Spring Library Webinar Series Starts Next Week

Interested in learning more about CCCOnline’s library services? Come participate in our library webinars with CCCOnline Instructional Librarian Mary Cash! We’re offering one next week (2/16) and others in April and May; mark your calendars!

Next week’s webinar, “Let's get to know our article database better,” is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 16, at 3:00 p.m. Registration closes Feb. 12; see more information here.

Future presentations in the series are

“Evaluating Sources – helping students become better consumers of information” (Thursday, Mar. 15, 3:00 p.m.)

and

“Open Source Journals available on the Web” (Thursday, Apr. 5, 3:00 p.m.)

For more information, please visit the links provided above or our “Professional Development – Upcoming Webinars” page:
http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Upcoming_Webinars

Valuable Library Information Coming Your Way!

This week, we’d like to remind everyone we have a wonderful resource to help us cultivate e-classroom excellence: our CCCOnline Librarian!

Check out Mary Cash’s The Librarian’s Labyrinth blog this week for news you can use:

*how your students may access article databases,
*where students may find helpful resources,
*an invitation to communicate with the librarian, and
*the latest on upcoming library webinars!

Quality Assurance Webinar Next Week

Happy New Year!

CCCOnline’s first webinar in 2012, “Quality Assurance Overview,” is scheduled for next Thursday, Jan. 12, at 3:00 p.m. We’ll be discussing our Quality Assurance program and processes; topics include first-day checks, full quality assurance reviews, and best practices in online discussion.

Registration closes Wednesday, Jan. 11; more information is at the link below.
Hope to e-see some of you there!

http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Professional_Development_-_Upcoming_Webinars#Quality_Assurance_Overview

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

Time Savers for Students and Faculty

Last week, we posted about your welcome e-mail to students.  This week, we’d like to extend that spirit of guidance and encouragement as we list below some of CCCOnline’s time savers for students.  Feel free to communicate this information within your course:
1)      Orientation: Students who would like coaching on how to move around in their courses will benefit from the CCCOnline Orientation.  To participate, students need to self-enroll; they should click “Self-Registration” on their CCCOnline Home Page as shown here.

The Orientation is available the entire semester; it is not a credit course, it is not a required course, and it is free of charge to enrolled students.  Further information about the Orientation is here: http://at.ccconline.org/students/wiki/Orientation

2)      CCCOnline Student Wiki:

http://at.ccconline.org/students/wiki/Main_Page

In addition to providing information about the Orientation and technical support (including D2L tips), the wiki provides students with answers to CCCOnline policies.

3)      Research and Writing Toolkit:

http://at.ccconline.org/students/wiki/Academic_Resources_-_Research_and_Writing_Toolkit

Useful for instructors to recommend and for students to browse, this webliography is a set of quick links for brush-up help on research skills, avoiding plagiarism, and writing in general.

4)      The STAR Center:

The CCCOnline STAR (Student Tutoring and Resources) Center offers assistance to students enrolled in developmental courses.  Those students are automatically enrolled in the STAR Center and may visit the Center to work with a tutor, interact with peers, and get additional practice with their lessons.

One last note on time savers: this Friday (Jan. 28), we are offering an exciting new webinar for faculty:

Effective and Efficient Facilitation Online

• When: Friday, January 28, 2011 (1:00 PM - 2:30 PM - Mountain)
• Who: Lisa Marie Johnson
• What: Participants will be able to identify strategies and resources to employ when teaching multiple online courses to teach more effectively and efficiently. Participants will explore how to save time by using staff supports at CCCOnline and why it is effective to encourage learners to use home college resources and supports, the 24/7 Help Desk, and tutoring services to construct a longer lasting and stronger support system for academic success across all the learners' courses.
• Where: Online via Elluminate. Access up to 15 minutes before the start time from:
  https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008363&password=M.BCC4C488D49BCDDD645B92DBAA94D4

Student Groups in the Online Classroom

You’re invited to our last webinar of the year! Join us for “Creating & Facilitating Groups in D2L” at 1:00 p.m. this Friday, Dec. 3.

In this webinar, you’ll learn about creating and managing groups with the D2L Groups tool and about resources to guide the design and facilitation of virtual team activities.

In the meantime, please feel free to share your experiences with student groups in the appropriate Cultivating Excellence discussion within the CCCOnline Community.

Learning Key Chain Webinar

Do your students sometimes appear not to connect to your subject, its materials, or even to you? Learning preferences play a great role in how much and how well we learn or want to learn anything. When we decide to learn something, we pick the key that works for us. A flexible "lock" allows for many keys to access content.

Join us for an interactive webinar on Friday November 5th at 1pm with Leecy Wise. Participants will explore how they learn and teach best. The webinar will provide instructors with a broad perspective on how students might prefer to learn. The webinar will introduce instructors to new ways of presenting content and engaging students with a variety of learning needs and abilities.

No registration required, just join us at https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008363&password=M.7535BE50A6EE6D4A8B14AFA1F589FE

How do you customize content in your courses to meet different learner preferences? Share with us techniques you use or want to try in the Cultivating Excellence Blog in the CCCOnline Community before or after the webinar.

Research and Writing Toolkit Webinar

Have you ever wished for a set of quick links to assign to your students for brush-up help on research skills, avoiding plagiarism, or writing in general?

We’re happy to say we’ve been working on such a project, and we seek your feedback! Come to our webinar at 1:00 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 22, to learn about the Research and Writing Toolkit and share your thoughts.

Visit the Recorded Webinars

Each month we conduct at least one webinar on pedagogical or technical skills. On Friday Oct 1, Turnitin joined us to do their presentation from the conference. As was true at the conference, the presentation was very well received by the attendees.

BUT, what can you do if Friday at 1pm doesn’t work for you? ANSWER: We record our webinars and post them on the wiki Webinar Archive page within a few days of the event. Over the last couple of years we have built quite a list of resources on a variety of topics that you may enjoy.

My favorite part of listening to a webinar is that I can pause the presentation, speed it up, rewind it, or stop it and return to it later. I can also run the webinar and try what a presenter is demonstrating immediately in my sandbox course.

If you haven’t checked this resource out lately, please do so. If you have ideas for additional webinar topics that you would like this year, please post your comments in the CCCOnline Community’s Cultivating Excellence discussion; look for thread “Visit the Recorded Webinars”. Also, please share which webinars you’ve found most helpful and informative whether you attended in person or listened to the recording. We love getting feedback and want to schedule these events to best meet your needs.

Also, check out the Upcoming webinar page for events we have scheduled this fall.

Using TurnItIn: Upcoming Webinar

We heard great feedback about TurnItIn’s presentation at the CCCOnline Conference, but if you missed it, please note that Renee Bangerter and Jan Gilboy of TurnItIn graciously have agreed to present for us again. They will join us at our Webinar next Friday, October 1, at 1:00 p.m. on Elluminate.

This Webinar, titled “TurnItIn’s Markup and Plagiarism Detection Tools: The Mechanics and Beyond,” will address basic how-tos and answer your technical questions. We also will discuss how to use these tools constructively in your courses (i.e., interpret plagiarism results on OriginalityCheck, use this plagiarism detection as a learning tool, and use the markup tool, GradeMark, effectively).

Until next Friday, we would like to gather your questions: what do you want to know about TurnItIn? If you have TurnItIn experience you would like to share, we’d like to hear from you, as well. Please post your ideas in the appropriate discussion in the CCCOnlineCommunity.