El Paso Community College
March 2014
Volume 1, Issue 1
From the Director — Transition to Blackboard
Learn© Hosting and Blackboard Learn© Help
Desk Services
The current Blackboard Learn© Hosting and Help desk contracts with Ellucian Inc.
end on August 31, 2014. Always seeking to improve support and services to faculty
and students, the Distance Education Department reviewed available hosting and
support options for Blackboard Learn© and recommended changing vendors from
Ellucian Inc. to Blackboard Inc.’s Managed Hosting and User Services for EPCC
Blackboard Learn ©Hosting and Help Desk services. The Distance Education Standing Committee supports this recommendation. A new contract for transition services from March 17 through August 31, has been issued to Blackboard Inc. A separate contract for continued hosting and help desk services has been issued to Blackboard Inc. effective September 1 through August 31, 2017.
The new EPCC Blackboard Learn© Help Desk will be located in Killeen, Texas. A
new toll free EPCC Blackboard Learn Help Desk phone number will be announced in
May 2014.
The transition from Ellucian Inc. is planned to be completed by mid-May 2014. Summer 2014 online courses will be hosted by Blackboard Inc. The good news for faculty and students is that they will continue to log into Blackboard Learn© at
online.epcc.edu. Additionally, the servers and help desk at Ellucian Inc. will remain
operational and updated during the transition and through the end of August 2014.
All of the transition work will be done in a way that will not disrupt faculty and
students. All services will continue to be available 24/7 throughout the transition
to Blackboard Inc.
Have a Great
Inside this issue
Instructional .................... 2
Technical ........................ 2
Faculty Development .......... 3
About Us ......................... 3
Blackboard Help Desk
 1-800-630-8849
 Available 24 hours a day
 7 days a week
Because of their consistent reliability and demonstrated expertise, Blackboard Inc.
is the best choice for EPCC for Blackboard Learn© Hosting and Help Desk services.
Using Blackboard’s hosting and help desk services will provide EPCC with direct
access to their software engineers and technical support staff and their expert
knowledge of Blackboard Learn for EPCC faculty and students.
Please contact me if additional information is needed or to answer questions.
Bob Jones, Director Distance Education Programs
TxDLA—Texas Distance Learning Association
EPCC Distance Education staff will be attending the TxDLA Conference in Corpus
Christi the first week of April. There will be four
tracks of presentations; Program Administration
and Policies, Instructional Design, Professional
Development, and Teaching and Learning. Distance Education staff will bring back new and
exciting ideas to share with EPCC faculty.
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
Communication
Do you have a communication strategy for
your Blackboard course? Interaction and
collaboration (different from group work)
among students fosters a sense of community among learners and reinforces content
and learning outcomes while building important teamwork and cooperation skills.
Blackboard provides opportunities for synchronous and/or asynchronous interaction
between students and students and faculty.
Synchronous or real-time interactions allow
students to develop their communication
skills and to give and receive feedback instantly.
Asynchronous communication can promote
higher order thinking skills that can be
aligned to learning objectives.
The communication tools found in Black-
board include but are
not limited to messages, email, chat, discussion boards, and the
Virtual Classroom.
It is important to set
expectations and
guidelines for required communication in
your course. Every discipline should expect proper use of grammar, punctuation,
and capitalization. Let students know that
you will not accept “text talk.” Presenting
students with a rubric or grading document
will explain how communication will be
assessed. Lastly it is vital that you as the
instructor actively participate in order to
provide feedback and an example of effective communication.
Luz E. Cadena, M.A.
Manager Distance Education Programs
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
-Nelson Mandela
SoftChalk Could
What is SoftChalk Cloud? It’s the
Blackboard Technical Quick Tips
fastest, easiest, most flexible
way to create and manage elearning content for delivery
inside of a LMS (Learning Management System). You can create
engaging, interactive, media-rich
learning content that directly
integrates with any LMS or website. Check out our training
schedule for sessions.
Faculty, the Blackboard Quick Reference Guides are finally here.
Andy Lawrence, Distance Education Technical Coordinator put in
countless hours putting together these short guides that cover a wide
variety of topics from course copy, to creating assignments, assessments to grade center.
The QRG’s are in PDF format and can be easily downloaded or printed for quick reference. Simply to go to the Distance Education
webpage and click on the Blackboard 9 Information Page link and go
to the Quick Reference Guides tab. The QRG’s are listed by topic in
alphabetical order.
Distance Education will begin work on Quick Reference Guides for
students. Stay tuned!
Luz E. Cadena, M.A.
Manager Distance Education Programs
2
El Paso Community College
Visit our webpage at:
www.epcc.edu/distanceed
Like our Facebook page at:
Faculty Development
March
Location
Time
Subject
7 – Friday
NW M95
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
SoftChalk Basics
19 – Wednesday
via Blackboard
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
E-Bug Virtual Meeting
25 – Tuesday
RG E111
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
SoftChalk Advanced
26 – Wednesday
VV B162
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
SoftChalk Advanced
27 – Thursday
NW M95
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
SoftChalk Advanced
28 - Friday
TM 1130
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
SoftChalk Advanced
April
Location
Time
Subject
3 – Thursday
via Blackboard
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
E-Bug Virtual Meeting
8 - Tuesday
TM 1130
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Blackboard Q&A Session
9 - Wednesday
RG E111
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Blackboard Q&A Session
10 - Thursday
NW M95
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Blackboard Q&A Session
11 – Friday
VV B162
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Blackboard Q&A Session
21 – Monday via
Blackboard
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
E-Bug Virtual Meeting
22 – Tuesday
TM 1130
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Grade Center
23 – Wednesday
VV B162
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Grade Center
24 - Thursday
NW M95
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Grade Center
25 - Friday
RG E111
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Grade Center
https://www.facebook.com/
EPCCDE
Distance Education
P.O. BOX 20500
El Paso, TX 79998
Valle Verde Campus
Room C406
Phone: 915-831-3111
Fax: 915-831-2322
Distance Education 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