INTELECOM and YouTube

The College of Southern Maryland has a subscription to INTELECOM online streaming video clips. If you would like access to this treasure of videos available on demand, please contact the DLF.

INTELECOM has recently created a YouTube channel. We have added INTELECOM under subscriptions to CSMDTube (Visit: http://www.youtube.com/CSMDTube)

View a quick and informative video on INTELECOM at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dsOov3OUJ0

More information about INTELECOM:

INTELECOM Releases Luminaries Collection

INTELECOM is pleased to announce a comprehensive new collection of streaming video clips featuring interviews with some of the most accomplished thinkers in recent American intellectual history.

The Luminaries collection from INTELECOM offers colleges, universities and virtual high schools a library of nearly 1,000 video clips and discussions across a range of academic topics from authors, researchers, scholars and others whose work has changed the world. The collection includes such notables from the political arena as James Baker and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. Experts from the business sector include Richard Branson, the charismatic entrepreneur behind the Virgin Group of Companies. Students will also hear from Noam Chomsky, whose work in linguistics changed our understanding of language and the mind.

The INTELECOM Online Resources Network® is an award-winning video clip repository and searchable database designed to meet the growing need for rich media in support of online, hybrid, and face-to-face classes. More than 3,000 video clips in core disciplines including History, Psychology, Oceanography, Environmental Studies, Physics, and more.

The Luminaries collection is included in all Full Subscriptions to the INTELECOM Online Resources Network®. For more information go to www.intelecomonline.net.

Downloading MP3 (Class Lectures) from Blackboard

I had an e-mail today from an instructor who said her students were trying to download the course MP3 lectures to listen to on their iPod. The only option they had was "Save Target As.." and that was only saving the URL. This is a common problem we have when we use different browsers and media players so I created a tutorial for two options to download MP3 files to your computer.

The tutorial "Downloading MP3 files (class lectures) through Blackboard" is located on our "Getting Started" web site at http://www.dlf.csmd.ewdu/gettingstarted
On the "BlackBoard Information" page, I have two suggestions on how to download MP3 files from your Blackboard course.

Quickly view the instructions here: See the attached .PDF for more information.

CSM Standard Web Course Statements

Below is the code needed for the college's official ADA statement. This statement should be posted on footer of the Course Content Home Page:

Blackboard regularly measures and evaluates accessibility levels using a third party to ensure compliance, continually auditing the Blackboard code and user interface design techniques to ensure that applications are usable by everyone, to the greatest extent possible, regardless of age, ability, or situation. Blackboard measures and evaluates accessibility levels using two sets of standards: Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act issued from the United States federal government and the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) issued by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
Should students requiring special (ADA) accommodations have difficulties accessing online course materials, they should contact ADA services at the College of Southern Maryland at 301-934-7657 or visit http://www.csmd.edu/Studentsuccess/ADA/index.html

This is the college's copyright statement which should be displayed on the footer of the Learning Modules folder:


Materials used in connection with this course may be subject to copyright protection. Federal law provides that persons are prohibited from violating the rights of copyright holders. Violations may be subject to civil and/or criminal penalties including substantial fines and incarceration. More information about copyright law, from the United States Copyright Office of the Library of Congress, can be found here: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf

Getting Wired at CSM

Hey folks,
I have just completed a presentation for Saturday's Jumpstart Your Semester called, Getting Wired at CSM. This presentation promises to be very informative for new faculty at CSM. It's an overview of all the available online services at CSM including; our Learning Management System, Blackboard, Faculty Express Services, DLF online training opportunities and other important services. If you can't attend this information session, I have provided the presentation below.

Enjoy, Joel

Getting Wired At CSM

View more presentations from joelk.

Respondus Exam Creator Software Licence Update

As of July 31st, we can no longer justify the cost of the college wide licence for Respondus and have purchased five single user licences. Respondus increased their price significantly.

After July 31st, faculty can access a single user licence of Respondus at the following locations:

1. La Plata, LR202 W/S S01,
2. Leonardtown, C217 PT Faculty W/S
3. Prince Frederick, 234, PT Faculty W/S, the computer on the left

Ronda Jacobs and Joel Kinison have Respondus installed on their laptops and will continue to provide Respondus training, support and assistance at all campuses.

We plan on purchasing 5 more licences for high use Respondus users.

BbWorld 09

I had the opportunity this week to attend the Bbworld 09 conference hosted at the Gaylord Conference Center and Hotel located at the National Harbor just outside of D.C. This year’s event promised to be devoted to Blackboard’s Release 9 and a number of in depth technical and pedagogical sessions led my people in the educational industry.

