MAGNA ONLINE SEMINARS How to Orient New Instructors to an Online Course FAST! Thursday, April 14, 2011 Presented by: Jennifer Berghage Jen Berghage has worked with Penn State's World Campus for the past 11 years as a distance education specialist. From 2008-present, Jen worked in an instructional design capacity with Penn State SMEs to develop the Masters of Professional Studies in Human Resources and Employment Relations Program, listed with the Society for Human Resource Management as a highly recommended HR program. Jen Berghage's background includes certification as a professional editor from the USDA Graduate School in 2004, and as a distance education specialist from UWISC in 2008. ©2011 Magna Publications Inc. All rights reserved. It is unlawful to duplicate, transfer, or transmit this program in any manner without written consent from Magna Publications. The information contained in this online seminar is for professional development purposes but does not substitute for legal advice. Specific legal advice should be discussed with a professional attorney. Jennifer Berghage The Pennsylvania State University jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 SAMPLE Tip Sheet Sections from Presentation Slides For HRER ABC Instructors Course Administration Access Your Course Web site here: http://cms.psu.edu and click on HRER ABC 1. Access the Syllabus by 2. Review the course 3. Review these instructions and clicking on the Syllabus tab assignments by clicking on contact the HelpDesk or the course and print out a copy. Lessons/Course Content on your designer listed below if you have course Web site and then questions. clicking on each assignment page. CONTACT INFORMATION Instructional Designer: For questions on course content Jen Berghage jaw33@psu.edu (preferred) Office: 814-865-5727 Mobile: 814-753-0738 Skype: jenberghage AIM: jenberghage Outreach HelpDesk: For questions on computer functionality E-mail: wdtechsupport@outreach.psu.edu Phone: 1-800-252-3592, option 4 or 1-814-865-0047 They are available by phone on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. until Midnight (EST) and on weekends from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. (EST). Advising and Learner Success: For administrative questions regarding students U.S. Toll Free: 800-252-3592 Local/Int'l: 814-865-5403 email: wc_als_only@outreach.psu.edu Using the ANGEL Announcements Area: Go to Communicate/Course News and Events/Announcements/Add Announcement/Type your message/Set the start date/Save Jennifer Berghage The Pennsylvania State University jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 Setting Up Teams - Do this the first week of the semester You will need to assign teams for the BNA Discussion Forum activities. Students should be put into teams of about 5 members (Beige Team, Gray Team, Maroon Team, Turquoise Team). To set up teams, go to Manage/Teams/Add users to each team. Assignments are structured such that students will automatically be funneled into their team spaces once you've assigned them to their team. To review a team space, go to Lessons/BNA Discussion Forums/Lesson 04 BNA Discussion Forum - click into the forum and switch the All Teams button in the top left corner to Beige Team. You'll then be able to see only the posts of the Beige Team. Switch this button to Gray Team when you're ready to review that team's posts. Repeat until you've reviewed each team discussion space. To grade the team forum, go to Lessons/BNA Discussion Forums/instead of clicking into the Lesson 04 BNA Discussion Forum, click on Submissions (which appears just below the forum link)/Grade Forum. Lessons 4 & 8 BNA Discussion Forums Students will use the discussion forum spaces to discuss BNA publications. Monitor these spaces at your discretion to encourage learning and critical thinking as well as application of course concepts to articles to read. Note that this is the only "group work" students will be doing for this course. IMPORTANT for Lesson 08 BNA Discussion Forum Assignment (first thing Monday morning during the Lesson 08 time frame) the instructor is required to go to the BNA publications site and select an article to post to the Announcements Area. Follow the Workplace Law Report Instructions for Signing Up (file is located under the Lessons tab) to access the BNA Web site. Then, in ANGEL, go to Communicate/Course News and Events/Announcements/Add Announcement - and type your message including the Web address of the article you selected from the BNA Web site/Set the start date/Save. It’s a good idea to include the article title and author in your post, along with the link. After you’ve posted the Web address of the article you selected, go to Lessons/BNA Discussion Forums/Lesson 08 BNA Discussion Forum and post a question related to the article that you’d like students to discuss. Jennifer Berghage The Pennsylvania State University jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 Lessons 5 - 13 Announcements Remember to use the announcements area each week to remind students to work on their Seminar Paper (due at the end of Lesson 13). This paper is worth 145 points and needs citations done in APA style and a reference page. Resources for APA style are located on the course Web site under the Lessons tab. Lesson 6 E-mails to Students Students will be turning in their Seminar Paper Topic. This is an ungraded assignment, but you can use e-mail to provide feedback on their topic of choice. Lesson 15 Final Exam Check the Course Syllabus to see when students can access their final exam (which is open book). They will not be able to see the final exam file until the date listed on the Course Schedule - ANGEL is coded not to release it until then. Have a great semester! Jennifer Berghage jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 SAMPLE Tip Sheet Please note: This Tip Sheet is a composite of several different types of instruction provided for instructors in a selection of courses I help to manage. Because the information is taken from many different courses, some sections may contradict each other or seem to repeat. For HRER XXX Instructors - Course Administration Details Access your course here - http://cms.psu.edu, then click on HRER XXX 1. Access the Syllabus 2. Review the course 3. Review these instructions and by clicking on the assignments by contact the HelpDesk or the course Syllabus link on the left clicking on Course designer listed below if you have side menu and print out Content link on the left questions. a copy. side menu and then clicking on each assignment page. CONTACT INFORMATION Instructional Designer: For questions on course content Jen Berghage jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 Outreach HelpDesk: For questions on computer functionality (faculty and students) They are available by phone on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. until Midnight (ET) and on weekends from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. (ET). wdtechsupport@outreach.psu.edu Phone: 1-800-252-3592, option 4 or 1-814-865-0047 Administrative Questions Regarding Students: Contact Advising and Learner Success Team at U.S. Toll Free: 800-252-3592 Local/Int'l: 814-865-5403 email: wc_als_only@outreach.psu.edu Customize Your Welcome Announcement - Do this before the course opens A standard greeting has been set up to welcome your students to the course. If you'd like to customize or edit it, click on Announcements on the left side menu and select EDIT. Setting Up Teams - Do this the first week of the semester Students will participate in team discussions for Lessons 03 and 09, and group work for Lessons 04 and 07. Students should be put into teams of about 5 members (Aqua Team, Azure Team, Champagne Team, Navy Team, Peach Team, Tangerine Team). To assign Jennifer Berghage jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 students to teams, go to the left side menu and click on Course Management/Teams/Add users to each team. (It's okay if you don't need to use all of the teams.) Assignments are structured such that students will automatically be funneled into their team spaces once you've assigned them to their team. 1. Note that some people have access to your course who are not students, and they should not be assigned to a team. To find out who is a student and who is not, go to Course Management/Roster/look at the Title column – students will have the title “Student” and others will display different titles. 2. Use the announcements area and/or e-mail to let students know who is on which team. To copy and paste a list of who's on which team, go to Course Management/Teams/Click on Add Users, which will display the whole class highlight the list and copy it/then paste it into an Announcement or e-mail to the whole class. You may want to remove from this list anyone who is not a student. 