Fall Semester Debrief
Now that all my classes have wrapped up I’ve been thinking just how much things have changed in education over the past 10 years. First off I’m still absolutely amazed at how distance learning has evolved over the past 20 years. The tools and technology we as educators have at our disposal now have truly changed the nature of education at all grade levels. What has not changed fast enough (in my opinion) unfortunately is the mindsets of many teachers, professors and administrators when it comes to distance learning.
It seems the technology is out pacing many educational institutions and teachers at all levels. I believe e-learning is only going to 
continue growing and the demand for dynamic, engaging and sophisticated online courses is growing rapidly as well. We are seeing this at Community Colleges across North Carolina. In fact…online courses grew 38% this past year for the Community College System and the demand for traditional seated courses was down 1.8%. Unfortunately there hasn’t been enough aggressive / in-depth professional development for faculty to help them transition from the classroom environment to the online environment. I want e-learning to grow and prosper, yet I don’t want to see students disappointed because their online classes were not the very best they could be – I also hate seeing faculty frustrated by their lack of understanding of online teaching methodology and the various technological tools at their disposal. It seems that many excellent classroom teachers struggle with the technology itself and it gets in the way or acts as a barrier between them and their students instead of helping them deliver their course content in a engaging, seamless and interactive way.
There’s no doubt the more you teach online, the more you experiment (and practice) with the various communication tools at your disposal the better and more comfortable you get as an online instructor. There really isn’t any magic bullet. The first step (in my opinion) with 12 years under my belt is keeping an open mind and be willing to “let go” of the way you used to do it in the classroom, because the sage on the stage approach isn’t conducive for the online teaching environment. Educators have to let their online teaching style (pedagogy) evolve one semester at a time. Identify what works for you and what doesn’t and then retool your course and methodology based on past mistakes, student feedback and personal insights.
I absolutely love teaching my art and photography courses online and am always exploring new and creative ways to deliver my course material. There is so much “open source” rich media instructional content (like YouTube and ITunes U) out there that you can incorporate video, podcasts, screencasts, sreenshots and animated simulations to your courses. I personally love the challenge of teaching a concept and/or photographic/imaging technique online. Even though I’ve been doing e-learning for over 12 years I’m still fine tuning my teaching techniques and constantly exploring and investigating new and creative ways to make more courses dynamic, interesting and intellectually engaging. We as e-learning educators can never be complacent when teaching online because Course Management Systems like Blackboard and Moodle are constantly being upgraded which forces the online instructor to rethink how he/she is delivering instructional content.
Fall semester is over and Christmas is around the corner. I’ll spend some time tweaking my online courses in preparation for the Spring semester. I love a challenge and online teaching provides me with an opportunity to channel my creativity and love for art and photography via the internet from me to my students. When it comes right down to it – it’s all about the students and offering them creative and viable options and opportunities for earning their education.
I also like the fact that I can teach from anywhere in the world as long as I have an internet / wireless connection. You gotta love technology. I sure do!
NC3ADL Eastern Regional Workshop Resources
The Distance Learning Department of Carteret Community College hosted the NC3ADL Regional Workshops this past Friday, November 6th in the Wayne West Building.
Eastern & Western Regional Workshops were from all reports so far – a BIG SUCCESS!! Almost all the feedback was very positive except that some attendees did request that next time we do more “hands-on” training. Eastern Regional had 35 attendees (including presenters), with representatives from 8 Community Colleges and 1 person from the NCCCS (Jonathon Sweetin). The BBQ cooked by our Culinary Department was also a big hit.
Powerpoint Presentations are linked below. Just Click and Download
Best Practices for for Online Online Teaching
Blogging for Beginners & Using iTunes and YouTube in Your Online Courses
NCLOR Blog with handouts and Resources about the LOR
Photo Education Conference in Atlanta Debrief
I always get inspired when I go to these photographic conferences. It’s great hearing so many wonderful image makers talk about and share their work. I also enjoy seeing old friends and colleagues like my ECU Graduate School Professor Henry Stindt (photo below right) and so many other photo educators I’ve had the pleasure to meet over the years. It’s hard to believe I’ve been attending these conferences since 1985 and it was SPE that helped me land my first “real” teaching job. I’m motivated to go out a take pictures every chance I have in-between work and the various other demands on my time. My students got a lot out of the conference as well. I had them share their thoughts in class yesterday with the other students. Now the entire class wants to start planning for SPE National in Philadelphia this coming March.
