@ONE Workshops & CVC Online Education Awards (Deadline Dec. 8)

@ONE makes it easy for California Community College faculty and staff to learn how to use technology to enhance student learning and success. @ONE’s programs provide training, online resources and support for free - or at a very low cost - thanks to funding from the California Community College Chancellor's Office Telecommunication and Technology Infrastructure Program (TTIP). These programs are developed by outstanding peers in technology and education, providing the best quality content that is based in true life experiences of California Community College faculty and staff. The programs are also structured to fit a busy faculty or staff member’s schedule. Programs include Lunch n’ Learn Desktop Seminars, Online Courses, Self-Paced Online courses, Hands-On Institutes and online resources. @ONE also sponsors the @ONE Scholar Program, which supports research on using technology to improve student learning in California Community Colleges. 1. 2006-07 California Virtual Campus (CVC) Online Education Awards Program. Fame, fortune and (paid) travel could be yours, if your online course is chosen as a recipient of the award. Deadline December 8, 2006. Get more information and apply at: http://pdc.cvc.edu/cvcaward/ 2. In-Depth Training on Multimedia or Online Teaching…without leaving your desk? Choose your multi-week online course and sign up at: http://www.cccone.org/de/07spr/courses/index.htm 3. Yes, Virginia, there is a “Free Lunch!” Make your reservations now for the Lunch n’ Learn Desktop Seminars starting in February. These free, one-hour seminars give you tasty topics and usable tips (food not included). Find out more and sign up at: http://www.cccone.org/de/07spr/seminars/index.htm 4. A few seats are left at the @ONE Winter Institute! Get three days of hands-on learning in either Oceanside or San Jose. Advance your career and make your job easier! Excel, Online Teaching, Voice Over IP, Windows Security…to name just a few of the topics that will help you improve your skills. http://www.cccone.org/institutes/07winter/index.htm 5. Do you have a little time to learn some new skills, at your own pace? Do you dread sitting through courses that do not match your skill level? Try @ONE’s Self-Paced Courses & Streaming Videos on Demand, where you set the pace. You can take just what you need, or run through the whole training. http://one.evc.edu/self_paced/index.htm

Wake Up! Deadline is December 8!

2006-07 CVC Online Education Awards Program Attention California Community Colleges online instructors: Are you achieving excellence in distance education? Have you created an exemplary online course? Would you like the opportunity to be recognized for your work? Fame, fortune and (paid) travel could be yours if your online course is chosen as a recipient of the California Virtual Campus (CVC) Online Education Award. The CVC Online Education Awards Program is a new online education mini-grant competition for California Community Colleges (CCC) faculty. During the first phase of the competition, ending in January 2007, as many as ten applicants will receive a $1,000 stipend and contract, and an opportunity to compete for additional compensation. The initial stipends will be granted to faculty members who submit winning proposals for improving an existing online course or for developing an online course that has been approved through the curriculum peer-review process of their college. Three-quarters of the stipend will be paid at the beginning of the contract and the remaining $250 upon completion of the agreed-upon course development/improvements. Proposed course development/improvement work and a final report need to be completed by April 21, 2007. During late April and May 2007, the CVC competition judges will review the course development/improvement work that has been done and identify as many as three winners of additional stipends, based upon a set of published criteria. The three winners will receive $2,500 for First Place, $1,500 for Second Place and $500 for Third Place. As a condition for accepting one of these awards, all three winners of the additional stipends must agree to showcase and formally present their online courses at the 2007 CVC/@ONE/CCC Confer Online Teaching Conference (OTC) on June 11-12 at Ohlone College. CVC will pay the winning presenter’s travel and lodging expenses for the OTC. The First Place winner also agrees to submit the winning course for consideration by the MERLOT International Conference (MIC) Planning Committee as a possible presentation at the next MIC in summer 2007. If the MIC Planning Committee accepts the presentation, CVC will pay the presenter’s travel and lodging expenses for the MIC.CVC will assist the three winners in preparing digital videos or PowerPoint presentations of their courses. Those will be made available on the Web to other faculty who may be interested. The reports from all ten projects that were funded in January 2007 will also be made available through the CVC Website's Online Learning Exchange (OLÉ) to interested persons. The CVC Online Education Awards Program is designed to stimulate and foster the development of shareable online teaching materials within the California Community College System. We would like to encourage all CCC faculty members who are developing new online courses or improving existing courses to submit a proposal for funding consideration. The deadline is December 8, 2006. Click on the headline for more details and an online application form.

