Tuesday, February 09, 2010

CCCOnline Employment Opportunities!

Hello Everyone-

CCCOnline currently has two employment positions open: a Quality Assurance Coordinator and an Academic Technology Professional.  See the position descriptions and application procedures below.  Please feel free to forward this information to anyone you know who might be interested.  Send any questions directly to Lisa.Cheney-Steen@cccs.edu.

I strongly encourage any of you who are interested to apply!

(If the position descriptions are difficult to read in email format, please go directly to the blog for improved formatting:  www.CCCOnlineFacultyNews.blogspot.com.)

Lisa Cheney-Steen
Co-Exec. Director

Posted February 8, 2010    Open until filled
Title of Position: Quality Assurance Coordinator  Position #297880

CCCOnline is a consortia program offering online courses for Colorado’s community college system.  The Colorado Community Colleges Online is comprised of the 13 member colleges in the Colorado Community Colleges, Dawson Community College, Northwest Missouri State University, and Pickens Tech.

Through CCCOnline students can earn fully 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.

Job Summary

The Quality Assurance Coordinator provides leadership and expertise in the development and maintenance of an effective quality assurance model for CCCOnline. This position also assists the Training Director through workshop visits and by identifying training needs for faculty.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

The Quality Assurance Coordinator is responsible for the management and supervision of the CCCOnline Quality Assurance Program:
  • Produces quality assurance reports in accordance with CCCOnline requirements and calendar.
  • Compiles and reports student evaluations and quality-assurance results.
  • Evaluates online curriculum to determine faculty’s use of interactive learning tools and works with faculty to add interactivity where needed and/or possible; works with faculty who are interested in new teaching methods and technologies and assists in evaluating those new teaching methodologies.
  • Evaluates, plans, and designs procedures for quality-assurance review of curriculum.
  • Analyzes/designs quality-review documents and checklists.
  • Suggests/manages /disseminates changes in quality standards and indicators.
  • Confers with and assists program chairs as needed to improve quality in course curricula and improve the Quality Assurance processes.
  • Performs ongoing research into appropriate quality standards and implementation of new technologies and teaching methodologies in online courses.
  • Participates in the online “Managing Discussions” workshops as the “Guest Discussant” to answer questions from new faculty about the QA guidelines and procedures.
  • Organizes a roundtable discussion on quality assurance at the annual faculty conference for all faculty to promote continual communication and a mastery of the necessary skills to create a successful online environment for students.
The individual in this position is responsible for managing the faculty hiring process which includes:
  • Coordinate advertisement for new faculty, work with program chairs to ensure they have appropriate faculty applicants.
  • Manage the application process, including S# assignment, and all paperwork; work closely with the human resources department.
  • Work with new hires to ensure they receive appropriate notification, are enrolled in appropriate training and professional development workshops, and are interacting with their faculty mentors.
This position also provides administrative support for the Assoc. Academic Dean.

Applicant Qualifications Education and Experience:

Required Qualifications
  • BA degree in an appropriate field, from an accredited college or university.
  • Requires excellent interpersonal and leadership skills, great attention to detail, the ability to work effectively as part of a team, and effective written and oral communication skills.
  • A thorough understanding of the online-learning environment, including familiarity with at least one learning management system.
  • Ability to use Microsoft Office software products at an advanced level.
Preferred Qualifications
  • MA degree in an appropriate field from an accredited college or university.
  • A minimum of 5 years working in a post-secondary training environment
  • Experience working with faculty and students in a post-secondary setting
  • Experience teaching online in a post-secondary setting.
Unique Personal Characteristics
  •  Comfort working in a virtual environment.
  • Familiarity and comfort with the world wide web.
Salary
  • $39,000-$42,000
  • Excellent benefit package including health, dental, vision, life insurance, and retirement.
Application Process
 
Submit a current resume, list of three professional references and your three most recent supervisors, 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 to:
 
E-Mail: jobs@cccs.edu
Fax:  303-620-4030

Or mail to: 
Executive Director of Human Resources 
Colorado Community College System 

9101 E. Lowry Blvd.
Denver, CO 80230  


Applications will be accepted until position is filled; however, resume review will begin on February 24th.   Candidates are evaluated based on their qualifications as related to the duties and responsibilities of the position.
 
