocks away in the support of these teams. Those driving through the normally quiet town of Marathon City found the streets full of markers for the 5k course and a crowd of brightly attired participants! Many people braved the heat to walk or run for this cause. There were moms walking and running with their toddlers in strollers, dads running with their kids through the finish line, and even young children navigating the course themselves to support this event. After the events had settled, medals were handed out, and bikers returned from the ride, it was time to feed the amazing people who participated in so many ways for the same cause. Katie Syring, Katie Heisler and Tiffany Karlen getting ready to serve the crowds at the Fun Run event This is where the ABC club officers swung into action. They managed the food and served the amazing participants and all the supporters at this event. BBQ pulled pork and plain shaved pork, hamburgers, brats, hot dogs, chips, and so many different goodies were served throughout the day. "It was a steady flow of people at the stand," said Katie Heisler. "We met many interesting people." Music flowed throughout the park, courtesy of a live band that volunteered to play for this cause. It was impossible to not get into the amazing energy that was running through the park grounds. The club officers had a great time dancing and laughing behind the counter throughout the festivities. "It was fun," said Katie Syring, club secretary. "It was a great opportunity to be a part of the Fun Run and I look forward to volunteering next year." The post Globe Students Have Fun Supporting the Special Olympics appeared first on Globe University Blog.

Community service is an important piece of what Globe University is all about. Each year, Globe Globe University-Madison West staff hard at work cleaning the barn University holds an organization-wide Community Service Day, where all campuses are closed, allowing faculty, staff and students the time to go out into the community and give back, demonstrating the "We Care" mission. The most recent Community Service Day for Globe University-Madison West gave volunteers the opportunity to donate their time to an organization that also invests in our veterinary technician program-Heartland Farm Sanctuary. Director of Admissions, Ashley Tanner, petting a rescued farm animal Located in Verona, Heartland Farm Sanctuary is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping homeless farm animals in Wisconsin, and building connections between animals and vulnerable youth. Heartland provides a safe, peaceful environment where youth and farm animals can come together to heal, grow, and have fun. Also, our veterinary technician students take a field trip there each quarter to experience live production animals. Globe University staff spent the morning at the farm, where they took a tour, met the resident animals and helped with various projects. One of the projects was cleaning their large barn for their annual fundraiser event, Barn in Bloom which will be held on Sunday, June 28th. Some of their tasks included cleaning spider webs off of the walls, washing windows, raking hay, transporting dirt in wheel barrows, and unloading fences from trucks. Campus Director, Jamie Buenzli, and a rescued farm animal "I am glad that we were given the opportunity to help Heartland Farm Sanctuary get ready for the Barn in Bloom fundraising event," said Jamie Buenzli, campus director of Madison West. "We worked hard, got dirty and learned a lot about the organization and animal residents. The most exciting part of the day for me was when we were instructed to back up to the wall, hold our hands out, and under no circumstances, look Maxine (the 800 lb. sow) in the eye as she walked by our group. By the end of the day everyone that participated was appreciative of the experience that we had at Heartland Farm Sanctuary." "It was fun climbing the ladder and making the windows sparkling clean in the barn," said Rita Cordova, medical assistant program chair. "I also enjoyed meeting the farm animals on our tour because we were able to learn about how they were rescued and how caring the staff is." Not only was Community Service day productive, it also allowed faculty and staff to spend time together outside of the office. The event proved what great things we can accomplish as a team and we are thankful that we were able to spend time with such an amazing farm. The post We Care about Helping Animals: Community Service Day 2015 appeared first on Globe University Blog.