eLCC Conference (Formerly TELECOOP)

The 20th annual eLCC technology conference, "Technology and the Next Generation: Are YouReady?" will be held April 15-17 in Vail. CCCOnline can send 2 - 3 faculty to this conference as presenters, so please feel free to submit your workshop proposal to eLCC (by January 23) and let Lisa CS or Donna know if you'd like to present. For more conference information, please go to http://www.telecoop.org/conference/index.html.

LMS Selection Process Update

Dear Faculty,

The LMS selection committee would like to update you on our progress towards choosing a learning management system for the future. As you already know, we down-selected in November to four finalists. Those finalists provided sandbox areas for all of us to review the products. (Those sandboxes are open through January 5^th, as is the survey form for feedback to the selection committee). We also had the finalists come to Colorado to present their solution to the selection committee. The vendor presentations took place the first week of December.

Our next task will be checking references. We plan to be as thorough as possible, with all members of the selection committee taking part in the reference check process.

Last, in mid-January we are planning on sending a technical team to visit the hosting facilities of at least the top two vendors.

Once we have all of that information in place the selection committee will meet to make the final selection. That meeting is currently scheduled for late January. After the selection committee has agreed on a recommendation we will take that recommendation to the executive steering committee and to the presidents at the February 10^th presidents meeting. The name of the finalist will be released at that time.

We would all like to be more forthcoming about the process and the many discussions taking place around the merits of the vendors and learning management systems, however, as you know, the state purchasing rules which govern the RFP process require strict confidentiality throughout the process. We extend our appreciation to all who participated in this process by testing the sandboxes and completing the survey. The information gleaned from these surveys was instrumental in crafting additional questions for the current finalists and will also be utilized as part of the final evaluation process. Be assured we are releasing as much information as possible without compromising the process.

Sincerely,

The Learning Technology Council/RFP Committee

Link to Sandboxes: http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Sandbox_Areas_for_LMS_Finalists

Voice Grading

Here's a link to a post by Terry Anderson of Athabasca University on using Adobe Acrobat's voice annotation tool to grade papers. There is also an interesting comment from someone else in response on another tool. I think I mentioned this tool as a possible "time saver that actually increases comment quality" in a past post, but this includes more information.

http://terrya.edublogs.org/2008/12/14/marking-with-voice-tools/

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Happy Holidays

This picture even has Kurt -- under the Santa hat at the back. And that is LisaMarie in the pc. Aaron is the Santa on the left.

Lisa

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from the CCCOnline Staff

Student Surveys, Course Dupes

Student surveys are now available for your viewing pleasure! Follow this link http://at.ccconline.org/survey/faculty2 and log on using your S# and pin.

Also, just a reminder: Please be sure to read the emails you receive when a course has been duped for you and indicate within 72 hours whether or not the correct content is in the course; you'll then respond one more time (prior to the beginning of the term) to indicate that the course is ready for first-day course checks. This helps ensure that you and your students don't have any unpleasant surprises on the first day of class!

LMS Sandboxes

Hi Everyone-

Just a reminder that the sandboxes are open for the finalists in the LMS selection process. Login information is available at http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Sandbox_Areas_for_LMS_Finalists. Please complete the survey form for anyone you play with.

The selection committee will continue to compile questions from those surveys and we will make sure we ask them of the vendors.

Thanks!

Lisa Cheney-Steen

FERPA Update

Hi Everyone-

LisaMarie sent me a link to an article on Inside Higher Ed about the "new" rules around FERPA. The article is available online here: http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/12/09/ferpa

Of interest to me was this quote:

For example, here is the language on disciplinary records: “[N]othing in FERPA prevents an educational agency or institution from including in a student’s records and disclosing to teachers and school officials, including those in other schools, appropriate information about disciplinary actions taken against a student for conduct that posed a significant risk to the safety or well-being of that student, other students, or other members of the school community.”

As CCCOnline grows we will inevitable see more disciplinary problems and, even though we are online, we do now and then have scary communications with a student. In general I think it is still important to allow students to have the benefit of the doubt -- to assume that just because they had problems in one class does not mean the problems will escalate in the next class. That means we still don't want to exchange much information about students with whom we have had problems in a course and that the best way to exchange information is still through student services. That said, if there is a trend, it's nice to know that we aren't violating student privacy rights it we collect information about discipline problems across courses and act on it.

Don't forget we have a new FERPA training site on the faculty wiki at http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=FERPA_and_Online_Communications.

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Last Training Reminder

Stuck at home due to snow today or do you just need to get your training credit?

Join us today for a Webinar scheduled for l2pm! The session will focus on what SafeAssign is as well as how and when to use SafeAssign. Session will be facilitated by members of CCCOnline's Training and Professional Development and Instructional Design teams. Additionally, the CCCOnline Associate Academic Dean, Donna Welschmeyer, will be available during the question and answer portion to address questions about policies for plagiarism and use of SafeAssign.
· TUESDAY, December 9, 2008, from 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM (Mountain)
· Click here to access the session (opens Elluminate).
· OR, access from the FRCC Elluminate page by going to the following link and clicking on the date: December 9, 2008: http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/

Fall Grades Due by December 11

Dear Faculty;

It's that time of the semester, Fall grades are due no later than Thursday, December 11, 2008.

Please follow the directions below to enter grades for your courses. If you have any questions regarding grades, please contact me (john.schmahl@cccs.edu).

Once you have submitted your grades, we will pull a daily report listing the grades and they will be entered into Banner for the students. Grades will not be viewable by the students until the day after they are entered.

If you have any students needing their grades earlier, please contact John Schmahl, john.schmahl@cccs.edu or Roxanne Manske, roxanne.manske@cccs.edu.

To submit final grades:

go to the online Grade Book here, https://at.ccconline.org/gradebook/input/

Login using your Blackboard Vista login credentials

Select the appropriate section

If you are missing any section(s) or have extra section(s) listed, please contact John Schmahl, john.schmahl@cccs.edu.

