Current News

Authors, CEOs, and Mobile Learning Pioneers to Speak at CFTTC

Whether faculty are interested in mobile learning or best practices for designing and delivering online instruction, this year's MSVCC conference has something for everyone.

Jon Baker, CEO of Desire2Learn, will be discussing his company's product roadmap.  Desire2Learn, a leading provider of learning management system software, has more than 450 clients worldwide.

Dr. Scott Perkins, Professor of Psychology and Director of Research at Abilene Christian University, is the pre-conference keynote speaker.  ACU is considered the national leader in mobile learning programs, and Perkins oversaw 10 research projects related to on-campus mobile learning initiatives in 2010. 

Dr. Robin Smith is the author of Conquering the Content: A Step-by-step Guide to Online Course Design, published by Wiley press.  Smith will be presenting twice.  "We expect her hands-on session to be quite popular, thus the repeat session," says Terry Pollard, Director of Professional Development at the SBCJC.  “Her sessions are practical and full of lightbulb moments for faculty."

The conference will also feature a mobile learning lounge on the main conference floor.  It will feature a collaborative workspace where participants can explore educational uses for the Apple iPad.

MELO site averaging 7k uniques per month

In the waning months of 2010, the Mississippi Electronic Libraries Online (MELO) web site averaged 7,000 visitors a month.

The site is a launching point for many students who begin research-based projects.  

"We're pleased that students and teachers continue to find MELO a valuable resource," says Dr. Christian Pruett, Assistant Executive Director of Instructional Technology and eLearning at the SBCJC.  "Our students, faculty, and libraries find it invaluable, as well as our accrediting body."

The site, redesigned and relaunched in 2010, provides tools for analyzing site statistics.  "Not only can we obtain a quick snapshot on user traffic, we also know, for the first time, how many of our student users are accessing MELO from a mobile phone," says Terry Pollard, one of the site administrators.  "We even had one student in the fall accessing MELO from his Wii."

MELO is managed and operated through the purview of the Mississippi Library Directors Association, and contains vetted links to articles, books, databases, reference materials, and subject guides in eighteen disciplines.

 

Need Blackboard, Wimba, or Turnitin Help? Click 411!

Wimba Pronto Owl Yarly

The State Board office will soon be offering ad-hoc training in the month of December and January for faculty preparing their Blackboard courses for the spring.

"Over 250 faculty--a quarter of those teaching in the MSVCC--have already downloaded and installed the Wimba Pronto program," says Terry Pollard, SBCJC eLearning Specialist, "so it seemed like an appropriate time to give this training method a shot.  It was designed for this."

The training will be delivered and administered through Wimba Pronto; Pronto delivers desktop sharing, two-way audio and video broadcasting, application sharing, a whiteboard, and chat communication.

The training will be offered by a ranging group of State Board staff and college trainers.  The goal is to assist faculty in answering questions related to these topics: 

• Blackboard content presentation,
• Blackboard course design,
• the Blackboard Grade Center,
• Wimba Podcasting
• Wimba Voice Tools
• Turnitin Grademark functionality

It should be noted that some questions cannot be addressed through the Help Desk, such as textbook store questions, course cartridges, and procedures specific to individual colleges.  "Given that all 1,000 faculty can view this Help Desk in Pronto once they install the program," says Pollard, "we need to scale back the level of service that we will offer.  Any kind of question might come at us, so we are focusing on the above list."

"This is intended as a help desk for ad-hoc requests from faculty who are preparing their spring courses.  We want to help faculty at the close of the fall semester, and if the program is successful, we'll deliver additional services throughout the spring.  Any faculty who tries to reach us through Pronto when the Help Desk is open will be prompted for their problem or issue before being helped.  If we cannot answer it, or if the answer is better suited to a particular college, we will refer that individual to the appropriate school and contact person."

Faculty should first install Wimba Pronto prior to attending any of the sessions.  Instructions for downloading Wimba Pronto and finding the help desk are located here.

Training Details:

1) Beginning Tuesday, December 8, 2009, faculty should login to Pronto during the day to see which topic will be covered in the Help Desk that day. Topics will vary depending on demand and level of interest and will be listed within Pronto by 10 a.m. each day; these will be listed in the Pronto schools tab.  We are hoping to assist each individual within a 5-7 minute timeframe. State Board offices are open throughout most of the Christmas break; Help Desk Hours, if closed for a day or series of days, will be published within the Pronto schools tab area each day.

