iLinc Now Integrates with Moodle

iLinc has released a new version of its presentation software that integrates with Moodle.

iLinc for Moodle, created by the Phoenix, AZ, provider of Web and video conferencing, lets Moodle users schedule, manage, and join iLinc virtual classroom sessions. Moodle is a free open-source course management system used to conduct online courses.

The browser-based iLinc allows users to share live and streaming video with no restriction on the number of feeds, document and desktop sharing with markup tools, and a powerboard environment, similar to a whiteboard, in which users can interact simultaneously.

See the full article at:  http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/08/22/ilinc-now-integrates-with-moodle.aspx

Need Information? There’s a LibGuide for that!

LibGuides is a web interface that allows the library to create various guides for students and faculty. Here’s the homepage that lists all the guides we’ve developed so far: http://libguides.randolph.edu

We’ve created a guide for especially for faculty that provides information about plagiarism, copyright, and library resources. http://libguides.randolph.edu/faculty

We’ve also created numerous research guides that students can use in different courses, the new ACA 111 and 122 courses. http://libguides.randolph.edu/aca111 and http://libguides.randolph.edu/aca122

The ACA LibGuides include resources for all the topics covered in the course. It’s designed to be a guide that faculty can refer to during the course and that students can access anytime outside the course. The guides are completely customizable and I’ll be happy to create a guide that best suits individual instructor needs.

In addition to providing course-related resources, the guide also includes troubleshooting tips for the library’s Information Literacy Course. This Moodle course is intended to address the library portion of the ACA courses.

Currently, participation in the Information Literacy course is at the discretion of each instructor and we’re encouraging everyone to enroll their students in the course. Developing information literacy skills is a key component to student success–both in the classroom and the workplace.

If you would like to review the Information Literacy course, you can sign in as a guest by following these steps:

Go to http://moodle.randolph.edu
On the left side of the screen, under “Course Categories,” select “Library Services”
On the next screen, select “Information Literacy”
Select “Login as a Guest”
Enter the “enrollment key” (all lower case): rcclibrary
Select “Enroll me in this course”

Once you’ve reviewed the course, if you decide that you’d like your students to be enrolled, all you have to do is let me know and I’ll take care of the rest. Once we enroll your class, it will be available to students in Moodle. You will have access to the course as a non-editing instructor, which means you can access all the student records, but you just can’t edit anything in the course itself.

We hope you have a wonderful semester and please let me know if you have any questions about the LibGuides or the Information Literacy course.

***********************************
Donna Windish
Instructional Services Librarian
Randolph Community College

SoftChalk and MERLOT- Content Creation, Search and Publish

On 6-29-11, the DE team attended a webinar on SoftChalk and Merlot. SoftChalk is an easy to use content creator. It helps you to create engaging, sophisticated and professional content for your courses. MERLOT stands for Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching. MERLOT is a program of the California State University providing free and open online community of resources. Instructors from around the world share their content on MERLOT. MERLOT allows you to browse the numerous collections of content creations using an advance keyword search.
With MERLOT and SoftChalk together you can publish your material directly into MERLOT for everyone to use, and you can import MERLOT’s digital content into your SoftChalk lessons. This creates a wonderful opportunity for you to share what you have created with others and to see what others have done in your subject area!
If you would like to look around the MERLOT site the address is: http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
Just as a reminder, your DE team has a laptop that you can check out with SoftChalk installed!

Summary on Changing Demographics in Higher Education: The Case for Personalized Learning

On June 7, 2011, Distance Education hosted the webinar: Changing Demographics in Higher Education:  The Case for Personalized Learning.

Presented by:  Robert Johnson,  executive director, Louisiana Community and Technical College System Online Phil Miller, vice president of product strategy, Moodlerooms

Moderated by: Dian Schaffhauser

Sponsored by: Dell and Moodlerooms

3 Trends in E-Learning

• Demographics

The class rooms of today are totally different than anything that we have seen.  According to Phill Miller at Moodle Rooms enrollment of students over the age of 25 has increased by 13% in the last 10 years, and will continue to increase by at least 19 or 20% by the year 2017.  This trend is changing the way our classrooms look both traditional and online.

• Access/Mobility

There is more access and more mobility.  The concerns 8 or 9 years ago was, “How will we meet access needs with the computer and will students be able to use the content?”  Now we are asking “How will we meet the mobility access needs with the students that are on the go?”  Access and mobility has dramatically changed.

• Data

The use of data.  We are constantly being asked to make data driven decisions.  We have a lot of data and we are wondering what to do with all this data.

Here are 2 math students that have totally different demographics and access/mobility issues.

Student #1 is 18 years old right out of high school that struggles with math.  Always online, using Moodle, Facebook, and tweets, but you are worried about her math skills.

Student #2 is 45 years old has not opened a textbook in years, probably knows more about math than you do since he uses it on the factory floor.  This student admitted to you that he has his son log on to Moodle to print off and upload his work for him.

