May 19, 2010

Hello Developers!

This week marks the start of our new course development cycle; all of you are beginning the development of courses for Fall Quarter, 2010.

Speaking of new….allow me to introduce myself to those of you who may not know me: I am Kelly Schmidt, and I’ll be taking over as Manager of Online Course Development as Heather transitions back into teaching and technology training. While I am taking the lead on this new development cycle, Heather will continue working in development through the end of June, so please feel free to contact either of us if you have any questions or concerns.

I want to thank all of you for your willingness to work on these new courses and for the effort you put into your developments. As course developers, great online courses start with you! The course you design will be used by any instructor who teaches the class online...in fact, most online faculty take the master course content and run with it as is – making minimal, if any, additions or enhancements of their own. Therefore, we rely on you – our developers – to create courses that are engaging, organized, and rigorous to ensure our instructors have a good foundation for teaching the content and, more importantly, to ensure our students have a quality online learning experience. (All this pressure, I know…and it’s only the first week of the cycle – some of you may not have even cracked the course textbook yet!)

That being said, my job is to offer assistance, support, and motivation as you develop your courses. As the cycle progresses, I will be blogging more about various resources and enhancements that you might find useful in your developments. A big focus of mine during this development cycle will be on helping you create a strong connection in your courses with the GEN Online Library – both with Elaine Settergren, our stellar Online Librarian, and with the numerous resources the online library website offers for students and faculty. Look for more on that in the weeks to come…

A few final notes as you get started:

• Your 12-unit shells have been created and you should have access to them in Blackboard.
• If you have developed courses for GEN in the past, you are likely familiar with the Online Course Development Checklist as well as the Peer Advising survey. If you are a first-timer, please take a look at these documents, as they will help guide your development from the perspective of what we want to see as the final course development.
• The 25% completion date is June 7, 2010. I look forward to seeing the start of your developments at that time! However, in the meantime, please feel free to keep me updated on any progress you make or contact me with any questions that arise.

I look forward to working with all of you on these new developments. Have a great week everyone!

Kelly

November 16, 2009

Hello Developers,


Today I have quite a few links to share with you! I hope these links will provide you with a great deal of information:

• Ebooks 101: This is a link to a recorded training from the in-service. It is a 45 minute session that tells you all about the Ebooks that are available through the GEN library. There are a ton of hidden gems in the library - check it out! Thanks Elaine for sharing this with us!


• Learning Through Play: This is a link to a recorded training from the in-service. It is a 45 minute session that talks about how to use play to increase student learning. Great tips for having fun with your course design! Thanks Heather for sharing this with us!


• Blackboard Grade Center: This is a link to a recorded training from the in-service. It is a 45 minute session that gives you a ton of tips and tricks about the grade center. If you are uncomfortable working in the grade center this training is well worth your time. Thanks Kelly for sharing this with us!


• Two New Skillsoft Resources: This is a 4 minute Jing training. We have signed a new contract with SkillSoft and it now includes TWO new pieces: The Leadership Channel (Leadership Videos by high profile speakers) and The Business Exploration Series (Management/leadership Interactive Simulations). See how to access each area in the 4 minute training. Please USE these videos and simulations for your developments.


• Cramberry Flash Cards: This is a short training done by Heather Thomton-Stockman on how to create flash cards using cramberry. It is a great way to familiarize yourself with this tool as well as using flashcards on the internet in general. Here is a link to other flash card sites

Have a great week!

Amy

October 12, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

Please note that next week I will be going into your courses and checking for 75% completion.

In the recent past I have done blog posts on making sure to utilize all of the wonderful resources in the online library in your courses. However, I have noticed that many times we simply give students the link of where to go in the library. I would like to suggest that we list out how to find the assignment rather than just give the link.

The resource should be listed in APA format with instructions on how to find it in the library so that students get used to using the library. By having to search out the information for themselves they will become more comfortable with the tools and will hopefully feel confident doing their own research in the future. Here is an example of how you could list a resource in the online library:

Read the following article from the online library on Software Development Outsourcing. Outsourcing of software development is a widely used approach to contain costs by contracting with a 3rd party, generally outside the country, to develop custom software. Money can be saved but there are pitfalls, as you will learn.


Conchuir, E., Ågerfalk, P., Olsson, H., & Fitzgerald, B. (2009, August). Global Software Development: Where are the Benefits?. Communications of the ACM, 52(8), 127-131. DOI: 10.1145/1536616.1536648.


