Blackboard 201 Communication Workshop Barbara Cooper. OCC Faculty Online Coordinator

Distance Education GuidelinesDistance Education Guidelines pg. 10 Distance Education Guidelines

409. Distance Education and Education Technology. (a) The Chancellor shall convene a distance education and education technology advisory committee to advise the Chancellor’s Office on the vision, policy, and planning in support of distance education and education technology. The advisory committee will take issues to and work in collaboration with the Technology and Telecommunications Advisory Committee and System Advisory Committee on Curriculum in formulating recommendations to the Chancellor. The advisory group has as its primary goal improvement in student access and success through utilization of instructional technology in the classroom and through hybrid courses and distance education programs provided by the California Community Colleges. The distance education and education technology advisory committee will identify best practices in the development and evaluation of distance education and other instructional offerings utilizing instructional technology, and recommend guidelines and regulatory changes. PROCEDURES AND STANDING ORDERS OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS September 2013 —— ——— Board of Governors California Community Colleges Sacramento, California

Regular and effective contact Any portion of a course conducted through distance education includes regular effective contact between instructor and students, through group or individual meetings, orientation and review sessions, supplemental seminar or study sessions, field trips, library workshops, telephone contact, correspondence, voice mail, , or other activities. Regular effective contact is an academic and professional matter pursuant to sections (55204 Chancellor’s Office, California Community Colleges) All DE courses at OCC, whether hybrid or fully online, will include regular effective contact as described below: Policy establishing expectations of frequency and timeliness of instructor- initiated contact and instructor feedback will be posted in the syllabus and/or other course documents that are made available for students when the course officially opens each semester. Initiated interaction: Instructors will regularly initiate interaction with students to determine that they are accessing and comprehending course material and that they are participating regularly in the course. Frequency: DE Courses are considered the “virtual equivalent” to face to face courses. Therefore, the frequency of the contact will be at least the same as would be established in a regular, face to face course.. OCC Distance Education Guidelines

Type of Contact: Regarding the type of contact that will exist in all OCC DE courses, instructors will, at a minimum, use the following resources to initiate contact with students: Threaded discussion forums with student to student and instructor to student interactions. Weekly announcements in the Course Management System. Timely feedback, the syllabus and course information should clearly indicate reasonable instructor response time for key events and interactions. This includes instructor availability, including response time, degree of participation in discussions, and availability via other media (phone, in-person if applicable. (Example: If an instructor adopts a policy, that information should be clearly stated in the course.) Other forms of communication can include: group or individual meetings, orientation and review sessions, supplemental seminar or study sessions, field trips, library workshops, telephone contact, correspondence, voice mail, , or other activities and/or CCC Confer, video conference, pod cast, or other synchronous technologies may also be included. OCC Distance Education Guidelines

Why is this important In the ACCJC report, OCC was given a warning regarding REGULAR AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION in online courses While there was some classes showed evidence of effective communication, there was no evidence of consistency GOAL: Provide training how to use BBL tools to meet guidelines and enhance communication with students

REGULAR effective communication Regular is comparable to the frequency of F2F classes

Acceptable Methods of Effective Communication Announcements Bulletin Boards Chat rooms Discussion Boards o Wikis o Blogs o Journals Messaging FAQs Scheduled F2F meetings Telephone Voice Mail Correspondence Video conferences Assessments/Assignments o Onsite o Online Orientations o Onsite o Online Field trips Study sessions Rubric Syllabus Library orientations Surveys

Communication Tools in BBL Announcements Discussion Board Syllabus o Contracts o Performance evalulations Inline grading o Assessments o Assignments o Discussions Rubrics Messages Retention Center

Adding Course Tools in BBL

Blackboard Tools TrackedNon - tracked Messages Inline grading o Assessments o Assignments o Discussions Syllabus Retention Center Discussions Rubric grades Announcement o Regular o Gradebook o Announcement/ s Publisher chats Video conferences F2F meetings

Announcements Welcome message Regular messages Can also be sent as Announcements archive in BBL

Mail ( ) Welcome message Can through Gradebook Not tracked in BBL Will go to students Gmail address o Student does not need to go into class

Documents Syllabus o Establish policies o Technical training Browser check Help Desk Blackboard tutorials o Contact information o Include office hours o Responsibilities Instructor Student Contract o Communication- frequency, response times o Syllabus Quiz FAQs Early contact - Class Welcome o 1 st contact o Making class available o Class schedule details o Blackboard Tutorials

Course Tools - Rubrics

Provides guidelines for students o Instructor expectations o Points associated Provides consistent grading for instructor o Make sure that rubric is visible to the student for it to be effective

Inline Grading & Instructor comments

Inline Grading Tools Editing tools Archived in BBL

Instructor Feedback Instructor comments

Retention Center

Maintaining Communication not Tracked by BBL Outlook folder Maintain dates in o Syllabus o Announcements o Contract o Messages o Calendar

Open Discussion What other tools are you using? What other tools do you need additional training? Comments