Saturday, July 31, 2010

2010 Faculty Conference Registration is now open!

Time to roll up your sleeves and join us for our 2010 CCCOnline Faculty Conference Constructing Quality: Expand your Toolbox.



Go to our 2010 Conference wiki page to find:

-Registration
-Conference Details
-Descriptions of the sessions and times
-And a fun graphic created by our Flash Developer, Beth Kitts. Can you guess whose voice she used?

Can’t wait to see you there! I’ll be the one in the red tool belt.
Please send me your questions about the conference directly at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

Thursday, July 29, 2010

August Training Opportunities

As we wrap up the summer term, you have several training opportunities you will want to mark on your calendars.

On August 3 from 1-3pm Donna Hall, Design Team Coordinator, will provide a D2L Grades Webinar where participants will learn the basics of using the D2L Grades tool effectively, including the basics of setting up Grades and making sure your Grades tool is accurate during and at the end of a term. Use this link to access the webinar https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008363&password=M.085ABAE2B05F344DCC68DC9E8172C3

Register today through the Faculty Gateway for our Learning Styles Workshop with Leecy Wise facilitating that begins August 9th and concludes August 20th.

We will have a two part webinar series on August 25th and August 27th on Second Language Writers with Ruth Brancard from 1-2:30 pm. By examining profiles of 5 non-native speakers of English, participants will explore strengths such students bring to the college classroom as well as challenges these students face. Highlights from recent research on second language writers and older research in the area of contrastive rhetoric will inform a discussion of how instructors can use knowledge about students’ linguistic backgrounds to support students’ learning. Log in information can be found on the upcoming webinar wiki page at https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Upcoming_Webinars

Finally, be ready to roll up your sleeves at this year’s faculty conference Constructing Quality: Expand your Toolbox on September 17, 2010 at Arapahoe Community College. Bookmark this wiki page for session information coming soon https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Teaching_Resources_-_Presentations_-_2010_CCCOnline_Faculty_Conference

Monday, July 26, 2010

Student Survey Now Available

Please do not reply to this message. Email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu if you have questions or comments.

The student survey is now available to students. Note that students will receive a popup message when they log into D2L until they have completed the survey for each of their courses. Please encourage students to complete the survey in order to help us better serve them. Thanks!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Training Opportunities This Week

As Summer Heats up, join us for two training opportunities this week!

Session 3 - Second Life Series - Expression and Learning through Communicating in SecondLife
When: July 22, 2010 (3:00PM - 5:00PM - Mountain)
Who: Cheryl Comstock, CCCOnline Director of Online Programs
What: In this session, we will be presenting and practicing the use of various communication tools for traditional and non-traditional forms of communication.
Where: In Second Life. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Colorado%20EduIsland/133/111/22Contact Cheryl Comstock with questions: Cheryl.Comstock@cccs.edu

Authentic Assessments
When: Friday, July 23, 2010 (1:00PM - 3:00PM Mountain)
Who: Karen Kaemmerling, CCCOnline Director of Training & Professional Development and Social Science Program Chair
What: Participants will leave this session able to define and compare Authentic Assessments and Traditional Assessments and have knowledge about the development of authentic assessments implemented in history courses based on Colorado Common Course Numbering System. Where: Online via Elluminate. Access up to 15 minutes before the start time from:https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008363&password=M.B52B6F7AF023620CDD22540AF91F18

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Faculty Voices

Hi Everyone-

Please take a few moments to read this summers Faculty Voices blogs.  You can access them from the Faculty Community shell in D2L or I have again set up a public Netvibes page at http://www.netvibes.com/lisacs#Faculty_Voices.

They are truly wonderful blogs to read -- Dave Trott's post on gardens today is a gem.

Lisa

Lisa.Cheney-Steen@cccs.edu

Friday, July 09, 2010

Summer Training Opportunities

As you beat the heat and stay inside on a hot summer afternoon, how about joining us for a webinar or workshop. Also, mark your calendar for our upcoming annual conference at Arapahoe Community College on September 17th. Our theme this year is Constructing Quality: Expand your Toolbox. Be looking for registration information soon!

