Monthly Archives: January 2009

MIIS Approved for iTunes U Public Presence

The Monterey Institute of International Studies was recently approved by Apple for inclusion in the public portion of iTunes U. This means that MIIS will now show up when people search for the Institute through the iTunes Store. iTunes U can be used to distribute media content to faculty, staff, students, and the general public in the form of podcasts. Audio and video podcasts are available to download free of cost, and can then be watched on a computer or portable device whenever, wherever.

Our iTunes U presence will serve as a valuable recruitment tool, offering an inexpensive way to explain the benefits MIIS has to offer potential students. With the help of the Digital Media Commons, we hope to create an army of podcasters across the globe. Visit MIIS on iTunes U and help MIIS gain recognition as we reach out and share our stories with the world.

Moodle Gets a Makeover

Moodle, the Institute’s eLearning site, recently received its first official makeover. Visual and functional improvements were made in order to enhance the Moodle experience. In addition, since some content currently contained within FirstClass may eventually be moved to Moodle, we hope that these improvements will encourage faculty, staff, and students to use Moodle on a regular basis.

The new features include the following:

  • Color scheme
  • Dropdown navigation menus
    As you roll over the main navigation menu, you will notice that additional links appear in the form of a dropdown menu. These links will help Moodle visitors locate other important resources.

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  • Social media icons

    Moodle now serves as a portal to the MIIS website, iTunes U, Flickr, YouTube, and FirstClass. By including these links we hope to strengthen the connection between the Institute’s numerous web presences.

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  • Improvements to the Course Request Form
    The revised Course Request Form now guides users through the process of requesting a new Moodle space by providing specific examples. These changes will streamline the course request process and cut down on the time it takes to create new Moodle courses.

If you have any suggestions for future Moodle renovations, please comment and let us know!

WeAreMedia Workshop: Pre-Workshop Activity

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Who We Are

We are Kristen and Rob from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.

Kristen Byers
New Media Development Specialist
Kristen leads and collaborates in the development of web and new media content initiatives. She also helps others develop digital media production skills.

Rob Horgan
Enrollment Manager
Rob manages the recruiting office’s presence on both English and foreign language social networking sites, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

MIIS is currently using social media in a variety of ways:

Blogs: MIIS uses a variety of student and staff blogs. One of these blogs, the Monterey Focus, combines the RSS feeds of several blogs to create a more comprehensive resource for students, faculty, and staff.

Delicious: This social bookmarking tool has been used by several staff members to share useful websites with one another. We hope to expand on this idea with the debut of a new student portal; we would like to see a delicious portion where students can begin collecting links to digital resources for portfolio development purposes.

Facebook: The Institute currently manages a Facebook page with over 1,600 fans. The Facebook page is used to promote upcoming events, aggregate MIIS-related RSS feeds, and allow prospective/current students and alumni to network.

Flickr: MIIS has a Flickr account containing a modest 307 public photos. Steps are in place to turn this into a much larger photo repository in the near future.

iTunes U: MIIS recently debuted a public presence on iTunes U. We have also started an initiative called “Global Voices” to help populate our iTunes U site with interesting content.

LinkedIn: The MIIS LinkedIn Group welcomes all current students, faculty, and alumni for professional development networking.

Ning: Bob Cole recently created a Ning to use as a class space for MW 580: Digital Media For Change. We are curious to see how he uses Ning to enhance his series of workshops.

Twitter: The recruiting office recently created a Twitter account and we are currently researching how to tweet effectively.

Yammer: Yammer is the communication tool of choice among many staff members at the Institute. It’s great for sharing ideas and events and encourages collaboration across departments.

YouTube: The MIIS YouTube channel, organized into a variety of playlists, offers a glimpse at the diverse fields of study offered at MIIS.

Personal Experience Using Social Media

Kristen is a blogger of 10 years and has been a member of Facebook since August 2004. She is also an avid Twitter user and maintains an active profile on LinkedIn.

Rob is intrigued by social media, although he is relatively new to some of it. Rob helps manage the MIIS presences on Facebook, mixi (a Japanese social networking site), and YouTube. He is a member of LinkedIn and is also familiar with Second Life. Right now Rob is trying to understand the Twitter phenomenon. Maybe you can help him?

The Future of Social Media @ MIIS

The main MIIS website is currently undergoing an extensive redesign. We would like to make media (including social media) the main focus of the new site. By attending the WeAreMedia workshop, we hope to gain a better understanding of where to place our blogs, videos, and social networks in order to maximize their effectiveness. We are also interested in learning strategies and best practices for microblogging; specifically, we would like to create a successful MIIS presence on Twitter.