NCADL Conference Presentation 2/08

Before I dive directly into the Moodle or Not to Moodle issue. I’d like to address some broader issues concerning distance learning in general. I think we as educators need make an effort to rise above what CMS (Course Management System) we are using and/or adopting at our colleges and begin to realize it is NOT the instructional delivery system we are using, but HOW we are using any given system to TEACH our students in the online environment.

If Course Management Systems were cars I believe Blackboard would be an SUV and Moodle would be a Volkswagon.
Think about it? Most people in this room would have no problem getting in either car and driving away. Sure it may take you a little while to get used to it, BUT if you’ve been driving for awhile you most likely would feel comfortable with either vehicle in a short time. That’s how I see teaching online and CMS’s in general. Its not the vehicle…its the way you drive it. In other words…if you can teach effectively on one CMS you should be able to transfer your online teaching methodology to another platform in a relatively seamless fashion. One thing is for certain what it comes to teaching in the 21st century and that is CHANGE is inevitable and something we all MUST embrace and not be afraid of.

I’ve been teaching at Carteret Community College for 22 years. In fact, I have taught Photography in some capacity for over 25 years. Education has changed dramatically since the first day I walked into a classroom/lab. To think that can sit in a coffee shop on the coast of North Carolina checking into my Art and Photography classes with my laptop computer. I can pick up a wireless signal and meet my students in a discussion about art with a group of student 8 hours away at a college (SWCC) in the mountains of western North Carolina.

If you would have told me I’d be able to engage my students, teach my students, connect with my students and help them learn a variety of college level subjects without actually seeing them 10 years ago I would have thought you were absolutely crazy. Now it’s an integral part of what I do as an educator. Online education (distance learning) has been accepted and embraced by high schools and colleges around the world. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s good online teachers and bad just like in the classroom. It takes a completely different approach to be an effective teacher in the online environment. It’s almost as if you become a moderator / facilitator instead of a didactic talking head standing in front of a group of students (sage on the stage) imparting your knowledge to them.

Good teaching is still good teaching whether its in the traditional classroom or in the online environment. Good teaching is proactive, dynamic, engaging and takes a certain amount of empathy and compassion. Good online teaching also takes innovation, creativity and a willingness to think (and communicate) in completely new ways. I truly believe it really doesn’t matter what CMS you are using (Moodel or Blackboard) – its HOW you use it and the sound methodology that you incorporate into your online classes.

Distance learning empowers teachers and students in a variety of ways and offers so many more options and alternatives to the traditional instructional model. Teaching online has reinvigorated me to literally reinvent myself as a teacher, in addition to making me think about (and teach) my subject matter in a whole new way. In other words it forces me to be a better instructor because I MUST rethink and retool every aspect of my teaching strategy and methodology to be effective in the online environment. The other part of this equation is our students. Especially the ones coming out of high school. Most of them are very comfortable working, communicating and socializing online and they expect their educational experience to be every bit as dynamic, interactive and sophisticated as their other online worlds such as My Space and Face Book.

Its like anything else in this world. People evolve, cultures evolve, society evolves and nothing truly stays the same. That certainly goes for the learning process.

Lately I have been thinking back to when we didn’t have the internet, e-mail, cell phones or computers.

We taught our students in classrooms “face to face” without anything more complicated than overhead projections and slides. There’s no doubt that we as college teachers in 2008 are working harder and longer trying to keep up with the various software, hardware and course management systems that constantly are getting upgraded with new and more sophisticated versions. Sure, I’m a strong proponent of distance learning and incorporating technology into my photography and art courses, however I think it’s important for educators to step back every once in awhile and remember that our primary focus should always be on teaching students. We’re dealing with human beings and it’s very easy to lose sight of the human element when we are all caught up (and stressed out) by the various dynamics and challenges of incorporating technology into our teaching.

I will admit I am a little nostalgic for the days when I spent hours in the darkroom and studio with my students – now I teach digital imaging, graphic design and commercial illustration (for the most part) via the internet and blackboard. So the questions is….HOW do we as instructors keep and nurture the HUMAN ELEMENT in our courses? That I believe is our challenge as we forge ahead in this new millennium. Not which course management system to use. I can drive a SUV just as good as I can drive a Volkswagon and you can too!

