The A Range

Have you received emails from students saying something like the following example?

Dear Instructor:

I've noticed that my Final Grade is 91 percent which, according to our Syllabus, is an A. So, since I'm in the A Range, do I need to submit any more assignments? Afterall and A is an A.

How did/do you respond?

Final Calculated Grade Column

I renamed my Final Calculated Grade column to Current Calculated Grade at the beginning of the semester. Reason. I felt this gave students real time information as to where they stood in my classes.

So, now this Sunday when classes officially end, here’s what I’m going to do. First, add zeros to all those grade book columns in which an assignment has not been submitted. Next, rename the Current Calculated Grade column back to Final Calculated Grade. Students will already know what there final grade is too. No surprises. I like that!

Alternative. I suppose I could create a New Grade Scheme and name it something like Final Semester Letter Grade. Then set up the ranges for an A, B and so on. Finally, on May 9, just click on this link and set it as the Default.

How are you handling your Final Grades column?

Interesting Social Bookmarking Web Site

Want to know what's going with online education? Go to http://delicious.com/. And in the search window, type in online education.

Releasing the Final Grades Column tip

In case you have not released your Final Grades Column to your students yet, here's an easy way to do it.
>Grades link on Nav Bar.
>Your Final Grades Column.
Click on the Ruler w/green check mark icon just to the right of the words Final Grade.
Select all boxes in the column titled Release Final Calculated Grade for all students.
Click Save.

Late Assignment Dropbox Folder tip

I use only one Folder for students to upload all their late assignments into. And at first, I made the following comments in the Comments section for the student: Grade and comment has been posted in your grade book. However, I soon discovered that each time a student uploads another assignment, I had no idea (forgot) what past due assignments these comments went to. So, I spent time going back and forth from the Dropbox to the grade book to check it out.

Now, I just continue to add to my previous comments. Below is an example what how I’m now doing it.

Update posted on 4.27.10
Grade and comment has been posted in your grade book for Chapter 17 essay.
Update posted on 4.26.10
Grade and comment has been posted in your grade book for Chapter 10 essay.
Update posted on 4.25.10
Grades and comments have been posted in your grade book for Chapter essays 8 & 9.
Update posted on 4.23.10
Grades and comments have been posted in your grade book for essays from Chapters 3, 4 & 5.

I'm open to an easier way. Is there?

Bought the iPad

So, I decided to pre-order the all new 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad. Should be getting it around the second week in May. Access to the 3G network was only $15 per month and no contract. That means, I don’t have to look for all those Wi-Fi hot spots. I’ll be able to login anywhere/anytime with 24/7 access. BTW, AT&T did not pay me to say what I just said. :)

How do I plan to use the iPad? Here’s an example. Last Saturday I bought new tires and had to wait 2 hours. So, I walked to McDonald's, ordered a cup of coffee and read the newspaper cover to cover. Instead, I could have used those same two hours working in my classes over the same cup of coffee at McDonald's. Could I have done that using my MacBook? Yes, I could have. But the Wow! factor just would not have been there.

So, should we start a blog on how we can use the iPad in our profession? Another one of my visions is to have CCCOnline be a premier online college that is known for being iPad friendly. I think it would neat if we could come up with some cool applications designed just for us. That's the Wow! factor I'm talking about!

Celebrating the 40th Anniversay of Earth Day

Tomorrow, some 190 plus nations will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. Perhaps this is a good time to re-evaluate our environmental lifestyles. And what can we do to teach our students to become more eco-friendly to our planet?

As for us, we could go to e-books for all our classes. Just think of the paper/trees we could save. OTOH, how many jobs would be lost? What else can we do?

Also, I have a green vision for CCCOnline. I’d like to see us be among the premier online colleges that have gone completely green. Any ideas on how we can achieve this?

Finally, let’s come up with a online slogan for going green. Here’s mind: We offer the greenest online journey for you. What say you?

Going Global

Do you think CCCOnline should go global?

My vision is to be among the best online colleges offering higher education around our world. I think it would be great to be exposed to different world views/opinions/observations in our classes.

What say you?

Did you know ?

Just sent out the following email to my classes. Feel free to use it for your classes.

Subject: Did you know there are only 23 days of classes left?

Message:

Wow! Time flies when you're involved in interesting classes such as ours thanks to all of you! So, this is a good time to review your grades. And please let me know if you are missing any grades. I'm current on posting on my end.

Thanks.

Tweets and CCCOnline

USA Today noted, The Library of Congress will archive every public tweet since Twitter began...

Do you think CCCOnline should be among the colleges offering archived tweets on who we are and what we do?

