Message from the President... Welcome to the Educator Users’ Group! Both as faculty and as Director of the Center for Teaching/Learning & Technology at Judson College in Marion, Alabama, I have been enjoying teaching with Educator for the last three years, as well as helping others on this campus in their quest to achieve the very best in online communication and exchange of information for both on-campus and for distance courses. However, there is always so much more that I need to learn! It is my hope that all of you in the Educator Users’ Group - such a creative and enthusiastic team of educators and IT professionals - will be willing to share ideas and to help to build a collection of “tips and tricks,” as well as to help answer questions and solve problems for fellow users. Since we are all coming to this from a slightly different perspective, we are so well placed to help each other learn new techniques and approaches. My particular focus at this time is on the development of “hybrid” courses which combine the best of both on-campus and online courses. My most developed hybrid course is BIO 204 Biochemical Nutrition, and I would love to hear what others are doing in this area. The more people who are involved in this effort, the more valuable it will be, so we are searching for volunteers in a number of areas. For example, we are hoping to have some regional best-practices conferences in the near future. If you would like to host a conference or help in the planning of one, please let us know. Also, if you would like to take on a task, such as maintaining the Educator Users’ Group calendar of events, please let us know that as well. We welcome all suggestions. I hope to hear from you soon. Ruth Kastenmayer rkastenmayer@judson.edu

2005 - 2006 Officers President: Ruth Kastenmayer, Director Judson Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology, Judson College Marion, Alabama rkastenmayer@judson.edu Vice-President: Joanne Jones, AO Project Specialist / OITC Instructor Macomb Community College, Warren, Michigan jonesj@macomb.edu Past Officers 2003 President: Linda Ehley, Alverno College Vice President: Sheryl Woods, ECAP 2002 President: Anne Forte, Walsh College Vice President: John Morris, American Public University System Articles about EducatorTM EducatorTM: A learning system that optimizes natural communication in the online classroom A Select LMS Comparison Chart