To Moodle or Not to Moodle – That is the Question

I’ve been teaching on Moodle for 2 semesters now. I still teach most of my courses on Blackboard, but wanted to see what it would be like to teach on another delivery system. I was introduced to Moodle at a workshop this past summer conducted at Pitt Community College. I must admit, at first I was a little hesitant to even consider using another CMS beside Blackboard because I have been using Blackboard since its inception (8 + years) and feel very comfortable creating courses and teaching on it. With that said, I tried to keep an open mind and got enough training at the workshop to migrate one of my Art Appreciation classes over to the Moodle platform. This in itself took me about 20 + hours because there is no easy way to export course content directly from Blackboard to Moodle. They are two very different learning platforms, so I basically had to rethink how I would teach the class on Moodle and then copy and paste my weekly modules (assignments, lectures, discussion topics, podcasts and external links) over manually. I would imagine most online courses would not take this long because I have thousands of art images, graphics, audio and video files to migrate.

The only way to truly learn something is to teach it so I volunteered to teach a section of my Art Appreciation class for Randall Shearon at Wayne Community College. After having two colleagues look over and critique my Moodle class, I then went back and edited and revised it based on their feedback. Once I went through and fine tuned the course I was ready to teach it.

The most difficult thing for me the first week of class was breaking myself away from my Blackboard teaching methodology. Moodle is very different from Blackboard and as an online instructor, I had to modify my teaching approach because of the way Moodle is configured. Now after almost 2 semesters of teaching on Moodle I can honestly say I like it and am starting to feel very comfortable teaching on this “open source” CMS. In fact, it seems to be as intuitive as Blackboard and I have had no real technical problems, unlike the issues of slowness, pages timing out and various glitches I find on the discussion board and grade book at some schools I teach for.(that is another issue I will address at the end of this presentation)

I find it easier to grade weekly homework and weekly discussions on Moodle and it handles audio, video files beautifully, although BB 7.3 has better functionality with rich media content as well. The other thing I noticed was how quickly my students learned how to use it. Most of them had been taking classes on Blackboard and were in the same boat as me as far as never having taught or taken a course on Moodle. I made it very clear that I was new to this and asked my students for patience and told them I would also have patience with them as we all climbed the learning curve with Moodle.

I have mostly positive things to say about Moodle after working with it daily for over a month. As a Director of Distance Learning at Carteret Community College I plan on incrementally exposing my faculty to Moodle over the next few years, although I am well aware their will be lots of dissent and resistance due to the amount of time it takes to migrate Blackboard content over to Moodle. This may be the biggest issue to overcome when selling the idea to faculty. There is no getting away from the amount of time it takes to copy and paste course content over from Blackboard to Moodle, in addition to having to absolutely re-think the instructional design and teaching methodology of your online course.

With all that said….before making any BIG decisions about switching from one CMS to another…

We better ask ourselves WHY do we want to use one CMS over another? Sure…cost, technical support and functionality are huge factors to consider. Many of the questions, issues and concerns in distance learning center around maintaining systems, hardware and database knowledge – that behind the scenes (under the hood) stuff.

Whether it’s Blackboard, Moodle, or WebCT, when online education is growing as quickly as many of the DL programs within NC Community College System, it is critical to make investments in solid infrastructures and skilled IT staff to continuously monitor and maintain these systems. If this doesn’t happen no CMS is going to run well. That’s a fact!

More importantly, the end users – people like you, me and our students don’t really care about the back end (IT) stuff. Most of use don’t care that much about what’s under the hood.
We just want it to work effectively. I believe before any college or system invests time and money and human resources in making drastic changes to technology and invest in other CMS’s, I think they (we) have to take a look at the bigger picture and not just blame any particular CMS software. Its like I said at the beginning of this presentation.

Good online teachers should be able to teach on any viable CMS – just like good drivers can drive an SUV as well as a Volkswagon. It’s really all about your methodology and connecting with the HUMAN ELEMENT – your students.

