NSCC EDGE newsletter #25

The EDGE: 25th edition Spring 2016

I

2016

AWARDS TO 29 FACULTY MEMBERS IN DECEMBER 2015 In 2015 the Technology Across the Curriculum (TAC)

committee received more applications than ever before, and we

funded a record 29 projects. Our budget, however, prevented

us from funding a number of worthy projects. We were able to

fund all of the technology integration projects, but the online

and hybrid course development projects are expensive per

contractual requirements, and so those were the ones that we

were forced to limit.

(continued on p. 2)

CONTENTSTAC Projects 2

Blackboard Learn 12

TLO 14

NSCC Literary Websites 16

CreditsThe Edge is a publication of Technology Across the Curriculum. The editor is

Terri Whitney, professor of English and faculty coordinator of TAC. Layout is by

Ejyo Katagiri from the marketing department. Photography is by Kurt Eddy of

Media Services. Contributors to this issue are Andrea Milligan, Lance Eaton,

and TAC award recipients.

Far left: Maolis Gardens Rock Temple, Maolis

Road, Nahant; Rocks Along Maolis Road with

Little Nahant in Background; photography by Kurt

Eddy for the Poetry of Places website created as

a T.A.C. project by Carl Carlsen (one of the NSCC

projects featured in the upcoming computer kiosk

exhibit at the Lynn Museum)


PAGE 2

DEBORAH BEDELL, Department of Natural Sciences

I am developing a hybrid version of

Introduction to Microbiology, a course

which involves the study of viruses,

bacteria, protozoans, and the lower

fungi with special emphasis on their

environmental and medical implica-

tions. This course is a requirement for

many of the allied health programs.

These health programs require tight

scheduling demands as the students

need to have time for their clinical

requirements off campus. With a hybrid

course, the students can work at their

own pace, spending more time on the

areas that are more challenging for

them. Our diverse student population

has many work and family commit-

ments, and a hybrid course will allow

more flexibility and time learning

the lecture content. Moreover, the

hybrid design will allow the students

to use the online environment without

losing the hands-on aspects of the lab

portion of the course.

YVONNE BEIRNE, Adjunct, Early Childhood Education Program

I have been teaching Administration

and Supervision of Early Childhood

Programs (ECE 206) for five years.

Students in this class are usually eager

to upgrade their state certification

level for work advancement. The

hybrid version of the course which

I am developing will cover a broad

range of topics, and students will need

to manage themselves and their time

within the constraints of a 15-week

semester. They will compile resources

and networks to further assist them

in their future or current

administrative role.

Most participants work full time while

attending school as well as managing

families and multiple jobs. My goal

for creating this hybrid course is to

enable participants to understand

the role of an administrator through

online work, activities, discussions,

field work and a minimum of

face-to-face classes.

TAC PROJECTS: COMMENTS BY AWARD RECIPIENTS

We submitted all applications for

online and hybrid course development

that were approved by the committee

to the academic deans and asked them

to make the final determination based

on the needs in their divisions. With

the expectation that we will continue

to see a high number of applications

to develop online and hybrid courses,

we hope the administration will increase

the funding, but the current level of

staffing in Instructional Technology

and Design also limits the possibility

of increasing the numbers of approved

projects, so we hope that the adminis-

tration will address that problem

as well.

The Edge received replies from all

of the current award recipients who

were invited to comment on their

plans for these projects. Those com-

ments appear in the lead story along

with photographs of the recipients.

Also in this issue, Andrea Milligan,

Director of Instructional Technology

and Design, and Lance Eaton, Coor-

dinator of Instructional Design, have

contributed two articles, one on the

Teaching and Learning Online TAC

training program for faculty devel-

oping online and hybrid courses, and

another entitled “Blackboard Learn

Tool Spotlight.” That article describes

two features on Blackboard Learn that

may be new to faculty; SafeAssign, a

tool to help prevent plagiarism, and

Rubrics, an assessment tool. Finally,

Terri Whitney, TAC Coordinator and

editor of The Edge, has written an article

about the upcoming installment of

a NSCC Literary Websites kiosk at

the Lynn Museum which will feature

three literary websites developed at

NSCC, two with TAC grants.

