Join us Tuesday, June 10 for the Integrating Multimedia Webinar!

CCCOnline Training and Professional Development invites you to attend a webinar this week!

What: Integrating Multimedia from NROC/HippoCampus

In this session we will showcase materials available from the National Repository of Online Courses (NROC) and HippoCampus. Participants will learn to navigate and select resources from these repositories, understand the licensing benefits for CCCOnline courses, and view examples how the materials are currently being used by CCCOnline courses. Additionally, you will have a chance to engage in a Web exploration activity of the repository materials!

Who: Terri Rowenhorst of NROC with course examples presented by Karen Kaemmerling and Lisa Marie Johnson of CCCOnline.

When: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 ... Starting at 10:00 AM and ending no later than 12:00 PM (Mountain Time)

Where: Online via Elluminate! Participants may enter 30 minutes before the session begins. Use the link below to access the session. http://elm.elluminate.com:80/FRONTRANGE/join_meeting.html?meetingId=1204149336569

NOTE: If you are a new user of Elluminate, please go to http://www.elluminate.com/support/ ... and then through the steps for first time users. Once your computer is set-up, view the Participant Training Materials for Elluminate Version 8: http://www.elluminate.com/support/docs/8.0/participant.jsp If you are attending the live session, please prepare your computer to attend the session at least 1/2 hour in advance! All sessions begin promptly at the designated time, but you may enter the session 30 minutes before to make sure your headsets/voice, speakers, and other features are working properly.

Why: As always, Why not? :^) ... Participation in this session counts as annual professional development credit for CCCOnline faculty. Registration is not required, but you can let us know you're interested in attending by registering anyway from https://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?402726

Unable to attend? You can still learn by reviewing the recording from our Webinar Archive!

We hope to see you there!
Lisa Marie

Drop reminder sent to students

The following reminder was sent to all summer students.

Thanks!
John

This note is a reminder that you have until Wednesday, June 11, 2008, to drop your CCCOnline delivered Summer course(s) with a full tuition refund.

If you do not plan to drop your course(s) or have already dropped them please disregard this reminder.

This email applies ONLY to CCCOnline courses – those courses with a section number starting C1 or C3 (example, ENG 121C12).

Do not assume you have been dropped from a class for not attending or logging in; at many colleges you must drop a class before the above date or you will be responsible for full payment. Contact the Cashier’s Office at your Home College to find out their individual policy.

**Contacting your instructor(s) will NOT result in your being dropped or withdrawn from your course(s)**

To DROP your course(s):

- go to http://ccconline.org/start/college_table.htm or your home college web site

- click on the Self-Service Banner (MyCommunityED) link for your home college

- select Login and enter your Student ID and 6-digit student PIN

- click Enter

- select the Student Menu and then the Registration Menu

- select Add or Drop Courses and follow the steps to get to your Current Schedule of

courses

- on your Current Schedule, use the Drop Down box under Action and select Drop

Web

- Click Submit Changes at the bottom of the page

- check your Current Schedule to make sure the course(s) has been dropped

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us or your home college.

For any technical questions or problems with your course, please visit http://ccconline.org/support/ or call our 24X7 Technical Support center at 1-888-800-9198.

Thank you for your time and we hope you continue to have a great and successful semester!

CCCOnline
Student Services
1.800.801.5040
http://ccconline.org/support/

Digital Textbooks -- Pearson Agreement

Hello Everyone,

I'm including some links below that explain the new CCCOnline agreement with Pearson Education for digital textbooks. The first link is on the faculty wiki, which explains the digital materials charges for students, and our relationship with Pearson. The second link is on the student wiki, and it explains how digital textbooks work in a CCCOnline course. Please let me know if you think we need to provide further information.

Faculty Wiki: http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=CCCOnline_and_Pearson_Education_Digital_Content_Agreement

Student Wiki: http://students.ccconline.org/index.php?title=My_course_uses_a_digital_textbook_-_I_have_questions_about_that

Thanks,
Rhonda

Just in Time! Free Tutorials for Effective Teaching Online!

It's always refreshing to find quality just-in-time materials for online faculty. The Wiley & Sons Publishing through their "Wiley Faculty Network" have a series of tutorials on timely topics for all of us as online faculty.

The five tutorials are very short and free with registration. Each tutorial is in Acrobat Breeze format (requires Flash plugin) and presented by Tina Stavredes, PhD. To help enourage you to use these tutorials, a general account has been established. See below for the general login account information and links to directly sign-in/access each tutorial.

General Login Info:

• User name: training@ccconline.org
• Password: teachme

Tutorials to Choose from:

• Adult Learning Theory and the Online Learner
  URL: https://admin.acrobat.com/_a44433639/e58499008/
  



• Interaction in an Online Environment
  URL: https://admin.acrobat.com/_a44433639/e38386840/
  



• Managing the Online Environment
  URL: https://admin.acrobat.com/_a44433639/e31964704/
  



• Pedagogical Strategies for Online Learning
  URL: https://admin.acrobat.com/_a44433639/e28658640/
  



• Plagiarism
  URL: https://admin.acrobat.com/_a44433639/e97179272/

Tip: After loging in and accessing any one of the tuorials above, you can simply copy and paste the link for a different tutorial into your browser's address bar and press the Enter key on your keyboard. That refreshes the page to the new tutorial ... no need to login again!

