IDOL Announcement

Please read the following announcement regarding a new Instructional Design for Online Learning course being offered. CVCC will be one of the five schools within the system to offer this course as a pilot.

IDOL, Instructional Design for Online Learning, is an eight week online course in which you will learn how to create and organize your online course according to the ASSURE Model of instructional design and the standards created by Quality Matters. IDOL is comprised of the following eight learning modules:

1. Analyze Learners / Course Overview and Introduction

2. State Objectives / Learning Objectives

3. ADA Compliance

4. Select Methods, Media and Materials / Resources and Materials

5. Utilize Media and Materials / Multimedia Technology

6. Require Learner Participation / Learner Interaction

7. Evaluate and Revise / Assessment and Measurement

8. Follow-up and Self Reflection

Throughout the eight work course learners will complete a course design project that includes a minimum of three learning units within an online course site. Upon successful completion of the course the learner will receive a certificate stating they are a Certified Quality Content Specialist for the VCCS.

The only pre-requisite for the course is that participants have at least one year of experience teaching an online, hybrid, or Web-enhanced course using the VCCS Blackboard course management system. To enroll in the pilot course, please contact Kristin Robertson at robertsonk@cvcc.vccs.edu expressing your interest. There is no charge for taking the course and participants will each receive a copy of the text book free of charge (must be returned at the end of the course) and pilot participants, who successfully complete the course, will be entered into a drawing to win an iPod Touch. The pilot will run from May 16, 2009 to July 11, 2009.

The Copyright Site

This site provides simple explanations of the laws of copyright. This site may be very helpful in determining what can be classified as Public Domain, Fair Use, and Intellectual Property.

The Copyright Site

CVCC Faculty Resources

This semester I've compiled all of my resources into one site using Google sites. Use to following link to view the new site:
https://sites.google.com/a/email.vccs.edu/cvcc-faculty-resources/

I'll continue to post updates and record my latest findings through Blogger, but the Google site will assist in tying everything into one, easy to find location!

Introducing Softchalk Talk

Seasons Greetings from Softchalk! Follow the link to find out about Softchalk's newest webinar, Softchalk Talk. Softchalk Talk is your hour to discuss topics of importance with SoftChalk fans near and far. It's a great place to ask a SoftChalk question, ask for advice, or share your ideas and suggestions.

http://www.softchalk.com/download/seasonsgreetings.html

Blackboard Upgrade - January 2

We will be upgrading to Blackboard version 8 on January 2. The main difference will be with the gradebook, which is now called the grade center. Please take a look at some of the demonstrations and tutorials to help prepare yourself for the changes. We'll also be offering grade center training in December and at spring convocation.

Blackboard v. 8 Grade Center

Fall 2008 Training Series

It's time to unveil the fall 2008 training series! Please take a few minutes to look over our upcoming training opportunities. This fall, we're primarily focusing on designing web courses to meet the standards of our Quality Matters review process. Additional sessions will include various levels of Blackboard training, and a demonstration of the new, version 8 Grade Center in Blackboard. As a reminder, we will be upgrading to Blackboard version 8 on January 2.

Click here to view a list of upcoming sessions: http://tinyurl.com/5k458j

What's New at Softchalk

Advance your SoftChalk Skills
Get specialized detailed training. Each Short Course is a live 1-hour training course conducted by a SoftChalk instructor using web conferencing. The course includes a presentation and examples, as well as an opportunity to ask questions and receive assistance from the instructor. These Short Courses are free to our Gold Support clients (register from the Help Menu of SoftChalk LessonBuilder) and a small fee for others (register at http://www.softchalk.com/training.)


The following Short Courses are being offered at this time, however there will be others scheduled for later dates as well.

Introduction to SoftChalk- Tuesday, November 4
1:30pm PT | 2:30pm MT | 3:30pm CT | 4:30pm ET

Navigation Features in LessonBuilder - Wednesday, November 5
1:30pm PT | 2:30pm MT | 3:30pm CT | 4:30pm ET

Quizzes and SoftChalk ScoreTracker- Monday, November 10
1:30pm PT | 2:30pm MT | 3:30pm CT | 4:30pm ET

SoftChalk and StyleBuilder- Wednesday, November 12
1:30pm PT | 2:30pm MT | 3:30pm CT | 4:30pm ET

Support Updates
Our support team works hard to keep SoftChalk users up to date. We provide integration guides for all popular Learning Management Systems, and have recently updated the Blackboard V8 & V7 Integration Guides. The FAQ section is continually being updated as well. FAQs and integration guides can be found at http://www.softchalk.com/support.html

Lesson Tip: 5 Easy Steps to Embed a YouTube Video
One of the best ways to keep your lesson engaging to the student is to add media. Here we feature how to embed a YouTube video, however, tips on how to add other media can be found in the FAQ section on our website. 1. Go to www.youtube.com and find your movie.

2. On the YouTube video page, find the Embed code and copy it. The Embed code usually appears at the right-hand side of the screen in a white box under the URL. Click on the Embed code to select it. Right-click and choose Copy.

3. Within LessonBuilder, choose Insert/Media.

4. Select Web movie as the File Type.

5. Paste the Embed code (right-click and choose Paste or use Ctrl+V) into the File Path, URL, or Web Movie text box.

Contact SoftChalk
22 South Auburn Ave Richmond, VA 23221 l team@softchalk.com l 877-638-2425 (toll free)