Teaching/Technology Innovation Center

To: All faculty

All fall and summer classes are available now in Canvas for you to begin preparations. Blackboard and Moodle will no longer be options for instruction after the spring semester.

The official end of our licenses providing access to Blackboard and Moodle is June 30. Prior to that, please make sure you have extracted all content from all classes for rebuilding in Canvas.

If you have been teaching classes in Blackboard or Moodle this year, and you have the possibility of needing to work with a student after June 30 to resolve a grade dispute and/or finish an incomplete class, you’ll need to be extra-careful to retain all the records that may be important such as grade details, your feedback to the student, and so on.

If you are still learning Canvas, we have one more upcoming 4-week online Introduction to Teaching with Canvas class, starting Monday, April 23. Learn more and sign up if you’re interested.

Going forward, I will be sending a weekly countdown message with reminders, tips, and recommendations until the closure of Blackboard and Moodle.

Tip #1: Explore the many MiraCosta-specific Canvas resources available to you, including resources specifically about transitioning from Blackboard to Canvas, many of which were created by MiraCosta faculty from the Canvas Transition Team.

Jim Julius, Ed.D.
Faculty Director, Online Education

Online Academic Support Resources for ALL Students

As you finalize your syllabi and course resources, please make your students aware of online tutoring, online writing center, and the 24×7 online ask-a-librarian service. These services are open to all MiraCosta students in any class!

Preferred Name Change Form for Students

A&R has a very simple Preferred Name Change form up for students. Preferred name is the default name automatically used on class rosters and student ID cards, in class systems online (Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle), and to borrow items from the college library. This form is linked in two places on the A&R site:

• The FAQs page: http://miracosta.edu/studentservices/admissions/faqs.html
• and the forms page: http://miracosta.edu/studentservices/admissions/studentforms.html

It can be faxed or emailed to A&R so students don’t even need to come to campus. This is especially important as we transition to Canvas since unlike Blackboard, students don’t have a way to alter their first name within Canvas. So, for students who prefer to be known by a different name from their legal/formal name on record, this is a great option.

For faculty teaching at least one online/hybrid class this spring:

Spring Student Orientations to Online Learning

I will offer many online learning orientation sessions this spring – 4 for Blackboard and 9 for Canvas. Please share the schedule with your online/hybrid students and encourage their attendance. You may pull a report from the SURF Class Roster to see which of your students have attended an orientation session if you wish to require this or offer extra credit, as many instructors do. Research conducted this summer shows that over the last 3 years 72.8% of those who attended the SOOL in the same or a previous term successfully completed DE courses vs. a 64.7% DE success rate for students who have not attended a SOOL.

Please Update Online Class Schedule

For all those teaching an online or hybrid course this spring, please make sure your class description is up to date on the separate Online Class Schedule page. Students use this page to learn how to get started with your class, and you can provide other important information there to help students prepare for success. See detailed instructions if needed.

NetTutor Online Tutoring Service

In addition to eTutoring, an online tutoring option for MiraCosta distance education classes is NetTutor. Unlike eTutoring, NetTutor provides extensive coverage up to 24×7 of just about any academic subject, and is available via a link embedded within your class course management system environment (Blackboard or Canvas). The link would take students directly to the subject-specific tutoring area with no additional login required. Also with NetTutor, each instructor may specify “Rules of Engagement” that inform tutors about the approach and resources you would like them to use when working with your students. Contact me if you’re interested in NetTutor for your spring class(es).

Distance Education Requirements and Guidelines

Please review the MiraCosta online class quality guidelines. The document has two parts – (I) Essential elements for all distance education classes as already required in department and college policies (especially AP 4105 and the Syllabus Checklist), and (II) Good practices featuring principles and examples commonly recommended for consideration in online education. See also a 1-page handout and a 50-minute archive of a workshop I conducted last fall on this document.

Captioning Support

Videos shared online with students should be captioned. 3CMediaSolutions is a video storage and streaming system for California Community College faculty that provides free professional captioning as an option when you upload your media to the site. It’s a great way to manage your media and to get everything captioned. You can also work with Robert Erichsen of DSPS to submit media for captioning through a special grant-funded program. Please contact him to learn more: rerichsen@miracosta.edu

Jim Julius, Ed.D.
Faculty Director, Online Education