20 Minute Mentor - Online Faculty Professional Development - Fall Schedule

The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment and Academic Technology have partnered up again to bring faculty a professional development series from Magna Publications, called the 20 Minute Mentor. The goal of the  20 Minute Mentor series is to offer faculty practical professional development opportunities in twenty minute snippets that can be accessed from anywhere and at any time during the given week. Session topics cover the areas of student engagement, teaching and learning, teaching online, assessment and learning goals, and classroom management.

Information on how to access the  20 Minute Mentor sessions is available each week in the Bulletin and the iDevelop e-newsletter.

New video presentations (with supplementary materials) go live at 10:00am each Monday morning and are only accessible through Sunday.

The following sessions are on the schedule for fall 2014.  

• August 25th - How Do I Include Introverts in Class Discussions?
• September 1st - How Do I Address Teasing and Bullying Behavior in the Classroom?
• September 8th - How Can I Be an Effective Mentor?
• September 15th - How Can I Enhance Students’ Self-Regulated Learning Skills?
• September 22nd - How Can I Structure a Flipped Lesson?
• September 29th - What Do Students Want in Online Courses?
• October 6th - Linking, Embedding & Streaming: What’s Legal? What’s Not?
• October 13th - What Are 5 FAQ's About Faculty Roles in the Flipped Class?
• October 20th - What Does Copyright Ownership Mean to Me?
• October 27th - What Happens to Learning when Students Multitask?
• November 3rd - How Can I Enhance the Impact of Feedback in Online Classes?
• November 10th - How Can I Make My Course Content More Accessible? 
• November 17th - What Is Storyboarding? And How Can It Help Me Flip My Class? 
• November 24th - What Are Five Tips for Writing Effective Learning Outcomes?
• December 1st - How Can I Design Copyright Compliant Online Courses?
• December 8th - Where Can I Find Flippable Moments in My Classes?
   

We would love to hear your feedback on the usefulness of these sessions. Please send your input to itd@northshore.edu.

iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (9/8/2014)

Welcome to iDevelop, a weekly eNewsletter providing faculty with information about professional development opportunities at NSCC.  The intent of this eNewsletter is to spotlight the various professional development events for faculty in one convenient location as well as share best practices, resources and tips related to the teaching practice.

20 Minute Online Professional Development: How Can I Be an Effective Mentor?
The Monday Morning Mentor series will be available over the fall semester to bring you professional development in twenty minute snippets.  The topic for the week of September 8th is How Can I Be an Effective Mentor?

For information on accessing the presentation and supplemental materials, please view the email version of iDevelop or the Bulletin notice.  More information about this session (including description, topics, and learning goals) is available http://www.magnapubs.com/catalog/how-can-i-be-an-effective-mentor/.

The presentation is available Monday at 10:00am and is accessible through Sunday of that week.

Upcoming Instructional Technology Workshops
This week, Instructional Technology and Design is offering several workshops on a variety of topics around integrating technology into the teaching and learning environment. Please reserve your slot at any of these sessions by emailing itd@northshore.edu.

Smart Classrooms
Come and find out all of the little ins and outs of using a Smart Classroom here at North Shore Community College. We will also share with you best practices when using one of these rooms. You will have the opportunity to try out the technology for yourself.

• Monday, September 8th from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Danvers HPSS 226
• Friday, September 12th from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in Lynn LW 323

Share your Teaching Strategies
Here are some teaching strategies shared with us that faculty use to ensure that students start off the course on the right track and to develop a course community.

• Have students complete a syllabus quiz or scavenger hunt to ensure that they have reviewed the syllabus and are familiar with the course expectations.
• Before launching into the first content class, take some time to do a simple ice breaker.  Ask students a series of questions by calling on different students to ensure that everyone gets a chance.  Sample questions:  Do you have kids?  Do you have pets?  Do you have unusual pets? Have you traveled outside the US?  Do you like to use Instagram?  Have you ever met someone famous?  Have you climbed a mountain?  Are you a vegetarian or vegan?  Can you walk to campus?  Can you bike to campus?  If you drive, do you drive more than 10 miles?  25 miles?  50 miles?  This will help build a classroom community from day one and help you learn student names that much quicker.

What other ways methods do you use to remember students’ names?  Send an email with your teaching strategies to itd@northshore.edu and we will share them in the next few issues of iDevelop.