Thank you Phyllis Dobson for bringing this online opportunity to our attention ... they supplement our Training and Professional Development sessions very well. Register for CCCOnline Training and Professional Development and access descriptions for available sessions from: https://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?402726

Enjoy!
Lisa Marie

Wikipedia as an Assignment

I just read a long post (in wikipedia, but I arrived there via a faculty blog) that is a description of an assignment the author used in a class he was teaching - he asked his students to write an article that made it to "Featured Article" status on Wikipedia. Here is the wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jbmurray/Madness

I got there from the blog:

http://posthegemony.blogspot.com/2008/03/wikipedia.html

The same professor also has some examples of student blogs available as links from his blog:

http://posthegemony.blogspot.com/2008/01/span312.html

These are all literature courses, but I don't see why they couldn't be almost anything. Ideas with which to begin the new semester....

(Oh and I started this whole reading experience via a post on edupunk. Edupunk is apparently the hot new term in the educational blogosphere. The post that started me off should be here - http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=44780 - but I can't get to it today.)

And that new semester begins tomorrow.... are we all ready?!

Lisa Cheney-Steen, Dean

Summer rosters now available

Summer rosters are now available at:

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.

We hope this won’t present a major obstacle, however, since this is the first full semester using the system e-mail, we should all keep our fingers crossed :-)

Thanks!
John

Grade Data

Hi Everyone-

John Schmahl put together some statistics on student grades for us:


Student Retention and Success Summary, 200830 - Spring 2008

I'm not sure how legible that graphic is, but essentially we give more A's than we do B's, more B's than C's, more C's than D's, and then there are a whole raft of F's. I suspect that a significant percentage of those F's are students who simply stop attending classes, but I don't actually have any proof of that yet.

Those failing students are the students I'd like to catch and help to complete the class successfully. Student services plans on beginning to track student access to classes eventually so they can send students reminder emails, but any other ideas are welcome.

Lisa

Teaching this Summer? Read this Resource Reminder!

As you prepare for the next term you may need to brush up on some skills or remind yourself about requirements.

A great resource to have bookmarked is the Faculty Handbook. From the handbook you can access information related to many things important to you as faculty, including the Quality Assurance/Faculty Gold document and process.

There is also a wealth of resources from the Faculty Wiki. Click the links below to open a video demonstration (about 4 minutes long) on how to access resources from our Faculty Wiki and/or just read the transcript, in document format.

Open the Flash (swf) movie, from:
http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/FacWiki/WikiResourceReminder_May2008_demo/WikiResourceReminder_May2008_demo.htm

Access the audio transcript (includes links), from this DOCUMENT download link: http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/FacWiki/WikiResourceReminder_May2008_demo/WikiResourceReminder_DemoTranscript_May2008.rtf

LM

Notes: All links in this post open a new window. This demo was created quickly ;)

Webinar Archive Reminder!

Thank you Alice Bedard-Voorhees of Colorado Mountain College and CCCOnline's very own rockin' Lisa Cheney-Steen for the facilitation of today's professional development opportunity - Learning with Web 2.0 Tools, Oh Why?! We had great attendance and lively discussion. So, thanks also to the faculty who were able to attend!

Did you miss today's webinar?

Go to the Webinar Recording and Resources for today's session!


Or, go to:
http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Webinars to access the archive and resources for all past sessions... and see a list of upcoming webinars too!

Hope to "see" everyone June 10 for our next Webinar, "Integrating Multimedia from NROC/HippoCampus". Facilitated by Terri Rowenhorst of the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education, this session will focus on showcasing materials available from the National Repository of Online Courses and HippoCampus.

Questions? Don't hesitate to ask!
Lisa Marie

Voice Thread

Hi All-

Here is a link to a post Alice Bedard-Voorhees wrote up about a website called VoiceThread: http://faculty.coloradomtn.edu/blog/2008/05/proficiency-exercise-d-span-102.html

I had a student use Voice Thread in my class this spring -- she wanted to do a presentation instead of a paper and VT was an easy way to do that. My daughter also used VT for a presentation for her 7th grade Language Arts course. We were going to be out-of-town when the presentations were due, so it was an easy way to shift time a bit. It had the side benefit of forcing her to practice her presentation several times. (The image is from Lindsey's presentation.)

Cool tool!

Lisa

Summer Paydates

Hi All-

I should also note for those of you planning your summer expenses - we won't be able to make the deadline for a June 6th pay-date (classes begin June 2nd), thus the first summer pay-date will be June 20.... and that one rolls to July 1 because of the state statute.

I apologize for the delay and wish I could do something about it, but unfortunately I can't.

Lisa

July Paydate Change Reminder

From Michele in HR (for those of you teaching summer term):

Just a quick reminder that due to a change in State statue a few years ago, the June end of month pay date for both bi-weekly and monthly employees has been changed.

Employees paid monthly will be paid on July 1 instead of June 30.

Employees paid bi-weekly will be paid on July 1 instead of June 20.

Employees who have questions or concerns about automatic deductions from their accounts must contact their banks and creditors directly. The Credit Union of Colorado will honor all automatic debits scheduled from June 20 through June 30, 2008 for its state employee members who have direct deposit or payroll deductions with them. This means that if a member has an automatic payment that is deducted on the 30^th from a Credit Union of Colorado checking or savings account, it will be paid when received. No special requests are needed from members regarding scheduled payments affected by the pay date shift.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you.

Michele McCall

Colorado Community College System

Human Resources

Employee Benefits

michele.mccall@cccs.edu

303-595-1589

Wednesday 5/21/08 Webinar Reminder - Learning with Web 2.0 Tools, Oh Why?

CCCOnline Training and Professional Development invites you to attend a webinar this week!

