Holiday Cheer!

We wish you and your family a very happy holiday season.

(We’ll return to the Cultivating Excellence blog early next year!)

Community College Headlines

Below we've posted a few links to browse: recent news and commentary concerning community colleges. Please feel free to comment or share additional resources in the CCCOnline Community.

First three links about the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence:
“For Community Colleges, a Time to Shine” by Kevin Carey (12/11/11)
Commentary from The Chronicle:
http://chronicle.com/article/For-Community-Colleges-a-Time/130064/?sid=wb

“Valencia College Wins First Aspen Prize for Community-College Excellence” by Jennifer Gonzalez (12/12/11)
Also from The Chronicle:
http://chronicle.com/article/Valencia-College-Wins-First/130091/?sid=cc

“Completion Comes First” by Paul Fain (12/13/11)
From Inside Higher Ed:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/12/13/valencia-college-wins-first-aspen-prize

“Completion Conundrum” by Paul Fain (12/8/11)
From Inside Higher Ed:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/12/08/state-budget-cuts-make-completion-goals-difficult-community-colleges

“Tracking Quality at 2-Year Colleges” by Paul Fain (12/1/11)
From Inside Higher Ed:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/12/01/community-college-association-releases-voluntary-accountability-measures

“Survey highlights trends in e-learning” (11/17/11)
From Community College Times (links to Pearson Foundation Community College Student Survey):
http://www.communitycollegetimes.com/Pages/Campus-Issues/Survey-highlights-trends-in-elearning.aspx

“7 Community Colleges Open an Online Doorway to Better Grades and Graduation Rates” by Josh Fischman (11/6/11)
From The Chronicle:
http://chronicle.com/article/7-Community-Colleges-Try-an/129605/?sid=cc

Introducing Our New eLearning Specialist

CCCOnline would like to extend a warm welcome to our new eLearning Specialist, Maria Schnell.

Maria brings enthusiasm, energy, and both higher education and corporate experience to CCCOnline’s Training and Professional Development Team. Since 2007, she has taught Communications courses, both online and face-to-face, for the University of Colorado, Pikes Peak Community College, and Community College of Denver. She also worked as a Project Manager for Global Channel Marketing in a Fortune 100 company; her responsibilities there included managing multiple projects, product launches, and international customer training. Maria earned her M.A. in Organizational Communication, emphasis in Leadership, from the University of Colorado.

A proud Colorado native and outdoor enthusiast, Maria grew up on a cattle ranch in Elizabeth, and says she “enjoys all of what my home state has to offer.” Her favorite activity is spending time with her family riding horses, and she also enjoys skydiving, snowboarding, hiking, longboarding, and being with her two dogs. Additionally, she is involved in charity and volunteer work with Seeds of Hope and Denver Children’s Advocacy Center.

Maria is excited to join us and shares that she “looks forward to supporting the staff and instructors at CCCOnline through continued improvement to training and online support.”

Meet the CCCOnline Science Team

This week, please enjoy getting to know your Science team!

Norma Hollebeke, Associate Dean of Science
(Norma's introduction also appeared at this blog on 8/3/11)
CCCOnline extends a warm welcome to Norma Hollebeke, our new Associate Dean of Science. Norma is new to the Colorado Community College System; she most recently served as Associate Professor of Biology at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.

Norma’s accomplishments include developing innovative curriculum to pave the way to student success in both face-to-face and online environments. She has an extensive Biology teaching background, having taught at El Paso Community College, University of Texas-El Paso, University of Toronto, and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.

In addition, Norma has served as Director of the Dayton Urban STEM Teacher Academy (funded by the National Science Foundation) and past-Affiliate Director of Biomedical Science for Project Lead the Way, Ohio (an organization dedicated to improving programs and supporting future graduates in science and technology).

Norma earned her Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and Master’s degree in Biology from the University of Texas-El Paso; her post-graduate research was at the University of Toronto. She enjoys hiking, camping, fishing, canoeing, gardening, photography, bird watching, entomology, and “herping” (searching for reptiles and amphibians).

Paul E. Vorndam, Physical Sciences Program Chair
Paul has been indispensable to CCCOnline’s Science program. In addition to his current position, he has served as CCCOnline’s Science Chair, and has taught for us since 1998. He also has held the academic posts of Deputy Chemistry Department Head in the U.S. Air Force Academy and Chemistry Department Chair at Colorado State University-Pueblo.

Paul’s industry experience includes working as Quality Control Supervisor at a 14Carbon Synthesis Lab and Group Leader at a Pesticide Residue Analysis Lab. He holds a BS in Chemistry from Millikin University, an MS in Chemistry from Illinois State University, and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Paul enjoys bridge, chess, table tennis, and trail running.

Alison Jacobs, Health Sciences Program Chair
Alison is an experienced member of CCCOnline’s Science team. She began teaching for CCCOnline in 2003, and has served as our Health Sciences Program Chair since 2006. Additionally, she has been Nursing Chair for CCCOnline and Community College of Denver’s LPN to RN online program since 2004, and she serves as a clinical nursing instructor of Maternal Child Health at Community College of Denver.

Alison’s professional experience also includes working as a community health nurse in the Appalachian mountains of eastern Tennessee for a Child Development Project; serving as a nurse practitioner in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Florida; and living for 10 years in Japan with her husband and three children, where she learned the language and culture, developed children’s educational programs, and taught English to preschool Japanese children.

