Monday, December 21, 2009

Happy Holidays!

I want to share with you the words to a song from the CCCS office party last week. This was sung in honor of the "Golden Elf" award (you can see Rhonda holding the elf). Everyone at CCCOnline received this very special award for all of the work we have done as we move to a new learning management system.
Sung to the tune of Jungle Bells:

Dashing through the term

with a computer and ipod

O'er the chapters we go
passing all the way


Servers begin to crash and ring
making log-ons tight!

Course shells crash and burn

as students' stomachs churn tonight


Oh D2L, D2L

rescuing us today!

Oh what fun it is to be

In the online way!

We wish for you a wonderful break from classes full of friends, family, and lots of time to rest up for the next term!


Lisa Cheney-Steen


Friday, December 18, 2009

D2L Maintenance

**DO NOT REPLY**

Just in case you were planning to work in D2L next week, please note the following planned maintenance information:

Maintenance Dec. 23 from 6 AM to 10:30 AM Users will not be able to access D2L courses during the maintenance. The offline period will be used to upgrade software version and add hardware for the Spring term that begins in January.

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS POST. If you have questions, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu

Webinar Archives

As you work on your courses for spring during the break between semesters, I wanted to remind you one last time in 2009 that you can find the D2L webinars including the one on “Preparing your D2L Courses for Spring” from yesterday in both the CCCOnline Community where you can still post questions for us and in the New Faculty Wiki.

In January of 2010, the Mentors and Training and Professional will be here to support you and answer questions, and we will also run D2L Q&A webinars and another one on getting your courses ready. After we are underway in the spring, we look forward to exploring new tools and methods with you in webinars and workshops.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Webinars Today!

We will be covering the steps to preparing your course in D2L for spring classes today in a webinar from 1-3. Join us at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ or visit this new wiki page for PDF instructions and a video demo. https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Upcoming_Webinars

Also the NROC webinar that I mentioned earlier this week is actually at noon mountain time, or 2 eastern. If you can’t make that webinar, you might be interested in the archive and those of other NROC sessions at http://www.nrocnetwork.org/nroc_commons?go=2155387.

If I don’t e-see you today at the webinar, have a wonderful holiday season!
Karen Kaemmerling Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

D2L Spring Prep Webinar and more!

In case you are eager to begin preparing your D2L duped course for spring, join Training and Professional Development on Thursday December 17th at 1pm for a webinar on “My D2L course is duped, now what?” We’ll go over the QA checklist and preparing your courses for spring. If you can’t make it we’ll record it too, and we plan to repeat this session in January. To Log in go to http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ and/or visit this new wiki page for PDF instructions and a video demo. https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Upcoming_Webinars

Also you might be interested in an NROC webinar that is the same day and close to the same time…on establishing "Presence" in the Online Classroom:Drawing in Students with Web 2.0" Thursday, December 17, at 2pm ETPresented by: Jay Bennett, Instruction and Course Coordinator for the Michigan Virtual School Join us for this free webinar offering. Seating is limited, so please email:membership@montereyinstitute.org <mailto:membership@montereyinstitute.org> Let them know you are from CCCOnline.

If you have any questions, email me directly at karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

Friday, December 11, 2009

D2L Tip and New Faculty Wiki!

Happy Holidays Everyone,

First a D2L tip: The Groups tool is a great example of how this LMS has different pedagogy in mind with their tools. I believe these exciting differences are going to help us make stronger assignments and courses. Also, the Groups tool cannot be removed by instructors from the Course Navigation Bar. Since even if the designers remove the tool, it reappears on the course navigation bar with each dupe, we recommend that if you aren’t using groups in your courses to let students know that is a tool they don’t have to worry about. After more research and testing, we plan to release a webinar and workshop this spring on this “cool” tool. If you are eager to experiment, check out the D2L PDF resources in the CCCOnline Community, consider joining the D2L Community, and check out the D2L resources posted in the NEW FACULTY WIKI.

After listening to your suggestions, we’ve been working for almost a year to develop a more user-friendly, easily navigated WIKI with all the great information we had before. While it is still a work in progress, we thought you might particularly find the information about D2L handy during the next couple of weeks. Check out the our NEW Wiki today! https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/


I hope your final grading is going smoothly! Your mentors and I remain eager to provide you support. Please contact me directly with your questions about this post at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Gradebook URL

There was a typo in the URL for the faculty gateway in the e-mail regarding grades. Please use the following URL to access the gateway and the gradebook.

https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/login.php

I apologize for any inconvenience.

Thanks!
John

BB Vista is back up

BB Vista is up. BB is investigating the source of the problems in the data center.

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Vista update

Here's the news from BB:
There appears to be a Datacenter event that is causing a problem for many Vista clients. This is not specific to your site but rather a more widespread infrastructure issue. Our engineers are currently working on the problem as fast as possible. I will provide additional details as they are released.
We'll let you know when we have more information.

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Vista update

Here's the news from BB:

Up again

Well as soon as I send an email to everyone BB Vista pops back up. David has not heard from BB yet, so no information on what is happening. Be sure to save any work you are doing frequently and please remind students to save test questions one question at a time as opposed to completing an entire exam and then saving.

Lisa Cheney-Steen

BB Vista is down

Hey Everyone-

It looks like BB Vista is currently down or at best very, very slow. David Chatham is contacting BB for additional information.

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Fall Grades Due December 17

Dear Faculty;

It's that time of the semester, Fall grades are due no later than Thursday, December 17, 2009.

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, or any students not listed on the grade roster, please contact John Schmahl, john.schmahl@cccs.edu or Roxanne Manske, roxanne.manske@cccs.edu.

To submit final grades:

Login at the Faculty Gateway here, https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/login.php/
- You can use your Blackboard login credentials

Click on the Online Gradebook

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 course**

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)

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)

Friday, December 04, 2009

Digital Content Survey

The digital content survey will be available to students beginning Sunday, December 6 and ending Sunday, December 13. If your course uses digital content, please encourage your students to complete this survey. Thanks!

If you have questions about the survey, please do not reply to this email. Instead, contact Cheryl.Comstock@cccs.edu. Thanks!

Still have D2L Questions?

Join us today from 1pm-3pm for a Q&A session about using D2L. Like an open lab, come ask anything and we’ll try to answer it. Log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/. This webinar will not be recorded or count toward training credit and does not have a schedule.

Another resource for understanding D2L are the PDFs provided by D2L and housed in the CCCOnline Community. These may come in especially useful as you are preparing your courses for spring. Learn how to use the Find, Search, Bookmarks, Pages, and Scrolling features of a PDF from the tutorial at: http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_Other_Tools_-_PDFs

Thursday, December 03, 2009

BB Vista is back up

Blackboard completed their testing and upgrading of Vista last night near midnight. Our testing since has not revealed any new problems since that time. However, we will continue to monitor the system as the day progresses.