1. Also use the Announcements area to remind students to begin group work early in the week so they have time to participate adequately in group assignments. Click on the Syllabus link to see which assignments involve group work. Lesson 01 (Orientation Lesson) Students will complete several ungraded activities for this lesson’s assignments. If you’d like to review the ungraded Student Questionnaires, go to Linked Items/Student Questionnaire/Submissions/View, Grade, or Delete Submissions. Students will also be practicing with the ANGEL tools. They’ll send you an e-mail, and this is a great opportunity to reply to each student, greeting them and introducing yourself. To reply to student messages, go to the side menu and click on Communication Tools/Course Mail/View Inbox/click on a student message and click on Reply/Type your message in the text box provided/Send. Lessons 03 and 09 – Team Debates Students will engage in a debate with their teammates within the Lesson 03 and Lesson 09 Discussion Forums. To view each team space, go to Discussion Forums/Lesson 03 Discussion Forum/at the top left corner, click on the drop down list that says "All Teams" and switch it to a color team. This will allow you to see only the posts of that particular team. To view another team space, click on that drop down list again and switch to another color team space. (Team names for this assignment are Aqua, Azure, Champagne, Navy, and Peach.) Enter grades by going to Instructor Tools (linked on the left menu)/Course Management/Gradebook/Enter or Edit Grade - By Assignment/select Lesson 03 Discussion Forum/Go/enter grades and Save Changes. These instructions also apply when viewing and grading the Lesson 09 Discussion Forum. Jennifer Berghage jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 Lessons 04 and 07 - Group Work Students will work together in their teams to complete these assignments. Each team will use Google Docs to collaboratively write the paper, and will submit the finished paper to the Discussion Forum. Information on how to use Google Docs is located on the course Web site under Course Resources/How to Use Google Docs. Instructors do not need a Google Docs account, or to access Google Docs, but if you'd like to explore the use of this tool, you may wish to open a free account. To view each team space, go to Discussion Forums/Lesson 04 Discussion Forum/at the top left corner, click on the drop down list that says "All Teams" and switch it to a color team. This will allow you to see only the posts of that particular team. To view another team space, click on that drop down list again and switch to another color team space. (Team names for this assignment are Aqua, Azure, Champagne, Navy, and Peach.) Enter grades by going to Instructor Tools/Course Management/Gradebook/Enter or Edit Grade - By Assignment/select Lesson 04 Discussion Forum/Go/enter grades and Save Changes. These instructions also apply when viewing and grading the Lesson 07 Discussion Forum. Lesson 04 and 07 Peer Evaluation: Students can access a link to the Lesson 04 and 07 Peer Evaluation Form from the Lesson’s Discussion Forum. They'll complete a separate form for each of their teammates and one for themselves. To view these submissions, go to Instructor Tools/Linked Items/Lesson 04 (or Lesson 07) Peer Evaluation Form/Submissions/View, Grade, or Delete Submissions. These items are not graded, but viewing them will help you to grade individuals on group projects. Members of a team won't necessarily get the same grade as the group depending on whether they've performed poorly or exceptionally well. Lesson 06 - HRER XXX Mid-Course Survey If you wish to view the survey, go to Linked Items/HRER XXX Mid-Course Survey/Submissions/View, Grade, or Delete Submissions. Lesson 11 Final Paper Proposal Instructors: Please note that if you're teaching the standard version of HRER XXX, students are asked to focus on TWO countries for this assignment. If you're teaching the Hybrid version of the course, which is a more intensive, condensed version of the course and includes a week on-site at the PSU University Park campus, this assignment asks Jennifer Berghage jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 students to focus on only ONE country. Lesson 14 Final Paper Instructors: Please note that if you're teaching the standard version of HRER XXX, students are asked to focus on TWO countries for this assignment. If you're teaching the Hybrid version of the course, which is a more intensive, condensed version of the course and includes a week on-site at the PSU University Park campus, this assignment asks students to focus on only ONE country. Lesson 15 - Final Paper Feedback This assignment is based on the completion of the Lesson 14 Assignment. Students cannot participate until they've all finished and submitted their papers to the instructor. Grading feedback from instructors on the final paper should NOT be sent out to students until after each student has submitted the Lesson 15 Assignment. This gives the instructors a full week to grade the papers, but students need to know that they will not receive feedback until after they have completed this final assignment. For this assignment, students are asked to provide feedback on a classmates' paper. Because they do this anonymously, the instructor is required to provide each student with a copy of a classmate's paper with all identifying information REMOVED. To do this, save each submission, rename it, remove any identifying information, and save again using a new name for the file, such as AnonymousPaper_1.doc. Go to Discussion Forums/Lesson 15 Discussion Forum - after you've removed all identifying information from each student's submission, send a New Post to each student, using the attachments button to upload a classmate's paper Remember to record whose paper has been sent to whom, as you will need to distribute the feedback to the relevant students at the end of the exercise so that they also benefit from peer feedback. You may want to use the paper titles to identify them after student data is removed. Be sure to check the syllabus due date for this assignment so that you distribute the peer feedback back to students in a timely manner. The student will then click on your post to them, download the classmate's paper, and add their feedback directly on that document. Each student will then upload the paper using the reply button, and only the instructor will be able to see their upload. After reviewing all of the student feedback documents, click on the small plus sign next to each of your original posts and use the reply button at the bottom of the post to return each original author's peer feedback. ANSWER KEYS are available for all assignments in this course To view them go to http://cms.psu.edu - instead of clicking into the course Web site, Jennifer Berghage jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 scroll down to Angel Groups and log into the HRER 800 Instructors space. If you don't see the Angel Group available, contact your instructional designer. Using Google Docs: Students are instructed to use Google Docs for some of their group assignments. There is an instruction page under Course Resources/How to Use Google Docs. Students are instructed to upload their final Google Doc to either the discussion forum team space or a drop box for grading. If students encounter difficulty using Google Docs refer them to the HelpDesk. Contact information appears at the beginning of this document. Instructors do not need an account with Google Docs. Using the ANGEL Announcements Area Go to Announcements/Add New Announcement/Type your message/Set the start date/Submit. Students will be able to see your Announcement when they first log in to the course each time, as it appears on the Course Home Page and the course is set to open on that page. Announcements will appear at the top of the page each time you create a new one and older ones will bump down the page. Monitoring Discussion Forums For discussion forum assignments (see the Grading chart on the Syllabus for an outline of assignment types) use your judgment as to how closely you’d like to monitor them. Live Chat in ANGEL Students may want to have an ungraded, unstructured space in which to get to know each other. This space is optional, but if you’d like to put one in, follow the directions below. Click on the Communication Tools left menu link, then go to Live Chat/click on the small pencil icon to the right/Add a Live Chat/fill in the title, add a sentence describing what the chat is for; if you keep tracking “on” ANGEL will retain the chat and students can review it asynchronously, if you leave tracking “off” ANGEL will not retain the chat log. You can set these up for each team or the whole class. You can set just the start date to leave the Chat space open, or you can limit it by adding an end date/Save. You may want to put as many as three different Live Chat spaces in your course: 1. for office hours (you can set up several chats, as needed) 2. for team introductions (assign each chat space to a team and use the team color in the title space) 3. a general “whole class” chat space for them to get to know each other The differences between chat spaces and discussion forums are Jennifer Berghage jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 chat space is live (real time, synchronous) where discussion forums are asynchronous (students can post and review at any time and a log of posts is available) chat space cannot be hooked into the gradebook but