Alison earned a BS in Nursing from Vanderbilt University and an MS in Nursing from University of Florida, specializing in Pediatrics. Alison shares her interests are “vegetable gardening, cycling, hiking in the beautiful Rockies, hanging out with the family, and getting back to the beach whenever possible.”

Dan Branan, Life Sciences Program Chair
Dan Branan is another familiar face at CCCOnline; he has been teaching for us since 2006. In addition to serving as our Program Chair, Dan is the North American Network of Science Labs Online (NANSLO) Project Manager for the Colorado Community College System. He provides leadership and coordination for the CCCS discipline teams that work on this international project funded by the Gates Foundation.

Dan’s experience also includes having held a variety of posts at the US Air Force Academy. There, he has served as Assistant Professor of Chemistry (1996 – 99, 2004 – 2011), Co-Director of the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (2005 – 2007), and Research Director for the Institute for Information Technology Applications (2005 – 2007). He retired from the Air Force this past June. Dan’s awards include CCCOnline Faculty Gold (2006), Outstanding Academy Educator Award (2005-2006), and Carol M. Goldman Distinguished Service Award from USAFA Department of Chemistry (2011).

Dan earned a BS in chemistry from the University of South Alabama, an MS in inorganic chemistry from the Ohio State University, and a PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Denver. He says, “I love helping people understand how the universe works! I truly believe that a well-educated public is the last, best hope for a free society. This is why I love teaching for the Community College System, because it affords educational opportunities for nearly everyone.”

Thanks to You

All of us at CCCOnline send warm wishes to our instructors and their families for a happy Thanksgiving, and we’d also like to thank you for your ongoing dedication to student learning.

Enjoy your holiday!

Meet the CCCOnline CTE Team

This week, we’re pleased to present your Career & Technical Education (CTE) Team!

Chris Luchs, Associate Dean of Career & Technical Education
Chris Luchs is an experienced instructor and business professional. He has taught Accounting, Business, and Multimedia Graphic Design for CCCOnline, and he has been sharing his talents with the Colorado Community College System since 2005. Chris started as an Agribusiness instructor at Otero Junior College, where he taught ranchers and farmers how to set up accounting systems, use computers and develop marketing and production plans. Then, he moved to Front Range Community College to serve as the Director of the North Metro Small Business Development Center. In this role, he very successfully assisted area entrepreneurs and existing businesses, and he remains a volunteer counselor at the Colorado SBDC.

A self-proclaimed geek, Chris spends his free time investigating new technologies and collaborating internationally with other educators on evaluating and exploring virtual worlds and games-based educational applications. His current happy place is analytics and data visualization tools. In addition, he is a foodie who enjoys finding new restaurants and wines.

Diane Van Os, Criminal Justice and Paralegal Program Chair
I was born in Seattle, but grew up in California and worked in Silicon Valley in the Semiconductor field. That led to an interest in intellectual property law so I earned my Doctorate, a minor in Biology, and went into patent law. I love to ski, but hate the cold. My four cats keep me entertained as do my daughter and son (both grown). I am an admitted wine snob, and love to eat just about every cuisine there is.

My teaching philosophy is that less can be more in an online forum. My goal is to have students leave every one of my classes remembering the material, and how to apply it in “real world” situations. Thus, I tend to have items open from day one, but with solid due dates, and don’t use the old single term paper model. I don’t want students to be so stressed about a percentile dip in their grade that they don’t absorb the material. I also use humor without crossing the line from instructor to buddy, and make sure that students are very aware there is a human behind the screen.

Kate Hagerty, Computer Science Program Chair
Kate has been teaching for five years. She began teaching Multimedia Graphic Design courses during the final semester of earning her BFA in Multimedia from CU Denver. For the first three years of teaching only face-to-face classes for Front Range Community College, she relied heavily on the available learning management system, Blackboard, to help her deliver supporting material and to gather assignments from her students. Because of her heavy use of Blackboard, she was chosen to be a pilot instructor during the changeover to Desire2Learn in 2009 at FRCC.

After graduating from CU Denver in 2006, she opened her own freelance design business in 2007 and began teaching at FRCC. In 2010, she began teaching for CCCOnline and finally, in July of 2011, she accepted the position of Program Chair for CCCOnline’s Computer Science division.

Kate is a leader in the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference that takes place in Second Life, and she participates in groups that discuss and promote learning using various virtual environments including OpenSim, Second Life and World of Warcraft.

However, even with all of these technical interests, Kate still places high value on foundational skills and concepts such as student engagement, information literacy, and good communication. We can’t lose sight of the fact that, no matter how pretty and shiny our tech toys might be, it all boils down to helping students learn as well as possible!

Annie Moats, Business Program Chair
Annie Moats has been with CCCOnline for approximately seven years, and she brings us 20 years of diverse leadership experience within a corporate and academic structure. Annie has been a business owner for the past 17 years, providing training and consulting for all types of organizations involving management development, hiring and recruiting, implementing teams in the work environment, customer service, leadership, communication and human resource issues impacting the work environment.

As an instructor, Annie is committed to the students she teaches, both personally and professionally. She believes students want to feel valued, respected and given confidence in the classroom. Her style reflects that students have ideas, opinions and experience that can be woven into all of the lessons that are taught in any type of classroom.

Annie believes that progressively identifying new techniques that are innovative and inviting assures that students will grasp key learning concepts while enjoying the learning process. Overall, Annie focuses on the value of the student and makes sure that everything she does demonstrates this value.