As a result of the problems yesterday, your students may have had difficult attaching documents, posting announcements or sending class email. Their ability to login was impacted, especially yesterday afternoon. Please take all that under consideration as you and your students complete these last two weeks of classes.


Thanks for all of your patience!

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

BB Continues to Troubleshoot


Hey Everyone-

Blackboard is continuing to troubleshoot the Vista issues, but the latency and stability issues are still occurring. BB is now performing a complete audit on our database. Our AT staff is spending the evening monitoring the situation. If you attempt to work in Blackboard this evening please be careful about saving work.

Best,
Lisa Cheney-Steen

Vista continues unstable

Hi Everyone-

Vista has continued to be unstable throughout the afternoon. We received our first alerts around 1:00 pm. Blackboard briefly thought they had the problems solved around 2:45, but unfortunately the system continues to be up and down. Internal email is generally not working, so not a good choice for communicating with students.

We appreciate everyone's patience with your students, Vista, and CCCOnline in general. Please be assured we didn't plan this just to make everyone feel really good about the move to Desire2Learn. :^)

best,
Lisa Cheney-Steen

Blackboard Mail Problem

An issue with Mail has again been detected in Blackboard that probably affects the last several days. We are working on this, but we do not have an estimate of when it might be cleared up. It might be prudent to depend on external email for now

We will keep you posted.

Thanks!
John

Posts from this Blog

Hi everyone. This message is being sent to you via the CCCOnline Faculty News blog. Many of you reply to messages sent via this tool, and when you do that, you are actually sending your reply to about 10 people in the office.

If you see this "facultyresponse@ccconline.org" in any of the address lines of the email you receive, EVEN THOUGH you may see an individual's name also listed, please don't reply to the message. Instead, compose a new message and send it to the individual to whom you need to speak. This will speed up our responses to you. If you are unsure who to contact, please visit this wiki page: http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Policies_%26_Procedures_-_Who_to_Contact Thanks!

If you have questions about this process, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

D2L and Image Editing Tip

Did you know we should resize images before uploading them to our course content? Also, for the My Instructor widget in D2L, the design team specifically asks instructors to use an image of no larger than 100x100 pixels.

Don't know how to resize an image for your course? If you don’t have an image editor on your computer that is easy to use, try this find by Lisa Marie Johnson, Picnik. It is a web based program, thus no download is required, and as she says is a “snap to use.”

Check out this demonstration Lisa Marie created at
http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_Other_Tools_-_Picnik_Image_Editor

Blackboard Back Up

Ok, it appears that Bb has resolved the stability issue. Please try logging in again. Of course, if you experience any trouble, let us know or you can contact the Support Center at 1-888-800-9198 (http://help.cccs.edu).

Thanks!
John

Blackboard Issues Continue

OK, it looks like we were premature in our earlier notice. There are still issues with Bb stability. We are working with Bb to get the issue resolved as quickly as possible.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Thanks!
John

Blackboard Back Up

Blackboard is back up and appears to be stable again. Please contact us or the Support Center (1-888-800-9198 or http://help.cccs.edu) if you have any trouble.

Thanks!
John

BlackBoard Stability Issues

We’re having stability problems with Bb currently. This issue has been off and on since last night so you and your students may experience problems accessing Bb at times. We’re working to get the issue resolved.

Thanks!
John

Monday, November 30, 2009

D2L Face to Face Training This Week Changed!

Due to low enrollment for the Face To Face Training Opportunities this week, we will offer office hours at the Lowry Office instead.

I will be available at the CCCOnline Office from 10-2pm on Wednesday Dec 2. Lisa Marie Johnson will be available at the CCCOnline Office from 12-4 on Thursday Dec 3. To stop by and visit with us about D2L in person, here is a map of the Lowry Campus. We are in building 967, room 116. Additionally if these hours are not convenient for you, please schedule an appointment by contacting me at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu for either time here at the office or over the phone.

Also, join us for a Questions and Answer Webinar on Friday Dec 4th from 1-3 by logging in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Student Survey Now Open!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Before we take a day to stuff the turkey and then ourselves, we wanted to remind you that student surveys are now available. Please encourage your students to complete them! Students should be seeing a reminder popup every time they log in. Surveys will close December 5, and results will be available to you after final grades have been turned in. Thanks!

Donna Welschmeyer
CCCOnline Associate Academic Dean
9026 E. Severn Place
Denver, CO 80230
720-858-2734
donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

D2L Face to Face Training Opportunities in December

I hope the end of your fall semester is wrapping up smoothly and you have a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving!

If you need more hands on experience with D2L before the spring semester courses are duped and you start teaching this spring, we have a few more training opportunities left this year.

Join us for face to face training at the Lowry Campus on December 2 from 10 am -2pm or on December 3 from 12pm-4pm. Register at https://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?402726

Additionally, we will offer two more D2L Webinars in December. On Friday, December 4th from 1-3, join us for a General D2L Discussion and Question and Answer session. On Friday, December 17 from 1-3 join us for a Spring D2L Course Readiness Webinar. No registration is required for these sessions.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Now What?

Now that the November 14th is past, remember that the CCCOnline Community course will remain available as a resource for D2L information, as a place to ask questions of Training and Professional Development in D2L discussions, and as a place to correspond with faculty in your departments. If you haven’t already, you can still take or retake the Completion Quiz that is required of all faculty who plan to teach next spring.

In our efforts to provide continual support, we will offer a D2L QA webinar on Friday, December 4th at 1pm and a Spring Course Readiness Webinar on Thursday, December 17th at 1pm. We are also happy to schedule an appointment with you one on one either at the office or over the phone. Please contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu to arrange an appointment.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Last D2L Webinar this Fall!

I know in addition to your regular teaching responsibilities you've been working very hard to meet the November 14th deadline for cleaning up the instructor tasks in your D2L courses. Our last scheduled D2L webinar to help support your conversion activities is today at 1pm. This webinar is a QA format, so you may come for any length of time and ask any D2L question you have. No matter how big or how small, we will try to answer them all!

Join us at Log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

D2L Schedule Tip

While finishing up the Conversion Checklist for your master courses, I want to clear up some confusion on the Schedule. For the spring semester, you are required to have an updated course schedule page in your syllabus. You can save yourself time in January by updating this page now. To update this page:

-Click on Content
-Find the page in your Syllabus module
-Click the pencil to the right of the topic
-Edit the page
-Save it
-You may have to clear your cache in the browser to see your edits.

This is different from the D2L Schedule Tool that appears on the very top navigation bar. You are not required at this time to use or update that schedule tool as it is private to individual users. Nor are you required to use the Calendar widget that appears on your course’s home page.

If you have Conversion or any other D2L questions, please join us for the D2L QA webinar scheduled for this evening at 7pm. To access the webinar, log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Counting down. . . .

