Providing teachers from around the U.S. world class training and professional development opportunities.
From July 11th -15th over 70 teachers from the around the U.S. will be coming to Towson to take part in the Oracle Academy at Towson University. While on campus, teachers will be staying in dormitories as well as the Towson University Marriott and will even utilize campus dining services for their meals throughout the week.
The Oracle Academy is a cutting edge program that provides educational institutions with industry-leading software, curriculum, support, and certification resources that faculty can integrate into their classrooms. As a result, these teachers can then assist their students in gaining hands on experience with the latest technologies and develop skills that will help them excel in the 21st century workplace while developing their technical, analytical, and business skills.
Currently, Oracle Academy Instructors’ Institutes are in Romania, Egypt, Czech-Republic, China and USA. However, there are only 4 states in the U.S. that currently house an Instructors Institute, Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, and Maryland. The Oracle Academy is said to support over 850,000 students in 91 countries through their instruction.
The Oracle Academy has 3 specific areas of instruction:
In December of 2010 Towson University’s EEOL, in partnership with the MTA kicked off its Master Trainer Certification Program. The program, which currently consists of 2 sessions, a fall session and spring session, runs for approximately 2 weeks. Currently, there are 5 groups working to complete their certification. Approximately 15 MTA employees take part in each session. The overall goal of the Master Trainer Program is to give trainers the opportunity to upgrade their skills and learn from the field. Through designing and implementing this program and curriculum, EEOL instructors ensure consistent training methods are being instilled and concepts that address the broad spectrum of trainers at MTA are being met.
Topics covered in the 2-week training include, but are not limited to,
How Adults Learn,
Instructional Design for New Designers,
Instructional Techniques for New Instructors,
Training Needs Analysis,
and Presentation.
Upon training completion, each MTA employee does a 5-minute+ presentation.
Edward Moore, a Project Manager for the MTT workforce group has completed session one of his training, and stated,
“After many years as a training instructor with the MTA, I can truly say that the Master Trainer Program has shown me that the preparation and delivery of training programs should be done in a systematic manner. It has shown me better ways of taking control of the classroom and to be more effective in my delivery of the material. This was a wonderful course and the benefits to me in my everyday work life far exceed what I expected from the training. It also helped that the Towson instructors were top notch in their field.”
EEOL hopes to expand this newly created and highly successful training model across the state of Maryland.
I heard about a series taking place on LIVE! with Regis & Kelly last week where Regis was learning how to “tweet” in 15 minutes a day. Then, on Sunday morning I was catching up on some DVR’d television shows, and while watching Grey’s Anatomy I picked up on the storyline that Chief Webber was upset with Bailey because she was “tweetering” during surgery. Both Regis and the Chief ended up seeing the benefits of Twitter for their business by the end of the storyline.
Similar circumstances and fears that Regis and Chief Webber faced seem to affect employers in the real business world. They are usually intimidated, don’t understand Twitter, or think that all this social media stuff is just for college aged students, but with a little research and guidance they begin to see how Twitter can add to the marketing plan for their business.
I talked about this with my colleague, Bobbie Laur, who is a project manager with the Integrated Marketing Team and also dabbles in teaching the ins and outs of social media. She has a few tips for the small business owner who is entering the twitter world:
Know your audience—using a twitter search app you can easily identify and begin following the influencers in your region and industry.
Perfect your profile—Having an articulate and intriguing profile will be the key to attracting followers.
Manage your tweets—Twitter can be overwhelming, especially initially, so use a management tool like tweetdeck or hootsuite to assist in scheduling and managing your tweets.
Twitter is just one of many applications available to businesses today to assist with increasing brand recognition, building customer relationships, and increasing sales. IMT helps clients evaluate their social media marketing efforts and consider which social media tools will benefit them the most.
Research shows it only takes about 17 seconds to make a lasting impression. When you first meet someone, you only get a few glimpses of their personality, but it is enough to make you either want to learn more or to make you lose interest.
The Executive Summary works in a similar way. It is the very first impression you give to a potential investor and the most important part of a business plan. So, how do you write a winning executive summary?
The main purpose of an executive summary is to explain your business in a clear and concise way. Investors, CEOs, and lenders are busy and the executive summary may be the only thing they will ever read. Tell the reader where your company is and where it’s headed, but most of all, show why you think your business will succeed. Do not explain your entire plan, but highlight the key points. Providing meaningless details is a mistake that small businesses often make. Also, clear your vocabulary of superlatives and clichés; avoid using terms like “the best,” “groundbreaking,” “cutting-edge,” and “world class.” Investors see these words too often; they hold no value and might make your project’s weaknesses much more evident. Be straightforward.