2) The system will work best for faculty if they are not on a wireless network.

3) For general information on using Pronto, visit these tutorials here.

Belinda Russell Named MSVCC Instructor of the Year

From L to R: Dr. Howell Garner, MS Community College Foundation Chair; Dr. Willis Lott, MGCCC President; Mrs. Belinda Russell, NECC; Dr. Johnny Allen, NECC; Dr. Phil Sutphin, MACJC Technology Chair; Dr. Christian Pruett, SBCJC eLearning Director

Belinda Russell, a Speech Communication Instructor at Northeast MS Community College, has been named MSVCC Instructor of the Year.

"She was selected from a highly qualified pool of online faculty from across the state," said Dr. Christian Pruett, SBCJC eLearning Director.  "Each college nominated up to two faculty, and the team of college evaluators were impressed with all nominations.  Mrs. Russell is a pioneer and constant innovator.  She achieved the highest overall rating from our panel, and we are thrilled that she is our first recipient.  She is truly setting the bar."

Russell earned a $1,000 stipend with the newly created honor.  The stipend is funded with a ten-year commitment from the Mississippi Community College Foundation.

Russell has been teaching for 31 years at New Albany High School and Northeast CC.  She earned her Bachelor of Science degree MUW in English and Speech, and earned her Masters from the University of Mississippi in Secondary Ed with an emphasis in Communications.  She has also completed graduate level work above her masters at UM.

"The challenge in teaching in my discipline," says Russell, "is that most of my students have never gotten up in front of students to conduct a speech.  When I began teaching online, even though students had discussion boards and links to great speeches out on the web, the human element was still missing."

"I learned about podcasting as a result of attending the Creating Futures Through Technology Conference a few years ago.  I had heard of podcasting, but I had never been exposed to it in that way."

"Now, with the help of my college DLC Holly Melvin, among many others, they helped me get the equipment to make the podcast and to make the podcast come to life.  I put it together using Apple's Garageband program.  Part of my podcasts include instructions through video and audio, while other parts of them include what my students create.  I link to free instructional podcasts that students can use, and now, I have students write me, personally tell me, and email me saying that they never could have successfully completed this class without this podcast.  

"I can see and hear you," they say.  "You are real to me.  I know who you are."

Registering for MSVCC Academy Courses

Development is nearly complete on the MSVCC Academy registration system.  Faculty will be able to manage the entire registration process; faculty will be able to

• self-register for courses,
• download a PDF stepsheet with registration instructions,
• review courses previously taken (not retroactive for courses taken prior to September 2009),
• apply for CEU credit (not retroactive for courses taken prior to September 2009), and
• modify or delete enrollments in courses.

Distance Learning Coordinators will also be able to register their faculty, receive reports, and track professional development hours for their faculty.

The site is expected to go live on Monday, August 31, pending approval for release.  The link for the site will be published here when the site becomes available.

Learning Simulation Series to Teach Students Blackboard Basics

 

Sharon Hudson, Instructional Technologist at Hinds CC and a member of the state’s eLearning Trainer group (ELT) has been hard at work this past spring and summer building tutorials for students new to Blackboard.

The Flash-based tutorials are part of the new Learning Simulation series, intended to teach students and faculty about particular tasks using a linear model of progression.  The first set in the series are intended for students.

The tutorials play inside a browser and are available now in the Institutional Content area of Blackboard for faculty to place in their courses (see news story, Installing Bb Tutorials in Course).

Colleges may decide to incorporate the files in their course templates for the spring 2010 semester.

The primary investment for Sharon Hudson was to better serve students.  "When thinking of a way to increase student retention through the MSVCC, the concern that kept coming to mind dealt primarily with the students’ level of competency with Blackboard.

There are multifaceted approaches and services that can increase the capacity to serve, retain, and satisfy online students, and I felt that creating simulation tutorials was one solution.  The tutorials are between three to five minutes and students can access them as often as needed."

There are four videos in all: Navigating Blackboard, Submitting Assignments, Understanding Your Blackboard Gradebook, and Orientation to the Blackboard Discussion Board.

This marks the first time that tutorials have been built specifically for students and made available for faculty to place directly in courses; the tutorials were built using Adobe Captivate.

Keri Cole, Dean of eLearning at Hinds, sees great value in the tutorials.