To Moodle or NOT to Moodle…that is the Question. I believe the answer partly has to do with the type of CONTENT you are teaching. What do you as the instructor feel more comfortable using as your learning environment? What CMS compliments your particular style (methodology) of teaching? Which one best helps you CONNECT and ENGAGE with your students and enables you to reach out with that human touch. Remember..the teacher is the primary catalyst for learning.

As we have heard again and again these past 2 days. The bottom line is..it’s all about LEARNING. It’s all about VALUE. It’s all about making a difference in the lives of each and every one of your students. Will your students leave your class with more knowledge and understanding about your course content?

In all honesty I really don’t thing it matter what car we drive – what CMS we use. Learning a new CMS is the easy part. Good teaching is what really matters!

Distance Learning Status Report – January 29, 2008

The DL Team are moving forward with a variety of exciting and important initiatives. These projects are at different stages of completion.

1. Phase II of our QAP “Peer Review” Process is in full swing. Content Specialists and Instructional Designers have been identified and contacted to evaluate 25 online classes in the next 6 weeks. A special thanks to Laurie Freshwater and Mary Walton who are assisting us with both content and instructional design in a few of the courses being evaluated. They both have expertise in both areas and their assistance is crucial to moving this process forward in a timely manner. Title III is supporting the online course review process by giving $50 stipends to our content specialists.

2. I am very excited about the Online Tutoring service we’re developing. Lisa Taylor Galezia (CCC English/Photography Adjunct and online veteran) is working with me in creating (designing) an interactive blackboard to act as a communications hub for online tutoring. This service will be available to both traditional students and our online / hybrid students. Last week (January 24th) we had our first kick-off meeting for potential tutors. We had eleven highly qualified applicants attend this first information session representing the disciplines of Math, Biology, Anatomy & Physiology and English. They came with lots of good ideas to incorporate into our plans for tutoring students in the online environment. Pre-Ah and Lisa have researched and incorporated some very viable communication tools into the Blackboard such as Instant Messenger, Skype, Virtual Chat and a Whiteboard for doing Math equations. We are still in the early stages of developing this service and are now evaluating the resumes left by those who attended the information session. We plan to begin incrementally offering this service to our students on a limited basis by end of February. Once we get Online Tutoring up and running at CCC I hope to hand it over to the tutoring wing of Academic Support. This would not be made possible without the support and funding of Title III. I believe we will see a positive impact on retention once this service is in full swing.

3. In the last 2 weeks we’ve had 2 Distance Learning Pioneer meetings with our DL Phase I and II online faculty. We discussed the QAP and also identified some professional development needs of the group that the Pre-Ah and I plan on addressing in the next two months. I was excited to hear all the innovative and creative things our DL Pioneers are doing with their online classes, both technically and in their instructional design strategies. They are incorporating the things they learned in BB Boot Camp (graphics, podcasts, video, camtasia) into their classes and even going beyond and researching dynamic new ways to communicate and assess their course content. I believe our “train the trainer” model for the DL component of the T3 Grant is working effectively and is creating a cadre of DL mentors across our campus. Pre-Ah is also working “one on one” with our pioneers to assist them with their course retooling, especially in adding rich media content such as audio and video lectures and teaching them new software that will help them do this.

4. We received word (today) from the NCCCS staff that our proposal to collaborate with FTCC the NCCCS Technology Center was recommended to the State Board for approval and funding. I was suppose to attend a kick-off meeting in Fayetteville today however word never filtered down to me and I sent my thoughts concerning our role in the Technology Center to Bob Irvin (Project Director for the Grant) at FTCC.

5. I was tasked by Dr. Emory to implement a viable process that insures we are collecting “institutional data” from all (dl and classroom) our student evaluations. The following are thoughts (paraphrased) by my conversations with Don and Jennifer concerning this issue.

” In order to conduct a comparative analysis, we should try to decrease all possible variables. For this reason, we should work toward incorporating the same wording on all relevant questions/statements.

In order to ensure that we are gathering institutional data (from these course-level evaluations), we should develop a system for aggregating responses on the specific questions we have identified as relevant. Once the responses are entered, via the Remark survey software, we can conduct aggregate analyses on any items we choose.

