Monday, November 29, 2010

A/V in Bb Classes

Consider adding more audio and video components to your Bb class. It's easy to do and all that's needed is an inexpensive webcam. I recommend the Logitech 9000. It sells for only $50 and is compatible with both PCs and Macs.  If there is not one attached to the work station you use on campus, talk to your office manager about having one installed there.  You can also find webcams installed in the Distance Learning Office (Leestown, A-136) or Connie Rine's faculty instruction lab (Cooper, MB 130B).

There are two easy ways to add content.  For audio only, use the "Add Mashup" button.  It appears in the menu heading of most text boxes such as Announcements, Discussion Forums and Blackboard Messages.  Here's a screenshot of the "add mashup" button and selection of "Wimba Voice Authoring":

Follow the directions to record your voice.

YouTube now allows users to record audio and video directly from the Webcam connected to a computer.  You'll need a YouTube account, which is, of course, free.  From the YouTube homepage, click "Upload."  Then click the "Record from webcam" link:


Then start recording.  You'll need to share that YouTube link with your class--and that's easily done using the add mashup button shown above.

Adding audio and video is an easy way to personalize yourself with your students.

Questions?  Need help?  Contact the Distance Learning Office.

Bb 24/7 Feedback

Have feedback on Blackboard's 24/7 Technical Help Desk?  Please send it to elearningservices@kctcs.edu with the subject heading "Presidium Feedback."  If you have the ticket number, please include it.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Bb 9.1 Service Pack 2 vs. Service Pack 3

Paige Brooks-Jeffiers, the KCTCS eLearning Technology Coordinator writes:  "Peer Team – attached is the 9.1 Service Pack 2 vs. Service Pack 3 updates. I’ve highlighted some of the issues that we have seen and requested to be corrected. Please know that some of these issues we currently do not have because individual patches have been applied.Service Pack 2 is currently installed on our test system (http://etest.centertech.com). You can all login to this server. We will install service pack 3 as soon as it is released (eta: end of November)."

The Distance Learning Advisor Committee is taking this up.  Join in the discussion in our Bb eCommunity.  You'll also find the a copy of the attachment there, too.  Not a member of BCTC_Distance_Learning?  Search for it in the Bb eCommunity tab and join.  Don't know how to do that?  Ask Ben.

Distance Learning Advisory Committee

The Distance Learning Adisory Committee is a standing college committee charged with providing guidance an all things related to distance learning.  Have a concern about online learning at the college? You can always bring it to Ben, but you can also share it with a DLAC member and have your concern put on our agenda.  DLAC meets monthly during the Fall and Spring semesters.

DLAC Members, 2010-2011

KCTCS Peer Team Initiatives

The KCTCS Distance Learning Peer Team is looking at a number of initiatives to improve online instruction.  Ben sent out an email from Sandy Cook on November 22 which provides additional information about these initiatives.  What are your thoughts?  Please, let me hear your comments.

Can't open these files?  Go to the email Ben sent out on 11/22 OR just send Ben an email asking for the file(s) you need

Online Science Labs

There certainly is a need for online science labs--and many AA/AS students run into difficulty finishing up their degrees. At the same time, there are good, academic reasons to be wary about putting a lab experience online. Listed below is info about software others in the system are using. Your thoughts about this?

From Sandy Cook--

Late Nite Labs is excited to partner with KCTCS in bringing cutting edge online course offerings. As we mentioned, we are pleased to offer a group discount rate for all 16 colleges in KCTCS. The following is a breakdown of our price points and discounts we can give you based upon student enrollment per semester across our chemistry and biology platforms.

For 250 students we can offer you a discount price $36.95 (a 7% savings)
For 500 students we can offer you a discount price $34.95 (a 12% savings)
For 1000 students we can offer you a discount price $31.95 (a 20% savings)

For more info please visit www.latenitelabs.com
To login and try out some of our labs please follow the instructions below.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday, November 19, 2010

How to Subscribe to this Blog

There are a couple ways to subscribe to this blog--and I recommend that you do so. Perhaps the easiest way is to click the "FOLLOW" button located on the right side of the screen.  Note: this means that you must have a GoogleID and you will be alerted to updates via your Gmail account.

You can also subscribe via a RSS feed--this allows you to check for new postings in Outlook.  My thanks to Steve Stone, who sent me these directions for subscribing via RSS.

Exemplary Course Program

eLearning Services is looking to recognize great courses our faculty have developed at each college. Consider submitting your course to elearningservices@kctcs.edu. Sara Porter and Paige Brooks-Jeffiers will review the course based on Blackboard’s Exemplary Course rubric , provide feedback to the instructor and help submit courses to the program.