Enter the appropriate grade for each student, accepted grades are listed below

Remember, developmental courses (those with course numbers under 100) must use the developmental grades, see below

**All students on the grade roster must be given a grade, even if they have not participated in the section**

Enter a Last Date of Attendance for any students receiving a grade of “F”

Click “Update” and return to the menu to select the next section if needed

Approved grades

Standard courses (course numbers 100 and above, e.g., PSY 101)
A
B
C
D
F (must include last day of attendance)
I (must include incomplete contract)

Developmental courses (course number less than 100, e.g., MAT 060)
S/A
S/B
S/C
U/D
U/F (must include last day of attendance)
I (must include incomplete contract)

Last Training Opportunity this Year!

Can you believe 2008 is almost over? I know I'm enjoying the snow and the holiday season, but can't believe how fast the year has gone.

Our last training opportunity this year is next week. A Webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at l2pm (noon) and will focus on what SafeAssign is as well as how and when to use SafeAssign. Session will be facilitated by members of CCCOnline's Training and Professional Development and Instructional Design teams. Additionally, the CCCOnline Associate Academic Dean, Donna Welschmeyer, will be available during the question and answer portion to address questions about policies for plagiarism and use of SafeAssign. No preregistration is required and this does count as a training credit.

TUESDAY, December 9, 2008, from 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM (Mountain)
Click here to access the session (opens Elluminate). OR, access from the FRCC Elluminate page by going to the following link and clicking on the date: December 9, 2008: http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/

NEW ProfHelp Process

Need help with a course issue? Instead of emailing ProfHelp with your questions, please use the NEW ProfHelp form located on your Faculty Gateway page. You can get to the Faculty Gateway by using the link on your “My CCCOnline” page or by using this direct link: at.ccconline.org/faculty. Just log in and look for the ProfHelp link. This new process will allow us to track the kinds of issues that you are seeing so we can better address recurring problems, etc. Thanks!

Sandboxes for LMS Finalists Available Now!

Hi Everyone-

As most of you know we are in the process of evaluating responses to the RFP for a new Learning Management System. The selection committee met last Friday to choose finalists for the new LMS. Those 4 vendors have set up sandbox areas for testing and evaluation of their products. We would like as many of you as have time to review the LMS's and pass your opinions/thoughts on them on to us via a survey form. The URL and login information as well as a link to a survey is posted on the wiki at

http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Sandbox_Areas_for_LMS_Finalists

If you lose the direct link just go to the faculty wiki and click on the Learning Technology Council link in the box at the top of the page. It is linked from there.

These 4 vendors will be evaluated based on feedback from faculty, staff, and students, on their presentations to the selection committee (scheduled for the first week of December), and on information from reference checks. At this point we will also include cost information. Based on the evaluations from this step we will choose one or two vendors for site visits by the technical evaluation team. We hope that will add enough information to enable us to make a final choice.

We appreciate the time you are taking to support us in this process and value the feedback on the LMS's!

best,

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Help With Wiki Organization

Hi everyone! As we move more content to the Wiki, we've discovered that we need to work on the organization of the Wiki so it's simpler to find things. Jonathan has been hard at work adding and modifying search tools within the Wiki, but we'd also like to create some organizer pages to help everyone locate the information they need.

Please answer the following questions for us by Thursday, November 20.

1. What top three categories of information do you most often search for on the Wiki?
2. What top five specific topics do you most often search for on the Wiki?

Thanks!

StudyMate Webinar Reminder

Hi Everyone,

This is a reminder about a training opportunity Friday, November 14th at 10 am. The webinar session will be facilitated by Shae Ramquizt, Sr. Account Manager for Respondus, Inc., the makers of the StudyMate Class Server product. CCCOnline's Blackboard Vista instructors can enable this learning tool now!

Come learn from Shae about all StudyMate Class Server can do for you and learners. This webinar counts as one training credit, and No RSVP is required, just join us at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/.

Study Mate Webinar Friday!

Hi Everyone,
We have a few training opportunities left this year. On Friday, November 14th at 10 am, we have a webinar session facilitated by Shae Ramquizt, Sr. Account Manager for Respondus, Inc., the makers of the StudyMate Class Server product. CCCOnline's Blackboard Vista instructors can enable this awesome learning tool now! Come learn from Shae about all it can do for you and learners.

This webinar counts as one training credit, and No RSVP is required, just join us at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/.

The CCCS Learning Management System RFP

In the summer of 2008 the Learning Technology Council (LTC) initiated an RFP process for the Learning Management System. There were several reasons for this decision. First, our current contract with Blackboard expires on June 30th of 2009. The size of this contract is such that the LTC feels that we have a fiscal responsibility to look at our options before signing another multi-year contract. We also feel that the market for learning management systems has changed significantly since the last RFP and warrants another look. Then in July of this year Blackboard announced the development schedule for their new, combined product, Blackboard Next Generation. Their product development schedule suggests that if we stay with Blackboard we will find ourselves migrating to a new BB product in about two years. Thus we are probably migrating to a "new" LMS whatever the result of this RFP process. And last, Blackboard Vista has not been as stable a product for us as we would like it to be, leaving us wondering about its ability to handle the growth in usage we expect over the next two years.

The RFP process formally began last spring, when we surveyed faculty for your input on the current LMS and your thoughts about a potential change. Later that spring and into the summer the LTC invited potential LMS vendors to make presentations to us as part of an overall market review. Finally in August we formalized the RFP committee as the members of the Learning Technology Council plus a representative from SFAC, Kathy Winograd (English Faculty from ACC). This means that every college has at least one representative on the RFP committee. (This membership list is for internal use only.)