One of the key themes behind this conference was making the transition from the college environement to the working world. Speakers like Mark Malone addressed exit strategies for transitioning from college to a photographic career. We just don’t spend enough time on this important issue in our photo programs. I for one plan on incorporating more business and marketing practices in my final Portfolio II course.
There is no doubt that the photographic industry has changed dramatically in the past 10 years and is in a constant state of change due to the rapid evolution of digital technology. Keeping abreast of technology is an important factor in preparing oneself for a career in photography & imaging.
It was also great to hear recent graduates talk about how they’ve pursued their photo careers. I heard it over and over again during the conference. You can’t be a quitter in this industry and you MUST be persistent when it comes to exploring ever option for getting a foothold in the photographic industry. When one door closes you just go to the next one. You get knocked down just get back up and explore your next option. This is great advise for all of us no matter where we are in our careers.
I must admit it was also exiting to be one of the presenters at this years conference. Teaching effectively in the online environment is so crucial now that so many colleges are adopting distance learning and using course management systems like Blackboard and Moodle at their institutions. It was also the first time I did a live Webinar at the same time of my presentation. To think I had people from Italy, Holland, and various states on the US watching my presentation and asking questions is mind boggling to me in addition to the 100+ who attended my talk. This is something I definitely want to do again and get more proficient at.
My colleague Cathy Crowell and I were able to attend this conference thanks to a Title III professional development grant. We always come away great ideas and techniques to incorporate into our teaching and online courses.
Hit the Ground Running!
We are now 3 weeks into the Fall semester and the Distance Learning Team in working on a variety of professional development initiatives, in addition to making sure all online courses at CCC are meeting the Quality Assurance Standards we established last year. We have cross referenced a sampling of our online courses and I must report it is good to see how all the Blackboard training has paid off and so many of our faculty are implementing more creative and innovative instructional design strategies. Our Title III funding and support has played such an integral part in the progress we’ve made over the past 3 years.
Our fourth DL Pioneer team has been selected and we had our kick-off meeting last Friday. We have an excellent team made up of both faculty and staff and they’ve all made commitments to retool and upgrade their online courses, attend professional development activities in their disciplines and essentially take their knowledge of online learning and distance education to a higher level in the next year all made possible by Title III funds. Our staff members on this team will be exploring and implementing new and creative ways (blogging, Youtube, facebook, twitter) to work with our student in the online environment
As Vice President of the NC3ADL Eastern Region I’m also in the process of coordinating a Regional DL mini-conference/workshop for Friday, November 6th here at CCC. Due to travel restraints across the state it looks like there will be no NC3ADL conference this year so we are doing a series of regional conferences. NC3ADL will pay for lunch and I’m going to look to our DL Pioneers from Phase 1-3 to assist with it and have phase 4 attend. The following is a rough outline for that regional conference/workshop.
Big Picture – TWO Tracks (I am reserving 2 computer labs) November 6, 2009 9:00 – 4:00
2 tracks in the morning 9:30 – 10:30 and 10:45 – 11:45
Lunch 12:00 – 12:45
2 tracks after lunch
1-2 and 2-3 (Optional Track 3-4 on Dl Assessment)
1. Moodle Basics
2. Podcasting for the Technically Challenged
3. Best Practices for Online Teaching
4. Learning Object Repository
5. Social Networking as a Teaching/Learning/ Marketing Tool
6. Blogging for Beginners
7. Incorporating Itunes U and You Tube in your online courses.
8. DL Assessment with Don Staub
My constant goal is to make our online classes every bit as viable, interesting and dynamic as our traditional classroom lectures and labs. Thankfully there are a host of new and powerful communications tools that are making it easier and less time consuming for our faculty to do this. Carteret Community College has a Title III grant resources to help us implement our various professional development initiatives and put these tools in the hands of our faculty so they can take their online teaching to a whole new level of technical and pedagogical excellence.
