Teaching/Technology Innovation Center

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

Course Management System Evaluation this Spring

This spring, MiraCosta College will be re-evaluating its course management system. We have been using Blackboard as our primary system for many years, as well as supporting Moodle for some faculty who prefer that system. Our new Online Education Plan includes a directive to re-evaluate these systems; further, through the statewide Online Education Initiative, we now have access to a different system called Canvas (which many California Community Colleges are now moving to) at a greatly reduced cost. Thus, faculty and administrative leaders here have agreed that it is time to conduct a thorough re-evaluation in line with our strategic goals for online education. A task force is being formed and input will be sought from as many faculty and students as possible.

To kick off the process, please consider attending demos by representatives of Blackboard, Moodle, and Canvas on Tuesday, Jan. 19 from 9:30-2:20 (come for part of the time even if you can’t be there for all of it). This has been requested as a Flex activity; lunch will be included. Stay tuned for more details.

Professional Learning Opportunities (got Flex?)

• Online Ed workshops planned for spring Flex week include online sessions on Blackboard Basics and Screencasting with TechSmith Relay; course management system demonstrations of Blackboard, Moodle, and Canvas; and an online session about the CCC Online Education Initiative. Look for these and more when the Flex calendar is released!
• This Friday from 11-12, check out a free online webinar entitled E-Learning Accessibility: Principles, Strategies, and Resources to Help Faculty Improve Teaching/Learning Online. Register in advance.
• The Online Teaching Conference will again be in San Diego this June (6/16-17). Online Education will pay for conference registrations for all MiraCosta presenters. The call for proposal deadline has been extended to this Friday, 12/18 –  submit your proposal here! Whether my office will have funds to support attendance of some or all interested non-presenting MiraCostans is dependent on how the budget looks in the spring.
• @One still has some availability in their spring online course schedule – sign up now before they fill. Or take one of their free self-paced courses, including the new Introduction to Teaching with Canvas if you’re curious about the Canvas course management system.

Spring Online Class Schedule

If you are teaching an online or hybrid spring class, please be sure to add details for each class to the MiraCosta online class schedule to help students select and get started with your class(es). Just over 50% of the spring online and hybrid classes have been updated as of this writing – if yours is not among them, please follow the directions here ASAP.

Online Ed Support During Break

The office of Online Education, including the TIC, will be open to support faculty through December 23, and will reopen on January 4, 2016.

Online Tutoring New Option for Spring

A new online tutoring option available in spring 2016 for MiraCosta students in distance education classes is NetTutor, which will be available to MiraCosta as a CCC Online Education Initiative pilot college. NetTutor provides 24×7 coverage of just about any academic subject, and is available via a link embedded within your Blackboard or Moodle class. 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. If you are interested in implementing NetTutor in any of your spring distance education classes, or would like to hear more about MiraCosta’s online tutoring options, please contact me ASAP.

VoiceThread Coming

Blackboard’s Voice Tools will be discontinued this summer. As a replacement, this spring MiraCosta will have VoiceThread available for faculty who wish to incorporate multimedia discussions into their classes. Learn more about VoiceThread, and contact me if you’re interested in trying it in the spring.

Happy holidays!

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

Please review the following key information/requests for instructors of MiraCosta spring online and/or hybrid classes:

1. Online Class Schedule – Please Update!

It’s time to update the MiraCosta Online Course Schedule. It is VERY important that you complete this. Students use this information during registration and after enrolling to find out more about your class(es). Students have been learning about this resource during the Student Orientation to Online Learning and appreciate having more details about online and hybrid classes.

Providing clear, detailed information helps students (a) determine if your class is right for them, and (b) get ready for success in your course. For fully online classes, students may be anxious about how they are expected to get started. For hybrid classes, students want to know what the expectations are for in-person meetings and/or proctoring. Please add this information! Some instructors include details such as how much time students should expect to commit, what days work will be due for online classes, and/or what course materials are required.

Lisa Lane from the Program for Online Teaching has developed a video tutorial (https://youtu.be/appOsmmRKDU) to demonstrate the process. Or follow these directions:

To Update an Online Class Information Page

1. Go to the Online Course Schedule
2. Click the Faculty Login link at the top right, and log in with your MCC username and password
3. In the left menu, click on the + symbol to the left of Faculty Preferences (if the + symbol is displaying)
4. In the left menu, click on Set Preferences (be patient, may take a few moments)
5. Select the Term if necessary, and then select your class.
6. If you have information from previous classes, you may copy it to the current class, or provide new information.
7. Click the Set/Update Preferences button at bottom. A message appears toward the top, “Your preferences have been set for this course.”
8. You may close the window, or choose a new class to update.

The sooner you complete this, the better – spring registration began today!

2. New Online Tutoring Option – Consider for your Class

MiraCosta students have multiple online tutoring options available to them. A new one available in spring 2016 for MiraCosta students in distance education classes is NetTutor, which will be available to MiraCosta as a CCC Online Education Initiative pilot college.

NetTutor provides 24×7 coverage of just about any academic subject, and is available via a link embedded within your class course management system environment (Blackboard or Moodle). 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.

If you are interested in implementing NetTutor in any of your spring distance education classes, or would like to hear more about MiraCosta’s online tutoring options, please contact me.

3. Online Teaching Conference – Be a Presenter?

The Online Teaching Conference will again be in San Diego this June (6/16-17). My office will pay for conference attendance for all MiraCosta presenters. Submit your proposal by Friday, November 20, 2015!

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