The teaching professor conference is coming and this is the last chance to get the early bird registration. Details here.

Congratulations to our Class of 2016 graduates. Go forth and make the world a better place!

By default, all D2L courses open to students at 12 AM on the first day of class (Summer 2016 courses therefore open May 16 at 12 AM). If you wish to give your students earlier or later access to the course, you can easily do that, as follows:

Please note that graduating students will lose access to D2L and Box, among other systems. If a student wishes to retain data, they should back it up as soon as possible. ePortfolio content can be exported by the student and moved onto D2L’s corporate servers.

This morning (May 7th), Augusta celebrates the annual Dragon Boat Festival and the Augusta University Confucius Institute is sponsoring a boat and a booth at the event. If your time allows, come enjoy the beautiful day, participate in Chinese cultural activities (tai-chi, dance, calligraphy, paper cutting, etc.), try authentic Chinese food, see our dragon boat […]

Several of you pointed out that I have very few appointments still available through May 24th (my last day in the office before my approximately month-long business trip series). In an effort to offer more appointments (and drawing inspiration from daylight savings at this time of increased demand for my instructional-design services as we transition […]

On May 3rd, the University System of Georgia generated the following communication: Atlanta — May 3, 2016 We sincerely appreciate Governor Deal’s veto of House Bill 859. We recognize this was not an easy decision for the Governor to make. The vast majority of our faculty, staff, parents and students are concerned about firearms on […]

As I mentioned in past news announcements, we have adopted a continuous release model for our learning management system, Brighspace by D2L (or D2L for short). This means that we get any improvements and additions as soon as they are tested and released to client institutions such as Augusta University. We just got to D2L […]

Register now for Faculty and Staff Golf Tournament Registration deadline: May 13th register at: giving.gru.edu/golf cost: $35/person Event: May 20th, at the Forest Hills Golf Club Details: For more information, visit http://jagwire.augusta.edu/archives/32381.

University of Washington students created smart gloves that automatically translate American Sign Language (ASL)  into text or speech. Read all about it here.  

After being out most of last week for head surgery, today I am back and beginning to catch up.

I just published a closed-captioned series of video tutorials I created to explain D2L’s email function. To view them: either see my D2L page on this site (look under “Communicating with Students and Other Course Faculty“) or see the playlist linked below. These are unlisted YouTube videos (meaning only people with the link can access […]

This Friday is Purple Up for Military Kids Day across the country.  Consider wearing something purple tomorrow, to show support for our military dependents.

Our Office of Planning, Design, and Construction just announced that the that paving and the installation of raised crosswalks on Laney Walker Boulevard are now complete and vehicles can access Laney Walker Boulevard from both 15th Street and R.A. Dent Boulevard.

April 14th, 2016 / 4:00 ET How Data Analytics Powers Outreach and Interventions for Student Success Today, data and predictive analytics can provide a world of new insights about distance learning courses and students. Understanding what data are available and what stories they can tell drives student success initiatives. Learn what various institutions are doing […]

As of today, the registration system for the Augusta University Writing Center is listed under the URL mywco.com/augusta. The log in for the system will remain your old email address (with @gru as the ending) until you manually change it to the @augusta ending. The system will not automatically change your username to the @augusta, […]

The 3rd Annual South Carolina School Behavioral Health Conference will take place April 21-22, 2016 in Myrtle Beach, SC. This conference is a key opportunity for ​representatives ​from ​schools ​and ​youth-serving ​agencies ​in ​the southeast region ​to ​network, ​collaborate, ​and ​learn ​new ​strategies ​to ​improve ​school ​behavioral ​health ​outcomes ​for ​children ​and ​families. Augusta University […]

I wanted to let you know that my email has transitioned from @gru.edu to @augusta.edu.While my email is now glaws@augusta.edu, any emails sent to my former glaws@gru.edu address will continue to work for some time. From my experience with this transition, communication was fantastic and the transition was seamless. Kudos to our IT department!!! The […]

The March 2016 continuous delivery release for D2L brought a few additions and improvements. No major impact to teaching other than the ability you now have to download (in CSV file format) a log of all quiz attempts made by learners on a quiz, for offline analysis. What I am excited about is the possibility […]

If you check my calendar frequently, you noticed that in the last month or so I was struggling with a temporary glitch in my free calendar tool, whereby the month name had disappeared. I contacted the plugin developer and, voila, the plugin has just been updated and my calendar is fully operational again. Thank you, […]

The latest edition of the Information Security Education Journal has been published and is viewable from the publisher’s web site at http://socio.org.uk/isej/v2n2.php.

