Thursday, January 28, 2010

D2L Webinar-Homepage and Navigation

Nearly one week of classes in D2L is under our belt and you probably have some questions. Join us this Friday January 29th from 1-3. We will cover the homepage, course navigation bar, html editor, instructor widget and more. Following the training portion which will be recorded, we will have an open Question and Answer session.

No RSVP required...Join us for these live sessions at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ . Instructions are located on the wiki.

Monday, January 25, 2010

We are here to help!

We will hold a D2L Tool webinar every other Friday from 1-3pm. The first part of each webinar will focus on a tool and be recorded. The second part of each webinar will be a D2L Questions and Answers session. No RSVP required...Join us for these live sessions at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ . Instructions are located on the wiki.

Friday January 29th 1-3pm Homepage, Navigation, and Instructor Widget and Q&A
Friday February 12th 1-3pm Discussion tool and Q&A
Friday February 26th 1-3pm Dropbox Tool and Q&A
Friday March 12 1-3 Quizzes tool and Q&A
Friday March 26th 1-3pm Grades Tool and Q&A

Finally tips for D2L email:
-Create a Signature
-If you find sending email confusing or you are accidentally emailing people not in your class, Send class emails to the whole class or individuals using the Classlist tool instead.
-Include in your email subject line the name of your course
-Create folders to help organize your email messages.
Check out the wiki page on using the D2L Email tool for tutorials and other information.

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

Friday, January 22, 2010

Spring Session1 Rosters Available

You can now view your Spring Session 1 class roster.

Please go to the Faculty Gateway here,

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

Login using your S# and Password.

Please note that while you will be able to see your courser roster from the faculty gateway, students will not be loaded into your course shells until after midnight tonight (Friday, January 22). This change in process is due to a difference in the way D2L loads files.

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

Thanks!
John

Course Rosters and D2L

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If you have questions, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu
You sill all receive an email from student services this afternoon when course rosters are ready. HOWEVER, please note that while you will be able to see your courser roster from the faculty gateway, students will not be loaded into your course shells until after midnight tonight (Friday, January 22). This change in process is due to a difference in the way D2L loads files. We want you to be aware of this change so you don't panic when students don't appear in your courses this afternoon like they used to in Vista. Thanks!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Many of us are stressed about forgetting something when we are updating our spring classes in D2L for the first time. For a check list visit our new wiki.

We have 3 new things we have to remember in each section.
1. Reset your homepage- Make sure your instructor widget appears on the top left.
2. Clean up your Course Navigation bar- Tools to make inactive might include Competencies, Rubrics, Self-Assessments, and Glossary.
3. Run the Grades Wizard

If you didn’t get a chance to join us for the Course Readiness Webinar last Friday, I walk through these three items first. Check it out at https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Webinar_Archive
If you have specific questions about this or any other topic, please contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu rather responding to this post.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Oh no! There's no content in my course!

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

The beginning of the term is quickly approaching, and you've been watching your list of courses on D2L to see when you'll get your course shell. You log in and there it is! You're ready to begin working and open the course, only to find that there's no content. You get ready to email everyone you can think of. STOP!

If you haven't received the confirmation email from CCCOnline's Academic Technologies staff indicating that the course has been duped, it's not ready for you yet! The process in D2L requires that the course shell be created first, then content is added later. Usually these two tasks occur at about the same time, but sometimes there may be a delay.

So, before you panic and email David Chatham, your mentor, or someone else, check to see if you have received the confirmation email. If you don't receive that confirmation within a day or so of seeing the course listed, then contact your program chair to find out if the course really HAS been duped and there's a problem with the content. Chances are there's no problem--the process just isn't finished yet.

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

Last minute Course Readiness and D2L Q&A Webinar Today!


Tuesday January 19th from 1-3pm, Join Lisa Marie Johnson and I to ask your last minute spring Course Readiness and D2L questions. This webinar will have a relaxed format with no formal presentation, will not be recorded, and you can come and go as you please. Log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ and contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu with your questions.
This is my daughter, Emily, and my horse, Taken, meditating together or doing a Vulcan mind meld. Either way, I think I have a thing or two to learn from them.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Assumptions You Shouldn't Make About Online Students