Donna Welschmeyer, Education Program Chair
Donna is a valued member of the CCCOnline Academic Team, having joined in 2001 as an instructional designer and, since then, having served as Director of Online Program Development, Accounting Department Chair, and Associate Academic Dean. Donna also is an experienced instructor: she began her career teaching at Morgan Community College in 1985, and since that time has taught in Business, Multimedia, Accounting, and Management. She currently teaches Accounting and developmental Math for CCCOnline and Business and Computer Information Systems classes at Community College of Aurora, in addition to providing consulting services in instructional design, safety, business process/management, and leadership.

In their spare time, Donna and her family fix and flip houses, play pool, ride motorcycles, country dance, target shoot, spend time with family and friends, and play with the new granddaughter.

New Library Blog Launched

CCCOnline is pleased to announce an exciting new blog from our Instructional Online Librarian: The Librarian’s Labyrinth. It will feature news you can use on research and library topics; we encourage you to follow along!

Library Webinar Thursday

Below is a quick reminder about Thursday’s Library webinar. If you aren’t able to make it, remember it will be archived on our wiki; in the meantime (now or later), please feel free to contribute any suggestions or comments about library services in the CCCOnline Community. Mary Cash (CCCOnline’s Instructional Online Librarian) will be around to answer your questions.

Thank you!

If you missed our conference presentation (“What’s Going On @ Your CCCOnline Library?”), please consider joining us Thursday (3:00-4:30 p.m.) for our updated webinar!

Registration information is here:
http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Upcoming_Webinars#What.27s_going_on_.40_your_CCCOnline_Library.3F

Items for discussion:
-library databases we have (and how to access them!)

-how library services can assist you and your students

-recent studies illuminating students’ need for library services and information literacy

Online Learning in the News

This week, FYI, we offer a few links for you to browse: recent news or commentary about Online Learning in general. Please feel free to comment, or share any such links you’ve bookmarked, in the CCCOnline Community.

“Myths of Online Education” by Steve Kolowich (10/21/11)
“Educational technologists defend online education” at recent Educause conference (Inside Higher Ed):
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/10/21/educational-technologists-defend-online-education

“QuickWire: Online-Learning Growth Is Confirmed by Education Dept. Report” by Josh Fischman (10/5/11)
From The Chronicle’s “Wired Campus” blog:
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/quickwire-online-learning-growth-is-confirmed-by-education-dept-report/33537

“The Digital Revolution and Higher Education” by Kim Parker, Amanda Lenhart and Kathleen Moore (8/28/11)
From the Pew Research Center:
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/08/28/the-digital-revolution-and-higher-education/1/

A series of posts from Frank Donoghue at The Chronicle’s “Innovations” blog:
“Online Learning: Good, Bad, Inevitable” (7/12/11)
http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/online-learning-good-bad-inevitable/29814
“The Strengths of Online Learning?” (7/18/11)
http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/the-strengths-of-online-learning/29849
“Another Look at the Weaknesses of Online Learning” (7/27/11)
http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/more-on-weaknesses-on-online-learning/29888
“Online Learning: Final Concerns” (8/1/11)
http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/online-learning-final-concerns/29947

Also from The Chronicle:
“Community-College Students Perform Worse Online Than Face to Face” by Ryan Brown (7/18/11)
http://chronicle.com/article/Community-College-Students/128281/

“Why Are So Many Students Still Failing Online?” by Rob Jenkins (5/22/11)
http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Are-So-Many-Students-Still/127584/?sid=gn

Links to The Sloan Consortium’s surveys. The most recent one is “Class Differences: Online Education in the United States, 2010.”
http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/index.asp

Meet CCCOnline’s Liberal Arts & Communication Team

This week, we hope you enjoy getting to know your Liberal Arts & Communication team!

Karla Schorzman, Associate Dean of Liberal Arts & Communication
Karla joined the CCCOnline academic team this February, and formerly served as full time faculty and chair of the Brighton Center of Front Range Community College. A seasoned instructor, Karla has for seven years taught online and face-to-face English and Sociology classes at most community colleges from Colorado Springs to Loveland; she also taught at Metro State and one for-profit college.

Karla’s artistic talents are numerous. She is an avid writer and featured poet at the Colorado Poets Center. She also enjoys quilting and cross-stitch embroidery; one of her projects won a blue ribbon in a recent Adams County fair. As a Colorado native, she appreciates the state’s natural beauty while hiking and camping, and as a hot springs enthusiast, she aims to visit every hot springs area in the western US.

Daniel Metz, Arts and Humanities Program Chair
Daniel Metz has been involved with CCCOnline for eight years, serving as chair of the Arts and Humanities program, and as a philosophy and humanities instructor. Daniel also currently serves as the CCCS chair of philosophy. Prior to these endeavors, he taught philosophy, cultural studies and EFL in Japan, and retains an interest in Japanese philosophy and art.

Daniel considers teaching a privilege: “In my view, teaching is really about opening doors to different perspectives, and facilitating the learning process. This process involves each learner encountering new ideas and new ways of looking at the world, and developing critical thinking skills in order to better understand other perspectives, and in doing so, broadening one's own.”

Other activities that vie for his attention include hiking, viewing art, engaging in existential naval gazing, and enjoying musical performances, in particular, contemporary symphonic works. Daniel relates, “I am gratified for the opportunity to contribute to our collaborative effort to strive for the best quality of education in the online environment.”