What: Learning with Web 2.0 Tools, Oh Why?

Sure, there are many Web 2.0 tools available for use in teaching now, but why would you incorporate them into your class? What do these tools give you that Blackboard Vista does not already? In summary, this session explores the why of web 2.0 as opposed to the how.

Who: Lisa Cheney-Steen of CCCOnline and Alice Bedard-Voorhees of Colorado Mountain College.

When: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 .... 12:00 - 1:30 PM (Mountain Time)

Where: Online via Elluminate! Participants may enter 30 minutes before the session begins. Use the link below to access the session. http://elm.elluminate.com:80/FRONTRANGE/join_meeting.html?meetingId=1204154613757

NOTE: If you are a new user of Elluminate, please go to http://www.elluminate.com/support/ ... and then through the steps for first time users.

Once your computer is set-up, view the Participant Training Materials for Elluminate Version 8: http://www.elluminate.com/support/docs/8.0/participant.jsp

If you are attending the live session, please prepare your computer to attend the session at least 1/2 hour in advance! All sessions begin promptly at the designated time, but you may enter the session 30 minutes before to make sure your headsets/voice, speakers, and other features are working properly.

Why: As always, Why not? :^) ... Participation in this session counts as annual professional development credit for CCCOnline faculty. More importantly, you'll interact with fellow faculty and gain new ideas for incorporating Web 2.0 (not just how, but WHY) in your courses! Registration is not required, but you can let us know you're interested in attending by registering anyway from https://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?402726


See you there!
Lisa Marie Johnson
lisamarie.johnson@cccs.edu


Ps. Can't attend this session? You can still learn by reviewing the recording from our Webinar Archive!

Note for Mac users

This is a technical note for Mac users who are also using Elluminate:

Important Technical Bulletin: Apple J2SE6

Apple has just released a new version of Java: J2SE6 for Mac OS X 10.5.

The J2SE6 release is currently incompatible with Elluminate Live! We have notified Apple of the issue and are investigating potential work around options.

This update is not mandatory and we strongly recommend against installing it at this time. Unfortunately there is no easy way to un-install J2SE6 once installed.

Lisa

Is anyone interested in adding games to your class? Here's a website with links to quite a few free, web-based, "serious" games. http://blog.missiontolearn.com/2008/04/learning-games-for-change/ Let me know if you use games now - I'm curious if there is a trend.

Lisa
Lisa.Cheney-Steen@cccs.edu

Entering Grades for Spring

Dear Faculty;

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)

All grades are due no later than Thursday, May 8, 2008.

Once you have submitted your grades, we will pull a daily report listing the grades and they will be manually entered into Banner for the students. Grades will not be viewable by the students until the day after they are manually entered.

If you have any students needing their grades earlier, please contact John Schmahl, john.schmahl@cccs.edu or Roxanne Manske, roxanne.manske@cccs.edu.

To submit final grades:

go to the online Grade Book here, https://at.ccconline.org/gradebook/input/

Login using your Blackboard Vista login credentials

Select the appropriate section

If you are missing any section(s) or have extra section(s) listed, please contact Frank Vazquez, frank.vazquez@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 must be given a grade, even if they have not participated in the section**

Enter a Last Date of Attendance for any students receiving a grade of “F” or “W”

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)
I (must include incomplete contract)
W (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)
I (must include incomplete contract)
W (must include last day of attendance)

Hello All,

Roxanne noted, "Enter a Last Date of Attendance for any students receiving a grade of “F” or “W”".

Here are two Faculty Wiki guides that will assist you in determining the last date of attendance (LDA).
http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Determining_Last_Date_of_Attendance_for_Students

http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Individual_Student_Performance_Report

For students who never signed in to your course, their LDA is the first day of the term.

Spring 1 (15-week) began January 21, 2008.

Spring 2 (10-week) began February 25, 2008

:) Lisa Marie

Spring Grades

Dear Faculty;

It’s that time of the semester again; time to get ready to enter grades. The Grade book will be available starting Friday, May 2, 2008.

All grades are due no later than Thursday, May 8, 2008.

Directions for submitting grades including the URL for the grade roster will be sent on Friday.

Once you have submitted your grades, we will pull a daily report listing the grades and they will be manually entered into Banner for the students. Grades will not be viewable by the students until the day after they are manually entered.

If you have any students needing their grades earlier, please contact myself or Roxanne Manske at roxanne.manske@cccs.edu and we can get those entered for you.

Thank you once again for all of your hard work this semester!

John H Schmahl
Director, Student Services
CCOnline
john.schmahl@cccs.edu

Vista Maintenance Tonight

Attention Faculty: There will be Vista Maintenance Tonight - 1 a.m. Tues. 4/29/08
You will not be able to access Vista tonight after 1 a.m. Be sure that you finish your activities before this maintenance or risk losing data. Do not start work that you cannot finish before 1 a.m. MDT. The server will not be available for approximately two hours.

Thanks,

Rhonda

24x7 Student Technical Support Now Available

We have just launched a new 24x7 technical support service for students in Vista courses. All students can now get technical support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for their Vista course. The announcement below has been sent to all Spring students. The phone number is 1-888-800-9198.

This support service is also available to faculty for after-hours emergencies and access questions, however, Amy will continue to provide technical support for all of our faculty at profhelp@ccconline.org.

Please let your students know about this great new service.

Thanks once again, for all you do for our students!
John H Schmahl
CCCOnline
Student Services

GET HELP ANY TIME!

