This blog is maintained by the Instructional Technology Coordinator at the College of Southern Maryland with relevant entries and commentaries on how to incorporate instructional technologies into traditional or distance learning courses.
The Groupwise interface when used with the iPad or any other mobile device needs to be displayed in the "Basic Interface" mode. There is an App for $5.99 that does work real well with Groupwise, the GW Mail App. GW Mail is a GroupWise email client for the iPhone or iPad. With this app you get a much better interface than Novell delivers by default through GroupWise WebAccess. You can search for the app, or go to: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gw-mail/id335575354?mt=8
This app has been tested and does work quite well. Stay away from the "Lite" version.
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 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Today I will be presenting a social networking demo for our college’s Web Council. I want to keep it short because we have other issues to talk about including the Website redesign update. I want to focus on just a few social networks or more precisely Web 2.0 applications. These applications include; Facebook, Wikipedia, blogs, Wikis, electronic portfolios and Google Apps for Education.
Facebook – Originally launched by a student at Harvard University as a way to keep in contact with fellow classmates. Now Facebook has expanded to everyone who has a official e-mail address. With Facebook you can choose to join one or more networks like College of Southern Maryland. This allows users to stay connected with users of the same network. http://www.facebook.com
Blog – Unique in that blogs are owned by an individual. The nature of the blog is to invite comments, suggestions and additions for the public. This idea is similar to social networking in that is shares features of personal expressions. It also serves as a location to share and connect to other web resources.
Wiki – Similar to a blog but work is completed as a collective unit. This collaborative environment is idea fro groups and committees/team assignments. This application is a tool for thinking, reflecting, creating and commenting.
Electronic Portfolios – Wikis, blogs and social networks have all influenced ePortfolios over the last five years. With Net Generation and Digital Natives sharing and organizing their lives online the idea of ePortfolios only makes sense. There are a number of available ePortfolio sites available online. Additionally, ePortfolio applications are becoming standard resources in Learning Management Systems like Angel and BlackBoard NG. Epsilen ePortfolio management system combines ePortfolio tools with social networking framework. Its application is being billed as the new model for the next generation of life- long learners and professionals. My Epsilen site: http://joelk.csmd.epsilen.com/content/personal/universal/public/home/index.aspx?pr=joelk
Google Apps Educational Edition – This application can be branded with the CSM name in the URL as well as a logo on the pages. When you log into Google you can send and receive email, create, edit, share and view documents, spreadsheets and presentations, create web sites and chat with other Google users. I am still doing some research on Google Apps Educational Edition. This application might be piloted this spring. I will have more information on Google Apps in an upcoming blog entry.
When the TEACH Act first come out we worked to ensure our college meet all the requirements that the law provides for educational institutions transmitting copyrighted works as part of a distance education course. The TEACH Act requires the following conditions must be satisfied to use material under the TEACH Act. The following are the requirements along with our college’s status in meeting those requirements. This also works as a good checklist for distance education instructors:
1. The institution must be accredited. CSM is accredited
2. The transmission of the work must be part of an instructional activity. The copyrighted material is used as part of a class experience
3. The work must be directly related to the teaching content. Faculty is informed that use of copyrighted material should be related to the teaching content
4. The transmission must, to the extent technologically feasible, be limited to the student enrolled in the distance learning experience. Blackboard CE8, CSM’s web delivery tool, requires a student to provide a valid login and password to enter the content
5. The institution must have a copyright policy. CSM has a policy
6. The institution must provide notice to students that materials used in the course may be subject to copyright protection CSM needs to add this statement to the footer portion of the Learning Modules page for each course.
7. The institution must apply technological measures that reasonably prevent students from retaining the work in accessible form after the class session. After each session, the student must log out. At the end of the course (2 weeks), student’s access is taken away
8. The institution must apply technological measures that reasonable prevent redistribution of the material. We purchased RealNetworks Real Player streaming audio/video server has the capability to prevent students from downloading the streamed file to their computer. This protocol is called “Secret Handshake”.
More links regarding Coprright and TEACH Act, thanks to my friends at University of West Georgia and their Distance Education Certificate Program:
Instructors wishing to design and deliver web-based courses require certain skills which are different than skills needed for a traditional face-to-face course. By being aware of this, there are three important things that are overlooked by administrators creating training programs for prospective online instructors. Knowing the difference between traditional and nontraditional learners, time required to develop a course and the idea of providing prospective instructors training via the web.
Knowing the difference between traditional and nontraditional learners Distance learning students are considered nontraditional students and approach learning differently than traditional students. The traditional student rely on an instructor led classroom (teacher to student), whereas nontraditional student learning is dialog based verses lecture based. Nontraditional learners need to know why they need to learn something before undertaking to learn it. This need suggests that the responsibility for learning be transferred from facilitator to learner (Andrological and Pedagogical Training Differences for Online Instructors, Gibbons & Wentworth, 2001(http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall43/gibbons_wentworth43.html)). The best way to create a productive dialog in your course is to use the Discussion Tool. A good model for productive discussions is to post a open ended question each week that relates to the module content that evokes a discussion that feeds in the experience of the nontraditional learners. Knowing the difference between a nontraditional learner and a traditional learning is the recipe for success in delivering a web-based course.
Time required to develop a course It’s important to realize that the development of a web-based course requires considerable development time. Time is also required to integrate different teaching and learning styles, particularly collaborative, learner centered learning styles such as discussions that make the best use of web-based instructional technology. (Learn Online Staff: Grant MacEwan Collage (http://stats.macewan.ca/learn/staff/lit_comp.cfm)). Understanding what tools are available and how to effectively deploy these tools are essential skills required before undertaking a redesign from a traditional face-to-face to a web-based course. Before the content is revised and loaded into the course, the web-based instructor should have developed a syllabus which is reviewed by an experience web-based instructor or a mentor. After the prospective instructor has learned the tools, developed a syllabus and revised the content then the course can be constructed. All these phases in the development of a web-based course takes a considerable amount of time to accomplish.
