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!