Efficiency + Organization
Increased Productivity, Less Work, and More Fun!

Friday, Nov. 30, 2012
CVCC Room 3212, Bedford Hall
1:00-4:00 PM
Lunch at 12:00 Noon

PROGRAM
In this Hands-on workshop, participants will learn ways to improve their workflow and save time every semester in dealing with their syllabi and course calendars. Ian Taylor will provide training through two of his productivity modules, Syllabus Formulation and Calendar Organization.

Syllabus Formulation
Minimize the amount of work required to update syllabi for new course sections each semester
Identify static (unchanging) and dynamic (changing by course/semester) information
Revise syllabi to minimize replicated work.

Calendar Organization
Create a digital course calendar for scheduling assignments and course section dates to easily share with students
Use technology to prevents unnecessary replications or work

What to bring to the workshop
Course Syllabus (digital format), Existing Course Calendar
Writing supplies (pen/paper or digital device)
VCCS login information

This event is sponsored by the CVCC Distance Education Center and Central Virginia Regional Center for Teaching Excellence

Register by Nov. 27!!  Call 434-832-7743

The countdown has begun for the upgrade of Blackboard to version 9.1 Service Pack 9 starting noon Saturday November 17 and ending Sunday November 18 at 2:00 pm. During the upgrade, Blackboard will be unavailable to faculty and students as has always been the process in previous upgrades. Be sure you alert students even though alerts have been posted in the Blackboard portal page!!

Even though the VWCC Testing Center is open until 1:00pm November 17, Blackboard testing will conclude at noon.

Radiography Club Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser!

Saturday, November 17
8 am to 10am
Bonsack Applebees

All you can eat pancakes and sausage, plus unlimited coffee, tea or water!

Tickets are $6. See any Radiography Club member to buy tickets. Students are on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Anderson 140.

For more information, contact Ashleigh Overstreet, club president, at aro227@email.vccs.edu.

Time to do some holiday cleaning!! Goodwill donation boxes are  located inside all over campus! Stop by any location and you will find a "white" box for the your donations!  We have placed a 24hr drop box located in parking lot #7 (Webber lot) for your donations! There will also be a Goodwill truck on campus Wednesday, November 14th, from 8am -noon if a tax receipt is needed. The donation boxes will be here until Friday, November 16th!

The video of Operation Blue Star Bedlam, which was shown in the Hotwash last week, is now available on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.  A big THANK YOU to B. Bagby and the Media Geeks for their hard work and dedication to making the video.

You may view the video at:         VWConnect > Crisis Management > Videos & Resource Libraries > Operation Blue Star Bedlam > YouTube Video of Event. This site can only be accessed from a desktop on campus or from your virtual desktop off campus.

Your Exercise Planning Team,

• Mike Shelton, Human Resources Director
• Craig Harris, Chief of Campus Police
• Heidi McClintic, Human Resources Analyst

Stop by Chapman Hall (outside the bookstore) to get a free cup of hot chocolate on Wednesday, November 14 from 9:30- whenever it is gone.  Also collecting donations for the Stop Hunger Now event.

If you would like to sign up to volunteer for the SHN event please register at http://events.stophungernow.org/vawestern

Many of you may have noticed that the image on the screen in the classrooms is now wider than it is tall (much like a movie screen or newer television).  This ratio of wide to tall is called "Screen Ratio".  The standard that many of you are used to is 4:3.  This is an image that is nearly square, much like older televisions.  Unfortunately, though this screen ratio is little in use anymore, most PowerPoint slides are still being made to this ratio meaning either your slides don't fill the screen, or are stretched wide in an unappealing manner.   So, what do we do???

In Powerpoint, you can change your slides to be 16:9.  This is much closer to the actual ratio of your image in the classroom (and on most of your computers as well).  Do change the screen ratio:

1. Open PowerPoint

1. Open PowerPoint
2. Click on the Design tab at the top of the application
3. Click on Page Setup
4. Under "Slides sized for" select "On-screen Show (16:9)

Now your slides will be the right size and ratio.  Please note:  Most slides will look okay, but some are very likely to look very bad.  PowerPoint will do its best to move things around to fit, but it's not usually very good at it.   So, if you resize your slides, be sure to build in some time to tweak them all to make them look good.

If you make new slides, be sure to change to the new 16:9 ratio before you start designing your slides, and everything will turn out alright.

If you've got any questions about this, reach out to the Media Geeks.  We're always happy to help!