Fall Faculty Conference Materials Available

Hi Everyone-

The conference materials and presentations from the fall faculty conference are available now at
http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=2007_CCCOnline_Fall_Faculty_Conference:_Presentation_Materials

Have a great weekend!
Lisa

Request from Alice Bedard-Voorhees

From Alice:

Would anyone want to share exampes of their best student-created content? LisaMarie Johnson and I presented on tools for student-created content at the 9/28 conf. and I'm quite sure we would find examples in the CCCOnline courses...

http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=42129
The abstract sets it up nicely: "Enabling students to
create their own educational content increases engagement,
improves learning, and can result in products of lasting
value. So why are effective examples of student-generated
content in online education so hard to find?" the answer is
that there are so few of them to find. "Asking the question
'why are there so few good examples of student-generated
content?' is really asking the question 'why is educational
practice so hard to change?'" PDF. Via DEOS.
Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=42129
Direct Link:
http://www.e-mentor.edu.pl/_xml/wydania/21/467.pdf

Just a thought. I'd think Art has some, Hum has some (photos), that there are PPT's, webpages and audio recordings..and? If you have any examples please send them to bedardvoorhees@earthlink.net.

Cheers,

Alice


"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
--Mary Oliver

Training Update

CCCOnline would like your feedback to assist in steering the future of Training and Professional Development for 2008 and beyond. Let your voice be heard and contribute to the training process through completion of an anonymous survey.

The survey has 10 questions of various types and should take around 15-20 minutes to complete.

The survey is available until 12:00AM on Monday, October 29, 2007.

Follow this link to take the survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=b3R3YunM_2fy8nl8Yv9nYZ_2fQ_3d_3d

Questions about the survey can be directed to Lisa Marie Johnson at lisamarie.johnson@cccs.edu

Update on a Couple of Vista Bugs (Tracking and GC)

Hi Everyone-

I have this from David Chatham today:

I have asked Blackboard to turn off the garbage collection process. It is accessing the same tables as those that a new file upload accesses, and, since Blackboard cannot yet control when the garbage collection process runs, it is best to turn it off. The problem with GC is that when Blackboard sets a time for it to run (I have requested between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. ) the process disregards the time limits and runs all of the time, interfering with instruction. It will need until tomorrow morning to cycle through before we see any improvements.

You do not need to send me any more lists of sections with unknown users. They have enough examples to determine the issue and are in the process of fixing tracking. Those adjustments should begin to show some time Saturday.

David Chatham
Dean of Academic Technology
CCCOnline

Thanks-
Lisa

Faculty Update

Hi Everyone-

Lots of small things to update you on today:


Late Registration: Student Services added 160 students to session 1 classes and 80 to session 2 classes during the first three days of classes. (Most of those over the weekend before classes started). In session 1 12% of those students had dropped by census day as opposed to an overall drop rate of 19%. John plans a student success study once the semester ends.

No Shows: Student Services staff are pulling these from the backend, so as faculty you no longer have to submit names. Once John Schmahl has the list of no-shows, he passes it on to the colleges. His understanding is that only PCC, MCC, and CNCC are automatically dropping those students, so you will probably not see them disappear from your courses. If you have no-show students on your grade report at the end of the term you will have to give them an F in the course.

Faculty Wiki Upgrade: Jonathan Fuller has upgraded the wiki software. Account creation has been automated once again, so if you don't have a wiki account and you are interested in using it to teach your class it is available at faculty.ccconline.org.

Bug in the Tracking Feature of Vista: The student tracking tool in Vista is behaving a little oddly. You may notice several students listed as "unknown" rather than by their name. If this is the case in your course please email Amy.Sorensen@cccs.edu and let her know. We are working with the Blackboard development team to correct this.

Thanks!
Lisa

Elluminate Upgrade

I hope we don't have too many of you using Elluminate Sunday mornings well before dawn, but if you are:

Dear Elluminate Customer,

We are pleased to inform you that we are releasing an update to Elluminate Live! on Sunday October 14, 2007, during our regular maintenance window from 2:00am – 6:00am US Eastern. This will now be reflected as Elluminate Live! V8.2. This update provides improvements to Elluminate Live! in the following areas:

• Enhancements to the quality of audio
• Performance improvements ensuring a superior experience, especially in large meetings

There will be no visible changes to the Elluminate Live! interface. In addition, this update also includes the Elluminate Live! Manager (ELM) version 2.8. This update will contain minor bug fixes and operational enhancements. There will be no visible changes to the ELM interface.

We will do our best to minimize the amount of time taken during the upgrade but you should allow for the full time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and we appreciate your patience as we strive to deliver the best in class products to you.

best,
Lisa

Drop reminder sent to Ses 2 students

The following reminder was sent to session 2 student today and posted on the student blog.