Here is a list of upcoming events , visit the upcoming webinar page on the wiki for more information.
Authentic Assessments
When: Friday, July 23, 2010 (1:00PM - 3:00PM Mountain)
What: Participants will leave this session able to define and compare Authentic Assessments and Traditional Assessments and have knowledge about the development of authentic assessments implemented in history courses based on Colorado Common Course Numbering System.
D2L Grades
When: Tuesday, August 3, 2010 (1:00PM - 3:00PM Mountain)
What: Participants will lean the basics of using the D2L Grades tool effectively, including the basics of setting up Grades and making sure your Grades tool is accurate during and at the end of a term.
Second Language Writers Part 1 - Understanding Second Language Writers
When: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 (1:00PM - 2:30PM Mountain)
What: By examining profiles of 5 non-native speakers of English, participants will explore strengths such students bring to the college classroom as well as challenges these students face. Highlights from recent research on second language writers and older research in the area of contrastive rhetoric will inform a discussion of how instructors can use knowledge about students’ linguistic backgrounds to support students’ learning.
Second Language Writers Part 2 - Working with Second Language Writers and Their Writing
When: Friday, August 27, 2010 (1:00PM - 2:30PM Mountain)
What: Using student writing samples, participants will discuss strategies for working with second language writers to improve writing in English. Drawing on research on second language acquisition and second language writing, the presenter will address issues of content, organization, grammar, and voice. Suggestions for the timing and content of feedback to students will be addressed.

You may also register for our Learning Styles workshop facilitated by Leecy Wise starting on August 8th through the faculty gateway.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

D2L Version 9

Hi Everyone-

Yesterday we upgraded to version 9 in D2L.   Today you may have noticed some of the new features.  Among them you should see:
  • If a student has added a picture to their My Settings widget, it will show up in the classlist and in discussion posts.
  • When grading you can now leave feedback for each student's discussion in the Topic Score Details window.
  • Classlist now shows the last time a student has accessed the course.
  • Files can now be edited in Manage Files.  Rolling your mouse over a file and then clicking the drop-down arrow will give options to edit, rename, copy, cut, delete, download, preview, and add content topic.
  • When something is saved a bkue bar appears at the top of the D2L page (covers the Global Navbar) for about 5 seconds saying "saved successfully".
  • Rubrics  are similar to grade forms in BB.  This is a really cool tool and training on it will be available later this summer. (We recommend you wait for training before trying to set it up.)
More information coming soon as we spend time with this version!
Lisa

Lisa Cheney-Steen
Lisa.Cheney-Steen@cccs.edu
CCCOnline

Colorado EduIsland 1st Anniversary Celebration!

We will be celebrating Colorado EduIsland’s 1st year in Second Life (SL). There will be music, games, and fun tours around the island.

When: Thursday, July 8th
Time: 3-6 pm
Where: Colorado EduIsland : http://slurl.com/secondlife/Colorado%20EduIsland/132/110/22
How to get there: You will need to start an account and download SL (viewer 2) and then you can access the link.

If you don’t already have a SL account you can easily create one by visiting SecondLife.com. Please use the CCCOnline Faculty wiki, to get you started in SL. http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_Other_Tools_-_Second_Life .You can also email questions to me directly at, Cheryl.comstock@cccs.edu.

If you are interested in virtual worlds as a teaching tool to deliver synchronous topics in your classes, and /or create community among your students and educational peers, please feel free to join us on Colorado EduIsland to share your ideas! Colorado EduIsland is a space for our Colorado colleges to use and research learning possibilities within virtual environments.
See you in-world!
Cheryl/ a.k.a. Ize Mesmer
Cheryl.comstock@cccs.edu.

D2L Operational

Hi Everyone-

Yesterday evening beginning around 8:30 we were having database issues with D2L that resulted in an inability to login.  Those issues were resolved around 10:00 pm last night.

Lisa

Lisa Cheney-Steen
Lisa.Cheney-Steen@cccs.edu
CCCOnline