29 FACULTY MEMBERS (cont. from p. 1)

The EDGE: 25th edition Spring 2016 PAGE 3

TAC PROJECTS: COMMENTS BY AWARD RECIPIENTS

“One of the fastest growing

careers in business today is

social media marketing. In

response to the demand, NSCC

business department launched

the Social Media Marketing

Strategy [online] course.”— Dianne

McDermott Cerasuolo

Dept. of Business

JOHN BOSCO, Department of Business

I developed an updated version of the

hybrid course Financial Accounting

(ACC108). This updated course

incorporates the use of Connect

which is the McGraw-Hill online

learning management system. Also,

Connect is fully integrated into

Blackboard, so students access all

course assignments in Connect

through Blackboard. In addition,

student scores on assignments are

automatically downloaded into

Blackboard for use in the Grade

Center. The course is divided into

15 weekly modules. Each module

requires the students to review

interactive presentations, complete

a quiz, and complete a homework

assignment. The use of a textbook

is required.

DIANNE MCDERMOTT CERASUOLO, Department of Business

Social Media Goes Social

One of the fastest growing careers

in business today is social media

marketing. In response to the

demand, the NSCC business

department launched the Social

Media Marketing Strategy course

in the fall of 2015. This course

helps students develop actionable

critical thinking skills as well as the

strategic and hands-on experience

required for today’s social media

marketing careers.

Launched as an on campus ‘flipped’

class, the course will be available

this fall online. It only makes sense

that this course be offered online

as students who intend to pursue

marketing careers must be familiar

with independent research, analysis,

and application of theories to

practical situations. New for the

fall, students who complete the

course will also be credentialed as

“Hootsuite Certified.” NSCC is on

the forefront of offering this level

of advanced course.

NATHAN CHIO, Department of History, Government, and Economics

With my TAC grant this semester I’ll

be working on putting together an

online section of my World History 1

course. I hope to use this opportunity

to create an online class that takes

full advantage of the wealth of online

historical content, virtual museum

exhibitions, and primary historical

resources to make an online educational

experience for students that ideally

will surpass the in-class version in

significant ways.


“Offering the Medical Terminology course online

will provide flexibility for the first time health

student. Introducing this course in a convenient

option is a good choice, not to mention that much

of the medical world uses a variety of technology

similar to the learning management platforms of

online learning.” — PatDemersadjunct, Department of Office Administration

STEVE CHISHOLM, Department of Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

The Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

Department is excited to begin offering

its second online course beginning

this summer. The course, Prevention

of Substance Abuse (DRG106), includes

an overview of substance abuse

prevention methods, substance abuse

prevention research, and a focus on

prevention within school systems

and businesses. It is expected to run

annually and will fulfill open elective

requirements for students at large.

LARRY DAVIS, Department of History, Government, and Economics

I’m looking forward to creating World

History 2 online. I plan to use narrated

lectures in my course. These lectures

are PowerPoint-based and include my

voice narrating each slide. I have used

similar lectures in my other online

courses, and the response from students

has been overwhelmingly positive. I

also plan to require students to use the

JSTOR and Ebrary databases as part

of a “Controversies in World History”

project. They will choose scholarly

articles and books and then will learn

how to review these works. My course

will be an Open Educational Resources

(OER) course, whereby all assigned

readings will be free to access online.

The majority of my courses are OER,

which expose students to quality

material online without the cost of a

hefty textbook.

PAT DEMERS, adjunct, Department of Office Administration

Medical Terminology is often a “gateway

course” for students interested in the

Health Professions. Medical terminology

introduces the student to the specific

language, medical specialties and

the basics for communicating in

the healthcare arena.

Offering the Medical Terminology

course online will provide flexibility

for the first time, health student. In

particular, those interested in health

science may be working, raising

families and seeking an opportunity

to determine if a rigorous health

career is the right option. Introducing

this course in a convenient option is

a good choice, not to mention that

much of the medical world uses a

variety of technology similar to the

learning management platforms of

online learning.


PAT DUBE, Department of Mathematics

WALTER STONE, Department of Mathematics

Walter Stone and Patricia Dube are

developing Intermediate Algebra

(MAT 094) in a hybrid format. This

course is intended for students en-

tering the STEM pathway who need

developmental instruction in math-

ematics before entering the college

level mathematics courses which

prepare students to take calculus.

The desired outcome of offering

this course in a hybrid format is to

increase student success and course

accessibility by embedding face-to-

face support from a faculty member

within the context of online content.

Offering the course in this way ad-

dresses the second strategic priority

of Goal 2 of the Master Academic

Plan. While the present face-to-face

and online offerings of this course

focus on helping students build on

their written algebra skills, a hybrid

course can provide an opportunity for

deeper concept development through

activities, peer instruction, and other

learning experiences that are not easy

to accomplish within the constraints

of a traditional 70-minute class or in

an online-only environment.