New WebCT Features Available Upon Request!

Learning something new can be loads of fun! Recently we installed some new features for WebCT/Blackboard. If you'd like to try them out, read the following message from Chris Palmarini! * * * As you know, a significant WebCT upgrade was installed recently. While this upgrade included many minor bug fixes, it also included a number of new features and enhancements. Because these new features were installed mid-semester, they have been disabled by default, so as to avoid confusion for course designers and students. However, if you are interested in incorporating any of the new features listed below, please send an email to Chris Palmarini and include the following information: - Which features to enable - Course(s) in which to enable the new features Specifically, you may request any of the following items be enabled for your course: - Blog & Journal Discussions - Discussion Peer Review - Goals tool - Grading Forms tool - Roster tool Thanks! Chris P.

Managing Your Inbox!

From a company called "43 Folders," some sane and helpful advice about keeping your e-mail inbox in line. The goal: what the company calls "Inbox Zero." 

Visitors!

Thursday afternoon, October 19, we welcomed our two representatives from WebCT/Blackboard who presented what's new in Application Pack 1. Rolf and Phil talked with about a dozen WebCT users in all during the two presentations. New features now available are internal class blogs, journals, and student and instructor profiles (which can include pictures and other information). If you're a WebCT user, contact Dave Stephens or Chris Palmarini and request the feature you're interested in if you'd like to experiment a bit!

Call for Presenters: Online Teaching Conference 2007

The 2007 Online Teaching Conference, "Going for the Gold: Achieving Excellence in Online Education" is sponsored by CVC, @ONE, CCC Confer, and CCCSAT in partnership with Ohlone College, June 11-12, 2007, Ohlone College in Fremont, California or online. The Online Teaching Conference committee welcomes you to share your knowledge and experience with California Community College faculty and staff by becoming a presenter. Deadline for submitting your proposal is 5:00 pm WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23 (the day before Thanksgiving Day). Two keynote presentations:

• "E-Learning: On the Right Track to a Successful Future," featuring Jim Farmer, Chairperson, Instructional Might and Magic, Georgetown University, and former VP of Information Technology, Los Rios Community College District.
• "The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of DE (as told by the Ancient Geeks)," featuring Dan Barnett, Chair, Distance Education Committee at Butte College and CETC Ambassador, and Patricia James Hanz, Dean of Academic Success and Technology, Mt. San Jacinto College.

Avoiding the Cookie Monster: A WebCT Quick Tip

When you log into WebCT/Blackboard, the software places a "cookie" on your computer, a little file that tells WebCT to require that you log in again after 90 minutes of inactivity. But sometimes, when I'm working with my courses, I want to leave everything in place while I eat dinner or watch Battlestar Galactica. To avoid having to log in again, go to the Mail area and check the box labeled "auto-refresh." Then leave WebCT up and running with the Inbox visible in your browser. Every few seconds the auto-refresh function will "click" on the page while you are away. When you return, WebCT will be ready and waiting. (Be sure not to do this on a lab or public computer, of course, but do try this at home!)

