Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Update from Profhelp

Hi Everyone-

Here are the responses to the two most common questions received by Profhelp this fall...  or anyway two of the questions for which she has to give you the opposite of the answer you may want to hear.  Sorry about that!
  1. The program chairs have elected to turn off the “New” notification of discussions, dropboxes, quizzes, etc. from the Course Homepage.  For example, when a student leaps straight to the discussion through the icon, the "last access" date in the classlist does not update. This notification has been turned off for both students and instructors. Sorry for any inconvenience.  The update widget still shows unread emails and discussion posts and the email button shows unread emails.
  2. Unfortunately, we can’t move the Fall2010 courses to the top of the list on your Course Homepage. The good news is that soon all of the previous term courses will appear on another tab which will allow the current term courses to be the only courses appearing on the instructor tab.
That first answer is driven by financial aid and by students who are having trouble in their class.  We need to have login data that is as close to accurate as possible to manage the financial aid process, particularly for those students who simply stop attending class rather than officially drop.  We had hoped D2L would have a fix for this in place for the fall term, but they are not quite there.  
Yesterday's slowness was primarily due to problems in a data center.  We believe there are still pockets of slowness for D2L users, but nothing consistent.  Student calls to the help desk have not mentioned slowness so students do not appear to be experiencing significant problems.  David Chatham continues to track the issue and will let you know if there is an update.

best,

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

Monday, August 30, 2010

D2L Problems

Hi Everyone-

We are experiencing problems with D2L this morning.  While it is not necessarily completely down most users are experiencing extreme slowness to the point of un-usability.  D2L is working on the problem and we will let you know as soon as it is resolved.

Thank you for your patience.

Lisa

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

Photo from Javaturtle, http://www.flickr.com/photos/javaturtle/with/117152990/

Friday, August 27, 2010

Fall Session 1 CLass Rosters Now Available

You can now view your Fall session 1 class roster.

Please note that students from Dawson Community College may show on your class rosters. They can be identified by having a student ID starting with “D”. You don’t need to do anything different for these students, I just wanted to make everyone aware of this change since their student ID’s are slightly different. They will also be on the grade rosters at the end of the semester.

To access your course rosters please go to the Faculty Portal here,

https://myportal.cccs.edu/jsp/misc/schoolLoginNew.jsp?school=ccco

Enter your S# and Password.

On the Faculty Tab, go to the CCCOnline Faculty Gateway Access Channel

Select Course Online Rosters.

For a tutorial on the new Faculty Portal please go here, https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_CCCOnline_Portal_Overview

Thanks!
John

Second Language Writers Webinar Now!

href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CKKAEMM%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml">Just a reminder that our Webinar is under way and we still have seats!
Second Language Writers Part 2 - Working with Second Language Writers and Their Writing
  • When: Friday, August 27, 2010 (1:00PM - 2:30PM Mountain)
  • Who: Ruth Brancard
  • 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.
Where: Online via Elluminate. Access up to 15 minutes before the start time from:
https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008363&password=M.6BC347BA8C13161F73053DD71FC41E

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Gearing Up!

Please do not reply to this message. If you have questions or comments, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu. Thanks!

Fall Session I is very quickly approaching, and I know everyone is busy wrapping up summer tasks and trying to get ready for the August 30 start date. Here are just a few notes of interest and reminders for you.

Email
We continue to work on getting CCCS email access straightened out for everyone. This process has been complicated by a variety of factors that are, unfortunately, out of our control, so we appreciate your continued patience as we work out the kinks! 

TurnItIn
As you may remember from Karen's August 4 post, there is now a plagiarism checking tool available in the course dropbox. Liz Dzabic will host a webinar on this tool in September. We did discover yesterday that if TurnItIn is enabled in a course, duplication of that course somehow turns the tool off, so you will need to enable it again in the duped course. The folks at TurnItIn are working to fix this bug.

Course Verification and Ready
Please remember to verify course content of duped courses within 72 hours of duping and to note them as "ready" when you have completed the course readiness checklist items. We will do a thorough check of courses during the course readiness checks that begin on Thursday, and will notify program chairs of any items that need attention.

Authentication Assignment
Remember to set up a graded, content-based assignment (not a syllabus quiz or similar assignment) that is due prior to census date (the last day to drop).

Bloggers
Many thanks to our summer Faculty Voices bloggers. If you haven't check out those blogs lately, please do! I thoroughly enjoyed reading them, and I think you'll find some great information there.

Portal 
While the portal has had a few growing pains in the last few days due to heavy use at the compuses, I'm still very excited about it! I really like having that one location for all my links and logins, though I still occasionally forget to to there to get everywhere else.

Training and Professional Development
Remember that you need at least one professional development activity before the end of the calendar year, so be thinking about upcoming activities, including tomorrow's webinar on "Second Language Writers" and the upcoming fall faculty conference.

Thanks to you all for a successful summer term, and here's to an exciting fall term!
Donna








Friday, August 20, 2010

Important reminders!

As you are ready to celebrate the end of the summer term, here are a few reminders of upcoming training events and more.