Kyla Hammond, Composition and Writing Program Chair
Dr. Hammond has over 16 years' experience in education, serving as a faculty member, professional development coordinator, and higher education administrator. She holds a BA in Humanities, an MA in Communication, another MA in Curriculum and Instruction, and a Ph.D. in Literature. She began her career in K-12 education, teaching English and Speech at Air Academy High School and then serving as a Professional Development Coordinator.

For seven years, she was Executive Director of Extended Studies and Global Programs for the College of Education at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, overseeing enrollment management and extended studies, which include all online and international programs. Her areas of expertise are implementing entrepreneurial models in higher education, enrollment management, strategic planning, organizational leadership, and innovative programming. She lives in Colorado with her husband and twin 4-year-old girls, and enjoys traveling, reading, and yoga.

Jerilyn Heinicke, Language and Communication Program Chair
I'm Jerilyn Heinicke. I've moved around a good bit, but my roots are definitely from the triangle where one crosses so very easily from West Virginia into Pennsylvania across that narrow strip of Maryland. My studies did not take a straight path. I took a few extra years to complete my master's work so that I could help out at the family restaurant. After finishing my Ph.D. coursework, I needed to find employment while I wrote my dissertation. It was a blessing that I believed the Air Force recruiter when he said that serving my country would be a 9 to 5 operation, with plenty of time for writing. Although I didn't write a word on my dissertation for the five years that I was in the Air Force, I did have experiences that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world, from working with the Japanese Air Force in Sendai to deploying with the New River Marines.

After the five years, I moved to Germany, a hop, step and jump from the border with France. . . I found the time to raise my four military "brats," finish my dissertation, and resume teaching. I've taught English composition, literature, Humanities, French language and literature, and German language and literature, almost exclusively online.

In 2004, I joined CCCOnline. I have seen tremendous growth over the years. The first administrative position that I held was chair of a department that included Communications, English, Literature, and all the foreign languages. Today, I am chair for Languages and Communication, which has grown to nearly the same size.

In my spare time, I raise yaks, llamas, and colored angora goats -- all fiber animals. Throw in a horse, a few chickens, a couple of pigs, and guinea fowl (wonderful bug eaters), and my spare time is filled up.

Beth Davies-Stofka, Literature and Developmental Education Program Chair
I began teaching for FRCC in 1995 and for the University of Denver in 1996, but then I wandered off to Indiana to join the theology faculty at Valparaiso University. That led me to a fork in the road: to continue with full-time teaching, or to go do something which, in my mind at least, was more challenging. I chose the challenge and joined the Network Operations Center at Rhythms NetConnections in 1998. Few things could have been more challenging! Talk about lifelong learning! After working my way up to Network Management Engineer, running the fault and performance management of a busy Wide Area Network and providing Tier IV troubleshooting support to the NOC, I *finally* finished my dissertation in 2003, left telecommunications, and went on an amazing two-month solo road trip around the Great Lakes. Meanwhile, in 2001, FRCC had welcomed me back to teaching. In 2004, I stopped F2F teaching entirely, devoting myself fully to FRCC's online teaching.

I regard online learning as a potent force for the practical uses of emergent technology to educate a sophisticated, tech-savvy, and entrepreneurial citizenship. In my view, every student is on the precipice of success or failure, and it's our job as teachers to help all of them to succeed. They may not experience success while in our care, but the faith we have in them and the life lessons we share will stay with them their whole lives. We must never miss an opportunity to encourage.

2011 Conference Presentation Links Available!

Thanks to all our super CCCOnline instructors, staff, and sponsors who made this year’s Annual Conference a success. Here is a link to our Conference Archive page, where you’ll find copies of the presentations.

In the CCCOnline Community, please feel free to relate your conference experiences, comments, and anything you learned and would like to share.

National Information Literacy Month

Today, we have a message from Mary Cash, CCCOnline’s Instructional Online Librarian:

President Obama has declared October to be National Information Literacy Month. In our busy, technological world, we are inundated by information – thanks to the Internet, we can learn new information, share ideas and photos and communicate instantly. It’s very easy to become overwhelmed. According to President Obama, “Rather than merely possessing data, we must also learn the skills necessary to acquire, collate, and evaluate information for any situation. This new type of literacy also requires competency with communication technologies, including computers and mobile devices that can help in our day-to-day decision making. National Information Literacy Awareness Month highlights the need for all Americans to be adept in the skills necessary to effectively navigate the Information Age” (Presidential Proclamation).

What can we do to help our students gain the skills they need to navigate the busy world of information? We can offer them information and guidance so that they know when they need to seek out information, how to locate the specific information they need, and then what to do with it once they find it. We can create lessons and assignments so our students can practice those skills and become better consumers of information. Need some assistance or ideas on how to do this? As the instructional online librarian, information literacy is a huge interest of mine, and I’ll be glad to sit down and talk to you about little or even big things you can do in your course to help your students learn to manage the information in their worlds.

· Read the President’s Proclamation: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/presidential-proclamation-national-information-literacy-awareness-month/

· Visit the National Forum on Information Literacy’s website:
http://infolit.org/

-Mary Cash
Instructional Online Librarian
CCCOnline

CCCOnline Annual Conference is Friday!

Here at the home office, the CCCOnline team is working faster than a speeding bullet to prepare for Friday’s Annual Conference.

Aarthi Ramesh, our Training and Professional Development Coordinator, has compiled helpful reminders for attendees:
http://ccconlinefacultynews.blogspot.com/2011/09/s-is-for-super.html

We look forward to joining forces with you there!

