DE Committee Minutes 9‐15‐14 Citrus College District Distance Education Committee Minutes Monday, Sept. 15, 2014 – CI‐158 Present: Van Citters, Bev – DE Faculty Coordinator Hester, Dana – Dean of DE Tran, Chuong – Information Tech Specialist Kemp, Judith – Recording Secretary Bosler, Sarah – Librarian Eiland, Tom Ghidella, Rich Hartman, Steve Kim, Andrew Peters, Gerhard Sjodin, Jayne Tippins, Ralph Trad, Mohamed Walz, Sheryl Absent: Adawiya, Issa (adj) Borja, Patrick Brawner, Mary Brown, Rick Dougall, Natalie(adj) Durfield, Timothy Call, Jack Flores, Richard Flores, Ygnacio (adj) Ghandi, Louise (adj) Goedhart,Christine Gomez, Steve Goodman, Robert Grossman, Bruce Grauso, Linda Guttman, Ken Hadsell, Cliff James, Rhoda Hall, James (adj) Herrera, Rafael Johnson, Sandra Langford, Bruce (Senate) Lindsey, Steve Lubisich, Senya Medrano, Esmeralda (off.hr) Mumford, Michael R. (adj) Rachford,Maryann Richard, Levi Richardson, Pat (adj) Salvi, Lisa (adj) Salwak, Dale Shaw, Tammie Shrope,Douglas Smolin, Robert Solheim, Bruce Solis, Roberto Styles, Chris Swatzel,James Tucker, Gail Villeneuve,Theresa Van Horn, Tasha Villa, Lisa Volante, Daniel Waddington, Brian White, Gailynn Yee, Stephanie Floriano, Laks (DSPS) (ASCC Senator elect) Bev Van Citters welcomed DE Committee members to the first meeting for Fall 2014 at 2:45 PM and asked members present to review the posted minutes from May 19, 2014 meeting. There were no corrections nor omissions noted, minutes stand correct as posted on BlackBoard. 1. DE Committee Purpose Statement– DE Committee Minutes 9‐15‐14 Bev directed the group to read through the updated Statement of Purpose for the Distance Education Committee, and review for EPC. It reads as follows: Statement of Purpose: The purpose of the committee is to discuss issues important and relevant to Distance Education and to foster communication among management, technology staff, and faculty on topics related to online delivery. In addition, there are frequent discussions regarding best practices and faculty often make presentations involving new and emerging technologies. Minutes and Agendas are kept. (EPC) Frequency of Meetings: Monthly during semesters Membership: Full and part time faculty teaching in Distance Education Dean of Distance Education Distance Education Faculty Coordinator Supervisor of Distance Education Supervisor Distance Education Information Technology Specialist TeCS representative Public Service Librarian DSPS representative Learning Center representative ASCC (Associated Students) representative All present agreed with the statement as read, with Dana rephrasing “The Dean over Distance Education, to read “The Dean of Distance Education. 2. Distance Education Handbook Tom Eiland reported the work on Course Assessment (chapters 7‐9 in the Instructors Handbook under development) was completed in 2002 by Tom, Bruce Solheim, and Maia Greenwell‐ Cunningham. These guidelines include how to develop Instructor websites, submit a specific course through curriculum, best practices for effective course design, course materials and course assessment. Bev added that BlackBoard LMS specifics could be integrated into what has already been developed. DE Committee Minutes 9‐15‐14 This basic working DE handbook is located on Tom’s website; englit.org/demanual 3. Retirement Announcement Rich Ghidella, Instructor and Business Department colleague announced that former Dean of Business, Dr. Stephen Lindsey would be retiring at the end of the 2014‐2015 academic year. Dr. Lindsey has served as Dean of the Business Department for over ten years. 4. Program Review Update Dana reported on two areas of progress in Student Assessment, to be included as tangible evidence of SLOs . 1. Tracking students with on‐line orientation 2. Adding all students into support channels The goal here is to increase the use of Blackboard 9.1 by all instructors as a support service, utilizing some of the new options and features of Bb SP14. 5. New Bb Features Bev referred the group to new features now available in Bb Service Package 14 and listed on the orange “Quick Tips” reference card distributed to all instructors; To Add Badges; GO to “Course tools” then “Achievements” Adaptive Online Testing; have DSPS verification assessment, then adjust testing options i.e. “Extra time” or “Distraction Reduced” accommodations Post‐First Discussion Board Option; ensures that the response is based on the thought, logic, and support provided by the student without being affected by a previous response Date Management; go to “Course Tools” and then “Date Management”. Bb will archive and save allowing the instructor to change the date of contents right away. 6. SafeAssign in Blackboard and Turnitin DE Committee Minutes 9‐15‐14 Bev reminded instructors of the upcoming September 19th Faculty Workshop covering Turnitin/SafeAssign. The workshop is for all instructors Friday morning from 10:30 AM ‐ Noon in CI‐
158. A short video will explain the benefits of using Turnitin, a program within Bb that checks for plagiarism. “How to” utilize Turnitin within BlackBoard will be discussed, another program which checks for plagiarism, along with tips on instructor feedback, both written and verbal, and how to monitor student feedback. Using iPad in the classroom will be covered and a Quick Tips Reference Sheet will be available for those in attendance. 7. Open Ed Consortium Dana shared that Citrus has recently joined a Community College Open Course Material Consortium. As a member, Citrus has access to any/all resources from other community colleges and ultimately share resources. The annual fee of $550 has been waived for the first year’s membership, and other benefits including the availability of iBooks (about $12) and the accessibility of college open textbooks (textbooks.org) are huge. On‐ line textbooks may be utilized as supplemental course material, a valuable resource and monetary savings for students. 8. Online Education Initiative Bev distributed a California Community Colleges (CCC) survey outlining the Online Education Initiative (OEI) asking for input on what a system‐wide Common Course Management System (CCMS) should look like. Bev explained that a statewide Course Management System might reduce the cost of individual colleges’ learning systems i.e. (BlackBoard, Desire2Learn, Moodle) should it be adopted. Instructors are urged to submit their ideas this week and leave feedback on comments posted by other educators promptly! Bev will keep instructors posted on the status of the Online Education Initiative for she serves on the Professional Development Committee. 9. For the Good of the Order Sarah Bosler, Citrus Public Service Librarian, reminded the group to utilize the electronic databases available to students and instructors on the Citrus College Library website. Bev reminded instructors to archive all Bb shells by September 22. Summer and Spring 2014 will be cleared from the database. DE Committee Minutes 9‐15‐14 There are reports of SPAM e‐mails which appear to be coming from BlackBoard. Bev stressed that BlackBoard never sends direct emails. Report any suspicious or questionable email to badmail@citruscollege.edu . 10. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 3:33 P.M. Important Dates to Note Friday Faculty Workshops 10:30‐ 12 Noon 9/19 Turnitin/Safe Assign – Bev CI‐158 9/26 Accessibility Issues / Dana CI‐159 10/10 Blackboard Gradebook / Bev/Chuong CI‐159 9/17/14 jk Fall DE Committee Meetings 9/29 Monday CI‐158 10/10 Monday CI‐158 11/17 Monday CI‐158