It is very important to the selection committee to have input into the LMS decision from as many faculty and staff as possible. To facilitate this input the committee will ask the finalists in the selection process to provide a sandbox with access to their product for usability testing. The access will include faculty, student, and administrative roles. The selection committee will have a feedback survey available for your use once you've had a chance to review the products. The tentative dates for the sandboxes and surveys are Nov. 17th through December 3rd. We would appreciate it if you would block out some time for this review during that period.

As the RFP process for the new Learning Management System moves forward, the selection committee has outlined a plan for evaluating vendors and making our recommendation to the Executive Steering Committee (made up of CCCS senior administrators and several college presidents) by mid-January. The tentative schedule is as follows:

* Sept 18th, RFP released;
* Oct. 30th, proposals due back from vendors;
* Nov. 14th, first vendor down-select, possibly to 2-4 finalists;
* Nov. 17th through December 3rd, usability testing (sandboxes available);
* Dec. 3rd through December 5th, vendor presentations to the selection committee;
* Dec. 7th through mid-December, possible visits by a technical team to the finalist's hosting facilities;
* Mid-December, final analyses and reports from sub-committees;
* Early January, Final summary analysis;
* Mid-January, recommendation to Executive Steering Committee;
* Summer 2009 and fall 2009, pilot new LMS.

If you have additional questions please contact your LTC representative. We will continue to post updates (including committee membership) on the wiki - http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=LMS_Selection_Process#LMS_Selection_Process.

Best,

The Learning Technology Council

CCCOnline, Rhonda Epper, Lisa Cheney-Steen, and David Chatham
CCCS-IT, Julie Ouska
ACC, Lee Christopher
CCA, George Lesko
CCD, Jeanne Stroh
CNCC, Sandy McKelvey
FRCC, Tammy Vercauteren and Donna Hall
LCC, Vicke Denniston
MCC, Don Estes
NJC, Cyndi Vandenbark
OJC, Vanessa Forselius
PCC, Robin Leach
PPCC, Julie Witherow and Fabrizio Labate
RRCC, Rebecca Woulfe
TSJC, Jocelyn King

Last Day at Sloan-C Conference

Hey Everyone-

I am still looking for the Holy Grail of Educational Gaming, so as a part of that I started the day with a presentation by Harvard Business Publishing on simulations. The presenter had some very good lessons learned -- 1) syllabus space is tight, so develop very small topical sims rather than try to replace the entire class; 2) the administrative hurdle of managing sims is huge (that is both faculty administration and the business side; 3) students expect an engaging interface; 4) beware of the "complexity = reality" trap; your sim must stay "teachable and usable". Harvard Publishing primarily develops sims that can be completed in under 2 hours -- that includes prep, play, and de-brief. They have to support case-based teaching.

Harvard is developing in conjunction with a company called Forio (http://forio.com/simulations.htm) because that was the best way they found to solve delivery and payment issues. It sounded like they charge students for the sims via credit card. We would probably have to expand our digital content fee instead, but it is doable now.

The Universal Rental car pricing is a single player sim, the Everest climb is multi-player. They are both interesting. Forio also has free sim development software that probably sucks you into buying the full version. :^)

(As a side note the night before I had dinner with the folks from Lab-Paq, who are thinking of developing a forensics course based on CSI. There is a ot of interest in games!)

I put on my student services hat next and went to a session on developing student community and support via social networking tools such as Twitter, Second Life, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. I am planning a survey in the not too distance future to find out which web2.0 technologies both you and our students use. We do need to expand and organize our community space, decide which parts belong behind the firewall and which belong outside, decide which tools to use for which purposes.

My last presentation was on designing a First Year Seminar experience for online, adult learners. There is a large body of research showing that traditional first year students benefit significantly from success seminars. While there is not much research on online, adult learners our orientation has ben very popular with students. We also have two program chairs who have been puching for the development of some sort of success seminar for studens for quite some time. Goals of such a seminar would include

• Examine reasons for attending college,
• learn strategies for becoming a successful adult learner,
• build a support system,
• learn how to manage work, family, school,
• learn study skills,
• learn about college support services,
• and many more.

If any of you have experience with success seminars I'd love to know who you are.

Finally, the closing speaker was Liz Burge (http://www.unbf.ca/education/faculty/burge.html), professor of adult education at the University of New Brunswick. Three general principles from her presentation:

1. Technology application is a defining, but not a single, attribute of distance education.
2. Technology should transparently mediate interactions.
3. Never feel compelled to adopt the new because it is new; that is not the point.

She also commented that she first used audio recordings back in the 80's. They went away for a long time as we concentrated on the visual. Now audio is being looked at seriously again -- so don't forget about older technologies when you are planning your teaching.

Then a long plane ride home where I reverted to a very old technology and knitted. :^)

Lisa

Day 2 of Sloan C

Hi Everyone-

I started the day at a session on the state of gaming in education. The presenter was Benjamin Noel who got his start in World of Warcraft, but is now moving on to education. Hi current company has two games for education available or soon to be available. The first is Burn Center. It's goal is to teach peopple how to deal with large scale disasters -- in this case 40 burn patients at once. It makes sense to do that in a game because it is a low likelihood scenario, but one that our health professionals possibly should be prepared for. There is a movie on the game available here -- http://www.360ed.com/products/. The second game is Conspiracy Code, a game aimed at teaching American History to K12. History is another obvious target for gaming as whether or not you found it interesting probably depended entirely on your teacher. We watch the History Channel obsessively, but complain equally incessantly about how it's taught in K12.

Both look like they have possibilities and I do see the positive aspects of games as a learning strategy. I think my older daugher has learned more economics and history from Civilization IV than she has in school. I am not sure we have a financial or educational model that works well with games yet though.

Next I wet to a session on search engines. That was fascinating -- one presenter (Ray Schroeder) has a blog site with links to engines at http://alternatesearch.blogspot.com
There is also a tutorial at About.Com that incudes much of the information from the presentation - http://websearch.about.com/.

They reminded me of really cool sites like Archive.org and the WayBackMachine, which are fabulous if a link you used in a course has gone missing.

