A Call for Help Part 2

Hi all - I have made just small progress in finding some HR Tech vendors to partner with me on my upcoming HR Technology Class, so I thought I would re-post the original entry and try to get the word out again.

To those folks that did contact me and offer some suggestions, thanks very much it is greatly appreciated.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please HR Tech vendors, help!!!

I am preparing to teach my HR Technology Class at RIT this Winter, and I am hopeful that I can recruit some assistance and partnership from the HR Technology community.  I am in need of some 'hands-on' experiences and exercises for my students in HR Tech, and I really need some folks in the vendor community who would be willing to participate.

My ideal scenario would be to obtain access to a hosted demo or test instance of your software, set up and design some scenarios for my class, and let me really learn what cutting-edge, enterprise HR software is all about.

In the past the only important vendor that has shown willingness to participate in my class is SpectrumHR, and I can't say how fantastic and supportive they have been to work with.  They have been over and beyond my expectations.

But what I could use the most is for one of the major Talent Management vendors to step up. Anyone from SuccessFactors, Halogen, or Taleo?

How about Workday? I would kill for the chance to get my class in any of these packages.

Look at it this way, if the economic crisis is here, you may have some time on your hands for some 'pro-bono' work.

So, I am asking, no basically begging, if anyone can help me on this, or knows someone who can, drop me a note at steveboese@gmail.com, or leave a comment.

Thanks!

Subscribe!

photo credit - FlickR - aspengull

Friends?

Just about every college student is on Facebook, no?

More and more faculty members are on there as well.

Should faculty members 'friend' students and vice versa?

Facebook profile pic - old folks usually include their kid

Some research from the Gartner Group, The Business Impact of Social Computing on Higher Education makes the following observations: 

1. The current popularity and continued growth of higher education users' (students) participation in social software suggest (these tools) should be added to the existing range of collaboration support options.

 2. Many innovative and interesting intersections exist between institutional structures and  extrainstitutional environments.

If every student in your class is already on Facebook, with at least some of them connected to each other, doesn't it make sense to try and engage them there?  Would possibly some students prefer that to the more sterile, academic course management system?

It is amazingly simple to post content, make comments, recommend sources of information there.  Additionally, the wider audience of past and potentially future students can also be engaged.

I started this blog as a class example of how simple it is to set up and begin a blog.  I (mostly) tailor the content to students and really expected most of the readers would be students. 

The reality is when students do read the blog, they almost always do via a posted item from Facebook (or once in a while from Twitter).  I have had more student interaction on Facebook Wall posts than on Blog comments.

Marketers need to find their target markets, if your target is college students, you'd better start on Facebook.

So to answer my original question, I am not seeking out students to 'Friend', but if one reaches out to me, I will certainly accept. Would some students prefer not to have an Insructor poking around their posted photos from some college party?  Probably, but students also need to understand the same photos they might not want their instructor to see, are probably going to be checked out by a recruiter or hiring manager down the road.

Subscribe!

Class Introductions

What kinds of information about the students is it important for an Instructor to have before a new class begins?

Most instructors, I would think, do some kind or introduction activity (unless the class is too large) in the first class session.  Most of these are kind of dull, normally the standard, 'Tell us your name, where you work, what are you hoping to get from the class' kind of stuff.

I have made Wordles from class introduction statements, which are pretty cool, but don't really tell me that much.

This class I am going to send out a pre-class survey to get a better feel for the students and whether some of my more unorthodox approaches are going to work.

Some questions I am considering:

What philosopher said - 'Wars not make one great'?

Hint:

Flickr - niallkennedy

Choose one - Death Cab for Cutie, Band of Horses, Jack's Mannequin or Who the heck are they?

If you could be a superhero, which one would you choose?

What is Twitter?

I know these kinds of questions have nothing to do with academics, or HR Technology, but I need to know how loose and fun and willing to explore new things the class will be.

What else should I ask the class before the first session?

Subscribe!

Why have an HR Technology Course?

So why is there an HR Technology Course in our Human Resource Development program?

FlickR - Pete Reed

Here is why:

1. All the essential HR processes, Payroll, record-keeping, Benefits Administration, compliance reporting are all deeply rooted in technology.  And understanding of these concepts, and the important vendors and solutions in these areas is necessary for any HR leader.

2. Increasingly, the strategic HR functions known as 'Talent Management' rely on modern, sophisticated technologies to support business strategy and deliver real business value. From recruiting, performance management, succession planning, training and development, and compensation planning, organizations are more and more looking to technology, and those HR leaders that can harness it, to lead important strategic initiatives. 

3. HR can and should take the lead in efforts to increase employee productivity, enable more effective collaboration,  and increase the sense of community in the organization. Content management, collaboration tools, social networking are just some of the scores of technologies available to the HR leader in this space.  How to begin to understand these technologies and their application is a key aspect of the course.

The HR leader must have a better grasp of technology beyond e-mail, IM and Outlook calendars.

HR and Technology are from now on an inseparable pair.

And that is why we have an HR Technology course.

Subscribe!

Better Presentations

I make a fair bit of presentations for class and for work and like many of you always thought my presentations were pretty good, not great, but darn good and I was sure of that.

Well, I had to prepare a presentation specifically about making better designed presentations, and in my research and preparations for this, I came to realize that about 90% of the presentations I have made have been absolute crap.

I am really taking about the visual design of the presentations, mostly tedious bulleted slides, maybe some screen prints, or gasp! Clip Art to tray and jazz things up.  I always know what I am talking about (well almost always), but the visual element of my presentations have been sorely lacking.

In developing my new and improved presentation I relied heavily on Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds, and to a lesser extent by some great examples of visual design on SlideShare. 

From Presentation Zen I cam to realize that simpler is always better, and really understanding the material is  the key to developing and delivering a great presentation.  From SlideShare I found dozens of examples of excellent design.

Here is the presentation I gave on 'Effective Use of Visual Aids'.  It ran about 30 minutes live, and while I know there is still room for improvement, it is a thousand times better designed than my normal stuff.

Effective Use Of Visual Aids

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: steveboese class)

The direct link is here, take a look and let me know what you think. 

Now do I have time to re-design all my class lecture slides in time for Winter?

Subscribe!