College of the Redwoods
CURRICULUM PROPOSAL
DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSE
Date: 3/10/09
1. Division: Business Technology
2. Course ID and Number: BT 92
3. Course Title: Intro to MS Word
4. Please select the distance education method that best describes how the course content will be delivered to most
students taking this class:
CTV
DE 52: One-way video and two-way interactive audio (delivered video and telephone)
ITV
DE 51: Simultaneous Interaction: Two-way interactive video and two-way interactive audio
Online
DE 71: Internet based - Simultaneous Interaction: Session under supervision of instructor not available
by line of sight using the Internet with immediate opportunity for exchange between
participants.
DE 72: Internet based - Delayed Interaction: Session under supervision of instructor not available by line of sight
using the Internet without the immediate involvement of the instructor.
Other
DE 53: Simultaneous Interaction: Two-way interactive audio only
DE 60: Text One Way
DE 70: Audio One Way
5. Attach course syllabus to this proposal.
6. What perceived need will this distance education course address?
Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing program, and it is included in the
Microsoft Office Suite, which is installed on many new computers. Most people have only a
rudimentary understanding of how to use this very complex program. This short one-unit
course teaches students to use the most popular features of Microsoft Word and apply them
to personal, professional, and educational tasks.
7. Describe in detail how the course content will be delivered and how students will engage this content. Be sure
to describe the specific technologies and/or software to be used.
Course content will be delivered via Blackboard, which is accessed through the College of the
Redwoods website. Students must have an Internet connection and Microsoft Word 2007
available on their own computers or have regular access to a computer that has the software
and an Internet connection. The course syllabus, assignments, and weekly announcements
will be posted on Blackboard. To learn new concepts, students will complete hands-on
assignments in the text with step-by-step illustrated instructions. PowerPoint presentations
available on Blackboard present the material in a different format and may be used to review
and reinforce the concepts presented in each unit. Students will complete a Concepts Review
at the end of each unit, which contains matching, true/false, and multiple-choice questions on
Curriculum Approval: 01.23.09
Academic Senate Approval: pending
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the material just presented. The answers to the Concepts Reviews will be posted on
Blackboard so that students can check their work. Students will then complete the Skills
Review at the end of each unit. Solutions to the Skills Reviews will be available on
Blackboard, enabling them to check their work. The Skills Reviews are not graded. After
working through each unit, students will complete three hands-on assignments based on the
Independent Challenges in the text and email the resulting documents to the instructor.
Scanned images of the solutions to these assignments are posted so that students can check
their work before submitting it for grading. The final step in completing as unit is to take an
online quiz.
8. To illustrate the description in #7, describe what students in this course may do in a typical week of this course.
Here is the assignment for UNIT B: 1) Work through Unit B, Editing Documents, pages 26-41
2) Do the Concepts Review on pages 42 and 43. 3) Check your answers on Blackboard. 4) Do
the Skills Review, pages 43-44 and check your documents with the solutions in the Skills
Review folder on Blackboard. 5) Complete the following and e-mail the files to your instructor:
INDEPENDENT CHALLENGES 1, 2 and 3, pages 45-47. 6) Take the quiz on Unit B on
Blackboard.
9. Title V mandates “regular and effective” contact between DE students and the instructor. Describe the nature
and frequency of instructor-student interactions in this course.
The instructor will contact each student before the class starts and continue this contact at
regular intervals during the class to explain difficult concepts, answer questions, and give
feedback on assignments. On the Blackboard site, the instructor will provide PowerPoint
presentations designed to illustrate and explain the specific techniques required to use Word
features and functions.
Students will be able to communicate with the instructor via e-mail and telephone, as well as
on the Blackboard discussion board. Announcements and assignments will be posted on
Blackboard, and important announcements will be emailed to all students. Direct e-mail will
be used extensively to answer questions from individual students. Emails will be answered
as soon as possible, at least within 12 hours. To explain difficult concepts, the instructor may
refer students to an online Microsoft video tutorial or provide an original Camtasia video.
When grading assignments, the instructor will highlight errors on the Word documents and
return students' assignments with detailed comments about the effectiveness of their work
and suggestions on how it could be improved. All assignments submitted for grading will be
graded and returned with comments within 48 hours.
10. Describe the nature and frequency of student-student interactions in this course.
At the beginning of the course, student-to-student contact will begin with each student
posting a bio to the "Introduction" thread on the Blackboard discussion board. A question
and answer forum will be available on the discussion board throughout the course, and
students will be encouraged to post questions as well as answer each other's questions and
make comments on the course material. The instructor will monitor these forums and
respond when necessary.