Equal Opportunity Employer -The Colorado Community College System is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or disability in its activities, programs, or employment practices as required by Title VI, Title IX, and Section 504, Age Discrimination Act, and Title II of the ADA.  Former employees of the Colorado Community College System or one of its 13 colleges, who were disciplinarily terminated or resigned in lieu of termination, must disclose this within your application materials. This position may require irregular hours, including nights and weekends, as well as working more than eight (8) hours per day at certain times.  Candidates must successfully pass a criminal background check prior to hire.


Posted February 9, 2010    Open until filled
Title of Position: Academic Technology Professional   Position #298410
 
The Colorado Community College System is the state’s largest system of higher education, comprising 13 state community colleges, career/technical programs in more than 150 school districts, and program oversight for seven other post secondary institutions.  Each college offers a blend of core courses for the university-bound as well as career programs that meet local employers’ needs.  Our high school programs are designed to increase the number of qualified entry-level and skilled workers for the Colorado economy.  Altogether, we serve over 117,000 for-credit students per year.  The community colleges also serve secondary and continuing-ed constituents, increasing the total number of students served.
 
CCCOnline is a consortia program offering online courses for Colorado’s community college system.  The Colorado Community Colleges Online is comprised of the 13 member colleges in the Colorado Community Colleges, Dawson Community College, Northwest Missouri State University, and Pickens Tech.  We are a national model for utilizing advanced technology to deliver state-of-the-art academic and career education across the entire secondary through post-secondary continuum.

Through CCCOnline students can earn fully 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.
 
Job Summary

The Academic Technology group at CCCOnline supports the learning management system, currently Desire 2 Learn, as well as a variety of additional learning technology solutions for the community college system.  The individual in this position will support cutting-edge-technology used to deliver educational resources to the approximately 125,000 students currently enrolled in community college courses in the state of Colorado.  S/he will work in a team environment with both local and geographically distant constituents.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

The Academic Technology Professional position will:
  • Provide system administration support for Linux web servers, database servers, and a SAN arrays, including scheduled back-ups, OS and other software patches, and reviews of logs and security issues.
  •  Respond quickly to server availability alerts and troubleshoot causes.
  • Maintain the operability of the intranet for user access to various administrative processes, including course duplication; archival retrieval, designer and chair interfaces to name a few that operate by web forms with databases.
  • Provide technical support and troubleshooting for student services, the Webmaster, the designers and administration as needed concerning user access issues, web site issues, course management issues, and intranet issues.
  • Work collaboratively with other technical personnel to resolve issues affecting CCCOnline courses, intranet and other administrative operations.
  • The Online Course environment operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and as a result, will require participation of this position in rotating call-back coverage for vital services.

Applicant Qualifications Education and Experience:

Required Qualifications
  • Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor's degree in CIS, computer programming, computer science, computer operations, or equivalent field of study related to the work assignment. Two years of computer, networking or programming experience may be substituted for each year of the college degree requirement.  Therefore, combinations of college and experience can complete this requirement.
  • Minimum of two years of professional experience
  • Experience using LINUX/UNIX operating system, maintaining and troubleshooting networking servers and Apache web servers, attached storage devices, and tape libraries.
Preferred Qualifications
  • One year of experience working with a course management system or in an online business environment
  • Two years experience working with MYSQL and/or SQL databases,
  • Experience with PERL, XML, shell scripting, and PHP is highly desirable.
  • Experience troubleshooting SAN arrays and working in a VM ware or other virtual environment.
  • Experience maintaining Window 2000 server or higher is highly desirable
Unique Personal Characteristics
  • Comfortable working with groups;
  • Comfortable working in a virtual environment;
  • Enjoys a learning environment.
Salary
  • $48,000-$50,000
  • Excellent benefit package including health, dental, vision, life insurance, and retirement.
Application Process
 