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If you have comments or questions regarding this article excerpt, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu
The following tips from the newest edition of Faculty Focus remind us, I think, to check our sometimes erroneous assumptions about online students. "What do you mean, I need a computer to take an online class?" seems like an unrealistic question, but it comes up more often than you might realize! You may already address some of these issues in your courses, and emails from student services as well as documents loaded into every CCCOnline course also address some of them, but take a quick look and give some thought to any changes you/we might be able to make to get students over these hurdles.
From the January 18, 2010 issue of Faculty Focus:
Here are some easy-to-implement best practices for kicking off your online courses:
1. Don’t assume students understand the workings of an online course. Offer them tips for online learners that include knowledge of traditional versus online learning, Web etiquette, helpful links, and where to go for help. Also include suggested study tips for online learners. Remind students that even though they are at home when they log on to complete their class work, they still need to find an environment free from distractions where they can turn off the cell phone and the iPod, have someone else watch the kids, and really focus on their class work.
2. Don’t assume students have the minimum equipment and/or skill requirements needed to be successful in an online course. Be sure to make the minimum equipment requirements readily available to students prior to the official start date. In addition to whatever postings your institution might offer, a personal email to all students enrolled is a great idea. If your institution doesn’t test students for minimum computer skills, be sure those enrolled understand the basic computer skills needed. All too many students who sign up for Web courses can’t save a file to CD or change a font to boldface.
3. Don’t assume students know how to behave in a Web course. Require them to sign a behavior and ethics contract. Said contract should outline the acceptable code of conduct for the course. With the immediacy of email, students often fire off messages without thinking about the ramifications of tone or word choice. Students routinely use email and texting for their daily communication with each other and they may not realize that what works with peers may not be appropriate in an academic setting. Explain such concepts as flaming, using all caps, and interpersonal communication (inappropriate tone) via the Web.
4. Don’t assume students know the more important rules and regulations in the syllabus. How many times do students receive a detailed syllabus only to come back and ask an obvious question? Again, give them a short syllabus quiz and require that they score 100 percent before they continue in the course. Four or five questions are plenty.
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If you have comments or questions regarding this article excerpt, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Face to Face Open Lab on Monday!

Monday Jan 18th 10am -2pm Join us for a Face to face Open Lab at Lowry in Bldg 758 in rooms 138/140. No RSVP is required. No lunch is provided so bring your own snacks and drinks.

This is a drop in session with Training and Professional Development there to help answer your D2L questions, particularly those related to course readiness for the spring semester. You are not required to arrive at 10 or stay the whole time, but the room reservation ends at 2pm and we will not be able to use the lab after that. A map of the Lowry Campus can be found at http://www.ccaurora.edu/start/maps/lowrymaps.shtml
If you have any questions, contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@comcast.net

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Time to Get your D2L Courses Ready for Spring!

To support your efforts at getting courses ready for spring . . .

Tomorrow Friday Jan 15 1-3pm Course Readiness Webinar-Review through the Course Readiness Checklist specifically the new items related to D2L. No registration is required and you may log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ If you have problems or need to review instructions about Elluminate before the Webinar visit https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Upcoming_Webinars

Monday Jan 18th 10am -2pm Join us for a Face to face Open Lab at Lowry in Bldg 758 in rooms 138/140. No lunch is provided so bring snacks. This is a drop in session with Training and Professional Development there to help answer your D2L questions. You are not required to arrive at 10 or stay the whole time, but the room reservation ends at 2pm and we will not be able to use the lab after that. A map of the Lowry Campus can be found at http://www.ccaurora.edu/start/maps/lowrymaps.shtml

Tuesday Jan 19th 1-3pm D2L Q&A Webinar No registration required to this open format webinar designed for your last minute questions as you prepare courses for spring. Log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ If you have problems or need to review instructions about Elluminate before the Webinar visit https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Upcoming_Webinars

If you have any questions about these trainings, contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@comcast.net

Monday, January 11, 2010

D2L: Course Readiness D2L New Tasks

Getting your course/s ready for spring?

There are three additional preparation items you must do for each course you teach this spring.
1. Run the Grades Wizard For instructions visit this wiki page https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Grades
2. Remove tools from your course navigation bar that you do not use in the course. Do not remove the Question Library or other tools that do not appear on the tool bar. For instructions visit the tutorials on this wiki page. https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Homepages_and_Navigation
3. Reset your Homepage. During duping the homepage reverts back to the default and is missing your instructor widget ect that you worked on last fall. By resetting it to the homepage your created in your master these will return. For instructions visit the tutorials on this page https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Homepages_and_Navigation

Don’t forget you can ask your mentors for help with these tasks. And we are having a recorded Course Readiness webinar this Friday from 1-3 http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ that will cover these three tasks. Please contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu with your questions.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Services for Kurt Reed

Kurt Reed, part of our Academic Technologies staff and the gentleman responsible for getting all our course dupes done so efficiently, passed away over the holiday break. Services will be held tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. at Littleton Methodist Church. There will be an open mic time to express remembrances. There will not be a graveside service.