Do you carry multiple USB drives to store your data and to access it from various locations? Are you running out of space on your Novell MyFiles drive? Do you email multiple copies of documents back and forth with colleagues to work on presentations or research together? If you answered yes to any of the […]

Augusta University will hold its inaugural University Memorial Ceremony at 3 pm on April 21 at the Teardrop Area on the Summerville Campus. The ceremony will honor the lives of Augusta University students, faculty and staff who passed away in the last year. Family and friends of our lost colleagues are invited back to campus […]

If you are teaching a summer course — good news! Your D2L course shell is now available. Look for it with the prefix “2016-SU”.

I am in process of upgrading the scheduling system on my website in order to better serve you. The scheduling service will be intermittent on Wednesday, March 16, 2016. On Thursday, March 17,  you’ll be able to use the upgraded system. This upgrade is a win-win because: it allows me to serve you in a […]

Image credit: Susan Kinney

Did you know that each year Macon, GA celebrates a cherry blossom festival (known in Japan as “sakura matsuri”)? Macon features the same cherry trees as you’ve seen in Washington DC but, unlike DC, where you can see 1,700 cherry trees, when you come to Macon you’ll see over 300,000 Yoshino cherry trees!!! Attended by […]

Please stay tuned for information coming out from the IT department regarding the transition (this spring) from your @gru.edu email address to your @augusta.edu email address. By the time of the summer semester, you’ll have the @augusta.edu email in place. As you are working on your summer and fall course, you may wish to edit […]

The Summer 2016 course shells will start being generated from March 14th on. You can therefore start looking for your summer course as of early next week. If you are working in a Summer 2016 sandbox (or forward prep shell), I recommend reserving a FAC-SERV 3, Set Up a D2L Course appointment with me. Not […]

Dear all, It is time to send in your share requests for the Summer 2016 semester. These requests are made a semester in advance and we are now coming to the end of that window (3/14/2016). If you haven’t sent your request(s) in yet, this is a final call to please do so ASAP. For […]

The new “Causes” page lists a number of personal and professional causes that are near to my heart. Have a look as your time allows and get involves as you are willing and able. Thank you!

In March, Brightspace/D2L offers a number of free webinars. Read more here and/or see my calendar for specific webinars.

Mark your calendars for May 7th, the annual Dragon Boat Festival.    

Based on popular demand, from March 14 I will be modifying my office hours  as follows: In the College of Allied Health Sciences Monday all day Tuesday all morning Wednesday all morning Thursday all morning Friday all day In the Dental College of Georgia Tuesday all afternoon Wednesday all afternoon Thursday all afternoon.

Augusta University’s first Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) has been submitted to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) on-site review committee in anticipation of the scheduled site visit March 22-24. An article providing an update on the QEP appeared in Jagwire last week.

A free webinar om online media accessibility is coming up. For details, please see my calendar entry to 2/25/2016.

McGraw Hill is piloting the creation of a new generation of smart textbooks and is currently looking for faculty who may be interested. Learn more in my blog post.

Scroll through the Jagwire article below to learn more. See also my calendar entry for March 3rd.

Dr. Robert Bledsoe, the organizer of this amazing annual event, is still looking for “buyers” at this year’s Salon of 1889, as noted in the table below. If you can help as a “buyer”, please sign up using the doodle poll. Bring a friend or two or three or more. The more, the merrier. You […]

As part of a friendly, college-wide, Dental College of Georgia leadership-sanctioned effort, I have requested to meet with every DCG course director from March 1st on.