Submit a current resume, list of three professional references and your three most recent supervisors, 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 to:
E-Mail: jobs@cccs.edu 

Fax:  303-620-4030


Or mail to: 

Executive Director of Human Resources

Colorado Community College System 

9101 E. Lowry Blvd.

Denver, CO 80230


Applications will be accepted until position is filled; however, resume review will begin on February 24th.   Candidates are evaluated based on their qualifications as related to the duties and responsibilities of the position.
 
Equal Opportunity Employer -The Colorado Community College System is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or disability in its activities, programs, or employment practices as required by Title VI, Title IX, and Section 504, Age Discrimination Act, and Title II of the ADA.  Former employees of the Colorado Community College System or one of its 13 colleges, who were disciplinarily terminated or resigned in lieu of termination, must disclose this within your application materials. This position may require irregular hours, including nights and weekends, as well as working more than eight (8) hours per day at certain times.  Candidates must successfully pass a criminal background check prior to hire.
***Do not reply to this message*** If you have questions about the tutoring services offered, please email donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu; if you have questions about adding the Helpful Links widget back to your course, please contact your mentor.

As a service to students, CCCOnline offers two separate tutoring services.

NetTutor is a 24/7 web-based tutoring service. NetTutor offers real-time online tutoring and homework help for core courses and skills. NetTutor is not an answering or proofreading/editing service. Students can access live tutorials in writing across many subjects, including math, accounting, business, statistics and economics, science, world languages, English, and social sciences. In addition, students can submit writing projects to the NetTutor Paper Center. While free for students, NetTutor is NOT free to CCCOnline, so please do not send students to this service as an assignment or requirement for your courses.

Previously students had to register to obtain access to NetTutor. Students now access NetTutor by clicking the appropriate link in the Helpful Links widget in a D2L course shell. . .so we HOPE you haven’t removed that widget.

If you removed the Helpful Links widget from your course, use the following steps or visit https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Homepages_and_Navigation#How_do_I_Add_a_Widget_to_the_Course_Homepage.3F for help adding it back:
  1. Click on Edit Course on the Course Navigation BarClick on Homepages
  2. Select the active homepage
  3. Click on the Content/layout tab
  4. Scroll down to Add widget on the left hand column
  5. Add the Helpful Links Widget
  6. Move it up with the drop down arrow to right below the instructor widget

For Home page design standards, go to the CCCOnline Community under Instructional Design.

In addition to NetTutor, CCCOnline provides free access to a computer-based grammar checker called SentenceWorks. This is a great tool for writing assignments, so encourage your students to check it out! Note that your students MUST use their CCCS system email accounts in order to use this service.

The student wiki has information for students about both of these applications. See http://students.ccconline.org/index.php?title=NetTutor.

Training Registration in the Faculty Gateway and D2L Tip!

You can now register for training through the Faculty Gateway when you select the Training Registration link at the right of the window. Currently, we are taking registration for:


-Managing Discussions from March 1-March 12- Designed for faculty new to online teaching and required in the first year after hire at CCCOnline, but also a great review of QA requirements and discussion basics.
-D2L Essentials from March 15-26- Are you struggling in D2L and need some more hands on practice? This is a self contained workshop reviewing the basic skills that are presented in D2L Essentials in the CCCOnline Community.
-Managing Discussions from April 12-23


Speaking of Discussions, here's instructions on Grading Discussions in D2L.
1. Go to the Discussions tool
2. From the Forums & Topics list, select the Ruler next to the discussion you want to grade
3. Select the Assessments tab
4. Click the student’s name in the list

5. Post the student's grade in the Topic Score dialog window

6. Be sure to click the “graded” check box
7. Click Save
8. Click Close to close the dialog window which will allow to grade the next student's discussion


For more discussion tips visit the wiki or join us on Friday Feb 12 from 1-3 for our D2L webinar. Log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ We will record the first hour on reviewing the Discussion tool in D2L and the second hour will be open for questions.