News From Our Librarian!

Here is a message from Mary Cash:

Hi everyone, I have some wonderful news; I am now, officially, the CCCOnline Instructional Online Librarian. I accepted my new position a few weeks ago and have started making plans for what I’ll do to offer online librarian services to our students and faculty. I’m still going to be working as an instructional designer for a while; we need to hire someone to replace me and course design still needs to go on : ).

I already have an Ask the Librarian email in place (cccolibrarian@ccconline.org), and have had a few students email me with research questions. A good part of my job, once everything is in place, will be to act as an Embedded Librarian in your courses. You’ll be able to set up a time for me to come into your course and answer questions on finding resources and doing citations. I’m also planning on some updates and changes to the CCCOnline Library Resources and Research and Writing Toolkit pages on the student wiki, and I would like to develop more information literacy training for both students and faculty. And, finally, one of my pet projects will be to see if we can bring in, to our D2L Learning Object Repository, a variety of learning objects that are currently available through MERLOT and other open source repositories.

Most likely, the Embedded Librarian project won’t be in place until spring semester; I have some logistics to work out. But I did want to let everyone know that CCCOnline now has a librarian available to both students and faculty. If you have ideas on where I can help in your courses, or something related to the library or information literacy, please let me know. I’d love to talk with you about your ideas.

And, if you’re coming to the faculty conference, be sure to check out our presentation on What’s Going on @ Your CCCOnline Library. We’ll talk more about future plans for our online library/librarian and the Research and Writing Toolkit.

Hope to see you then,
mary

Mary Cash
Instructional Online Librarian
CCCOnline
cccolibrarian@ccconline.org or mary.cash@cccs.edu

Overwhelming Discussions? Check Out These Helpful Resources!

Instructors with particularly lively student groups may struggle with how to manage their time within discussions. For related advice, check out these links from CCCOnline's Faculty Wiki:

“Strategies for Engaging Discussions”:
http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Teaching_Resources_-_Building_Community_and_Discussions_-_Strategies_for_Engaging_Discussions

“Learn to be Efficient”:
http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Teaching_Resources_-_Other_Resources_-_Strategies_for_Successful_Online_Teaching#Learn_to_be_Efficient

Professional Development Webinar Archive; you’ll find some relevant topics here: http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Webinar_Archive

Instructors’ Frequently Asked Questions about Discussions at CCCOnline:
http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Policies_%26_Procedures_-_Faculty_Handbook_-_Evaluation_-_Faculty_Gold_-_FAQs

Especially if you are a seasoned online instructor, please feel free to share your favorite tried-and-true discussion management strategies. Join us in the companion Community discussion thread.

Handling Difficult Situations

This week, Carrie Garman, CCCOnline’s Human Sciences Chair, has a reflection and a question for all of you.

“How I handle a difficult situation:
Most of the time I like to go up the incline – I live in Manitou Springs. The incline is the old railway up to the top of Pikes Peak. It is extremely steep and the steps have been made of old railway ties and rocks. I usually pack my back pack up and run to the bottom of it from my house and then see how fast I can get to the top. The ascent is over 2200 feet and the top is at about 8500 feet.

I always feel better at the top, and have absolutely no energy left to be upset about anything.”

How do you handle a difficult professional situation?
We look forward to reading your responses in the companion Community discussion thread!

Meet the CCCOnline Social Sciences Team

This week, we're pleased to introduce CCCOnline's Social Sciences Team. Have a nice Labor Day weekend, everyone!

Karen Kaemmerling, Associate Dean of Social Sciences
Karen’s leadership has been an important asset to the CCCOnline team. Since 2005, Karen has served CCCOnline variously as Arts and Humanities Chair, Social Sciences Chair, and Director of Training and Professional Development. In addition, she has been teaching US History for CCCOnline for eight years. As a result of learner-centered innovations to her Civil War to Present History course, she was awarded the Blackboard Exemplary Course Award in 2008. She also earned CCCOnline’s Academic Leader of the Year Award in 2006 and 2010.

Karen lives in Parker, Colorado, and enjoys playing with her two daughters, horseback riding, mountain biking, hiking, and walking her dogs. She says, “I really enjoy the online education experience and feel that it offers wonderful opportunities for students and educators.”

Carrie Garman, Human Sciences Chair
Carrie has been teaching online for about seven years; prior to her current appointment at CCCOnline, she served as our Program Chair for Behavioral Sciences. She is a clinical therapist and does contract work for El Paso County. She works mostly with families whose abused children have been placed in foster care, and has been working for Kids Crossing, a child placement agency, for about 12 years.

About her work, Carrie says “It is my passion and I love it”; about teaching, she comments “The best thing is that I can teach students who are interested in this field real-life applications of theory and provide them with a wealth of resources. It makes being a teacher even better!”

John Ragan, Cultural Sciences Chair
John has taught History for CCCOnline for almost five years, and his career accomplishments include serving as Assistant Dean of Admissions at the University of Denver, Department Manager at the Federal Reserve Bank, and director of a large agency of City and County of Denver government. In his spare time, John plays guitar with the Colorado surf band, the Royal Aces. (He's at right in the photo.)

He has a question for everyone: “Most, if not all, of you have 9 to 5 jobs, and/or you teach for other online programs. With all of the time that is required for those endeavors, do you find it difficult to remain up to date on scholarly developments and research in your field?”

