Monday, November 9, 2009

Session #17: New TC Technologies


In Session #17 Mike Modesitt will demonstrate some new technology tools that the college will be offering, including Podcast Producer, iChat, shared iLocker spaces, and blogs.

Join us for this session on January 22nd at 1:00 in TC 217.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Blackboard Version 9 Panel

On October 30th at 3:00 in TC101 there will be a panel of staff from University Computing Systems who will answer questions about the new version of Blackboard. Please note that they will only be answering questions that have previously been submitted.

Session #16: Summary

Our guest in session #16 was Yasemin Tunc, Director of Learning Technologies Consulting and Support, Unified Technology Support.

Yasemin began with an overview of the assessment tools in Blackboard. She demonstrated how to design, announce, and link a test in a course.

Next, Yasemin shared how the assessment tools and the assignment tools interact in Blackboard.

Finally, the group had a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of rGrade, the Web Gradebook, and the Blackboard Gradebook.

Thanks to all who participated in the session.

I will announce the November LTTO Session soon.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Session #16: Using the Assignment and Assessment Tools in Blackboard

In Session #16 we will be exploring how to use the Assignment and Assessment tools in Blackboard. This will be a helpful session for you especially if you have materials in inQsit that you need to transfer to Blackboard for course facilitators to use.

The session will be led by Yasemin Tunc, Director of Learning Technologies Consulting and Support, Unified Technology Support.

Please join us in TC 217 on October 19th at 11:00.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Session #15: Summary

Course Materials Transfer
Session #15 began with the introduction of Joel Whitesel, Associate Director of Students Services, Online & Distance Education in the School of Extended Education. Joel explained that the best way for us to transfer our online course materials would be for us to make sure that all of the course materials are in Blackboard. That way, the SEE can help the course facilitators with any problems, and there would be some consistency from one course to another.
There was a concern that we may not have much time to prepare our materials for transfer, so we will devote our next meeting to how to use the Assignment and Assessment tools in Blackboard.

Faculty Stipends
The faculty who attended the meeting agreed that they would like the stipends that will come to the department for each online course to come to them. That is, all of the $1000 per course would be given to the faculty member who is responsible for mentoring the facilitator. This stipend might be considered as payment for the use of faculty members' course materials as well as payment for mentoring the facilitator. If the faculty member does an unsatisfactory job of mentoring, the chair would not assign that faculty as a mentor in the future, and thus, would not generate additional sections of that faculty member's courses.

Ten Week Semesters
The group discussed having 10-week semesters for the online courses. The Fall Semester would begin after Labor Day and run for 10 weeks. The Spring Semester would start at the regular time in January and include 10 weeks of class. Faculty could decide if they wanted to take BSU's Spring Break or hold class during that time. The Summer Semester would start at the regular time and run for 10 weeks. It is believed that even though this does not shorten the program for students, the idea that the courses are 10 weeks long may assist in marketing the program.

Policy Change
Whether to change the department policy to allow people with Master's degrees to serve as course facilitators was discussed. The group was in agreement that we will need to change this policy, or we will not be able to find people to teach the online courses.

Next Meeting
The next meeting will be on October 19th at 11:00 in TC 217.



Friday, August 28, 2009

Session #15: Preparing Digital Course Materials for Transfer

Under the new rapid growth model for graduate courses, in the Spring 2010 Semester, some online courses may be taught by course facilitators. In Session #15 we will discuss how best to prepare our digital online course materials for future transfer to course facilitators. Our guest will be Joel Whitesel, Associate Director of Student Services, Online and Distance Education (Extended Education).

In addition, we will discuss guidelines for distributing the stipends faculty members will receive for managing course facilitators under the new model. This is an important topic, so I hope you can join us for this session.

The session will be in the 2nd floor conference room on September 21st at 11:00.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Session #14 Summary

Yasemin did a great job of previewing Blackboard 9 for us. It looks like there are a lot of wonderful new features. The new version should be available in early June. In the interim there is a test environment in which you experiment. Please do not put any work there that you would like to save; it is only a test environment.

After the preview, the graduate faculty members had a discussion about the rapid growth of the graduate online program. Please plan to attend the meeting on June 4th from 2:00-3:00 in TC 211A for another extensive discussion about our growth. We really need input from as many graduate faculty members as possible.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Session #14: Blackboard Version 9

Yasemin Tunc will provide a preview of the new version of Blackboard for our department on May 26th at 10:00 in TC 211B. If you cannot attend this session, there are many other opportunities for you to see the new Blackboard at the library.

The new version of Blackboard should be available for use by faculty by the end of May.

Session #13: Summary

In Session #13 Nancy Melser began by talking briefly about her evolution as an online teacher.

