Accessibility Tips for Effective Teaching and Learning

Ensure that your online course materials, teaching and learning activities, and assessments are accessible for all learners.

Join experts from around the country to learn about the future of video player accessibility, creating accessible PDFs, captioning and tips for generating accessible web content in these complimentary webinars hosted by 3Play Media.

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April 22, 2PM ET - The Future of Video Player Accessibility

In this webinar, developers from YouTube/Google, JW Player, Video.js, and University of Washington will come together to discuss video player accessibility. We will discuss the current capabilities, known shortcomings, and plans for future development. 

April 30, 2PM ET - Creating Accessible PDFs with Acrobat: Requirements, Implementation, and Evaluation

This webinar will walk you through the requirements for PDF accessibility and how to provide textual alternatives for visual elements. Explore various Acrobat tools that will make accessibility implementation as simple as possible.

May 7, 2PM ET - Quick Start to Captioning

Learn the basics of how to add closed captions or subtitles to make your videos fully accessible, searchable, and SEO-friendly. Register for this webinar to learn about accessibility laws and compliance,how to create closed captions,getting the right caption format and more. 

May 21, 2PM ET - 10 Tips for Creating Accessible Web Content

In this webinar, Janet Sylvia, the Digital Media Professional Specialist and leader of the Web Accessibility Group at University of Georgia, will walk you through 10 tips for creating accessible websites following the international standard WCAG 2.0.

SoftChalk Short Courses now available!

Do you want to learn more about specific features of SoftChalk Cloud and Create? Then these Short Courses are perfect for you! These live, one-hour webinars include a presentation and examples, as well as an opportunity for you to ask questions and receive assistance from the instructor.



Upcoming Short Courses in April

• An Overview of SoftChalk Cloud
• An Overview of SoftChalk Create
• TextPoppers, Images and Hyperlinks
• Navigation Features and Sidebars
• Embedded Media
• Interactive Learning Activities: The Presentation Group
• Interactive Learning Activities: The Scoring Group
• Quizzes, Quiz Groups and SoftChalk ScoreCenter

Visit our Short Courses page for details and register today!

Engaging Lessons with EdPuzzle

Recently, I was in a course review and an instructor was sharing her course (Amy Wernette) and she showed us lessons she created in SoftChalk, but also a tool she used called EdPuzzle.

EdPuzzle, provides instructors with a great tool to edit videos to keep students engage. EdPuzzle allows you to create interactive points in a lesson and engages the student in the content area being delivered. The features of EdPuzzle can be mastered quickly and both students and instructors can benefits from it's use.

An article from EdTechReview gives backs up the claim of boosting engagement with students.

There is even a mobile app for it. So try it out!!!

KCTCS Teaching & Learning Institute

KCTCS Teaching & Learning Institute

Change: The Next Generation

Somerset Registration Extended – Deadline Feb. 11

Owensboro Registration Now Open 

Join us for the spring KCTCS Teaching & Learning Institute as we share expertise and best practices. Together we can successfully progress through change!

This institute’s focus is Change: The Next Generation – Building on Past Success to Address the Future (the impact of internal and external changes on colleges in near future).

Locations: This is a regional institute. You may attend any of the following campuses locations:

Somerset      February 13 (registration closes February 11)   Register

Owensboro    March 6 (registration closes March 1)  Register

Big Sandy      April 10 (registration not open yet)

Integrate Action Mapping in eLearning Courses

eLearning professionals are always looking for ways to keep the eLearning course design process well organized and as productive as possible, even if this may seem like a next to impossible feat in some cases. The great news is that there is a technique you can employ to identify your learning goals and to develop interactive eLearning experiences that go beyond mere virtual presentations. This technique is known as Action Mapping.

Read more on how to Integrate Action Mapping in eLearning Courses from eLearning Industry.

