Open Campus Faculty Bulletin

Volume 2, Spring 2011

Open Campus Updates: Welcome to Our New Staff!

Dr. Jose Fierro, Associate Dean

Dr. Jose Fierro holds a doctorate in Higher Education Leadership and has spent seven years teaching in higher education. During his time with our College, Dr. Fierro has played a leadership role in many groups, including co-chairing the General Education Review Committee, chairing the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL), and serving as the lead faculty member on the Institutional Effectiveness academic team. Dr. Fierro’s proven commitment to outstanding course design and the value of a meaningful online liberal arts education in a variety of learning management systems made him the ideal candidate for his new post.

Floyd Ballard, Director, Digital Media, Education & Training

Floyd Ballard comes to Florida State College at Jacksonville from Hillsborough Community College where he served as an Instructional Designer since 2006. He possesses the ideal qualifications necessary to be successful in our new position of Director, Digital Media, Education & Training. Mr. Ballard has earned a Master’s of Science in Instructional Systems from Florida State University and has a total of 18 years of experience in a variety of roles related to instructional design in higher education.

Meet Mary Margaret Kittle. Mary Margaret lives in Myrtle Beach, SC, with her husband and 2 sons. In her free time, she enjoys going to the beach, reading and gardening.

Mary Margaret is not just a typical mom, though. Since 2005, she has also been one of Open Campus’s most outstanding Math instructors. For this article, Mary Margaret shared a couple of the “best practices” she has found to be successful for her online MAT 0024 and MAT 1033 classes. The first is frequent, personal communication with her students. Starting with week 1 introductions, she makes a spreadsheet to jot down personal tidbits about each student.

Exceptional Faculty Profile—Mary Margaret Kittle

Then, when students e-mail her, she not only answers their math questions, but she also tries to include a comment or question about something from their introductions. This not only adds a personal touch, but it also encourages communication—even if it's not about math!

The second best practice Mary Margaret swears by is....the phone! In every class, there are students who never respond to e-mails—no matter how many are sent. There are also those students who participate in the discussion boards, but are struggling with the mathematics. Mary Margaret has found that calling these students is an excellent motivator. As Mary Margaret puts it, “just taking the time to speak with students and remind them about upcoming assignments, tutoring and how they can pass your class makes a difference.” She offers this advice: “think about it—-it's easier for students to delete an e-mail from you than to not answer you when speaking to them over the phone!” It’s dedication like this that helps Mary Margaret sustain exceptional success rates with her students. Perhaps we could all take a page from her book to reproduce that success.

Greetings, faculty, and welcome to the latest edition of the

newsletter dedicated to your interests. One item that certainly

fits that bill is the Institutional Effectiveness Plan that Open

Campus, in alignment with the College, has been busy

preparing and organizing. This plan holds as its goal the

improvement of process, services, and learning.

The Division of Academic and Student Success has identified a

mission, outcomes, measures, and achievement targets to

facilitate reaching our goals. While the entire process will take a

few years, you will begin to notice immediate improvements that

will impact your level of service as a faculty member. Please

take a few moments to review our plan below. Dr. Sheri Litt

A Message from the eDean: E-Course Administration Instructional Effectiveness Plan

Mission/Purpose

The Open Campus Division of Academic and Student Success provide students, faculty and com-

munity partners with virtual access to educational resources through innovative technology,

teaching excellence, and academic integrity. The Division provides online courses, faculty

support, and student services.

Outcomes/Objectives

Outcome 1: The Open Campus Virtual Student Learning Center provides academic service to

developmental studies students.

Outcome 2: The Open Campus Virtual Student Learning Center provides academic resources to

students.

Outcome 3: Open Campus effectively communicates the importance of the instructor’s virtual

presence in the classroom.

Outcome 4: Open Campus provides timely and appropriate communication with faculty.

Outcome 5: Open Campus Testing and Assessment effectively communicates to students the

importance of attending proctored tests.

Outcome 6: Open Campus Testing and Assessment Services effectively communicates to

students proctored testing procedural requirements.

Outcome 7: Open Campus designs effective online courses.

We look forward to working with you as we begin implementing these improvements.

A Glimpse into the Future with the Media Technology and Innovation Team

Square-shaped barcodes are popping up everywhere on printed advertisements, but what are they? These codes, consisting of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background are called QR or Quick Response codes, so named because the embedded content can be decoded at high speeds.

While still in their nascent stage, QR tools have the potential to increase engagement and revolutionize the academic community. Quite simply, these codes work with smartphones. All you, as a user, need to do is download a free QR reader application; this allows you to scan the code, subsequently redirecting you to contact information, a website, an e-mail address or other display text, or a social media platform.

What are some ways QR codes might be used in the future? Perhaps QR Codes will be placed on syllabi so students have fast access to additional resources or information on the web. For business, placing QR codes on business cards can direct people to a website. The possibilities are endless, so keep your eyes open for these new digital tools! Try the code above with your phone’s QR reader to see how it works.

Welcome to the New Virtual Student Learning Center by Kim Cross

The Developmental Education Team at Open Campus has developed and launched the new Virtual Student Learning Center (VSLC) in a Blackboard Learning Community. All students taking Open Campus Developmental Education courses have been auto-enrolled into the new VSLC. The VSLC offers a wide variety of academic support elements for students taking developmental education courses, including tutoring assistance, academic success strategies, and contacts for Open Campus support staff. Our team is truly invested in the success and achievements of our students.

