El Paso Community College
April 2014
Volume 1, Issue 2
From the Director — New EPCC Blackboard Help Desk
The Distance Education Department staff is working to change help desk providers
from Ellucian Inc. to Blackboard Learn©. The new help desk will be Blackboard
Support Services. The change will be effective in time for summer 2014 classes. A
new toll free 800 phone number will be advertised by email, on the Blackboard
Learn© login page and the Distance Education website.
Blackboard has a great track record for successfully supporting Blackboard Learn©
users. The Blackboard Support Services call center, located in Killeen, Texas, has a
90% first call resolution rate and an 80%+ customer satisfaction rate based on feedback surveys.
Blackboard Student Services will provide EPCC with a hosted contact center- by far
the most extensive deployment of help desk infrastructure in higher education. The
new services will include but are not limited to:
Inside this issue
Instructional .................... 2
Technical ........................ 2
Blackboard…………………………...3
Faculty Development .......... 4
About Us ......................... 4
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Online knowledge base, live chat, self-help
Incident tracking and resolution across multiple channels (chat, web, email,
phone)
Establish internal knowledge base architecture, processes and procedures
Establish routing, dispatching, and escalation policies and procedures
User satisfaction tracking and monitoring
Establish criteria for launching surveys and access to reports
Blackboard Help Desk
 1-800-630-8849
 Available 24 hours a day
 7 days a week
Services include a web-based portal that will provide 24/7 professional, personalized external support to meet EPCC Blackboard Learn© users’ needs. Both users
and administrators will be able to access documentation, product briefs, answers to
frequently-asked questions, and the very latest information about Blackboard
Learn©. A ticketing system will be implemented to track, route, and resolve support issues easily and quickly with a fully integrated, world-class lifecycle ticket management system. Downloads will be easy with streamline document organization
and management. And surveys will be utilized to measure user satisfaction and
keep tabs of quality assurance anytime, while maintaining a quality user experience
start to finish.
Read more about the transition to Blackboard Hosting Services on page 3.
-Bob Jones, Director of Distance Education
Information provided by Blackboard Inc.
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The El Paso County Community College District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran
status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Blackboard Instructional Quick Tips
Assessments
One of the most difficult aspects of teaching online is being able to assess student
learning. Blackboard offers a variety of tools that can be used to measure student
learning allowing instructors to provide meaningful and constructive feedback. Implementing some of the best practices discussed below will improve instruction and
strengthen student learning.
Assessments in online courses should be designed to measure progress toward the learning outcomes and provide feedback to both students and instructors. The quality and type of student
assessments are important to consider. For example, you may want to assess students differently for every chapter, unit, etc. A multiple choice test/quiz one week, an essay another, and a
short project for another. Using a variety of assessments will allow you to evaluate your students’ various skills and will give you some time to grade work and provide valuable feedback in
a timely manner.
In effective online courses, assessments address course goals and objectives, require higher order thinking skills, and take place regularly. Expectations and desired outcomes in the form of
a rubric, descriptive criteria, or a model/sample of “good work” should be provided to students.
This will ensure that work is graded fairly and objectively. More importantly, it gives students
the opportunity assess their own work and increases the chance of success on the assignment.
Reach out to faculty members in your discipline and share assessment ideas and best practices.
Sharing ideas will improve teaching for all EPCC instructors and improve learning for all EPCC
students.
-Luz Elena Cadena, Distance Education Manager
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
- Benjamin Franklin
Blackboard Technical Quick Tips — Student
Email for Communication
In light of the Blackboard technical issues that took place the
week of Monday, April 14, it is highly recommended that instructors keep an address book with student email addresses to
facilitate communication in the event of a Blackboard outage.
Keeping a distribution list of student emails will allow you to
continue instruction, albeit in a limited capacity. Through
email, faculty can send instructions or even assignments in the
form of an attachment so that students do not fall too behind.
What’s the easiest way to collect student email addresses? Have students email you and
then simply store their contact information to Outlook. From your contact list you can
group students into a distribution list by class. Use your Outlook Help button for information on creating distribution lists.
-Luz Elena Cadena, Distance Education Manager
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Blackboard is moving to a New Home for
Summer 2014
The Distance Education Department is constantly striving to improve distance learning services for the EPCC community. This summer we take a huge step by moving
Blackboard hosting and help desk services from Ellucian Inc. to Blackboard Managed
Hosting. The recent Blackboard outage has proven that Ellucian Inc. faces some
challenges in maintaining the expected level of reliability needed to consistently
support a learning management system. We are confident Blackboard Managed
Hosting will provide us with that much
needed reliability.
In discussions with the Distance Education
Standing Committee and online faculty over
the past year, the consensus was to improve support and services to faculty and
students by moving to Blackboard Managed
Hosting and Help Desk Services beginning
Summer 2014 and continuing into Fall. The
transition is in process. As a safety measure, EPCC will keep the Blackboard Learn©
servers at Ellucian Inc. updated and will be able to revert back to Ellucian Inc. if
needed.
The switch to Blackboard Managed Hosting will be made after grades are posted in
Banner for the Spring 2014 semester. Blackboard will be shut down for a brief time
to make the transition from Ellucian to Blackboard Inc. Managed Hosting. Faculty
will have at least a week before summer classes to copy their courses, update calendars and syllabi etc. Faculty and students will continue to log into Blackboard
Learn© at online.epcc.edu.
The Distance Education Department is excited about this transition and we are delighted to provide better services to faculty and students. As the manufacturer of
Blackboard Learn©, Blackboard Inc. is best positioned to support EPCC’s Blackboard’s hosting and help desk needs due to their demonstrated expertise of 99.9’s%
hosting uptime. Using Blackboard’s hosting and help desk services will provide EPCC
with direct access to their software engineers, technical support staff and their expert knowledge of Blackboard Learn©.
Look for our May newsletter for an update. Please contact me if additional information or clarification
- Bob Jones, Director, Distance Education
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Faculty Development
Please call 831-3111 to RSVP
Why Should I Use
Blackboard?
Blackboard Certification
Training
Date
Location
Time
Monday, June 2
Transmountain 1130
9:00 am – 10:30 am
Monday, June 2
Rio Grande E111
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Tuesday, June 3
Valle Verde B162
9:00 am – 10:30 am
Tuesday, June 3
Mission del Paso D117
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Date
Location
Time
Friday, June 6
Valle Verde B162
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Friday, June 13
Valle Verde B162
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Friday, June 20
Valle Verde B162
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Friday, June 27
Valle Verde B162
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Training consists of 4 consecutive Friday sessions. Instructor will receive their certification upon completion. Seating limited to 18. There are 10 seats available.
Blackboard Certification
Training
Date
Location
Time
Saturday, June 7
Valle Verde B162
9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Saturday, June 14
Valle Verde B162
9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Saturday, June 21
Valle Verde B162
9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Saturday, June 28
Valle Verde B162
9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Training consists of 4 consecutive Saturday sessions. Instructor will receive their certification upon completion. Seating limited to 18.
Distance Education
P.O. BOX 20500
El Paso, TX 79998
Valle Verde Campus
Room C406
Phone: 915-831-3111
Fax: 915-831-2322
Staff
Bob Jones
Luz E. Cadena
Andrew Lawrence
Sylvia Gonzalez
Andres Lopez
Margie Munoz
Karla Rangel
Arturo de Santiago
Adriana Maldonado
Janeth Galaviz
Director
Manager
Technical Coordinator
Administrative Assistant
Technical Assistant
Clerk
Clerk
STS
Work Study
Work Study
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