Under this grant, online and face-

to-face course material will be

developed so that students will be

able to complete the course objectives

for MAT 094 and have the opportunity

to complete the course objectives

for MAT 151. This can help students

shorten the path to the college level

math needed for their program by one

semester if they place into MAT 094.

Since students will be able to accel-

erate their learning, we will plan

differentiated learning activities for

groups of students, depending on

their progress through the course,

for each face-to-face meeting.

We plan to adopt the textbook used

for MAT 151 and 152 since it has the

material covered in MAT 094 in its

early chapters. Students will not

have to purchase an additional

textbook for these courses, and

they will become acclimated to the

online homework portal and the

style of text. Blackboard will be used

to organize and present online and

in-class learning activities.

If the course meeting time is chosen

appropriately, this course can be a

good candidate for dual enrollment of

high school students. The materials

developed can also be useful for

teaching this course under the Early

College program.

IRENE FERNANDEZ, Department of Cultural Arts

I’ve been busy searching for high-

quality Open Educational Resources

(OER) and developing activities to

make them part of my lessons in

Intermediate Spanish 2. During this

process, I’ve found educational

materials that can be integrated into

my project. By taking advantage of the

educational technologies the school

already has in place, I will adapt these

materials in new formats and means

of distribution. It is my hope students

will benefit from these low-cost

educational materials that will be

specific to what they need to learn

during a one-level course semester.


DR. MARGARET FIGGINS-HILL, Women in Transition Program

I am developing an online section of

The Human Service Worker course.

This course is required in several

of the human service programs so

many students need to take it. Cur-

rently, it is only offered in a class-

room format (F2F). This course delivery

method is not always convenient for

students who work, have school aged

children, or lack transportation. Sev-

eral students have asked me if there

would ever be an online option for this

course, and I believe that it is time to

offer such an option for those students.

The Human Service Worker (HUS 101)

course description states that it

“[p]rovides the instruments to explore

and evaluate personal values, motives,

feelings, needs, attitudes, interests and

personality traits especially as they

pertain to awarenesses which will help

a Human Services worker; and explores

personal and societal prejudices,

stereotyping behaviors, and biases.”

Although the delivery of the course

would vary, the goals and objectives of

the course would not differ significantly

from the current face-to-face model.

I am confident that this Human Service

Worker course can be taught, with

success, online. It is true that, for some

people, this may not necessarily be their

optimal method of course learning.

But it can be an option, a good one,

for others who need to take this course

and want to take it online. I firmly

believe people should have options,

and this is an option not yet offered for

this course at NSCC. I look forward to

developing and teaching this course

online.

ANNE JEROME, Occupational Therapy Assistant Program

SUSAN LIZOTTE, adjunct, Occupational Therapy Assistant Program

I am using my TAC grant to convert

the Orientation to Occupational

Therapy course to a hybrid format. I

am doing this with Susan Lizotte, an

adjunct professor in my department.

The course will be a 50-50 hybrid.

We plan to use online time to intro-

duce students to the history, philos-

ophy and principles of Occupational

Therapy via PowerPoint, videos and

Screencasts. During face-to-face

class meetings students will engage

in simulation exercises designed

to develop the interpersonal skills

needed to be effective health care

professionals.


“This project will not confront any copyright

problems and will bring a low-cost learning

opportunity to students. At the same time, it will also

provide a wider variety of learning activities for the

class because all learning materials will be readily

accessible and available online.”— Young Bae Kim

Department of Natural Sciences

PAGE 7

BETTY KELLY, Tourism and Hospitality Program

I proposed a hybrid version of

The Introduction to Tourism and

Hospitality course because offering

more hybrid courses within the TGD

program will increase flexibility for

student scheduling, give students

more choices, and the students in

the TGD program still will continue

to benefit from direct interaction

with the professor and at the same

time use other instructional methods.

The objective of the Introduction

to Tourism and Hospitality hybrid

course is to move some of the current

readings, research, and case studies

using the publisher’s technology

called My Hospitality Lab into the

online hybrid format. This will allow

for more class time for industry-

based lectures and scenarios.

Currently I use my knowledge of

the industry to supplement material

which is not in the text and not easily

transferred to online methodology at

this time. Therefore, the classroom

sessions will be devoted to an increase

of sharing and analysis of industry

knowledge, instructor’s “homemade

cases” and quizzes and/or projects.

