NSCC's Next Learning Management System

In early May, NSCC concluded the search for a new LMS with the decision to award the bid to Blackboard, Inc. This decision was reached in agreement through the Distance Education Committee and the extended LMS Task Force, as well as input received from the vendor presentations, reactions to the sandbox environments, and comments from many of faculty and staff. 

The implementation of the latest version of Blackboard Learn and the migration away from ANGEL will begin during summer 2014.  The process will take approximately a year to complete and will occur in several phases.  The working timeline is as follows:

• Summer 2014 – System set up and customization.  Academic Technology and Information Systems training and system familiarization.  Course migration process tested.  Preparation for fall pilot.  ANGEL will be operational during this time and all summer 2014 courses will be delivered in ANGEL.  
• Fall 2014 – Pilot of courses in Blackboard Learn by 10-15 faculty.  Training and course migration will occur in August.  ANGEL will be operational during this time and all fall 2014 courses will be delivered in ANGEL. 
• Spring 2015 – All online and hybrid courses will be delivered in Blackboard Learn for the spring 2015 semester.  Training and course migration will occur during the fall semester.  More information will be sent out to faculty teaching online in late summer.  ANGEL will be operational during this time and all spring 2015 face-to-face courses will be delivered in ANGEL. 
• Summer 2015 – All summer courses will be delivered in Blackboard Learn for the summer 2015 semester.  Training and course migration will occur during the spring semester.  ANGEL will be taken offline during this time and will not be used to deliver any courses.
• Fall 2015 – All fall courses will be delivered in Blackboard Learn for the fall 2015 semester.  Training and course migration will occur during the spring and summer semesters.  ANGEL will be offline and will not be used to deliver any courses.

Many thanks to all who contributed to this decision and we look forward to working with everyone through the coming year.  We will continue to update the campus community about the implementation through the Bulletin, email, Facebook, and this blog.

Please feel free to contact us at itd@northshore.edu with any questions or concerns.

Upcoming ANGEL Archive

As outlined in the NSCC ANGEL Course Archive Policy, Academic Technology is in the process of archiving older ANGEL course sites and removing them from the ANGEL server.  We will also be deleting some old course sites from the archive.  We wanted to provide you with advanced notice before any course sites are deleted from the ANGEL server and also from the archive.  Below is an outline of the our timeline for deleting courses from the ANGEL server as well as from the archive.

• Course sites from Spring 2013 - Will be removed from the ANGEL server and placed in archive on June 1, 2014. Spring 2013 courses are scheduled to be permanently deleted from archive on October 1, 2017.
• Course sites from Fall 2009 - Will be permanently deleted from the archive on June 1, 2014.

If you would like to retain these course sites for a longer period of time, you have the option of generating your own archive and there are several available options for storage, including:

• Your P: Drive network folder (only accessible on campus)
• Your Google Drive, accessible through the your  NSCC email account
• A personal storage medium, i.e. USB drive, portable hard disk, computer, CD
• External cloud storage solutions, available at little to no cost (such as Dropbox or SkyDrive)

Directions for generating your own course archive (content and student data) are available at: http://goo.gl/jpO5R.  Staff members from Instructional Technology and Design will be available to assist you in archiving your ANGEL course sites.  If you need assistance, please email the ANGEL Helpdesk at angel@northshore.edu.

Preparing your ANGEL Courses for the Summer Semester

As you start to think about your summer courses, we wanted to share with you the following important information that will help you prepare your course site in ANGEL.

Please review the “Preparing your ANGEL Course for a New Semester” checklist for directions on getting your course site set up for a new semester.

If you have any questions, please contact us at angel@northshore.edu.

Academic Technology: Any (Virtual) Place, Any (Face) Time!

The Face of Academic Technology at North Shore Community College

  

The role of Academic Technology at North Shore Community College is to integrate current and emerging technologies into the teaching process, the learning environment, and the curriculum-at-large.  Academic Technology staff assist faculty in these endeavors to ensure a positive impact on student learning through multi-modal approaches and extended learning opportunities.

Academic Technology is comprised of two working teams: Instructional Technology and Design (ITD) and Instructional Media Services (IMS).  The combined capabilities of these two teams provide the following services to the college community:

• Classroom technology planning, design and support
• Management of online courses, distance learning and related resources
• Instructional design services for all forms of technology-enhanced learning
• Media production services, including digital media development and event support

If you are interested in exploring instructional technology or instructional media further or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at itd@northshore.edu or media@northshore.edu.  We are happy to help!

Innovations in Academic Technology at North Shore Community College

The Technology Across the Curriculum (TAC) newsletter, Mousetales, has been reinvented as the EdTech Edge and is now available on North Shore Community College’s public site at: http://www.northshore.edu/faculty_staff/resources/tac.html.

The TAC program at NSCC "promotes academic excellence by stimulating and nurturing innovative ideas by faculty and professional staff that employ technology in support of teaching and learning".  The TAC program supports creative uses of instructional technology inside and outside of the classroom as well as the development of new online and hybrid courses.

Check out this year's issue to learn more about the innovations of NSCC faculty, staff, and administration in the area academic technology.

The current issue of EdTech Edge includes:

• Comments from TAC faculty on their projects
• An article by Michael Badolato, Dean of Academic Technology, on the college's new active learning classroom prototypes
• An article by Lance Eaton, Coordinator of Instructional Design, Academic Technology,
  on the increasing use of open educational resources including open textbooks
• An article by Andrea Milligan, Director of Instructional Technology and Design, Academic
  Technology, on several new instructional technology resources and services
• A list of free, scholarly electronic databases and resources compiled by Andrea Milligan and Terri Whitney, Professor (Department of English) and Coordinator of Technology Across the Curriculum