Minutes for  August 25 ,200 5 - 4 P.M. -  5 : 3 0 P.M.  AS192

In attendance at the DLMG meeting :     Shereen Lerner, David Jankofsky, David Schultz, John Beshk, Lynn Sperry, and Peggy Johnson.

The meeting was spent getting acquainted with one another.

Peggy Johnson

Peggy taught biology and microbiology as a member of the MCC Life Science Department from 1984 to 2004.  She created an award-winning online biology laboratory course that she began teaching in 1998. Information on her course can be found at http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/~johnson/online100.html .  Soon after she began online instruction, she became the faculty mentor for DLMG.

In May, 2004, Peggy retired from teaching students. She became an active retiree (49 percenter), working in the MCC Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) as a faculty development consultant.  Her usual work hours are Monday 8 A.M. to 2:30 P.M., Tuesday 11 A.M. to 5 P.M., and Thursday 11 A.M. to 6 P.M. She is available for an appointment to work one-on-one any time and as often as you wish.  Other full-time, knowledgeable CTL staff are also available: Melanie Kroening, Donna Gaudet, and Jeff Anderson.

To schedule an appointment, call Peggy at (480) 461-7703 or email her at johnson@mail.mc.maricopa.edu .  Melanie's phone number is 461-7799; her email is mkroening@mail.mc.maricopa.edu . Donna's phone number is 461-7929; her email is dgaudet@mail.mc.maricopa.edu . Jeff's phone number is 461-7709; his phone number is jeffa@mail.mc.maricopa.edu

The number for the CTL main desk is 461-7331.

Shereen Lerner

Shereen is chair person of the MCC Cultural Science Department and teaches anthropology classes. Shereen believes that some courses work well online while others do not.  She will develop an online version of the Buried Cities and Lost Tribes (Old World) class that is very popular.  Students do not take tests for this class but undertake extensive writing assignments. Shereen plans on using the webboard for discussions.

Shereen and Rick Effland are also creating an online textbook for World Archaeology that will be a useful resource for the Buried Cities course.

Shereen has previously developed web pages, Powerpoint presentations, and online class activities for her on-campus classes. Many of these activities she will utilize in her online course, but they need to be better organized and include assessment tools.

David Jankofsky

David, Arizona's Deputy Director of Transportation, has extensive experience advising countries how to privatize. He will be developing an online course in International Financial Management in response to the business department's desire to provide all their international courses online. He has taught this course on campus for MCC.

Last summer David taught an online course in structuring utility rates. He used Blackboard as the Course Management System.

David has chosen the textbook he will use for his online class but has not had an opportunity to investigate the online materials that accompany it yet.  

Dave Schultz

Dave earned one of his master's degrees through online classes, so he has experienced this format from a student's perspective.  WebCT was used as the course management system for the courses he took as well as for an online course he co-taught.  Dave is working on the KISS principle ("keep it simple stupid").

Most of MCC's online math courses are produced by a commercial group and delivered as canned offerings. However, Dave will develop his own Calculus I course. One other MCC instructor, Amadou Gaye, created Calculus III online, as part of DLMG in a previous semester.

Dave wants to integrate more audio files in his online course. In doing so, he wants the file size to be small so students have a fast download.

Peggy suggested he may want to use Breeze Presentation software for creating audio files that accompany Powerpoint presentations online. The audio files are converted by Breeze into Flash files so they are quite compressed in size.

Alternatively,  Audacity is a free software that can be used to create audio files that are not part of a Powerpoint presentations.  Workshops on both Breeze Presentation and Audacity are offered by the CTL. The schedule of classes for the CTL can be accessed on the CTL homepage at http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/other/ctl/

John Beshk and Lynn Sperry

John and Lynn worked together for twelve years at West USA Realty. They are planning to team up and create  REA 179 and 180 (Real Estate Principles I and II).  When students complete these courses, they should be eligible to sit for state exam for a realtor's license. However, the Arizona Real Estate Board will need to be convinced that completing these online courses is equivalent to the 90-hour "seat time" requirement they have in place for on-campus classes.

In his on-campus classes, John emphasizes real-world examples that relate to the theories being taught. He plans to use this approach in his online classes also. Some of the materials John has put online for his on-campus real estate classes will be used for his online class.

Lynn currently teaches a six-hour Practical Contract Writing class on campus. She has been a real estate manager for thirty years so has lots of practical experience to share with her students.

HOMEWORK

Faculty were given an assignment to locate an online course they liked and be ready to share its salient features and URL at our next meeting (September 1, 4 P.M., AS192). Ideally the course would be in the discipline you instruct, but if not, show us a course you like in another field.

The written instructions faculty received also direct them to use the link on the DLMG resource page http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/~johnson/DLMGRSRC.HTM  to determine if there are any E-packs available for their course. If you find an E-pack you like (online course materials from a publisher), developing your online course has just become a whole lot easier - and you should go buy yourself some lottery tickets because you are on a roll!