CCCOnline now offers 24x7 Technical Support for students and faculty who use Blackboard Vista. Students can get support via:

• Phone at 1-888-800-9198
• Live chat at http://help.cccs.edu – click on Chat With Us
• A support request form at http://help.cccs.edu – click on Submit a Problem
• Or the CCCOnline Student Wiki: http://students.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Main_Page.

The specialists at the 24x7 Technical Support help desk are trained to assist users on a variety of topics including:

• Configuring your computer to use Blackboard Vista
• Logging into Blackboard Vista
• Troubleshooting problems using your online course
• Setting up your browser to support Blackboard Vista
• Questions about how to use features in Blackboard Vista
• Uploading and downloading assignments/email attachments.

Student Survey Pop-up Window

Hi Everyone-

I am sure you've noticed by now that the student survey is open. If you type your S# into the pop-up about the survey you will stop getting it each time you log in. (Although if you use multiple computers and/or multiple browsers you will have to enter your S# multiple times - the survey uses cookies for tracking purposes, so has to set one for each browser.)

Please encourage your students to take the survey. Some of you use extra credit successfully for that (you have to let students tell you when they have completed the survey). I think that's a good technique that helps up get valid data, but even reminders help!

Thank you!

Lisa

Student Survey Open

Hi Everyone-

The student survey is open now and will remain available for students through the end of the semester. They will see the pop-up window reminding them to take the survey each time they login until they have completed the survey.

Please remind your students to take the survey - we'd like to see good participation this year and that only happens with a lot of faculty encouragement.

Thanks-
Lisa

Memorial Service for Kevin Stever

Kevin's friends have planned a memorial service for him:

Kevin's memorial is scheduled from 4:30 pm - 7:30 pm on Saturday, May 17, at Strings Restaurant in Denver.

www.stringsrestaurant.com

1700 Humboldt St Denver, CO 80218 (303) 831-7310

Please let everyone at CCCS (students, staff, other faculty) that it is an open invitation and we'd love for anyone to attend who wishes to join us in remembering Kevin.

We are also encouraging donations to "The Center" in Kevin's name. That address is P.O. Box 9798, Denver, CO 80209-0798.

At the celebration, we will be collecting messages of condolence to send to the family as well.

Thanks, and please let me know if you have any questions.

Lisa

Reading for A Good Cause

From Sean Law, ENG chair:

Subject: FW: Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
(RFB&D)
Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 07:47:20 -0600

Hello! I'm Betsy Boudreau, Executive Director or RFB&D/Rocky Mountain Unit.

I would like to invite you to donate an hour of your time to help record a textbook for a student who is blind, dyslexic or physically struggling.

Our 13th Annual Recordathon will be held the week of April 28-May 2, a time when our volunteers record more hours of textbooks than any week during the year, invite friends and family to donate to RFB&D, and when we invite the Mayor, First Lady and other local celebrities to come in and read for an hour.

If you have the time, please let me know. We are offering times from 9am to 7pm, at the top of the hour, for one hour of reading.

Thank you!

Help us help students in need of audio textbooks to succeed in school and life! Volunteer and/or donate to RFB&D. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Betsy Boudreau, Executive Director
Rocky Mountain Unit/Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic

1355 S. Colorado Blvd., Ste. C-406, Denver, CO, 80222
303-692-9213/ www.rfbd.org

If there is enough interest we could pick a CCCOnline day and all go down together. :^)

Lisa

Faculty Questions re Maintenance and Thumbtacks

Hi Everyone-

We've gotten the same questions from several of you, so bear with me as I answer them in this forum for everyone.

First that irritating little thumbtack. Unfortunately that is in Blackboard development, so it won't be corrected until the next release. Think fall.

Then there is maintenance. Back in the olden days we ran the learning management system for CCCOnline only. Now we run the system for all of the colleges plus CCCOnline. Everyone has a different schedule, some colleges have intercession courses, some colleges have training that has to occur between terms, everyone is frantically duping and developing courses between terms... and really, when you look at everyone's schedules there is no "between terms" other than the long Christmas break and even that is shorter than you would think.

Given all that, the Learning Technology Council (that is the group of college representatives that provides oversight for Vista) has decided we just need to schedule some planned downtime for upgrades and maintenance during each term. The only alternative is to save everything for Christmas break - but that is a little dangerous and means we'd only have one shot a year at correcting problems like the irritating green thumbtack.

So I understand that everyone is busy and that it is a hassle to have to schedule around a planned downtime each semester. However, I think as long as the downtime is scheduled before the semester begins it is a reasonable solution. Many of us want to install fixes the first moment we can - we have to balance that with downtime schedules.

On the other hand, I can take your concerns back to LTC if you want me to.

Thanks-
Lisa

Kevin Stever

Today I bring sad news. Kevin Stever, a long time CSC instructor for CCCOnline, passed away last weekend. He had been ill, but didn't think it was serious.

His friends are planning a memorial service in the next week or two. I will let you know when I have more information.

Lisa

Weekend Downtime

Hi Everyone-

Please don't forget this weekend's downtime for Blackboard Vista. We will be going down at 1:00 pm on Saturday, April 5th and coming back up again by 1:00 pm on Sunday the 6th. This downtime will be used to install SP3 and a hot fix. I don't think you will notice much on your side, but there are significant changes on the back-end.

Thank you-
Lisa

English Program Chair Needed

Hello Everyone-
Our current English Program Chair, Sean Law, is retiring from his position, not leaving CCCOnline, mind you, just redefining his role again. We would like to replace Sean from within CCCOnline, but we are open to other thoughts. I've added the job description below. If you want to see a more detailed description of the life of a program chair please see the Chair handbook on the wiki at http://www.facultywiki.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Program_Chair_Handbook.