Other Professional Development Opportunities
Did you know that NSCC employees can find Professional Development ideas, blogs and webinars for free via our college's affiliation with the Life Scope Plan? In addition to offering legal guidance, and tips on managing your out-of-work life (from caregiving to finances), did you know that Life Scope offers many pointers on productivity, career development, and training....all for free, just because you're a NSCC employee. Check out the Life Scope homepage at https://www.advantageengagement.com/1108/login_company_lifescope.php.  Login using the information provided in the iDevelop email.

Resources

•  Learning Students' Names
  http://www.unl.edu/gradstudies/current/teaching/names  

iDevelop is being brought to you by Academic Technology and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.  If you have any professional development events, best practices, resources or tips to share with other faculty, please send them our way.  Also, we would love your input on this eNewsletter.

Thank you,
Academic Technology and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (9/1/2014)

Welcome to the inaugural issue of iDevelop, a weekly eNewsletter providing faculty with information about professional development opportunities at NSCC.  The intent of this eNewsletter is to spotlight the various professional development events for faculty in one convenient location as well as share best practices, resources and tips related to the teaching practice.

20 Minute Online Professional Development: How Do I Address Teasing and Bullying Behavior in the Classroom? 

The Monday Morning Mentor series will be available over the fall semester to bring you professional development in twenty minute snippets.  The topic for the week of September 1st is How Do I Address Teasing and Bullying Behavior in the Classroom?

For information on accessing the presentation and supplemental materials, please view the email version of iDevelop or the Bulletin notice.

More information about this session (including description, topics, learning goals, and intended audience) is available at http://www.magnapubs.com/catalog/how-do-i-include-introverts-in-class-discussions/

The presentation is available Monday at 10:00am and is accessible through Sunday of that week.

Upcoming Instructional Technology Workshops 

This week, Instructional Technology and Design is offering several workshops on a variety of topics around integrating technology into the teaching and learning environment. Please reserve your slot at any of these sessions by emailing itd@northshore.edu.
 
New to ANGEL The New to ANGEL workshop is designed to familiarize faculty with ANGEL and introduce basic course building functionality. In this workshop, participants will learn to: navigate around the course site, add different types of content, organize content in folders, and enable the course for student access. While the college migrates to Blackboard, ANGEL will be available for faculty to use during the 2014-2015 academic year.

• Tuesday, September 2nd from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Lynn LW 305

Smart Classrooms Come and find out all of the little ins and outs of using a Smart Classroom here at North Shore Community College. We will also share with you best practices when using one of these rooms. You will have the opportunity to try out the technology for yourself.

• Tuesday, September 2nd from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Lynn LM 104 (Smart Cart)
• Tuesday, September 2nd from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Lynn LW 323
• Thursday, September 4th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Danvers HPSS 226

Share your Teaching Strategies

With classes starting this week, we wanted to invite you to share your teaching strategies with each other around getting students started in your courses successfully and building a course community.  What are some strategies that you employ to ensure that students start your course on the right track?  How do you use ice breakers to develop a course community so you and your students can get to know each other?

Send an email with your teaching strategies to itd@northshore.edu and we will share them in the next few issues of iDevelop.

Other Professional Development Opportunities 

Do you have an MTA card? If so, check out the free workshop events at the Museum of Fine Arts, designed to give you ideas for infusing new life into your curriculum. They're not just for K-12 teachers!  http://www.mfa.org/programs/school-programs/teacher-professional-development
 
Resources

• First Day of Class Activities that Create a Climate for Learning
  http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/first-day-of-class-activities-that-create-a-climate-for-learning/ 
• A Classroom Icebreaker with a Lesson that Lasts
  http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/a-classroom-icebreaker-with-a-lesson-that-lasts/
• Don’t Waste the First Day of Class
  http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/dont-waste-the-first-day-of-class/

iDevelop is brought to you by Academic Technology and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.  If you have any professional development events, best practices, resources or tips to share with other faculty, please send them our way.  Also, we would love your input on this eNewsletter.

Thank you,
Academic Technology and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

Preparing your ANGEL Courses for the Fall Semester

As you start to think about your fall 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.

August and September Instructional Technology Workshops

In August and September, Instructional Technology and Design will be offering several workshops for faculty on a variety of topics around integrating technology into the teaching and learning environment. Please reserve your slot at any of these sessions by emailing itd@northshore.edu.
  