The conference started with a bang with the opening keynote by Seth Godin, author of “Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us.” His keynote set the tune of the entire conference. The author explained that tribal instinct drives people to learn from peers not leaders and that innovations are driven by “person to person” not from the management down. Basically he instilled to the audience that the number of people who follow you are not as important as the number of people who are passionate about you. In short he suggested find something you are passionate in and “Become a rock star in your organization!” He made the analogy, “Be a unicorn in a balloon factory.”

Blackboard CEO Michael Chassen did his annual Blackboard Corporate Keynote and was joined by Ray Henderson, formally of Angel Learning and the new President of Blackboard Learn. Michael kept Seth Godin’s theme alive by comparing the Bb NG project to “The Influence of Tribes.” He urged the audience to focus on WebCT, Angel and Blackboard clients to come together as one tribe – to provide a better education for students. The keynote also focused on better client support, innovation and transparency as well as a Blackboard product demo. The audience was excited by the announcement that Blackboard would open up their Blackboard Database to developers. Keeping with the keynote tradition at Blackboard of having some fun at their own expense with some spoof ads they showed a couple clever spoofs. Check them out here

I attended a number of classroom technology sessions including Calcasieu’s Top 10 Tools for Success in Blackboard Learn, The Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro with Blackboard Learn, Lights, Camera, Interaction!, Developing and Using Interactive Applications in Your Course, Discover! Design! Deliver!, An Integrated Solution to Online Content Creation with Softchalk, Pushing Past PowerPoint, and Making an Online Readiness Tool with Adobe Captivate 4. I left each one of these sessions with ideas and the tools on how to create rich, interactive and stimulating learner interactions.

I also attended some sessions focused on faculty training and support labs. Bontia Bray, University of Alberta presented “From Mini-Bytes to the Real Meal Deal.” She pulled ideas from their proven Blackboard Training Summer Institute. She talked about how their summer sessions became successful by making it a “Big Deal” to the faculty. Bontia said that she acknowledge the importance of the training, emphasized the benefits and having a set of clear expectations and outcomes of the training. Her 5-day summer institute is a model to follow. During a panel discussion “Coach it or Do it” I discovered that we have the same desires, obstacles and concerns regarding faculty Blackboard training in our organization as other organizations do.

The conference ended with an inspirational keynote by NBC News Anchor Lester Holt. His session focuses on the interconnected world that we live in and how technology has changed not only the global community but education as well. He gave a number of examples how technologies like Twitter and YouTube have digitally connected the global community and will change the way the average person views news events. Lester stated that blogging and news reporting by Internet users is welcomed in the news community, but he cautioned what we might see in a blog is filtered news from opinionated bloggers. He was careful to point out that we need professional journalist to give an accurate and un-opinionated view and report of the news. Lester, I don’t think you need to worry about your job!

Blackboard invited CE clients to stay for a workshop on “Life in Blackboard Learn, Release 9.0 for CE Orientation.” Jennifer Mathews gave us a overview of Bb release 9.0, user experiences of co-production, what’s different between CE8 and Bb 9.0 and course conversion options and considerations. After this workshop, I realized Blackboard has some more work to do before we see the features CE clients are accustomed too. Although the Blackboard 9.0 has many new welcomed features, at the same time we will be losing some valuable CE8 features. Jennifer assured us that the Blackboard developers are working to incorporate these features in future releases of Blackboard. While we are excited to upgrade to Bb 9.0 then NG, we realize, that at least of the immediate future, we are better off staying with Blackboard CE8 until later releases of Bb 9.x.

The Exhibit Hall was impressive with at least 50 booths to browse. I was especially impressed by a demo of Softchalk. With SoftChalk LessonBuilder you can create interactive web pages, engage your students with lessons that include pop-up text annotations, self-assessment quizzes, and interactive learning games and then integrate it with your LMS (Learning Management System). During my walks around the Exhibit Hall I discovered that Blackboard has created a one stop place to get all your Blackboard Extensions at http://www.blackboard.com/Support/Extensions.aspx. Also, I had a great conversation with Intelecom, and what they are doing in collaboration with Softchalk to make their videos easier to access. We have a three year contract with Intelecom.

So the conference was a real inspiration in many ways and Blackboard can sure throw a good party. I commented that in my experience past WebCT conference’s only had an open bar one night, whereas BbWorld 09 had an open bar two nights. I understand Angle’s conferences never had an open bar. Although, Blackboard’s hospitality was unparalleled in the educational community, I’m sure we will eventually pay for it.

Best of BbWorld Resources - On the BbWorld website , you'll find a number of post-show resources including links to presentations, community discussion forums, Twitter feeds and photos from the event.