Thanks!
John

This note is a just reminder that you have until Thursday, October 11, 2007, to drop your CCCOnline delivered Fall session 2 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 e-mail applies ONLY to CCCOnline delivered courses. CCCOnline delivered courses are those courses with a section ID of C21.

Please note that due to the large size of CCCOnline courses, we split courses into multiple sections (C21, C22, C23, etc.), therefore, the section on your MyCCCOnline home page may not be C21, however, if you want to drop the course, you will need to drop the C21 section at your college.

Do not assume you have been dropped from a class for not attending or logging in; at many colleges you must ensure you 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 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/

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/

That Green Thumbtack

Hi Everyone-

In case you weren't at the faculty conference on Friday here's a solution to the sticky green thumbtack on discussions from Stephanie Dunham (if I have the wrong Stephanie I appologize!), then updated by Heidi Barrett:

The thumbtack will disappear once Vista thinks you have viewed every message. To view each message most easily try going into each topic and "expand all", then "select all". After that choose "create printable view" to see all of the messages.

The other option that seems to work is to open each thread in each unit.

best,
Lisa

2007 Gold Medal Faculty

Every year the program chairs choose 2 or 3 instructors who exemplify the best teachers with CCCOnline. These are our Gold Medal Faculty.

This is not a rotating award, faculty who win once can win again. This year just over half of the Gold Medal faculty were GMF last year also. The criteria is that the chosen faculty must be matrix 2 level and must be an outstanding instructor. That last bit is very difficult when you consider the field you are all standing in. CCCOnline faculty are truly amazing teachers. You all regularly go above and beyond for students.

I'd like to thank everyone for all of your hard work with students and most particularly the Gold Medal faculty:

• Accounting: Brenda Lauer
• Arts and Humanities: Kyla Hammond
• Psychology and Sociology: Vanessa Dahn and Carrie Garman
• Business: Wendy Lewis, Diane VanOs, and Glenann Arnold
• Computer Technology: Phyllis Dobson and Stan Kuchel
• Education: Kathi Waggoner
• English: Jesse Stommel, Brian Dickson, and Angela Havel
• Health Sciences: Aarthi Ramesh, Mary Steggall, and Jesse Devasia
• Languages and Literature: Jennifer Ray and Angela Havel
• Math: Erica Hastert, Louis Sass, and Kristy Pollart
• Paralegal and Criminal Justice: Holly Dershem-Bruce and Robin Rossenfeld
• Science: Rusty Roe and Kate Lormand
• Social Sciences: LisaMarie Johnson, Al Turner, and Holly Dershem-Bruce

Two instructors were nominated independently by chairs in two programs: Holly Dershem-Bruce and Angela Havel. Extra congratulations to them!

Wow!
Lisa

Rosters Available

Hi Everyone-

The class rosters for session 2 are available now at https://www.cccodevelopment.cccs.edu/roster/ .

Lisa

Well Never mind--- the thumbtack is a bug

Hi All-

Turns out the green discussions thumbtack that stays on even when you read and respond to posts is a known bug that will be corrected in a later upgrade.

Sorry for the confusion!

Lisa

Vista Bugs

Several of you have reported a problem with the discussion thumbtacks remaining after you have read all of the discussions. Unfortunately we haven't been able to replicate that one. Here is some advice from Profelp, Amy Sorensen:

I can not replicate the issue. I check the CRJ 125 course and after I read all of the discussions on my end the thumbtack and asterick in the Course Tools menu disappeared.

Maybe clear your Java Cache and be sure your browser is set to load a new page every time you visit a page. The instructions are below.

Let me know what you discover.

: Delete the Java Cache

1. Click on Start
2. Click on Control Panel
3. Double click the Java icon
4. Under the General tab and near the bottom of the window is a section called "Temporary Internet Files" --> click the "Delete Files" button
5. Close out of the settings window and the browser
6. Re-open the browser
7. Launch Internet Explorer
8. Go to the Tools Menu
9. Select Internet Options
10. From the General Tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, Choose Settings
11. Be Sure the Every visit to the page is selected.
    

Lisa

Known Bugs

Hi Everyone-

I have information on a couple of bugs in the BB Vista LMS that are not corrected by application pack 2.

1. The Student View tab returns an error prior to and after the session dates. What that means is that the Student View tab will not work until after the first day of classes. All you can do is use the Teach tab before there are actual students in the class.

2. Replying to emails with attachments: There is a Java error that prevents you from sending the Reply. You have to close the email, open it again and then hit reply. You may have to reply twice to the email in order to attach a file.

