Teaching/Technology Innovation Center

Welcome back!

Course Management System Evaluation – STILL TIME FOR YOU TO PROVIDE INPUT!

Thanks to all who have responded to the CMS evaluation survey to help our task force choose between Blackboard, Moodle and Canvas. If you haven’t yet done so, please see http://miracosta.edu/cms-eval for background on the evaluation, and by this Thursday morning, faculty may complete the feedback process detailed at:

https://tic.miracosta.edu/campus-teaching-technologies/cms-evaluation-2016/cms-evaluation-2016-faculty-experience

Student Orientation to Online Learning – TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY

Two final SOOL sessions (especially for late-start online students) will be offered on 3/29 (4 pm) and 3/30 (9 am), both online.

Any instructor can now use SURF to find out which of their students have attended. Scroll to the bottom of any SURF Class Roster page, and click the “Student Orientation to Online Learning Roster” link to get a PDF showing which students attended an orientation, and on what date.

MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines

In March, the Academic Senate approved online class quality guidelines developed by the MiraCosta Online Educators committee. The document has two parts – (I) Essential elements for all distance education classes as already required in department and college policies and practices, and (II) Good practices featuring principles and examples commonly recommended for consideration in online education. Please take a look at these guidelines and use them as you “develop and redesign online classes” and to “foster conversation in departments about online instruction.”

Open Educational Resources Adoption Grant for 2016-17

MiraCosta will be submitting a grant to support the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) in 2016-17 in order to reduce course material costs for students. I’ve been in touch with a number of interested departments and faculty, but if you’d like to learn more about OER or are interested to hear more about how these funds might provide support for you and your students, please contact me.

Online Teaching Conference

MiraCosta College has been sending great groups of faculty to OTC for several years. It’s again in San Diego, June 16-17 – see the conference website for details. It’s likely that Online Education will have budget to again support attendance for a number of faculty. If you are interested, please send me an email (jjulius@miracosta.edu) letting me know which hybrid/online classes you expect to teach in summer or fall (if any), and when the last time was that you attended OTC (if ever). Likely my budget can support registration and parking/mileage, but not hotel stays.

Professional Learning Opportunities (got Flex?)

• The ASCCC is holding a regional meeting on Online Education at Glendale College on Saturday, April 9. I am happy to support faculty attendance – let me know if you are interested.
• Check out recorded archives of past Online Education workshops .
• Take @One’s free, self-paced Introduction to Teaching with Canvas if you’re curious about the Canvas course management system.

Jim Julius, Ed.D.
Faculty Director, Online Education
Vice President, Academic Senate

Course Management System Evaluation Update

The task force of faculty, staff, students, and administrators is working hard on this, and March will be a big month for getting your input. See http://miracosta.edu/cms-eval to view the 1-hour Canvas, Blackboard, and Moodle demonstration videos from Flex week, and to see details on our evaluation process. You can also learn there how to get access to Canvas, the latest Blackboard Ultra, and Moodle, if you’d like to try any of the systems out for yourself. Stay tuned for more from the task force!

Student Orientation to Online Learning Attendance Reporting

Almost 300 students have attended a Student Orientation to Online Learning this semester, bringing the total to nearly 1200 students since we began offering this two years ago. I’m very happy to announce that any instructor can now use SURF to find out which of their students have attended. When you scroll to the bottom of the Class Roster page, and click the “Student Orientation to Online Learning Roster” link, a PDF should open in a new browser tab or window with a roster showing which students attended an orientation, and on what date. If the roster doesn’t open, please ensure that it wasn’t blocked by a popup blocker. Two final SOOL sessions will be offered on 3/29 and 3/30.

Open Educational Resources Support

Recent legislation (AB 798) makes $50,000 per college available to support the development and adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) in order to reduce textbook costs to students. Support for OER is an item in the Online Education Plan, but OER, while often digital, can also be in print and can be used in any class. If you’d like to learn more about OER or are interested to hear more about how these funds might provide support for you and your students, please contact me.

TIC Resources: Now with iPad Pro!

Remember that OC 1253, the Technology/Teaching Innovation Center, includes workstations, software, and a space for faculty to work in a supportive environment. We also have laptops, netbooks, tablets, and more available for checkout, if you’d like to explore a new tool and/or check out how your online class looks on different devices. Our newest devices are two iPad Pros. Visit the Tools in the TIC webpage to learn more.

Online Education Initiative (OEI) Update

MiraCosta College is one of 24 OEI pilot colleges; two of our faculty have been actively teaching OEI pilot classes and several others are moving toward doing so. Eight of the pilot colleges are planning to pilot the OEI Course Exchange this fall; MiraCosta at present is not slated to do so until fall of 2017. However, many resources are already available to all MiraCosta online instructors through the OEI. See the latest update from OEI’s director to learn more.

Professional Learning Opportunities (got Flex?)

• The ASCCC is holding a regional meeting on Online Education at Glendale College on Saturday, April 9. I can support faculty attendance – let me know if you are interested.
• The Online Teaching Conference is returning to San Diego this June. If you have been accepted as a presenter, please let me know! I’ll begin recruiting general faculty interest around spring break (early bird registration ends April 15).
• Are you interested in becoming a peer course reviewer for the OEI, or just learning more about the OEI course rubric? 1-day workshops are coming up, with the closest this Friday 3/4 at Orange Coast College. I can support faculty attendance – let me know if you are interested.
• The University of Central Florida is running a free, open course called Becoming a Blended Learning Designer this spring – it started a week ago so check it out!
• March 7-11 is Open Education Week with all kinds of free online presentations and learning opportunities.
• Check out recorded archives of past Online Education workshops .
• Take @One’s free, self-paced Introduction to Teaching with Canvas if you’re curious about the Canvas course management system.

– Jim

Jim Julius, Ed.D.
Faculty Director, Online Education
Vice President, Academic Senate

Spring Student Orientations to Online Learning

I will offer ten online learning orientation sessions this spring, starting on Tuesday 1/27. Please share the schedule with your online/hybrid students and encourage their attendance. AIS is nearing the completion of a SURF roster report that will make it easy to see which of your students in a given class have completed an online learning orientation and when – look for more info from me on that soon.

Online Instructors: 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. The TIC site has information on how to update your class info.

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 (under “ASK US” at upper right). These services are open to all MiraCosta students in any class! Also, the OEI has made its set of student online learning readiness modules open and available to anyone – feel free to link to any that you like.

Course Management System Evaluation this Spring

This spring, MiraCosta College will be re-evaluating its course management system. The process began with demos by representatives of Blackboard, Moodle, and Canvas last week. These demos were recorded and will soon be available online. A taskforce has been formed and will be meeting soon to guide this evaluation process – stay tuned for more details and opportunities for you to provide input.

Online Ed Tools Notes

• Through the Online Education Initiative, all online classes at MiraCosta now have free access to an online proctoring/authentication tool called Proctorio. You can learn a bit more about it here, or contact Jim Julius for more information.

Professional Learning Opportunities (got Flex?)

• Check out recorded archives of several Online Education workshops held during Flex week if you couldn’t attend live – or review archives from past semesters.
• Take @One’s new free self-paced course,  Introduction to Teaching with Canvas if you’re curious about the Canvas course management system.

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