As you all finish your course conversion work, we would like to thank you for your hard work on this project. It’s always a challenge to change LMSs; your dedication to making your new D2L courses top-notch is sincerely appreciated!

Keep these things in mind as you finish up:

Designers are getting to all the courses as quickly as possible, but they may not have made it through your class yet. Focus on the instructor tasks found on the conversion checklist in the D2L Community.

(Please note that the original checklist asked faculty to move and update the Instructor Widget. Designers have been adding and moving that Widget, so you may find that it is already place. If so, you can simply edit it to contain your information. If it’s not in place, you may either follow the instructions provided in training to add and edit it, or you can wait for the designers to add the Widget.)

Also, as you move through your courses checking links and images, fix those that you can fix (for example, links to outside web pages), and provide your mentor with the specific location of those things you are unable to fix.

Please continue to read the D2L info that appears regularly in your inbox and contact your mentors with D2L related questions.

We’re almost there! If you have questions, please remember to email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu instead of replying to this message.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Cruch Time!

Less that ONE week left to complete the clean up of your D2L Master courses (November 14 is the deadline)! To support you during crunch time, here are the training and support opportunities this week.

General discussion and Conversion Questions Webinar
· When: Wednesday, November 11, 7-8 PM
· Facilitator: T&PD Staff and D-Team
· No RSVP
· Log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/
General discussion and Conversion Questions Webinar
· When: Friday, November 13, 1-3 PM
· Facilitator: Aaron Leonard
· No RSVP
· Log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/

Face to Face Training, November 10th from 12-4 at Lowry. If you are interested in attending this session, please contact me directly at karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Our Time is almost Up to have our courses ready!

The last D2L tool webinar is this Friday at 1pm with Debra Warren on Special Release Conditions and Intelligent Agents. Log in to the webinar at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/.

We still have seats available in our Tuesday, November 10th Face To Face Training at the Lowry Campus from 12-4. If you are interested in attending this training, contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu. If you need face to face time but are unable to come to the training sessions, you may also contact me to arrange an appointment at the office.

Finally, next week is the LAST week before our November 14th deadline for Conversion Clean up. We will have two webinars next week just for your last minute questions and support needs: Wednesday November 11 from 7-8pm and Friday, November 13 from 1-3. Log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

November 14 Approaches Quickly!

(If you can't see this cartoon in the email version of this post, visit CCCOnline Faculty News at http://ccconlinefacultynews.blogspot.com/ to see the actual blog post

The November 14 deadline for course cleanup is sneaking up on us very quickly! Both designers and instructors are working hard to meet the deadline.
If you happen to go into your D2L shell and some of the designer tasks are not completed, don't panic! Designers are working diligently to complete their tasks in each course shell. Keep the following in mind as you work:

1) Use the "Instructor Tasks" checklist provided in the D2L training course to guide you in converting your course

2) You do NOT have to have your schedule and other "first day check" kinds of updates completed by Nov. 14.

3) If you have not already done so, you should complete the D2L training course and associated quiz by the 14th as well. Focus on those activities that will help you convert your course and get you up and running to teach in the spring.

4) DON'T WAIT until the last minute to look at and begin working in your course! While some courses converted very cleanly, not all did! It may take you longer than anticipated to complete your course, so jump in now! Don't be like our little dinosaur friends!
5) If you have questions about course conversion tasks, please contact your mentor.
And remember, replying to the email generated by this blog post replies to about 10 people in the CCCOnline office. If you have a question for me, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu.




Sunday, November 01, 2009

Face to Face Training for D2L

November is here! And our November 14th deadline for D2L cleanup of our masters is just 2 weeks away!

We still have openings for the D2L Face to Face Training, Thursday Nov 5 from 12-4pm at the Lowry Campus. Please send me a direct email if you are interested in attending the Nov 5th training this week.

We also have another Face to Face training available on Tuesday, November 10 with several openings. If you are interested in attending a face to face session, please register at https://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?402726

D2L Grading Discussions Tip

Here is another tip from D2L mentor, Diane Van Os, on grading Discussion posts in D2L


1. Open discussions
2. Select the ruler next to the discussion you want to grade
3. Select Assessments tab
4. Click the student’s name in the list
5. Only posts that student made are listed in the new window
6. You can grade from here, but remember to click the “graded” box

Friday, October 30, 2009

Session II Payroll Information

Eileen Clymo has provided the following faculty payroll information for Fall Session II:

Regular contracts for Fall 2 will begin paying out on the Nov. 6th paydate and will be paid every other week until Dec. 31st.

Overload contracts for Fall 2 will begin payment on Nov. 20th (every other week through Dec. 31st).

If you have questions, please do not reply to this message. Instead, contact Eileen directly at eileen.clymo@cccs.edu.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

D2L Face To Face Training

We still have space available in the Monday, November 2, D2L Face to Face Training at the Lowry campus from 10-2. If you would like to join us contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

We also added another Face to Face D2L training session Thursday, Nov 5 from 12-4 at the Lowry Campus. Register today at https://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?402726 .

Next Friday join us for the D2L Special Release Conditions and Intelligent Agents webinar with Debra Warren on Friday Nov 6 at 1pm. No registration is required and the session will be recorded if you can’t attend it live.

Remember your department's mentor is eager to help answer your conversion and clean up questions, so please contact them as needed. A list of mentors and contact information can be found in the D2L CCCOnline Community course and when you go to profhelp in the Faculty Gateway.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A Message from the Design Team

Hello wonderful faculty members,

As you are going through your Master courses for the November 14th deadline, please know that the Design Team is working right along with you.

In addition to the 35 new courses under development for Spring, supporting the current Blackboard courses, and troubleshooting Blackboard and Desire2Learn issues, each designer has more than 100 Master courses to go through. When the migration process is complete, at least one designer will have worked in each of the almost 500 Master courses.

In each Master course, designers are changing all wording from Bb Vista terminology to D2L terminology, making sure the style sheet is attached and working properly in all files, deleting duplicate content caused by the migration, and adding a course banner to the course homepage among other tasks. Designers will also be making sure that all images are working in the content of each Master course. You may also find that a designer has taken the information that was in the footer of your Vista course and placed it as a news item, updated the Links widget, and added an eBook widget (if applicable).

So next time you see a designer, give ‘em a hug, as they are working very long hours to help ensure all courses will be ready for the spring semester. [Because of the H1N1 fears, dark chocolate will be accepted in place of a hug. ;-)]

Something Funny to Watch on a Snowy Snowy Day

Web Site Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtPb8g8Jl6I

(Sorry embedding is disabled on this video.)

Tip from Alice Bedard-Voorhees.