We may need to clarify what we mean by “institutional data.” Is it simply taking all the course-level surveys and aggregating the data so that we have an institution-wide picture, or is it something requiring a variety of data sources?”

A final step in the process would be follow-up to make sure that issues/concerns are addressed then documented, and necessary changes take place.

The following are my recommendations for these evaluations once they are sent to the Division Directors and Curriculum Coordinators. I see this as the accountability piece.

1. If the evaluation is fine with no problematic issues the Curriculum Coordinator signs it and gives to the instructor and files a copy for his/herself.

2. If there are issues (concerns) that need to be addressed the Curriculum Coordinator schedules an appointment with the instructor and reviews the evaluation pointing out problem areas and requests clarification about what may have been the problem from the instructors point of view. Once the issue is clarified then Curriculum Coordinator and Instructor create (write) an action plan that specifically addresses the issue of concern and plans for a solution. Both sign the action plan.

3. Both instructor and CC keep a copy of the evaluation and action plan.

4. After the next student evaluation of the instructor (following semester) the latest evaluation is checked against the previous one to see if improvements were made in that area of concern. If they were CC signs off on it and gives to the instructor and keeps a copy for him/herself.

5. If significant improvements were not made in the second evaluation the situation is handed over to Division Director of that area for review.

Title III Project Director Don Staub and I have followed up with Dr.’s Abbie Brown and William Sugar, Program Directors of the Instructional Technology Program at East Carolina University from our initial distance learning brainstorming session held for our DL Pioneers last month. We have discussed doing a Distance Learning Forum in Joslyn Hall sometime possibly in April with Dr. Brown and/or Sugar moderating that forum that will address the key issues and concerns our faculty, staff and students have concerning the pro’s and con’s of distance education.

For the next 6 weeks I will be assisting Pre-Ah and our QAP content specialists in getting these 25 online courses evaluated and all the data entered electronically into a data base. Yes…it’s going to be a busy Spring Semester. I am also teaching 3 Photography classes in-between all these initiatives. Wheew!

Patrick Keough
Director of Distance Learning

Hitting the Ground Running!

The Distance Learning team hit the ground running this short week before the Spring semester kicks in. We have a great deal on our plate for Spring 08. Two of our biggest projects will be peer evaluating every online class offered at CCC in the next 12 months and setting up an online tutoring service for our students. We have evaluated 12 online courses to date and learned a great deal during that initial peer review process. Now that most of our faculty have been trained (Blackboard Boot Camp) in online teaching methods it’s time to take a good hard look at the courses (technically and for sound instructional design) they are teaching. This is a SACS requirement and at the top of our priority list.

I’m also recruiting some adjunct teachers to participate in our distance learning tutoring initiative. One of our veteran online adjunct instructors Lisa Taylor has agreed to assist me in getting this service off the ground. Brad Nicolajsen is working with me on the technical end. We are planning on using MS Instant Messenger and Blackboard discussion boards to tutor our students in Math, English and possibly Science and History. I hope to begin training our tutors be the end of January and begin offering a scaled down online tutoring service for selective courses by Mid- February. This is a service that we hope will grow incrementally as we market it and get faculty and students aware that it is available to them.

Meetings have been scheduled with our CCC DL Pioneers. One major goal I’m asking both teams to accomplish is to produce a minimum of 2 new podcasts and/or videos this semester. These can either be course orientations, lessons and/or demonstrations. Many of the Phase II team were given new laptops and digital recorders thanks to the Title III Grant and it’s important that we continue incorporating viable rich media content into our online classes and show that we are putting this new equipment to good use.

Pre-Ah and I are planning some new distance learning workshops for Spring. 08. Some of the topics will be producing Jing videos, advanced instructional design techniques, producing enhanced podcasts and using Instant Messenger in online courses for office hours.

There are also two Distance Learning Conferences coming up in the months ahead. One in Durham next month, and the other in New Bern in April. I plan to present at both conferences and will be bringing many of our DL Pioneers to at least one of these conferences.