YOUNG BAE KIM, Department of Natural Sciences

The NSCC biotechnology program has

been offering only one section of General

Biology 1 (BIO 105) each year, usually

in the fall. Because of the limited

offering, and also because the course

was designed for science majors, it

was rather challenging for an instruc-

tor to find a relevant and adequate

textbook for a reasonable price.

I have been eager to generate cus-

tom-made course material, but

even if I generate slides and hand-

outs, there have always been some

copyright issues because the course

material relied heavily on figures and

videos from publishers. This was the

biggest stumbling block for me in

generating my own course materials,

even with different textbooks.

My project, therefore, aims to integrate

readily available Open Education Re-

source (OER) materials and multimedia

resources into the class, making use of

online sites and learning tools such as

prezi or screen-o-matic. This project

will not confront any copyright prob-

lems and will bring a low-cost learning

opportunity to students who register

for the course. At the same time, it will

also provide a wider variety of learning

activities for the class because all learning

materials will be readily accessible and

available online.

This project will also provide the

course instructor, the college, and

the department with a fail-proof

teaching option even in the case of

class cancellation due to sickness of

the instructor, college internet issues,

instructor changes and, above all,

snow days. In any situation, students

could study at their own pace at their

own place. Moreover, considering that

the NSCC BIO 101 course is an easier

version of BIO 105, this material could

also be used for the BIO 101 course with

minor modifications.


JOE MANSELL, Radiological Technology Program

The Radiologic Technology program

is excited to announce a new course

called Radiographic Pathology. This

hybrid course will educate the Rad

Tech student in identifying pathology

within the images they produce.

It will also teach the technical

considerations that need to be

understood before imaging a patient

with a particular pathology. Pathology

associated with the respiratory,

skeletal, gastrointestinal and other

body systems will be discussed. This

new hybrid course will blend online

learning that includes x-ray images

with the learned pathology as well

as class time where students will

discuss scenarios and be able to

practice their skills in a lab setting.

This course will be available in

summer session II of 2016.

CARLOS MARIN, Department of Behavioral Sciences

My project, developing Open

Educational Sources (OER) for

a Race, Gender and Social Class

course, aims to replace the required

textbook by a set of open source

materials (writing, audio, visual

and interactive) to lower costs for

students and engage them in an

active and fun learning experience.

MARY BETH NELSON, Department of Business

I am developing Intermediate

Accounting, which is a graduation

requirement in both the accounting

degree and accounting certificate

programs, as an online course. This

offering is driven by student demand.

The prerequisite courses, Basic

Accounting 1 and Basic Accounting 2,

are both available online.

I am also developing Taxation, which

is also a graduation requirement

in both the accounting degree and

accounting certificate programs,

as an online course. This offering,

too, is driven by student demand.

The prerequisite course, Basic

Accounting 1, is available online.

Students who feel comfortable with

distance learning and prefer the

convenience of online course will

have the opportunity to enroll in

these courses. When both Interme-

diate Accounting 1 and Taxation are

available online, students will have

the opportunity to complete the

entire the 27-credit accounting

certificate online.

“[The new Radiographic

Pathology] hybrid course will

educate the Rad Tech student

in identifying pathology within

the images they produce.”— Joe MansellRadiological Technology

Program


ANNE O’SHEA, Department of Mathematics

Since returning last spring from

my sabbatical, I have been teaching

Calculus 1 and Precalculus 2 in a

flipped format. This model, as I had

hoped, has allowed more time for

in-depth class discussion and student

collaboration. I was awarded a TAC

grant to explore Learning Catalytics,

an extremely robust type of “clicker”

or “dip-sticking” tool where instructors

are no longer limited to asking students

multiple choice questions. I was ex-

tremely impressed with the flexibility

in the types of questions that can be

designed using the software and with

the level of student engagement that

it supports. Since smart devices are

used, students can submit an answer in

the form of a diagram or even a graph,

which is extremely useful in a math

course as well as many other courses

at the college.

I think many instructors have become

discouraged by the increased student

use of smart phones for non-educational

purposes during class. I find it very

exciting to take students’ enthusiasm

for technology and put it to a better

use. The immediate feedback to

students is invaluable and can lead

to further discussion and debate

when a group of answers is displayed

simultaneously. Since Learning

Catalytics can be used asynchronously,

I hope to eventually incorporate the

software into my online course.

