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By Brendan, on March 5th, 2010, 10:01 am
North Seattle College is hosting a Open Textbook workshop on April 20, 2010, from 10-3, with lunch included. Come and join the effort in making textbooks more affordable. Become an advocate and trainer for Open Textbooks.
This event is sponsored by the Community College Open Textbook Project and The Washington State Board of Community And Technical Colleges (SBCTC) and free for all who want to attend. SBCTC is also offering to pay for mileage of those who are traveling more than 50 Miles to attend the event.
Advocates and Trainers will learn how to:
- Foster interest in open textbooks
- Assist faculty with discovering, selecting, and adopting open textbooks
- Assist students in choosing a format (online, downloaded, printed, bound)
- Work with all the stakeholders on campus including bookstore, print
shop, library, and administration
- Provide feedback to the authors and educational community
- Plan, market, and deliver an adoption workshop
- Find textbook usage and costs on your campus
In addition to travel reimbursement, Advocates and Trainers will receive a $1,500 stipend to assist in their development, as well as to present a faculty workshop about Adopting Open Textbooks at their local college campus.
To register for the Seattle workshop and for information on becoming an Advocate and Trainer, and locations for other workshops please visit http://opentextbookadvocatetrainers.ning.com/.
By Brendan, on March 2nd, 2010, 2:35 pm
Get some practice using the collaborative online web conferencing tool, Elluminate. There is a practice session, hosted by Shoreline Community College, happening on Wednesday, March 3, from 2-3 pm. Connect from your computer by clicking this Elluminate session link:
https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/meeting.jnlp?password=M.CB2CB2664979AE8F3065444E874D4E
No need for a password, just enter your name after you click the link.
By Scott, on February 11th, 2010, 5:27 pm
eLearning has a new resource available on Smart Penguin for students, faculty, and staff. Although Smart Penguin provides the solutions to, or the prevention of, most technical issues that Clark College Blackboard users may experience, things may still go awry. To help students and faculty get back to their online coursework more quickly, the tech support team in the eLearning Department now provides a system called Tech Ticket, which can be used to submit the details of a technical issue. In a series of short questions about their computing environment, online users can quickly convey some of the important keys needed for an accurate diagnosis. Tech Ticket then allows direct communication with eLearning tech support for improved collaboration and information exchange to aid a swift resolution. You can find the link to file a Tech Ticket in the sidebar on Smart Penguin’s main post page, among our links at the bottom of that page, or in the following post on Smart Penguin:
That’s the Ticket!
By Cindy, on January 7th, 2010, 1:49 pm
The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) is pleased to announce the Student Completion Initiative.
Washington state community and technical colleges may submit grant proposals in one or all of the three of the following project areas: Open Course Library; Re-Thinking Pre-College Math; and I-BEST Model Expansion. All Clark College faculty members, full and part-time, are encouraged to: review the RFP, listen in on one of the Bidder’s Conferences, and explore the opportunity to participate in this important initiative.
Grant awards will be made based on a competitive process.
- Grant applications became available on January 4, 2010. Faculty Course Designer Grant
- Grant proposals are due on February 17, 2010.
- Grant awards will be made by March 18, 2010.
The number of grant awards and the grant award amounts can be found in the Student Completion Initiative Overview on the SBCTC website.
Colleges are encouraged to participate in one or more of the Bidder’s Conferences scheduled for January 11 and January 15. Both ITV and Elluminate sessions will be scheduled on both days.
Clark College ITV group session will be held in the Cannell Library Monday January 11th at 9 AM and Friday January 15th at 1:30 PM.
To participate in an Elluminate session, you will need to be at a computer with speakers and a microphone. Elluminate sessions will be recorded and can be accessed on the Student Completion Initiative web site after the live sessions.