English Program Chair Position

CCCOnline is a consortial program for online courses/program development and management for Colorado Community College System. The Colorado Community Colleges Online (CCCOnline) is comprised of the 13 member colleges in the Colorado Community College System, Dawson Community College, Northwest Missouri State University, and Pickens Technical College.

Through CCCOnline, students can complete accredited Associate of Arts Degrees, Associate of Applied Science Degrees and Certificates in various disciplines. Colorado Community Colleges are accredited by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Instructional designers support faculty in the development of new courses and current courses by offering course design assistance, technical assistance, and assisting in the development of media for use in the courses.

Job Summary:

The program chair provides leadership and expertise in the development and maintenance of effective instructional models for CCCOnline. A major portion of this part-time role is email, phone, and web-based communication to provide support and coaching to faculty. The chair hires qualified faculty as needed and assigns faculty to courses each term. The chair oversees the development of new online courses and the redesign of existing online courses. This role includes participation in the ongoing exchange of ideas with CCCOnline faculty and program chairs pertaining to online educational theory and practice.

Duties and responsibilities include the following:

• Membership in the CCCOnline academic team, attendance at bi-monthly meetings
• Faculty Support
• Work with faculty throughout the faculty training and evaluation processes
• Regularly visit classes and maintain communication with faculty regarding any recommended changes to their classrooms/course shells
• Continuously support and coach faculty teaching practices
• Provide a communication path between faculty and administrative staff
• Ensure faculty stay current with respect to CCCOnline, program issues, and events
• Recommend training as needed to faculty; ensure faculty are up-to-date regarding professional workshop requirements
• Advise faculty regarding pay grades and changes in pay grades due to stipend increases, professional development requirements, and quality assurance evaluations
• Scheduling
• Schedule courses and sections each term
• Provide course shell dupe information to CCCOnline staff
• Maintain master and term calendars
• Provide faculty information (name and pay rate) to instructional coordinator
• Hire qualified, enthusiastic faculty
• Assign faculty section load
• Assign mentors as appropriate
• Conflict Resolution
• Mediate issues which may arise between faculty and students
• Mediate issues which may arise between faculty and staff
• Address academic integrity issues
• Coordination of Program Development/Changes
• Provide leadership for program initiatives
• Coordinate and assist faculty and designers in the development of new courses
• Coordinate and assist faculty and designers in the re-design of current courses
• Coordinate department/program marketing
• Maintain active and accurate program home page online
• Coordination of selection and distribution of textbooks and other course materials including bookstore and faculty copies
• Develop and teach faculty workshops covering both technology and teaching
• Other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications:

• MA/MS degree in English or appropriate field
• Exemplary communication skills
• Online teaching experience

Start Date: late-April 2008

Salary Range: $20,000 - $24,000 annually; part-time position; no benefits; may teach CCCOnline student courses for additional compensation

Application Process:
Submit a current resume, list of three professional references, copies of your transcripts (unofficial are acceptable as part of the application process – official copies will be required prior to hire) and cover letter addressing the position requirements by Friday, April 11, 2008 to:
E-Mail: monica.falk@cccs.edu
Fax: 303.365.8822

Or mail to:
English Program Chair Position
c/o Monica Falk, Associate Academic Dean
Colorado Community Colleges Online
9026 E. Severn Place
Denver, CO 80230

Google Docs for Collaboration and More! (free training videos until May)

Google what? If you have only heard of Google Docs, but not had a chance to experiment, now is a great time to be you! Free training is available in the form of video tutorials from atomiclearning.com through May.

Access the "Google Docs" video tutorials from:
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/google_docs

At its foundation, Google Docs is a free tool collaborative authorship. Think of this tool as a wiki-style technology (group editing, or single-person editing on the fly from anywhere you can access the WWW, tracking of changes) with the coolness of document portability allowing users to save in a variety of formats and edit collaboratively online.... anytime!

A few links to resources about Google Docs in education:

• VanDrimmelen at EduTechie.com
  http://www.edutechie.com/2006/11/google-docs-education/
  
  
• YouTube Tutorial on Google Docs...
  Another review of the tech with the 'why' ... Collaboration, of course! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA
  

Posting this information was sparked by recent inquiries during the Four Ps: Proactive Preparation Prevents Plagiarism Webinar (held 3/21) about the tool. View this and other webinars from: http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Webinars


Lisa Marie
lisamarie.johnson@cccs.edu

Are you ready to start Teaching with Style?

Learning Styles Registration is open! Register today for Learning Styles and other Professional Development sessions from: https://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?402726

• What: Learning Styles (listed under recommended sessions)
• Where: Two-week asynchronous online via Bb Vista
• Who: Kathy Miles
• When: March 31 - April 11
• Why: ...... read on!

Style… everyone has his or her own and we’re not talking What To Wear!

“Learning Styles” refers mainly to theories on how people perceive and process information in order to learn. You may like to read step-by-step instructions before tackling a project, whereas your best friend may just glance at a picture and plunge in. Perhaps you remember what you hear better than what you see, but your friend remembers best what she reads or what he sees in a picture. Or when you read or study you need a quiet space, but your friend likes to have the radio or the TV going in the background or to be in the middle of a room with lots of activity.