Stay Warm,
Lisa Cheney-Steen

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Second Life Webinar

Hello Everyone,

It’s hard to believe the CCCOnline fall conference is over, and we are just days away from Halloween. A week after our conference we had an Open House on the new CCC Colorado EduIsland. Thanks to all of you, who were able to attend the open house event on October 9th. We had some 50+ new visitors that we can account for, who visited the island and joined us for the event, which we feel this was an excellent turnout for our first event!This is an extremely exciting time for all of us, especially with our new adoption to D2L. Out of my respect for all of you and our our trainers and designers, and everyone’s busy schedules, I have decided to post-pone our up and coming Second Life (SL) webinar for Colorado EduIsland. Originally, the webinar was scheduled for this week, Thursday, October 29th, which will now be held sometime after November 14th (date to be determined), after things slow down a bit for everyone.At our future SL webinar, we will present more on the Colorado Community Colleges focus in SL, and specifically related to:

  • Where to get started and up and running quickly
  • How to get your students up and running quickly
  • Visiting Colorado EduIsland’s teaching spaces
  • Using SL in your classes for specific assessment driven activities and meeting course outcomes
  • Showing educational values that others have already found using virtual worlds for teaching their classes.
  • Alternative concepts and uses of how we may want to teach with virtual worlds for the future

I look forward too seeing all of you at our future Colorado EduIsland events! If you have questions about the event change, or just want to discuss SL or Colorado EduIsland, please email me directly at, cheryl.comstock@cccs.edu. Best of luck with all your course migration!

Best regards,

Cheryl Comstock CCCOnline,

Director Online Program Development

cheryl.comstock@cccs.edu

303.595.1689

http://www.ccconline.org

Vista Email Tool

The BlackBoard hosted Mail tool in our Vista course management system began to malfunction at some point over the weekend. The problem was not readily noticed by students and faculty or at least was not reported until Monday. The tool has been repaired but the back-up of the mail could take 24 hours to clear.

It may be helpful for you to post a discussion message or announcement in your Vista courses to let students know that if they have sent you an email to which you have not responded, you are not ignoring them! Encourage them to contact you via your external emergency email address if they have urgent issues. Thanks!

Monday, October 26, 2009

D2L Email Tool Tip

Here is another tip from D2L mentor Diane Van Os on using the D2L Email Tool.

When you log into D2L courses and click the email icon you might see a bunch of emails.
This is because the email system is global, which means all your D2L email appears in one place.

-Click the drop down arrow that says “filter by” and select one class section only. Now your emails for that course are the only ones you see.
-Do this for each class you teach.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Upcoming D2L Training

Monday Oct 26th at 9am, Aaron Leonard discusses the Quizzes Tool which is equivalent to our former Assessments tool. Access the Webinar from the following link: http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/
PDF instructions on logging in http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/Training/Elluminate/AccessingElluminateTraining.pdf

Also, we’ve added more face to face sessions. Join us either Thursday, November 5th from 12-4 or Tuesday, November 10th from 12-4 at the Lowry Campus. Register for the face to face training at https://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?402726

Can’t make any of the face to face sessions, but want to meet with someone? Schedule an appointment at the office with the Training and Professional Development department. Contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu.

Friday, October 23, 2009

D2L Assessments Webinar on Monday

We know you all are very busy this semester with classes, holidays, conversion and training, but hang in there! We have three weeks left before our conversion clean-up and training due date of November 14th.

Haven't logged in yet? Not sure where to start or confused about what is expected? Visit this online object or contact me directly at karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu. I am happy to answer your questions, and we can talk on the phone or make an appointment at the office to get you going too.

The first hour of our D2L webinars are intended to cover a few tools, the second hour is an open QA session for any of your conversion clean-up and training questions. Come to the webinars with your questions or ask them in the CCCOnline Community where Lisa Marie Johnson and I are monitoring daily.

Our next webinar covers the Assessments tool with Aaron Leonard on Monday Oct 26th at 9am.
· Access the Webinars from the following link: http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/
· PDF instructions on logging in http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/Training/Elluminate/AccessingElluminateTraining.pdf

Can’t make it to the live webinar… that’s ok, visit the webinar archive at http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Webinar_Archive

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

D2L Classlist Tip

We are going to start sending D2L tips, ideas, suggestions ect. via the blog.

Today’s tip comes from D2L mentor and CRJ Chair Diane Van Os

Use the Classlist tool to quickly email your whole class or individuals.
1. Go to the Classlist Tool on the course navigation bar.
2. Select the drop down to show maximum students on one page.
3. Check the top box which should place checks in all boxes and select “email all on this tab”.
4. Or to email an individual just check next to that person’s name and select the email icon at the top left of the list of stuents.
5. Send away!

Assessments D2L Webinar

So far our D2L webinars covered the html editor, e-mail, discussions, content, manage files, grades, dropbox. If you missed one of these great webinars, visit http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Webinar_Archive for a recording of the webinar. The recording is nice because you can open your sandbox and pause the webinar to try what was taught.

What’s next? Learn more about the Assessments tool with Aaron Leonard on Monday Oct 26th at 9am.
· Access the Webinars from the following link: http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/
· PDF instructions on logging in http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/Training/Elluminate/AccessingElluminateTraining.pdf

Based on your requests we are also adding more webinars and face to face sessions. Be looking for information on that soon!

See you there!

Friday, October 16, 2009

One month to go before D2L training and conversion deadline!

If you were not able to join us for the D2L webinar today on Content and Manage files with Debra Warren or you missed one previously, you can listen to them anytime at the archive at http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Webinar_Archive

Our next webinar is Oct 19th at 9am with Donna Hall on the Gradebook and Dropbox.
To Join us Login on Monday Oct 19th at 8:30 am from: http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGEPDF

Instructions for accessing webinars: http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/Training/Elluminate/AccessingElluminateTraining.pdf

Monday, October 12, 2009

Face to Face D2L Training Reminder

October 19th at the Lowry campus we will have a face to face D2L training session from 10-2. We still have a few seats left, so if you would like to join us, register by Oct 13 at https://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?402726

If you have already registered for the training, I will be sending information to you soon. Please try to log in to D2L using your S number and password.

How is your D2L training and Conversion clean up going so far?

If you are following along with us, you should be able to navigate in D2L, use the HTML editor, send and create emails, create, grade, and post to discussions, and use the classlist tool. Don't wait until the last minute to start exploring and using D2L. Training and clean up should be completed by November 14th. Also, don't forget that you can post questions in the CCCOnline Community Course on any tool or ask your department's D2L mentor for help.

This week CCCOnline Course Designer, Debra Warren, will facilitate the D2L Content and Manage Files webinar on Friday Oct 16th at 1pm. On Monday October 19th Donna Hall, Instructional Design Team Coordinator, will facilitate the D2L Grades and Dropbox Webinar at 9am. We hope to see you there, but if you can’t attend, these are being recorded for you to view later at your convenience.