Last presentation of the morning was a panel talking abouthte future. Not a lot there unfortunately, but there were brief mentions of software as service, online computing (ie Buzzword from yesterday) and cloud computing in general. There are some very important questions around data storage when you begin to seriously use the power of cloud computing. (Do you know where your gmail or delicious bookmarks are stored? How about the presentations you out up on Slide Rocket?) However, the sheer power, convenience, and ability to scale are going to outweigh many of those data considerations for many of us.

And it's only noon here...

Lisa

(And I apologize for any typos -- I am sitting by the pool to type this and can barely see the screen. :^))

Emerging Technologies Workshop at Sloan-C

Hi Everyone-

I am at the Sloan-C conference on Online Learning in Orlando this week. I am attending all sorts of fascinating presentations and workshops and I want to pass at least some of the information on to you. Today I am at a workshop on emerging technologies....

Adding Audio

Adobe Acrobat lets you embed little tiny audio files in pdf files. So you can read your student's papers and comment via audio on their work. This of course requires that you own Acrobat Pro, which he thought was around $60.

The speaker's (Phil Ice) research suggests it saves about 60% of overall grading time. He also had research suggesting learning outcomes were significantly improved. The other reason to add audio comments on student work was some research quoted that showed learning improved when two senses were involved in the learning process (audio and visual). I will try to track that down as well.

Another way to do this is to record your grading session in Elluminate (we have a license or Elluminate V-Room is the free version) or in Adobe Connect (Connect Now is the free version). This also works well, but is a little bit more challenging for students to manage. I think you could also do this in Voice Thread, but haven't tried that yet. (VoiceThread.com, also has a free version).

Collaborative Documents

Adobe's new product is Buzzword. If you have used Googledocs this is significantly snazzier. Buzzword.acrobat.com. If you want to send me your email address (to Lisa.Cheney-Steen@cccs.edu) I will add you to a document so you can see how it works with sharing turned on. (Side note -- there are two paths to collaboration -- wikis and web-based document management systems. They may be going to the same place, but are taking different routes. Wikis are very simple to use and have built in discussion tabs and version tracking. Buzzword concentrates on giving you the ability to build a document that you might print -- easy to add images for example. We have a wiki available for your use also -- students.ccconline.org or faculty.ccconline.org.)

Other Powerpoint Type Presentations

Slide Rocket is an online powerpoint presentation with a free version. You can find it at www.sliderocket.com.

Keynote - Terry Anderson of Athabasca University

Athabasca is Canada's online university. Here are the slides up on Slideshare already - http://www.slideshare.net/terrya/sloan-2008-presentation-720143.

Tonight Terry included some research on the efficacy of distance learning, synchronous versus asynchronous models, and the relative importance of different types of interaction (student/student, student/teacher, and student/content). Student/student turns out to be very important and it might be true that if you get one type right you might be able to sluff a bit on the other two.

Oh and slide 6 gives you the reason eLearnng is so popular right now. Completely wortyh the entire presentation just for that slide.

More tomorrow -- it's dinner time here.

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Conference Archive

Hi Everyone,
The 2008 Faculty Conference Archive pages are up for you to revisit presentations that you loved or review information about sessions you missed. Also, we have already gotten some thoughtful and useful suggestions on our conference survey. If you have not taken the survey yet, please take a moment to share with us your comments about our conference this year and what you would like to see from training in the upcoming year. The direct link is http://faculty.conference.org/2008Faculty_Conference_Survey

Karen Kaemmerling

CCCOnline Employee of the Year

Dear Faculty;

Please join with me in congratulating our CCCOnline Employee of the Year, Roxanne Manske!

Roxanne started with CCCOnline over 9 years ago when we had less than 300 students. Today, thousands of students and hundreds of thousands of e-mails and phone calls later, Roxanne continues to be the star behind the scenes at CCCOnline. Her hard work and dedication keeps us afloat each semester and helps ensure the fantastic service and support that you have all come to expect.

It is no exaggeration to say that without her, our growth and success would not be possible. So, please join with me in thanking her for all of the work she does everyday and for helping us better serve you and our students!

Thank you Roxanne and congratulations!

John H Schmahl

What’s going on @t your CCCOnline Online Library?

Hi Everyone,

We’ve decided to start up a monthly blog posting on all things library at CCCOnline, so welcome to the first posting Some of this is information that you may already know, but it’s always good to be reminded of what’s out there.

CCCOnline/FRCC College Hill Article Databases:

Do you have students in the middle of a research project who are having problems finding good, solid and trustworthy information? Remember, all CCCOnline students can use the CCCOnline/FRCC College Hill article databases. Students can search on 30 different databases, including Academic Search Premier, Biomedical Reference Collection, ERIC, Business Source Premier, Consumer Health Complete, History Reference Center, Literary Reference Center, Newspaper Source, Nursing and Allied Health Collection, and more. In order to use the article databases, students will need to request a bar code and pin from the College Hill Library.

For more information, visit the Article Database information page on our student wiki ( http://www.studentwiki.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Search_Our_Online_Article_Databases).

The Research and Writing Toolkit:

Another valuable resource available to both faculty and students through our Online Library pages on the student wiki is the Research and Writing Toolkit at http://www.studentwiki.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Research_%26_Writing_Toolkit. The toolkit offers information on plagiarism, research and writing resource as well as information on different citation styles including MLA, APA, and more.

Ask a Librarian:

Two very important Ask a Librarian resources are available to CCCOnline students.

Ask Your Librarian - email service through College Hill Library (FRCC - Westminster). See http://www.frontrange.edu/form.aspx?id=2931

Ask Colorado - 24/7 Live Chat with a Librarian, an online information service provided by Colorado Libraries. See http://www.askcolorado.org/

Visit CCCOnline’s Online Library on the student wiki for more library and research resources: http://www.studentwiki.ccconline.org/index.php?title=CCCOnline%27s_Online_Library.

