BCCC's Distance Learning

BCCC Staff Attend the NC3ADL Conference

2011-11-10T09:12:00.006-05:00

BCCC Staff attend the NC3ADL Emerging Collaboration Compliance and Clouds conference on November 8, 2011 in Raleigh NC. The North Carolina Community College Association of Distance Learning , NC3ADL, was established by North Carolina community college faculty, staff, and administrators who are directly involved with Distance Learning. Many sessions were offered to learn more about the future of distance learning and in the Cloud offerings. Penny Sermons, Saundra Pinkham and Tricia Woolard attended the sessions. Tricia Woolard won the grand prize which was an iPad2.

2011-10-12T17:09:00.002-04:00

Sermons and Woolard present at the NCLA 59th Biennial Conference

Penny Sermons and Tricia Woolard presented at the NCLA (North Carolina Library Association) 59th Biennial Conference on October 5th, 2011 in Hickory NC. The presentation was on mLearning: Using Mobile Devices for Library/Distance Learning Services. Several mobile devices such as ipad2s, smartphones and eprinters were introduced to the group. Hand-held devices are fast becoming the primary way people access the web. Librarians everywhere are finding unique ways to use mobile technology to offer new kinds of services. The group was shown how to learn practical and fun ways to use hand-held mobile computing devices to enhance and improve library and distance learning services.

BCCC Distance Learning Update - Summer 2010

2010-05-12T12:05:00.006-04:00

DL Overview
BCCC has offered distance learning in some form or fashion for over a decade. We have witnessed awesome changes in the technology, infrastructure, and faculty and staff expertise. The first official online courses were offered in 1999 - with implementation of Internet classes funded by a USDA Distance Learning grant. Just think what has occurred in 11 years! Click here for interesting statistics and the Distance Learning Guidelines.

Blackboard
Blackboard is supported by many BCCC team players who strive to work together to resolve student and faculty concerns on a daily basis. There are several well-known issues involving Blackboard's interoperability with assorted browsers and various operating systems, which keeps the BCCC DL staff constantly working to implement timely resolutions. Blackboard has acknowledged these issues and is developing fixes in the newer versions such as 9.1 and Next Gen. Patches are deployed as soon as we receive them from Blackboard. Migrating to the latest release of Blackboard is essential not only because it will offer newer and better tools but the older versions will cease to be supported. This summer we are offering 18 hybrid courses using BB 9.1.

It is important to be aware that there are many instances in which Blackboard is not the sole culprit. Faculty/students are accessing Blackboard from many different levels of computer competency skills and networks, compounding technical problems. User errors can contribute to frustration and confusion. Using the Course Checklist is a great way for instructors to review their courses and ensure that the course information is current and organized. If you encounter problems please contact us so that we can document them, develop solutions and/or workarounds, and notify Blackboard if necessary. The BB Administrator and LRC assistant support a help desk for over 1000 or more users on a daily basis and over 250 courses in any given semester. The library staff assists online students with a wide variety of questions just about every day.

The DL staff backs up courses at the end of each semester to the O drive - Instructors are responsible for backing up their courses and grade books throughout the semester; at the end of the semester archived courses should be filed in a safe place in case of an emergency.

We strive to offer excellent support to faculty and students and monitor success with considerable attention. Your collaboration and assistance are crucial as we work together to provide the best system functionality and service to our students and faculty, regardless of the Learning Management System (BB or Moodle). Contact us with any suggestions, questions, ideas, etc.

Penny Sermons, Tricia Woolard, Brenda Rogers

Moodle
Most of us are interested in knowing more details about Moodle. Since the Blackboard contract ends June 2011, we are in a transition mode, working to offer courses in both formats this fall. Click here to see our Moodle Transition Plan. As with any new software, training is essential. Moodle training sessions will start this summer. Currently, BCCC is participating in a feasibility study conducted by NCCCS to help determine the strengths/weaknesses of each LMS.

Service
Penny Sermons – Director of LRC/DL
Tricia Woolard – Coordinator of Media Services/BB Admin/Webmaster
Brenda Rogers – LRC Assistant

Who to contact if you:

have a problem with BB Software --Tricia, Brenda
have a problem with BB Hardware --Brown
have a problem with email -- Brown
need to schedule training --Tricia
need to schedule orientations --Tricia, Brenda, Penny
have general questions about distance learning --Penny
need to tell a student who to contact for assistance -- Tricia, Brenda, Penny
want to know more about proctoring services -- Penny
want to participate in the voluntary course improvement process--Penny, Tricia, Brenda.

The DL staff continues to stay abreast of current trends and issues and strives to maintain high standards of professional development and certifications.

Presentations: NC3ADL, NCCCS Faculty Conference, Distance Learning Directors’ Institute, NCLRA.

pennys@beaufortccc.edu
triciaw@beaufortccc.edu
brendar@beaufortccc.edu
brownMcf@beaufortccc.edu

Spring Semester 2010
Online (section 20, 21, 22…) unduplicated enrollment after 10% point--- 776
Online unduplicated enrollment May 6, 2010 --- 679

Media Department Has New Training Center

2009-03-10T12:14:00.001-04:00

Now available! The Media Department has setup a training center to train faculty in the ever changing world of distance learning. Workshops and Blackboard training will be held in this area. Instructors are encouraged to call and make appointments to upgrade their learning curve in Blackboard and other Web 2.0 tools. Call Tricia Woolard to setup an appointment at 940-6312.

The Media Department is located in LRC, Bldg. 5, lower level, room 6.

Woolard completes Webmaster Certificate

2008-05-20T10:15:00.000-04:00

Tricia Woolard, coordinator of Educational Media/Graphic Services/Webmaster at Beaufort County Community College, recently completed the Webmaster Certificate Program at N.C. State University. The program is a series of courses in website design, development and programming and requires three specialized tracts to complete. The program required 126 contact hours and submission of a Capstone project for approval of certification that demonstrates the application and knowledge of website design. The Webmaster Certificate Program is a coordinated academic curriculum that meets the requirements of the advisory committee of webmasters. Woolard is the designer and developer of the BCCC website.

"How Do I?" for Instructors

2008-05-01T14:52:00.000-04:00

On April 29, 2008, Penny Sermons and Tricia Woolard presented a PDI presentation to faculty at Beaufort County Community College on the newly released CD and website "How Do I? for Instructors. This is a second series which is an Interactive Guide to Resources for Distance Learning Instructors.

Prepared students = prepared Instructors. How Do I?, a guide to Distance Learning Resources for Instructors provides faculty with a succinct, easy to navigate source for distance learning information. It covers a wide range of topics and serves as a quick reference for a myriad of questions.

The first CD was a Interactive Guide for Students.

You can view both of these Interactive CD's at http://www.beaufortccc.edu/LRC/Distance/HowdoI.htm

Welcome to Distance Learning for BCCC Instructors

2007-03-15T15:34:00.000-04:00

I hope you have had time to explore our new Distance Learning web page for BCCC Instructors. I would love to know what you think of the new web site. I welcome any suggestions that you might have to help make this site more resourceful.

Check out the "How Do I CD" to learn more about the resources available to you from the Learning Resources Center.

If you have an interest in a specific area of distance learning that you would like to receive training or more information on please feel free to contact me and I will be glad to set up some training time with you.

As always we strive to keep up with the latest technology and welcome any suggestions.