Automatic forwarding of WebCT Mail to an external e-mail address

BlackBoard CE8 Feature:

Below are the steps for setting automatic forwarding of WebCT Mail to an external e-mail address you defined in your profile.

1. Go into the Manage Course and Settings for the Mail tool and change the setting to "Allow messages to be forwarded to an external e-mail" to True.

2. When set to True, you can access this feature from My Settings in the My WebCT Screen.

3. From My Settings, click on the My Tool Options tab and check "Forward all mail to the e-mail address in my profile."

4. Under My Settings and the My Profile tab, check to ensure you have the proper external address listed

Blackboard Information

A few Blackboard updates for the summer:

1. We are currently using Blackboard Academic Suite 8.0.1. We should be installing some Hotfixes this summer which will resolve some minor issues. As a user, you should not see any differences in the look and feel of the application. The exact date of the minor upgrades will be address later.

2. Blackboard is in the process of updated their web resources by providing up-to-date information on browser and OS requirements, manual, quick references and other tutorials. Most of the resources are available on their web site at The Faculty Support Resource Center.

3. I am excited to be going to the BbWorld 2009 conference at the National Harbor, July 14-16. I attended one of these conferences in Boston about 10 years ago and it was an overwhelming experience. At this conference I hope to get the latest updates from Blackboard, attend workshops from other educators in the field of online education and a chance to meet exhibitors and learn about how they can improve expereince with Blackboard products.

csmdtube

The College of Southern Maryland recently formed a partnership with YouTube to create a video channel under the banner of http://www.youtube.com/csmdtube. More than 100 schools have partnered with YouTube which is owned by Google.com. At csmdtube you will find promotional videos, college events, guest lecturers, course introductions and classroom lectures. Outreach is one of the benefits of Youtube. These videos not only benefit the prospective and current students, but the community and “lifelong learners”.

The DLF is promoting the use of csmdtube in the classroom environment by providing resources and support to faculty. The Department of Distance Learning and Faculty Development (DLF) consider YouTube an integral part of our students’ daily lives and by making csmdube videos available as a part of a course can only stimulate the learning process. This benefits the student as well as making the instructor more comfortable with digital media.

Full and part-time faculty at the College of Southern Maryland are invited to learn more about how you can enhance your class by adding csmdtube by contacting Joel Kinison.

SitePal

CSM has purchased SitePal Avatar creation services. Creating SitePal characters that are unique to you class is easy. SitePal has thousands of different characters to choose from by allowing you to personalize your character's physical attributes.


See the DLF for Login info.

Software Upgrades

The DLF is in the process of purchasing software upgrades. Below is a complete list of the recently purchased upgrades:

1. e-learning Support: Articulate was upgraded to Articulate Rapid E-Learning Studio '09. This is our favorite program which quickly creates course material from PowerPoint and develops exciting interactive content such as interactive graphics, quizzes, assessments and timelines. The program takes the PowerPoint with narration, other audio and even video and creates one easily viewable streaming flash file. We use this program with a number of our contracted courses and a number of faculty also use Articulate presentations in their web-based classes.

2. Video Editing: DLF's two video editing work stations were upgraded to Pinnacle Studio 12. The market leading software program has been the base of our video work for the past 5 years. The program combines the power of capturing, editing and creating with ease that even a novice can easily use. Pinnacle Studio allows for the ability to import VHS and Digital video from a wide range of devices then streamlines the editing process. The output can be burned to a DVD or thumb drive or posted on YouTube or Google Video. The college also has the ability to stream the video on our web server.

3. PDF Creation: We have updated selected lab computers with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro. Adobe Acrobat is designed to view, create, manipulate files in the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). The new version extends the support to create polished PDF files, present multiple documents in a PDF Portfolio, and even add multimedia.

4. Capture Software: Adobe Captivate 4. This long overdue upgrade from version 2 to version 4 is a welcomed addition to the DLF software list. This program just keeps getting better and better. This version adds more interactivity for software and scenario simulations, quizzes, and other engaging experiences. Like all of our other software, it is easy to use...no program skills required. Just pick a template and start your e-learning creation.


We are really excited to have these upgrades to our software lineup. So please drop by and let us showcase our software and how it can be incorporating into your classroom.

Microsoft Work at Home Software

Microsoft Work at Home Software

The college is making available the Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 software package to faculty who find it necessary to work from home. With your Chair/ Supervisors permission, you can obtain the software from the library on the La Plata campus.
If you wish to obtain a copy of the software you will need to have your Chair/ Supervisor send an email to circulation@csmd.edu requesting the library to loan you a copy. Once the email is received the library will charge out to you the 1 disk. You can either pick the software up at the library in La Plata or request that it be sent directly to you through the college mail. The use of this software is governed by the Computer Use Policy.



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