What We Learned at eLcc 2012

Recently, CCCOnline staff attended the eLearning Consortium of Colorado (eLcc) Conference. It was invigorating and inspirational, and in addition to collaborating with our peers from local and national institutions, we also were reminded about or learned about exciting cool tools such as:

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/ - A multimedia web-book about art and art history

http://freevideolectures.com/Subject/History - Video lectures from universities

http://bigthink.com/ - Big Think

http://www.jfklibrary.org/ - JFK Library

http://www.storycenter.org/ - Center for Digital Storytelling

http://projeqt.com/ - Storytelling software

http://www.toondoo.com/ - Cartoon building tool

https://bubbl.us/ - brainstorming and mind-mapping

http://thekidshouldseethis.com/

http://popplet.com/

http://www.livebinders.com – virtual binders

http://tinyvox.com/ - voice recorder

http://www.snappvis.org/ (SNAPP – Social Networks Adopting Pedagogical Practice)
http://science360.gov/

A few favorite take-away phrases:

Formative assessment isn’t just practice; it’s re-meaning

Class should end with a finale rather than a final

Phases of learning--Trigger Event, Exploration, Integration, Resolution

Change what you “know” about teaching and learning

One of the keynote speakers, Kevin King, talked about virtual teams and individuals’ personalities, giving us food for thought as we approach teaching within the online environment (e.g., with group projects and discussions). One memorable piece of advice he gave applies to those of us with straightforward and direct communication styles: when composing emails, remember to “add flowers” so the reader doesn’t misunderstand your tone.

--Karen Kaemmerling and Liz Dzabic

Oceans of Digital Content

Today, we’re sharing some information from the 2012 eLcc (eLearning Consortium of Colorado) conference last week!

Donna Hall, CCCOnline Instructional Design Team Coordinator, and Karen Kaemmerling, CCCOnline Social Science Associate Dean, presented “Charting Our Way through Oceans of Digital Content” at the eLCC conference.

In this presentation, Donna and Karen highlighted the lessons learned as CCCOnline has moved 39% of the courses to a digital content, e-book or open content, model. Along the way, CCCOnline staff has fought for ADA compliant materials that are easy to access and include interactive or value-added pieces. Slowly, students, instructors, and the online learning community have become more accepting of digital content courses, especially with single sign-on access to the materials. However, an institution should be prepared to meet technical support problems for students and provide training to instructors on how the digital materials are accessed and how they work.

We have student survey data starting in 2008 for digital content courses. The surveys indicates that 75% of those students taking the survey do most of their reading online and 70% of them do not purchase the hard copy of the text. Some preliminary data on retention and pass rates of students in CCCOnline digital courses versus non-digital courses do not show any significant difference in overall student performance.

While there may still be some disadvantages to the e-book model, such as needing internet connection to access the content and not having a book to “hold,” most of our digital content courses also have a black and white hard copy option. Using digital materials usually helps save students money, provides additional learning tools such as videos, and ensures students have access to the course text at the beginning of the course. Additionally, using e-books allows the academic team to determine when is the best time to update to a new edition of a text rather than redeveloping a course every year for a new edition.

Here’s an article for further reading:
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2236/ebook-reading-print-books-tablets-ereaders
(from the Pew Research Center: “The Rise of E-Readers” – 4/4/12)

Feel free to let us know in the CCCOnline Community: what are your thoughts about e-books and e-readers?

Calling All Top Chefs! CCCOnline Annual Conference Call for Proposals

Impress us with your skills at Arapahoe Community College on September 21st for the 2012 CCCOnline Annual Conference: Recipes for Success!

The annual conference is a smorgasbord of delectable ideas and kitchen-tested teaching strategies, all specially prepared to help you nourish your online classroom. The one-day event is also a feast of camaraderie at which Chefs (i.e. instructors) from various academic disciplines meet and mingle.

Please complete the Call for Proposals form (linked here) and note the deadline for submissions is June 1.

We hope you can join us at the table. Bon appétit!

CCCOnline’s Bulletin Board: Open to Instructors!

If you teach for CCCOnline, you have access to the CCCOnline Community in D2L: this includes our CCCOnline Community Forum (in Discussions). Currently, this Forum includes the Cultivating Excellence blog discussion, the Librarian’s Labyrinth blog discussion, and our Bulletin Board.

When you have a special announcement or event to share with your CCCOnline colleagues, the Bulletin Board is the perfect place to post it. Some brand-new items are there now, so . . . check it out!

Note: Next week, we’ll be at the eLearning Consortium of Colorado (eLcc) Conference, and will resume posting the week of 4/16.