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

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Master Teacher Blogs

Have you ever wondered what your fellow faculty are doing at any point in time during the semester?  What do they do when a student has technical difficulties?  How about when a student is a little challenging in class?  I'm sure there are many situations facing you that your fellow faculty also see.

This semester we've asked several faculty to blog about their class experiences throughout the semester.  We've also asked one of the program chairs, who teaches as well, to tell you a little about her classroom life. To access the blogs log into the Faculty Community shell, click on Content, and then on Master Teacher Blogs (under Academic Programs).  Remember you are a student in the Community shell, so you have to click the student tab.

This semester's bloggers are (in no particular order):
  • Al Turner, 2008/2009 Teacher of the Year, Political Science
  • Dan Branan, Chemistry
  • Lorrie Immoor, Physical Geology
  • Jennifer Harr, Health Sciences
  • Vanessa Dahn, Psychology
  • Nate Wadman, Information Technology
  • Phyllis Dobson, Education Program Chair and Information Technology Instructor
We plan to make this an ongoing program with new bloggers each semester.  I hope you find someone in this group that strikes a chord for you!  


best,


Lisa Cheney-Steen
Co-Exec. Director, CCCOnline

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

D2L Grades Tip

I hope week two of the Spring semester is off to a smooth start for you.

As part of your course readiness checklist you ran the Gradebook Wizard, but I would like to point out one additional place you need to check to make sure your grades appear in the Enter Grades screen.

1. Click on Grades on the Course Navigation Bar
2. Click on Grade Settings
3. To the Right of Grade Details make sure a check mark is in the Points Grade Box.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

D2L Webinar-Homepage and Navigation

Nearly one week of classes in D2L is under our belt and you probably have some questions. Join us this Friday January 29th from 1-3. We will cover the homepage, course navigation bar, html editor, instructor widget and more. Following the training portion which will be recorded, we will have an open Question and Answer session.

No RSVP required...Join us for these live sessions at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ . Instructions are located on the wiki.

Monday, January 25, 2010

We are here to help!

We will hold a D2L Tool webinar every other Friday from 1-3pm. The first part of each webinar will focus on a tool and be recorded. The second part of each webinar will be a D2L Questions and Answers session. No RSVP required...Join us for these live sessions at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ . Instructions are located on the wiki.

Friday January 29th 1-3pm Homepage, Navigation, and Instructor Widget and Q&A
Friday February 12th 1-3pm Discussion tool and Q&A
Friday February 26th 1-3pm Dropbox Tool and Q&A
Friday March 12 1-3 Quizzes tool and Q&A
Friday March 26th 1-3pm Grades Tool and Q&A

Finally tips for D2L email:
-Create a Signature
-If you find sending email confusing or you are accidentally emailing people not in your class, Send class emails to the whole class or individuals using the Classlist tool instead.
-Include in your email subject line the name of your course
-Create folders to help organize your email messages.
Check out the wiki page on using the D2L Email tool for tutorials and other information.

If you have any questions, please email me directly at karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

Friday, January 22, 2010

Spring Session1 Rosters Available

You can now view your Spring Session 1 class roster.

Please go to the Faculty Gateway here,

https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/login.php

Login using your S# and Password.

Please note that while you will be able to see your courser roster from the faculty gateway, students will not be loaded into your course shells until after midnight tonight (Friday, January 22). This change in process is due to a difference in the way D2L loads files.

Please contact myself or Frank Vazquez, frank.vazquez@cccs.edu, if you have any trouble accessing your roster.