Message from IT/Help Desk: There is currently a worldwide increase in computer virus activity. Of special concern is the Ransomware/Crypto virus. This comes to you in the form of an official looking email with a file attachment. When you open the attachment, your computer is directed to an Internet site where the Ransomware virus is […]

The week of June 20th I will be presenting at the Distance Learning Administration on Jekyll Island, GA. I will check my email once a day, hotel wifi permitting. I will present as follows: Using LMS Embedded Analytics to Evaluate in an Online Competency-Based Program Web Solution for the Training and Support of Distance Instructors.

Between May 25th and June 1oth, I will be on a business trip with the Confucius Institute, visiting partner universities in Beijing and Shanghai. I will check my email once a day, hotel wifi permitting. The visit will take us to : Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine East China Normal University Beijing Normal University […]

Fair Use Week is celebrated February 22nd – 26th, 2016. This is an annual celebration of the important doctrines of fair use and fair dealing. It is designed to highlight and promote the opportunities presented by fair use and fair dealing, celebrate successful stories, and explain these doctrines. See my calendar for the events taking […]

March 7th – 11th marks Open Education Week. The goal: raise awareness about free and open educational opportunities that exist for everyone, everywhere, right now. See my calendar for the USG event going on March 8th at noon, online.

Message from Charles R. Enicks, VP and Chief Information Officer Dear Colleagues, The University’s Mobile Device Management policy requires that all institutionally issued laptops be encrypted.  The majority of University and Health System laptops have been encrypted; however, a small number of laptops issued by the organization and currently in use have been identified as […]

I have just updated the syllabus templates, in light of our renaming from Georgia Regents University to Augusta University. Enjoy and, as always, let me know if you need any personalizing! Link to the syllabus template blog.

A message from AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY CEPAR We have been given the all-clear and the water boil advisory has been lifted by the Augusta Utilities Department. We appreciate your efforts to ensure quality care and service during this situation.

A message from Dr. Kevin C. Dellsperger, VP and Chief Medical Officer: We’ve learned that the Water Authority will lift the boil water ban at 09:30 this am.  However, we have procedures to ensure the water is potable. We will do all we can to expedite lifting the ban but it is anticipated that it […]

BOIL WATER ADVISORY: Do not consume or use water that has not been boiled until further notice. Special protocols have been put into place for patient care areas. Check with your supervisor for the procedure for your unit. Get more information at http://jagwire.augusta.edu/alert.

Operations at Augusta University and its health system continue as normal today despite the boil water advisory for Richmond County. All clinical and university units in the enterprise, including the Children’s Hospital of Georgia, are fully functional. Students, faculty and staff should report to classes as usual. Patients, faculty and staff are cautioned not to […]

The Augusta Utilities Department has experienced a brief incident of high turbidity in finished water at the Highland Avenue Water Treatment Plant. The service area for the Highland Avenue plant is the area North of Gordon Highway, Fort Gordon and East Augusta.  This area includes all Augusta University campuses and all health system facilities in […]

Cerner Health Conference (CHC) is Cerner’s annual industry-leading event for health care and information technology professionals. It’s immersive, experiential and peer-to-peer learning. It’s solution exploration that helps you deliver care while proactively managing the health of your community and the financial health of your organization. It’s networking with professionals who share a passion for advancing […]

As we started talking with you, we heard that you felt the end of April deadline for transitioning departmental folders was too tight. We brought up your concern to our leadership and they listened. We will be able to keep Novell another year!

Every other month, the Quality Matters Instructional Designers Association (free professional membership) will provide a free webinar for members, starting February 2016. Members asked for free professional development in the needs analysis conducted last year. These free webinars are provided to meet this need for instructional designers. The first 30 minutes will be presentation followed […]

You are invited to join Affordable Learning Georgia at the next web event: Title: GALILEO and Library Resources in Affordable Courses Date and Time: February 10, 2016, 12:00pm-1:00pm Location: Online, Blackboard Collaborate Description: GALILEO and your institution’s library have been providing high-quality, affordable educational resources for many years. Along with OER and no-cost web resources, […]

Harry Potter is coming to Augusta University libraries! Read all about it below.