Here's how you find the article:


1. Click on the library link in red to the left.
2. Click on Online library.
3. Hover your mouse over "resources"
4. Click on Databases A-G.
5. Click on Business Source Premier.
6. Search for the title of the article in quotation marks.

September 8, 2009

Hello Developers,

I hope everyone had a nice relaxing Labor Day weekend! This is the week where your courses are to be at 25% completion. I will be going into your courses this week and providing you with feedback. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about meeting this deadline.

This week I would like to spend some time on Copyright. Many people understand copyright regulations in the residential classroom but become confused when considering copyright regulations in the online classroom. I would like to direct you to Know Your Copyrights. This is a website that was put together for librarians so they would have more information about copyright regulations. Part Two of the document that is posted to this site discusses Uses in the Online Classroom.

I will not go over this document exactly because I believe the information in this document stands for itself, however after reading this document you might still have a few questions:

In this document it is mentioned that many copyrighted works are accessed through a campus license that overrides copyright rules.

As a developer you may use power points, tests, and study sheets that are given to you from the publisher of a book when the book is to be used for the course. Because students purchase the book when they use it for GU/MSB courses we can use all resources that are developed to be used in accordance with the textbook. If the book is changed we must remove the old materials and replace them with new materials. We cannot continue to use materials from a textbook that is no longer being used by our institution.

Additionally, we have a large online library for your use as developers. Please note that we would rather have students access these library articles through the library rather than having you copy and paste the articles into the course itself. You may post the instructions on how to access the article, but please do not post the article itself within the course.

This also applies for Skillsoft readings that students need to complete. Students should access the readings through the Skillsoft site. Students can learn how to access the Skillsoft site through the FAQ portion of the student GU/MSB web page.

When developing courses for GU/MSB the term External Links is used a lot - isn't this a copyright violation?

In every unit we like to have what we call an "external link" posted. An external link is a web link where students can go in order to look up more information on a topic that is being discussed that week. In order to make sure we follow copyright rules we need to make sure the external link opens in a new window and is labeled appropriately. We cannot have the external link open up within Blackboard because then the web address is not displayed. If a web page opens up within Blackboard it can appear that we as an institution are taking credit for what appears on that web page. Please see the "how to" document on how to create an external link to learn how to have these links open in a new window.

I like to post student example of work in the course so that students know what I am expecting from an assignment - is this ok?

Yes, this is a great idea! However, remember that you must obtain permission from the student before doing so. It is a good idea to post underneath the assignment that you have obtained permission from the student in order to post the students work.

Have a great week!

June 29, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

First of all, welcome back Amy! We are excited to have you back and lending us your development and curriculum expertise once again!

Today marks the 50% development completion date and I will be spending this week going into your courses to see how things are coming along. I will be in contact with you individually regarding your development(s) and will be including Amy on the email as she will be working with you on your course(s) for the second half of this development round.

As you continue to work on your course development(s), if you have a research component as a requirement of the syllabus or simply as part of your course development, please don't forget one of our best resources we have...Elaine Settergren, our Online Librarian! Elaine's expertise can help you to clearly articulate research assignments and effectively guide students through the research process. To help illustrate what specifically Elaine can assist you with, here is a research assignment example:

Assignment Example:

To complete this assignment, you'll need to use the library.

1. Go into the Globe Education Network library through the library section of this course (click the red library link to the left, then click online library).
2. Once on the library's website, hover your mouse over the resources tab, then click the Databases A-H link.
3. Open ABI/Inform Complete (Proquest) database.
4. Find an article related to Media Planning; select "full text" and "scholarly journals" tabs, then click search.

In the first 1-2 paragraphs, provide a summary of the article. In the next 1-2 paragraphs, explain how the information in this article relates to media planning. Support your answer with evidence. Incorporate concepts from our text. Do not look for an article on the Internet; using the Library is a requirement of the assignment. Articles from the Internet, especially Wikipedia.com, will not be accepted.

You must include a proper APA formatted reference with your assignment.

You will notice that this assignment is very detailed and effective in guiding students effectively through the research process. When working on developing research assignments, please be in contact with Elaine at: esettergren@globeuniversity.edu

Once again, I've really enjoyed working with you over the past few weeks! Thanks for all of your hard work.

Heather