"These tutorials will ensure students are receiving effective and consistent training in the technologies made available to them.  Exposing students to the tools used by their instructors will allow our faculty more time to concentrate on course curricula."

MSVCC Partners with Wimba for Full-Featured Version of IM Software

All community and junior college users now have access to the full version of Wimba Pronto, billed by Wimba as "the only instant messaging system designed for educators."  The program downloads to a faculty or student's computer after a quick signup and download process on the Wimba server (see News Story, Installing Wimba Pronto).

The application provides blended audio and video conferencing, application sharing, a whiteboard, and queued chat functionality.

"This service changes the paradigm," says Christian Pruett, SBCJC eLearning Director. 

"We are seeing elearning companies embrace tools that assist the entire institution, and this new version of Wimba Pronto is a prime example.  This tool is intended not only for faculty and students, but for administration at large.  Imagine setting up a help desk for your financial aid office.  Your financial aid staff are at their computer, working as they always do.  But now administrators can provide assistance to students at home--the queue in the hallways has been augmented by the queue function in Pronto."

Once installed, the tool performs syncs with Blackboard course enrollments. 

"So imagine a Jane Doe, who installs the program, and is enrolled in a Biology course," says Pruett.  "When she opens the program, she will now see William Doe, who is also enrolled in the course, assuming he has installed the program.  This happens without any forethought by the student--they're merely installing the program.  From there, they can start up a whiteboard session, chat, or see and talk to one another through a headset."

Chat functionality can be turned off by the instructor prior to quizzes or tests.  "Regarding test integrity," says Pruett, "our recent partnership with Respondus will allow us to lock down any browser or quiz, so instructors should use this tool in addition to Pronto."

There is also the ability to turn off Pronto chat within an entire course from within the program settings.

A Spanish language preference is also a part of the software.

Alicia Shows, Dean at SMCC, is impressed.

“I've been with the MSVCC since the beginning,” says Shows.

“Communication between student and instructor and among students, has always been a problem. Pronto can be a great tool for solving some of these communication issues and can allow the student to be a part of a learning community, not an electronic correspondence course. 

I'm a math teacher, so the idea of easy access to a whiteboard is fantastic. 

I expect that the faculty at SMCC will make immediate use of the whiteboard feature, because as soon as one instructor uses it, the word will spread, and the students will be expecting it from all instructors.”

The MSVCC has had access to the free, limited version of Pronto since January 2009.

MSVCC Academy to Offer Alternative Model for Professional Development

The soon-to-launch MSVCC Academy will provide an alternative for MSVCC faculty seeking professional development training, through short courses on podcasting to courses on best practices for online instruction.

The Academy is a “sunrise to sunset service”—faculty enroll, participate, graduate, and receive certification through a single process, all managed through a new enrollment system built by SBCJC’s Ive Burnett.  The enrollment system will accommodate both Blackboard and Desire2Learn users.

Courses fall into one of three categories--the Teaching Effectively Online series, and two new categories: a Tools in Focus series and a Best Practices series.

The Tools in Focus courses drill down to the deepest level of a tool or technology.  The Best Practices course offerings are meant to be organic and evolve over time through input from participants.

The Academy launches September 7 and will offer half a dozen courses, ranging from the six-week general orientation course, offered since 2007, to the newly built Wimba Voice Tools course and Blackboard Early Warning System course.

Faculty can begin registering for the free courses at the beginning of September.

Seats are provided on a first-come, first serve basis, and most courses will be capped at 15 or 20 participants.

Faculty can enroll in these courses through the SBCJC Enrollment Tool.  Distance Learning Coordinators can also register their faculty for these courses through the ET.  Registration instructions will be published on msvcc.org by August 24.

The enrollment system will provide colleges with the ability to track their faculty participation in these courses; contact hours are provided for each course.  This should aid colleges in establishing a professional development program for their online faculty if they do not have one in place.

Faculty and staff from across the system serve as facilitators, and new courses with a pedagogical emphasis are peer reviewed by deans, instructional technologists, and distance learning coordinators prior to their launch, using the Quality Matters rubric.

Jennifer Leimer, Director of Distance Learning at MGCCC, and President of the DLC Association, is excited about the new program.

"Our instructors continually ask for training on emerging technologies. However, with such limited resources, we are often not able to meet their requests.  The MSVCC Academy will help offer training that is desperately needed to enhance our instructors' skills so that they can provide top-of-the-line courses.