Introducing CCCOnline’s Math Team

In coming weeks, we’ll be introducing CCCOnline’s Academic Team, division by division. This week, say hello to our Math Team!

Photo: From L-R, Tonia, Heidi, and Jan.

Heidi Barrett, Associate Dean
Heidi is an old friend of CCCOnline, having most recently served as our Assistant Math Department Chair. She has been sharing her talents with the CCCS system for more than 11 years; she began teaching at Arapahoe Community College in 2000 and CCCOnline in 2002.

Heidi earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education from DePaul University in Chicago and her Master’s in Mathematics from the University of Iowa. She enjoys being outdoors and is an avid runner: she recently completed her first marathon, and also has done a few half-marathons and triathlons. In addition, she enjoys biking, swimming, hiking, playing board games with her children and cards with her friends.

Jan Butler, College Level Program Chair
Jan is a valued member of the CCCOnline team. She has been teaching college-level math courses since 1971; she started teaching with CCCOnline in 1991 and in 2000 became co-chair of Mathematics, Sciences and Health with Chuck Sherrill. In August 2002, Jan became CCCOnline’s Mathematics Department Chair.

Jan has had a varied career from being a mathematician at U.S. Geological Resources, to Systems Analyst and Assistant Director of the Computer Center at University of Colorado at Denver, to teaching and academic administration around the Denver area. She worked at Metropolitan State College and was very involved with their Veteran's Upward Bound program from 1973 - 1985. Jan also taught at Community College of Aurora, Metro State, and University of Colorado at Denver in addition to her teaching and administration at CCCOnline.

Jan loves to take long walks, hike in the mountains, and read (especially science fiction and fantasy). She also loves dark chocolate and is always looking for new recipes to add to her collection.

Tonia Lock, Developmental Math Program Chair
Tonia has taught developmental Math for CCCOnline since 2008. She earned her Associate’s of Science degree from Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado, her Bachelor's degree in Mathematics Secondary Education from Regis University in Denver, and her Master's degree in Educational Technology from University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

Her interests are hunting, fishing and camping with her family and friends. She also enjoys reading, traveling, and being outside on a nice summer day.

Math News
Some of the projects underway in the Math department are transitioning more classes to digital content, increasing student participation in the STAR Center, and researching methods to improve student success in Math courses.

What’s Your Super Power?

As we count down to the CCCOnline Annual Conference, we’d like to ask you, our instructors:

What is YOUR super power and how does it help you to teach online?

Please respond in the companion Community discussion thread!

CCCOnline Annual Conference Information:
When: Sept. 30, 2011, 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Where: Arapahoe Community College

For more information, including registration instructions, please visit http://media.ccconline.org/ccco/Conference/index.html.

What We Learned at COLTT

Some of the CCCOnline academic staff attended COLTT (the Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology Conference) at CU-Boulder last week. Here’s what they reported:

The Best Ideas under the Sun
“One session of COLTT discussed the tool Voice Thread as used for enhancing student participation with each other in foreign language courses. Saturday after COLTT, I had the privilege of sitting in Sloan’s Lake Park with some of our vibrant Spanish instructors in a gathering arranged by Jeri Heinicke. Some of the instructors expressed interest in incorporating this tool in a couple of assignments for fall. We’ll let you know how it goes!”
-Karla Schorzman, Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities

Cool Tools!
“My experience of COLTT introduced me to or reminded me of some cool web sites and tools:

*Arounder.com, which provides panoramic views of various places around the world: http://www.arounder.com/
*VIMEO, which is like YouTube without the ads: http://vimeo.com/
*XTRANORMAL: http://www.xtranormal.com/
*Khan Academy: http://www.khanacademy.org/
*Zoomerang: http://www.zoomerang.com/
*Symphony of Science: http://www.symphonyofscience.com/”
-Karen Kaemmerling, Associate Dean of Social Sciences

“I learned about two interesting tools that have come on the scene recently.

The first is http://storify.com/; this is a tool to aid story authors using quick and easy drop-in content from other sites. The demo given is that you would intersperse text, online videos or other multimedia in way to tell a story. Their demos are interesting.

The second is http://instagrok.com/ which is a meta search engine for academic materials. It’s a Boulder, CO startup that looks very promising for students and instructors seeking high quality materials to embed into various works. It sorts from K-12 to college level postings by analyzing work usage, style, etc. and gives a word cloud so you can see at a glance the content without having to do a bunch of ‘go look and return to the index.’ ”
-Joseph Foss, AT Professional

Welcome to Our New Associate Dean of Science!

CCCOnline extends a warm welcome to Norma Hollebeke, our new Associate Dean of Science. Norma is new to the Colorado Community College System; she most recently served as Associate Professor of Biology at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.

Norma’s accomplishments include developing innovative curriculum to pave the way to student success in both face-to-face and online environments. She has an extensive Biology teaching background, having taught at El Paso Community College, University of Texas-El Paso, University of Toronto, and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.

In addition, Norma has served as Director of the Dayton Urban STEM Teacher Academy (funded by the National Science Foundation) and past-Affiliate Director of Biomedical Science for Project Lead the Way, Ohio (an organization dedicated to improving programs and supporting future graduates in science and technology).

Norma earned her Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and Master’s degree in Biology from the University of Texas-El Paso; her post-graduate research was at the University of Toronto. She enjoys hiking, camping, fishing, canoeing, gardening, photography, bird watching, entomology, and “herping” (searching for reptiles and amphibians).

What We Learned at FUSION, Part II

This week continues our discussion of lessons learned at FUSION.

