Grading Assignments Survey for Instructors

Blackboard is working on refining how you grade assignments and they'd love your feedback on how you use assignments in your course and how you expect to be able to grade them. You can share your opinion by answering the questions in the survey below:

Survey Link: http://participate.usabilla.com/891e13ee5a116cf7061662b04082f4279d0b0374

Video Captioning Tool

There is a web-based program that allows you to caption YouTube, Vimeo, or other videos about as easily as any other solution I've seen. They provide easy to follow videos that step you through the process. If you need to caption a video, you might want to give this tool a try.

Amara a.k.a. Universal Subtitles
http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/

Online Student Bill of Rights Video

Quality Matters created this well-done video.
Watch it at http://youtu.be/2mDbSvqBvR8?t=48s

At Cuyamaca College we are committed to quality!

Online Learning in the Social Era Video

Michelle Pacansky-Brock traces the possibilities the social era holds for transforming online learning in this short video. Watch it at http://youtu.be/qh2HskDtpK8 or view the embedded version below.

How to Use Social Media to Advance Science Programs

This article in The Chronicle is available for the next 4 days at http://ow.ly/egkAP

Just a reminder, if you want to create a Facebook page for something related to the college, please review the District Social Media Guidelines and contact Rhonda.

3 Things You Might Not Know About YouTube

Free CCC Confer Webinar
Thursday, October 11th

Noon - 1:00 PDT

Presenter: Donna Eyestone

Did you know you can:

• Record and edit your YouTube videos from your web browser
• Easily add and search captions
• Curate your own playlist, even adding your own intros to other people's YouTube videos?

All you need is a webcam and a YouTube account -- no software, no trials, no downloads so you and your students can easily create videos.

Learn how to:

• Write a script
• Get a good camera angle
• Record without looking like you're reading
• Edit out the beginnings and ends of clips

Sign up at http://www.cccconfer.org/webinarReg/webinarReg.aspx

More Information: http://www.cccconfer.org/webinarEmail/templates/webinar-0912.html

Active Learning

"Studies prove time and again that college students do not learn when listening passively. To clarify further, twenty minutes of listening to a lecture is the maximum amount of time that students can process information effectively according to research cited in Does Active Learning Work, A Review of the Research (Prince, 2004)."

From an excellent article: Learning Online is not a Spectator Sport: How to Make it Active

Designing an Exemplary Course

Blackboard is offering a free online course titled "Designing an Exemplary Course" that is open for registration now.

Course Description: Using the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program (ECP) Rubric as a guide, this open course will provide both theoretical concepts and practical tools for instructors to recognize, organize, and build online courses for both blended learners and online learners. You decide what level of participation you want to have in the course, so there's no harm in signing up and looking around in it to get ideas for your own courses.

Presenters: ECP Directors and 2012 ECP Winners representing over ten institutions

Duration: September 19th - October 17th

The welcome video can be viewed at http://youtu.be/cenCNR9887g

How to Enroll in the Open Course:
1.    Click here to be taken to the course home page.
2.    Click on “Self-Enroll” to get started.

California Blackboard Users Group (CaliBUG) Meeting on October 19th

The Fall 2012 Meeting for the California Blackboard Users Group (CaliBUG) will be held October 19, 2012 from 10 AM to 3 PM at Ohlone College, Newark Center Room 1100, 43600 Mission Boulevard, Fremont, CA 94539.

Administrators, coordinators, and faculty are invited to attend this free [including lunch provided by Blackboard] event. This is an exciting opportunity to meet with colleagues who use Blackboard. We hope you can attend!

If you are not able to come in person, some or all of the sessions will be offered on the Internet!!

The tentative agenda includes:

• Keynote –What’s New With Blackboard?
• Useful Blackboard Building Blocks
• Blackboard Analytics
• Spotlight on USC’s Ultimate Blackboard Course Site 

Please RSVP today (!) to this link: http://tinyurl.com/d6vefbv

3 Reasons why Students Don’t Participate in Online Discussions

This article at Online Learning Insights looks into why students don't participate in online discussions and ways to get them more involved.