Bidder’s Conference Schedule:
January 11: ITV in the Clark College Cannell Library
9:00 am Introductions and Purpose
9:15 am Open Course Library: Cable Green
10:15 am Break
10:30 am Re-Thinking Pre-College Math: Bill Moore
11:15 am Break
11:30 am I-BEST Model Expansion: Tina Bloomer
12:15 pm Conclusion
January 11: Elluminate Recording
1:30 pm Introductions and Purpose
1:45 pm Open Course Library: Cable Green
2:45 pm Break
3:00 pm Re-Thinking Pre-College Math: Bill Moore
3:45 pm Break
4:00 pm I-BEST Model Expansion: Tina Bloomer
4:45 pm Conclusion
==================
January 15: Elluminate Recording
9:00 am Introductions and Purpose
9:15 am Open Course Library: Cable Green
10:15 am Break
10:30 am Re-Thinking Pre-College Math: Bill Moore
11:15 am Break
11:30 am I-BEST Model Expansion: Tina Bloomer
12:15 pm Conclusion
January 15: ITV in the Clark College Cannell Library
1:30 pm Introductions and Purpose
1:45 pm Open Course Library: Cable Green
2:45 pm Break
3:00 pm Re-Thinking Pre-College Math: Bill Moore
3:45 pm Break
4:00 pm I-BEST Model Expansion: Tina Bloomer
4:45 pm Conclusion
Please consider becoming involved in this major state-wide initiative! Additional grant documents are linked to this page under the heading Documents. Feel free to contact me in eLearning if you have questions or need assistance, if I don’t have the answers I will put you in touch with the people at SBCTC who do.
Cynthia Foreman, Associate Director of eLearning
By Scott, on December 8th, 2009, 5:46 pm
We now have a new page on The eLog called, “Faculty Blackboard Planner.” …You’ll find it in the page links above. It’s a Blackboard activities calendar where you can see what dates we have planned for various events such as quarter shell availability, when to use the Blackboard Gradebook tool to safely store your grades before the snapshot process removes that information, and many other timely events, most of which I will also make reference to in the usual email notifications. I will be posting dates in this planner as soon as they become known to us here in eLearning and I hope you find it useful. As always, be sure to let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions.
By Naomi, on November 12th, 2009, 3:55 pm
Join this Elluminate session* about Open Education Resources hosted by Cindy Foreman
- Date: 11-18-09 (Wednesday)
- Time: 3:00pm (Please plan to arrive 10 minutes early)
- Location: Library Room 103 (will be via Elluminate)
- Contact Info: Brendan Pust, x2012 or bpust@clark.edu
Part 1: “Open Textbooks from an Author’s Perspective” (30 min)
Bio: Robert Beezer is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA. He joined the faculty there in 1984 after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. Besides advocating for open textbooks, he is also a developer for Sage, a comprehensive open-source program for mathematics.
What motivates someone to write an open textbook? How much of the editorial and production process is within reach of an individual? How is the experience different from writing a traditional textbook? What is different about teaching from an open textbook? I will answer these questions with examples from my experiences writing and publishing a mathematics textbook, “A First Course in Linear Algebra.”
Part 2: “Another Perspective on Authoring an Open Textbook” (30 min)
Bio: David Lippman is a professor of mathematics at Pierce College Ft Steilacoom, a community college in Lakewood, WA, where he has been teaching since 2000. He is best known in the Washington community college math circle as the guy who created WAMAP.org (aka IMathAS), a free, open-source online course management and math assessment system.
I’ll discuss my journey of writing an open textbook “Math in Society,” including my motivation, how existing open textbooks guided my decisions, using my students as guinea pigs, and my experience with the bookstore. I’ll share some general thoughts on openness and collaboration in textbooks that need consistency and accuracy, and some thoughts about license selection.
*Note: For those who missed it, you may view the recording…
Webinar: Perspectives on Open Textbooks from Two WA Faculty Authors
By Cindy, on November 6th, 2009, 9:58 am
The project formerly under the heading of Online Course Access and Success and commonly referred to as the Course Redesign Project will now be called the “Open Course Library Project”. The purpose of the project is still the same, to redesign 80 existing high enrollment courses to use Open Educational Resources to improve affordability, accessibility, and student success.