  • As you prepare your fall courses for Quality Assurance checks which will be done on Thursday August 26th, review the Course Readiness Checklist.
  • Don’t forget as part of the Checklist you must:
    • Reset your course homepage
    • Run the Grades Wizard
    • Remove unused tools from the course navigation bar.
  • Next week, we are offering a two part webinar series on Second Language Writers Wednesday August 25th and Friday August 27 at 1pm-2:30 pm with Dr. Ruth Brancard. Dr. Ruth Brancard has worked with learners and faculty for more than 30 years--at an intensive English language program for international students, at CCD in ESL and developmental education, and at UCD in the School of Education and Human Development. In the first workshop, you'll explore a range of student profiles that illustrate the diversity of second language writers and reflect on how knowledge of students' linguistic backgrounds and educational goals can influence instruction. In the second workshop, you'll use student writing samples to discuss guidelines for working with second language writers as they focus on improving their writing in English. The presentation draws on the presenter's own experience and research as well as research in the area of second language writing. Join us online via Elluminate. Access up to 15 minutes before the start time from:
    https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008363&password=M.BA495955350F23D140B6F5C1150C6C
  • Sign up for the our faculty conference Constructing Quality: Expand your Toolbox on September 17th at Arapahoe Community College. Sessions are filling up, so sign up today! Information about the conference and registration

Please send your questions about the information in this post directly to Karen Kaemmerling at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

Thursday, August 19, 2010

New CCCS Email Accounts Revisited

Please do not reply to this message. If you have questions, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu

We've had several messages in the last few minutes about accessing the new email tool.

If you do not have an email account at one of the 13 CCCS community colleges, you should be able to access your CCCS email account by using the "Faculty/Staff" email icon at the top of the portal page.

If you do have an email account at one of the 13 CCCS community colleges,  you should use the link to Outlook Web Access that appears in the upper left corner of the Welcome tab.

For more information about using either of these methods to access your email, you can visit the Wiki page or contact the 24/7 Helpdesk.

Thanks, and happy emailing!

Copy/Paste 101

The Markup tool directions are on the Dropbox page, not the Nav bar page.  I swear I copied the correct one, but obviously did not.  

Sorry for the confusion!

Lisa

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

Portal Update: New Email Addresses for faculty

Hello Everyone-

I hope most of you have had a chance to log in to the new portal for CCCOnline.  A complaint we received frequently from faculty was that, while we have a lot of information available for you, that information was scattered across too many locations.  The portal has given us an accessible place to organize everything you need.  Please let me know if something is missing or on a tab within the portal that is not relatively intuitive.

As part of this effort we have also set up a cccs.edu email address for each of you.  The email is accessible from the portal (and from the web in general).  This email address will give you a way to communicate with your students outside of D2L without involving your personal email addresses.  While our preference is to have as much email communication with students as possible occur within D2L we know that isn't possible between terms.  

And while I hate to worry overmuch about lawsuits and other student protests we have more students now than in the past and the risk is higher.  In those cases it is much better when all communication with students happens on CCCOnline software and servers so that your own personal computers are not at risk in any way.  Along those lines, we have also purchased a second tool from Turnitin (the anti-plagiarism company) called Markup.  Markup allows you to grade papers online without ever downloading them to your personal computer.  Information about Markup is available in the wiki at https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Dropbox#Grade_Dropbox_Folders_with_Online_Markup.3F.

Please take a moment to set up your cccs.edu email address.  We will begin to use that address to communicate with you this fall.

Thank you for all of the hard work you do!

Lisa

Lisa Cheney-Steen
Co-Exec. Director, CCCOnline
Lisa.Cheney-Steen@cccs.edu

New Nav Bar!

Hello Everyone-
One of the improvements to D2L in the new version we installed this summer is a slightly changed top navigation bar.  We didn't want to turn that on in the middle of a semester for fear it would cause confusion for the students, but it is now available to you.  

The most significant change is that the Nav Bar now wraps when it reaches the right edge of the browser window instead of disappearing out of the edge of the window.  That means you can put more links there then you could in the past.  The default is in fact that all tools are shown as links on the Nav Bar. Nothing has changed in terms of removing unused links from the bar -- you can still do that (and probably should); directions are available on the wiki at https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Homepages_and_Navigation#Remove_Tools_from_My_Course_Navigation_Bar.3F

Last, when you hover over a link on the nav bar the link will now be highlighted in gray (see content link below.)


Best,

Lisa

Lisa Cheney-Steen
Co-Exec. Director, CCCOnline
Lisa.Cheney-Steen@cccs.edu

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

End-of-Semester Tip

We often get emails from students at the end of the term complaining that faculty aren't responding to them, when in reality the course is over. Please post a quick note in the News tool or your course email to tell students when you will no longer be logging in and to give them alternative contact information. Thanks! I hope you have a good break between terms. Thanks!

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Respondus and Studymate License Updates

Please do not reply to this message. If you have questions, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu.