Virtual Learning Community Extended Center Development Center Proposal

Professional Development Center

The administration of Carteret Community College is committed to retooling and upgrading its distance learning course offerings and adding more viable web components to its traditional classes. Being awarded a Title III grant has enabled Carteret to aggressively move forward with both upgrading its course offerings and our online faculty instructional design and teaching skills.

Training college faculty in the latest distance learning methodology and instructional technologies has been a huge but imperative undertaking over the past year. The demand for online courses is growing annually and students are arriving in these courses with more advanced and sophisticated technological skills (awareness) than ever before due to the cyber / media culture they have grown up in. That’s why Carteret initiated a series of Blackboard Boot Camps in order to get ALL online faculty trained (and certified) in online course management systems, instructional design theory and methodology.

Community College faculty can no longer rely on an archaic industrial age educational model to teach students skills they’ll need to succeed and thrive in a highly technological, creative and entrepreneurial work environment.

CCC is working towards being on the “cutting edge” of online instructional pedagogy and is undergoing a dramatic transformation in the culture, mindset and teaching skills thanks to the resources provided by Title III and the leadership of the distance learning team.

It’s crucial that all our staff and faculty members be in synch when it comes to teaching, challenging, inspiring, counseling and making an effort to retain and engage today’s computer / web savvy students.

This can no longer be accomplished with yesterday’s outmoded teaching methods. The didactic talking head standing in front of neat rows of students imparting knowledge on a given subject is no longer effective or viable when compared to the way global businesses and industries conduct business over and through complex and secure digital networks.

Business and industry have embraced and continue to harness a variety of sophisticated communications and educational technologies such as video conferencing, Pod casting, streaming video, interactive online forums, blogs and digital informational / educational media (content) exchanges.

Carteret has made great strides in distant learning over the past year. 45 faculty members are now Blackboard certified through our Blackboard Boot camps and 75 staff and faculty members (100% of our fall online instructors) met the professional development requirements for teaching online here at CCC. Ten faculty members (DL Pioneers/Trainers) spent the past year learning a variety of new online teaching techniques and were given the technical resources (and professional development opportunities) to upgrade their skills and courses thanks to the Title III Grant. Each one of them met ALL their DL goals and objectives as they related to the grant and were awarded certificates of achievement for their efforts. They are now mentoring another ten trainers in more advanced online teaching methods including producing and incorporating video and audio content into their online courses.

The internet provides a vast amount of information for instructors who truly understand how to apply, channel and integrate this vast web content into their courses. Distance learning provides the best (and most flexible) instructional environment for connecting and exposing students to the resources (and information) being generated exponentially around the world.

Our goal over the next 5 years is to continue training all Carteret Community College instructors to be the facilitators, mentors, and guides into this new frontier of data, information, content and multi-media. I envision our distance learning training initiative being expanded across the state and becoming a model for the virtual learning communities collaborative effort to increase the quality and availability of online learning and support services.

This is a very exciting yet intimidating and challenging time for educators. If we don’t aggressively retool mentally and technologically we are going to eventually become obsolete and other forward thinking educational venues will fill the void we leave due to being left in the dust by the rapid growth and evolution of instructional technology and web culture.

This paradigm shift is market driven, technologically driven and student (client) driven as far as the demand for more technically sophisticated and a more socially / culturally relevant approach (vision) to education. Retooling college faculty skill sets is no longer just an option – it is an absolute MUST if we are going to remain a viable and competitive force in higher education. That’s why we have implemented our train the trainer program at CCC and are now starting our 2nd year of the Distance Learning Pioneer program. Each trainer must agree to one of the following options if they are to be part of our train the trainer (pioneer) team.

Online Faculty Participation – Course Development Options

Choose One of the following Three

1. Upgrade one online course (total or hybrid) you already are teaching and begin developing a new course. You must teach at least one of these courses in Spring 2008.