Basic Blackboard Training Session

A follow-up to the Basic Blackboard Training session held on November 14, 2014, will continue with a session scheduled for December 15, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon, on the Hazard Campus, JCC (Jolly Classroom Center) Room 110. If you did not get to attend the session in November, and interested in learning more about Blackboard, you are encouraged to attend. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend.

Blackboard Extended Maintenance – Bb Learn Update and New Features

KCTCS eLearning (Blackboard) will be unavailable Friday, December 19, at 8:00 PM ET through Sunday, December 21, 8:00 PM ET for general maintenance and upgrade to the latest version of Blackboard.

The latest version of Blackboard is installed on a staging server and is available for testing. The URL is https://kctcs-stage.blackboard.com. Please use your KCTCS credentials to login to test the new features. When you first access the staging environment, you will see a module on the left that lists a description of the new features with links to help documents and videos. There is also a place on the portal to submit any issues you find with the latest release of Blackboard. See the module titled “Report a Bug or Request a Feature” to email eLearning Services.

Learn on Demand: If you are teaching a Learn on Demand course during this time, you may need to adjust dates on assignments, tests, etc. or make other accommodations for students to successfully complete. It is recommended that you download your grade center before the system is taken offline for quick access (if needed). You are welcome to archive your course as well if you’d like. But, please remember to delete the course archive after you download it to your computer as it can take up a lot of space.

Prepare for Spring: Here are a few reminders as you prepare for the spring semester.

• All Blackboard functional questions, technical support, and performance issues should be reported to Bb Technical Support at 1-866-590-9238 or http://bbcrm.edusupportcenter.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=8158
• Please provide tech support with as much detail as possible. Helpful details include:
• Course ID:
• Student ID:
• Operating system, browser & version:
• Concise problem statement:
• Steps to reproduce:
• Results:
• Expected results:
• Be sure to check out the Known Issues (located in Blackboard) for common problems https://elearning.kctcs.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/Blackboard/KnownIssues.pdf

• To ensure you are using a Blackboard certified or compatible browser, please visit KCTCS browser information page located at: http://elearning.kctcs.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/Blackboard/SupportedBrowsersLearn9.1.pdf
• Review the “Beginning of Semester” check list on KOLTS
• It is your responsibility to open the course to students. You can do this at any time prior to the course start date. Click here for instructions.
• Course Duration should not be changed, doing so will remove the course from students’ Blackboard page. This setting should remain on Continuous.
• Login to your course(s) with your student account to verify the class is functioning as you intended.
• Use the “Add Test Student” tool to add (and remove) your student account in a class, and reset your student password. Click here for instructions.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we continue to improve the KCTCS eLearning experience.

eLearning Services
KCTCS

December Short Courses now available! Register today!

SoftChalk Short Courses now available! Do you want to learn more about specific features of SoftChalk Cloud and Create?  Then these Short Courses are perfect for you! These live, one-hour webinars  include a presentation and examples, as well as an opportunity for you to ask  questions and receive assistance from the instructor. Upcoming Short Courses in December An Overview of SoftChalk Cloud An Overview of SoftChalk Create TextPoppers, Images and Hyperlinks Navigation Features and Sidebars Embedded Media Interactive Learning Activities: The Presentation Group Interactive Learning Activities: The Scoring Group Quizzes, Quiz Groups and SoftChalk ScoreCenter Visit our Short Courses page for details and register today! We look forward to seeing you in class! The SoftChalk Team www.softchalk.com www.softchalkcloud.com Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter

Connected Learning

Is Social Media really destroying our Social Skills or giving us new more effective ways of communicating and expressing ourselves?

The headlines are legion, the sentiment, widespread: “Why Social Media is Destroying Our Social Skills” (USA Today). “Evidence Grows That Online Social Networks Have Insidious Negative Effects” (MIT Technology Review).

The rise of social media, many fear, is ruining authentic interpersonal relationships. No amount of social media, we are repeatedly told, can ever equal face-to-face interaction.

