Summary of Many New Features

• BLOG SEARCH: A new menu item in the left-hand column, this feature means that members can search blog posts to find any that contain a specified word or phrase.
• UCEA GROUP HOME PAGES: A new menu item in the left-hand column, this feature displays a page with handy links to UCEA CONNECT group home pages making it easier to recognize what's available and to navigate to it quickly.
• New File Library capability: In 2007, we had to “roll our own” method for creating file libraries which was cumbersome. The new built-in tools allow an admin to create file collections with files and links and these appear in a list when you create or edit custom pages so you just check a box to include a collection. A Group Admin can use these tolls for managing their own group's content as described below.
• Custom forms: A new feature that lets us create custom online forms in CONNECT is available for use now. These can be used to create online submissions for nominations for officers and awards, calls for presentations, and more.
• Surveys: This isn't a new feature, but we're opening up its use to members who have specific needs such as a short group-specific survery or running an election for officers.
• More blog features: Since we first launch CONNECT, YourMembership which provides the software platform has added features that let users include attachments to posts including code to embed a video from YouTube or elsewhere. The collaboration/wiki featured mentioned above is also new.
• You can now add attachments to CONNECT messages.
• Connection link types: There is now a list of connection types so when you add a connection with a number member you can associate it with a descriptive label. We can add more labels as needed.
• Group rep titles: We have added group rep titles for the chair and other officers in different groups including regions and CoPs. Basically we can assign a title to any member and indicate which group homes page the member's name and title should appear on. This makes it easy to identify the people in important roles in each group. We can add more group rep titles as needed.
• RSS Feeds: Members should consider getting RSS feeds to the association calendar, news and announcements, and blogs of interests. There are many ways to get feeds including in your email software, in your web browser of choice, using various software programs and or website services from Google, Yahoo, Netvibes, and others.
• New Group Admin tools: Each CONNECT group can have one or more Group Admins who can manage the group's home and other pages on CONNECT. However, the feature wasn't that useful previously. Now that is, we have made the chair of each group an admin and have notified her or him that they can assign other Group Admins to manage their group's content.
  • The most exciting new feature is File Collections. A group Admin can create and edit file collections which include descriptive information associated with a file the group admin uploads. In addition, a URL can be added to a collection providing nice flexibility for including remote documents in the same collection with uploads.
  • The new collaboration/wiki tools on CONNECT are also under the control of a Group Admin. So an admin can enable collaboration/wiki mode for selected custom pages and/or file collections so that members of the group can add content, file or links on their own.
  • Group Admins also have access to expanded tools to manage the group's custom pages, photo albums and blogs, and member list.