Login to Friday Oct 16th webinar at 12:30 PM from: http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE

PDF Instructions for accessing webinars:http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/Training/Elluminate/AccessingElluminateTraining.pdf <http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/Training/Elluminate/AccessingElluminateTraining.pdf>

If you miss it, access the recording at the Webinar Archive:http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Webinar_Archive

Friday, October 09, 2009

CCCOnline Webinar with correct links.

Please join us for a Webinar on the D2L Email, Discussion, and Classlist tools starting at 12:00 PM today, October 9. The webinar will last until approximately 2:00 PM. The facilitator is Mary Cash!

Login to the webinar at 11:30 AM today from: http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE

PDF Instructions for accessing webinars:
http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/Training/Elluminate/AccessingElluminateTraining.pdf
<http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/Training/Elluminate/AccessingElluminateTraining.pdf>

If you miss a webinar, access the recording at the Webinar Archive:
http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Webinar_Archive

The next webinar is on October 16 from 1:00 - 3:00 PM and will cover the D2L Content and Manage Files tools. We hope to see you then too!

CCCOnline Webinar!

Please join us for a Webinar on the D2L Email, Discussion, and Classlist tools starting at 12:00 PM today, October 9. The webinar will last until approximately 2:00 PM. The facilitator is Mary Cash!

Login to the webinar at 11:30 AM today from: http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE

PDF Instructions for accessing webinars:
http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/Training/Elluminate/AccessingElluminateTraining.pdf
<http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/Training/Elluminate/AccessingElluminateTraining.pdf>

If you miss a webinar, access the recording at the Webinar Archive:
http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Webinar_Archive

The next webinar is on October 16 from 1:00 - 3:00 PM and will cover the D2L Content and Manage Files tools. We hope to see you then too!

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Second Life Open House - October 9th (Lisa's Error)

Second Life Open House on Colorado EduIsland!

October 9th, 2009

The following events and times are listed below for all users. We hope you can join in the fun and come for a tour of our new island!

****************************************************
Avatar Appearance - Be Who You Want to Be!
moderated by Cyrus Hush

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT (Sessions begin every 30 minutes)
Length: 30 minutes
Location: Campus Store

****************************************************
The Maze - Learning Your Way Around Second Life
moderated by Grand Jestyr

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT(Sessions begin every hour)
Length: 1 hour
Location: The Maze

****************************************************
Holodeck Tours
moderated by Maelthra Spiritor

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT (Sessions begin every 30 minutes)
Length: 30 minutes
Location: Starts the Spanish Peaks Building

****************************************************
Fireside Chat - Teaching in Second Life
moderated by Kool Oberlander, Ababus Capalini, Shutter Allen

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT(Sessions begin every 15 minutes)
Length: 15 minutes
Location: Campfire near the Welcome Center

****************************************************
Teacher Tools for Your Second Life
moderated by MustangQuimby Mesmer

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT (Sessions begin every 15 minutes)
Length: 15 minutes
Location: Seven Falls Discussion Area

****************************************************
Teaching In Second Life
presentation by Miranda Minjou

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT
Length: 45 minutes
Location: Sand Dunes Discussion Area

****************************************************
It's A Snap! - Photo Booth
moderated by Luva Ragu

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT
Length: Continuous
Location: Student Recreation Center

****************************************************
Yes, You Can Dance!
moderated by ProfCO Clarity

Guest DJ: Gagtfl Darwin

Start Time: 3:00 PM SLT / 4:00 PM MDT
Length: 2 hours
Location: Amphitheater

****************************************************

GOLD NUGGET CHALLENGE!
moderated by ProfCO Clarity

Start Time: 3:00 PM SLT / 4:00 PM MDT
Length: 2 hour
Location: Region Wide

Can you find all the gold nuggets? There are 10 gold nuggets hidden around the island, find them and enjoy cash and prizes. Be the first to find all 10 and bring them to ProfCO Clarity for a big cash prize!

*******************

You may also contact Cheryl at Cheryl.Comstock@cccs.edu or search on Ize Mesmer in SL for questions.

Thanks,
Cheryl

Cheryl Comstock
CCCOnline, Director Online Program Development
cheryl.comstock@cccs.edu
http://www.ccconline.org/

More on Colorado EduIsland and Upcoming Events

Yesterday's blog post announcing the upcoming Second Life event left out some important details. Here is some additional information from Cheryl Comstock regarding Colorado EduIsland and the events announced yesterday.

Hi everyone! SecondLife is a virtual/simulated web experience where we are researching teaching and education. The first part of the original blog message was omitted, leaving it somewhat confusing.

Several discipline areas from a variety of colleges are looking at the educational potential of Second Life while also being quite successful in teaching in that virtual enviroment and exposing students to concepts and curriculum in disciplines they may not be able to introduce in a traditional or online classroom.

We have secured this Second Life space to help you explore potential uses; we will then build our island up to support your ideas and your students' needs in fulfilling learning outcomes.

The event is this coming Friday, October 9. At this session, you can learn how to set up an account and discover what is available to both you and our students on Colorado EduIsland (which is supported by Colorado's Community Colleges).

You can login directly to the SL website to check out how to create a free account and then teleport to Colorado EduIsland for the time specified.

What: Colorado EduIsland Open House
When: October 9th, 2009Times: 2PM - 5 PM SLT (Second Life Time) or 3 - 6 PM MDT (Mountain Daylight Time)
Where:* New Second Life (SL) Users, visit this URL to get started in SL: http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=SecondLife:Getting_Started#Getting_started_In_Second_Life_.28SL.29:
* Current Users, visit this SLURL to land directly on Colorado EduIsland: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Colorado%20EduIsland/133/110/22

Let me know (cheryl.comstock@cccs.edu) if you have questions. I can provide better support for you if we set up a time to meet and discuss it. I will also be hosting a webinar later this month on the topic.

Monday, October 05, 2009

Second Life Open House - October 9th

Second Life Open House on Colorado EduIsland!

October 9th, 2009

The following events and times are listed below for all users. We hope you can join in the fun and come for a tour of our new island!