We are required to complete 2015 Annual Compliance by February 22, 2016. When you log in through https://train.gru.edu to find your Assignments. You can expect the following: if you are a University employee, you’ll be asked to complete the 10 modules for 2015 Compliance if you are a Health System employee, you’ll be asked to […]

During the Spring 2016 semester, I am offering embedded hours for the Dental College of Georgia in addition to my usual embedded hours for the College of Allied Health Sciences. Note: While walk-ins are welcome, booking an appointment ensures that you will not have to wait. To schedule an appointment, please visit my online booking […]

Do you have a desire to improve and ensure quality course design? If so, the Online Learning Consortium’s Mastery Series in Instructional Design provides you with the opportunity to explore trusted instructional design techniques that will have a positive impact on the learning environments in which you work. Join a facilitator who is an expert […]

We will phase out the Novell shares and move to Box based on the following timeline: Box Design: meetings are taking place right now between each department and us (instructional systems analyst and instructional designer) to design the folder architecture and permissions in Box and help put in place departmental policies related to Box. Box […]

A fantastic opportunity is available for Augusta University faculty and students to visit China. Visit the Confucius Institute for more details.  

The logos are here and they are looking great! Love the minimalistic but clever design of an A (the bell tower) within a U (the shield). Please visit: augusta.edu/brand to learn more about our new brand and download available logos and marks Jagwire.augusta.edu for the full story of our journey to this day. Watch a […]

The GR-Secure network is going down at 9 pm today, for emergency maintenance. For more details, see http://www.geolawsdesign.com/calendar/.

The Spring 2016 semester is about to start. I’d like to wish everyone a successful semester! I invite you to work with me if you need any refreshers or can use help setting up your course(s). My schedule is filling up fast. Let me know if you need an appointment and cannot reserve one in […]

Both Google and The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) have set up websites letting you track Santa’s location in real time for the next 24 hours.

Share requests are made a semester ahead; therefore, we invite you to submit your share requests for Summer 2016. Please see the Share Request Form on my Templates page.

This morning we just got the December continuous release for Brighstapce/D2L. Those new icons are mighty good looking! If you have any questions or need any training, please do not hesitate to contact me. Have a great weekend!  

The FantasTech Virtual Conference is open for registration and Call for Proposals.   The conference will be held February 5-12, 2016 and the CFP deadline is December 19th. Join us for this exceptional conference. You don’t have to worry about what to wear – just dress your avatar! This is a REAL virtual conference where you […]

Look for the 2015 annual compliance training for University employees (Health Sciences and Summerville) through Workforce Learn Online on December 21st. University employees will have 60 days to complete all assignments in this course.  The deadline date for this course to be completed is February 22, 2016. The University Compliance Program was created to ensure the […]

The Graduate Certificate in Traditional Chinese Medicine offered through the Physical Therapy department in collaboration with the Augusta University Confucius Institute is going to be offered from January 11, 2016. Congratulations team TCM!!! For details on the certificate, click the image below and/or visit the Traditional Chinese Medicine page.

Have you visited Santa’s village yet? If Santa were to come to geolawsdesign.com, what would you like him to bring?

I just recorded a new intro video for this website, to proudly use our new Augusta University name. Check it out!

The booking system has been fixed and service has been restored. Feel free to resume making appointments with me as usual.

[1] For the first time ever, my Acuity Scheduling system is down.

For those using iSpring, the iSpring Suite 8.1 has just been released.