DANIELLE SANTOS, Department of Communication Skills

I have decided to find Open

Educational Resources for my

English Composition I course.

Recently, I have switched textbooks

from a basic reader to a more

source-based instruction, but in so

doing I lost all of the great essays I

used to use in class, so I want to find

ways of bringing those in through

alternative means. Additionally,

due to the high costs of textbooks

for students, I would ideally like to

find enough resources to eventually

substitute for a textbook altogether.

ALEXA SINGER, Aviation Science

Program

The Aviation Department is adding

hybrid classes to the curriculum in both

semesters starting in the fall semester

of 2016. The Law and Safety class will

be converted into this format to allow

the students the ability to complete

research and assignments in the online

environment, while still allowing for

the opportunity for the traditional

classroom setting. This type of learning

is so valuable for the aviation students

as it allows them the flexibility they

need to schedule and complete flight

hours and requirements. New England

weather can be very challenging for a

flight student, and the hybrid format is

a fantastic way to aid them in achieving

their goals. They will participate in the

online portion of the course through

various methods such as discussion

boards, journals, and assignments.

They will still have the valuable classroom

time they need to connect via group

projects and to see a host of

aviation professionals and speakers

that are a part of the course. The

department is very excited to provide

this upgrade to the program.


JANIS SOFERR, Department of English

Thanks to a TAC grant, I am currently

creating an online World Literature I

course. The course will use primary

literature texts, secondary literary

criticism and historical background

sources, videos and, hopefully, maps,

art inspired by ancient, medieval

and Renaissance literature, and a

bit of music as well. The course will

have seven modules starting with

Gilgamesh and ending with Hamlet. It

will be writing intensive with weekly

discussion board posts and bi-weekly

reflective essays.

My primary goal is to create a warm,

helpful and lively learning community

in which students can openly explore

the great themes of world literature.

A possible goal is to eventually move

away from expensive literature

anthologies by using online primary

sources and Open Educational Resources

(OER) for secondary sources.

Though I’m starting from scratch, the

Teaching and Learning Online (TLO)

course with its emphasis on best

practices, the Blackboard open labs,

and the gallery of online courses have

been of great help. Many thanks to

the more than competent and always

patient Academic Technology staff.

TAD SUITOR, adjunct, Cultural Arts Department

I received a TAC grant to implement

Open Educational Resources (OER) in

my class, Television: The Big Picture

(MDA108). My goal is to eliminate

the need for the textbook and to

get students to subscribe to a video

streaming service instead. Commer-

cial streaming services are cheaply

available, but the challenge will be

finding one with a greater amount

of television that is relevant to class

themes. My biggest anticipated chal-

lenge is finding high-quality articles

and videos that relate to class themes,

and that historicize class topics while

also being contemporary and timely,

as students are often unfamiliar with

television more than 5-10 years old.

FRANK TWISS, adjunct, Department of Fire Protection and Safety Program

My TAC project involves the creation

of an online course entitled “Fun-

damentals of Fire Prevention.” This

important course centers around the

critical importance of fire prevention

and the responsibility of every fire-

fighter to invest in a commitment to

reduce firefighter and civilian deaths

and injuries. As firefighters, we must

make an investment in ourselves, our

department, and our community to

establish a level of fire prevention

effort that meets the needs of our

city/ town. The class is structured

around the Fire and Emergency

Services Higher Education (FESHE)

Model Curriculum and focuses on

many aspects of fire prevention, code

enforcement, and public fire and life

safety education.

PAGE 10

LYNN WERMERS, Department of Computer and Information Sciences My TAC grant was to create a hybrid

section of the CPS 100, Information

Technology and Its Applications,

course. Having taught CPS 100 both

online and on-campus, I realized that

some students would be well-served

with the flexibility a hybrid section

provides. With help from the Academic

Technology Department, the CPS 100

hybrid course was designed to meet

one day each week on campus with

the remainder of the coursework

completed online. Two hybrid sections

were offered this spring, providing an

additional option for students taking

this course.


RYAN VAUTOUR, adjunct, Department of English

The goal of my TAC grant project

is to present my students with

options that meet their academic

needs without busting their budgets

in today’s ever-evolving world.

Anthologies—even the best of

them—are generally cumbersome,

formulaic, and, perhaps worst of all,

expensive! Therefore, I’m determined

to implement a more affordable,

portable, and succinct means of

disseminating information to

my classes.