****************************************************
Avatar Appearance - Be Who You Want to Be!
moderated by Cyrus Hush

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT (Sessions begin every 30 minutes)
Length: 30 minutes
Location: Campus Store

****************************************************
The Maze - Learning Your Way Around Second Life
moderated by Grand Jestyr

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT(Sessions begin every hour)
Length: 1 hour
Location: The Maze

****************************************************
Holodeck Tours
moderated by Maelthra Spiritor

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT (Sessions begin every 30 minutes)
Length: 30 minutes
Location: Starts the Spanish Peaks Building

****************************************************
Fireside Chat - Teaching in Second Life
moderated by Kool Oberlander, Ababus Capalini, Shutter Allen

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT(Sessions begin every 15 minutes)
Length: 15 minutes
Location: Campfire near the Welcome Center

****************************************************
Teacher Tools for Your Second Life
moderated by MustangQuimby Mesmer

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT (Sessions begin every 15 minutes)
Length: 15 minutes
Location: Seven Falls Discussion Area

****************************************************
Teaching In Second Life
presentation by Miranda Minjou

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT
Length: 45 minutes
Location: Sand Dunes Discussion Area

****************************************************
It's A Snap! - Photo Booth
moderated by Luva Ragu

Start Time: 2:00 PM SLT / 3:00 PM MDT
Length: Continuous
Location: Student Recreation Center

****************************************************
Yes, You Can Dance!
moderated by ProfCO Clarity

Guest DJ: Gagtfl Darwin

Start Time: 3:00 PM SLT / 4:00 PM MDT
Length: 2 hours
Location: Amphitheater

****************************************************

GOLD NUGGET CHALLENGE!
moderated by ProfCO Clarity

Start Time: 3:00 PM SLT / 4:00 PM MDT
Length: 2 hour
Location: Region Wide

Can you find all the gold nuggets? There are 10 gold nuggets hidden around the island, find them and enjoy cash and prizes. Be the first to find all 10 and bring them to ProfCO Clarity for a big cash prize!

*******************

You may also contact Cheryl at Cheryl.Comstock@cccs.edu or search on Ize Mesmer in SL for questions.

Thanks,
Cheryl

Cheryl Comstock
CCCOnline, Director Online Program Development
cheryl.comstock@cccs.edu
http://www.ccconline.org/

Professional Development Opportunity

This event is sponsored by the eLearning Consortium of Colorado, eLCC. CCCOnline is a member of eLCC, so all of you are welcome to attend this conference if you are interested. This event would fulfill your annual professional development requirement if you need that for this year still and on top of that you get a free lunch!

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

Mark your calendar for an exciting FREE professional development event
sponsored by the e-Learning Consortium of Colorado (eLCC).

What: "Web 2.0 Buffet – FREE tools to enhance teaching and learning"
When: Friday, October 30, 2009 - 9:30-3:00
Where: University of Denver

More details and registration information coming soon!!!

http://elcc.pbworks.com/

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


Best,

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Friday, October 02, 2009

Fall Session 2 Rosters Available

You can now view your Fall session 2 class roster.

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

Login using your SID and Vista Password.

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

D2L News, HTML Editor, and Homepages - Webinar Today!

Please join us for Today's Webinar on the D2L News, HTML Editor, and Homepages tools starting at 1:00 PM and ending around 3:00 PM. The facilitator is Mary Cash!

No registration is required to attend and no password is needed to login. Please login as a Guest using your First and Last Name.

Login to the webinar starting at 12:30 PM today from the link on the schedule at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/

If you miss the webinar, access the recording to be available later today at the Webinar Archive: http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Webinar_Archive

The next webinar is on October 9 from 12:00 -2:00 PM and will cover the Email, Discussion, and Classlist tools in D2L. We hope to see you then too!

Fall 2 Begins Monday!


Hi Everyone-

I 'm sure fall is flying by for all of you as quickly as it is for me. Our fall 2 session is already here - and man is it here! Enrollment is up just over 30% from this time last year and would have been up more but we are experiencing a pretty severe faculty shortage in many areas. We are running classes with more students than we typically do. We expect to get back down to our historical average (19) by next summer, so please bear with us and recommend your friends with master's degrees to your program chair.

We expanded our D2L pilot program slightly by adding a few fall 2 sections to D2L. For fall 1 the Academic Technology guys manually loaded students into D2L. They are using fall 2 to test the automated process we will use from spring. That seemed to be important enough that it was worth adding a few more D2L sections.
If you haven't had a chance yet, please do log into the new faculty community course in D2L. (https://ccco.desire2learn.com/). Donna Welschmeyer also headed up a group making changes to the Faculty Gateway. She would like to know if that area is now more useful to you and easier to navigate. Donna can be reached at Donna.Welschmeyer@cccs.edu.

Good Luck and have fun this term!


best,
Lisa Cheney-Steen

(For you horsey folks, that is Dr. Beeman running the hounds for the Arapahoe Hunt.)

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Courses Verified/Ready

Just reminder to everyone to mark your courses as "ready" using the faculty gateway at https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/login.php. Remember that all course information should be updated by TOMORROW morning, Thursday the 1st. (Wow, it can't possibly be October already!) Thanks!
Hi everyone,
November 14th, faculty conversion clean-up and training deadline, will be here before we know it. Check out your responsibilities for conversion clean up in the D2L CCCOnline Community Course under Instructional Design. Log in to D2L today at

To Log in go to https://ccco.desire2learn.com/
User Name: S Number
Password: Current password

Vist this learning object to understand our unique training design for D2L and get a brief tour of the CCCOnline Community Course where training and your conversion clean up checklist are housed.

Our First Webinar is this Friday at 1pm with Mary Cash on D2L HTML Editor, Homepage, and News. No registration is required… join us at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/

Mark your calendar for Upcoming Webinar dates:
Oct 9 12pm-2 D2L Email and Discussions
Oct 16 1pm-3 D2L Content and Manage Files
Oct 19 9am-11 D2L Grades and Dropbox
Oct 26 9am-11 D2L Assessments
Nov 2 1pm-3 D2L Intelligent Agents and Release Conditions
Nov 13 1pm-3pm Final D2L Q&A

Visit this page for a list of webinars. http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Upcoming_Webinars

Monday, September 28, 2009

Time to Log in to D2L Training

Hello CCCOnline Faculty,
Many of you were able to log in to Desire to Learn for the first time at the conference on Friday, but I know many of you were not able to attend the event and are ready to get started!

The first task is to log in (Log In info below). When you log in, Click the CCCOnline Community course where D2L Essentials training is housed. If you have several courses, your community course is under the student tab. After opening the Community course, Read the news message in the middle of the screen, and then click on content (top left). There you will find your department's faculty lounge, a Design team section with information about conversion of your courses, and then the Training and Professional Development section. Begin to explore the D2L Essentials training with Start Here. (If you do not see the CCCOnline Community Course, please contact Lisa Marie Johnson lisamarie.johnson@ccc.edu .)

If your sandbox and master courses are available, they will be located under the instructor tab. (If you don’t see them yet, be patient as they are still working on them). Eventually, you may have one or more master courses that you will clean up for duping for the spring semester, and you will see one sandbox course. (If you don’t see what you are expecting, please contact your chair). The sandbox is a messy copy of your course and is just a space to play, experiment and make mistakes. By November 14, you must have your master courses cleaned up and your training quiz in D2L Essentials completed.