Providing web-based training for prospective instructors Training conducted online allows new facilitators to learn experientially under the same conditions as their future students (Andrological and Pedagogical Training Differences for Online Instructors, Gibbons & Wentworth, 2001(http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall43/gibbons_wentworth43.html)). This model of delivering web-based training to prospective web-based instructors is a win - win situation for educational institutions. Prospective instructors participate in a web-based course by accessing the content in the same manner as their students will access their content. Good design principles and ideas are picked up and later used by the prospective instructor. Also, the instructor experiences from a student standpoint the issues of working with the technology, navigating content and meeting deadlines. Another reason that institutions might consider this approach to training is that it reaches faculty that might not otherwise be able to attend the training due to scheduling conflicts.
Understanding these three factors and incorporating them into the educational institution’s training program will provide distance learning instructors with the skills needed to become effective online educators.
Google Sites is a free online Web2.0 application which makes creating and editing web sites easy. The site allows you to grab information, edit and post so viewers have viewing and/or editing access. What I like best is the freedom you have in design and the professional looking end result with no advertising. Get started here: http://sites.google.com/site
I found Google Sites to be easy to use as well as features that allow you to edit the HTML. For the novice, the easy to use features enable you to create a faulty web page or a course home page anywhere as long as you have access to the Internet.
For faculty looking to create a faculty web page and course home page it is simple to customize the site by adding your photo, contact information course listing and individual pages for each course that continues documents such as syllabus, course notes, PowerPoints and even videos. Worried about space? You get 100MB of space, more than enough!
Google make available short YouTube videos to make learning how to use the application evan easier like this short getting started tutorial:
I was able to create my faculty web page in about three hours, and most of that time was spent learning the features and tools. Now, if I want to update the site, it is as easy as clicking on the site and adding the information.
Twitter is a good resource to keep students up-to-date with what your currently doing.
Twitter could be used by an instructor to send messages in less than 180 characters, however this is nothing more than a new twist to the term for Instant Messaging. I think Twitter could be ideal for reminding students about homework, tests and such things, especially as they can enter their cell phone number to be alerted when an instructor does a Twitter entry. The advantage is that you don’t need to know the phone numbers of students to get messages onto their device: they are the ones who authorize their mobile phone from the website and they subscribe to your Twitter feed. The drawback is that all your students would have to be Twitter users, which is stretching your luck.
www.epsilen.com allows you to create a free eportfolio. The service is free for all registered students and faculty of US colleges and universities.
The idea is to allow users to play with the product with the hopes that someday the institution will get a full capacity institutional license. This might be a good alternative to what we have now, called "Faculty Web Pages." So feel free to use the tools and make a web page. Some of the features include:
Create and maintain a professionalePortfolio
Engage in professionaland social networking
Showcase scholarly work and other documents in a wide range of formats
Develop and share resumes
Store and share files/objects
Use Epsilen e-mail, blog, wiki, and other communication and collaboration tools
Create and participate in professional collaboration groups
Produce a personal ePortfolio Web site with profile, photos and video
If CSM becomes, a licensed Epsilen institution, your free ePortfolio will integrate dynamically with the more sophisticated tools and services that accompany the paid license.
I read on the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies web site list a FREE eLearning Course Authoring Tool called CourseLab 2.4 available at www.courselab.com. Anytime I see something free it is worth the time and effort to download and pilot the software. I am not inclined to read directions, I prefer to roll up my sleeves and start working with the program, so I did. According to the web site “CourseLab is a powerful, yet easy-to-use, e-learning authoring tool that offers programming-free WYSIWYG environment for creating high-quality interactive e-learning content which can be published on the Internet, Learning Management Systems (LMS), CD-ROMS and other devices.” My objective was to develop a simple text and photo lecture for my class on Monday.
After downloading the product, I had to actually register via e-mail to get my code to run the program. The procedure was fast and relatively pain free. I was able to bring the interface up immediately and start exploring the features. However, things started to go downhill after that. The interface reminded me a lot of PowerPoint, but the functionality was primitive in comparison. I had a difficult time determining how to do simple actions like; create another slide, add text, add logo and adding photos. Typically, I am able to navigate a new program with ease but this interface was anything but “ease-of-use”. There are many free Web 2.0 tools out there, also free that are easier to understand, like Google Docs.
After stumbling around for 30 minutes I created a title slide and one content slide…with nothing in it. I grew frustrated and impatient and was looking for quick answers to my problems without having to read the directions or watch some promotional video. I guess everyone has a bad habit. So, I find this feature from the drop down menu labeled “Import From PowerPoint”. Hey, that’s just what I need! Most of the courses I build originate from PowerPoint. I use programs like Articulate, Impaticia and Captivate that have the same feature of importing PowerPoint directly into the program, then easily converting the presentation into a Flash delivered, interactive video. However, when I clicked on the CourseLab button it took me to the CourseLab web site where it gave me instructions on how to add this “Extra” for $99. Oh well, so much for being free. “You can lead me to water, but you can’t make me drink!”
After that episode, I exited the application and uninstalled the program. I dislike being lead to believe a product is free, only to find the statement was false. CourseLab, good luck in the future, a future without me!
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I am the Instructional Technology Coordinator at the College of Southern Maryland. This Blog is a place where you can interact with the Innovative Teaching Center, ask questions or just get information on how to enhance your classroom.