I'll let you know if we confirm other bugs.

The thrice daily re-boots have stopped for the time being. We don't expect to start them up again, although the next test will be the opening of our session 2 classes on Monday.

Lisa

BB Vista is Back Online

Hi Everyone-

Blackboard Vista is back online. The upgrade took Blackboard a little longer than expected, but they were able to release the site to us around 7:00 this morning. The Learning Technology Council has been online this morning along with CCCOnline Academic Technology staff to perform our own quality analysis. Everyone will be monitoring the servers as load gradually picks up again.

best,
Lisa

Faculty Conference - Directions

If you have registered for the conference already you should receive an email with this information from Donna Welschmeyer later today. Just in case you don't ---

Registration will open at 8:00; the opening session begins at 9:00 in M1900 (the Main Dining area) on the first floor of ACC's main building.

Parking is free in any ACC lot.

All conference sessions are in the Main Building or the Annex; maps will be included in registration packets. You can also see maps of the campus and parking facilities at http://www.arapahoe.edu/aboutacc/maps/index.html.

If you need driving directions, you can use Mapquest or any of the other online mapping systems. Use the destination address of 5900 South Santa Fe Drive, Littleton, Colorado.

Many sessions are at or near capacity due to fire code restrictions, so "walk-in" seating in most sessions will be very limited or unavailable. Please make any registrations changes that you wish to make as soon as possible. If you need help editing your registration, email Donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu.

See you Friday!

Lisa

Faculty Conference

Hi Everyone-

If you haven't registered for the CCCOnline Faculty Conference and you are planning to attend please get your registration in so we are expecting you. We would love to see you there! For the record just over 150 of you have registered so far, so you are sure to see a few old friends. For registration go to http://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?478042.

Don't forget that Blackboard Vista will be down Saturday afternoon at 1:00 through at least Sunday afternoon at 1:00. You can check after that if you have something critical to work on, but don't worry until Monday afternoon. We will of course send out an update if things don't go as planned.

Last, Phyllis Dobson sent me a link to a website with a list of 100+ cool tools for online education, many of which are free. You can see it here - http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html - if you want to see if you are missing any. The list misses one of my favorites. I use a Netvibes homepage for my browsers that automatically feeds in my favorite blogs, has a calendar tool, etc.

See you at the conference!

Lisa

Blackboard Vista Upgrade this weekend

Hi Everyone-

We are going ahead with the upgrade to Blackboard Vista this weekend. Vista will be inaccessible beginning at 1:00 pm on Saturday (the time is to accommodate testing center schedules). While we originally had 48 hours scheduled for the upgrade and associated testing we expect to release the website back to you by Sunday afternoon, possibly as early as 1:00 pm.

The notices to students and to college staff suggest they check the website beginning Sunday afternoon, but that no one worry about an inability to access until Monday after 1:00 pm.

We will have a splash page up during the downtime giving everyone additional information as we have it.

Once we have completed the upgrade we hope to be able to stop the thrice daily re-boots of the entire system.

best,
Lisa

Office 2007

Hi Everyone,


Many of you may have students with Office 2007, while you only have Office 2003. If that is the case you may also be having problems opening and reading Office 2007 files. From Phyllis Dobson:

I don't know if you've heard this before but Office '07 files are downloading with a zip extension. Any file created and saved with .docx or .xlsx extensions do not automatically open in Vista (like the Office '03 files did) and when downloaded, are defaulted to a .zip extension. This is not zipping the files, just throwing that extension on the file. Thus we can't open it in Office '07 programs.

I've figured out three work arounds: This might be useful for faculty to know:

• For faculty/students with Office '07 on their computer, just change that .zip extension to the .docx or .xlxs (whichever) when on the Save/download screen. The file type can stay as Winzip because there is no other choice.

• Faculty can download the Compatibility patch:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101686761033.aspx

• Have Office '07 students save in the '03 format.

And an update from David Chatham on when this may be corrected in BB Vista:

I am told by Bb that they have a fix coming out sometime in October. I don't know when we would apply this as I don't have any information on how long it would take. The change will not be ready in time to catch the September 22 upgrade.

best,

Lisa

Apologies from MoCoZone

Hi CCCOnline Familia,

My apologies--I was inadvertently working in the wrong blog! The source I gave you is a good one though :).

See you at the f2f!

All Best,

Alice

Fort Carson Part 2

Hi Everyone-

I understand there may be potential security concerns with asking soldiers when they may be deployed. An alternative is to let students know that if they are a soldier and they are likely to leave before the end of the term they will need to complete all work no later than December 3rd. At that point you can leave things in their hands.

Thanks-
Lisa