Video Anywhere

Video Anywhere is a tool in ANGEL (also in Blackboard) that allows faculty to easily record a video from a webcam and embed that video directly into any of the text box editors throughout ANGEL (for example, Announcements, Pages, Discussion Forums, Drop Boxes, etc.).

• Thursday, August 21st from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. in Danvers DB 202

Google Documents for Collaboration and Communication

Looking for a way to promote student collaboration on a project? Need a simple way for students to share documents or give presentations? Want to collect information from your students quickly? Then Google Documents is for you. This workshop will present the benefits of using NSCC’s Google Documents application in the classroom to easily create, edit, and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

• Thursday, August 21st from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Danvers DB 202

New to ANGEL

The New to ANGEL workshop is designed to familiarize faculty with ANGEL and introduce basic course building functionality. In this workshop, participants will learn to: navigate around the course site, add different types of content, organize content in folders, and enable the course for student access. While the college migrates to Blackboard, ANGEL will be available for faculty to use during the 2014-2015 academic year.

• Thursday, August 21st from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Danvers DB 202
• Wednesday, August 27th from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in Danvers DB 202
• Tuesday, September 2nd from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Lynn LW 305

Blackboard Learn Sneak Peek

Over the 2014-2015 academic year, the college will be migrating to a new learning management system, Blackboard Learn. This session will provide participants with an opportunity to get a sneak peek at some of the features and functionality of Blackboard Learn as well as learn more about the implementation timeframe and the course migration process from ANGEL.

• Wednesday, August 27th from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Danvers DB202

Open Educational Resources

This session will provide an overview of what open educational resources are, how faculty can find and evaluate them, ideas for using them in classes, and their role in the community college to help make textbooks more affordable to students.

• Wednesday, August 27th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Danvers DB 202

Smart Classrooms

Come and find out all of the little ins and outs of using a Smart Classroom here at North Shore Community College. We will also share with you best practices when using one of these rooms. You will have the opportunity to try out the technology for yourself.

• Friday, August 29th from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in Danvers HPSS 226
• Tuesday, September 2nd from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Lynn LW 323
• Monday, September 8th from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in Danvers HPSS 226
• Friday, September 9th from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in Lynn LW 323

We hope to see you at the workshops!  If you are unable to attend or are interested in learning more about other instructional technologies, please email us at itd@northshore.edu. We are happy to schedule a one-on-one session.

Let’s Be Open: Answering the Big 5 Questions About Open Content for Your Classroom

The average community college student spends over $1200 annually on classroom textbooks. That means that students who complete their learning in two years will have spent close to a single-semester’s worth of their money on textbooks.  Nearly two-thirds of students at some point have not bought a textbook because of the cost (and that too has taken a toll on most of their performances within those courses). Though many of us are not aware of the specific numbers, we implicitly know and witness the result of expensive textbooks in our classes. 

For many instructors, textbooks (and their often steep prices) are a necessary evil.  Some will find ways of lessening the burden put on students by having copies available in the library for in-library use or allowing students to purchase earlier (and therefore, cheaper) editions.  But in a given course section, we’re still likely generating hundreds if not thousands of dollars profit for publishers at our students’ expense. 

But does it have to be this way?  What if the course resources and materials can be made entirely free or significantly cheap enough so that no student is making a choice between books and life expenses?  This possibility is not the future.  It is now and it’s time we take advantage of it. 

Image of OER logo
Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OER_Logo.svg

What are Open Educational Resources?

Open Education Resources (OER) are media-rich online repositories with content that faculty can use for free for their courses.  This includes but is not limited to:  textbooks, short-reads, videos, sound recordings, assignment guidelines, course notes, and even entire course packages.  The purpose of these repositories is to make materials available for all students and faculty on all subjects so that we spend less time on “reinventing the wheel” of course content and more time on engaging with our students around the course content.  Many of them are in the public domain or have what is called a Creative Commons license. Here are few examples.

• Open Education Resources Commons
• Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources
• Archive.org - Open Educational Resources

 

What about access?

An immediate question of access arises with OER as they are internet based, and not all students have access to a computer (though in a 2012 NSCC technology study did show that 86% of students have laptops--to say nothing of any other devices). But let’s look at the logistics of this concern.