Social networking has altered our very vocabulary.  And it’s not just a matter of “tweets.” Consider such words as “like” or “follower” or “network” or “hashtag” or “endorsements” or the verb “friend.”

Face-to-face interaction, long upheld as the gold standard of social connection, has increasingly been supplanted by social media as the dominant way that the young interact and communicate and develop social competencies.

Read more...

Professors’ Place in the Classroom Is Shifting to the Side

Professors have long made assumptions about their place in the classroom.

They have seen themselves as the experts whose job is to transmit a body of knowledge, typically through a lecture. Students are there to absorb content. If they fail, it’s their fault.

The lecture hall expresses that dynamic physically. Seats—sometimes hundreds of them—are arranged in raked rows facing a spot for the professor who, like the featured act in a show, is the only one in the room doing anything worth paying attention to. After years of exhortations for faculty members to become guides on the side instead of sages on stage, those assumptions are shifting, and they carry consequences that could be significant for professors and students.

Read more from the Chronicle...

Prompts to Help Students Reflect on How They Approach Learning

One of the best gifts teachers can give students are the experiences that open their eyes to themselves as learners. Most students don’t think much about how they learn. Mine used to struggle to write a paragraph describing the study approaches they planned to use in my communication courses. However, to be fair, I’m not sure I had a lot of insights about my learning when I was a student. Did you?

As fall courses start to wind down, it’s an apt time for reflection. Here are some pithy (I hope) prompts that might motivate students to consider their beliefs about learning. The prompts ask about learning in a larger, more integrated sense, and also challenge students to analyze the effectiveness of their approach to learning.

Read more...

The Quest for Critical Thinking

The Quest for Critical Thinking

Tuesday, September 23, 2014 2:00:00 PM EDT - 3:00:00 PM EDT

Few phrases are bandied about as much in higher education circles. These days as “critical thinking” is. Professors say they teach it; politicians and people hiring graduates say they want to see it. But it is difficult to define with precision. Perhaps as a result, colleges mean different things when they use the phrase and when they evaluate their courses and programs to consider whether they are teaching critical thinking.

Join Inside Higher Ed editors Scott Jaschik and Doug Lederman for a            lively discussion on these issues in a free webinar. Before attending the webinar, we invite you to download our free booklet, The Quest for Critical Thinking, a compilation of articles and opinion essays from Inside Higher Ed offering a range of ideas and perspectives, at www.insidehighered.com/booklets. The Quest for Critical Thinking booklet and webinar are made possible in part by the support of ETS. Your registration information will be shared with the company. Captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing is provided by CaptionAccess for all Inside Higher Ed webinars. Transcripts available upon request.

 Register Now 

Building Community and Creating Relevance in the Online Classroom

Remember feeling nervous before starting your first day on the job? You may have experienced butterflies in your stomach, had questions about expectations, or concerns about learning the rules and finding information. Students feel the same way with a new professor, regardless if the class is face-to-face or online. With technology, you can reduce new-class jitters and get your students on track for success.

According to Jose Antonio Bowen, author of Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning, students are comfortable (and even expect) constant e-communication. One could even argue that they crave it. You can provide this kind of communication to your online students via a weekly announcement that shares course expectations, class rules, and how to access vital course documents. Moreover, weekly e-communication to students can provide you with an extra opportunity to create connectivity in your classroom.

Read more...

Collaborate Mobile 2.0 Beta – Testers Wanted!

We are kicking off the Collaborate Mobile 2.0 Beta program next week and are looking for a focused group of participants. Please register here if you would like to participate.

