Nikki Dettmar is the Acting Education and Assessment Coordinator. She earned a distance learning MSIS from the University of North Texas while living in Seattle and currently teaches via online distance education modalities. This is the second in a series of Technology Tuesday posts about the types of  distance continuing education available, the technology involved, usage tips for both students and instructors, and the opportunities & challenges of distance learning.

Winnipeg Maze of Lifelong Learning, photo by Stephen Downes

As introduced in the first post of this series, available information about what a distance learning experience is like is often geared towards online students seeking a degree, which is not the same as those seeking continuing education (CE) classes for career goals and professional learning. What contributes to an enjoyable and successful online education experience? Here are some tips modified from the Distance Learning section of about.com and my own experience with both teaching and taking CEs in other formats besides face-to-face. (more…)

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) Online Users’ Meeting at the 2009 Medical Library Association (MLA) annual meeting provided a preview of the upcoming PubMed redesign. David Gillikin, Chief of NLM’s Bibliographic Services, will reprise this preview for anyone who did not get to attend the users’ meeting in Honolulu. This 15 minute presentation will review the draft design for the new search results page and abstract view presented at MLA. David will remain on the session for questions and answers after the presentation, and it will be recorded for those unable to attend.

When: August 11, 2009 11:30 - Noon Pacific time (12:30 - 1:00 Mountain, 10:30 - 11 Alaska)

Where: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/nlmupdate/

We will post a reminder to the HLIB-NW listserv on August 10th about the presentation and we look forward to seeing you there!

HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is seeking comments on the preliminary definition of “Meaningful Use” of electronic health records (EHRs) as presented to the HIT Policy Committee on June 16. The meaningful use preamble and matrix give more details.

Comments on the draft description of “Meaningful Use” are due by Friday, June 26, 2 p.m. Pacific Time (1 Alaska, 3 Mountain), and should be no more than 2,000 words in length. Please click the link to access instructions for submitting comments.

Wolfram|Alpha is a new search engine. Scratch that — it”s a “computational knowledge engine,” and also “the first step in an ambitious, long-term project to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone.” W|A has generated a lot of buzz since it launched on May 15.

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Maryanne Blake and Alison Aldrich are teaming up to offer a new distance learning opportunity for network members. Podcasting for Advocacy is a hands-on class is designed to provide a fun yet informative introduction to podcasting. Hear all about it!

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Greetings from Nikki Dettmar, the solo RML librarian in the Seattle office now, with an update from Alison Aldrich who is one of the official bloggers at MLA 2009 in Hawaii.

Her coverage of the NLM Sunrise Seminar on May 18th includes the following highlights:

• PubMed”s Single Citation Matcher is not going away and will remain on the sidebar
• In late summer, we will see some “stylish” new designs in PubMed that won”t affect functionality
• Multimedia functionality will be prominently displayed in MedlinePlus

Get the full scoop at Alison”s Official MLA “09 Blog post!

Edited to add link to the May 19, 2009 NLM Technical Bulletin with additional PubMed redesign information.