discussion forums can (though they are not automatically graded by ANGEL and must be graded manually) chat space is loosely structured with simple guidelines such as “introduce yourselves to your team members and let them know your general schedule and availability" vs. a discussion forum where an assignment is tightly structured, written instructions are provided, and an end result is expected students are often expected to complete an assignment in a discussion forum but should not do this in a chat space the instructor generally does review (and grade) discussion forums, but does not review chat spaces unless they’re for office hours. Have a great semester! Jennifer Berghage The Pennsylvania State University jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 Answer Keys may be done in a word processing program, an Excel spreadsheet, or whatever means is best suited to the content. should never be created in a Web-based app - risk of hacking is too high. may include graphics, tables, bulleted lists, etc. should include the assignment instructions so instructors don't have to go looking for them. should include a chart showing points (if this is designed as a separate page it's easier to update than if points are embedded within each assignment). should include the date in the file name each time keys are updated - version control is CRITICAL. Don't delete previous versions too soon, sometimes authors remove content and then want to put it back later, but make it very clear which set should be used. "At a glance" info is much easier to use when grading than long paragraphs. Note: Some Latin fill-in text is used for sensitive areas below [Course Name] Grading Rubrics/Answer Keys *Note: if any assignments are submitted after the scheduled deadline, these should be marked down by half a letter grade for each day that they are late (unless otherwise agreed in advance with the instructor). Lesson 01 Part 1 - ungraded Lesson 01 Part 2 - Drop Box Assignment Cultural Intelligence Assessment As an introduction to the next lesson, this is an opportunity for you to assess your cultural intelligence (CQ). Here is how to take the test: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) Go to http://assessment.cq-portal.com/ Click on Step 1: Establish account Register your details and create a password (your ID will be the email address you enter – make sure you have access to this email address now to continue) You might be asked for an Assessment Reference Number - if so, this is XX. You will be sent an email confirming access to the test Go back to http://assessment.cq-portal.com/ Click on Step 2: Activate CQ assessment and choose T1 Assessment (T1 just refers to Time 1 – you have the option to go back yourself at the end of the course and do the test again by clicking on the T2 Assessment (Time 2) to see whether there has been any change in your score) Jennifer Berghage The Pennsylvania State University jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 8) Log in with the details you have just set up 9) Take the test (approx. 10 minutes) following the instructions on screen 10) At the end, you can view your feedback report – SAVE this pdf report for yourself 11) Complete the assignment by submitting a short essay of around 100 words on your answer to the following question: How accurate do you think your results of the CQ test were in assessing your cultural intelligence, and why? DO NOT MAIL YOUR ACTUAL TEST RESULTS – these are for your own use and you are not being graded on how culturally competent you are, but on how well you understand the issues around cultural intelligence. The data you enter will be used to expand the worldwide norms for the CQ Assessment database. Confidentiality of your identity will be protected. Answer: Students should identify the following aspects to show their awareness of cultural intelligence issues: • Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse feugiat feugiat enim vitae tincidunt. Maecenas in eleifend est. Morbi mi neque, mattis blandit fermentum et, sodales in arcu. • Mauris vel ipsum orci. Morbi vitae sapien tellus, vel ultrices ligula. Curabitur porta odio eu ipsum sodales iaculis. Quisque condimentum risus in magna convallis non pharetra est dictum. Maecenas mattis augue at erat semper ut rutrum augue elementum. Maecenas molestie mollis scelerisque. Nulla vel orci turpis. Fusce tincidunt ultricies augue, in auctor diam consectetur egestas. Note: This first assignment is a light one, so as long as the student has reflected on their assessment and talks in some way about how this is a result of their previous experiences and background, and that there are multiple dimensions of CQ, all of which can be developed, etc., a normal score might be 90%, otherwise 95 or 100% if most/all points have been covered, or 85% if there is more limited reflection. Lesson 01 Part 2 ALTERNATE Assignment - Use if the Web site in the previous assignment becomes unavailable. Complete the following assignment in your Word processing program, then copy your answer into a new post. If you attempt to complete the assignment directly in ANGEL, you may lose your work if ANGEL experiences an outage. Cultural Intelligence Assessment As an introduction to the next lesson, this is an opportunity for you to consider your own level of cultural intelligence (CQ). You are not being graded on how culturally intelligent you are, but on how well you understand the issues around cultural intelligence. Jennifer Berghage The Pennsylvania State University jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 First of all, consider the thinking skills you use to understand other people in culturally diverse situations. To what extent do you believe that you think before acting, do you learn from a new situation, and how do you solve problems when you are in situations characterized by cultural diversity? Secondly, think about how energized you feel in culturally diverse situations. How selfconfident are you of your abilities in these situations, and what is your sense of reward from functioning effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity? Finally, consider the extent to which you think you can act appropriately in a culturally diverse situation. How flexible are you with regard to your ability to speak other languages, and to adapt your non-verbal behaviors when interacting with people from different countries? Having considered each of these aspects for yourself, please answer the following questions. Your answers should be brief (1 or 2 sentences per question): 1. What are the three dimensions to cultural intelligence? 2. Do you consider yourself to be equally competent in all three areas? 3. How have you achieved your current level of CQ? 4. What might be the value of being culturally intelligent? Answer: Maecenas molestie mollis scelerisque. Nulla vel orci turpis. Fusce tincidunt ultricies augue, in auctor diam consectetur egestas. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse feugiat feugiat enim vitae tincidunt. Maecenas in eleifend est. Morbi mi neque, mattis blandit fermentum et, sodales in arcu. Mauris vel ipsum orci. Morbi vitae sapien tellus, vel ultrices ligula. Curabitur porta odio eu ipsum sodales iaculis. Note: This first assignment is a light one, so as long as the student has reflected on their assessment and talks in some way about how this is a result of their previous experiences and background, and that there are multiple dimensions of CQ, all of which can be developed, etc., a normal score might be 90%, otherwise 95 or 100% if most/all points have been covered, or 85% if there is more limited reflection. Lesson 02 - Drop Box Assignment Video Case Study (Janet Ang – Lenovo) This video case study is designed to give you an example of some of the real crosscultural challenges that face leaders in international organizations today. The video is divided into three segments: (1) Discussion of Challenge, (2) Discussion of Decision, and (3) Discussion of Results. Answer the following questions for each segment. The total length of your submission should be 500-1000 words. Jennifer Berghage The Pennsylvania State University jaw33@psu.edu 814-865-5727 1. Discussion of Challenge: a. What is the challenge that Janet Ang faced? b. What options does Lenovo have for setting up the new management structure? 2. Discussion of Decision: a. What actions did Janet Ang take? b. What are the benefits and drawbacks of these actions? 3. Discussion of Results: a. What were the outcomes of Janet Ang’s actions for the people involved? b. What skills did Janet have which enabled the success? c. What broad lessons can be learned from this case? Answers: 1. Discussion of challenge: a. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse feugiat feugiat enim vitae tincidunt. Maecenas in eleifend est. Morbi mi neque, mattis blandit fermentum et, sodales in arcu. b. Mauris vel ipsum orci. Morbi vitae sapien tellus, vel ultrices ligula. Curabitur porta odio eu ipsum sodales iaculis. Quisque condimentum risus in magna convallis non pharetra est dictum. 2. Discussion of decision: a. