New- Instructions for making student groups in BB

Have you thought about putting your students into groups for projects and other activities? Step-by-step instructions now available in the BB tab.

New- Student instructions for accessing Wimba now available

Thinking about using Wimba for an office hour or suynchronous meeting of some sort and dread having to figure out how to instruct your studnets on how to access it? Fear no more. Check out the Wimba tab in the iRC site for a new document (Accessing Wimba Classroom) that provides step-by-step instructions with screen shots.

Cengage text user? Check out this opportunity

Wadsworth Cengage Learning is eager to hear your feedback on a new online reader, CourseReader. We’d like to invite you to participate in a short $25 honorarium-based demo to review this project if you are currently using any Cengage text.

CourseReader provides you with the flexibility to choose secondary sources from a database of over 300 sources, both printed and audio/video – many coming from Gale’s extensive databases.  Each document source includes essay questions to help your students think critically about the readings.

Plus, as a special thank you, we’re extending a Spring Term 2011 free trial of CourseReader to our customers who’d like to provide their students with additional tools, flexibility, and cost savings in their learning materials.

To set up your review, please confirm the following information:

• Are you currently using a Cengage text?  
• Course Number/Name
• Are you still teaching or planning to teach this course again in Spring 2011?
• Preferred Date and Time of Review beginning the week of 11-15-10
• Phone Number

If you are interested, contact Barb Bower (barbara@contemporarysolutions.com)

at Wadsworth Cengage Learning

Important Wimba Tip: Don't Connect through VPN!

Many of you autumatically log into the Chapman VPN when you sit down at your computer to do Brandman work. That works great for accessing Brandman email, MyWindows, etc., but creates barriers when connecting with Wimba. The same thing applies with any VPN you may customarily use.

So make a note to yourself to log out of any VPN you might be connected to before sitting down to a Wimba session. You will see a world of difference in the performance!

Faculty Tip: Save yourself time!

From Lynn Larsen, School of Education at Moreno Valley:

Instructors can avoid some mountains of email by having an “ask the professor” discussion board where students can post questions about assignments, etc.  That way you’re answering the question once instead of 10 times.  I have found it to be effective – both online and blended.

If your course doesn't already have a discussion board created for this, feel free to add one. If you want assistance or need to learn how to do this, contact your affiliated School's Blackboard support team member (See "Contact Blackboard Support" under the Blackboard tab in the iRC page).

Students discovering benefits of Wimba Pronto!

Do you even know what Wimba Pronto is? Most of our Brandman faculty probably don't because we have not yet added that to the already full bag of new tools and strategies to learn. But it is a tool that you and your studnets have available within your Blackboard course site and as you'll read below, students are finding and sharing its usefulness.

Thanks Kourtney Chase (PADU 605) for sharing your discovery and for the helpful access instructions you provided!

To All of My Classmates-
As you all know we all do not have access to email at all times and it sometimes hard to arrange one single day and time out of the week where we all can meet outside of class to work on group projects/assignments, etc.

Anyway- I found a valuable tool this is available through Blackboard and I actually downloaded the program this evening. Check it out. The Program is called WIMBA PRONTO. This program allows you to interact with your classmates and even professors. The program is an IM message system which allows you to interact with each other. The program is easy to download (takes about 15 minutes):

Go to Communication UNDER Tools Section in Blackboard
Scroll All the Way down to A LINK TITILED WIMBA PRONTO and click
It will ask you of you want to create an account
The Registration form will automatically register you under your Chapman and/or Brandman email account
You then create a passwordIt seems easy enough and it's FREE- NO CHARGE.

Again, I think this tool/IM option may be useful in coordinating times, etc. to talk with other group members to complete projects in a timely and efficient manner.

Hope this tool helps everyone.

Brandman Faculty on Blended Transformation at ACHE

A cross-institutional team of Brandman faculty (Ellen Derwin, Communication; Kimberley Greene, Education; William Sokoloff, Social Sciences, Legal Studies, and Liberal Studies; and Jeremy Korr, Associate Dean Arts & Sciences) presented a roundtable discussion on Transforming a University through Blended Learning at the Association for Continuing Higher Education (ACHE) conference last month (October) in Albuquerque. The roundtable addressed the challenges, successes, and lessons we learned from implementing blended learning in our unique setting of 25 campuses serving nontraditional learners from a range of diverse populations.