WebCT Bug Fix & Update to Application Pack 1

Hi, everyone, Several important issues. Please read the entire message because this may affect you and your students! UPDATE AND BUG FIX PLANNED FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2006 FROM 10 P.M. WEDNESDAY NIGHT UNTIL 6 A.M. THURSDAY MORNING We are planning to have WebCT install a major update and bug fix the night of Wednesday, October 11, beginning at 10 p.m. Pacific Time. The installation and testing may take up to 8 hours (from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. Thursday morning). It's never convenient to do this kind of installation in the middle of a week (or a semester), but we're doing so so we can be fully staffed Thursday morning to handle any difficulties that may arise. We're writing in advance to alert you and to try to anticipate any significant consequences. Since all of us are using WebCT differently, we don't know if or how you and your students may be inconvienced. If this looks like a major problem (WebCT unavailable Wednesday night at 10 until Thursday morning at 6) please write to Chris Palmarini (PalmariniCh@butte.edu ) or me (BarnettDa@butte.edu ) right away. We've spent several weeks working with WebCT and looking at the update and bug fixes, and it appears there is good reason to do the installation now rather than waiting until the end of the semester. Though new features will become available, we will turn them off until you are ready to explore them. WebCT will look and feel pretty much exactly as it does now and you can simply ignore any new choices you may find in operating your courses on a daily basis. WEBCT REPRESENTATIVE WILL BE ON CAMPUS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19 TO DEMONSTRATE NEW FEATURES NOW AVAILABLE AND TO ANSWER QUESTIONS Our WebCT representatives will be on campus Thursday, October 19 to demonstrate the new features we are installing so you can decide whether they will be useful to you for next semseter. They will be in LRC 222 with a presentation at 1 p.m. and a duplicate at 2 p.m. We are hoping to record the presentation and stream it for those who are unable to attend because of scheduling difficulties. This is your opportunity to talk with someone from WebCT who wants to answer any questions and hear any issues you may have with the software. If you can't attend in person, please send your questions along. (Incidentally, the update involves no additional cost to the campus.) NAME CHANGE WebCT is now part of Blackboard, Inc. and the company is fast-tracking a name change from WebCT to Blackboard Learning System (we'll probably end up calling it just "Blackboard"). Nothing will change except the name, but during the transition you'll notice that even though we will keep the WebCT name for this semester the online help will begin referring to "Blackboard." We know there may be some confusion about this so please direct any questions or comments to me. Thanks for being a part of the expanding number of WebCT/Blackboard users at Butte College! Cheerily, Dan

"WebCT" Becomes "Blackboard Learning System"

Blackboard has completed its acquisition of WebCT and will begin "rebranding" our flagship Butte College learning management system. In the next few weeks and months the name "WebCT" will disappear in favor of "Blackboard Learning System." The actual WebCT software will remain the same, though online help files, links on our Butte College home page and elsewhere, and printed materials will take on the new Blackboard Learning System name. As we make this naming transition, it's likely that references to "Blackboard Learning System" in our materials and presentations will be shortened to "Blackboard." The reference is still to our WebCT product, not to the Blackboard software (also from the same company) used at other schools. Our guess is that Blackboard Learning System (= WebCT) will be the software the company markets to educational institutions, with the current Blackboard software (used on other campuses) eventually targeted at corporate clients. In the meantime, WebCT becomes BLS!

Do You Have WebCT "Work in Progress"?

Are you using WebCT this semester as a place to store your syllabus and other documents for your face-to-face course? If so, please note that unless you have specifically asked that students be blocked from accessing the course, they are free to log in and see your "work in progress." The course creation form that you submitted in order to get a WebCT shell specified that the course would be available to students on the first day of class (unless you checked other options). Some of you may not yet be ready to have students access your WebCT course. If you'd like to block them from doing so, please contact Chris Palmarini (895-2988) or Dave Stephens (895-2964). They'll change the settings so students can only access your course when suitable course materials are available to them. Thanks so much for your understanding, and your patience. We are serving thousands of students through WebCT and more than a hundred faculty and we want to make your experience with the new version a good one!

What is CETC?