Thanks!
John

Course Rosters and D2L

****Do Not Reply to This Message****
If you have questions, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu
You sill all receive an email from student services this afternoon when course rosters are ready. HOWEVER, please note that while you will be able to see your courser roster from the faculty gateway, students will not be loaded into your course shells until after midnight tonight (Friday, January 22). This change in process is due to a difference in the way D2L loads files. We want you to be aware of this change so you don't panic when students don't appear in your courses this afternoon like they used to in Vista. Thanks!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Many of us are stressed about forgetting something when we are updating our spring classes in D2L for the first time. For a check list visit our new wiki.

We have 3 new things we have to remember in each section.
1. Reset your homepage- Make sure your instructor widget appears on the top left.
2. Clean up your Course Navigation bar- Tools to make inactive might include Competencies, Rubrics, Self-Assessments, and Glossary.
3. Run the Grades Wizard

If you didn’t get a chance to join us for the Course Readiness Webinar last Friday, I walk through these three items first. Check it out at https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Webinar_Archive
If you have specific questions about this or any other topic, please contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu rather responding to this post.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Oh no! There's no content in my course!

****Do Not Reply to This Message****
If you have questions about this message, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu

The beginning of the term is quickly approaching, and you've been watching your list of courses on D2L to see when you'll get your course shell. You log in and there it is! You're ready to begin working and open the course, only to find that there's no content. You get ready to email everyone you can think of. STOP!

If you haven't received the confirmation email from CCCOnline's Academic Technologies staff indicating that the course has been duped, it's not ready for you yet! The process in D2L requires that the course shell be created first, then content is added later. Usually these two tasks occur at about the same time, but sometimes there may be a delay.

So, before you panic and email David Chatham, your mentor, or someone else, check to see if you have received the confirmation email. If you don't receive that confirmation within a day or so of seeing the course listed, then contact your program chair to find out if the course really HAS been duped and there's a problem with the content. Chances are there's no problem--the process just isn't finished yet.

****Do Not Reply to This Message****
If you have questions about this message, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu

Last minute Course Readiness and D2L Q&A Webinar Today!


Tuesday January 19th from 1-3pm, Join Lisa Marie Johnson and I to ask your last minute spring Course Readiness and D2L questions. This webinar will have a relaxed format with no formal presentation, will not be recorded, and you can come and go as you please. Log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ and contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu with your questions.
This is my daughter, Emily, and my horse, Taken, meditating together or doing a Vulcan mind meld. Either way, I think I have a thing or two to learn from them.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Assumptions You Shouldn't Make About Online Students

******Do not reply to this message******
If you have comments or questions regarding this article excerpt, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu
The following tips from the newest edition of Faculty Focus remind us, I think, to check our sometimes erroneous assumptions about online students. "What do you mean, I need a computer to take an online class?" seems like an unrealistic question, but it comes up more often than you might realize! You may already address some of these issues in your courses, and emails from student services as well as documents loaded into every CCCOnline course also address some of them, but take a quick look and give some thought to any changes you/we might be able to make to get students over these hurdles.
From the January 18, 2010 issue of Faculty Focus:
Here are some easy-to-implement best practices for kicking off your online courses:
1. Don’t assume students understand the workings of an online course. Offer them tips for online learners that include knowledge of traditional versus online learning, Web etiquette, helpful links, and where to go for help. Also include suggested study tips for online learners. Remind students that even though they are at home when they log on to complete their class work, they still need to find an environment free from distractions where they can turn off the cell phone and the iPod, have someone else watch the kids, and really focus on their class work.
2. Don’t assume students have the minimum equipment and/or skill requirements needed to be successful in an online course. Be sure to make the minimum equipment requirements readily available to students prior to the official start date. In addition to whatever postings your institution might offer, a personal email to all students enrolled is a great idea. If your institution doesn’t test students for minimum computer skills, be sure those enrolled understand the basic computer skills needed. All too many students who sign up for Web courses can’t save a file to CD or change a font to boldface.
3. Don’t assume students know how to behave in a Web course. Require them to sign a behavior and ethics contract. Said contract should outline the acceptable code of conduct for the course. With the immediacy of email, students often fire off messages without thinking about the ramifications of tone or word choice. Students routinely use email and texting for their daily communication with each other and they may not realize that what works with peers may not be appropriate in an academic setting. Explain such concepts as flaming, using all caps, and interpersonal communication (inappropriate tone) via the Web.
4. Don’t assume students know the more important rules and regulations in the syllabus. How many times do students receive a detailed syllabus only to come back and ask an obvious question? Again, give them a short syllabus quiz and require that they score 100 percent before they continue in the course. Four or five questions are plenty.
******Do not reply to this message******
If you have comments or questions regarding this article excerpt, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Face to Face Open Lab on Monday!