And, look for the “What’s going on @ your CCCOnline Online Library” post next month. If you have any questions, email me at mary.cash@cccs.edu. If I don’t know the answer to your question, I can steer you to someone who does know.

Mary Cash,
CCCOnline Instructional Designer/Library

Faculty Conference 2008

Thank you to everyone who attended the 2008 Birthday Conference! We had a great time and learned a lot from all of you!

We started the conference with a slide show --- just some of the wonderful and talented people who have helped to make CCCOnline what it is through the years.



It's a little larger on the wiki if you want to watch it there -- http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=08FacConf_Slide_Show.

Mary Beth Susman, past president of the Colorado Electronic College, the first incarnation of CCCOnline, was our keynote speaker. She left us with a raft of interesting links and things to think about as we enter our second decade.

We've place many ,inks to her information on the faculty wiki at http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=08FacConf_Keynote_Materials.

Some of the hightlights:

FURMAN COLLEGE that gives students video cameras to tell what they like about FURMAN
Example: www.engagefurman.com/home_1col2.asp

UNIGO – A beta site that is having students at colleges rate their colleges: specifically designed for high school students deciding on colleges. This link is to what they have about CU.
http://www.unigo.com/Colleges/UnigoReview/Default.aspx?CollegeId=50

3D Technology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIqNdMqA7Kc





ITUNES U- Wonderful video/audio lectures

Walter H.G. Lewin M.I.T. Lectures, Promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zc9Nuoe2Ow
(There are many physics lectures online fo this professor also.)

Randy Pausch Your Childhood Dreams- Carnegie Mellon, the entire lecture is available on Youtube -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Dan Ariely Predictably Irrational - Duke and M.I.T.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ5baAOrxXY

Online Course

Langdon Hammer Modern Poetry -Yale, http://oyc.yale.edu/english/modern-poetry.


RADIOHEAD

My inspiration that college needs to be free, because if the music industry can do it, we can.
http://stereogum.com/archives/new-radiohead-album-in-rainbows-out-october-10th_006620.html. (Here's a comment from an econ blog on that model though that isn't entirely positive. http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/10/pay-what-you-wa.html.)

More information about conference materials coming soon.

Lisa Cheney-Steen

ADA Training Opportunities

Hi Everyone,
Please check out another non-credit training tool that you can visit over and over on the wiki. Lisa Marie Johnson and John Schmahl collaborated to create this wonderful, interactive tutorial on Learners with Disabilities. Check it out at http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Learners_with_Disabilities_-_Identification%2C_Documentation%2C_and_Accommodations

Then join John Schmahl and Lisa Marie Johnson for the webinar on Friday Oct 24 at 1pm with your questions regarding ADA and FERPA at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ (Attending the webinar does earn you training credit. No RSVP is required.)

Can’t attend webinars? We record them and archive them for you to listen to at your convenience at http://www.facultywiki.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Webinars

Karen Kaemmerling

Upcoming Training Available

Hi Everyone,
I really enjoyed seeing so many of you at our faculty conference this year. We learned a lot from the conference sessions and from collaborating face to face. Congratulations to Lisa Marie Johnson who earned the Faculty Leadership Award and to Roxanne Manske who earned Staff of the Year. Also, congratulations to all those who were recognized as Gold Medal Faculty.

If you were not able to join us at the Faculty Conference, we do still have several training opportunities available this year.

This Friday, Oct 24 at 1 pm John Schmahl from student services will host a webinar on ADA and FERPA issues. No need to RSVP in advance, just join us at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/

Also you can register for facilitated training, E-Portfolios and Measuring What Matters, at https://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?402726

Faculty Conference This Friday!

Yeh! It's here, It's here, the Faculty Conference is Friday Oct 17th at Arapahoe Community College. I am looking forward to seeing all of you and hearing some fantasitc presentations. This year we celebrate 10 years of creativity, innovation, and leadership. A continental breakfast will be served during registration from 8-9.

Including some great give aways for everyone, this year we will raffle software during the Round Table sessions including Snagit and Camtasia from TechSmith. If you haven't registered yet, please do so right away. Registration will officially close Wednesday at midnight. You can go directly to registration at this link http://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?445037.

Please contact me with questions at karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu .

Ses 2 Pay

Dear Faculty,

The following note is forwarded from Randy Macy:

Faculty will not get paid for session two classes on today’s paycheck. Session two classes will not start paying until October 24th. Bonus contracts for session two will not start paying until November 7th.

If oyu have any questions, please contact Randy Macy at randy.macy@cccs.edu

Thanks.
RDM

Lots and Lots of Students!

So if you feel like you have a lot of students in your classes you are correct! If you know more people who would like to teach for us please give their names to your program chair.

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Webcast: Education Advisors to the Presidential Candidates

Education and the Next President: McCain and Obama Advisors to Debate

On October 21, the education advisors to the presidential candidates will face off in a debate at Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City. The debate will feature Lisa Graham Keegan, former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction and advisor to Senator John McCain (R-AZ), and Linda Darling-Hammond, the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University and advisor to Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).

The debate is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. EST and will be webcast by Education Week. Susan Fuhrman, president of Teachers College, will serve as the moderator.

Individuals who want to examine the candidates’ education platforms prior to the debate can do so by visiting the following websites:

Senator McCain: http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/

Senator Obama: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

To register for the webcast, visit http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html and look for a banner with information on the debate in the upper right corner of the page.

No-Show Reporting

Dear Faculty;

In session 1 we asked you to help us report no-show students because we did not have a report in BB Vista that allowed us to pull this information. Now, thanks to Frank’s great work with the folks at Blackboard, we have a report that gives will tell us which students have not yet logged in to courses. So, we will be running this report tomorrow, Wednesday.

What this means for you is that you don’t have to do anything to report no-show students. As always, if you have any questions about any student in your course, please feel free to contact me.

As always, thanks for your hard work!