Imagine it's your birthday. The food has been delicious and now the festive spirit is giving way to a sense of anticipation. There before you is a big box, wrapped with care, light as a feather. You know what's inside but that doesn't lessen the excitement. Off comes the paper and those around you ooh and ahh as you reach inside the box to reveal ... Now here's where your imagination has to go into overdrive. Imagine what's inside are tools--not socket wrenches or electric potato peelers or gardening snips--but electronic tools. Tools that can enrich your teaching, help you make better contact with your students, give you a better understanding of some of the new technologies being deloved all around us. Imagine all these tools are easy to learn and free to use. You've just imagined CETC, the California Educational Technology Collaborative. As its name suggests, it brings together a number of technologies freely available from the California Community College Chancellor's Office. And to make sense of it all, on many campuses CETC Ambassadors are available as resource guides and brainstorming partners. I'm the CETC Ambassador here at Butte College and I invite you to join the fun in thinking about if (and how) some of these tools might work for you. Clicking on the title of this post will take you to the CETC project page, lovingly designed by our own Sandoval Chagoya here at Butte. Here's a brief sampling: CCCConfer offers you a quick and easy way to set up phone conference calls with your students and is entirely free to them. Last semester I used the system to hold informal half-hour chats with students during evening times. I wandered through the house, relaxed and with my phone headset on, while I talked with students who were in Chico, the Bay Area, and Atlanta. Cool! What can we do that's cool for you? Write me by clicking here and we can chat!

Interested in Creating and Teaching an Online Course?

Our campus has adopted a new version of WebCT which simplifies course design and enhances student access. If you're not familiar with the new features of WebCT Campus Edition 6 (such as discussion grading and easier grade book navigation), you may want to explore some of the demos on the WebCT site here.

Before you begin the process, please consult with your entire department. It is important that any curricular changes be discussed within the department since such changes often have implications beyond an individual instructor.

What's the difference between a fully online and a hybrid course? A fully online course replaces 100% of the regular classroom seat time with work on the Internet; a hybrid course also replaces some of the regular classroom seat time, but less than 100%. (Note that face-to-face classes that may sometimes meet in computer labs are not considered online courses.)

THREE STEPS

It's expected that the following three steps will be completed before you will be able to teach your online course. The steps can be completed in any order.

1. Approval by the Curriculum Committee of the new Course Outline or modification of an existing Course Outline to take into account Internet modalities. The Curriculum Committee looks very favorably upon applications in which Steps 2 and 3 are already being pursued. For Curriculum Committee dates and procedures, click here.

2. Completion of the Certified Online Instructor Training (COIT) offered through the WebCT Learning Institute. You'll be able to work on creating your course as part of the training. Click here to sign up.

3. Authorization by the Distance Education Committee that your individudal course meets Technical Approval Standards dealing with accessibility, communication, assessment, navigation, and design. The DE Committee does not evaluate you as an instructor or the content of your course. Instead, the Committee will ask you to provide a 30-minute demonstration of the course you have built to ensure that it contains appropriate communication, navigation, and information resources (such as a syllabus, a list of assignments and due dates, and a link to the WebCT Support Desk).

TIMING

Since each of the three steps is independent of the other two, you can pursue them in any order. But certification training, course development, and securing the appropriate approvals can become a somewhat lengthy process. Give yourself at least a semester (preferably two) before the course is scheduled the first time. Work closely with the Curriculum Committee, the Distance Education Committee, and your department chair to develop a timeline for completion of the three steps.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

• I've taught online courses for other schools. Is it still expected that I complete the Certified Online Instructor Training?
• Answer: Yes.

• I've completed the Cerro Coso Online Teaching Certificate (or equivalent at another school). Am I still expected to complete COIT?
• Answer: It depends. If you are not familiar with WebCT 6, you may also need to take the Authorized User and Tool Specialist workshops. Please contact a member of the Distance Education Committee.