Such differences reflect the very different ways in which we learn.“Learning Styles” also refers to a group of models for conceptualizing a learner’s style and designing instruction to better meet the needs of diverse learners. How do our own learning-style differences translate into our teaching and what is their effect on our students’ learning? What implications are there for course design?

Typically, the most common method of communication and presentation in an online class is text-based – meaning students mostly read a lot of material displayed on Web pages. What if that is not the most appropriate method through which your students learn? How can you adjust assignments to provide the best context for student learning? This two-week workshop (including one weekend of course activity) takes on these questions, examining learning styles and how to address their diversity in an online environment. Come join us: Explore the world of learning styles, your own as well as others’; then practice designing an instructional activity which supports a variety of learners and their styles.

Register for the Learning Styles workshop today to get ...

1. Information on common Learning Styles.
2. Methods for measuring Learning Styles.
3. Information for understanding your learning style and why that matters.
4. Information for designing course activities in alternative learning styles.
5. Practice in designing course activities to engage and support different styles.

Don't delay! Register today!

Thank you Kathy Miles for the redevelopment of this workshop, facilitation, guidance on training and development opportunities and the above summary!

Questions? Just ask!
Lisa Marie
lisamarie.johnson@cccs.edu

Webinar Recordings

Hi Everyone-

LisaMarie Johnson, our fearless Director of Training, has recordings of all of the webinars available for your viewing pleasure on the Training and Professional Development wiki pages.

You can access them at http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Webinars.

Of course they are better in person, but this gives you a fall-back position in case there is a topic you really don't want to miss, but can't make the time-slot it's offered in.

Happy viewing!

Lisa

Webinar Friday, March 21 - Plagiarism!

CCCOnline Training and Professional Development invites you to attend a webinar on everyone's (least) favorite subject... plagiarism!

What: The Four Ps: Proactive Preparation Prevents Plagairism
Objectives include.. Recognizing how Plagiarism is defined by CCCOnline and why our policies are only half the consideration; Locating and interpreting the policies for CCCOnline that relate to Plagiarism; Recognizing procedures for reporting infractions and communicating with stakeholders; Participation in an activity for identifying plagiarism and reflect on examples of plagiarism and consequences for students; Identifying and discussing resources to assist learners with good writing and scholarship; Discussing proactive strategies for designing activities to prevent plagiarism; and Discussing proactive methods to use in courses to teach about and prevent plagiarism. A handout will be provided as part of the session.

Who: Monica Falk, Sean Law, Jesse Stommel and Lisa Marie Johnson

When: Friday, March 21, 2008 .... 2:00 - 4:00 PM (MDT)

Where: Online via Elluminate! Participants may enter 30 minutes before the session begins. Use the link below to access the session.

http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/join_meeting.html?meetingId=1204149123966

Why... Why not? :^) ... Participation in this session counts as annual professional development credit for CCCOnline faculty. More importantly, you'll interact with fellow faculty and gain skills, perspectives, and understanding about plagiarism in CCCOnline courses.

See you there!
Lisa Marie Johnson
lisamarie.johnson@cccs.edu


NOTE: If you are a new user of Elluminate, please go to http://www.elluminate.com/support/ ... and then through the steps for first time users. Once your computer is set-up, view the Participant Training Materials for Elluminate Version 8: http://www.elluminate.com/support/docs/8.0/participant.jsp ... If you are attending the live session, please prepare your computer to attend the session at least 1/2 hour in advance! All sessions begin promptly at 2:00PM MST, but participants can enter the session 30 minutes before to make sure your headsets/voice, speakers, and other features are working properly.

Qwest Maintenance

Hi Everyone-

I have a note from CCCS-IT about some maintenance Qwest is performing this weekend that probably doesn't affect you. This will only affect you if you are doing something on the CCCS Network during the time of the maintenance. So if you are accessing Vista from home, no problem. If you want to access Banner or if you are on a campus than it will affect you. From IT:

We have been informed that Qwest will be performing maintenance on their equipment tomorrow morning, March 15th, between 3:00 AM and 4:00 AM. This maintenance will effect the primary circuits coming into our facilities at Lowry. This will cause an outage for Internet access for the schools, inbound and outbound telephone calls at Lowry, and Wide Area Network connectivity into and out of Lowry for all schools. While the circuits are down access to FRS, Banner, VPN Connectivity, and inbound and outbound e-mail will be unavailable.

Thanks for your understanding

Bryan Crawford

Same effect for students -- if they are on campus at 3:00 am they won't be able to get to your online class. :^)

Lisa

Adding Audio to Your Courses! - Webinar Friday 3/14

CCCOnline Training and Professional Development invites you to attend tomorrow's webinar!

What: Adding Audio to Your Courses!
Focus is on types of audio you can add to your courses, the process for storing files on the CCCOnline Media Server, accessibility considerations and design for engaging learning and authentic assessment with audio. We'll explore some free programs available for you and students to use in creating audio as well!

When: Friday, March 14, 2008 .... 2:00 - 4:00 PM (MDT)

Where: Online via Elluminate! Use the link below to access the session. Participants may enter 30 minutes before the session begins.
http://elm.elluminate.com:80/FRONTRANGE/join_meeting.html?meetingId=1203215523142

NOTE: If you are a new user of Elluminate, please go to http://www.elluminate.com/support/ ... and then through the steps for first time users. Once your computer is set-up, view the Participant Training Materials for Elluminate Version 8: http://www.elluminate.com/support/docs/8.0/participant.jsp ... If you are attending the live session, please prepare your computer to attend the session at least 1/2 hour in advance! All sessions begin promptly at 2:00PM MST, but participants can enter the session 30 minutes before to make sure your headsets/voice, speakers, and other features are working properly.