John

Student Authentication

Hi Everyone-

Below is an email Julie Witherow from PPCC sent out to PPCC faculty on the implications of the Higher Ed Opportunity Act recently passed by Congress on student authentication. I think I previously mentioned a webcast on this topic sponsored by WCET with a panel of experts moderated by Rhonda Epper.

From Julie W:

As some of you know, the national Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOC)that passed this summer presents a potentially serious problem for online courses: student authentication. The legislation stipulates that colleges be able to verify that the student who registers for an online course is the same student who does the work and takes the tests. It is one sentence in a long bill, but we need to be prepared to defend our current practices and make changes if necessary.

First I want to review some course design techniques that help to ensure that enrolled students are doing their own work; we have discussed them before, and many of you are employing them already in the interest of academic integrity. Then I will summarize other possibilities that came from our Learning Technologies Conference last February and from a webcast presented this week by the Western Cooperative for Educational Technology (WCET).

(The webcast, moderated by Rhonda Epper, is archived here: https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2008-10-01.1008.M.31ED1FF6F672C98DC29674A39C3EDB.vcr)

Course Design Techniques

Include a variety of assessments for each class: exams, individual and group projects, discussions, papers, etc.
Change paper and project topics frequently
Provide clear information about what plagiarism is and how it will impact a student’s grade in a class
Ask students to turn in papers and projects in stages (working outlines, for instance)
Randomize questions on objective tests; randomize order of responses for each question in a multiple choice test
Use essay and short answer exams
Base some of the answers on tests on information that comes from online discussions and blogs
True “closed book” tests are impossible online, but time tests appropriately to make it difficult for students who are looking up answers to complete all the questions within the timeframe
Send students to a testing center to take exams in a proctored environment

In short, make it as difficult as possible for someone to step in and complete the work for someone else. Sending students to a testing center is the simplest way to control exams, but since our centers have limited hours and capacity, math and science classes should get first dibs on that option at this point.

One of the webcast presenters pointed out that legislators in general know very little about distance education, and potential solutions from the webcast focused on testing controls rather than on course design:

Browser lockdown software that prevents students from accessing the rest of a course or the Internet while taking an exam (I think we need to look into this)
Software currently used in online banking, for instance, that asks several authenticating questions of each student before and sometimes during an online test
(These questions are not based on information from the school. There is a lot of information about all of us on the web, and the software draws from that. Scary? I have seen a demonstration of Acxiom, a produce that provides this service. The student can access an exam only after he answers enough authenticating questions correctly. One of the webcast speakers said that the cost for this is $10 per student per test.)

A camera (not inexpensive) that students must purchase so that instructors can watch them as they take an exam

That next thing that will happen, probably, is communication from accrediting bodies, in our case North Central. Beyond that, it is difficult to know whether the government will pursue the topic. The best thing to do now, I think, is to incorporate as many of the course design suggestions as possible in our courses. The testing center issue is not a new one , but this legislation has the potential to make it even more critical.

With the exception of course design, all of the solutions are expensive. I will keep you posted as I hear more about the issue, and I hope you will share your ideas with me.

Thanks,
Julie Witherow, PPCC

Create your own Video Welcome Message at this Year’s Faculty Conference!

Can you believe our faculty conference is just two weeks away?!! If you haven't registered yet, do so today as sessions are filling up fast.

This year at the conference on October 17th at Arapahoe Community College, the design team volunteered to video record you welcoming students to your online classes. Our time is limited, so we are offering 10 minute blocks for you to record your well rehearsed 3 minute script. This is a first come-first serve offer. You will be assigned specific time during the conference day to meet with the design team to make your recording.

Following the conference, the design team will add your recording to our media server and add a link in your course for students to view your recording. (This will not be instantaneous but before the spring semester)

Send me your name, email address, department, and script and I’ll register you to record a video welcome to your class!

Karen Kaemmerling
Director of Training and Professional Development
720-858-2765
karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

Just In Time!

If you weren't able to join us for Ralph Newby's Webinar on Podcasting or if you were there and now can't wait to try it, check out this great tutorial and resource that Lisa Marie Johnson created for us on using Gabcast. You can check it out directly from here or visit the information on the wiki .

Fall Session 2 Rosters available

Your Fall session 2 class rosters are now available.

Please go here, https://at.ccconline.org/faculty

Login using your SID and Vista Password.

After logging in please click on "Online Roster"

You can find student e-mail addresses on the roster. Please remember that most colleges have moved to the system e-mail address for students, so we are dependent on students remembering to check their system e-mail account or forward that account to another external e-mail address.

Please contact myself or Frank Vazquez, frank.vazquez@cccs.edu, if you have any trouble accessing your roster.

Thanks!
John

Webinar Training Today!

Join us for the Cast Away! Podcasting Webinar today!

Session is scheduled for Friday, September 26, 2008 and will be facilitated by CCCOnline's very own Ralph Newby! The session's focus in on tools and best practices for getting started with podcasting in your course.

FRIDAY, September 26, 2008 from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM (Mountain)
Click here to access the session (opens Elluminate).
OR, access from the FRCC Elluminate page by going to the following link and clicking on the date: September 26, 2008: http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/

Look - Another Survey!

As part of the revision of the Colorado Model Content Standards the Colorado Department of Education is seeking broad input from various constituencies to better understand how stakeholders perceive the definitions of 21st Century Skills and Abilities, School Readiness, Postsecondary Readiness, and Workforce Readiness.

The Colorado Model Content Standards exist for each Core Academic Discipline: Civics, Dance, Economics & Financial Literacy, Geography, History, Mathematics, Music, Physical Education, Reading & Writing, Science, Theatre, Visual Arts, and World Language.

It is important that community colleges provide input to CDE on these 3/4 important considerations. Please help CDE define what skills and abilities must be included in the revision of Colorado’s Model Content Standards.