• When does the Distance Education Committee meet?
• Answer: The DEC meets on an as-needed basis in an effort to coordinate with the work of the Curriculum Committee.

• What if I can't come to campus to complete the certification training? Do you offer an online version?
• Answer: The 22-hour Project-Oriented Pedagogy workshop is offered online, but the four Tool Specialist workshops (each 3 hours) and the Authorized User Sessions I & II (each 2 hours) are only offered on campus.

• I already teach a fully online course, and I'm developing a new one. Am I expected to take the training?
• Answer: According to the DEC bylaws, all current online instructors are expected to have completed the Certified Online Instructor Training within the next two years. Since part of the training involves work on your online course, it would be an ideal time to complete COIT.

Mid-August Report from WLI

The WebCT Learning Institute (WLI) at Butte College would like to commend those who took advantage of the suite of training workshops first offered at the end of last semester. By mid-August, 105 had completed both Authorized User Sessons I & II. To date, four 3-hour Tool Specialist workshops (given multiple times throughout the summer) have also been offered, and we are grateful to those who have completed them:

• Course Management - 54
• Communications Tools - 43
• Assessments - 45
• Assignments - 32
• Completed all - 23

Thank you all for your participation, especially during the busy vacation time! If you haven't yet taken any WLI training, or you want to sign up for future Tool Specialist workshops, please click on the headline link to go to the WLI signup page. We'd love to hear from you!

Planning for a Plagiarized Future

The link in the headline leads to a fairly elaborate tutorial, from the University of South Florida, on the difference between plagiarism and paraphrasing, and the long-term consequences of what the site calls "the fraud of plagiarism." (Warning: the site features some rather loud background music which can be muted once the page has loaded.) Butte College's own Center for Academic Success has workshops on avoiding plagiarism, and an article in the e-journal "Innovate" links to other anti-plagiarism tutorials. At the beginning of a new semester there is something else that we faculty might want to consider. We already know that some plagiarized sentences in student papers can be found with a simple Google search, but what about those students who use the work of others who have taken the class previously or who are in another section? Here's a suggestion.

• First, install free desktop search software. For example, the Copernic desktop search software is free to use (there are also paid versions) and quick to download. Once installed, it indexes all the documents in your Documents folder, including the text contained in Word and PDF documents.
• Next, create a folder on your hard drive called, for examples, "Papers." Create subfolders for each semester and then, at the start of the semester, resolve to keep an electronic copy of all student-submitted papers in the appropriate folders. Even those instructors who like to grade printed copies can also ask students to turn in electronic versions. These papers form the database that the desktop search software will index.

If you suspect a phrase has been lifted from an earlier paper, simply type it in the search window. Within half a second all such word strings will show up in the search results and you can go right to the older paper with just a click. If you're faithful in keeping the database of papers over time, you'll also be able to see how your assignments have changed (or not changed), and how your present and past students have addressed the issues you've presented. It's a great process to stimulate self-reflection.

Put Warranty Expiration Dates into Outlook Calendar

Add this to the "why didn't I think of that?" list. The free Woody's Office Watch newsletter (the link in the heading takes you to the general info page) quotes a correspondent who says when he buys an electronic device or appliance he enters the warranty expiration date into the Outlook calendar. Of course, you could do this with any calendar program. That way, he says, he is sure not to pay for repairs within the warranty. You can do a simple search to find the product name and its warranty expiration date, and even set a warning in most calendar programs to alert you days or weeks in advance. Neat!

TMI Symposium

An invitation to the Butte College community! Please accept our invitation to join us for the TMI Symposium from 8:00 a.m. till Noon this Friday, August 11, in AHPS 131. There'll be refreshments and valuable prizes awarded to attendees! If you can't stay for the whole time, feel free to drop in on sessions that interest you.

TMI stands for "Technology Mediated Instruction" and includes not just distance education (online and telecourses) but smart classrooms, iTunes U (more about that in a moment) and all uses of WebCT.

