Blogs in Marketing Your Gen Ed Business

I use WordPress for this blog. Many have asked how to learn more about it. There is a little video talking about why you should use WordPress.com for your blog. Take a look. You can see it here.

Business Card Design

The Hermit poet and I were discussing business card design last night. He was particularly pleased with how his new card as editor of Box Car Poetry Review looks. Mine is very basic so I took out my cache of your cards collected at conferences across the continent, and through daily business to look them over. Mine is OK but not stellar. Here are six ideas I think might improve our business cards and make them more usable. Of course the card will not compensate for a dirty shirt, or a dab of Dijon’s on your chin.

Post Script to Transcription

Saw this reference the other day. you might want to check it out:

Michael E. Stevens and Steven B. Burg, Editing Historical Documents: A Handbook of Practice (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 1997)

Alternate Teaching Models: Behavioral Models

Based on the work of Skinner, a large number of approaches to learning have been developed, each taking advantage of the learner’s ability to modify behavior in response to tasks and feedback. Essentially, stimulus and response. These models are used in a wide variety of applications, from teaching information to changing habits, decreasing phobias, and learning to control one’s own behavior.

Models for Building Web-based Instruction

While researching “learning dyads” I found this interesting paper on approaches to on-line course design. Click here if you are curious enough to read an academic paper. What do you think?

Nothing to do with Genealogy Education

The Hermit Poet performed recenty at a Vancouver arts community event. I’m proud to be a part of his life.

Getting Attention: The Core Concept of Marketing

Putting together a lecture tour is hard work. I only gave myself seven months lead time, a big mistake. You need time to build relationships with potential host genealogy groups. Its been claimed that the essence of marketing services like genealogy lectures and workshops is getting attention. Recently I learned about four main ways to get attention; clearly communicating your marketing message.

The four ways to communicate your marketing message are by communicating the following:

Apprentice Adventures #8

This week we are looking at another article. My apprentice has been reading and re-reading Kay Germain Ingalls great article, “Cherchez la femme! Looking for Female Ancestors” in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly Vol.88, No. 3 (Sept 2000) pp. 165-176. Her assignment was to create questions to be used either in a discussion group, or in multiple choice form for use in a test, or on-line course situation. The task of creating questions causes the reader to read a little closer.

Apprentice Adventures #7

My apprentice was over on Thursday and we discussed her assignments. First we discussed her reading of Christine Rose’s book, Genealogical Proof Standard, Building a Solid Case (CR Publications, 2005).

This was excellant preparation for the other reading, Connie Lenzen’s article, “Heritage Books and Family Lore: A Jackson Test in Missouri and Idaho.”National Genealogical Society Quarterly Vol. 86, No. 1 (March 1998) pp.19-36. My instructions were to read the article four times very carefully. The day before our meeting she emailed, “Now I know why you said read it over 4 times! In the past, when I got to stuff like this I just put down conflicting information and bypassed it. Now I now what to do”

Workbooks: Another Look at a Useful Tool

A good workbook can reinforce or expand on your lessons, workshops or lectures by reviewing and expanding on concepts you introduce in your aural presentation. It does this by asking each learner personally to respond to your questions. Lets explore this a bit.