Why... Why not? :^) ... Participation in this session counts as annual professional development credit for CCCOnline faculty. More importantly, you'll have a chance to interact with fellow faculty and explore ways to incorporate audio components in your course to meet a wider range of learning styles!


See you there!
Lisa Marie Johnson
lisamarie.johnson@cccs.edu

New Student Enrollment and Drop Records

Well, we have a new record for most enrollments in CCCOnline courses and a new record for the lowest drop rate. With the passing of census for Spring session 2, we hit an all time high in enrollments, 12,035. The previous record was set 2 years ago at 10,702 in Spring 2006.

And part of the reason for that record enrollment was the lowest ever drop rate this Spring session 2. Only 10.55% of session 2 students dropped their online courses. Last year's drop rate for session 2 was 17.4%. For session 1 this year we had a drop rate of 15.4%, one of the lowest ever as well.

The hard work by all of you in building quality courses and keeping students engaged throughout the semester shows clearly in our continued growth. Thanks again to all of you for the hard work you put in every day.

And thanks as well to Debra Michel and Kathy Miles for the hard work they do with the new Student Orientation course. Making sure our students are ready to start class on day 1 and keeping them supported throughout the semester let's you focus more on teaching.

Once again, thanks to everyone for the hard work done every day on behalf of our students!

Spring session 2 rosters available

The session 2 class rosters are now available at https://at.ccconline.org/roster.

If you have any problems you can contact Frank Vazquez at frank.vazquez@cccs.edu or myself at john.schmahl@cccs.edu.

Thanks!
John

Downtime

Good Morning Everyone-

We are back up again this morning as of around 6:00. That would put last night's downtime at close to 12 hours. I don't have an update yet on why we were down, but I'll pass on information as I have it. We do appear to be stable at this time.

Lisa

Friday 2/15 ... 2-4 PM (MST) ... Online Tutoring and Library Resources Webinar!

CCCOnline Training and Professional Development invites you to attend today's webinar!

Who and What: Learn about Online Library and Tutor Services
John Huber, of SMARTHINKING, presenting on the service, faculty resources, experience sample sessions, the technology, session archives, and more! AND... Mary Cash, of CCCOnline, presenting on the CCCOnline library resources and methods for students (and faculty!) to search for subscription access to books, magazines and articles, and the many free/open online resources!

When: TODAY! Friday, February 15, 2008 .... 2:00 - 4:00 PM (MST)

Where: Online via Elluminate! Use the link below to access the session. Participantsmay enter 15 minutes before the session begins.
http://elm.elluminate.com:80/FRONTRANGE/join_meeting.html?meetingId=1194822750707

NOTE: Session will begin promptly at 2:00PM. If you are new to Elluminate or have not used it on the computer you will access the session from today, 15 minutes before the session, please go to the Elluminate support page and enter the Configuration Room before entering the actual session: http://www.elluminate.com/support/

Why: Why not? :^) ... This session is a great way to end the week and learn or refresh your skills and ideas for assisting students with writing and research excellence. Participation in this session counts as annual professional development credit for CCCOnline faculty.


See you there!
Lisa Marie Johnson
lisamarie.johnson@cccs.edu

Daylight Savings Time and Due Dates

Hi Everyone-

I have an update on daylight savings time and how that affects due dates and times in Blackboard Vista:

You can not set an assignment or quiz date/time due date to close with in an hour of midnight, March 9, without the time changing in the setup to the next day because of the daylight savings time change. We have had two courses do this on the March 9 date. When we set it for 10:58 PM it comes out 11:58 PM, as we want. If you set it for 11:58 it moves to the next day at 12:58 AM. (This is still only an hour later, but the date has changed). That is Bb’s explanation and I wanted to pass it along so you don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure it out.

That was from David Chatham. Let me know if you have questions.

Also a reminder that registration is open for the free faculty conference in Colorado Springs on Friday, February 22nd. www.ppcc.edu/conference.


Lisa

Faculty Conference! Free Lunch!

Hi Everyone-

The Learning Technology Council is sponsoring a free one day conference on February 22nd at Pikes Peak Community College's Centennial campus (south end of Colorado Springs). We'd love to see you all there!

To register for this conference go to http://www.ppcc.edu/conference/ and click on the registration link.

The opening general session is at 9:00 am. It will include opening remarks from the system president Dr. Nancy McCallin and a presentation by Dr. Ellen Wagner, Vice-President of eLearning Solutions for Adobe. Individual conference sessions include the following:

SESSION ONE 10:45-11:30

The Three Dimensional Professional Electronic Portfolio: Development and Deployment
This presentation (lecture/presentation/discussion) will define and demonstrate the development and deployment of a three dimensional professional electronic portfolio. The presentation will focus on a template that may be modified using MS Word to fit individual work history and professional experiences.
Presenter: Frank J. Nosal, CIS Instructor, PCC
Room: Level: All


Who-o-o-o Are You? The Issue of Student Authentication in Online Learning

Do you really know who’s out there? Federal officials are concerned, and this presentation will tell us what online instructors need to know now.

Presenter: Rhonda Epper, Co-Executive Director, Learning Technology, CCCS
Room: Level: All


Online Writing Centers: Opportunities and Issues

Online writing centers have been around for awhile, but they continue to evolve and face challenges. This presentation will focus on what is happening now and what OWLs might look like in the future.