If a student does not have the $120 for the textbook, there is a good chance that he/she gets zero access.  In that scenario, if the argument is that one can put the book on reserve at the library for the student to use--the same argument holds true for access for OER.  Since our libraries have public-use computers, OER in this comparison is more accessible, because the student can access the online material from both campus libraries or any library that allows computer access (which is many, if not all, on the North Shore).

But if it is important to have the physical copy, many places offering free textbooks online, such as OpenStax, provide the student an opportunity to purchase a cheap print-copy of the book for $30.  For many textbooks in the math and sciences that can mean over $100 savings.

Finally, there is no delay in access with OER.  Students can access all of the content as soon as the course starts.  Instructors no longer need worry about issues of financial aid delays, late shipping by the publishers, or other issues that regularly interfere with the course lift-off. 

What about stability?

The belief that the internet is more unstable than the textbook industry might need some reconsidering.  Firstly, it should be acknowledged that textbook publishing has its own instabilities including the ability to cease publishing the book being used or to publish newer editions that may be inferior, pricier, or change things up enough to have to revise the course layout.

Secondly, even if the textbook arrives in the bookstore, many students may still have to leap through hoops to get their financial aid to cover the books (or even not have enough to cover it).  The instability of those first few weeks leaves many faculty skipping or delaying the use of course content.

Thirdly, OER content is often capable of being downloaded, edited, and inserted directly into a course shell.  This means that their stability is much more assured than the textbook.  If this is a significant concern, then one should make sure to make flexibility to download a criteria for selecting OER materials.  Though in truth, this isn’t really much of a concern any more since content available in one OER repository is often duplicated into another--that is, there are back-ups of back-ups across the Internet.

Finally, again, the content is present and ready to go from the start of the semester.  Many of us have been caught in the situation where we don’t find out until too late that the textbook we want wasn’t ordered or not enough were ordered and are left scrambling to cobble together the rest of the semester.  OER materials are available at the start and throughout the semester.

Image CC:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/6554315179/

What about quality?

Some perceive OER as lower quality because they are free.  Of course, psychological studies have shown that price influences perception.  That $200 biology textbook must be awesome whereas that free biology textbook must be a poor comparison.  Saying that there are a lot of poor selections in the OER somehow implies that this isn’t the case with textbooks, but of course, we know that’s not true.  We can look to James Loewen’s famous book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong and other similar research as a reminder of that.

Will there be poor OER material out there?  Absolutely.  However, there will also be really great content.  By using and promoting OER material, instructors will play an important role in helping colleagues sift out the good from the bad--just like they do already with textbooks.

However, OER also has the potential to deliver better content in three capacities.

• Updating content:  Updating content in OER materials is much easier than in a textbook and the beauty is that updated content will not require another new (and costly) edition.
• Customizing content:  Add, edit, or delete the OER resource so that it fits exactly how you want to use the material.
• Shifting content:  Why stick with just one OER object?  Instructors can weave together the perfect course materials from numerous sources, rather than a one-size fits all source.

 

What about time?

Converting to using OER materials will take time.  There’s no question about it.  But it is time well spent, not only for your students, but for the college and academia in general.  Also, it doesn’t mean, however, that one must reinvent all of one’s courses in a single semester, but develop a strategy for how to do so in the long run.  Start with replacing one item in one course and slowly grow from there.  Faculty can also work with Instructional Technology and Design as well as the library who support such projects and will be releasing a LibGuide shortly on OER for faculty.  It will take time, but so do these things:

Finding new texts for a course (because the book went out of print).

• Dealing with new editions of the same textbook you’re using and updating course references to the textbook.
• Delays in teaching and learning because students don’t have access to the textbook.  
• Answering questions about whether different versions of the textbook are acceptable.

Moreover, these things happen time and again, year after year.

Making students pay for any content beyond the course itself is the college’s means of externalizing costs at the expense of our students, and we do so for the profit of book publishers.   The final analysis is that using open educational resources not only empowers you as the instructor, it provides better access and fewer challenges to our students.  OER also fulfills the community college’s vision for civic responsibility by using, sharing, and even developing open educational resources for the public’s benefit.

This article was originally published in The EdTech Edge.  Please check it out to see other great articles about instructional technology at North Shore Community College.

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!