Fall 2012 @ONE Courses

@One offers courses, webinars, and certification in the areas of instruction and technology skills for the California Community College system. "Creating Accessible Online Courses" and "Introduction to Teaching with Blackboard 9.1" are required courses for being certified to teach online at Cuyamaca College.

These courses are filling up fast, so reserve your spot today!

Available Courses:

• Creating Accessible Online Courses
  Monday 09/17/2012 - Friday 10/12/2012
• Designing Effective Online Assessments
  Monday 09/17/2012 - Friday 10/12/2012
• Introduction to Teaching with Blackboard 9.1
• Monday 10/15/2012 - Friday 11/09/2012

Don't Miss these Learn at Lunch Webinars

• Canvas: the CMS for Multimedia and Connecting with Your Students
  Thu, 09/27/2012 - 12:00pm
• Mobile Teaching: Don't Leave Home Without It
  Tue, 10/02/2012 - 12:00pm
• Learn How to Make Your Meetings Shorter and More Productive!
  Wed, 10/03/2012 - 12:00pm
• Enhancing Your Productivity with Free Web-based Tools
  Wed, 10/10/2012 - 12:00pm
• Design Crimes in Your Presentations and How to Solve Them
  Wed, 10/17/2012 - 12:00pm
• QR Codes for Learning? YES!
  Wed, 10/24/2012 - 12:00pm
• YouTube - Record, Edit & Caption Your Own Video; All in YouTube
  Tue, 10/30/2012 - 12:00pm
• Take Your Online Teaching to New Heights: The @ONE Online Teaching Certification Program
  Tue, 11/06/2012 - 12:00pm
• Closing the Loop - Creating Self-Reflecting Students in Online Classes
  Thu, 11/08/2012 - 12:00pm

Playing a YouTube Video in Chrome

There is a problem that can occur when trying to play a YouTube video in Blackboard while using the Chrome browser. The instructions at http://www.gcccd.edu/online/documents/BB-Chrome-YouTube.pdf explain how to get these videos to play. Please pass this information on to your students if you have YouTube videos embedded in your Blackboard courses.

Flex Week Workshops

Here is a list of workshops that many of my blog readers may be interested in. See the full Professional Development schedule for more information. All these workshops will be held in E-206. I hope to see you all there!

Monday

11:30 - 12:30 pm
Accessibility

Tuesday

9:00 am – 10:00 am
Films on Demand Streaming Video

Noon - 1:00 pm
Social Media for Departments and Classes

2:30 pm to 4:30 pm
Great Practices in Online Teaching

CANCELLED
Lecture Capture

Wednesday

5:30 pm to 6:30 pm
Blackboard I – Getting Started

7:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Blackboard II – Course Menu and Content

Thursday

2:30 am to 3:30 pm
Blackboard III – Grade Center

4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Blackboard IV – Tests & Quizzes

Friday

9:00 am to 10:00 am
Blackboard V – Safe Assign

10:00 am to Noon
Open Lab with TLC Staff

New Semester Preparations

Welcome back for the Fall Semester! We've prepared several resources to help you prepare for the new semester on the new Online Success website. There is a Blackboard Semester Checklist web page that lists things you'll need to do in your Blackboard containers. There is a very useful Word file ("downloadable checklist") on that page with a more detailed list that you can print out and check things off as you finish them.

There is an important emerging legal issue that I'd like to remind you about as you prepare your syllabi. It is increasingly important that online instructors establish an ongoing drop policy and implement it. It is the responsibility of the instructor and the college to assure that students receiving federal and state financial assistance be dropped from online classes when they cease to be active. The most common measure of inactivity is the passing of a week without communication with the faculty member or submission of course work (simply accessing the Blackboard container is not sufficient to demonstrate “activity”). The federal government has audited colleges to see if students are receiving financial aid for periods longer than they were actively involved in the class. Further, they are asking colleges to reimburse them for money paid to inactive students!

