Distance Learning Mentoring Group

Minutes for January 24 , 2008,   3:15  P.M.- 5 :00 P.M.  CTL Workroom

In attendance at the DLMG meeting: Alex Cheroske, Misa Vening, Scott Gustafson, Linda Evans, Sharon McLaughlin, Laura Kobar, Shabana Kausar, Biray Alsac, Georgianna Anderson, and Peggy Johnson. Absent: Marianne Arini

THINKING ABOUT INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

At this stage, faculty should step back and think about how they want to design their course based on the learning outcomes they desire for students. Don't be tied to what has traditionally been done or how you taught the class on campus. A series of questions was provided to guide faculty through this thought process. Teaching online provides an opportunity for new pedagogical approaches. Among the many changes you may wish to make it the length of the course. You are feel to teach the course as an 8-week, 10-week, or 12-week course if that serves your students better than the 16 week course. Consider offering a late start or an early finish class.

SOFTWARE CONSIDERATIONS

Peggy suggested faculty might want to use either FrontPage or SoftChalk to create their course web pages. You may be able to get a copy of FrontPage installed on your computer if you contact Technology Support Services (TSS), phone 480-461-7217, email tss@mcmail.maricopa.edu , and webpage at http://wiki.mc.maricopa.edu /tsswiki/index.php/Main_Page

You may already have FrontPage on your computer as part of Microsoft Office. (If you're on a PC, click on the Start button, select All Programs, then Microsoft Office, and use the arrow to expand the list of Microsoft Office software. If Front Page is installed, it should appear there.

To download SoftChalk, go to this CTL page  http://ctl.mc.maricopa.edu/ _resources/downloads.html Scroll down the page and locate the "Other Downloads" heading. Click on the link that says to login to Soft Sense. This link will let you download SoftChalk and Respondus, two types of software that we will be exploring in DLMG sessions. So you may go ahead and download both programs while you are there. Follow the directions on screen. The username and password it requires is the one you use to get into My MCC. The district license for these two software applications permits you to download them to your home and office computers. SoftChalk works on either Macintosh or PC computers. Respondus only works on PC's.

EXAMINING FEATURES OF ONLINE COURSES

Faculty shared online courses they had identified as being well-designed or poorly designed. Discussion centered on features that you would want to incorporate in the online course you plan to develop.

Misa: The URL for the course Misa shared is http://www.webct.com/exemplary /viewpage?name=exemplary_2004 _mcculler , which is a course that teaches technical writing.  Use the link under "View the
Course." Although this course was selected as an Exemplary WebCT course several years ago, there were many off-putting features. The syllabus page has so many colors and font types as to be distracting. It consists of several pages of pure text, very unengaging. Icons were inconsistent in style.

The bright colors on the syllabus are difficult to see. In accordance with ADA (Americans with Disability Act) requirements, our web pages should consist of strong contrasts between background and text. Black text on a white background is easiest for those with seeing impairment to view. You can check pages you create with Bobby software and it will identify any characteristics you should change to make it user-friendly to the sight impaired. To access this software, go to http://www.watchfire.com /products/webxm/bobby.aspx

Alex showed a very attractive marine biology course offered at Santa Barbara City College. The lecture is online but the students come to campus for the lab class. The URL is http://www.marinebio.net /marinescience/index.htm

The course contains numerous photographs, which makes it visibly appealing. The navigation is easy to follow, with a handy Table of Contents page.

There is a nice Introduction to the Professor page with a photograph of the instructor.

It is clear what assignments are due. However, the amount of course material seemed a bit sparse for a three-credit course.

Scott showed an MIT economics course. MIT has an open courseware initiative that has resulted in most courses having an online presence. However, the samples that Scott saw were resources that likely would be passed out as hand-outs in a face-to-face class, rather than a compelling online class.

Sharon found a high-school Anatomy and Physiology online class that had been identified as an exemplary WebCT course in 2005 at http://www.webct.com/exemplary /viewpage?name=exemplary_2005 _wortmann . There was a huge amount of online resources for students, but very well-organized and easy to navigate. Each chapter identified the chapter in the textbook the student should read, goals for the lesson, a lesson checklist (all tasks described), and had a discussion board whose postings were archived for student viewing.

The course contains a wealth or URL addresses with good visuals explaining key concepts. Rubrics gave students specific objectives for their assignments.

Shabana: sent this URL of a course for faculty to examine of a well-designed course http://www.neiu.edu/~dbehrlic /hrd408/confpresent.htm

She also showed the Psychology 101 she teaches using WebCT as the course management system. Three to four days before the course begins, Shabana sends enrolled students a welcome email/letter with information on how to get their MCC email account and log into her course. She includes a link to the MCC Distance Learning tutorial at http://ctl.mc.maricopa.edu /dltutorials/

This resource gives detailed directions for students on using the various tools in WebCT (submitting assignments, posting to the discussion board, using WebCT's email tool, etc.) as well as how to set up your MCC email account.

Shabana directs her students to print a hard copy of the calendar and syllabus so they have it handy and are aware of due dates.

Each unit in Shabana's course includes a lecture outline, Powerpoint presentation, and discussion board (asynchronous).

Students submit assignments using the WebCT Assignment tool.

Shabana's course includes links to videos provided by the textbook publisher.

Linda Evans

Linda had to leave a bit early but left hard copies of two online courses in Canadian Literature. One was a syllabus in .pdf format, which provided sound policy in a fairly concise format.  It provides a good overview of class activities, methods of contacting her, guidelines for discussions (including references to netiquette), a "system crash contingency policy," and relevant university policies on withdrawal, plagiarism, and so on.

The more visually interesting course she found at

http://pwmartin.blog.uvm.edu /180

Presented in blog format, this entire course is available for perusal. The look of this course is more contemporary and closer to a social network format that students are already comfortable with from MySpace, FaceBook, etc., and it seems well organized and easily navigable.  Note the tabs at the top of the page.  Linda likes the Recent Comments feature--which might prompt ongoing discussion by piquing interest in conversations already in progress.

COPYRIGHT WORKSHOP OPPORTUNITY

If you are likely to use a significant amount of commercial material such as photographs, videos and/or music in your online course, it would be a great idea for you to attend the district's copyright workshop entitled Copyright, Fair Use, and Intellectual Property Dialogue Day , What MCCCD Faculty Need to Know

Click on this link to register: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa .edu/dd/copyright-s08/