We're planning for a fun and relaxed time as we meet person-to-person to show you what the campus has to offer. I think it's safe to say that if you stay the whole time you'll come away with some fresh ideas and some really usable and helpful information.

Here's the schedule:

TMI Symposium - a personal look at learning technologies now available from Butte College

Friday, 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, AHPS 131

Refreshments!

8:00 - 9:00 AM - WebCT Campus Edition 6

Hosted by Dave Stephens and Chris Palmarini (WebCT Learning Institute).

An overview of some powerful new features now available, WebCT training to match your need, and some surprises even for those familiar with the new version of WebCT!

9:00 - 10:00 AM - iTunes U

Hosted by Jerry Garcia (Technology Training Center) with special guest Jarrod Wyrick from Apple Computer.

This week Butte College officially became an iTunes U school, along with UC Berkeley and Stanford, giving us the ability to distribute class lectures, campus walking tours, sports highlights, documentaries and other information through the popular iTunes application, downloadable to any computer and playable on portable mp3 devices (such as Apple's iPod). Think of iTunes U as another way to give students access to vital information about your class or the school. Jerry and Jarrod will show how simple it is to create materials for iTunes U.

10:00 - 11:00 AM - Broadcast and Electronic Services

Hosted by Jack Lemley (Director of B&ES).

Learn about smart classrooms, video production, interactive television, and television services from the people making it happen. You'll find ways to enhance your classroom teaching and meet some very helpful folks.

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM - Web 2.0

Hosted by Dan Barnett (TMI Coordinator)

A revolution is happening on the Internet. The Web is not just for searching anymore, but it now offers word processors, spreadsheets, calendars and lots more within your browser. You'll see some of the most interesting free tools that you and your students can use right now. Plus, for setting just the right background mood for grading papers, you'll see how to set up a free radio station playing only the music you like.

Please plan to join us this Friday morning! If you'd like to guarantee a seat, contact Melissa Ward (WardMe@butte.edu) and she'll make a reservation.

Cheerily,

Dan Barnett

Jack Lemley

Wikipedia Butte College

Wikipedia hasn't yet become a verb as "google" has, but maybe it won't be long. An article in the July 31, 2006 issue of The New Yorker (not, alas, available online) tells the story of this strange encyclopedia put together by a community where thousands of Wikipedians around the world have contributed more than a million entries. A "wiki" is a collaborative Website where just about anyone can add or edit material. The Wikipedia, for better or worse, is more and more often the first stop for student researchers. There is plenty of reason to be wary of its offerings; writer Stacy Schiff calls it "a lumpy work in progress." Nevertheless, when Schiff "showed the Harvard philosopher Hilary Putnam his entry, he was surprised to find it as good as the one in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He was flabbergasted when he learned how Wikipedia worked. 'Obviously, this was the work of experts,' he said." It turns out that Butte College has a short entry in the Wikipedia, but it's just a sentence. Perhaps we need someone (like you?) who knows the history of the school to enrich the article. After all, a Wikipedia worth its salt, with articles on (again quoting Schiff) "the Boston molasses disaster, the Rhinoceros Party of Canada, Bill Gates's house, the forty-five-minute Anglo-Zanzibar War, or Islam in Iceland," ought to do justice to Butte College. Click on the title of this post (if you haven't already) and it will take you to the Wikipedia entry for the school. Setting up free access is easy. It's the writing that will seem strange. At any moment someone may come along and edit what you've said. But then you can edit what that person writes. Be brave.

What is TMI?

"TMI" is short for "Technology Mediated Instruction." It includes technology related to distance education, of course, but also the tools that, when properly used, can enrich our classroom instruction. For some of us, "TMI" also stands for "too much information!" So rather than send frequent announcements about TMI through the campus e-mail system, we've developed this blog. You can bookmark the site or even choose to be notified when there are new postings. We'd be grateful if you checked back every once in awhile. You might find something helpful here!