Ellen Derwin introduced Brandman's blended initiative, explained the 2008 decision to convert to blended delivery, and summarized the iDEAL instructional model that replaced traditional face-to-face class meetings. She also outlined the training program implemented to educate faculty in blended theory, blended course delivery, and technical skills. (If you haven't seen it, an overview of the iDEAL blended delivery model can be found in this short video: http://www.brandman.edu/blended/Blended_Movie.mov)

Kimberly Greene then addressed the "why" behind blended learning. She introduced blended learning theory and its alignment with both andragogy and the national agenda. Along with identifying key characteristics of adult learners and explaining how blended learning meets these needs, she suggested how and why blended learning exemplifies the "new technologies, curricula, and technologies to improve learning" endorsed by the 2006 Spellings Report and how it answers the 2009 National Report's call for developing skills needed in the modern workplace. (Further details on the rationale for blended learning and the iDEAL model appear in Brandman University’s White Paper available at http://www.brandman.edu/iDeal/whitepaper.pdf or in the "Why & How" tab above.)

Jeremy Korr described the course development and pilot teaching processes in the year preceding the implementation of the iDEAL model. He explained how dozens of pilot courses illuminated potential pitfalls in blended classes that the institution was able to avoid after the pilot process ended. In addition, he noted key shortcomings in the pilot process that became apparent only in retrospect. Issues that arose during the pilot process were incorporated into an FAQ document, available at http://www.brandman.edu/ideal/faqs.asp

Finally, Dr. Sokoloff reviewed how the iDEAL model worked in practice, after its university-wide rollout. He focused on the interactive relationship between blended course developers and the instructors tasked with delivering those courses, and on the reactions to the model from both newer and longtime faculty and students. For orientation purposes, incoming students and faculty unfamiliar with blended learning were given access to a sample course, available for browsing at http://www.brandman.edu/demo

After these initial presentations, the roundtable opened for discussion, particularly on how attendees might adapt and apply ideas to their own institutions.

Faculty showcase: Creative content-based online ice breaker

Our inaugural "Faculty Showcase" activity comes from Ginger Silverman as implemented in her OLCU 301 "Supervision and Leadership" course. Her approach weaves several objectives:

1) It provides a "hook" for students to introduce themselves to one another

2) It provides the instructor with a baseline means to assess where the students sit in terms of their understanding of the subject matter at the opening of the course

3) It provides students with a means of reflecting on their own thought growth relative to the subject matter at the end of the course.

4) And it kick-starts the course in a creative fashion!

Thanks Ginger for sharing your success with this activity!

Title: Supervisory Skills Photo Sort
Assignment Description: Search the internet, publications, etc. for two photos that depict: 1) What effective supervisory skills mean to you and 2) What it mean sto have ineffective supervisory skills. Discuss why the photos represent this to you. Also, discuss the role of the supervisor vis-à-vis the corporation, team and individual mentoring. The photos need not be a realistic representation of a supervisor in action – you can choose something that is more metaphorical. For example, a tornado could depict ineffective supervisory skills, while a teacher in front of a classroom of third graders could represent effective skills. Be as creative as possible! You will upload this assignment, with the photos embedded, as a word document. We anticipate your discussion being between 2 and 3 pages long, double-spaced.
Instructor comments & observations: The students’ commitment to this assignment was thrilling. They were creative, insightful, and inspiring. Everyone enjoyed the assignment – even students who confessed to "not being creative" enjoyed it. Next time I would like to have the students post them to a communal place on BB so they can see each other’s submissions.

On Blackboard versus eCollege

Blackboard or eCollege? This article discusses the historical whys behind the lead BB has in the not-for-profit arena versus eCollege's lead among for-profit schools and the ultimate stand-off in terms of "which is best" between the two.

A useful read especially for those of you who had had students comment that one platform is infinitely better than the other!

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/11/01/lms