2. Upgrade 2 courses that you already are teaching online. Must teach at least one Spring 2008

3. Develop a NEW course to be offered Fall 2008. (New online faculty)

Click here for Minimum requirements for an online course upgrade (extreme makeover)
Primary course content must be illustrated visually with images and/or graphics.
Faculty members must record a minimum of 3 “enhanced”, audio podcasts (or video) for each course. One podcast should be a course specific audio overview (orientation) outlining your specific expectations for your students to succeed in the class. The second can be a lecture or wrap-up overview of the class highlighting what the students should have learned and what you want them to take away from the class. The goal would be to eventually have audio podcasts of ALL your course lectures.

Click here for CCC ITunes U

Faculty members participating in the first phase of this grant will have access to a full-time Distance Learning technician to assist with all aspects of course creation, development and instructional media production.

Participating faculty members may also check-out (or use) the following equipment from the distance learning lab.

• Digital Camera (still and video)
• Digital recorder
• Ipods
• Laptop Computers
• Scanner

Title III Funds are also available for distance learning workshops, seminars and travel to pre-approved distance learning training that relate to your field.

Participating faculty members must agree to be DL Mentors to the next group of online course developers during the second year of the grant.
The faculty members will mentor one instructor from their department in online course methodology and development.

Faculty must agree to teach at least one course that you develop and/or upgrade in the Spring of 2008.

The primary focus of the dl component of this grant is retention and student success and satisfaction with the class.
We are collecting data relating to retention, grades and student satisfaction with the courses before and after.

This grant is a very exciting opportunity for Carteret Community College and this group of online instructors are pioneers. Each pioneer (trainer) will be a catalyst for growth, change and instructional excellence in all aspects of online learning.

CLICK Here for Distance Learning Course Upgrading Online Workshop

This Title III Grant is helping CCC make great strides towards moving its staff and faculty forward on the fast paced technological and instructional continuum of the 21st century. It is providing much needed training, technology and instructional resources needed for a vast array of professional development initiatives planned over the next few years.

Carteret Community College administration, faculty and staff are seriously are committed to excellence in all aspects of learning and receiving The Title III Grant has helping us move out of the industrial, instructional model to the creative, conceptual, technological model being demanded by those individuals (students) that come to us for an education.

The sense of urgency is high and now it’s a matter of building on what we have accomplished during the first year of the grant. CCC has broken away from the outmoded industrial model, in and beyond the information age and into the creative, conceptual age where we can educate and train our students in the technologies being harnessed by the global marketplace. I see us expanding (and building on) the initiatives we’ve implemented at Carteret to the rest of the colleges in North Carolina.

Now that we are making headway in faculty training and course upgrading we’ve also begun moving forward with bringing CCC Students Resources online in order to give support our ALL our online students and make it easier for our traditional students to access a wide array of student support services from their homes and/or workplaces. We have established a Distance Learning Advisory Committee to help us aggressively move forward with this important initiative.

We are also evaluating and assessing our distance learning professional development activities conducted over the past year to see if they have had a positive impact on STUDENT SATISFACTION and RETENTION rates. Initial anecdotal data looks very positive based on the latest online student evaluations. We have implemented student and faculty surveys in addition to evaluating online course statistics to see if all our efforts have had a positive effect on our distance learning program at Carteret Community College.

We’ve also written and implemented a Peer Review QAPprocess for all online courses – this is essentially the next step after getting our online faculty trained. Now we are evaluating every online course offered at CCC to make sure they all meet technical and instructional design standards. This could also be expanded statewide.

Peer Review Online Course QAP Spreadsheet

All in all…exciting things continue to happen on the distance learning front here at CCC.

Please take a look at a cross section of our Title III Blog which tracks all of our Title III activities and initiatives.

Think-In 2007 – Teaching with Technology

CCC Instructional Design Specialist Pre-Ah Hill and I attended Think-In 2007: A Teaching with Technology Showcase at ECU. For over 4 hours we shared our professional development innovations and strategies in addition to our Blackboard Boot Camp initiative with online teachers and distance learning professionals from around the state.

This is my second year participating in the Think-In and I must admit I continue to be amazed at all the innovative distance learning / teaching technology and creative methodology being applied at colleges across the state. The Think-In is an opportunity to share the “best” of what is going on in education. Project Coordinator Ginny Sconiers did an excellent job assembling a diverse mix of faculty who gave presentations via “laptop” poster sessions and course demonstrations.”