Twitter and CCCOnline

So, Twitter just announced it will be accepting advertisements. And with approximately 70 million tweets a day I got thinking, maybe CCCOnline should be among the first colleges to advertise?

What say you?

i-Pad and D2L

So, this weekend I tried Apples' new i-Pad. I was able to log into my D2L classes and move around the class with just my index finger and thumb. Way cool.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on how we and student's could use this tool for their online learning? Maybe we can start developing D2L apps.

As FYI, I'm thinking on buying one. Carrying the i-Pad seems a lot easier then carrying my MacBook.

E-mail delivery and read receipt

One feature I would like to see added to our D2L is a delivery and read receipt for all our e-mail messages. That way, we’ll know when and if our messages have been delivered and read by the students. Should be an easy feature to add. After all, we already have time and date stamps for Discussions, Dropbox and quizzes. That is, we know the date and time when assignments have been uploaded to our various folders.

Do you think a delivery and read receipt for all our e-mail messages would be a useful feature?

Here comes summer!

So, we recently received word that it’s time for duping our D2L courses for summer. That also means, most of us have made it through our first semester using D2L. Pat yourselves on your backs!

So, what will you be doing differently in D2L for your summer courses based on your experiences so far using D2L? I plan on tweaking my Syllabus and using the Intelligent Agent (IA) tool agent. I’m going to set-up a simple IA that will let me know when students have not logged into my class for four or more days.

I'd like to hear from you on your D2L summer tweaks. If I receive enough tweaks, I'll post them on a future blog.

Unit Summaries

Do you do Unit summaries? Here’s our guidelines we need to follow.

http://at.ccconline.org/faculty/wiki/Discussion_Examples#Summary.2FClosings

I recently received the following comment from one of my students after posting a current summary. It validates to me just how important our Unit summaries are to our students.
Thanks, it's nice to have everything summed up like that!

Are your student’s participating?

Here’s how to check your students’ participation in D2L.

1. Go to your Content link.
2. Click the Reports (left side of the screen).
3. Click the Users tab.

Review where students have visited a topic in your Content area.

Do you allow papers to be resubmitted *after* you have graded them?

Has this ever happened to you?

I have several essay papers due in my Political Science class. I always thought my instructions were clear for the students.

Recently, a student submitted a paper. He did not follow any of my instructions and his essay was poorly written. He ended up with a grade of 12 out of 40.

Then I receive the following e-mail from him. BTW, I’m not editing it: will you please grade this essay again i redid it so please grade it and put as my grade for unit 2 c.7 thanks please grade asap and put it on my grades thanks once again

I assumed students understood that once assignments are submitted for a grade-that’s it. However, I checked my Syllabus and I have not mentioned that once a paper has been submitted for a grade, a student cannot redo it and then resubmit it so it can be graded again.

How would you handle this?

Here’s what I did. I sent an e-mail back to the student letting him know I do not accept essays after I have graded the paper. However, I believe he has a case of Why not since I have not mentioned this anywhere in my Syllabus or essay instructions? So, I’ll be fine-tuning my Syllabus for our Summer session.

Finally, if you have any wording addressing this in your Syllabus, please share with the rest of us. Thanks!

Gimme a break-please! :)

Here’s a News announcement that I always post around Spring Break time. Feel free to use it for your classes too.
**********************************

Some, all or none of this News announcement may or may not apply to you. In the interest of fairness, I’m posting it so everyone can read it.

Here are two FAQs from our FAQs link that talks about Breaks.

Q. Why is it that we don't get a Spring Break, Summer Break, Fall Break or for that matter, any kind of Break?
A. CCCOnline does not take breaks during any semester. Scheduling a break would make it impossible for us to begin our terms one week after the home colleges, which we do to enable students to make the best choices for their education.

Q. I've already planned a Break around my home school's schedule. What should I do if I don't have Internet access?
A. Please inform your instructor of your break dates before you leave. Please let your instructor know if you are going to be offline more than five days in any week. Contacting your instructor after you've disappeared for a week is highly unadvised!

Let's give them something to think about....

Just came across this brief article from economist Thomas Sowell and wanted to share it with you. Sowell’s observations confirms my postings at the beginning of each of my Discussion Units when I say, Remember, this class is about your views and observations. It's not about me and what my political views/agendas are.

“It was once the proud declaration of many educators that 'We are here to teach you how to think, not what to think.' But far too many of our teachers and professors today are teaching their students what to think, about everything from global warming to the new trinity of 'race, class and gender.' Even if all the conclusions with which they indoctrinate their students were 100 percent correct, that would still not be equipping students with the mental skills to weigh opposing views for themselves, in order to be prepared for new and unforeseeable issues that will arise over their lifetimes, after they leave the schools and colleges. Many of today's 'educators' not only supply students with conclusions, they promote the idea that students should spring into action because of these prepackaged conclusions -- in other words, vent their feelings and go galloping off on crusades, without either a knowledge of what is said by those on the other side or the intellectual discipline to know how to analyze opposing arguments. A philosopher once said that the most important knowledge is knowledge of one's own ignorance. That is the knowledge that too many of our schools and colleges are failing to teach our young people.”