Today we have two official name changes taking place: Georgia Regents University becomes Augusta University College of Dental Medicine becomes Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University. I look forward to the official logos, expected to come out in a few days/weeks. PS: Today also happens to be the national day of my native Romania […]

This month I am beginning to offer embedded hours for the Dental College of Georgia in addition to my usual embedded hours for the College of Allied Health Sciences. Note: While walk-ins are welcome, booking an appointment ensures that you will not have to wait. To schedule an appointment, please visit my online booking system. […]

In an effort to capture the latest course, faculty, and student enrollment data, D2L/Brighstpace course shell creation for Spring 2016 will not begin until November 24, 2015 (moved up from the initial estimated 2 weeks before Day 1 of the semester). Sandbox Courses In the mean time, however, if you wish to start working on […]

Two weeks ago, Augusta University President, Dr. Brooks Keel announced that the College of Dental Medicine will be renamed the Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University. You can find the details here.

I just created a Templates page through which  will share forms and templates commonly used in instructional design.

The idea of a visual resume has been brewing in my mind for 3 years but I’ve been unable to materialize my vision because I simply could not figure out how to fit all those 20+ years of experience onto one clutter-free page.

I was very sad to hear of the events that just took place in Paris, France.

This week, America celebrates distance learning. There are many free and paid events going on around the country. For details, please visit the United States Distance Learning Association website. I had the privilege of giving a presentation at the 2015 NDLW conference sponsored by the University of South Carolina, Aiken. Many thanks to the organizer, […]

The new cloud-based file-sharing and storage service for university employees, staff and students allows your files to live in one place that you can access quickly from your desktop or mobile device, from work, home or the classroom.  

Supported by $2.5 Million Gates Foundation Grant. The Online Learning Consortium is pleased to announce a new prize competition which will recognize exemplar higher education faculty and institutions for advancing and adopting next-generation digital courseware with a strong pedagogical focus and sustained impact on student success among underserved student groups. The OLC Digital Learning Innovation Prize is […]

Please refer to the details of this event and, for the free shuttle bus info, refer to this earlier news post.

All halls will be open, and no meals will be served during Fall Pause. Enjoy the break!

For university employees, benefits open enrollment will begin on Nov. 2 and continue through Nov. 13. Wellness and Benefits Fair: Nov. 4 | 9 a.m-3 p.m. | GRU Student Center on the Health Sciences Campus.

The deadline for faculty and departments to submit Spring Academic Session textbook and course material information to the JagStore. Timely submission improves the ability for the JagStore to procure more used and rental textbooks, which are significantly cheaper for our students.

Recently, the GRU WebEx environment was the target of malicious activity. As part of our security investigation, Cisco has recommended that we make modifications to all GRU WebEX environments to avoid these problems in the future.  The following changes will be made on Friday October 9, at 5:00pm. 1.       Global call in numbers will be […]

What: Chinese Dance Performance Where: Kroc Center Chapel Theater (1833 Broad Street) When: 7-9 pm on Oct 21, 2015 Cost: $0 Getting there and back: We will provide 3 shuttle buses (Summerville/Health Sciences/Village Routes), as follows: Shuttle buses Schedule: 5:30 pm Shuttle arrives at the GRU Village/Summerville/Health Sciences Campus 5:45 pm Shuttle bus departs for […]

Today Augusta University  President, Dr. Brooks Keel announced the launch of Jagwire, an online news site that replaces GReport.    

The Confucius Institute warmly invites you and your family to come celebrate the Moon Festival (basically the Chinese version of our Thanksgiving holiday) the evening of Thursday, October 1st, from 7 pm, at the Summerville JSAC ballroom (not the amphitheater, due to projected bad weather). What To Expect Among others, you will enjoy a lantern […]

Today GRU President, Dr. Brooks Keel, announced that the USG Board of Regents voted to change our university’s name to Augusta University. According to the press, this name change is effective immediately. Fore more details, please see the President’s announcement. Wishing everyone a great day at GRU/AU and here is Bobby McFerrin to brighten your […]

The 2015 Virtual Learning Summit Conference (VLS) will take place November 4. Discover the strategies and tactics the PROs use to make online learning engaging, fun and memorable. World Bank, The Gates Foundation, INXPO, NetSpeed Learning and others will present live, interactive sessions to help you Create Great Learning Experiences…Virtually! Register now for free. Session […]