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse feugiat feugiat enim vitae tincidunt. Maecenas in eleifend est. Morbi mi neque, mattis blandit fermentum et, sodales in arcu. b. Mauris vel ipsum orci. Morbi vitae sapien tellus, vel ultrices ligula. Curabitur porta odio eu ipsum sodales iaculis. Quisque condimentum risus in magna convallis non pharetra est dictum. 3. Discussion of results: a. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse feugiat feugiat enim vitae tincidunt. Maecenas in eleifend est. Morbi mi neque, mattis blandit fermentum et, sodales in arcu. b. Mauris vel ipsum orci. Morbi vitae sapien tellus, vel ultrices ligula. Curabitur porta odio eu ipsum sodales iaculis. c. a. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse feugiat feugiat enim vitae tincidunt. Maecenas in eleifend est. Morbi mi neque, mattis blandit fermentum et, sodales in arcu. Grading note: deduct 2 points for every major issue missed. Lorem Ipsum retrieved from http://lipsum.com/feed/html 3/30/11 Lessons 03 - 15 Removed from presentational content Jennifer Berghage The Pennsylvania State University jaw33@psu.edu LER XXX Answer Keys Tips on Answer Keys: Change answers to a different font color so there's no chance they'll end up where they shouldn't Include the assignment itself Answer copy can be brief, highlighting major points the instructor would like students to cover Instead of embedding points within keys, make a separate chart showing all assignments and associated points for easy updating Leave some white space for easy reading Lesson 01 Part 2 Choose ONE of the following topics, and complete and submit an essay of approximately 250 words to the Lesson 1 part 2 Drop Box. Topic 1. Social benefits as we know them today were created as a response to the experiences of the Great Depression in the 1930s. The Social Security Act of 1935 established benefits that are still key to the economic security of many American citizens. Define the Social Security Act, name two major programs and how they have protected participants in those programs. Answer key: Vivamus accumsan ante et leo interdum dapibus a id urna. Etiam orci enim, tempor non lobortis at, suscipit non ante. Aenean eu dolor arcu, nec commodo felis. Maecenas dignissim, purus non mollis luctus, tortor velit facilisis sem, elementum lacinia tellus felis et metus. Aliquam rutrum turpis vitae turpis facilisis ullamcorper. Vivamus eget eros nisl, eu tristique justo. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Integer a laoreet purus. Etiam vitae vestibulum felis. Donec elementum augue quis nulla ornare rhoncus. Nunc in diam lacus, eu pharetra enim. Integer sit amet eleifend tortor. In lacinia quam massa, sed laoreet felis. Aliquam pulvinar, neque in pellentesque eleifend, arcu purus pharetra lectus, sed mollis arcu diam vitae ante. Suspendisse potenti. Integer sed interdum nulla. Topic 2. Many organizations are outsourcing benefit administration. For this activity: 1. Define outsourcing. 2. Suggest two reasons why a company might outsource benefits administration. 3. Give one reason or situation where a company should not outsource benefits administration. Answer key: Vivamus accumsan ante et leo interdum dapibus a id urna. Etiam orci enim, tempor non Jennifer Berghage The Pennsylvania State University jaw33@psu.edu lobortis at, suscipit non ante. Aenean eu dolor arcu, nec commodo felis. Maecenas dignissim, purus non mollis luctus, tortor velit facilisis sem, elementum lacinia tellus felis et metus. Aliquam rutrum turpis vitae turpis facilisis ullamcorper. Vivamus eget eros nisl, eu tristique justo. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Integer a laoreet purus. Etiam vitae vestibulum felis. Donec elementum augue quis nulla ornare rhoncus. Nunc in diam lacus, eu pharetra enim. Integer sit amet eleifend tortor. In lacinia quam massa, sed laoreet felis. Aliquam pulvinar, neque in pellentesque eleifend, arcu purus pharetra lectus, sed mollis arcu diam vitae ante. Suspendisse potenti. Integer sed interdum nulla. 1. Cras diam enim, laoreet in faucibus id, pulvinar in metus. Nunc a dolor eget metus blandit malesuada sit amet in nisi. Ut aliquam semper mauris et varius. Phasellus eu fringilla purus. In molestie dolor a diam ullamcorper pharetra. Praesent neque arcu, pretium sit amet gravida at, eleifend eget ligula. Maecenas mi ipsum, pellentesque ut auctor sit amet, placerat vitae nulla. Cras metus risus, egestas sit amet tristique sed, varius ac erat. (p. xx in the text). 2. Cras diam enim, laoreet in faucibus id, pulvinar in metus. Nunc a dolor eget metus blandit malesuada sit amet in nisi. Ut aliquam semper mauris et varius. Phasellus eu fringilla purus. In molestie dolor a diam ullamcorper pharetra. Praesent neque arcu, pretium sit amet gravida at, eleifend eget ligula. Maecenas mi ipsum, pellentesque ut auctor sit amet, placerat vitae nulla. Cras metus risus, egestas sit amet tristique sed, varius ac erat. 3. Cras diam enim, laoreet in faucibus id, pulvinar in metus. Nunc a dolor eget metus blandit malesuada sit amet in nisi. Ut aliquam semper mauris et varius. Phasellus eu fringilla purus. In molestie dolor a diam ullamcorper pharetra. Praesent neque arcu, pretium sit amet gravida at, eleifend eget ligula. Maecenas mi ipsum, pellentesque ut auctor sit amet, placerat vitae nulla. Cras metus risus, egestas sit amet tristique sed, varius ac erat. Lesson 02 Choose ONE of the following topics, and complete and submit an essay of approximately 250 words to the Lesson 1 part 2 Drop Box. You may need to use online searches to answer the posed questions: Topic 1. According to the text, the age at which a worker reaches “Full Retirement Age” for purposes of receiving non-reduced retirement benefits is increasing depending on the year of birth (e.g., those born before 1937 can receive “full” social security retirement benefits at age 65, while someone born in 1960 must wait until age 67 to enjoy nonreduced retirement benefits). In your essay, discuss why the full retirement age is increasing and the implications of the increase either for the participant or for the Social Security plan itself. Answer key: Cras diam enim, laoreet in faucibus id, pulvinar in metus. Nunc a dolor eget metus Jennifer Berghage The Pennsylvania State University jaw33@psu.edu blandit malesuada sit amet in nisi. Ut aliquam semper mauris et varius. Phasellus eu fringilla purus. In molestie dolor a diam ullamcorper pharetra. Praesent neque arcu, pretium sit amet gravida at, eleifend eget ligula. Maecenas mi ipsum, pellentesque ut auctor sit amet, placerat vitae nulla. Cras metus risus, egestas sit amet tristique sed, varius ac erat. Topic 2. Medicare does not cover every aspect of a covered person’s healthcare needs, and participants are encouraged to explore Medigap plans. What is a Medigap plan? Discuss its value to the participant, how it is funded, and its drawbacks as well. Answer key: Donec lacinia vestibulum lacinia. Cras cursus mollis ligula. Duis ac arcu et massa placerat sollicitudin. Nullam vitae velit ac enim cursus gravida a vitae metus. Quisque tincidunt pharetra cursus. Sed consequat ante vitae nibh sodales quis euismod neque volutpat. Integer egestas, diam eu tristique dictum, nunc libero venenatis orci, sit amet luctus turpis nisl non massa. Curabitur sit amet neque lorem, quis placerat odio. Donec porta lacus nec lorem condimentum elementum. Maecenas in nisl urna. Nulla sodales libero eu tellus tincidunt quis dapibus elit consequat. Praesent sit amet magna at mauris adipiscing adipiscing. Topic 3. What is the difference between Medicare and Medicaid? Define each, and compare and contrast general eligibility for each type of plan. Answer key: Donec lacinia vestibulum lacinia. Cras cursus mollis ligula. Duis ac arcu et massa placerat sollicitudin. Nullam vitae velit ac enim cursus gravida a vitae metus. Quisque tincidunt pharetra cursus. Sed consequat ante vitae nibh sodales quis euismod neque volutpat. Integer egestas, diam eu tristique dictum, nunc libero venenatis orci, sit amet luctus turpis nisl non massa. Curabitur sit amet neque lorem, quis placerat odio. Donec porta lacus nec lorem condimentum elementum. Maecenas in nisl urna. Nulla sodales libero eu tellus tincidunt quis dapibus elit consequat. Praesent sit amet magna at mauris adipiscing adipiscing. Vivamus eget libero ligula, nec porttitor massa. Etiam ut odio quam. Morbi eu sodales mauris. Aenean risus leo, porta at laoreet nec, molestie vitae est. Fusce dolor ipsum, ultricies et tincidunt fermentum, fermentum nec enim. Morbi pulvinar nulla eu felis pretium fringilla. Etiam scelerisque auctor sapien. Nam suscipit molestie lobortis. Integer sem leo, placerat id feugiat eu, gravida in neque. Vivamus id augue sapien, non posuere purus. Morbi porta aliquam velit, non convallis justo imperdiet egestas. Nunc sapien nisi, gravida sit amet adipiscing convallis, ullamcorper quis mi. Curabitur viverra tincidunt diam, ac mollis orci laoreet at. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Lorem Ipsum retrieved from http://lipsum.com/feed/html 3/30/11 Answers to Lessons 03 - 15 removed for presentation. Jennifer Berghage The Pennsylvania State University jaw33@psu.edu HRER 897a: Advanced Labor and Employment Law Answer Keys There's no single correct way to format answer keys - depending on the type of course and its content, one way might be better than another for conveying what to look for when grading. For a law course, there may be some latitude in the answers, and the key may take the form of questioning rather than hard and fast "content" answers. Lesson 03 Nonunion Company Complex Essays (page references to Twomey 14th Edition) Question 1 Students should have latitude in their answers, but they generally should have a series of important questions, driven mostly by legal considerations, but leavened with some practical HR sense as well. Things to look for in answers: As HR Director, the student needs to get facts to make an other-than-knee-jerk reaction. The most basic of those facts revolve around a set of questions: Who lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit? Suspendisse feugiat feugiat enim vitae tincidunt. Maecenas in eleifend est. Morbi mi neque, mattis blandit fermentum et, sodales in arcu. Mauris vel ipsum orci. Morbi vitae sapien tellus, vel ultrices ligula. What curabitur porta odio eu ipsum sodales iaculis? Quisque condimentum risus in magna convallis non pharetra est dictum. Maecenas mattis augue at erat semper ut rutrum augue elementum. Maecenas molestie mollis scelerisque. Nulla vel orci turpis. Fusce tincidunt ultricies augue, in auctor diam consectetur egestas. Do vivamus accumsan ante et leo interdum dapibus a id urna? Etiam orci enim, tempor non lobortis at, suscipit non ante. Aenean eu dolor arcu, nec commodo felis. Maecenas dignissim, purus non mollis luctus, tortor velit facilisis sem, elementum lacinia tellus felis et metus. Aliquam rutrum turpis vitae turpis facilisis ullamcorper. Vivamus eget eros nisl, eu tristique justo. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Integer a laoreet purus. Etiam vitae vestibulum felis. Donec elementum augue quis nulla ornare rhoncus. Assuming that cras diam enim, laoreet in faucibus id, pulvinar in metus. Nunc a dolor eget metus blandit malesuada sit amet in nisi. Ut aliquam semper mauris et varius. Phasellus eu fringilla purus. In molestie dolor a diam ullamcorper pharetra. Praesent neque arcu, pretium sit amet gravida at, eleifend eget ligula. Maecenas mi ipsum, pellentesque ut auctor sit amet, placerat vitae nulla. Should cras metus risus, egestas sit amet tristique sed, varius ac erat? Curabitur odio neque, fringilla sed posuere posuere, aliquam vestibulum lacus. Duis ut justo a est dignissim interdum. Phasellus eu mauris eu sem vestibulum congue. Duis ultricies consequat sapien ac congue. Morbi nec arcu nisi. Mauris sagittis pellentesque tellus non interdum. Nullam elementum consectetur fermentum. If donec lacinia vestibulum lacinia. Cras cursus mollis ligula, then duis ac arcu et massa placerat sollicitudin. Nullam vitae velit ac enim cursus gravida a vitae metus. LER 425 Grading Lesson Quiz 1 Part 1 1 Part 2 1 Part 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 14 Part 1 & 14 Part 2 15 Course Total Discussion Forum Assignment Drop Box Assignment Other Orientation to ANGEL tools, Student Questionnaire, Academic Integrity Quiz Essay Quiz Essay Quiz Article Review Quiz Group Work Quiz Essay Quiz Article Review Mid-Course Survey Open Book Exam Quiz Group Work Quiz Essay Quiz Article Review Quiz Essay Quiz Group Work Quiz Essay Quiz Final Exam Points Ungraded 10 20 10 20 10 50 10 100 10 20 10 50 Ungraded 150 10 100 10 20 10 50 10 20 10 100 10 20 10 150 1000 Volume 15, Number 5 March 1, 2011 How to Orient New Instructors to an Online Course FAST! By Jennifer Anne Berghage his article describes a model of instructor orientation that helps to quickly orient new instructors, streamlines their participation in the online course throughout the semester, and enhances the student learning experience by setting instructors up for success. T 1. Instructor tip sheets Comprised of 16 courses, the Penn State online Master of Professional Studies in Human Resources and Employment Relations (HRER) Program runs several sections of virtually each course three times per year. Student enrollment per section is capped at 20, hence several instructors are often needed to teach just one course. To help orient new instructors on short notice, the course designer builds an Instructor Tip Sheet into each course. Standard information The Instructor Tip Sheet is customized for each course in the program, but also includes standard information that is helpful, such as contact information for the instructional designer, the HelpDesk, and Student Services. With the growth in Online Seminar Jennifer Berghage of Penn State’s World Campus will present a live online seminar “How to Orient New Instructors to an Online Course FAST!” on Thursday, April 14, 2011, at 1:00 PM, CST. Go to www.magnapubs.com for details. student enrollments, it becomes increasingly important to streamline communication pathways so that questions are answered and instructors can carry on without delay. Additional information on Instructor Tip Sheets includes the first three steps each instructor should take: (1) Print out a copy of the syllabus, (2) click through the Web site paying special attention to the assignments, and (3) read through the Tip Sheet. Customization Customized information for each Tip Sheet highlights action items for the instructor, such as how to assign students to teams, provide an online article, summarize data, set up course announcements, etc. For each lesson that requires participation on the part of the instructor, there are detailed step-through instructions on how to successfully follow through, especially with the course management system in this issue How to orient new instructors fast! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cover Monthly Metric: Is radio the right media to market your program? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Course Design: Using data to improve your courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 itself. Screen shots can also be added where appropriate. If an instructor encounters difficulty at a time when the HelpDesk or instructional designer isn't available, the Tip Sheet allows them to complete lesson participation without delay. 2. Web site walkthroughs An additional measure that helps to orient an instructor to their online course is to conduct an Elluminate Live!, Skype, or telephone training session a few days before the start of the semester. During this session, the instructional designer and the new instructor(s) walk through the course web site together, first going over the Instructor Tip Sheet, then going through each of the major links (file folders holding content such as commentary, discussion forums, quizzes, open book exams, etc., as opposed to Internet links) on the web site to help the instructor learn where to find various course elements and how to use the CMS technology (Angel). The web site walkthrough alleviates the anxiety a new instructor often feels if the designer encourages them to ask uestions and take notes during the training session. Accessibility: Our expert gives you straight answers to your questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 In the News: New Instructure LMS goes open source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 A MAGNA PUBLICATION continued on page 2 cover President: William Haight (billh@magnapubs.com) Publisher: David Burns (dburns@magnapubs.com) Managing Editor: Christopher Hill (chill@magnapubs.com) Advisory Board Fred Lokken, Ph.D. Associate Dean for Teaching Technologies Truckee Meadows Community College Chair, Instructional Technology Council, 2008-2010 flokken@tmcc.edu Lawrence C. Ragan, Ph.D. Director of Faculty Development World Campus Penn State University lcr1@psu.edu Bruce Chaloux , Ph.D. President , Sloan Consortium Director, Electronic Campus Initiative of the Southern Regional Education Board bruce.chaloux@sreb.org Distance Education Report (ISSN 1094320X) is published semi-monthly by Magna Publications Inc., 2718 Dryden Drive, Madison, WI 53704. Phone 800-433-0499 or 608-246-3590. Email: support@magnapubs.com. Fax: 608-246-3597. Website: www.magnapubs.com. One-year subscription: $419 (Multiple print subscriptions and Group Online Subscriptions are available, call Customer Service at 800433-0499.) Photocopying or other reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to Distance Education Report, 2718 Dryden Drive, Madison, WI 53704. Copyright ©2011, Magna Publications Inc. Submissions to Distance Education Report are welcome. Please review article submission guidelines located at www.magnapubs.com/catalog/ distance-education-report/ Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use of specific clients is granted by Distance Education Report for users registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) Transactional Reporting Service, provided that $1.00 per page is paid directly to CCC, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923; Phone 978-750-8400; ww.copyright.com. For those organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged. 2 Cover...from page 1 3. Rubrics From Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, the definition for rubric is "a guide listing specific