It’s my hope that Sowell’s comments helped you reflect on what we are doing as professionals in the field of education.

Is your grade book adding up correctly?

I’m sure many of you are already doing this. So, I just wanted to let everyone else know too. :)

First, I’ve entered perfect scores for all of Jenny’s assignments for the entire semester. Then I checked her Final Grades column and compared her score to the final grade score listed in my Grading & Evaluation link under Content. They should match. As you know, this helps avoid problems at the end of the semester.

Saving assignments from the Dropbox folder

Do you save students assignments to your HD or thumb drive after you have graded them? Or, do you just delete them? Or, are you planning on leaving them in the student’s Dropbox folder for the semester?

Here's what I've been doing. For those students that are writing below a C level, I've created individual folders on my thumb drive. For those students writing at the A & B level, I delete after I have posted their score.

Any thoughts?

Are eBooks the future? Or is it just a fad?

As a follow-up to my earlier blog on ebooks, I’ve recently noticed Publishers’ have been marketing their books as PDFs, i-phone versions and paperbacks too. And it appears there is a significant cost savings to the student.

I wonder if this just a fad or a trend? I’m sure the Publishers know that if all their books go digital; there won’t be anymore jobs for publishers or for the people who work in the industry. Or, should we as educators even care what happens to the Publishers?

Do you see this fad/trend changing our culture too? Are the days of cuddling up to a good book at night gone? It’s hard for me to image cuddling up to an i-Pad. :)

Beep! Beep! Thanks Roadrunner!

So, I've been using our Pager Tool to communicate with my students besides email.
Do you also use the Pager to communicate with your students? And if you do, can you please share with us how you utilize this tool?

e-books

So, I'll be moving to an ebook this summer.

Do you think it's time all our classes move to ebooks? Or, is there still a place for the good 'ol text book?

Calling your online students on the phone to welcome them to your class

I recently heard of an online instructor calling students to welcome them to his class. This was in addition to the welcome e-mail message.

So, I started thinking about it and I’m wondering. Is this something you would do? Why? Why not?

Spring II starts tomorrow

Enthusiasm. That’s what I’m talking about! :)

Welcome email for Spring II Semester

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Events Widget

The number of current and upcoming events listed under our Events Widget (Home Page, left side) can be overwhelming just by looking at them.

Want to change the number of days for your upcoming events?

Click on Edit Course (upper right hand corner of page)
Click on Homepages just under the General Headline.
Click on your Active Home Page link near the top center of the page.
Click on the Content/Layout Tab
Scroll down to the Events Widget (left side) and click on the drop down arrow
Click on Edit Display Options link
Make your adjustments
Save.

I’ve got mine set to 3 days out. And it looks manageable and neat. I also have for my course only.

What do you think looks best? Why?

"...principles to achieving online learning success"

So, I came across the following recent article. I thought it was worth reading and that is why I'm passing it along to you. BTW, I'm sure some/many of you maybe familiar with this book. I wasn't. But it seems we've been offering the same principles of success for our students too. :)

Top Tips for Online
US Fed News

CLINTON, Iowa, Jan. 25 -- The Ashford University issued the following news release:

To prepare university students for the challenges of online learning, academic scholars from Ashford University developed and wrote, "The R-Model for Learning Online and Achieving Lifelong Goals."

Following are the basic principles to achieving online learning success:

Relevance - Flex your thinking and learning muscles by listening and being open to new ideas, accepting feedback and asking questions in your Web dialogue. These activities will increase the relevancy of your classes.

Readiness - Lifelong learning requires you to be self-directed and self-motivated. Make your decision to return to school based on self knowledge, not just from the encouragement of others.

Readiness II - So important, it was written twice. Quickly understand the writing process and your class' writing requirements. As an online student, writing is your sole means of actively participating, building relationships and demonstrating active learning in an online environment.

Restructuring - Rearrange your life so that you have time to devote to your studies. Online learning removes the travel, parking and childcare issues related to driving to a brick-and-mortar campus, but there is no getting around the fact that you will have to carve out time to read, write, think and interact with instructors and peers.

Reasoning - Sharpen your critical thinking skills by identifying and challenging assumptions and exploring alternatives. As an online student, you are expected to engage in this higher-order of thinking.