To support your efforts and lead you through the process, we will focus on a couple tools a week including a webinar with a design team member focusing on the use of the tools, and an hour for just Q&A. The first hour will be recorded for attendees to return to and those who aren’t able to join us to listen to when convenient.

The first tools we will examine are News, HTML Editor, and the Homepage. I recommend you check out the training information in the Community D2L Essenials course before the webinar. Votes were taken at the Faculty Conference and the favorite time was Friday at 1pm. So our first webinar will be via elluminate on Friday Oct 2 at 1pm with Mary Cash. Join us at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ No registration is required. You may want to visit http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Upcoming_Webinars for a complete list of upcoming D2L Webinars.

Unless you have received an Email with other instructions (be sure to also check your spam folder), you will log in to D2L with your S Number and current BANNER password.

To Log in go to https://ccco.desire2learn.com/
User Name: S Number
Password: Current password

Please let me know if you have questions.

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

Conference


Thank you to all of you who were able to attend the Faculty Conference last Friday. I really appreciate that so many of you were able to fit an entire day into your very busy schedules.

I hope you all had a chance to talk with your program chair and fellow faculty. And of course I hope you were able to spend some time in D2L and get at least the first round of answers to your questions.

Thanks!


Lisa Cheney-Steen

D2L -- IE8 Hotfix applied

For those of you teaching in D2L right now we have this news from David:

We had D2L apply a hot fix for the IE 8 browser on all orgs. It is not yet officially supported but this fixes all known issues, and they should be coming out with that support before long. We are taking down our warning about using it on CCCOnline.

Best,

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Twitter at CCCOnline Faculty Conference

Hi Everyone,
A big thanks to the design team for all their work before this conference helping get things ready and another big thanks to them for facilitating so many sessions at the conference tomorrow.

Here are some Twitter instructions from Aaron Leonard:

If you are planning on tweeting during the CCCOnline Faculty Conference, please consider including our conference hashtag (#cccoconf) in your tweets so that everyone can share in the wondrous things that you learn.Tweeting is easy and including a hashtag even easier.

1. If you don’t have one already, sign up for an account at http://www.twitter.com
2. Login to your twitter account.
3. In the “What are you doing?” box, type your tweet (remember you’re limited to 140 characters) and include #cccoconf in your message.
4. Click Update
5. People searching the conference will now be able to see your tweet and share in the knowledge!

To search for the hashtag and see what others are tweeting at the conference:

1. Go to http://search.twitter.com
2. Type #cccoconf in the box
3. Click Search
4. Read the results! They’re only 140 characters or less, it’s not going to take that long…

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

See you at the Conference!

3-2-1 Blast Off!

I am so glad so many of you are able to join us on Friday September 25th at Arapahoe Community College. Our first session, a continental breakfast, and registration will be in the Main Building in room M1900. Please stop at the registration table to get your goodie bag and conference information. We will begin serving a continental breakfast approximately 8am. You may park free in any lot, and you may want to visit this website for more maps. http://www.arapahoe.edu/aboutacc/maps/index.htm . You may also want to visit the schedule at http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Faculty_Conference_Schedule

We also have a Twitter tag for you to share your thoughts about sessions and the conference with us and fellow faculty who may or may not be able to attend. To set up a free Twitter account before the conference, go to http://twitter.com . Our tag line to be included in your messages is #cccoconf…all lower case.

Session capacity is based off the room fire code restrictions, so please be aware that you may not be able to join in a session you didn’t register to attend. You can bring your laptops to sessions and use them when appropriate, but wireless internet access is intermittent around the building.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Colorado EduIsland -- Second Life Event

Save the Date! - Colorado EduIsland is “Alive for Education” in SecondLife!

Event: Colorado EduIsland Open House and Training; “Alive for Education, Explore the Possibilities”
When: October 9th, 2009 from 3-6 pm
Where: Colorado EduIsland http://slurl.com/secondlife/Colorado%20EduIsland/132/110/22

Synopsis: The Colorado EduIsland Virtual World Committee (CEVWC) will be hosting “Alive for Education, Explore the Possibilities,” an educational and training event to introduce new and beginner users (i.e., “newbies”) to Second Life (SL). Discussing valuable skills of operating and utilizing SL for educational purposes will be the focus of the event. New and experienced users are welcome to join in the fun as we tour the island, participate in mazes, go on treasure hunts, and have a chance to meet new folks from various community colleges around Colorado.

Activities, both structured and unstructured, will be staged around the island for educators and students to discover basic functionality, maneuvering, and broadening of proficiency skill sets. There will be door prizes and plenty of free gifts for participators!

Planned training stations activities and exercises will be available to instruct you on:
  • How to maneuver, fly, and teleport your avatar
  • How to access and utilize the program menus and tools that come with your account and avatar
  • How to Change appearances, wear objects, and work with the inventory that comes with your account

Included , also will be fireside chats and other discussions which include topics on
  • how to teach in SL,
  • using various teaching tools and with other valuable educational conversations

And... We value your opinion, please if you will, fill out the following survey, so we can better serve you with your educational needs in SL.
https://coloradomtn.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_802yqLhsM1wRlFG&SVID=Prod

Please feel free to ask email ColoradoEduIsland@cccs.edu if you have any questions, and someone from CEVWC will respond to you!

We can’t wait to meet you in-world… If you are willing to come and experience the possibilities, we will be waiting to show you!

Best regards,
The Colorado EduIsland Virtual World Committee

(For additional information email Cheryl.Comstock@cccs.edu).

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

D2L Face to Face Sessions At Lowry

Can't attend the conference? Can't get into the D2L session you want at the conference? Feel like you'll need hands-on help?

We have a plan! Everyone will be in our self-paced, self-assessed workshop that ends November 14th. For the six weeks following the faculty conference, we will progress through the D2L tools with a series of webinars that will be recorded. We will participate heavily in tool specific discussions in the D2L Essentials course and send D2L tips and tricks messages in the blog. No registration is required for any of this training. Days and times will vary for the webinars, so we can hopefully accommodate as many diverse schedules as possible.

Also, we've scheduled two face to face sessions at the Lowry Campus. One will be October 19th from 10 am to 2 pm and one will be November 2 from 10 am to 2 pm. Registration is required and can be done at this link https://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?402726 . Space is limited so register today!

Karen Kaemmerling
Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

Monday, September 14, 2009

Register Today!

I hope your fall semester is off to as good of a start as the weather!

If you haven’t registered yet for our Blast off To D2L Faculty Conference on September 25th at Arapahoe Community College, go to http://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?402246 to register for the conference today! Seats are still available in several hands-on D2L sessions; including, HTML, ADA & D2L and D2L Email and Discussion Tools. In addition to many presentations on Desire to Learn, we also have topics that are universal no matter which learning management system we use. Look for presentations on Second Life, podcasting, mash-ups, incorporating publisher digital materials, and using groups and reengaging techniques in your courses.

