Using your LMS to go Beyond the Boundaries

Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 11:30 a.m.

Shoemaker, Pryor, Blinn College

Have 160 sections of online courses. Also use blended and hybrid. Faculty push to enhance current LMS. First to develop was a student lounge. Student lounge for nursing. Faculty lounges for Allied Health Math Social Csiences, Biology, Fine Arts and Child Develpoment.

Committees:

• Faculty Senate: created a discussion board and added members as students. Mentors assist those that have never used the LMS (eCampus).
• Distance Education Advisory Committee:
• Online Assessment Committee:
• Standards Committee

Student Evaluation

• Student evaluation of instruction. IRE created surveys for online and another survey for blended and hybrid. Instructor can see survey results with student data hidden for anonymity.

Coordinating Board visit

• Created group for Co-Board. Each section assigned to applicable college group. Each group then populated the area as needed. Very helpful for Co-Board reviewers.

Other integrations

• Use Tegrity, TurnItIn, Merlot, Dallas TeleLearning, Softchalk, Respondus, StudyMate
• Each of these is embedded within the course page. The windows open either within the classroom window or as a separate window based on instructor preference.

Keynote: What do you Bring to the Table

Tuesday, 8:15 a.m.

Announcements, award presentations, and vendor talks began the session. Next, Charlotte Stallings was introduced. Four lessons to be successful.

1. Success is a choice. Must choose your attitude ('tude). You have two sides of the bed to get out of each morning: the positive side and the negative side. Which side we choose determines the outlook. Don't get pulled down by those that have negative ideas. Surround yourself with positive people. "Could it be that things are the way they are because of the way you are? "
2. Focus. Remember what got you where you are in the first place. Focus beats brilliance. Never lose sight of your goals. Focus makes you remarkable. Mentions Seth Godin "The Purple Cow." Purple cows are visible, while the more common colors are not. Be the purple cow and stand out from the crowd. Focus on your strengths and have unique ability and do it better than anyone else. Other options are Excellent( do well without passion), competent (minimum standards), and incompetent (results in a disaster).
3. Look for the lion. What one thing would you do today if you weren't afraid? Fear freezes us and paralyzes us with the "what ifs". Book: Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. If afraid, call a lifeline, such as friends, colleagues, those that can comfort, help you confront, and those that can clarify your issues.
4. Live your passion. Do what you love and do it better and with more passion than anyone else.

Blackboard Learn: The Move from Course management to Learning Management

Acosta, U. Houston

Blackboard 9 is an LMS, more interactive than typical CMS system.

• Community engagement from outside of course

Should move students to being creators of knowledge.

Learn 9 has more collaborative tools than previous versions.

Student performance features

• Alert system for students
• Dashboard for tracking
• Basic statistics for grades
• Can manipulate grades
• Gradebook reporting
• Adaptive release

Student needs

• More robust reporting features by students, class, group
• Participation column for attendance, postings, peer reviews
• Showcase of student work
• Refereed journals
• Faculoty writing
• Search engine for data mining for searching specific works.

BB tutorials now available for BB Learn 9.1

Wish list includes

• Commenting within a document for assignment comments
• Audio commentary

Currently available for Group tools

• Students create won groups
• Wikis
• Group files storage
• chat room enhancements

General student resoruces

• Available
• Disctionary and tehsaurus
• Scholar for bookmarking

Wish list

• APA and etc. style guides
• Note taking
• Calculators
• Maps
• Graphing tools
• Clip art

Interaction between instructors and online student groups

Sam Houston State University

Drs. Ezell, Rice, and Cox

Present materials and then incorporate engagement

Use text, PP, video, virtual worlds

Can do same thing in classroom as you can in virtual world. Second Life strongly recommended.

For group student exchanges,

Option 1

• organize into groups
• Use w
• Windows Live Messenger
• Allows instructor to see all groups and to interact
• Exchange cell numbers for connectivity issues
• Instructor screen has box for each group showing on screen

Option 2

• Second Life
• Place students into groups
• Audio works fine or use text
• have student start interaction, instructor moderates
• Students are prepared to use Second Life and Messenger through tutorials

Suggests moving away from CMS and use 3rd party tools such as Skype and Messenger

• With Skype you can share screens to diagnose tech issues

Case Study of Student Perceptions of Plagiarism and Effectiveness of TurnItIn

Keith Houk, Dr. Marshall Schott, University of Houston, 10:30, Tuesday, March 22, 2010

Study of students using TurnItIn for assignments.

94% of students use electronic resources to work on assignments.

Plagiarism and definition of is clearly stated in syllabus.

Plagiarism is copying from books. Collaborating on an assignment is not.

84% of students had no technical problems using TurnItIn. Formatting issues were the most common problem.

74% students felt it was accurate

85% felt TurnItIn encouraged the use

88% felt it was fair.

77% of those flagged as plagiarizing felt the penalty was appropriate.

HEA SECTIONS 496

• Must have standards that address quality of DE
• Accrediting agencies ust address quality issues
• Institutions must have processes for student authentication

Want to use proctored exams where feasible.

Want to place academic integrity policies on department web sites and course syllabi.

Course design methods to ensure original work:

• Have students demonstrate they understand concepts
• Having followup questions to ensure original work
• Use rubrics that area clearly stated and provide clear guidelines
• Mix up tests so different tests are used each semester. Create test banks
• Use open book exams
• No exam feedback on exams until all have completed
• Use lock-down browsers

SACS

• Institutions must comply with HEA academic integrity
• Recommended options
• Secure login and passcode
• Proctored exams
• New or other authentication technologies as they appear

Opening session

The opening session began with several announcements and vendor spiels. Dr. Covey then came on via telecomm session. Slow to begin but absolutely fascinating concepts all based on the prior materials. Be began by comparing the Industrial Age vs. the Knowledge Age. This was based on the management systems used and the types of collaboration (or lack thereof) used within.

To sharpen the saw, you must

• Body-exercise
• Mind-reading, participating in training
• Heart-foster relationships
• Spirit-religion or enhancing your inner strengths

Must move from the industrial age to the knowledge age.