Next, Nancy gave ideas for teaching online. Some excellent advice included:
  • give prompt and specific feedback,
  • use a rubric to evaluate discussion group participation and let students know exactly what your expectations are,
  • offer students templates for lesson plans and assignments,
  • provide exemplars that are grade-level specific (i.e. primary & intermediate),
  • "touch" each assignment or e-mail only once,
  • tell students when you will not be online (i.e. weekends/holidays),
  • have all course materials available when the class starts,
  • make a video to introduce yourself and the course,
  • don't be afraid to be human in your interactions with students, and
  • keep a running list of revisions for the next time you teach the course.
Finally, the group had a discussion about grading options and how to use the "Assignments" feature in Blackboard.

Thank you for participating in this year's LTTO sessions. They were a great success because of your contributions as a presenter and/or participant.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Session # 13: Organization, Management, and Record-Keeping in Online Courses


In session #13, Nancy Melser will lead a sharing session on organization, management, and record-keeping in online courses.

Please bring any instruments, techniques, or tried-and true ideas that you would like to share with others.

Join us on April 20th at 11:00 in TC 217 for LTTO Session #13.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Session #12: Summary

We began session #12 with a description of the new "Frankenstein" cart that will enable instructors to capture audio and video of lectures, presentations, class discussions, etc. Contact Jerry Case if you would like to know more.

Next, Eva Zygmunt-Fillwalk described a project she is using in her EDEL 351 courses. Project Snapshot documents her students' teaching and learning, as well as serves as a family communication tool about children's learning. Eva discussed ways that she uses the Carnegie Gallery of Teaching and Learning to support what students are learning in undergraduate and graduate courses. This site offers many possibilities for documenting what our students are teaching.

Finally, John Burton presented a model for rapidly growing our graduate online enrollment. We asked John some questions and had a discussion about how this would work in our department. If you were unable to attend the meeting, please e-mail me, and I will send the proposal to you. Post any comments you have about it on the blog. (Click on the text just below this entry that says "comments".) You can also e-mail me with comments. I will collate our thoughts and submit them to Jim. Please comment immediately, because John wants to quickly move forward on this.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

LTTO Session #12: A Project Using the Carnegie Gallery of Teaching & Learnng

In session #12, Eva Zygmunt-Fillwalk will present Project Snapshot. This is a project she completed with EDEL 351. She and her students used the Carnegie Gallery of Teaching & Learning to showcase their projects. They also created a web page to increase family involvement.

In addition, Jerry Case will do a brief orientation on how to use the new cart for audio and video capture of lectures, etc.

Join us on March 26th at 1:00 in TC 211B for LTTO Session #12.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Session #11: Summary

In session #11, Susan shared an FAQ page about our graduate program and a wiki for sharing resources related to online teaching. Next, we viewed the seminar, Using a Template to Assist Faculty in Online Course Development. We stopped the seminar occasionally to discuss features of the template. The group suggested that Susan put together a demo course that faculty members could use as an example when they develop online courses.

If you missed the session and would like to view it, please see Karen for the DVD. The handouts can be downloaded from the DVD.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

LTTO Session #11: Using a Template to Assist Faculty in Online Course Development

In session #11 we will view the seminar, Using a Template to Assist Faculty in Online Course Development. I can't upload the handouts, but I will distribute them at the session. We will watch the last 43 minutes of the seminar.

Jerry Case will also do a brief orientation on how to use the new cart for audio and video capture of lectures, etc.

Please join us for the next LTTO session on February 27th at 11:00 in TC 217.

Session #10: Summary

In Session #10 we discussed the questions developed for evaluation of distance learning programs. In general, we agreed that since our graduate program is online, we should be able to answer the questions satisfactorily. A couple of highlights of the discussion were:
  • The Elementary Education Graduate Artifact Rubric will help with data collection and analysis in the graduate program. We decided to field-test the two "Impact" rows in graduate courses for Spring Semester, although faculty members are free to use more of the rows for evaluating artifacts. Two faculty members are going to have their students submit Impact Statements via inQsit this Spring and will report to the group if this is effective.
  • The Quality Matters Rubric, which Jim will use to evaluate new online courses before he requisitions the course development stipend, will help us maintain quality in our graduate courses.
  • Because we have a student course evaluation that is specific to online courses, we can continually use that data to improve our courses.
  • rGrade will enable us to evaluate our distance learning program and provide systematic and ongoing data for program improvement.
  • We can meet the NCATE field experiences requirements in our online courses by having our students complete assignments in their own classrooms or the classrooms of others. Field experiences do not have to occur in each course.
  • In order to meet the diversity requirement, we can collect demographic data about the environments in which our graduate students teach. Eva and Pat will work on an assignment in EDEL 644 that will match teachers based on the demographics of their students, in the hopes that this will be a diversity-understanding experience for them.
We had the largest crowd ever for this interesting discussion!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

LTTO Session #10: NCATE Evaluation of Distance Learning Programs

In session #10 we will discuss the questions developed for evaluation of distance learning programs. "The ten questions have been approved by the UAB as guides for BOE teams and institutions in the assessment of distance learning programs. These questions were developed to assist teams and units in determining whether distance learning offerings meet NCATE standards to the same degree as other programs offered by the unit through traditional means."
Please join us for the next LTTO session on January 23rd at 12:00 in TC 217. Bring your lunch!