Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Congratulations to Linda Hamons!




We have good news to share about one of our instructors!  Linda Hamons, CIS/CNG instructor, was accepted for this summer’s IT internship program with CU-Boulder.  Please see a description of the internship program below.  Congratulations to Linda!

Community College HPC Internship

About the internship program

Our program is a 9-week summer research internship for community college faculty and instructors teaching in a computing field. Participants will spend nine weeks working with a research mentor on a project that will be reflected in a future community college courses. The stipend for the internship is $9000. Participants work full-time on a group or independent research project, and participate in workshops focused on computational research. The program is a collaboration between Research Computing, the Departments of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado at Boulder and two organizations committed to increasing the diversity of information technology and computer science education and work, the National Center for Women & IT (NCWIT) and the Colorado Coalition for Gender & IT (CCGIT). Both NCWIT and CCGIT make extensive use of tested practices to recruit and retain women and underrepresented minorities at all points of the pathways that lead into pathways from K-12 settings, to technical jobs, to advanced computing professions. Over the past several years, CCGIT has established itself as an expert in non-traditional pathways into IT, focusing on partnerships with community colleges, workforce development centers, and the military.

Friday, May 25, 2012

CCCOnline FAQs

Hello everyone,

As we are starting a new academic term soon, I thought it might be useful to post some CCCOnline Frequently Asked Questions.  If you have other questions about CCCO that you would like answers to, feel free to contact me at terry.reeves@cccs.edu.

Best,
Terry


CCCOnline FAQS:
·         Why does CCCOnline start classes later than the system colleges?
o    CCCOnline is a service organization to the system colleges.  Classes start later so students can register for classes that may have filled up at the colleges, or for students who are registering late.

·         Who receives the tuition and FTE for CCCOnline students?
CCCOnline students are actually the colleges’ students.  Since CCCOnline is not a college, it does not receive any FTE; this goes back to the students’ home college as well as associated COF funds.  This is important as FTE affects the system funding formula for each college.  In regards to the tuition, CCCOnline receives 51% of the tuition from CCCOnline courses while 49% of this tuition is retained by the respective home college.  CCCOnline pays instructors’ salaries, as well as the annual licensing, maintenance and support costs of the Desire2Learn platform, the Perceptis help desk costs, Turnitin, Respondus and Soft Chalk that all colleges use. 

·         Does CCCOnline report on student attendance by the census date?
o    Yes, CCCOnline's attendance policy helps to identify students who do not intend to actively participate in courses.  To comply with this policy, each CCCOnline course requires students to:
1. Participate in an "Introductions" discussion, which may or may not be graded.
2. Submit a graded, content-related assessment prior to the census date.
-The assessment must be content related - it should not be a "syllabus quiz".
-The assessment may be a Dropbox, Quiz, or Discussion
The lists of students who do not actively participate are sent to the respective home colleges.

·         How do students contact their instructors before classes start?
o    CCCOnline tracks enrollment numbers.  Based on this they determine the number of instructors needed for a term; instructors are given class lists a couple of days before a semester starts.  Before a term starts, instructors send out welcome emails to their students; prior to this, students also receive a welcome email from CCCOnline.  If a student needs course information prior to being assigned an instructor, they should contact the appropriate Associate Dean (http://www.ccconline.org/About_Us/People/Divisions/).

·         Whom do we call for help at CCCOnline?
o    Contact information is available at http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Who_to_Contact.  For Associate Dean Contact information, see http://www.ccconline.org/About_Us/People/Divisions/.

·         Do CCCOnline students have to meet course pre-requisites?
o    Yes, course pre-requisites are set by each college and CCCOnline students must meet those pre-requisites.

·         How do students appeal grades or file complaints about instructors?
o    The best place for students to start, when they have a complaint or concern about an on-going or recently completed course, is to the Program Chair (http://www.ccconline.org/About_Us/People/Programs/).  Program Chairs are the instructors’ immediate supervisors and are very familiar with the instructors, courses, and course requirements.  Following is the grade protest and academic misconduct process at CCCOnline:
CCCO Grade Protest and Academic Misconduct Procedure –
For a student grade/instructor issues:
§  Students will be asked to resolve the conflict with their instructors.  If this is unsuccessful, the appropriate CCCO Program Chair, Associate Dean, and Academic Dean will be brought in accordingly and in this order.
§  If the student issue is not resolved at the Associate Dean level, the CCCO Academic Dean will have the final rule and will communicate decision(s) to the student.
§  If a grade change is determined to be the appropriate action, the VPI at the student’s home college will be notified by the CCCO Academic Dean.  The VPI will start the process at the home college to affect the grade change.
For student misconduct issues:
§  Students will be asked to resolve the conflict with their instructors.  If this is unsuccessful, the appropriate CCCO Program Chair, Associate Dean, a Student Services Dean will be brought in accordingly and in this order.
§  If the student issue is not resolved at the Associate Dean level, the CCCO Student Services Dean will have the final rule and will communicate decision(s) to the student.
·         At the jurisdiction of the CCCO Student Services Dean and/or for repeated student misconduct offenses, the CCCO Student Services Dean will contact the student’s home college and notify the appropriate person(s) of the student’s misconduct.

·         Is CCCOnline bookstore information available?
o    This information is available online at http://www.ccconline.org/Students/Bookstore/?type=flash.

Monday, May 07, 2012

CCCOnline Academic Advisory Council Formed



With CCCOnline’s goal of fostering a sustainable academic, collaborative and transparent relationship between itself and the CCCS brick-and-mortar colleges, it is crucial that the academic directions and efforts of CCCOnline support CCCS students, faculty, and colleges and align with the academic direction of the colleges. To move this goal forward, CCCOnline is excited to have an Academic Advisory Council to advise and guide its efforts.  The Council had its first meeting March, 2012.

The mission of the Academic Advisory Council is to act as an advisory group providing input on the academic directions and efforts of CCCOnline, with an emphasis on strengthening its collaborative working relationship with the colleges. The Council will examine such issues as academic rigor of courses, curriculum development and approval, training opportunities, and other pertinent academic processes. In carrying out its work, a primary goal of the Council will be to build transparent and participative processes between CCCOnline and the Colleges.  Membership on the Council includes the CCCS Provost, CCCO’s Executive Director, Academic Dean and Associate Deans, and representation from the 13 System Community Colleges. 
 With questions or comments, please let me know (terry.reeves@cccs.edu or phone 720 858 2215).