Information about your drop policy should be included on your syllabus that defines exactly when and under what circumstances students will be dropped for inactivity. For example, “Students who are inactive will be dropped from the course. If an entire week goes by with no activity on your part either through discussion board participation, email communication, or submission of work, quiz, or exam, you will be dropped. Therefore, it is imperative that you let me know if, for some reason, your contribution to the class will be interrupted.” In reality, we recommend you send a warning notification to students after a week of inactivity and allow a few days for them to respond.

Online Video for Your Classes

The Cuyamaca College Library subscribes to a few collections of educational videos that can be used for online and face-to-face courses. Check out the library streaming videos web page for all the options they offer.

Films on Demand is the newest and best video resource the library has to offer. It includes thousands of high quality educational titles in many subject areas. These videos can be shown using a computer and projector in classrooms or viewed outside the classroom on the web. All the video clips are closed captioned, and can be embedded or linked to in a Blackboard container.

To find out more about Films on Demand, come to the workshop Angela Nesta is giving on Tuesday, August 14th from 9 to 10am in room E-206 or check out the Films on Demand website Angela created.

Discussions in Online Classes

Discussions are very important in online courses to allow instructors to meet "regular effective contact" (see p.10 - 55204. Instructor Contact) requirements and help students to engage in course material. However, discussions pose several challenges for instructors. A series of three articles from the Online Learning Insights blog offers some good insights and suggestions to help faculty facilitate online discussions.

1. How to get students to participate in online discussions 
2. How to facilitate robust discussions online 
3. The Methods and Means to grading Student Participation in Online Discussions

Learn Blackboard This Summer

@ONE is offering the Introduction to Teaching with Blackboard online course from July 9th to August 3rd. This course is fully online so you can take it while sunning at the pool or from whatever exotic locations you may be travelling to this summer. Full-time instructors can receive professional development credit for taking this course. This course also counts towards certification to teach online at Cuyamaca College.

See the @ONE website for more information at:
http://www.onefortraining.org/node/587

Word Counter for Blackboard

Liberty University created a Firefox add-on that counts the number of words in discussion board, blog, journal, and wiki posts made by students. This add-on lets faculty quickly see the number of words a student has posted to make grading easier.

To get the add-on, go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/Word-Counter-Bb/ using Firefox. Click the green "Add to Firefox" button to install it.

After installing the add-on you'll see something like this in your Discussion board threads.

Online Teaching Conference This Week

The Online Teaching Conference for 2012 starts this Wednesday and runs through Friday. You can attend online for free by registering at http://www.onlineteachingconference.org/.

To kick-start the conference, 2012 Blackboard Catalyst "Exemplary Course" Award winner (and former OTC Keynoter) Dan Barnett's presentation -- "Closing the Loop - Creating Self-reflecting Students in Online Classes" -- is now free to view on YouTube at http://youtu.be/MmmXpjSt2ag. This thought provoking video is pertinent to all online teachers.

Cheating in Online Classes

An article in The Chronicle titled, "Online Classes See Cheating Go High-Tech" underscores the importance of having multiple measures of assessment in an online class AND making some of those measures project based so that a student’s work and skill set becomes recognizable.

The Cuyamaca College "Best Practices Checklist for Effective Online Instruction" lists several ways to reduce cheating. In particular we encourage "Instructors use more than one method to assess student learning, and the methods are appropriate to the content being assessed. (item 3.4)"

Another Checklist item that is applicable is "Learning activities foster instructor-student, content-student, and if appropriate to the course, student-student interaction (e.g. e-mail, discussion, phone, online conferences)." (item 5.1)

The more instructors get to know their students through discussion and other interactive assignments and activities, the easier it will be to determine when a student is not doing their own work.