Please go to:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mMm4M3_2b7Rw6S0_2fV7VEJibQ_3d_3d and complete the short survey (it takes about 5 minutes). The deadline for submissions is October 10, 2008.

Thank you-

Dr. Geri J. Anderson

Provost

Colorado Community College System

www.cccs.edu

720-858-2759

Student Authentication Webcast

Rhonda Epper is moderating a webcast on Student Authentication today at noon. Unfortunately schools only get one hook-up each, so to watch you have to join us at the Lowry offices for a brown-bag lunch. (I guess that isn't really an "unfortunately". We're generally polite to guests.....)

From Rhonda:

FYI -- This webcast is on the Student Authentication provisions of the Higher Ed Act. We will have it showing in the CCCOnline conference room at noon tomorrow (Wednesday).

http://www.wcet.info/2.0/index.php?q=node/973

Rhonda M. Epper

Co-Executive Director, Learning Technology

Colorado Community College System

9026 E. Severn Place, Building 967

Denver, CO 80230

303-595-1596

rhonda.epper@cccs.edu

, ,

CDE Needs Our Help

The Colorado Department of Education needs our assistance! CDE is currently accepting applications from Colorado citizens to review P-12 academic standards in Mathematics, Reading & Writing, Music, Theatre, Dance, Visual Arts, Science, Economics & Financial Literacy, Civics, History, Geography, World Language, and Physical Education. Each committee will be about 18-23 in size. In order for the review to be successful, CDE will need demographic and ethnic diversity. Each committee will meet four times and more in virtual space, if needed. Unlike previous reviews this review will evaluate gaps based upon a completed analysis, international benchmarking, grade articulations and 21st century skills.

This is an exciting time for education in Colorado and we need the participation of the community college faculty and administrators to craft the educational standards for the next generation of students! Please encourage faculty and staff –especially our rural colleges—to access the online application at https://forms.cde.state.co.us/cgi-bin/ezs.cgi?DATABASE=modelcontent. The deadline to receive applications has been extended to September 29, 2008.

Answers from CDE to Frequently Asked Questions:

Notification: Applicants will be notified of their status by October 24, 2008.

Time Commitment: Depending on the content area, we anticipate holding 3 to 5 full-day meetings on Saturdays over the next year. There will also be necessary “homework” in preparation for each meeting. Meeting dates will be determined once subcommittees are formed. Phase I to begin this Fall will include Reading/Writing, Music, Mathematic, and Science. Phase II will begin in January 2009 will include Civics, History, Geography, Financial Literacy & Economics, Dance, Theatre, and Visual Art. Phase III will begin in March 2009 will include World Language and Physical Education.

Meeting Locations: Meetings will be held Statewide based on the level of participation from each region. Locations will be announced once subcommittee members have been selected.

Reimbursements: While service on these subcommittees is voluntary, CDE will reimburse subcommittee members for mileage to and from each scheduled meeting.

If you have additional questions, please email Angela Norlander at Norlander_A@cde.state.co.us

Thank you so much for getting the “word” out- CDE is especially in need of reviewers for the arts (theater and dance), social studies (civics and geography), physical education and world languages.

Geri

Dr. Geri J. Anderson
Provost
Colorado Community College System
www.cccs.edu
720-858-2759

Register today for the Faculty Conference!

Come Celebrate the Harvest with us at the CCCOnline Faculty Conference on October 17th at Arapahoe Community College.

Check out the day's schedule of action packed presentations and get directions at the CCCOnline Faculty Wiki. We have some great door prizes including software from Softchalk and Techsmith.

Registration is now available on our wiki, or you can access our registration page directly at http://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?445037. When filling out the form, please note that your name and affiliation on your name badge will appear exactly as you enter it in the form. Please put your school affiliation in the place of "Company".

I look forward to seeing you all there! Please contact me with questions at karen.kaemmerling@comcast.net .

Upcoming Training Opportunity

Believe it or not Fall of 2008 is already here! Our Faculty Conference is just around the corner, and this month we have a training credit opportunity on Podcasting with CCCOnline's very own Ralph Newby. The session's focus is on tools and best practices for getting started with podcasting in your course.

Joing us for our Cast Away! Podcasting Webinar on Friday, September 26, 2008 from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM (Mountain) Click here to access the session (opens Elluminate).
OR, access from the FRCC Elluminate page by going to the following link and clicking on the date: September 26, 2008: http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/

Course Designer Position

Hi Everyone-
We have a course designer position open at CCCOnline. If you have questions that are not answered below contact Cheryl.Comstock@cccs.edu.

Course Designer

The Colorado Community College System is the state’s largest system of higher education, comprising 13 state community colleges, career/technical programs in more than 150 school districts, and program oversight for seven other post secondary institutions. Each college offers a blend of core courses for the university-bound as well as career programs that meet local employers’ needs. Our high school programs are designed to increase the number of qualified entry-level and skilled workers for the Colorado economy. Altogether, we serve over 117,000 for-credit students per year. CCCOnline also serves secondary and continuing-ed constituents, increasing the total number of students served. We are a national model for utilizing advanced technology to deliver state-of-the-art academic and career education across the entire secondary through post-secondary continuum.

Job Summary:

This position reports to the Director of Instructional Design. Provide support to faculty in the development and maintenance of online courses and the redesign of existing online courses for CCCOnline. Consult with faculty or other educators regarding development and delivery of educational and/or curricular materials for effective online courses. Develop appropriate instructional materials through interaction with faculty in both one to one sessions and via faculty development workshops.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Membership in CCCOnline Design Team. 

• Assist faculty in the development of new courses. 

• Assist faculty in the redesign of current courses. 

• Communicate with designers and faculty through the design/development process
.
• Collaborate with designers and faculty through the design/development process
.
• Manage course-development project processes between faculty and chairs
.
• Monitor courses for accessibility standards to ensure quality
.
• Participate in training faculty when necessary
.
• Develop instructional and presentation materials.
• Perform miscellaneous job-related duties as assigned.