criteria for grading or scoring academic papers, projects, or tests" (retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/ on 10/8/10). Rubrics that we design at Penn State's World Campus may take a number of different forms, depending on what is most suitable as a guideline for grading the assessments in a particular course. Some rubrics are designed as spreadsheets, using several columns across the top of a table to specify particular criteria, with a column on the left-hand side where the instructor can fill in the name of a student in each row. The explanation of the criteria appears at the top of each column along with a range of points allotted for how well the student meets the criteria. By the time the instructor is finished reviewing a particular student's assignment and assigning points on the spreadsheet for each element of the criteria, the assignment has practically graded itself. Rubrics may or may not be suitable for student access. When the information in rubrics is sensitive, we set up a password protected Angel Group space where instructors can access this material. Students are not given access to this Angel Group space, which is unrelated to the actual course web site. 4. Answer keys Answer Keys may take a question and answer format, duplicating the questions put forth on an assessment and providing a bullet-point list of responses the instructor will look for in each student's answer, or simply providing the correct answer, depending on what the questions require. Instructors are encouraged to use their discretion when grading, and if they'd like to award points for information a student has provided that does not appear on the rubric or answer key, they are encouraged to support their preferences for awarding credit. Instructor Tip Sheets, rubrics, and answer keys are not "static" documents. As each course gets updated or revised, these references are also updated, to make sure the details correspond with any changes made each semester. Also, though the Instructor Tip Sheet "lives" within the course web site, it is coded to be hidden from students. Conclusion The result of taking these actions-providing an Instructor Tip Sheet, conducting a walkthrough of the web site, and providing rubrics and/or answer keys-- is that new online instructors start the semester with a solid foundation from which to spring, knowing who to contact for which types of questions, how to navigate the Web site, what actions are required to make each week run smoothly for students, and how to grade the assignments. Help desk calls and e-mails from instructors for assistance are also greatly decreased. For sample Tip Sheets, rubrics, and answer keys, please contact Jennifer Berghage at jaw33@psu.edu. Jennifer Anne Berghage is a distance education specialist who has worked with the World Campus at the Pennsylvania State University since 1999. She is currently the lead designer for the Penn State online Master of Professional Studies in Human Resources and Employment Relations Program. ● We’d like to know what you think! Please share your thoughts on this issue in a four-question online survey located at www.surveymonkey.com/s/DERN. March 1, 2011 Distance Education Report monthly metric Has your distance learning program used radio advertising for marketing within the past year? Entire sample Yes No 23.21% 76.79% Broken out by the enrollment level of the college Number of students enrolled Yes No <4000 27.78% 72.22% 4000-7999 11.76% 88.24% 8000-15,000 9.09% 90.91% >15,000 50.00% 50.00% Broken out by Carnegie Class of the institution Institution Yes No Junior or community college 23.53% 76.47% Four year degree-granting college 20.00% 80.00% Masters/PhD level granting school 21.74% 78.26% Level 1 or 2 Carnegie Class research university 100.00% 00.00% Broken out by public or private status of institution Type of institution Yes No Public school 16.67% 83.33% Private school 35.00% 65.00% Type of institution Yes No For-profit 28.57% 71.43% Non-profit 22.45% 77.55% Broken out by for-profit or non-profit status Broken out by total number of students enrolled in the distance education program Number of students enrolled in distance learning program Yes No <250 20.00% 80.00% 250-1500 8.33% 91.67% 1501-3000 30.77% 69.23% >3000 36.36% 63.64% Source: The Survey of Distance Learning Programs in Higher Education, 2010 Edition, Primary Research Group (2010) www.PrimaryResearch.com Distance Education Report March 1, 2011 3 course design Using Data to Improve Online Courses By Rob Kelly here are several sources of data that instructional designers can use to improve online courses. These include student feedback, course tracking information, and instructor feedback. Each data set provides a piece of the picture, but they are much more insightful when used in combination. In an interview with Online Classroom, Phil Ice, director of course design, research, and development at the American Public University System, talked about an explanatory mixed-methods research design applied to instructional technology and instructional design. “The mixed methods paradigm basically says that neither qualitative nor quantitative data on their own are sufficient. You have to balance what you’re seeing coming in from multiple sources and make sense of the whole picture. You do not always need a formal research question. It’s an openended research question. When you get down to it, data mining is what we’re talking about,” Ice says. This approach to course design and improvement changes the role of the instructional designer, Ice says. “The instructional designer’s job becomes interpretation of what the data sets mean in real time or near time and then combining it with end-of-course survey data. The ID’s job is a lot more complex than it was 10 years ago when we thought about building a series of activities, documents, and resources, letting students progress though the course, and our job was done. The job has become one of actively monitoring what is going on and being able to take that end-of-course data, merge it with what’s going on during the course, and seeing how we can modify T 4 Online Seminar Phil Ice will lead the Magna Online Seminar “Data Driven Decision Making for Online Instructional Design. on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 For information see www.magnapubs.com/catalog/decision-making-for-online-instructionaldesign/.Go to www.magnapubs.com for details. the course,” Ice says. Student feedback Students are an essential source of information about the learning experience. Ice recommends using the Community of Inquiry framework, An instructor wiki is a place for instructors to add to a common body of knowledge about what works and what does not work in a course. which analyzes the following elements: • Instructional design and organization • Ability of the instructors to facilitate discourse • Direct instruction • Development of social presence • Development of cognition. “Those are the big overarching categories. While other surveys may not have the same elements to them, there are other ways to ascertain whether a course is well designed—whether the goals, objectives, and due dates are clear to the students; whether the activities you ask students to engage in March 1, 2011 are interesting to them; whether the exploration cycle is well designed; if students can easily engage with the course material; and if they can achieve the cognitive outcomes desired. If you can hit upon those elements, that’s really a survey of how well an instructional designer did in putting a course together,” Ice says. One of the limitations of getting this kind of input from students is that it often comes at the end of the course. While this can be helpful for future sections of the course, it does not provide actionable information while the course is in session. Web analytics To get at information about the current section of the course, Ice recommends using Web analytics to track the students’ use of the course. For example, if the course content is segregated by page, it’s fairly simple to use free or fee-based analytic tools to track the number of visits to each page. In addition some learning management systems can indicate the path students take to get to certain content. “We know from a lot of the existing research that the average student will view an asset approximately two times. If an asset in a class of 20 students gets somewhere between 20 and 40 hits, then that probably means that it’s a well-designed piece of material. If there are 60 to 100 or more hits to that asset, it probably means that the continued on page 7 Distance Education Report accessibility Essential Answers about Accessibility arbara Frey, D.Ed., is the Senior Instructional Designer at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education. She has been working on issues of online accessibility in distance education for ten years. She recently agreed to answer a list of questions assembled by Distance Education Report on critical topics in accessibility for online courses. B DER: What are the three most important accessibility issues/principles/mandates for distance educators to be aware of today, and why? FREY: Yikes! Where