The Virtual Student Learning Center team is comprised of the following people:

Kim Cross is the new Developmental Education Manager. In short, her job is to manage and coordinate the academic support elements and the learning tools for developmental education students, as well as serve as a liaison between students, faculty, and Open Campus. Keri Dozier is the new Advisor to students in Developmental Education courses; she coordinates the VSLC discussion board, advises students on any issues/concerns, and refers students to other resources when applicable. Melanie Clark, the Associate Dean of Student Success, oversees the VSLC and directs the implementation of the program components.

While being an online student gives one the flexibility to take classes and obtain a degree both independently and on a flexible time-table, it does not have to mean that students cannot access the same resources that a traditional campus offers. Open Campus is committed to providing our developmental education students with enhanced teaching/learning modalities. These efforts were designed to increase the students’ learning resource options, thereby increasing student retention and decreasing withdrawals. The VSLC community can be found in Blackboard by searching “Virtual Student Learning Center.” If you’re ever visiting the Open Campus in person, we also invite you to stop by and meet the staff of the new Virtual Student Learning Center, located on the 4th floor in room 413.

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Questions or comments? E-mail ammoore@fscj.edu or call 904-632-3115

Who You Gonna Call?

See the list below to learn who to call at the Open Campus in your times of need!

Blackboard 9 & Course Shells—Floyd Ballard 904.632.3258

Faculty & Student Concerns—Jose Fierro 904.357.8933

Syllabi/Course Readiness—Cindy McNally 904.632.5055

Testing & Assessment—Carl Jowers 904.632.5020

Social Networks & Lifestyle Integration—Amy Moore 904.632.3115

Schedules/Textbook Adoption—Bea Harrison 904.632.3126

Virtual Student Learning Center—Keri Dozier 904.632.3149

IRM (Contracts/Pay)—Teresa Dickerson 904.632.3119

Overrides—Cindy McNally 904.632.5055

Appeals—Linda Ludwig 904.632.3044

Follow Open Campus on Facebook and Twitter!

Blackboard Tip of the Month: Grading Discussion Items within the Discussion Area

By Amy Moore

1. Click the checkbox next to the discussion item you wish to

grade, then click the drop-down menu and choose “Edit.”

2. Scroll down to “Forum Settings,” select “Grading,” enter the

points possible for the discussion post, then click “Submit.”

3. Now you can click again on the drop-down next to the discus-

sion item and select “Grading” as an option.

4. Click on the drop-down next to each student’s name, click

“Grade,” enter his/her grade for the assignment, then click

“Submit” or hit your “Enter” key.

Click the image to link to a

video tutorial on this topic.

Spring Break

March 28-April 4

Final Grading Window Closes

A12, B8, C4—April 12 A16, B12, C8, D4—May 10

Summer Term Begins

May 9

Save the Date! Helpful Links

Blackboard 9 Grade Center

Tutorials

Student Tutorials

Academic Calendar

Enriching Teaching

Outstanding Open Campus Student: Christin Harbison

Christa Harbison is not just an intelligent young woman pursuing

her education. More than that, Christa is an Open Campus

online student and an outstanding example of social

responsibility and community activism. Through her community

outreach and commitment to earning her degree in nursing, she

has demonstrated just how much learning and service go hand

in hand. You see, after her mother passed away from heart-

related problems, Christa began educating people about heart

health and serving as a spokesperson for the American Heart

Association’s Go Red for Women program, all while attending

Florida State College at Jacksonville to become a nurse.

To read more about Christa’s amazing accomplishments, check

out these great articles at the Florida Times-Union and

News4Jax.com Photo Courtesy of FL Times-Union

A great way to start an Online course is to have your students look at an Introduction Section* that would provide three important Online Orientations. First, an instructor’s Welcome Message video introducing the instructor to his/her online students creates a sense of closeness and personal communication. Second, an Online Orientation video explaining the Course Syllabus enables the students to see and hear the Instructor emphasizing important points regarding how the course will be setup and taught. Lastly, an Online Orientation video explaining how to successfully Navigate the Online course allows the students to clearly understand how to successfully navigate to any section or assignment of the Online Course.

A Great Way to Start an Online Course – An Introduction Section by Floyd Ballard

These video recordings can easily be made conveniently at home or at an office with just a desktop or laptop and a Webcam. The best program to use that I have seen is Techsmith’s Camtasia program. The Camtasia program is very user-friendly, fun to use, and very powerful. You can download a free 30 day trial at www.techsmith.com. Students really enjoy this kind of Online Course Introduction and become quite informed and ready to begin their Online courses.

If you get a chance, drop by my office at URC 415G, and I will demonstrate this technique to you.

*Click the image above to get a larger view of the example Introduction page.

Did You Know?

Coming Soon!

We will soon be asking for your nominations for our upcoming Open Campus Student Recognition

awards. We ask that you begin thinking about any outstanding online student you’d like to

recognize for this special award. This is a great way to show students that their hard work matters!

Likewise, we will be asking students to recognize their very favorite Open Campus

faculty. Who knows — it could be you! Keep your eyes peeled for more information on how to

nominate a student.