Presenter: Larry Giddings, Writing Center Director, PPCC
Room: Level: All


Getting Started with the Faculty WIKI

Participants will learn to access and navigate the Faculty Wiki and understand
features such as search, special pages, creating accounts, and using Flash media and RSS feeds. Using demonstration accounts, participants will practice accessing a User Page, creating pages, editing pages, adding content, such as text, links, images, and media.

Presenters:
Lisa Marie Johnson, Director of Training & Personal Development, CCCOnline
Kathy Miles, Special Projects Associate, CCCOnline
Jonathan Fuller, Web &Wikimaster, CCCOnline
Room: A-250 Level: Beginner


The Simulation Experience in Nursing Labs

This presentation will review the process of using human patient simulation in nursing education at a variety of levels.

Presenter: Geri Tierney, Nursing Simulation Lab Coordinator, PPCC
Room: Level: Intermediate



SESSION TWO 11:45-12:30

Teaching an Online Class in Three Hours a Week

The perception among online instructors is that teaching online classes takes significantly more time than teaching classroom courses. But, a lack of instructor presence is a common complaint of online students. We will explore the mismatch between faculty and student perceptions by investigating what “teaching” means in the online environment.

Presenter: Eric Salahub, Online Lead for Arts and Letters, FRCC
Room: Level: Intermediate


Grading Forms and Rubrics

Use Blackboard Vista Grading Forms to make your grading easier. Cut your grading time in half by setting up Grading Forms which automatically calculate grades, enter them in your grade book, and report explanation and comments to your students. A must for recurring or complex assignments.
Presenter: Mike Bleacher, Instructor, Educational Technology Training, CCA Room: Level: Intermediate

Faculty Mentoring

This presentation will examine ethical issues in mentoring new instructors and discuss the development of instructor mentoring programs. Participants will break into small groups and design a mentoring program.
Presenter: Cathy Taylor, Asst. Prof. of Management, Park University
Room: Level: Beginner

Collaboration Using Wikis in Online Courses

Participants will learn about practical and reflection applications of wikis in online courses, their role in collaborative learning experiences, and potential as resource and content specific repositories. Participants will collaborate on a small project using the Faculty Wiki to experience the processes for successfully incorporating wikis in the online classroom.
Presenters:
Cheryl Comstock, Director of Instructional Design, CCCOnline
Lisa Marie Johnson, Director, Training and Professional Development, CCCOnline
Room: A-250 Level: Intermediate

SESSION THREE 1:45-2:30

Using Webfolios in the Composition Classroom

Come learn how easy it can be to have your students publish their writing on the web. This workshop will show you how to use a webfolio instead of a final portfolio in English composition classes (or any classes using a portfolio system).
Presenter: Susan Achziger, English Faculty, CCA
Room: Level: Intermediate

Best Practices in Integrating Multimedia into the Learning Environment

This presentation explores best practices in integrating eLearning and mobile learning into traditional, hybrid, and online classes.
Presenter: James deHerrera, EDU, CIS, CSC Faculty, PPCC
Room: Level: Intermediate

A Comparison of Course Management Systems

This presentation showcases the same class materials in three different course management systems. Change is constant in online education, and this information might come in handy!
Presenters:
Lisa Cheney-Steen, Co-Executive Director, Learning Technology, CCCS
Aaron Leonard
Monica Falk
Room: Level: Beginner

Can you hear me now? Learn Why and Ways to Use Audio in Online Courses!

Experience Audacity™ and Gabcast™! Learn how these technologies are used at the Colorado Community Colleges Online for alternative delivery of course materials and to meet course outcomes related to speaking. Participants will also learn about engage in a discussion of current research concerning audio in the design of online learning.
Presenters:
Lisa Marie Johnson, Director of Training & Personal Development, CCCOnline
Karen Kaemmerling, Social Sciences Chair, CCC Online
Room: A250 Level: Beginner


SESSION FOUR 2:45-3:30

Using Elluminate in Online Foreign Language Courses

This presentation will showcase ways in which Elluminate Live! can be incorporated in Foreign Language Online courses, with ideas that can be used in other content courses.
Presenter: Jose Garcia-Paine, Foreign Languages Faculty, FRCC
Room: Level: Intermediate

Replacing Textbooks with Open Content Materials in Online History Classes

This presentation demonstrates how instructors can meet a variety of learning styles by incorporating online course materials from the National Repository of Online Courses (NROC).
Presenters:
Karen Kaemmerling, Social Sciences Chair, CCCOnline
Terri Rowenhorst, NROC Membership Director
Room: Level: Beginner

Podcasting

Learn to create educational podcasts! Anyone can create a podcast. It’s as easy as 1-2-3. We will also discuss some of the logistical and technical barriers. Most importantly, we will identify the elements of podcasting that engage our students and enhance the educational experience in online, hybrid and traditional courses.
Presenter: March Sustarsic, Foreign Languages Faculty, PPCC
Room: Level: Beginner

LTC Round Table

The transition to Blackboard Vista has been long and often difficult, and we all know that we still have issues. Come to the round table to ask questions, voice your concerns, and share your ideas about what the system’s distance learning programs should look like in the future.


See you there!

Lisa

Military Students and Access

Hi Everyone-

Some of our military students may not be able to access the classes at this time. Beginning last week the military in the middle east closed access to all but .mil and .gov websites due to some bandwidth issues. They do not expect the problem to last more than another week. Please allow your affected students some extra time to catch up.

If the problem continues we will work with the colleges centrally to find the best solution for the students.

Thanks!
Lisa