Applicant Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s of Art degree from an accredited college or university in an appropriate field (e.g. instructional design, multimedia, web design).
• A minimum of one year of experience with online courses .
• A minimum of one year of experience working with faculty, preferably at a distance (online or hybrid setting).
• A minimum of one year of experience working with HTML and CSS standards and protocols.
• Experience working with computers and the internet.
• Knowledge of the BlackBoard© Vista learning management system, or another LMS
.
• Knowledge of the following software applications; Microsoft Office, Dreamweaver or other web-design software, and various assessment applications (e.g., Respondus, ExamView, etc.)
.
• Knowledge of graphics programs; Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or alternative software.
• Ability to work effectively and efficiently as part of a team.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and effective written and oral communication skills.
• Excellent project management skills.
• Motivated and self-directed to work with multiple projects and people simultaneously
.
  

Preferred Qualifications:

• One year of experience teaching online in a post-secondary setting.
• Experience in working with faculty developing online courses.
• Experience in working with and developing educational materials and various online applications.

Salary:

Anticipated Hiring Range: $38,000-$42,000 annually
Excellent Benefit Package including health, dental, vision, life insurance, and retirement.

Application Process:

Submit a current resume, list of three professional references and your three most recent supervisors, copies of your transcripts (unofficial are acceptable as part of the application process – official copies will be required prior to hire) and cover letter addressing the position requirements to:

E-Mail: jobs@cccs.edu
Fax: 303-620-4030

Or mail to:
Director of Human Resources
Colorado Community College System
9101 E. Lowry Blvd.
Denver, CO 80230

A review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Incomplete applications may not be considered. Candidates will be evaluated on the basis of their qualifications as related to the duties and responsibilities of the position.

Equal Opportunity Employer - The Colorado Community College System is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or disability in its activities, programs, or employment practices as required by Title VI, Title IX, and Section 504, Age Discrimination Act, and Title II of the ADA. Written inquiries may be referred to the Director of Affirmative Action, 9101 E. Lowry Blvd., Denver, CO 80230-6011, or by phone at 303-620-4000.

Former employees of the Colorado Community College System or one of its 13 colleges, who were disciplinarily terminated or resigned in lieu of termination, must disclose this within your application materials.

This position may require irregular hours, including nights and weekends, as well as working more than eight (8) hours per day at certain times.

Candidates must successfully pass a criminal background check prior to hire.

Dupe Process

Hi,

We are initiating a few small changes on the process for your receiving new sections for Fall 2. As you know, when a course has been requested by your chair, it goes through several steps in creating the course and assigning the content, but it ends with an email to you notifying you of its availability. This email has changed now to include some further instructions. Please read it and follow those instructions.

Basically, you will have a place to track your sections through the process and let both your chair and AT know when you have verified that you got the correct course and then also when you are ready for the semester. This should help increase communication at all levels. So, please do read the email notice as they come along between now and the beginning of the semester. It will provide you with a URL where you can login with your S# and password to view further instructions. Eventually, we will be combining various instructor logins for dupe, roster, surveys, etc to make it easier for you to keep track. For now, the email will be your reminder of where to go to provide needed feedback.

The emails and courses will start appearing over the next few days and continue until the beginning of class on September 29.

David Chatham

Dean of Academic Technology

CCCOnline

Call for Proposals ends Sept 12th

Hi Everyone,
As the weather begins to signal fall is here, I am getting very excited about the once a year opportunity we have to collaborate and see my colleagues in person. You may have seen our call for proposals but wondered what you could present on...well I know many of you are doing wonderful things in your online classrooms, and we want to hear about them.

Are you creating or using study aides? Podcasts? Blogs? Have you rewritten assessments to better meet outcomes? Are you having students generate content for your course? Are you using new resources like Elluminate or other synchronous tools, Web 2.0 technology or Open Content? Is there one thing you've tried this year that really had an impact on student learning or your teaching? Do you have a lot of experience managing student personalities or your own on line? Whether these or other techniques you've tried succeeded or failed, you have knowledge we want you to share with us in a 45 minute session or round table discussion!

I know that you are cutting edge and creative, share your secrets and experiences with us. The first step is to mark your calendar for OCT 17th, at Arapahoe Community College, then submit your proposal . The last day to submit proposals is September 12th, I can't wait to hear from you!

Reporting No-shows

Dear CCCOnline Faculty;

Welcome to Fall Semester!

We have a new procedure this term for reporting students who are “no-shows” and are asking for your assistance in identifying and reporting “no show” students in your courses.

A “no-show” student is any student who has not yet logged into their course or communicated with you in some way, either through e-mail, phone or in the course itself before September 9. If a student has logged into your course once but made no postings, either through e-mail or discussions, or submitted no assignments or other course work, they can be considered a “no-show”. If you have any questions about the status of a particular student, please feel free to contact me.

The deadline for reporting “no-show” students is September 9, 2008.

Once you have reported a student as a “no-show”, they may be dropped from your course, however, not all colleges drop “no-show” students, so some students may remain on your roster. These students will need to be given an appropriate grade, probably an “F”, at the end of the term.

To report a student as a “no-show”, please follow the steps below.

1. Go to your class roster here, https://at.ccconline.org/roster.
2. Enter your Username and Password (the same you use for logging into Vista)
3. Select the course from the list (if a course is missing, please contact Frank Vazquez at frank.vazquez@cccs.edu)
4. Find the correct student
5. Place a check in the box under the “No Show” column, there is no “submit” button, you can just check the box
6. Return to the home page to select another course is appropriate
   
   

This information will be reported to the student’s home college.

**Some colleges will then drop the students, but not all colleges drop no-show students, so some students may remain on your roster.

If a student comes back after you have reported them, just send me an e-mail and I will update the student’s record.

Thank you for your time and your support!!

John H Schmahl

Director, Student Services

CCCOnline

John.schmahl@cccs.edu