You can check out the Think-In Web Cast by Clicking HereJust scroll down the page and click the Web Cast Icon. To learn more about this unique and exciting event check out the ECU Academic Outreach web site.
Click Here for Think-In Podcast

September DL Report

• Distance Learning Phase II Pioneers

We had a meeting of all Phase I and II DL Pioneers on Friday August 31st and discusses the parameters for their commitment to the online course development / retooling initiatives. Each Phase II Pioneer identified the courses they would be developing and/or upgrading in addition to letting me know their professional development needs. Letters went out to all Phase II online faculty outlining their individual goals and objectives for course upgrades and also summarizing what each person committed to. Phase II DL Pioneers have been asked to document all work done for this project and send my monthly status reports that will be posted to the Title III Blog. First status reports are due by October 5th. Shannon Cotnam, Mary Walton (Phase I) and Buddy Miller have requested funds to attend distance learning conferences (workshops) and are being subsidized for this professional development training.

• Distance Learning & online services (e.g. counseling services, tutoring services)

A sub-committee of the The Distance Learning Advisory Team met last month and brainstormed innovative ways we could enhance our online student services. Mark Johnson designed a counseling web page that we added to our Distance Learning pages. We also added the Bookstore, Academic Support Services, Student Handbook, CCC Library, Course catalog and Class Schedules, TRIO and student e-mail information and linked all these to the main page (portal) of Blackboard so our online student have a direct link to all CCC student services that have a web presence. Don, Fran and I have been researching an online tutoring service called SMARTHINKING and after hearing very good things from a variety of colleges we had a meeting on September 24th with David Cashwell the VP for SMARTHINKING and he gave us all the details and pricing information for implementing online tutoring at CCC. This initiative is on hold until we can identify viable funding options.

• A Quality Assurance Plan (Standards) for online delivery

Now that the DL Team have trained our online faculty through the BB Boot Camps the next step for CCC is to move forward with a Peer Review process in order to insure ALL our online courses are not only technically sound and using effective instructional design methods, but are teaching appropriate course content. This will be the job of the content specialists identified for each curriculum area. I have collected some Quality Assurance Plans (Standards) for Online learning from other schools and am in the process of creating one for CCC. We hope to incrementally begin reviewing our online course offerings soon after I get a plan approved by Dr. Emory and I would imagine the Academic Division Directors. The goal here is to insure all online course content, requirements and quality are comparable to traditional classroom courses.

We are also conducting a Survey of all our online students to gather information concerning why student may be taking online courses over day and evening classes and requesting a range of feedback on our online courses in general.

Surveying DL students (Fran) 77 online students have taken this survey so far.

Patrick Keough
Director of Distance Learning

CCC Convocation 07

Distance Learning Awards and Recognitions

We’ve made great strides in distant learning over the past year. 45 faculty members have been Blackboard certified through our Blackboard Boot camps and 60 (100%) have met the professional development requirements for teaching online here at CCC. Ten faculty members (DL Pioneers) spent the past year learning a variety of new online teaching techniques and given the technical resources to upgrade their skills and courses thanks to the Title III Grant. Each one of them met ALL their DL goals and objectives as they related to the grant and were awarded certificates of achievement for their efforts. They will now be mentoring another ten in more advanced online teaching methods including incorporating video and audio content into their online courses.

I believe our online course offerings across curriculums have more continuity, better methodology and technical (and visual) sophistication than ever before thanks to all the professional development opportunities made available through the Title III grant.

Laurie Freshwater was awarded the Excellence in DL Award for 2006 – 07 at this years convocation for taking her teaching methodology and online courses to a higher level this past year.

Skip Kemp was awarded the Tom Harrigan DL award for most improved in both his online teaching skills and the courses he is designing and teaching online. Tom Harrigan passed away last year and this award is dedicated to him and his commitment to excellence in online instruction.

A meeting is planned for later in August for the Phase II Distance Learning Team.

We are Empowered!

As an educator teaching college students in the year 2007, I feel so incredibly empowered now that I’m finally “getting it”. Yes… I’m truly starting to harness, incorporate and channel technology (rich media content) and synthesize it with my teaching style, personality and instructional methodology.