PAGE 11

I propose to achieve this goal by sourc-

ing the necessary materials for my

Ancient World Literature course from

Open Educational Resources (OER).

By compiling the most accessible and

authoritative available versions of only

the material included on my syllabus,

my students will be equipped with a

sleek and condensed anthology made

available digitally, via Blackboard, and

in print, via Amazon.com. The practical

benefits of this OER approach are

manifold: First and foremost, my

students will save real money. Second,

those who prefer to use tablets will

now have the opportunity to do so.

Third, either one’s tablet, or the

streamlined print version of this an-

thology, will no doubt be less burden-

some to bring to class (and thus, less

apt to be “left at home”). And finally,

having all the course material available

online for download before the semes-

ter even begins leaves no excuses for

add/drop week unpreparedness! I want

my students engaged and learning

from class one.

MARIA VAZQUEZ, Department of Behavioral Sciences

I am very excited to be working with

the Instructional Technology and

Design Team and the North Shore

Community College Library on the

development of an online Introductory

Psychology course that uses Open

Educational Resources (OER). These

are educational resources that have a

Creative Commons License and can

be shared with others for free. I am

hoping to create an amazing learning

experience for those who venture into

the world of psychology, whether it be

in the classroom (where I will also use

OER) or online. I am also very pleased

with the significant reduction in the

cost of textbooks that this project will

generate for my students.

TERRI WHITNEY, Department of English

My TAC grant is to create Open

Educational Resources (OER) for my

online Short Story class next fall.

Because so many of the works I assign

in this class are out of copyright, I

thought that this class might be the

one I teach that is best suited to using

OER. I knew that I would face difficulty

with the more contemporary stories,

but Lance Eaton and Christine

Goodchild have been very helpful in

coming up with solutions that I hope

will work. My goal is, of course, to

save money for students, but in the

process I want to make sure not to

undermine the academic integrity

of the class by relying on inferior

translations, for example. I have

nearly completed the new syllabus

and am optimistic that the OER

approach will work. Fingers crossed.


W

SAFEASSIGNSafeAssign is one of those new tools.

Blackboard Learn defines SafeAssign as “a

tool used to prevent plagiarism and to

create opportunities to help students

identify how to properly attribute sources

rather than paraphrase. SafeAssign is

effective as both a deterrent and an

educational tool.” SafeAssign is a light-

weight version of the popular plagiarism

checker known as TurnItIn. It does not

have all of TurnItIn’s features but does

produce originality reports that identify

where content may have been strongly

influenced by or taken word-for-word

from other sources on the Internet or at

least one online database. It is far from

perfect, but it can be a useful tool for

both faculty and students.

For students, SafeAssign can help

identify areas that they need to work

on around understanding the difference

between quoting and paraphrasing as

well as where they may have forgotten or

misunderstood the expectations about

citing and quoting. For faculty, SafeAssign

can save time in trying to determine

if a paper is using original content or

material from other sources. It can also

help faculty quickly see if and how much

a student has drawn upon the course

content or other resources which can

vary in importance depending on the

assignment.

Currently, SafeAssign works with any

Word and PDF documents that students

submit through the Assignment feature.

Though SafeAssign cannot currently be

used with discussions, journal entries,

or blog posts, faculty can always copy

and paste content to submit through the

DirectSubmit option.

When the college moved to Blackboard Learn,

we ended up with a few new features that many faculty may

not be familiar with but might be interested in trying:

SafeAssign, an anti-plagiarism feature, and rubrics,

the interactive grading tool.

BLACKBOARD LEARN TOOL

SPOTLIGHTby Andrea Milligan and Lance Eaton


TO MANUALLY SUBMIT CONTENT TO SAFEASSIGN:1. In the course Control Panel,

select Course Tools and then click

SafeAssign

2. Click DirectSubmit.

3. Click Submit Paper

(over to the right).

4. Select Upload File or

Copy/Paste Document.

a. Browse for the file if you have

the Word or PDF document or

enter a *Paper Title and paste

content under *Paper Text.

5. Click Submit.

6. Wait a couple of minutes and then

refresh the DirectSubmit page.

7. Click the green checkmark across

from the paper title to view the

originality report.

You can learn more about using

SafeAssign in Blackboard Learn at

http://en-us.help.blackboard.com/

Learn/9.1_2014_04/Instructor/100_As-

signments/025_Use_SafeAssign

RUBRICSAnother great tool in Blackboard Learn

is the interactive grading rubrics.