to start! Most institutions are beyond the awareness stage – they recognize their ethical and legal obligation to offer accessible online courses. The challenge is where to start. The first issue for distance educators to consider is an accessibility policy designed specifically for online courses. In December 2010, I was part of an accessibility benchmarking survey that Quality Matters (qualitymatters.org) administered to their institutional subscribers. The majority of responding institutions (75%) reported that they do not have an accessibility policy for online courses. It is also important for distance education programs to have defined practices so it is clear who is responsible for what. For example, who is responsible for adding captioning to videos and alt tags to images? Accessibility processes and practices are more likely to be implemented if there is accountability. Second, distance educators should consider the need for faculty and staff training. Accessibility is not just an issue for programmers. There are many common practices that can be adopted to develop materials with accessibility in mind. For example, creating Microsoft Word documents using the Styles and formatting Distance Education Report features will help a screen reader to identify the titles, headings, and subheadings within the text. Training can begin with some of the excellent free “Watching a blind student navigate one of my Blackboard courses using the JAWS screen reader was more valuable than hours and hours of training and reading about Web accessibility.” online tutorials such as: • WebAIM offers many excellent resources including an “Introduction to web accessibility” and fee-based training: http://webaim.org/ • Access E-Learning from Georgia Tech: http://www.accesselearning.net/ • Webucator tutorial: http://www. web-accessibility-tutorial.com/ Third, we should demand accessible products from our vendors and the producers of our course management systems. Our platforms, software programs, e-books, websites, and other supplementary materials have to be accessible to all students. The demand for accessibility is growing; is the instructor’s competence and familiarity with accessibility practices, techniques and tools keeping pace? What can be done to improve the situation? FREY: No! But I do not consider accessibility to be just the instructor’s responsibility. It is the responsibility of all distance education faculty, staff, and administrators. I conduct accessibility training for faculty and staff, and most of my workshop participants March 1, 2011 report that their institutions do not offer internal training for faculty or staff. I think it is especially helpful for faculty to understand the assistive technologies used by students. For me, watching a blind student navigate one of my Blackboard courses using the JAWS (Job Access with Speech) screen reader was more valuable than hours and hours of training and reading about Web accessibility. It motivated me to remove barriers such as chat, complex data tables, and matching. If it is not possible to work with a student, there is a good video demonstration of a screen reader from the University of Wisconsin - Madison at http://www.doit.wisc.edu/accessibility/ video/intro.asp. DER: Tell us about some model accessibility policy statements that are appropriate and comprehensive, and can give distance educators focus and guidance for their efforts. FREY: Ideally, a student with a disability should not have to disclose his/her limitation because the course is designed with accessibility in mind, and the student could complete all the assignments and tasks without accommodations. If the student has to ask for a special accommodation (e.g., extra time to complete an exam), documentation is generally required. Some colleges ask students with special needs to register for online courses 4 – 6 weeks prior to the start of the term so their materials can be revised with the appropriate modifications. While most institutions have disability policies stated in the syllabus for traditional on-campus courses, they do not have a specific policy for online courses. Here are several examples of disability policies developed specifically continued on page 8 5 in the news New Canvas LMS from Instructure Goes Open Source February 8th, 2011 By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology A Utah-based company has fired a warning shot across the bow of learning management system (LMS) companies, including market leader Blackboard, with the announcement that it’s turning its new LMS into open source. Instructure has publicly released the source code to its Canvas learning management system, which was launched in 2010. Currently, 26 institutions have signed contracts with Instructure, including 17 within the Utah Education Network. The company said that more than 100 other schools are currently evaluating its application. “We’re excited to offer an alternative to the current LMS options,” said Josh Coates, Instructure’s CEO. “We want to open up the market to allow for innovation so teachers and students can be at the forefront of technology.” Read the rest at: http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011 /02/01/new-lms-from-instructure-goesopen-source.aspx Going Online to Make Learning Count February 7th, 2011 by Cathy Brigham, Rebecca Klein-Collins; IRRODL Adult students often come to higher education with college-level learning that they have acquired outside of the classroom – from the workplace, military service, self-study, or hobbies. For decades, many forward-thinking colleges and universities have been offering services to evaluate that learning and award it college credit that counts towards a degree. However, for a range of reasons, not every institution can offer prior learning assessment (PLA) in every discipline or for every student. With funding from several U.S. philanthropic organizations, the 6 Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) is launching Learning Counts, a national online service that will offer students a range of opportunities to have their learning evaluated for college credit. This online service will expand the capacity of institutions offering PLA to students and provide an efficient and scalable delivery mechanism for the awarding of credit through PLA. Read the rest at: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/ article/view/940 Biology Professors Use Cloud Computing to Reach Students February 6th, 2011 By Tushar Rae, Chronicle of Higher Ed To help reduce the number of dropouts in freshman biology courses, professors at the University at Buffalo have turned to the power of collaboration and cloud computing to build an online teaching tool designed to explain concepts better than a textbook can. The tool, called Pop!World, provides a visual way to map evolution. It’s the work of Bina Ramaurthy, a research associate professor in the department of computer science and engineering; Jessica Poulin, a research assistant professor in the department of biological sciences; and Katharina Dittmar, an assistant professor of biological sciences. Read the rest at: http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/ biology-professors-use-cloud-computingto-reach-students/29330?sid=wc&utm_ source=wc&utm_medium=en Mobile Online Learning: McGrawHill to Provide English Instruction and Test Prep Through Cellphones in India February 6th, 2011 By Josh Keller, Chronicle of Higher Ed McGraw-Hill is building a mobileMarch 1, 2011 phone platform to teach English and college test preparation to people in India, which the publisher hopes will help it tap into rapidly expanding cellphone use in emerging markets. The platform, mConnect, comes as textbook publishers are jockeying to supply learning materials on digital devices. If the software is successful in India, McGraw-Hill plans to offer it in other developing countries in Asia and Africa. Read the rest at: http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/ mcgraw-hill-to-teach-english-and-testprep-through-cellphones-in-india/ 29343?