Response - Discover which type of learner you are - visual, auditory or kinesthetic. Becoming an engaged learner requires that you recognize techniques that develop and support your learning style.

Resources - Use the course syllabus to identify the overall purpose of the class and what you should learn or be able to perform by the end of the course. Within your degree program, look for ways in which learning in one course leads to or builds on learning from other courses.

Relationships - Online learning should never be an isolating experience. Many students use social networking platforms as part of their daily lives and see the online classroom environment as an extension of their private lives.

Reflection - Apply what you learn to a new setting. Reflective activities allow you to clarify what you've learned, formulate intentions and solidify plans for meaningful growth and change.

I thought the writing process was interesting. How about you? What principle do you think is important?

Al

Saving assignments after they have been graded

Do you save students assignments, from the Dropbox, after they have been graded with your feedback? Or, do you delete them via the trash icon?

And if you do save them, do you save them to your desktop in one file? Or do you create individual student folders?

What say you?

Email folders for students

Some of us create email folders for each student in our classes. Other don't. While others create one parent folder and name it after their class and prefix number.

I'm working on individual folders. I just like all my email correspondence in one place when dealing with a student.

What do you do? And why?

Thanks for sharing.

Al

Email replies

Here's how I handle email replies.

In our email settings, we have a choice to Include original message in email replies or not. However, did you know students also need to select this box so they can retain their original messages too? Many students are not aware of this even though we mention this is our instructions.

Here's what I've been doing thanks to COM instructor, Lori Poole. When I reply to students, I simply add additional information to their subject line such as our Course Prefix and Section number. And yes, we know the Course Prefix and Section number are already listed near the top of each email to the right of Course Offering. However, even with our split screen, I'm still listing the Course Prefix and Section number in their subject line.

Instructor Poole also mentioned she puts the following in her email signature: Please sign your name to email messages and include a subject header with our class name and number in it! I liked that so I've added that to my email signature too. And although I've placed this information in my email signature box, students still do not follow my instructions. So, back to adding information to their subject line. :)

Also, what do you think of moving this information to the top of all email messages? That is, before you reply, students will read: Please sign your name to email messages and include a subject header with our class name and number in it! Then start your response. Any thoughts?

So, what do you do?

Upcoming Blog will by on creating individual student email folders. I'm on the fence with this one. So, looking forward to what you have to say.

Include original message in email replies

I know this may be a no-brainer for many of you. However, I thought I would just post it since we are talking about emails and filing our messages.

Here's how to attach your original messages to your email.

• Click on Global email (top of page).
• Click on Settings (upper right area of page).
• Select the second box. Include original message in email replies.

Do you accept late assignments?

Do you accept late assignments? And how do you receive them after the Dropbox for that Unit closes?

Here's what I'm trying and it seems to be working.

• Create a new Dropbox folder.
• Name it Late Assignments (all)
• Be sure to select the Folder Type: Individual submission folder is selected.
• Near the bottom click Save (bottom right).

Then, let students know they need to submit their late work into this folder.

So, that's what I'm doing. How about you? What are you doing?

Al

One *small* word makes *big* difference

Here's are statements I've seen in a lot of our classes:

• Please go to the Schedule...
• Please review the Syllabus...
• Please go to the Content link...

Now change the word the to our:

• Please go to our Schedule...
• Please review our Syllabus...
• Please go to our Content link...

What a difference one word makes!

What should be included in the subject line of emails?

Do you have your students use your class prefix or other detailed information in the subject line? Example: POS105C11. More information in the subject line, helps me understand where the particular email is going and helps me avoid the follow-up emails by asking What did you mean when you said....?

So, do you expect your students to provide a lot of information in their Subject line? And if you do, do you ask them to do that in their follow-up emails?

Maybe we can come up with a standard request that we can all use in our classes. You know, one voice, one message thing. So, let me start.

Dear Student: (Ok, the rest is now up to you.) :)

Al

Discussion *viewing*

I’d like to know how you view discussions under our Discussion link on the Nav Bar?
Here’s how I view the unread discussions.
From the Forums and Topics list…
In the Display window, I click on Topics with unread. Then Apply.
Then, I open the Topics that have unread discussions.
Next, I click on the Unread only in the View window located in the upper right hand corner of our screens.
And finally, just below the View widow, I also change 20 to 50 so I don’t forget to click on the next page.
The reason why I like doing it this way is because it keeps my screen uncluttered.
Please share with us if you like viewing your discussions another way. Thanks!
Al

Welcome message

Hi fellow bloggers!

Let's use this blog to talk about what works best for us using D2L. I'll share with all of you what I'm doing, or should I say trying to do. And let us know what's working and not working for you.

Al