Fall Semester is Upon Us
It has been a busy summer semester for our DL team at CCC. We conducted a variety of workshops (Moodle training for example) in order to get our faculty prepared for to teach online in the fall, in addition to all the one-on-one training Pre-Ah has done the past few months.
Title III sponsored another well attended Blackboard Boot Camp training workshop on Friday, July 31st in the Wayne West Computer Lab. We had 18 faculty and staff from across the college attend and 2 graduate students from East Carolina University who requested the training without compensation.
The T3 sponsored Blackboard Boot Camp has been a very successful and benificial training program for Carteret Community College. It has prepared and certified all (100+) its online faculty including adjuncts to teach effectively in the online environment.
This is comprehensive “hands-on” professional development that has been supported (funded) by Title III for over 2 years.
East Carolina University Graduate student and photography adjunct instructor Adam Jacono stated that he wished East Carolina University had a certification program for online teachers like our Blackboard Boot Camp.
The Boot Camp is also a catalyst (springboard) for our “one- on-one” training that Instructional Technologist Pre-Ah Hil schedules after new instructors receive their initial training. She assists them with all aspects of course design, retooling and rich media production. Pre-Ah continues to go above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to supporting distance learning at CCC.
Title III support has been extremely valuable to Carteret Community College and its distance learning initiatives. Pre-Ah Hill and I are looking forward to working with faculty throughout the coming school year and offering distance learning training on a regular basis. We also plan on conducting a series of Effective Online Learning workshops for our students in the next month.
Here’s to a great and productive semester at CCC!
Noel-Levitz Conference Debrief
Journal Entry from July 24th 
Sitting in my hotel room with my bags packed and ready to head back to North Carolina, I have a few minutes to digest the varied issues that were addressed at this Noel-Levitz conference that dramatically impact educational institutions from every state in the country.
The number one issue is the economic downturn and how it’s impacting educational institutions throughout America. I walk away from the conference more positive about this challenge than negative because of the way conference presenter’s framed it and turned it around to be an opportunity for positive change and growth rather than an insurmountable hurdle.
I also feel good about the presentation Title III Project Director Don Staub and I gave the first morning of the conference. We had very positive feedback and participation from our audience. Sharing the strides we’ve made at Carteret Community College made me realize that our efforts are paying off and the grant has been a catalyst for changing the culture of the college for the better when it comes to technology, distance learning, outcomes and assessment of all we do.
Considering I was out of my element at a conference that concerned marketing
and retention rather than distance learning, I was pleasantly surprised at the excellent quality of the presentations and how I learned no matter what area of education your in, whether that be faculty, staff and/or administration we are all facing the same challenges and grappling with rapidly changing instructional delivery technologies and student demographics that no longer fit the mold we as educators created decades ago.
One thing is certain. We can no longer conduct business the same way with the same outdated models. We have to be willing to completely and totally rethink how we offer our instructional services to our students. These are students that are very VERY different than the students that attended our colleges 10, 15, 20 years ago. They communicate differently, socialize differently, learn differently and think about their education and careers very differently, and this reality in itself demands that we rethink how we serve and teach them.
I for one am excited about the challenges ahead, however as I consider some strategies for overcoming these hurdles I think about the bureaucratic road blocks and archaic mindsets we must break through in order to seriously compete and grow in this ever changing, dynamic global economy, where students shop for the best services and colleges online and no longer have to attend the institution in their geographical region thanks to online education. That seems to be one of our biggest challenges as educational institutions. To change the culture and attitudes about education and how we conduct business – because it is no longer business as usual.
Many colleges still use the outdated and archaic industrial revolution model to teach their students. This approach for the most part is no longer viable and one of the first things we must take a good hard look at when rethinking how we operate and deliver instruction. We should also take a hard look at the nine to five, Monday – Friday work week. Is this still viable? I walk away from this conference realizing that absolutely everything we do should be on the table for reevaluation. There should be no sacred cows during this process of self examination.