I’ve been climbing the digital learning curve for over ten years years, but it’s only been recently after a great deal of reading, research, attending distance learning conferences and presenting online teaching workshops that I recently experienced a personal epiphany. WOW!!! I have more tools, options and diverse (high quality) media content at my disposal than ever before. I’ve been teaching for 25 years and its as if I have been completely recharged, rejuvenated, inspired and absolutely jazzed about these powerful new tools that I have literally at my fingertips.

To think I can embed a U Tube video clip about a famous artist or art style into my online Art Appreciation class after a quick google search or an enhanced podcast with Kevin Bacon narrating the life and times of Van Gogh or an interactive web site about Leonardo Da Vinci’s inventions….link to the greatest art museums in the world and I’m only talking about art. My personal empowerment also applies and transcends to every discipline (and instructor/professor) from mathematics to science, literature, engineering, sociology, psychology, etc………….Click and watch…TeacherTube.com.

I’m almost overwhelmed by this new “flattened” world we live in and how advances in technology have changed all the rules – and given everyone with a computer and web access some serious input into where we go from here.

Today anyone can write and publish with nothing more than a web blog – anybody can be a media producer, designer, news reporter, poet, critic, philosopher, artist, photographer, documentarian or even a comedian. Yes…the rules are changing everyday and I have no idea what this this country will be like when my daughter Andei graduates from college seven years from now. What skills will she need to succeed in the new millennium?

One thing is for certain…My daughter Andei and her generation will need to be flexible, multilingual, versatile and life long learners – in fact, anyone trying to compete in the global marketplace from this point on will have to be creative, entrepreneurial and innovative. The old days of learning one trade or skill are over. We all (students and teachers) must be upgrading our skills constantly to stay competitive and viable in today’s economy.

Yes these are very exciting times, however we cannot be complacent in any way because our counterparts in India, Japan, Russia and China are “getting it” too in a big way and are catching up to us in the fields of science, engineering and mathematics – in fact, in some instances they are surpassing us, so it is time to wake up and crank it up a notch if we don’t want to lose ground and get left behind the eight ball in the flattened world.

Any Thoughts??? Click and Comment.

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Are we doing this at CCC?

Click and watch…TeacherTube.com.

DL Advisory Agenda

June 21, 2007 1:30-3:00 p.m. CMAST 406

• Blackboard Boot Camp Update
• Title III DL Pioneers Final Reports Quick Overview

Introducing our new group for Phase II DL Team – I will be looking to our first dl team all help mentor these folks starting in the fall.

Tammy Powell
Meg Rawls
Louise Brimmer
Elaine Fuge
Bob Malone (English Adjunct)
Lynn Stevens
John Baucom
Shannon Cotnam
Marj Gross
Donna Galley

• Spring Online Course Evaluations – Overview and Concerns

Still need aggressive professional development program into the Fall and Spring semesters based on student evaluations – especially focused on instructional design and online teaching methodology.

• Student Services and Academic Support Online Components (Create Sub-Committee to explore this issue)
Serving the Online Learner

Excellent Article on Serving Online Learners

“SYSTEMS AND SERVICES for recruiting, advising, and support of online students have seldom been at the top of the list when planning online and distance learning programs. That is now changing: Forces pushing advising and support services into the foreground include recognition of the student learner as “customer” and the increasing expectations and demands of government and business in our global information economy. The recent release (September 2006) of the Spellings Commission report, A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of US Higher Education, notes a lack of systems that track the progress of individual students over time and across institutions—and is sure to increase the focus on these systems.”

Online Tutoring Services
SmartThinking
Class of One
Central Peidmont CC – How They Do IT?
Houston CC Online Student Services

• Faculty Technical Performance Standards Update
leveloftechskills.doc
• Online Course Peer Review and Certification

Once we get ALL CCC faculty (including adjuncts) BB Certified the next step is to establish an experienced peer review team to begin evaluating each online course offered at CCC. I see this as a long term goal over the next 3 years starting in the Fall of 2007.

• Q & A