East Texas: October 17th Meeting Informative and Fun!
Submitted by Cindy Smith

Refreshments, socializing, and an icebreaker led by Cristie Ferguson launched the October 17th meeting of the East Texas Regional Group who met at Panola College. 

They were welcomed to the campus by Dr. Gregory Powell, President of the college, with additional words of welcome from Ann Morris, Associate Dean of Distance Learning. Randy McDonald, coordinator of ETRG, brought the group up to date on the Fall Leadership Conference at Moody Gardens. 

Next on the agenda were stimulating sessions on the latest technology tools and issues. Kathy Watlington, Panola College, gave a demonstration of “Turnitin” as a tool for preventing plagiarism in addition to discussing academic honesty. 

Gordon Martin, NETnet, gave a background on the Northeast Texas consortium and demonstrated its new video-streaming service. He also explained the development of the Northeast Archive Retrieval System (NARS).

Shelley Drum, Houston Community College, provided an innovative hands-on workshop utilizing blogs and RSS feeds used as library reference tools.

So much great information made everyone hungry, so the group adjourned to the Jalapeno Tree in Carthage for Mexican food! With no siesta in sight, everyone returned to their “regular” places well satisfied with good food and even better information. 
 

Pictured from left; Jay Olson, Distance Education Coordinator Region VII Education Service Center, and Dr. Mickey Slimp, Director Northeast Texas Consortium, are accomplishing one of the vital goals of Texas DLA—to Have Fun!!	Shelley Drum guides participants in using blogs and RSS feeds as library reference tools.