2 very different users.  One knows a lot about math, but nothing about using computers.  The other knows nothing about math and everything about using the computer.  How do you keep from losing these types of students??

Moodlerooms product Jewel will help you to be able to reach to these students.

If you are in a classroom you can identify user behavior, take action and remediate or accelerate the learning process.  With Moodleroom’s Jewel, you will be able to set what content the student sees by the grades that they earn.  If a student is doing an assignment and scores below a 70 (You set the criteria) the system will identify them as at risk, email you and the student about contacting each other and open remedial content for them to go over.

Robert Johnson,  executive director, Louisiana Community and Technical College

LCTS is 16 two- year community and technical colleges located throughout Louisiana.

LCTCS Online is 2 years old with 55-80 courses per semester.  These courses are developed and ran by LCTCS for all the community and technical college in the state of Louisiana.  The colleges will attach their own IDs to the courses.  When faculty teaches for LCTCS, they will sign a new contract as adjunct faculty.

LCTCS offers individualized learning with:

ANYTIME

• Open-entry and individualized learning.  Students can enroll at any time even Christmas day.  Learning should be able to happen at any time!   There is no semester.
• Embedded digital assets- No textbooks.  LCTCS has a bill before the legislature that will bring them closer to awarding credit for the mastery of competencies.
• Classes never close or cancel.  Will run classes with only one student enrolled.

ANY PLACE

• Still working on courses being delivered to any mobile device.  Mobile technology is not limited to just smart phones.
• Delivered via internet and on company intranets.  LCTCS will go to a company an place the courses on the company’s server.

ANY PERSON

• LCTCS online programming will meet ADA minimum standards.  No marginalized people or markets.
• Designed for dual enrollment for the high school student
• Embedded assessments and remediation
• Instructors and tutors work in teams similar to a medical practice.

ANY PLACE

• Classes are designed for motivated students to complete at an accelerated pace.
• Working on college subscriptions for students
• Classes self-customizing delivering content based on internal assessments of student’s demonstration of competencies.

Slides from the webinar:  changing_demographics_in_higher_education_the_case_for_personalized_learning_06072011version_final_060611

Guidelines for Online Teaching Success

By: Mary Bart in Distance Learning Administration

Years ago at a faculty meeting Larry Ragan, PhD, director of Faculty Development for Penn State’s World Campus, was trying to soft-sell the idea of performance expectations for online faculty. He didn’t want the discussion to be misinterpreted as an indictment against their teaching style, but he also saw an opportunity to share proven practices for improving the online teaching and learning experience. Finally a senior faculty member grew tired of the tip-toeing around the subject and said, “If you don’t tell us what is expected, how will we know what to do to succeed?”

Click here to see the full article.

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/guidelines-for-online-teaching-success/

How to Make Your Online Students Feel Connected

By Mary Bart

The college student experience, even for graduate students, is much more than course assignments, so why is it that the online learner’s experience is often limited to logging in, reading assignments and posting on the discussion board?

As the online student population continues its double-digit growth rate, and some organizations are projecting that by 2020 students will take up to 60 percent of their courses online, forward-thinking higher education institutions are looking for new approaches to student engagement and retention to meet the needs of the online student population. It is a population that is often made up of students from different generations, ethnic backgrounds, professional experiences, and family responsibilities.

One institution that is taking an innovative approach to online student engagement is Drexel University, which has won awards for its online first-year experience program in its fully online Master of Science in Higher Education (MSHE) Program.

To see the full article click here:  http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/how-to-make-your-online-students-feel-connected/

Links for ADA Information

North Carolina Vocational Instructors Training in Accessible Learning http://www.ncvital.info/index.html

The purpose of the NCVITAL website is to provide information concerning accessibility issues, compliance guidelines, and policies.  It provides a central repository of information related to issues with meeting accessibility requirements for NC Community College campuses.

 

Moodle Accessibility Specifications

http://docs.moodle.org/en/Moodle_Accessibility_Specification#Moodle_Accessibility_Specification

The National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education

The National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education (AccessIT) was funded by a 5-year grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the U.S. Department of Education

http://www.washington.edu/accessit/faqs.php

http://www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?1227 ADA Information

http://www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?1087 How can I test my website for accessibility links

http://www.w3.org/WAI/eval/ W3C ADA information and links

http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools/complete Complete list of Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools

Georgia Tech Research on Accessible Distance Education (GRADE)

http://www.catea.gatech.edu/grade/

Access elearning tutorials:  Free, 10 module tutorial on the creation of accessible and usable distance education material.

Course design models:  Real-world courses designed for accessibility; invaluable as “how-to” examples.

Fact sheets:  easy to use information briefs on essential points of accessible design.

Guidelines for Accessible Distance Education:  Principles and practices for the improving the access and use of common non-html elements in distance education, such as MS Office, adobe and video files.