Rubrics are an assessment tool that

can be a “useful and effective way for

faculty to convey assignment criteria

to students as well as provide feedback

to students on their submitted work.”

Rubrics provide clear and substantive

evaluation criteria with achievement

levels for an assignment by “dividing

the assigned work into parts and pro-

viding clear descriptions of the char-

acteristics of the work associated with

each part, at varying skill levels.”

Since rubrics can be made visible

to students before submitting an

assignment, they can help students

understand the assignment require-

ments and the expected level of work

necessary to reach a performance

standard or attain the desired grade.

Faculty can use rubrics to help them

grade student work more consistently

and objectively as well as provide

detailed feedback and explain grade

rationale. Through this feedback,

rubrics can also help provide a clear

explanation of areas where students

excel or need to work on.

Rubrics can be associated with a variety

of gradable items in Blackboard Learn

— discussion forums; assignments;

journals, blogs, and wikis; essay and

short answer test questions — as well

as a column in the Grade Center. The

rubric tool in Blackboard Learn provides

faculty with an easy-to-use point and

click interface to grade from. Faculty

can even provide feedback at the specific

criteria level. Since all criteria are

associated with point values, the grade

calculations are done automatically

by the rubric and the final grade is

immediately stored in the Grade

Center. Rubrics can be created, edited,

and managed from the Course Tools

area of the Control Panel.

TO CREATE A RUBRIC:1. In the course Control Panel,

select Course Tools and then

click Rubrics.

2. Click Create Rubric.

3. On the Create Rubric page, set up

the rubric.

a. Enter a name for the rubric and

give it a description (optional).

b. Select rubric type

(percentage or points).

c. Add, edit and rearrange the

criteria (rows) and levels of

achievement (columns).

d. Add specific criteria descriptions

or competencies.

e. Adjust weights to each

row or column.

4. Click Submit.

Once a rubric has been created, it

will be listed on the Rubrics page.

The rubric will then need to be linked

to an actual assignment, discussion

forum, etc.

TO LINK A RUBRIC:1. Go to the course Content Area

where the item to link a rubric to is.

2. Click the chevron to the right of the

item’s title and select Edit.

3. In the Grading section, enter

the number of points possible.

Click Add Rubric and then

Select Rubric.

4. On the Select Rubrics window,

check off the rubric you want to use

with the item. Click Submit.

5. The rubric will now appear in the

Associated Rubrics section.

6. Set the Show Rubric to Students

option. The default is No.

A recommended option is Yes

(with rubric scores).

7. Click Submit.

You can learn more about using

Rubrics in Blackboard Learn at

http://help.blackboard.com/en-us/

Learn/9.1_2014_04/Instructor/120_

Grade_Center/020_Grading/010_Ru-

brics.

Have questions? Want to learn more?

Please contact Instructional Technology

and Design at [email protected].


T

Participation in TLO provides faculty

with a dedicated opportunity to:

• Reflect upon their teaching

practice that can impact even

face-to-face courses.

• Learn about NSCC’s expectations

for online and hybrid courses.

• Hear from colleagues and share

ideas, resources, and pedagogical

strategies.

• Actively start working on the devel-

opment of their online or hybrid

course and receive feedback from

peers.

• Be exposed to the most recent

trends in online and hybrid

pedagogy and instructional

technologies.

• Gain insight, ideas, and feedback

from experienced and knowledge-

able instructional design profes-

sionals.

• Further connect with the NSCC

community.

We are continually revising TLO to

update resources, incorporate recent

examples, implement current strate-

gies, and integrate new technologies.

Currently, we are embarking on a

project to add short videos from veteran

online and hybrid faculty on how

they have implemented different best

practices and strategies into their own

courses as well as provide tips and sug-

gestions to new faculty members just

starting on the path to teaching and

learning online. To get a sense of what

we are trying to accomplish, here is Dr.

Kara Kaufman’s short video discussing

an assessment in her course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-

wAOCzm88cY.

TEACHING AND LEARNING ONLINE (TLO)by Andrea Milligan and Lance Eaton

The first phase for faculty who wish to design

and develop an online or hybrid course at North Shore

Community College is participation in a six week online

Teaching and Learning Online (TLO) professional devel-

opment course. TLO is designed to encourage faculty to

reflect on their current teaching practices and learn

instructional design best practices and strategies that will

allow them to successfully translate their teaching style and

course elements to the online or hybrid environment.