Monday Jan 18th 10am -2pm Join us for a Face to face Open Lab at Lowry in Bldg 758 in rooms 138/140. No RSVP is required. No lunch is provided so bring your own snacks and drinks.

This is a drop in session with Training and Professional Development there to help answer your D2L questions, particularly those related to course readiness for the spring semester. You are not required to arrive at 10 or stay the whole time, but the room reservation ends at 2pm and we will not be able to use the lab after that. A map of the Lowry Campus can be found at http://www.ccaurora.edu/start/maps/lowrymaps.shtml
If you have any questions, contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@comcast.net

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Time to Get your D2L Courses Ready for Spring!

To support your efforts at getting courses ready for spring . . .

Tomorrow Friday Jan 15 1-3pm Course Readiness Webinar-Review through the Course Readiness Checklist specifically the new items related to D2L. No registration is required and you may log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ If you have problems or need to review instructions about Elluminate before the Webinar visit https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Upcoming_Webinars

Monday Jan 18th 10am -2pm Join us for a Face to face Open Lab at Lowry in Bldg 758 in rooms 138/140. No lunch is provided so bring snacks. This is a drop in session with Training and Professional Development there to help answer your D2L questions. You are not required to arrive at 10 or stay the whole time, but the room reservation ends at 2pm and we will not be able to use the lab after that. A map of the Lowry Campus can be found at http://www.ccaurora.edu/start/maps/lowrymaps.shtml

Tuesday Jan 19th 1-3pm D2L Q&A Webinar No registration required to this open format webinar designed for your last minute questions as you prepare courses for spring. Log in at http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ If you have problems or need to review instructions about Elluminate before the Webinar visit https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Upcoming_Webinars

If you have any questions about these trainings, contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@comcast.net

Monday, January 11, 2010

D2L: Course Readiness D2L New Tasks

Getting your course/s ready for spring?

There are three additional preparation items you must do for each course you teach this spring.
1. Run the Grades Wizard For instructions visit this wiki page https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Grades
2. Remove tools from your course navigation bar that you do not use in the course. Do not remove the Question Library or other tools that do not appear on the tool bar. For instructions visit the tutorials on this wiki page. https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Homepages_and_Navigation
3. Reset your Homepage. During duping the homepage reverts back to the default and is missing your instructor widget ect that you worked on last fall. By resetting it to the homepage your created in your master these will return. For instructions visit the tutorials on this page https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Homepages_and_Navigation

Don’t forget you can ask your mentors for help with these tasks. And we are having a recorded Course Readiness webinar this Friday from 1-3 http://elm.elluminate.com/FRONTRANGE/ that will cover these three tasks. Please contact me directly at Karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu with your questions.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Services for Kurt Reed

Kurt Reed, part of our Academic Technologies staff and the gentleman responsible for getting all our course dupes done so efficiently, passed away over the holiday break. Services will be held tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. at Littleton Methodist Church. There will be an open mic time to express remembrances. There will not be a graveside service.