Lisa Marie Johnson, Cultural Science Instructor, contributes:

“I attended many useful sessions at Fusion 2011, but the one that gave me the most pause for thought was 'The Future of Mobile: Insight and Vision from Desire2Learn' presented by David Kruis.

David discussed how the first internet experience for most developing nations' citizens is mobile technology. He examined the difficulty for educators in design and delivery of mobile due to the different definitions of ‘smartphone’ in the USA and abroad. Some phones are merely web enabled while others do truly mimic a personal computing experience.

Following that discussion, David explored a framework for understanding what mobile computing and learning means. . .”

Lisa Marie continues a summary of the framework in the CCCOnline Community. As always, please feel free to join in the conversation!

What We Learned at FUSION

We asked CCCOnline staff what they learned from last week’s Desire2Learn FUSION conference. Responses follow, and we’ll continue to showcase them next week!

• David Chatham, Dean of Academic Technology, commented on Jonah Lehrer’s keynote, in which Mr. Lehrer discussed the marshmallow kids experiment* and the possibility of predicting factors for success:
  
  “That is the key to our interest in analytics. If we can determine the key factors for keeping students progressing in their college career, then we’ve accomplished something additionally worthwhile with our D2L installation by mining the data that provides us with the clues.”
  
  *See “Don’t! The Secret of Self-Control,” Jonah Lehrer, The New Yorker, 5/18/2009.



• Natalie Jeremijenko, another keynote speaker, discussed the xDesign Environmental Health Clinic at NYU and its use of emerging technologies for social change. Sean Renner, Instructional Designer, found Prof. Jeremijenko’s keynote to be the most inspirational part of the conference:
  
  “I thought it was an amazing way to combine activism with art, and was an incredible example of thinking way outside the box making a difference in an area you care about in some of the most creative ways possible. For me, and I think for all of us working to provide new and creative opportunities for education, there’s a lot there that inspired me.
  
  The most useful thing I learned was the current, and upcoming features in the ‘insert stuff’ tool, allowing users to directly embed videos almost anywhere in D2L, and soon add youtube and flickr videos via a direct connection with D2L.”
  

CCCOnline Library Database Access

Mary Cash, CCCOnline Librarian, is our guest today with a special library announcement and question for you. As always, please feel free to join the conversation in the companion Community thread!

IMPORTANT! CCCOnline students will no longer be able to access the online article databases at the FRCC College Hill Library. CCCOnline students and faculty now have access to CCCOnline’s subscriptions to the EBSCO article databases and the FirstSearch (WorldCat) databases!!!

To access CCCOnline’s article databases, log on to your CCCOnline D2L account. Once you're logged on, locate the Helpful Links widget on your MyHome page or one of your Course Home pages. Look for the Online Library heading and then find the link to the EBSCO Article Databases or First Search and click on the link. That will take you right in to where you can begin your search. With EBSCO, you'll want to click on the top icon to get to the different databases. See the Library Article Databases Tutorial (http://at.ccconline.org/students/wiki/Academic_Resources_-_CCCOnline_Library_Resources_-_Library_Article_Databases_Tutorial) for more information.

You can also check out the CCCOnline Library Resources (http://at.ccconline.org/students/wiki/Academic_Resources_-_CCCOnline_Library_Resources) on the Student Wiki for information on evaluating sources, online reference resources, finding your local library and Ask a Librarian.

Have questions? Contact the CCCOnline Librarian: http://www.blogger.com/cccolibrarian@ccconline.org

********************************************************************************
Now that we have our own library article databases, how can we help you work them into your classes, or how can we help your students learn to use the databases better?

-Mary Cash

Note: since next week is the Desire2Learn FUSION Conference, we will not be posting here; however, we will be back the week of 7/18!

Welcome to Our New Dean of Academic Instruction!

We at CCCOnline are very pleased to introduce our new Dean of Academic Instruction, Terry Reeves. Terry has been with CCCOnline since last fall as interim Dean of Academic Instruction, and when given the opportunity to stay with us, she was excited to accept.

Terry has an extensive teaching and leadership background with the Colorado Community College System; she was Math faculty at Red Rocks Community College for 18 years, mentored adjunct Math faculty for 10 years, served as Department Chair for five years, and was faculty adviser for RRCC’s Transfer Program to the Colorado School of Mines. Terry also served as state discipline Chair, representing Math for all system colleges, and in addition, served a four-year tenure as Co-Chair for RRCC’s HLC Accreditation Committee. Her faculty experience includes teaching with CCCOnline for several years before RRCC created its own online Math department.

At CCCOnline, “the quality is so high and the standards so high,” she says, “much higher than people realize.” She adds CCCOnline, beyond being devoted to online education, is devoted to all-around academic excellence, and teaching for us is an active, dynamic, and professionally rewarding experience.

Terry looks forward to collaborating with our state community colleges, impacting the quality of online courses system-wide. In her role as Academic Dean, she continues to strengthen this partnership, representing and advocating CCCOnline as a valuable resource to the entire community college system.

Terry earned her Bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University and her Master’s in Applied Math from the University of Colorado. She and her family are huge Denver Broncos fans.

Your Photo Here

Karla Schorzman, Arts & Humanities Division Chair, is guest speaker this week.

In addition to Karen’s thoughts about student photos, what about instructor photos?

