Northwest Missouri State University

• Fall 2009
• In This Issue
• Northwest Online celebrates 10 year anniversary
• New schedule of CITE workshops and events for 2009-2010
• Check your course site using this pedagogical design checklist
• Complete your course requests for fall 2009 now
• Check updates for Adobe PDF files to avoid viruses
• Record quick and easy screencasts using Jing
• New lecture/application sharing recording tool available
• Improving threaded discussions

• Quick Links
• Past Issues
• Faculty Teaching Highlights
• eCompanion
• Quality Matters
• Northwest Workshop Scheduler
• CITE

Home » CITE » Newsletters

Northwest Online celebrates 10 year anniversary

Open House scheduled for Thursday, September 17 from 2-4 at the CITE Office Complex

Northwest Online began offering online courses to students in the spring of 1999 with support from the Center for Information Technology in Education (CITE) office.  CITE was initially housed in what is now the Jean Jennings Bartik Museum in Owens Library and was known as CAITL (Center for the Application of Information Technology to Learning).  In the spring of 1999, the CITE offices moved into the current location at Owens Library 246 and the office name changed...for the better!

Read more »

New schedule of CITE workshops and events for 2009-2010

CITE will be offering a slate of workshops, training sessions, and sharing events for the 2009-2010 trimesters.  You can access a current listing on our web site under the Upcoming Events section at http://www.nwmissouri.edu/cite/index.htm 

Our first series of professional development workshops is scheduled for Tuesday, August 25 in Owens Library 250.  You will need to bring your Tablet PC computers for these sessions.  Please register at our Workshop Registration site:  http://cite.nwmissouri.edu/workshop/

Fall 2009 CITE Workshops

10:00-11:00     ClassLive/Elluminate Recordings

You will need to bring your Northwest Tablet PC computer.  This session will take you through how to use ClassLive/Elluminate.  This web conferencing tool provides faculty with the ability to produce recordings of short lecture sessions (5-10 minutes or less) to be linked within a course site for asynchronous delivery.  PowerPoint slide shows, whiteboard descriptions, application sharing, and videos can all be incorporated into these sessions.

1:00-2:30     eCompanion for New Faculty

This session will be held in the Shared Conference Room of the Administration Building. An overview of the features of eCompanion/eCourse will be covered during this session.  Questions about specific features and uses are encouraged.

2:45-3:15     Jing

You will need to bring your Northwest Tablet PC computer.  This session will cover a free screen capture software called Jing.  This software can be downloaded to your desktop where you can easily capture a screenshot from your desktop, add a highlight, caption, or arrow and post the screenshot to share.  Jing also provides the tools to add audio to onscreen applications as a five minute or less movie that can be shared instantly.

3:30-4:30     SoftChalk LessonBuilder

You will need to bring your Northwest Tablet PC computer.  Designed for teachers and content-experts, LessonBuilder is simple, yet powerful, with only the features you need to create exciting, interactive, content for your online course.  These lessons can be easily integrated into eCompanion and eCourse.  This session will be an overview of the software features and how to load the content into your course site.

Check your course site using this pedagogical design checklist

Pedagogical Design Checklist

The following checklist includes statements that describe some of the characteristics or components considered to be essential to “good” online course construction and teaching.

Alignment of Learning Outcomes with Assessment and Activities

• Alignment is intended to convey that critical course components should work together to ensure that students achieve the desired learning outcomes
• Measurable course and unit learning outcomes precisely describe what students are to gain from instruction
• Learning outcomes should describe student performance in specific, observable terms
• If you need help with writing measurable learning outcomes check out Helpful Hundred

Course Homepage

• Includes a welcome statement on the Course Home Page
• Provides a brief text Course Overview/Introduction statement about the course
• Provides an image(s) that creates a visuallly inviting Homepage environment

Unit Homepage

• Provides an introduction, an overview and/or objectives for the unit
• Gives clear instructions for navigating through the Unit, participating in it and reminders of how to turn assignments in (E-mail or Dropbox)

Content Presentation and Assignments

• Includes presentation and lecture material (text, slides) that concisely convey your key points about the topic of the Unit
• "Chunks" all Unit content into "digestible" segments for easier onscreen reading and comprehension

Beyond Text Possibilities

• Provides relevant images (e.g. photos, diagrams, graphs, charts, maps) to illustrate concepts and to create a visually engaging environment
• Uses brief (e.g. 2-5 minutes) audio or video--Expert Commentary, "Points to Ponder," Demonstrations

Complete your course requests for fall 2009 now

Course requests for the fall trimester can be submitted by accessing the Create-a-Course Request Form link on the login page on Northwest Online. These request forms are e-mailed directly to the CITE Office for processing and provide an effective way to efficiently process faculty requests in a timely and accurate manner. As always, faculty can request new course sites or duplications using the Create-a-Course Request Form link.

Check updates for Adobe PDF files to avoid viruses

Network Services has reported that faculty should check for Adobe PDF updates to make sure that your computer does not get a virus through PDF files.  You can do this by clicking on the Adobe Reader 9 under All Programs.  Once the program is open, click on the Help Menu and then select Check for Updates now.

Record quick and easy screencasts using Jing

Create screencasts that are 5 minutes or less through a software tool called Jing.  Jing is free and can be downloaded to your desktop where you can easily capture a screenshot, add a highlight, caption, or arrow and post it to share.  Jing also provides the tools to add audio to onscreen applications as a five minute or less movie that can be shared instantly.  Check out what you can do with Jing by viewing this Jing Introductory video:  Jing Video.  You can learn more about this software at http://www.jingproject.com/

Contact Darla Runyon at x-1532 or drunyon@nwmissouri.edu for more information.

New lecture/application sharing recording tool available

ClassLive/Elluminate now has the capability of recording lecture or application sharing sessions for your course sites.  ClassLive/Elluminate is a web conferencing tool which provides faculty with the ability to produce recordings of short lecture sessions (5-10 minutes in length or less) to be linked within a course site for asynchronous use.  PowerPoint slide shows, white board use, application sharing, and videos can all be incorporated into these sessions.  ClassLive/Elluminate can also be used as a synchronous meeting tool within a course site and these same tools can be used by scheduling an online meeting with students.

The recording links can easily be added to any course web site for viewing by students.  For many courses, adding in the lecture portion to the course site frees up time during the classroom sessions for work on other activities which require teacher-to-student interaction in a face-to-face environment.   

Improving threaded discussions

Have you ever wondered how to get students to participate more in threaded discussion, as well as more effectively?  Below are a few things to consider:

• Clear Communication of Expectations. Going beyond a simple invitation to join in the discussions, more seasoned instructors make it very clear as to what they consider to be appropriate performance. They describe how, as well as how often, students are to participate (e.g., "you are to log into each week's discussion at least twice a week, once before Wednesday, to respond to the initial question posted, and again later in the week, before Saturday at 6 p.m., to respond to at least two of your classmates' responses ").
• Make It Count. Without exception, those instructors who appear to be getting the most effective results make it clear that participation counts in a variety of ways. They know that students tend to ignore that which does not get a grade. So, they let their students know that it is not optional and a significant portion of their grade will depend on the quantity and quality of participation.
• Active, Supportive Mentoring. The most successful instructors are very active and supportive. They reach out to all students, particularly the most tentative. They actively find ways to comment positively or reinforce the contributions of students, and provide corrective feedback in sensibly sensitive ways.