What’s in 2.0

Collaborate Mobile v2.0 will have some added features and a fresh look and feel. Users will be able to:

• Transmit and Receive Video
• Participate in a Web Tour
• Receive Multimedia Library Content (audio and video files pushed by the moderator)
• Participate in Private and Group Chat

Program Dates: 

• What? The Beta program is currently scheduled to kick off on Thursday, September 4^th and will conclude Thursday, Oct 9th.  We will only meet during the kickoff, but testing will be continuous with weekly surveys to analyze feedback. Please register through this link-https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QG3LLGD.
• Who? Collaborate users, specifically Faculty and Students. A limited number of both iOS and Android participants will be selected. We will reach out directly to those who are eligible to participate
• What's the time commitment? Participants are expected to participate in weekly surveys to give feedback on experience
• Requirements: The Beta programs require signature of a Beta Agreement by the institution. This agreement will be distributed before kickoff.

Additional questions? - Email marissa.dimino@blackboard.com

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Get Involved! Thank you for being a part of the BIE and helping make Blackboard the best it can be! If you know someone at your institution who may want to participate in any of these activities, please forward this email to them! If this email was forwarded to you and you'd like to receive BIE communications directly, please register here. Stay in touch @Blackboard.

Improve Accessibility in Tomorrow’s Online Courses by Leveraging Yesterday’s Techniques

Over the past year or so, federal regulations have tightened concerning ADA accommodations in online classes. The attachment is courtesy of Faculty Focus, and discuses some options you might consider while building a new class or that you might incorporate into your existing class.

Traditionally, when a face-to-face student requested a sign language interpreter or other assistance, individualized accommodation arrangements were made through institutional channels.

With the advent of online courses, however, the concept of accessibility has emerged. In contrast to the reactive, customized approach of accommodation, accessibility means proactively identifying and removing as many barriers to instruction as possible—before a course is ever opened for registration.

While some argue that building in accessibility is prohibitively expensive, recent lawsuits are driving more and more institutions to view accessibility as a requirement rather than a luxury. Unfortunately, making an online course accessible is tough—unless you’re familiar with traditional print techniques.

By federal regulations, we are required to provide accommodation for eligible students. 

Read more at Faculty Focus

(http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/improve-accessibility-tomorrows-online-courses-leveraging-yesterdays-techniques/#sthash.q2wBeHUn.dpuf)

Fall 2014 DL Update

I know you all have been so busy and many of you have online classes that begin on Monday; but I just wanted to update you on a couple of items.

Personnel

Some Personnel changes in the DL unit for this academic year. Brad Roberts will continue to support Jackson; Natasha Watts is new and will support all campuses; and Mindy Walters is new and will support Hazard, Knott, and Leslie. Bear with us as our new folks learn their new job responsibilities. Paul Currie, Laura Brashear, and Wendy Davidson are in different roles and will not be supporting DL this academic year, so please direct all questions to Brad, Natasha, Mindy, or myself.

Course Certifications

All online courses will be going through the course certification process this academic year. You will have a DL Mentor who can assist you in the design and delivery process. A schedule of courses will be created and you will be contacted about the process.

ADA

ADA and Section 508 will begin to take focus this year with online classes. An ADA checklist will be developed and shared with faculty who teach online.

Other Reminders

Be sure to have specific and detailed Course Calendar with due dates in your course at the beginning. This allows your students to know exactly what is expected and when! Review your syllabus, be sure to include course components, grading criteria with total scores. And finally, add a final grade column to your course and add grades a few days before you post them in PeopleSoft. This allows for any questions to be resolved before grades are officially submitted.

Blackboard Tips

·         Copy/paste in ANY form doesn’t work in Firefox unless you paste into Word first, then copy/paste into FF. Copy/Paste is working in IE but you “might” experience issues with drop down menu selection boxes when working in Grade Center.

·         When importing, if you receive an error with a red bar across the screen, your import really has failed. Wait a few seconds and try again.

If you receive the orange bar & the green bar, then the import has started and you need to wait until it completes. If you receive an email that it has failed, ignore the email. It only reports a failure because it was unable to associate a creator username for a couple of the links in the template and bulletin board.

·         If you create an export file, do NOT select calendar. Make sure Course Calendar is selected (if you have that content folder) but Calendar is further down the list and may cause numerous errors to appear in the notification email that is automatically generated by Bb to signal that the process has completed.