We’re all taught in Getting Started and D2LE that our picture, or a photo of something that represents us or our interests, goes into our instructor widget/profile. Would there ever be reasons for you to NOT post a personal picture? What are the ramifications of forgetting to post or update a photo on overall student experience with your course? Does posting a photo have any benefits in online learning or the overall student experience? How so/why not?

-Karla Schorzman

Student Profile Images

Karen Kaemmerling, Social Science Division Chair, is guest speaker again this week. 

Is this your student?

Many of our students want to feel a connection to their fellow classmates and instructor.  One way to build a sense of community among your students is to include a profile image of yourself that will appear in the Discussions and Classlist, and to encourage your students to include images in their own profiles.  Here is the link from the student wiki to help students set up their Profile Pictures: http://at.ccconline.org/students/wiki/How_do_I_change_my_Profile_picture%3F

Eventually, you may have a student use a picture that is inappropriate.  When you contact that student, refer him or her to the Student Handbook Mutual Respect Policy at http://at.ccconline.org/students/wiki/Student_Handbook#Student_Handbook_-_Inside_the_Classroom. In such a case, you should also communicate with your Program Lead and Division Chair.

-Karen Kaemmerling

Quality Time: Do You Accept Late Work?

Karen Kaemmerling, Social Science Division Chair, is guest speaker this week.  Please feel free to join the conversation in the companion Community thread!

Each semester this is a question that we are all likely to get from a student.  Early on I decided the personal decision for me would be “yes,” because I wasn’t comfortable hearing all the life issues that come up for students.  I did not want to be responsible for deciding between a family facing a sick child in the hospital crisis and a dying parent and whether a student should get an extension. 

For me, I accept all written assignments up to one week late with no questions or explanations needed.  This takes care of all technical issues, personal problems, and “stuff” that our adult learners face.  After the one week, each assignment loses a certain number of points for lateness, but I still accept all work up to the final day of class.

However, I do lock discussions on the close date and bar any additional participation.  To me these are participation grades and essential for the collaboration/communication piece between students with each other and me about the content of the course.

While I’ve had this policy for my classes in place for numerous semesters, last spring I received a lot of feedback from a variety of students who commented things like “Even though I didn’t take advantage of the late assignment grace period, it was a relief knowing I could be a day late if my child didn’t get better.” Or “I really appreciated the grace period and feel it helped me ultimately be successful in this course and learn what I was supposed to.”

In some cumulative courses like Math, a late policy like this could be very troublesome.  However, each CCCOnline instructor might have a slight variation to what I’ve described, and no matter what your policy is, it should be outlined in the syllabus and advertised especially at the beginning of the course with students.  In the Cultivating Excellence Discussion in the CCCOnline Community, please share your late policy, how it works for you, and what your experiences with late work and students have been, and any other ideas you have on this topic.

-Karen Kaemmerling

Quality Time is a series of posts concerning course quality issues, best practices, and/or CCCOnline policy.

Course Readiness for Summer

*Below is a reminder from our Faculty News Blog.*

As you prepare your Summer courses, please remember to follow the Course Readiness Checklist.

 

Note the Checklist now reflects the requirement that all faculty use their cccs.edu email addresses for student contact outside of D2L. (Please remember to update your email address in both your Syllabus and your Instructor Widget.) Thanks!

Conference News

This week, Aarthi Ramesh, CCCOnline Coordinator of Training & Professional Development, reports:

It's been a very productive experience so far and I'm learning a lot. Karen Kaemmerling, our previous CCC training Coordinator, has been a fantastic guiding beacon through this transition process. I'm excited we'll also be working together on the Annual CCCOnline Faculty conference committee along with Elizabeth Dzabic, Beth Kitts, Ben Vega, Carol Verver and Lisa Marie Johnson. Yes, the plan is on and we are scheduled for September 30th, 2011:)).

We'll be sending out an announcement soon, but meantime friends, please feel free to chip in with ideas and suggestions you think Training and Professional Development needs to consider in the weeks to come as well as sessions you want to see at the Annual conference.

Next week, due to staff schedules, we will not be posting to the Cultivating Excellence blog.  We’ll be back the week of 5/30.  Have a happy Memorial Day.

Welcoming Our New Coordinator of Training and Professional Development

It is our pleasure to introduce Aarthi Ramesh, the new CCCOnline Coordinator of Training and Professional Development.  Welcome, Aarthi!  Please read on to make her acquaintance:        

Aarthi’s contributions to CCCOnline have included being the # 1 requested instructor each term, a Vista Volunteer, a D2L mentor, Gold Medal Faculty award winner numerous times, a facilitator/presenter at several CCCOnline conferences and higher education meetings, and Associate Chair of Health Sciences. She's married to a computer engineer and has 2 girls. His first name is her last name - a cultural thing, she says. She lives in Denver with her family for most of the year but loves traveling a lot and has successfully instructed from various parts of the world on numerous occasions. The world indeed has shrunk on the virtual medium!

Virtual collaboration, she believes, is an evolving process that is molded through our successes and setbacks and team work is one of the critical components to making this machinery function effectively. Having been part of CCCOnline for close to a decade though in an adjunct position, Aarthi looks forward to the innovation, challenge and outreach the Training and Professional Development Coordinator position brings her way as she joins Lisa Marie Johnson on the Training and Professional Development team.

Ending the Term / Most Successful Wrap-Ups?

Last semester, we posted some quick reminders about wrapping up the term.  Check them out here and also, please let us know the most successful wrap-up strategy you’ve used in your own classes.

See you in the Cultivating Excellence discussion in the Community!