11. Describe how you will identify and respond to students experiencing difficulty in this course.
I will encourage students who are having difficulty to email or telephone me with their
questions and provide them with detailed answers. I will also monitor the Blackboard
gradebook to make sure students are completing the quizzes and submitting their
assignments. Students who do not complete the quizzes or submit their assignments on time
will be contacted by email or phone.
12. Will exam proctoring be required?
No
Curriculum Approval: 01.23.09
Academic Senate Approval: pending
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Yes
If yes, who will proctor exams?
13. Describe how assessments are used in this course to ensure that student work is evaluated effectively and
accurately.
Objective chapter quizzes will be administered and graded through Blackboard. The quizzes
are open book, and may be taken only once. Students must complete an objective quiz within
one hour to receive credit. The exams are hands-on assessments based on the textbook's
Independent Challenges that test the students’ ability to use Microsoft Word. Students will
send the documents to be graded directly to the instructor by e-mail using Blackboard or their
own e-mail accounts. The instructor will then grade the assignments, add comments to the
documents, and return them to the students via e-mail. All grades will be entered in the
Gradebook on Blackboard, using the same grading scale used in the on-campus BT 92
course.
14. Describe the equipment and staff resources necessary to support the course for students and instructors.
No staff support or college equipment is required. Students must have an Internet connection
and Microsoft Word 2007 available on their own computers or have regular access to a
computer that has the software and an Internet connection.
15. Describe the contingency plan for this course if access to the delivery system is interrupted.
If the course cannot be delivered through Blackboard, the instructor will be able to email
assignments directly to the students. Quizzes, solutions to assignments and Concept
Reviews may also be emailed. If the email system and Internet are unavailable, students will
be contacted by phone and assignments, quizzes, and solutions will be sent by US mail.
Students will need to mail their printouts to the instructor for grading.
16. Both state and federal law require community colleges to design courses to ensure access for students with
disabilities, including compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Please indicate the steps taken to
ensure accessibility by checking the Yes, No, or NA boxes below. For further assistance with accessibility and
assistive technology, please contact DSP&S.
Yes No NA Requirement and Purpose
1. The course delivery provides a text equivalent for all non-text elements such as
images, animations, applets, audio/video files and art. This will enable a screen
reader to read the text equivalent to a blind student.
2. The course delivery provides descriptions for important graphics if they are not fully
described through alternative text or in a document’s content. The description would
inform a blind student of what a picture represented.
3. The course delivery ensures that information conveyed by the use of color is also
understandable without color. For example, so a blind or color-blind student could
understand a color-coded representation of DNA.
4. The course delivery provides textual equivalents to audio information (captioning).
The text will enable deaf students to know what others are hearing.
5. The course delivery provides an alternative audio description for multimedia
presentations. The sound will enable blind students to know what others are seeing.
6. The course delivery ensures that moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating
objects or pages may be paused or frozen. The movement can be distracting for
students with certain disabilities.
7. If using faculty web site vs. college provided course management system, the web
site identifies, by labeling or other appropriate means, row and column headers. The
identification will enable screen readers to discern the headers, which disclose the
purpose of the data in the rows and columns.
Curriculum Approval: 01.23.09
Academic Senate Approval: pending
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Yes No NA Requirement and Purpose
8. If using faculty web site vs. college provided course management system, the web
site provides title frames and includes sufficient information as to their purpose and
relationship to each other. This will help blind students understand the
organizational purpose of the frame.
9. If using faculty web site vs. college provided course management system, the
instructor has ensured, through HiSoftware’s “Cynthia Says”
http://www.cynthiasays.com/ or other appropriate verification, the usability of pages,
and will attach to this proposal evaluation printouts of Section 508 and WCAG—
Priority 1 compliance.
10. My course syllabus recommends that students who require accommodations for a
disability, such as accessible formatting of course materials, contact me immediately.
Example: “In compliance with equal access laws, I am available to discuss
appropriate academic accommodations that you may require as a student with a
disability. Students are encouraged to contact Disabled Students Programs and
Services (DSP&S) for disability verification and for determination of reasonable
academic accommodations.”
Submitted by: Martha Racine Taylor
Tel. Ext: 2684
Approvals:
Department Chair: Ken Magnuson
Distance Education Coordinator: Mark Winter
Division Chair/Director: Chris Gaines
Date: 3/10/09
Review Date:
Review Date: 03/12/09
Review Date: 3.12.09
CURRICULUM COMMITTEE USE ONLY
Approved by Curriculum Committee: No
Yes
Date: 3.27.09
Academic Senate Approval Date: 4.3.9
Board of Trustees Approval Date: 5.5.9
Curriculum Approval: 01.23.09
Academic Senate Approval: pending
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