We have an excellent opportunity to rethink how we operate, streamline, and begin retooling all aspects of our college services and instructional modalities. Unfortunately instructional technologies (and our students) are changing at a must faster rate than we can change so their must be a sense of urgency about our ability to compete and remain viable in this dynamically digital and wired world we find ourselves in.
We should be soul searching and asking ourselves some questions. How are we communicating to our students? How are we marketing to them? How are we delivering our services to them? Do we go to them or expect them to come to us. Is our web site visually dynamic and interactive? Are we exploring the potential of social networks as a way to be more proactive in meeting our students needs? There are many questions to ask and we may not have all the answers and solutions right away, BUT if we don’t start seriously asking these questions at our institutions we are going to (in the not to distant future) find ourselves losing touch with the very market that sustains us.
Title III Presentation for Noel Levitz
These are the talking points for our T3 presentation in San Antonio, Texas.
Moodle Training Initiative at CCC
The Distance Learning Team with the assistance of James Minor, CCC English Adjunct Instructor conducted its 2nd Moodle training (train the trainer) workshop this past Friday from 9-12.
Carteret Community College now has 12 faculty members who have attended the Moodle training and are now in the process of migrating one of their courses from Blackboard to Moodle. 14 Moodle courses are now in the process of being created (migrated from CCC Blackboard) thanks to a grant from Title III. The deadline for this first round of course migrations is October 1st and two more “hands-on” workshops are scheduled for August, in addition to some online training using our Moodle Boot camp resource. The following are the courses that have been created on the CCC Moodle site.
• Art History Survey I and II and Moodle Boot Camp – Patrick Keough
• Moodle Student Orientation – Pre-Ah Hill
• Human Resource Management – Selva Staub
• Travel / Outdoor Photography – Cathy Crowell (Trainer / Mentor)
• General Psychology – Heather Hebert (Trainer / Mentor)
• Western Civilization II – David Quinn (Trainer / Mentor)
• Radiology – Carla Williams (Trainer / Mentor)
• Professional Practices in IT – Mary Walton (Trainer / Mentor)
• Cardiopulmonary Anatomy & Physiology – Laurie Freshwater (Trainer / Mentor)
• Sociology – Johnny Underwood (Trainer / Mentor)
• Aquaculture I – Skip Kemp (Trainer / Mentor)
• Art Appreciation – Jason Smith (Trainer / Mentor)
James Minor – Creative Writing, Moodle Consultant
This Title III Moodle training initiative is a back-up (proactive) measure for Carteret Community College if for some reason (budget constraints for example) we were to have to give up using Blackboard and adopt the more cost effective Moodle “open source” Course Management System.
Spring / Summer 2009 DL Report
The Distance Learning team have been busy this past year. Blackboard Boot Camp is now totally online. New online adjunct teachers can now take the training on Blackboard if they cannot attend our Blackboard Certification workshops here on campus.
We are also transitioning the Online Tutoring service funded (piloted) by Title III over to Kimberly Johnson and Academic Support. I have conducting training for Kimberly and her tutors so they can tutor students not only in Academic Support but online as well.
The statewide budget crunch is impacting everyone and the Community College System is no exception. Carteret Community College may have to pay the Blackboard licensing fees after June, 2011. We are budgeting for this reality and should not have to discontinue using Blackboard as our primary Course Management System any time soon, however Carteret Community College is now a part of the Moodle “open source” CMS consortium developed by the System Office and we are training a cross section of our online faculty this summer on Moodle (thanks to a Title III Professional Development Grant) just to be on the safe side and be proactive regarding this important issue.
Pre-Ah Hill continues to work “one on one” with many of our newer online faculty in assisting them in all aspects of course building and online instructional design. She has also assisted me in developing a comprehensive effective online learning workshop for students. So far over 90 students have attended this training and since then it has been put online with enhanced podasts and screen videos. This initiative was a result of Title III and the next logical step after getting all our faculty trained on Blackboard and online teaching methods. Click Here for Effective Online Learning Workshop
Our DL Intern Shannon Ayers has assisted many of our online faculty produce course orientation videos and video lectures to be embedded into their courses. This past semester the Distance Learning Department also created our own CCC DL YouTube Channel to store all our instructional videos.
Click here to view some of those videos in YouTube.