SoftChalk 9 is now available!!

For those that are interested in creating lessons for your online courses or you have used SoftChalk in the past, SoftChalk 9 is now available. In Blackboard, click eResources, then Software Support on the sub horizontal menu. Check out softchalk at http://softchalk.com/

Course Availability
Most imperative, please do not forget to make your class available before 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning. It is the instructor’s responsibility to open the course to students. You can do this at any time prior to the course start date. To make your course available to students from the Control Panel within your course expand Customization then click Properties; change the Course Availability option to Yes and submit the page. Your course is now open to students. NOTE: You should not change the options under Course Duration. Doing so will remove the course from students Blackboard page. This setting should remain set as Continuous.

KCTCS eMail

Please remember to check your KCTCS eMail daily. The KCTCS eMail is the official communication tool for KCTCS and when corresponding with student about official and academic content the KCTCS eMail should be used by the instructor and by the student.

Test Proctoring

If you are planning on having test proctoring in your courses, remember it is recommended that you have only 1 test proctored, two with rationale. Make sure you contact Ella Strong who can add you to the test repository so all your proctoring information can be loaded.

Recertification for Faculty

In the next academic year a faculty recertification will be released for all faculty to complete. This will not be as extensive as the full faculty certification but will include updated materials, syllabus items, etc.

Technical Issues

Just a reminder to contact the Blackboard Helpdesk for all Blackboard functional questions, technical support, and performance issues at our help desk site: https://bbcrm.edusupportcenter.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=8158 or 1-866-590-9238.

And last but not least, KCTCS has installed Blackboard Analytics. 

Blackboard Analytics is a tool used to report student activity, engagement as well as inform about course design and development. Four course reports are available for all KCTCS instructors within the Control Panel > Evaluation >  Course Analytics in your Blackboard course.

Please join us in August as KCTCS and the Office for Professional Development and Innovation hosts regional Teaching & Learning with Technology Workshops! The workshops will be held at 3 locations across the state and will offer the same sessions to ensure consistent information is shared among all faculty and staff. During lunch you'll be able to participate in roundtable discussions and visit with partners and vendors of educational technology and products. Whether you teach online, on-campus, or a combination, you are sure to find sessions that will spark creative ideas for your courses.

You will be able to participate in a morning and afternoon workshop. During registration, you will select your workshops as space is limited for each. First come / first served.

View the workshop schedule

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 today!

Aug. 1 @ Big Sandy Community and Technical College (Prestonsburg Campus)
Aug. 4 @ Somerset Community College
Aug. 8 @ Hopkinsville Community College

Register now as space is limited!

Partners and Vendors will be set up throughout the day for you to visit with!

Active Learning Strategies That Push Students Beyond Memorization

Those who teach in the health disciplines expect their students to retain and apply every iota of learned material. However, many students come to us having achieved academic success by memorizing the content, regurgitating that information onto an exam, and promptly forgetting a good portion of it. In health, as well as other disciplines where new material builds upon the material from the previous semesters, it is critical for students to retain what they learn throughout their coursework and as they begin their careers as a nurse, engineer, elementary teacher, etc.

So, how do we get students to retain this knowledge? Read about three active learning strategies for pushing students beyond simple memorization. 

Using Your Syllabus as a Learning Resource

This article from Faculty Focus describes how to approach your syllabus in a different way, as a learning resource since many students do not fully read the syllabus. Tired of asking students to “read the syllabus for that information,” this author decided a number of years ago to incorporate a syllabus into each class meeting as a learning resource. Three strategies have proven quite successful. 

Read more...

Save the Date for the regional August 2014
Teaching & Learning with Technology Institutes

Planning is underway for an awesome learning experience.

We look forward to seeing you in August

• August 1 @ Big Sandy (Prestonsburg Campus)
• August 4 @ Somerset
• August 8 @ Hopkinsville

Watch for more information soon!