Photo credit: SXC, Brian Griesbaum
To make a powerful argument, you have to structure the summary in an organized way. A successful executive summary should have the following key elements:
a description of your company, including your products and/or services
your mission statement
your business’s management/the team
the market and your customer
marketing and sales plans
your competition
your business’s operations
financial projections and plans
To write the executive summary for your business plan, start by following the list above and writing one to three sentences about each topic.
Trying to describe your entire business in only a few pages isn’t easy, but if you wait until you have finished the business plan, the executive summary will practically write itself. Once you’re done, ask a friend or someone else to review it. If they seem bored, or have no idea of what your business is about, then it will probably have the same effect on investors.
To view executive summary templates, and for additional information, visit TowsonGlobal’s Entrepreneurs Portal.
Within DECO, many units thrive and are well-known at Towson University and in the surrounding community. Applied research units such as the Center for GIS (CGIS), the Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI), Extended Education and Online Learning (EEOL), and Information Systems Solutions (ISS) have been providing services for Maryland State Agencies and the private industry for many years. To better serve such clients and the units of DECO, a new group has emerged known as the DECO Data Center (DDC).
The DDC, led by Steve Marshall, Director, is a group of IT specialists and engineers that focus on providing IT consulting, managed hosting, and help desk services. To learn more about the DDC and how this group can help your organization, check out this video:
For those that voted—No it wasn’t Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, or Rudolph—our 2010 holiday video card includes our talented staff and students singing (and in some cases dancing) to our version of the 12 Days of Christmas. Jenn Lake, our student graphic designer, deserves a big THANK YOU for all her work in producing this year’s video.
In the world of workforce training, determining trends year-to-year comes down program popularity. In other words – what trainings will produce JOBS! When I asked Gordon Davis, our Educational Consultant, what the hottest programs on the market have been for the past year he immediately said, “That’s an easy question: Project Management, and Medical Coding and Billing.”
In as little as 6 to 12 months, depending on your own schedule you have the ability to become certified online in any of the above fields. Prerequisites are not required!
It takes 3-6 months and 56 hours of coursework to fully prepare yourself to sit for the PMP Exam to become PMI Certified. This course is self-paced with 24/7 access as well as direct contact with an instructor if mentor assistance is needed.
Why not train for one of the hottest and fastest growing careers in the medical industry? In the Medical Coding and Billing Certification course, you’ll learn the essentials of Medical Coding and Billing, including evaluation and management coding, proper billing procedures for Medicare and private insurance companies, anatomy and medical terminology, claims appeals and more. Studies show that Medical Coders and Billers are paid accordingly for their skills. The average starting pay for a certified Medical Coder is about $35,000 per year, with veterans in the field making over $50,000.
In preparation for this blog, I took a look back at some of my posts from the past year and came across these two that highlighted additional programs focused on workforce training:
If you have questions on how to take the next step into a new career, please contact our Educational Consultant Gordon Davis at 410-704-4743 or gmdavis@towson.edu.
In some of the remotest areas of North and South America the elusive peccary (known as javelinas here in the US), a pig-like mammal about the size of a of a large dog, lives in closely knit social groups. Peccaries once roamed most of the Americas in a nearly unbroken band from north to south. What is the situation today?
Am I peaking your interest? It does mine. Perhaps you are more interested in human geography, literature, sociology, anthropology, biology, or history. All of these topics and more have been covered bi-weekly in the basement of Linthicum Hall as part of the “What Matters” speaker series hosted by the Department of Geography and Environmental Planning (G&EP).
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The series is the genesis of Dr. Jeremy Tasch, G&EP. Dr. Tasch started the series last year as way to engage G&EP students and department faculty and spur interest in geography research projects. Initially, the series was a means for G&EP faculty to share their research interests among themselves and their students. This year the focus has shifted to the convergence of geography and other academic disciplines. Professors from outside of G&EP have been asked to share their cross-discipline interests with geography enthusiasts and others at Towson University. Ultimately, the hope is to find common ground among the various disciplines and encourage new explorations and research.
Topics this year have covered seemingly disparate disciplines and have traversed the globe. The peccary discussion was given by Dr. Harald Beck, Department of Biology, in mid September and covered his research in the remote Cocha Cashu Biological Station in Manu National Park, Peru . Two weeks ago Dr. Dana Phillips, Department of English, gave a talk focusing on eco-criticism and discussed topics exploring individuals’ relations to nature and place within the context of contemporary literature. The talk focused on a piece of “found” literature, a haiku poem stumbled upon while fishing in the region’s Gunpowder River.