We have wrapped up the second phase of the Technology Center Grant on Blogging, YouTube and ITunes U for instructional use. These instructional resources can be found by clicking here. Three workshops were conducted on campus as part of this grant and were opened up to faculty from other Community Colleges in our region. Approximately 50 faculty attending these 3 workshops.
The Technology Committee has tasked the Distance Learning Department with developing better policies, procedures and training for our department to work more efficiently and seamlessly with departments that work closely with us such as IT, Academic Support, Enrollment Resources and the Library. We are in the process of fine tuning these policies and coordinating the training.
This summer are conducting Moodle training (train the trainer model) to approximately 9 of our CCC faculty. I have developed a comprehensive Moodle training program on a Moodle platform and will make it available to anyone interested in learning more about Moodle.
We’ve scheduled a Blackboard Boot Camp for Friday, July 31st. There are still a few slots left for this comprehensive Blackboard training. Please contact Pre-Ah Hill to sign-up.
Our Phase III Distance Learning Pioneers have submitted their final reports and they can be seen on the T3 Blog under DL Pioneers Link. I’m so impressed with the quality of instructional design work our online faculty have been doing the past year as far as adding creative “rich media content” to their courses. There is no doubt in my mind that CCC is a leader and innovator in Distance Learning across the state.
Photo Educator’s Conference Overview
I'm still jazzed from attending the Society for Photo Education National Conference in Dallas last week. Photography Program Coordinator,Cathy Crowell and I have been sharing what we learned with our students in all our classes. The following are some key bullet points I believe were some important things and issues that were addressed and highlighted at the conference. We could not have attending this excellent and informative conference without the financial support from Title III.
Cathy Crowell Looking at Student Work at SPE Print Sharing
• We as educators MUST prepare our students for jobs that in many cases don't even exist today, but will in 5 years. That is how fast technology is changing and evolving.
Photo Student Todd Rotkis holding up his Ambrotypes at Print Sharing
1. Keeping abreast of technology is crucial - no longer an option if you want to be successful and marketable.
2. Communications technologies are merging (melding together) and creating new media. Photographers must embrace (and become proficient in) video, blogging, still imaging, writing, graphic design and podcasting.
Photoshop Demo at Conference
3. Creative Problem Solving (Critical Thinking) skills are essential to survival and success in Global economy.
4. Our culture is becoming more and more visually literate so visual literacy skills are a must.
5. The bar is getting higher for many technical and photography jobs so in-depth computer / software skills are very important, in addition to having a strong grasp of all the fundamentals.
6. A dynamic "user friendly" web presence (and digital resume) in many ways replaces the traditional paper resume - make sure it tells your story and communicates who you are and what you are about clearly and effectively.
7. Must be very proactive in your education and career search.
8. Being a life long learner is a must in the digital era.
One thing that was reinforced over and over throughout the conference was just how dramatically the photographic industry and photo education has changed over the past 5 - 10 years. The industry is not what it was a decade ago due to the broad impact of digital technology and the internet. This reality has both positive and negative repercussions for educator', students and anyone working in any realm of the discipline.
Digital View Camera Demo - SPE Conference
Being aware of what is going on in the field is the first step to navigate and function successfully in it. Educator's must develop new technological skill-sets (and methodologies) just like our students and working photographers. No one is getting a bye in this highly complex digital / global environment.
College graduates are stepping into a highly competitive marketplace and their success will be determined by how creative they are and how well they understand the digital dynamics of the "wired world" we now live in.
Every facet of our society is experiencing dramatic change and in many cases upheaval. Knowledge is going to be more important than ever before. It's going to be a different kind of knowledge though. I believe it will be an intuitive ability to access, integrate and comprehend new information and then apply it to solving specific problems both within and outside our career disciplines.
Business and industries in this country and around the world are changing at a very rapid rate and its our job as educator's (especially at the Community College Level) to keep abreast of these changes, mostly due to the evolution of technology at all levels of society. Attending professional conferences like these are one way for us as teachers and administrator's to keep informed of the latest innovations in the fields we teach. The issues raised at this conference not only related to the Photographic industry - they related to any business, industry and educational institution impacted by digital technology.
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