Littleton United Methodist Church
www.littletonumc.org5894 South Datura StreetLittleton, CO 80120-2112(303) 794-6379

If you have questions, please email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu

Passwords

Hi Everyone-

As part of our contribution to the New Year's excitement, we are changing the way we authenticate users. Because of this you may find that your current password no longer gets you into D2L.
The bottom line: If your password no longer gets you into D2L use the change password link on the D2L login page to change your password. The new password will take effect immediately, no waiting. Remember that the 24/7 help desk is available if you need some assistance late at night. (http://help.cccs.edu/)

Why: All of the colleges are gradually turning on portals. Once a college has the portal available they have single sign on to D2L and a variety of other products. They also have instant password changes - no waiting a couple of hours for the batch upload to occur. That is really great and something we have wanted for a long time. The challenge from our perspective is that the portals at the colleges are being turned on over a two semester time period, so we have some students and faculty in the portal and some who are not.

CCCOnline will also have a portal that we will use to consolidate the location of most of the information you need into one location. We hope to be up and running with that in March.


How authentication worked in the past: We all used the 6 digit SSB password. CCCOnline uploads those to D2L and Vista every 2 to 4 hours. That meant that your SSB password and your D2L password were kept in synch, but if you teach for a school already using the portal, that password is different. Because more and more information is gradually being placed in the portal (such as payroll information) logging in twice with separate credentials is a hassle.

How authentication works now:
LDAP is a new password database. D2L and the portals are both authenticating against that database. If you work at a school that has turned on LDAP authentication (such as CCCOnline) then D2L will look at the LDAP database to make sure you have the correct password. If you changed your portal password from your SSB password to something else then you will now have the new password in D2L also.

Back to the bottom line: If your password doesn't work just follow the link on the D2L login page to change it.


Lisa Cheney-Steen

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

January Training Opportunities and D2L Tip

Here are the following dates we have set up to help support you as you prepare your classes in D2L for spring 1.
  • Jan 15 1-3pm Course Readiness Webinar. Review the readiness checklist and review skills to prepare your course for spring.
  • Jan 18th 10am -2pm Face to face Open Lab at Lowry to help you prepare your courses for spring in D2L and get basic D2L help
  • Jan 19th 1-3pm D2L Q&A webinar. Come with your last minute D2L questions before the spirng semester starts.


Also, remember if you need help any time during the spring semester, you should still contact your department’s D2L Mentor.


D2L Instructor Widget Tip
As you prepare your courses for spring, you may also need to edit your instructor widget for your course. There is a tutorial on the wiki at https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Tech_Tools_-_D2L_-_Homepages_and_Navigation
Remember before you add an image to your Instructor Widget, resize it to 100x100 pixels. One free web resource to do that is picnik.com.

Happy New Year! Please contact me directly with your questions at karen.kaemmerling@cccs.edu

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Course Duplication, Verification, and Approval

Happy new year, everyone! As we get closer to spring term in our NEW learning management system, our AT staff is busy duplicating courses. If you are scheduled to teach a course in the Spring I term, you will receive an email when your course has been duplicated. In that email you will find a link to the faculty gateway and a reminder to verify, within 72 hours, that the content in your course is correct.

This is an especially important step in light of our move to D2L, so please do a thorough check of your duped course and then go to the gateway to verify the content.

As you prepare your course for the new term, use the Course Readiness Checklist found on the faculty wiki (https://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Policies_%26_Procedures_-_Faculty_Handbook_-_Teaching_for_CCCOnline_-_Faculty_Role_in_Course_Development_and_Maintenance_-_Course_Readiness_Checklist) to be sure that your course is ready for the first day of class. Remember from your training that there are a few new things you must do in D2L that we did not do in Blackboard to get courses ready. When you are finished, go back into the faculty gateway to indicate that your course is ready.

At that point, QA staff will begin to do first day checks and will notify your program chair and me of any issues. All courses must be ready by 8:00 a.m. on January 21.

If you have questions about this process, please do not reply to this email. Instead, email me directly at donna.welschmeyer@cccs.edu. Thanks!