This week’s talk is scheduled for Friday November 12 at 3:30pm in room 014 Linthicum Hall. Dr. Matthew Durington, Department of Sociology, will present “Walking the new Media City of Baltimore,” which explores the dilemmas of community historic designation.
About those peccaries. Today, over-hunting and habitat destruction has led to their absence in a growing number of locations. The loss of this one species has profound impacts on the biodiversity and health of local environments. Peccaries have been found to consume over 200 different plant seeds, affecting the distribution and success of various plant species. In some areas of they create mud wallows which provide better habitat then naturally occurring vernal ponds for various amphibians.
Lots of people have innovative ideas, some of us just don’t know how to turn those ideas into money making businesses. What if you had the chance to take your idea and WIN access to the resources you need to turn that idea into a successful business? That opportunity is here.
To encourage small business growth and innovation, TowsonGlobal, Towson University’s Business Incubator, is launching an exciting new Business Plan Competition. The grand prize winner will receive a 90-day Resident membership valued at $5,000 (includes office space, mentoring/advisory services and more), plus a CASH prize!
Competition entrants must be pre-start up or early stage innovative businesses or entrepreneurs who have a fairly well developed idea or technology and are interested in receiving support to develop the business. The competition is open to Towson University Faculty, Staff, Students, and the general business community.
Here’s how the Business Plan Competition will work:
Round 1: Entrants will submit a 3-5 page executive summary by February 7, 2011.
Round 2: Six finalists will be selected, and they will have one month to finalize their full business plans.
Round 3: The winner will be chosen on April 11 when finalists present their plans to a panel of university and business experts.
Business Plan Competition details, eligibility requirements, and timeline can be found under The Entrepreneurs Portal at www.towsonglobal.com.
Questions? Attend one of the following information sessions to learn more about TowsonGlobal and the Business Plan Competition:
Thursday, November 11, 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.
Wednesday, November 17, 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
Friday, December 3, 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.
To RSVP for an information session call 410-769-6449 or email info@towsonglobal.com.
Wondering what should be included in your business plan? Helpful information and templates can be found at TowsonGlobal’s Entrepreneurs Portal, a one-stop online resource for those looking to start and run their own business.
I was lucky enough to attend the Usability Professionals’ Association (DC Metro Chapter) User Focus conference on October 15, 2010. First, I must give myself a pat on the back. After 13 years in Baltimore, I finally went out on a limb and took the MARC train from Baltimore’s Penn Station to DC’s Union Station. Besides a few smirks when I told the attendants that I needed help, it was really a great experience and I will NEVER drive to DC or a DC metro station again if I can avoid it. But, onto more important subjects…the conference!
The conference was amazing! In my wildest dreams, I never expected to learn as much as I did in one day.
Photo Credit: Social Media Blogster
I was inspired in the morning by
Steve Krug, keynote speaker and author of Don’t Make Me Think. His 45 minute enjoyable talk and question/answer session about usability testing made me rethink some of our internal process for web mapping projects.
I was asked to “consider the human” during Marti Hearst’s keynote presentation. The information in her presentation encouraged us to plan for users by considering feeling, language, memory aids, and socialibility. A side note – you can read her book, Search User Interfaces, online for FREE!
I was thrilled with the session content.Topics ranged from mobile design and evaluation to aligning business goals with user needs. I learned how to trick senior management into understanding the benefits of user experience and how to excite users about services they might not necessarily be interested in by using psychology to engage them in the content.
Besides the presentations during the conference, it was great to see familiar faces from the Baltimore area. I ran into a few former classmates and even a former TU colleague. In the morning Steve Krug commented that there are only 10,000 usability professionals in the world who have a job title that truly falls into that category. With the Web growing day by day, and technology and presentation methods evolving constantly, there is a need for this growing profession to stay on top of their game by continuing to improve best practices. This conference was just what I needed to help with continuing to learn more and more about user experience.
Posted by Allie Pyzik 
Guest Blogger
Bobbie Laur
Sharyn Grove
Jeremy Monn
Raquel Frye
Clay Hickson
Dawn Bott
Lindsey Meyer
Allie Pyzik
Daraius Irani
Past Bloggers
Jenn Lake
Kelsey Beckett
Timothy Brooks
Ashley Buzzeo
Matt Michels
Nicole Schiraldi