The renaming came about in reaction to the first “town hall” Elluminate session held on November 4th. The session was attended by well over 100 faculty, staff and administrators all across the state. There are three more Elluminate sessions to follow, so stay tuned for more updates and modifications to this project. The SBCTC has set up a wiki with current information about this project and they are being very clear that the information is all DRAFT and subject to revision.
http://opencourselibrary.wikispaces.com
If you would like to tune in to one or all of the remaining Elluminate sessions but are unsure how to do that, refer to our blog posting about Elluminate or contact the eLearning Department and we will be happy to assist you.
By Cindy, on October 27th, 2009, 8:47 pm
SBCTC has secured one large grant covering four separate projects under the heading of Washington State Student Completion Initiative. All four projects are tied together under the heading of Retention and Student Success. From the eLearning perspective we fit into the first project – Online Course Access and Success. The goal is to redesign 80 courses to use Open Educational Resources (OER) to improve affordability, accessibility, and student success. The courses were selected on the basis of High Enrollment and Low Completion, with predominantly young students who are from lower income households. That is who the Gates Foundation is most interested in helping. He has targeted Community Colleges in four different states with similar programs. There is a list of 81 courses, 80 existing courses and 1 proposed course. Money from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will fund the first 25 courses, Ford Foundation and State money is being used to add the additional 56 courses. That list may be modified between now and the end of the calendar year.
Executive Summary
Full text of Grant
The basics = redesign these 81 courses so that they are taught using digital resources available for little or no cost to the students. Those redesigned courses will then be made available to the world-wide web. Instructors and students from anywhere in the world will be able to access these course materials to use as they see fit. Our own faculty members within the state of Washington will be able to access these course materials and use them as they see fit in online, hybrid or F2F classes.
Redesign Courses
There will be room for instructional designers, librarians, eLearning staff, bookstore administrators and others to participate in the redesign project alongside the faculty members who are chosen. The process for determining who will participate in the grant has not been finalized. There will be a series of informational sessions held via Elluminate over the next month. These sessions are open to whoever is interested in listening and/or participating. (If you have not ever used Elluminate please review the information posted by Scott and take advantage of a little advance training.)
Washington State Student Completion Initiative – Course Redesign Project “town hall” meetings:
- Wednesday, November 4: 3:00 – 4:30pm
- Monday, November 9: 10:00 – 11:30am
- Tuesday, November 17: 1:00 – 2:30pm
- Friday, December 4: 2:00 – 3:30pm
Elluminate recordings for all meetings: Open Course Library Wiki
By Cindy, on October 27th, 2009, 12:24 pm
Read about the latest projects and developments coming from the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges in their quarterly Newsletter – The Browser. FALL09 EL Newsletter FINAL (2)
The Clark College eLearning team are following the Lecture Capture RFP very closely so that we will be set to take advantage of this new exciting technology as soon as it becomes available. I have previous experience with lecture capture using the Tegrity system. My online students found the video streamed mini-lectures a helpful addition to predominantly text-based course content.
Clark College has two Quality Matters certified courses: “Math 107 Math In Society” developed & taught by Jennifer Farney and “WS 201 Women Around the World” developed & taught by Ann Synder. Our eLearning Senior Instructional Designer Kathy Chatfield is a Certified Quality Matters Master Reviewer. Watch for upcoming Quality Matters training events throughout the year.
The new Gates Grant and course redesign project will require a series of posts! I have reviewed the entire grant and will be participating in a number of Elluminate sessions over the next two months. This is a major statewide project and Clark College will definitely want to be involved.
Stay tuned for more information!
By Cindy, on October 19th, 2009, 3:34 pm
 Cindy Exploring the World As the new leader of the Clark College eLearning Department I would like to welcome you to the eLog. We hope you will come here often to share your ideas, ask questions, and explore what is happening in the world of eLearning. I will be using this site to pass along the latest information from the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges regarding distributed education, instructional technology, and various state-wide initiatives that may be of direct benefit to Clark College.
The eLearning Department has a great team of individuals who will be sharing their expertise on this site as well. They are ready to assist both students and faculty with their technical challenges. Be sure and check our Smart Penguin blog for the very latest tech support issues. If you are on campus I encourage you to stop by our office and meet the eLearning team. We are located in the breezeway between the library and Gaiser Hall. Our office is open Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM.
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