Littleton United Methodist Church
www.littletonumc.org5894 South Datura StreetLittleton, CO 80120-2112(303) 794-6379

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

Passwords

Hi Everyone-

As part of our contribution to the New Year's excitement, we are changing the way we authenticate users. Because of this you may find that your current password no longer gets you into D2L.
The bottom line: If your password no longer gets you into D2L use the change password link on the D2L login page to change your password. The new password will take effect immediately, no waiting. Remember that the 24/7 help desk is available if you need some assistance late at night. (http://help.cccs.edu/)

Why: All of the colleges are gradually turning on portals. Once a college has the portal available they have single sign on to D2L and a variety of other products. They also have instant password changes - no waiting a couple of hours for the batch upload to occur. That is really great and something we have wanted for a long time. The challenge from our perspective is that the portals at the colleges are being turned on over a two semester time period, so we have some students and faculty in the portal and some who are not.

CCCOnline will also have a portal that we will use to consolidate the location of most of the information you need into one location. We hope to be up and running with that in March.


How authentication worked in the past: We all used the 6 digit SSB password. CCCOnline uploads those to D2L and Vista every 2 to 4 hours. That meant that your SSB password and your D2L password were kept in synch, but if you teach for a school already using the portal, that password is different. Because more and more information is gradually being placed in the portal (such as payroll information) logging in twice with separate credentials is a hassle.

How authentication works now:
LDAP is a new password database. D2L and the portals are both authenticating against that database. If you work at a school that has turned on LDAP authentication (such as CCCOnline) then D2L will look at the LDAP database to make sure you have the correct password. If you changed your portal password from your SSB password to something else then you will now have the new password in D2L also.

Back to the bottom line: If your password doesn't work just follow the link on the D2L login page to change it.


Lisa Cheney-Steen

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

January Training Opportunities and D2L Tip

Here are the following dates we have set up to help support you as you prepare your classes in D2L for spring 1.
  • Jan 15 1-3pm Course Readiness Webinar. Review the readiness checklist and review skills to prepare your course for spring.
  • Jan 18th 10am -2pm Face to face Open Lab at Lowry to help you prepare your courses for spring in D2L and get basic D2L help
  • Jan 19th 1-3pm D2L Q&A webinar. Come with your last minute D2L questions before the spirng semester starts.


Also, remember if you need help any time during the spring semester, you should still contact your department’s D2L Mentor.


D2L Instructor Widget Tip
As you prepare your courses for spring, you may also need to edit your instructor widget for your course. There is a tutorial on the wiki at https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Homepages_and_Navigation
Remember before you add an image to your Instructor Widget, resize it to 100x100 pixels. One free web resource to do that is picnik.com.

Happy New Year! Please contact me directly with your questions at karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Course Duplication, Verification, and Approval

Happy new year, everyone! As we get closer to spring term in our NEW learning management system, our AT staff is busy duplicating courses. If you are scheduled to teach a course in the Spring I term, you will receive an email when your course has been duplicated. In that email you will find a link to the faculty gateway and a reminder to verify, within 72 hours, that the content in your course is correct.

This is an especially important step in light of our move to D2L, so please do a thorough check of your duped course and then go to the gateway to verify the content.

As you prepare your course for the new term, use the Course Readiness Checklist found on the faculty wiki (https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Policies_%26_Procedures_-_Faculty_Handbook_-_Teaching_for_CCCOnline_-_Faculty_Role_in_Course_Development_and_Maintenance_-_Course_Readiness_Checklist) to be sure that your course is ready for the first day of class. Remember from your training that there are a few new things you must do in D2L that we did not do in Blackboard to get courses ready. When you are finished, go back into the faculty gateway to indicate that your course is ready.

At that point, QA staff will begin to do first day checks and will notify your program chair and me of any issues. All courses must be ready by 8:00 a.m. on January 21.

If you have questions about this process, please do not reply to this email. Instead, email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu. Thanks!