Registration closes one week from today and you don’t want to miss this event!
If you have registered and you have questions about food provided, sessions, or need a map, go to http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Faculty_Conference

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

D2L Training


Hi Everyone-

As I have mentioned previously, the Training and Professional Development department has created a CCCOnline Faculty Community online course that everyone will have access to starting the day of the Faculty Conference, September 25th. In that course, you will have access to all of the training materials.

You will also have at least two other courses beginning on the 25th. The first is a copy of one of your courses from Vista labeled "Sandbox". This shell is just that -- a place to experiment with D2L features and tools where you don't have to worry about messing anything up. You will also have "Master" shells for each individual course you teach for CCCOnline. These are the shells that will need to be cleaned up and updated for the duplication process and spring teaching.

If you can't make the conference don't worry. All of the needed information for login will come out via email and blog the week after the conference.

At the Faculty Conference on the 25th we will focus on conversion and tools with sessions by the Training and Professional Development department and the Design team. If you can’t attend the conference or can’t get into a D2L session, more opportunities are available. Following the conference, we will focus on a couple of D2L tools each week with discussion topics, blog posts, and recorded webinars.

We will also have several face to face opportunities for you to register for. (The schedule for webinars and face to face sessions will be released soon.) Some of you may be taking training at other institutions; we don't want you to have to repeat training that you have received elsewhere unless you feel that you need the additional support. We will help you progress through the tools over a period of six weeks, and by the end you should be ready to teach in D2L and have your course converted and ready to go.

We want you to be able to self-assess your learning needs and to come to as much or as little training as you need. Everyone will need to complete a short quiz in the community course that acknowledges that you feel comfortable with essential skills in Desire to Learn and also gives you a place to request additional training.

If there are tools in D2L that you struggle with, please participate in that tool’s discussion, webinar, or contact your department mentor or Karen Kaemmerling. Once we complete the initial phase of preparing you to teach in D2L this spring, we will continue training opportunities this spring on great D2L features like the groups tool and rubrics.

Best,

Lisa Cheney-Steen
(The picture is from south Park county. The speed limit sign on the left says 35 mph, on the right it's 25 mph.)

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

D2L Conversion Process


Hi Everyone-

This fall we are moving all CCCOnline courses to Desire2Learn. Over the summer the Instructional Designers and the Academic Technology groups have been working to get the first two steps of the conversion process taken care of. That included converting course shells from BB Vista and taking care of some basic clean-up of those shells. Beginning at the Faculty Conference on the 25th you will get access to those course shells in D2L. There will still be some clean-up that will need to take place as well as all of the standard changes and updates that have to be made to a shell each semester (assessment dates, etc.) The Design Team and Training and Professional Development have developed 2 check-lists, so everyone will know which updates have been taken care of by the designers and what is left to do. Just as a reference, final clean-up of my class took me less than an afternoon and that was with interruptions.)


Training for all of you will also begin at the Faculty Conference. Just before the conference everyone will be loaded into a Faculty Community Shell. All of the training materials for D2L will be in that shell as well as spaces for the Design Team and your Program Chairs. We hope this area will help us simplify the communication flow and also give you one quick place to look for any piece of information you need.

We are planning to use the Faculty Mentor model for primary faculty support again. Many of you remember the "Vista Volunteers" from the last LMS conversion process. Once again each program will have a D2L Mentor who will be your primary contact for support both this fall as you update and clean-up your master course shells and in the spring as you teach in D2L for the first time. The mentors are teaching in D2L this fall as pilot faculty and have tested the faculty training materials as well.


The critical due date for completion of both course updates and training will be November 14th. On that date we want to begin the course duplication process for the spring term.


Last, a note about student support: The student help desk (Perceptis) is already supporting students in D2L this fall in the pilot courses. Deb Michel and Kathy Miles are updating the student wiki with additional student support materials and plan to have a student orientation ready to go for spring.
More about the specifics of training in the next post.

Best,


Lisa Cheney-Steen
(Photo is of Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs)

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Summer Student Surveys

Hey everyone, I must apologize. Frank released the results of the summer student surveys right after grades were due, but I forgot to tell you they were available. You can view your results by logging into the faculty gateway at https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/login.php. If you have questions or concerns about your results, please talk with your program chair. Thanks!

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Net Tutor

As promised, here is the login information for faculty who wish to take a look at NetTutor. Go to http://www.nettutor.com/nt/login.cgi?acode=4769531107. You will be asked to register. After completing the registration process, NetTutor will send an access code to your email account. Use that and your username to log in.

Keep in mind that since this is for faculty exploration, it is not a "live" site. Here's what our rep from NetTutor says:

"The link below will allow teachers and help-desk personnel to investigate the features of NetTutor fully. Keep in mind that, being a freebie, it is not a tutored site. That is, tutors will only accept questions from this group if they have time, and will respond to paper submissions only as time permits. An important function is that it allows instructors to reach our amazing customer service staff (by clicking the Customer Service Request link at the bottom of the page.

I doubt that any issues raised by students can be addressed more efficiently than by submitting a Customer Service Request, so I do not encourage their use of this page other than to become familiar with NetTutor."


So go ahead and explore and let us know what you think! Remember that NetTutor folks will be available at the fall conference later this month, too, to answer your questions.

Please remember that CCCOnline funds this service for students, and students may use 10 hours of tutoring free of charge. We prefer that students determine for themselves their level of need for the tutoring service and ask that you not require students to access this site for tutoring. Thanks!

Friday, August 28, 2009

Fall Session 1 Rosters Available

You can now view your Fall session 1 class roster.

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

Login using your SID and Vista Password.

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

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Student Tutorial Services

Happy Thursday, everyone! We recently signed a contract with a new student tutoring service, NetTutor, which is a 24/7 tutoring service. We will begin using NetTutor instead of SmarThinking immediately. Please note that the CCD OWL services will not be available for fall, so if your students need help with writing assignments, they should use NetTutor.

Just moments ago I received the URL for our NetTutor account. Students should use this link to register for and access tutorial services. As we did with SmarThinking, we have services for World Languages, Science, Math, English, Social Sciences, and Business/Accounting. In addition, we have the student writing services mentioned above for all disciplines. NetTutor will send student registration/login and navigation instructions to me shortly. As soon as I receive that information, we will make sure it appears in the student wiki, etc.

Please replace any references to SmarThinking to NetTutor and include this new link as appropriate:

http://www.nettutor.com/nt/login.cgi?acode=3028264197

If you have questions about the services provided, please let me know. A NetTutor representative will attend our fall conference on September 25th, so you can also ask questions of them at that time.

If you would like to explore the NetTutor site, please email me and we can ask NetTutor to set up a specific login for faculty so that your explorations aren't counted as billable time for CCCOnline. Thanks!