Submit to Blackboard by January 18, 2011.  Courses selected to be submitted to the Program will be showcased at New Horizons 2011 in the Blackboard Room.  Blackboard will notify the winners in early April and recognize them at BbWorld2011 in Las Vegas, NV.

To learn more about the 2011 Exemplary Course Program visit http://www.blackboard.com/ecp where you will find information on how to:

Browser Checker

KCTCS eLearning has added a Browser Checker to Blackboard. The checker tests for specific requirements needed for Blackboard. This will be a great tool for faculty and students to make sure their browser preference is suitable for Blackboard.

Take a look and give it a try! The Browser Checker can be found on the Help Tab or on the main portal page (this module may need to be turned on for your account).

Exemplary Course Program

eLearning Services is looking to recognize great courses our faculty have developed at each college. Please encourage faculty to submit their course(s) to elearningservices@kctcs.edu. Sara Porter and Paige Brooks-Jeffiers will review the course based on Blackboard’s Exemplary Course rubric, provide feedback to the instructor and help submit courses to the program.

We do need a quick turn around on submissions as they have to be submitted to Blackboard by January 18, 2011.

Benefits for participating in the Blackboard Exemplary Program include:

Learn course design best practices to improve the engagement, collaboration, assessment and learner support within your own courses
Develop a fresh perspective by seeing how other instructors and designers from your discipline or area of interest are developing their courses
Apply lessons learned from the Exemplary Course Rubric to your own courses or those you are helping to develop
Receive detailed feedback on your own course development on the best practices you are employing or areas in which it can be improved
Gain professional development experience and recognition for your accomplishments and participation in the program

Courses selected to be submitted to the Program will be showcased at New Horizons 2011 in the Blackboard Room.

Blackboard will notify the winners in early April and recognize them at BbWorld2011 in Las Vegas, NV.

To learn more about the 2011 Exemplary Course Program visit http://www.blackboard.com/ecp where you will find information on how to:

Volunteer to be a reviewer
Download the Exemplary Course Rubric and Submit a Course for consideration
Explore best practices and past winning courses
Learn about how to participate in the 2011 Exemplary Course Program

Thanks for encouraging faculty to submit their courses.

Online Withdrawal Process

The topic of student withdrawal from online classes was the subject of a recent KCTCS Distance Learning Peer Team meeting.  Here's the crux of the problem: the Home College is responsible for all student support needs, including adding and dropping students.  How do staff responsible for processing student withdrawals honor the withdrawal policies of the Delivering College?  Current practice is that students receive permission from an instructor and then forward that permission to the Home College.  There are some (limited) reports about falsification of instructor email.  But the bigger problem is that staff don't know if of when in the semester to check for that permission.  Consider this: at BCTC, we require Instructor permission after midterm.  Not all KCTCS colleges have the same policy nor do all colleges have the same midterm.

Some instructors have wondered why the Delivering College to process withdrawal.  There are a lot of problems with this centered around student information and other processes that must be handled by the Home College.  Financial Aid and lifting Financial Aid Holds are some of the reasons that I have seen mentioned.

So what are your thoughts on how best to resolve this?  Here are some of mine:
  • Create a shared document that to which Registrar's Offices have access.  Allow each college to edit their college's policies and deadlines for late registration.
  • Have faculty put their withdrawal requirements on their syllabus and require students to copy the syllabus along with their withdrawal request.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Course Template for WWW Classes

One idea floating around is the creation of a common Bb course template for the WWW classes.  The goal is to provide students from across KCTCS with common nomenclature and a standard organization of the navigation buttons in their Blackboard.  See below an example of such a template, which is currently being used in a pilot project at Hazard CTC.  When I first heard about this initiative, I was concerned about a practice that might undermine the flexibility that faculty currently have in tailoring Bb course shells to meet the needs of their students.  I have since learned that, if adopted, faculty will still have the opportunity to customize their course shells.  For example, CIT, IMD, and math faculty might want to add a navigation button to Pearson MyLab resource.  Writing faculty might want to create a separate folder of Writing Resources.  That’s all possible.  The shells will also come with some helpful preloaded content for faculty and students that gives directions who to contact from other campuses, to student services, email, how-to videos in Peoplesoft, and more. 

Welcome!

Welcome to the BCTC Distance Learning Blog! I created this as a forum for sharing with faculty and staff what' happening with online learning at Bluegrass Community and Technical College. All posts to this blog allow for comments. I encourage you to leave feedback. I also encourage you to subscribe to the Blog. This way you will get announcements about distance learning information in your email.