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_ medium=en Britain Considers Expansion in Online Learning February 4th, 2011 by Rebecca Attwood, Inside Higher Ed British universities should seize the rapidly growing international market in online learning, but doing so will require investment, a panel of experts has said. The final report from the British government’s Online Learning Task Force, which includes experts from Microsoft, Apple and Pearson, calls for an injection of £100 million ($159 million) over five years to ¬expand the UK’s online provision and boost its brand. It warns that private providers are moving into the international online market “quickly and aggressively.” Read the rest at: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/ 2011/01/27/britain_considers_expansion_ of_online_education (Selected from Ray Schroeder’s Online Learning Update http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/ onlinelearning/blogger.html) ● Distance Education Report Accessibility..from page 4 instructional designer did not do a great job of developing it because the students are viewing it again and again, trying to divine meaning,” Ice says. When an asset is accessed fewer times than expected—say five times in a class of 20—that could mean that the students are skipping it because they don’t feel that it would be worthwhile or they can’t find it. Text analytics Analyzing qualitative data is also important in understanding the learning experience. One way to do this is to analyze the discussion forums, looking for references to assets developed for the course. If students reference assets in their discussions, “you can have a fairly high degree of confidence that the students are actually accessing them and making meaning out of them,” Ice says. However, if students do not make references to the course materials and instead bring in assets from other sources, it could indicate that the course content was not useful, relevant, or clear. Another explanation that can be cross checked with Web analytics is that the students did not access that course content, which could indicate a navigation issue. Instructor feedback Instructor feedback is another important source of data about an online course. Ice has found that debriefs in the form of weekly, biweekly, or end-of-course faculty questionnaires can provide actionable insights. A less formal technique would be to Distance Education Report create an instructor wiki—a place for instructors to add to a common body of knowledge about what works and what does not work in a course. Another way to get instructor feedback is to simply ask them to provide regular feedback on the course. Gathering instructor feedback in the online learning environment is quite different than in the face-to-face environment, Ice says. This is due to the traditional silos that are prevalent in higher education as well as instructional design theory. “Professors in the face-to-face classroom run everything. They believe that they are the foremost authority on what to teach. That’s a very different model than in the online classroom, where the instructors are dependent on the development of assets from the instructional design team. “Instructional design theory has long said that the instructional designers work with a subject-matter expert up front. They look at the needs assessment, build the content, and turn it over to the instructor. And the only evaluation comes at the end of the course. What both these of frameworks are missing is the idea that learning is much more dynamic and organic than what can be accounted for using these models. To be really effective we have to have a situation in which feedback goes in both directions.” ● Using Course Data to Improve Instruction Historical quantitative and qualitative online course data, such as end-ofcourse surveys, grades, performance on individual units and student demographics, can be used to inform course design and remediation and enrichment strategies, which can provide students with a more individualized learning experience. Phil Ice, director of course design, research, and development at the American Public University System, recommends that institutions also consider using this information to help create individual enrichment plans for online instructors. However, when the subject of using this information to gain insights about faculty performance is broached, it raises the issue how the information will be used. Will it be used in tenure and promotion decisions? “That potential does exist, and we do have to think about that,” Ice says. Ice compares using course data to inform faculty development to the customer recommendations on popular websites such as Amazon and iTunes. “[These companies] are using these types of profiling techniques to find what interests you the most. If we can leverage that to enhance the learning experience and make it more individualized and provide specific suggestions, is that really so bad?” Ice asks. “That’s the question that instructional designers and universities have to seriously confront because the technology to do that is there. Deep data mining and profiling on a current and historical basis is possible. Are we prepared to do it?” Ice recommends discussing this issue because instructors are often unsure about best practices in the online instruction and sometimes revert to “novice status when interacting with technology.” ● March 1, 2011 7 In the News..from page 5 for online programs: • University of Pittsburgh: http://www.drs.pitt.edu/ online_services.html • Kansas State University: http://www.k-state.edu/dss/ k-access/policy.html • University of North Carolina: http://www.unc.edu/webaccess/ rapde.html DER: Tell us about two or three of the most commonly used (most useful) technologies that are available today for increasing accessibility. FREY: There are so many good, free tools available for course developers. The World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative provides a comprehensive list of web accessibility tools at http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/ tools/complete. For example, there are applications that evaluate webpages for color-contrast, color blindness, PDF accessibility, or overall accessibility. MAGpie is a popular tool for adding captions to video, but users must have the text transcript. If you enter a URL, WAVE from WebAIM creates a free accessibility report. For educators who would like to test their course webpages with a screen reader, JAWS from Freedom Scientific and Windows Eyes from GW-Micro both offer free trial downloads. DER: Would you comment on how practitioners can get the best use out of the following basic practices? a. Applying the Styles feature in Word Documents FREY: Screen readers don’t just read the text – they also “read” the coding behind the text. Using the Styles and built-in bullet or numbering features helps vision-impaired students use 8 screen reader shortcuts that scan a page for key information such as headings or links. b. Using templates for PP presentations FREY: The formatting built into the PowerPoint templates is also used by screen readers. Switching to the outline mode (on the left panel of the screen) will show the text read by a screen reader. Visual components should have alt tags or text descriptions. When posting PowerPoint slides in an online course, faculty should provide alternate file formats such as html and .pptx formats. c. Adding alt tags to images FREY: The alternative tags are alternative text descriptions for charts, graphs, photographs, or images read by screen readers. Alt tags should be more than just descriptions of the text – they should also communicate the purpose of the image in a concise manner. For example, a chart titled “United States Oil Consumption 2000-2010” that shows the amount of oil consumed during each year from 2000 to 2010 should have an alt tag that communicates the exact information in a short text description. Simply stating the title of the chart is not helpful to the learner. If the image is decorative and does not add meaning to the webpage, use “” opening and closing quotes with no text. The screen reader will skip the image. d. Designing data tables with row/column headers FREY: Data tables need to be designed with clarity and simplicity, including column and row headers or labels. Limit each cell to one piece of data. Generally, screen readers read rows from left to right across columns and complex tables become overwhelming very quickly. March 1, 2011 e. Use appropriate fonts, colors and backgrounds FREY: Course developers should select fonts that are clear and specifically designed to be read on a computer screen, such as Verdana, Tahoma, and Georgia. Students with vision impairments generally prefer the san serif fonts and high contrast colors between the font and background. Word art and flashing text should be avoided. Since many people are color blind, do not use color alone to communicate meaning. For example, a list of states might use red and blue to indicate states that are primarily Republican or Democratic. Color blind students may not grasp this information. f. Creating transcripts of captions for audio and video files FREY: For about the past year, YouTube has been beta testing closed captioning, which is probably the fastest and easiest way for distance educators to add text captions to their videos. The video producer who creates and uploads the video to YouTube has to be the one to activate the captions. They are not perfect, but the text can be downloaded and corrected for accuracy. Currently, only English captions are available, but I understand that there are plans to offer additional languages. For educators who are interested in outsourcing captioning and transcripts, Automatic Sync Technologies (www.automaticsync.com/) has a good reputation. As an instructional designer, I encourage faculty who are creating narrated PowerPoint slides to make detailed notes of what they want to say with each slide before recording their audio narration. These notes can easily be made into a text transcript to accompany the narrated slides. In addition to students with disabilities, international students, older students, and students using mobile devices appreciate the detailed transcripts. ● Distance Education Report