Bb Managed Hosting

The move to Blackboard Managed Hosting is scheduled for Monday, July 29, 12:01 a.m. ET through Thursday, August 18 a.m. ET.  Blackboard will be unavailable to students and faculty during this time.

Please plan accordingly.  For many instructors (and particularly in online classes)  Blackboard is integral to class instruction.  Instructors should  communicate with their students about how assignments are to be completed during this time.  Options include:

• KCTCS Email.  Faculty may locate student email through the Faculty Center in Student Self-Service.  Directions available here.  Assignments may be submitted via email attachment.  Note: KCTCS email is considered a secure form of communication.  It is permissible to discuss student grades and other FERPA sensitive material using KCTCS email.
• DropBox or Cloud Storage. You can have students submit assignments via dropbox and share with you during this time. Be careful to post any FERPA or other sensitive information. Again, information should not be FERPA protected.
• Peoplesoft Roster. You can utilize the PeopleSoft to send emails to your students. If you need to add attachments, download the roster and use Outlook. 
• Blogs.  Free blogs Web site such as Blogger, allow instructors to share information as well as receive feedback from students. Again, information should not be FERPA protected.

KCTCS Teaching & Learning with Technology Fall 2013 Mini-Conference

Please join us in August as KCTCS hosts regional Teaching & Learning with Technology Mini-Conferences! The Conference will be held at 3 locations across the state to kick-off the Fall 2013 semester and will offer the same tracks and sessions to ensure consistent information is shared among all faculty and staff. Whether you teach online, on-campus, or a combination, you are sure to find sessions that will spark creative ideas for your courses.

The 4 Teaching and Learning tracks are:

Pedagogy - sessions on pedagogy include topics like Engaging Students, Learning Styles and modes of instruction

Enhancing your Existing Course - sessions in this track include tools, technology and ideas to spice up your current course

Assessments - these sessions will give you ideas and tools for improving course assessments and managing grading tools such as rubrics and online grade centers

A la Carte - this track has a variety of topics to help you manage your courses, use engaging content and go further with web 2.0 and social tools

The event is free for all KCTCS faculty and staff, but you will need to get approval from your local college for travel reimbursement.

Register now as space is limited!

Click the location to register:

Madisonville Community College – August 2: 10 am – 4:30 pm (Central)

Hazard Community & Technical College – August 8: 10 am – 4:30 pm (Eastern)

Bluegrass Community & Technical College – August 16: 10 am – 4:30 pm (Eastern)

Strategies for Improving Online Student Retention

Online student retention is one of the most critical components for the success of any college or university. The key to a successful online retention program is the realization that student retention is everybody's job. The main objective of a well-established online retention program is to maintain a student's enrollment and to keep him highly satisfied with the level of education he is acquiring in an online environment. This is not an easy task since there are many reasons why a student might need or want to withdraw or leave the program of study. Read more...