Carteret Community College Title III Grant

It’s been a very busy and productive summer for the distance learning team here at CCC. Pre-Ah, Rob and I conducted 5 Blackboard Boot Camps since May and got all online faculty trained (upgraded) in the latest version of Blackboard (7.2) in addition to addressing instructional design strategies and adding rich media content to their courses.

We’ve made great strides in distant learning over the past year. 45 faculty members are now Blackboard certified through our Blackboard Boot camps and 60 staff and faculty members (100% of our fall online instructors) have met the professional development requirements for teaching online here at CCC. Ten faculty members (DL Pioneers) spent the past year learning a variety of new online teaching techniques and given the technical resources (and professional development opportunities) to upgrade their skills and courses thanks to the Title III Grant. Each one of them met ALL their DL goals and objectives as they related to the grant and were awarded certificates of achievement for their efforts. They will now be mentoring another ten in more advanced online teaching methods including incorporating video and audio content into their online courses.

Rob Robinson (DL Intern) and Pre-Ah Hill have provided a wide range of instructional technology and design support to our online faculty as well as specialized hardware and software support. They have also provided walk-in and telephone assistance to students and staff, trained and supported instructors in administering multimedia applications such as Photoshop, iMovie, Flash, Audacity, and GarageBand, as they prepare to and currently teach online.

Rob and Pre-Ah have also assisted me and contributed greatly to workshops (BB Boot Camp) in instructional methodology, technology, and design for faculty. They have supported special instructional technology projects and collaborations and have also provided hands-on one-on-one help to many faculty members on an as needed bases.

Across the board our online courses are now more visually sophisticated and exhibit a higher level of instructional design methods and strategies. Our online faculty now have a much better understanding of all aspects of online teaching and technology thanks to the extensive professional development training conducted over the past year. I look forward (with the help of the distance learning staff, dl committee and out DL Pioneers) to continue our course and faculty retooling (upgrading) initiatives and start aggressively addressing student support issues in the online environment. Our DL Committee will be meeting on August 30th to explore online student support services in more depth and try to come up with some options for us to begin implementing here at CCC.

Our next Title III DL Team has been selected and a meeting is scheduled for both Phase I and II DL Pioneers Friday, August 31st at 2:30PM. We have also had Don Staub’s friend Chris Paddock working as an intern for us this past week. He has taught us some very exciting things with video editing and also helped me research wiki’s for use in the online classroom.

Title III Project Director Don Staub and I will be giving a presentation on our various Title III initiatives in Colorado in November (see below).

Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that your proposal presentation Our First Title III. Our First Year. An opening chapter in implementing drastic changes in outcomes assessment, distance learning, and advising at a small, rural, two-year community college. has been accepted for the Symposium on Title III and Title V. Convened by Noel-Levitz, the Symposium will be held November 7-8, 2007 at the Grand Hyatt in downtown Denver, Colorado.

Dr. Rita O’Sullivan, from UNC-Chapel Hill will be working with a pilot group this fall on assessing online instruction. She’ll be working with a specific group of 7 faculty members that are teaching a seated AND an online section of the same course. We are anticipating that the data will help us gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of online instruction.

All in all…exciting things continue to happen on the distance learning front here at CCC.

Distance Learning Awards and Recognitions

We’ve made great strides in distant learning over the past year. 45 faculty members have been Blackboard certified through our Blackboard Boot camps and 60 (100%) have met the professional development requirements for teaching online here at CCC. Ten faculty members (DL Pioneers) spent the past year learning a variety of new online teaching techniques and given the technical resources to upgrade their skills and courses thanks to the Title III Grant. Each one of them met ALL their DL goals and objectives as they related to the grant and were awarded certificates of achievement for their efforts. They will now be mentoring another ten in more advanced online teaching methods including incorporating video and audio content into their online courses.

I believe our online course offerings across curriculums have more continuity, better methodology and technical (and visual) sophistication than ever before thanks to all the professional development opportunities made available through the Title III grant.

Laurie Freshwater was awarded the Excellence in DL Award for 2006 – 07 at this years convocation for taking her teaching methodology and online courses to a higher level this past year.

Skip Kemp was awarded the Tom Harrigan DL award for most improved in both his online teaching skills and the courses he is designing and teaching online. Tom Harrigan passed away last year and this award is dedicated to him and his commitment to excellence in online instruction.

A meeting is planned for later in August for the Phase II Distance Learning Team.