Everyone, here is an opportunity to try out your login to the new CCCOnline portal if you haven't already done so! The new Respondus and Studymate license information is now available in the faculty gateway. You can go directly to the gateway OR you can find this information on your portal Faculty tab (in the Faculty Gateway channel).

I think I'm REALLY going to enjoy this single-sign-on aspect of the portal, and I hope you all do, too!

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Summer Grades Due August 19

I apologize, the wrong due date was listed in the previous e-mail for grades, they are due August 19, not August 12.

I apologize for any confusion.
Dear Faculty;

It's that time of the semester, Summer grades are due no later than Thursday, August 12, 2010.

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.

You must report a Last Date of Attendance (LDA) for any student who receives a grade of “F”. The LDA is the date that the student submitted their last graded assessment or assignment. To find this date in D2L, you can follow the directions here http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Classlist#How_do_I_review_student.27s_access_to_the_course_or_a_tool.3F

If the student never accessed the course, you can enter the first day of the session, June 7, 2010.

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.

Please note that students from Dawson Community College will NOT show on the grade roster. Please e-mail these grades to John Schmahl, john.schmahl@cccs.edu or Roxanne Manske, roxanne.manske@cccs.edu.

To submit final grades:

Login through Faculty Portal at https://myportal.cccs.edu/jsp/misc/schoolLoginNew.jsp?school=ccco

(For a tutorial on the new Faculty Portal please go here, https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_CCCOnline_Portal_Overview)

- Select the Faculty Tab

- Under the Faculty Gateway channel, 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**

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)
Dear CCCOnline Faculty:

I am pleased to announce the launch of the CCCOnline Portal! The portal is a one-stop connection to essential sites, resources, and tools for CCCOnline Faculty. The portal can be accessed from the “faculty” tab of the CCCOnline home page, or from the faculty wiki. By logging in to the CCCOnline Portal, you do not need to log in or visit multiple locations around the web. Items available via single sign-on to the CCCOnline Portal include:
  • D2L Course Access
  • CCCS.edu Faculty Email
  • Faculty Gateway Resources
  • Faculty Wiki
  • Faculty Handbook
  • Faculty News Blog
  • Training & Professional Development
  • Banner ID/S# Account Management
  • Employment Information
  • And More....!
Prior to your first visit to the portal, please see the training link - https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_CCCOnline_Portal_Overview where you will find excellent instructions on how to use the portal, or get help if you need it. Frequent access encourages better communication for teaching, training, and current news updates — all now available through the portal access! Many kudos to Cheryl Comstock and Jonathan Fuller on the CCCOnline staff for organizing and managing this new service for CCCOnline faculty!

Sincerely,

Rhonda Epper

New D2L Tools to Use as you Update your Courses for Fall!

As you prepare your courses for the fall term, please remember that you must have a content related graded assignment completed prior to the census date for fall 1 which is September 14th. This assignment will help you determine how to mark students on the attendance roster that you will complete.

We would also like to announce the addition of some new tools in D2L. The first is TurnItIn which you may have already noticed in your Dropbox tool. Plagiarism Detection scans Dropbox submissions resulting in an "Originality Report" icon for instructors on the "Submissions" and "Leave Feedback" page with color-coded percentages of possible plagiarism. Online Markup allows instructors to insert inline text, highlight text, and add and reuse comments across submissions in a variety of document formats all from the Dropbox Folder "Leave Feedback" page. Visit the wiki page for more instructions, tutorials, and information on Plagiarism Detection and Online Markup in D2L: http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Dropbox

Some suggestions to keep in mind when using the plagiarism detection tool:
-Before you use the plagiarism tool, consult with your Program Chair about expectations.
-Include information for learners that this tool will be used when grading assignments and consider adding to your course "Instructions" about viewing the Originality Report and/or Online Markup.
-View the Faculty Handbook Academic Integrity page for ideas about constructive use of the Plagiarism Detection option (link below).
-Select to "Allow submitters to see Originality Reports" and leave all other settings at defaults.

Another exciting, handy tool for faculty as you update your courses for fall is the Manage Dates Tool which you access through Edit Course. Using the Manage Dates tool for Dropbox and Quiz items adjusts the start and end date for these items. Students can see them, but not access them until the dates you set in Manage Dates. Be careful, using the Manage Dates tool for Content, Discussions, and Grades affects the VISIBILITY of these items. If you set dates for Content, Discussions, and Grades from the Manage Dates tool those items are not VISIBLE to students before or after the dates you set in Manage Dates. CCCOnline strongly discourages the hiding of any content in our courses.

If you have any questions about this post, please contact me directly at karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

Monday, August 02, 2010

D2L Grades Webinar

Do you have trouble using the Grades tool in D2L? Do your grade columns match up with your grade items? Do you need a bonus column? Come to the D2L Grades webinar from 1-3pm on tomorrow, Tuesday Aug 3rd where the voice of Profhelp, Amy Sorenson, will answer all these questions and more.

Join us at https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008363&password=M.085ABAE2B05F344DCC68DC9E8172C3

Also, don't forget to register for the faculty conference! Sessions are filling up quickly!