PAGE 14


FEEDBACKFeedback from faculty who have

participated in TLO (both as new to

online teaching and those who have

taught online before at other institu-

tions) has been very positive:

• “ My attitude about how I will teach

the course has changed. I had

gotten in a bit of a rut with the

online course I teach, and am

now considering ways to allow for

more interaction, flexibility, and

room for tangents.”

• “ I’m familiar with online learning

both as an instructor and as a

student. However, I haven’t taken

an online course as a student in

several years, so the experience

has reminded me of what it was

like from a student’s perspective.

One of the things that I was

reminded of was how important

prompt feedback was in ensur-

ing that I felt ‘supported.’ Andrea

and Lance always provided very

prompt feedback and addressed

questions right away.”

• “ . . . all of it was refreshing and

certainly has made me reflect on

my teaching styles and how much

room for improvement there is

in all my courses. I have already

re-written some assignments as a

result of this course experience.”

• “ Finally, I do think that this course

will change my F2F teaching. I

will incorporate more technolo-

gy in my F2F classes and will be

spending lots of time to refresh

my existing PPT presentations to

include video clips, as one example.

Thank you all for this experience!”

• “ This also was my first online class,

and it really made me think of

how I can improve my F2F class-

room with this wide array of tech-

nology that we were introduced to

in this class.”

• “ Personally, this course helped

me to reflect upon the different

aspects of teaching, including

student-to-student interaction,

faculty-student interaction, etc.

It also gave me the opportunity to

interact with other teachers and

learn from their work. In general,

I enjoyed the time I spent in work-

ing for this course, as it broad-

ened my perspective and allowed

me to learn both as a teacher and

as a student.”

• “ I think the deepest learning that I

participated in was not confined

to the online/hybrid format, but

can be applied to a F2F course as

well. It was a joy and an eye open-

er to be in the student position

rather than the faculty. It was fun

to observe my thought processes

around completing assignments,

due dates, and giving and

receiving feedback.”

At this time, TLO is offered twice a year,

once in January-February and again

in May-June. The winter session is

primarily reserved for faculty who have

received a TAC grant while the summer

session is generally open to all

interested faculty.

PAGE 15

“Finally, I do think that this

course will change my F2F

teaching.”

“[This course] helped me to

reflect upon the different aspects

of teaching, including student-

to-student interaction, faculty-

student interaction, etc. ”


T

PAGE 16

NSCC LITERARY WEBSITES KIOSK IN THE LYNN MUSEUMby Terri Whitney

The Lynn Museum and NSCC are in the final stages

of arranging for the installation of a computer kiosk at

the museum which will feature three literary websites

developed at NSCC:

Poetry of Places in Essex County

John Greenleaf Whittier: Essex County’s Famous Son

Hawthorne in Salem

Lynn Museum, 590 Washington St., Lynn, MA


The Poetry of Places in Essex County

website was developed by Carl Carlsen

(Professor Emeritus, Department

of English) and Julie Riley (former

Instructional Technology Specialist

at NSCC);

The John Greenleaf Whittier: Essex County’s

Famous Son website was developed

by Sue Herman (Professor Emerita,

Department of English) and Julie Riley

(former Instructional Technology

Specialist at NSCC);

The Hawthorne in Salem website was

developed with a grant from the Na-

tional Endowment for the Humanities

by Terri Whitney in collaboration with

the Peabody Essex Museum, the House

of the Seven Gables, and the Salem

Maritime National Historic Site as well

as with the help of scholars and

professors around the country (including

Joseph Modugno, Department of

English at NSCC). Sandy Carriker

(Professor Emerita and former Dean of

Academic Technology) served as co-di-

rector of the project; web design was by

outside consultant, David Masher; and

site programming and other technical

help were provided by faculty, staff,

and former students at NSCC.

The Director of the Lynn Museum,

Drew Russo, says that he is excited

about the project, especially as it

conforms to the museum’s mission of

providing cultural information related

to Essex County, and all three of these

literary sites focus on writers from

Essex County.

NSCC has supplied the equipment for

the kiosk, and the Hawthorne in Salem

programmers will copy the three sites

to the local machine. The computer

will not be connected to the Internet

and will run in kiosk mode so that the

browser cannot be closed. This should

reduce the risk of technical problems.

We anticipate having the exhibit

installed by the end of April or early

May, though we are still working with

the NSCC administration on signage.

Documents

NSCC EDGE newsletter #25