Desire2Blog

MnSCU Online Course Definitions - Part One

Apparently we've had a communication problem within Minnesota Online. We're a couple 13, 14 years (copyright the Common Man, Dan Cole) into this thing called online learning, and now we are being told that we need to be much more specific about what we mean when we say that we are offering online courses, and also hybrid and traditional face-to-face courses for that matter as well.

The big question right now appears to be: "Just what exactly is an online course?"

Along with that question, you also get to decide what is an on-ground class and what is a hybrid/blended course. Let the fun begin.

This will be the first post of 2 or 3 in which I will try to explain my position regarding the proposed changes to the ways that we define the delivery method of various types of courses. In MnSCU, we attach something known as a media code to every class that is entered into the student records/registration system. I have previously posted about some of the confusion that surrounds the media codes, but I need to take a different angle with this post. This first post will only look at what is a traditional classroom course - and what isn't. Online and blended courses are coming soon.

Currently, media code 00 is used for the traditional classroom or face-to-face learning arrangement. The following are some of the typical components of this delivery method:

1. The course meets in a traditional classroom (or facsimile thereof) on our campus or in another college facility.
2. The course typically meets on a regular schedule such as Mon-Wed-Fri mornings from 10 to 11; although it is possible to have a one-day course or any other date/time schedule that is conducive to a successful course.
3. There is no reduced seat time as measured by the traditional method of 1 classroom hour (50 minutes, of course) per week for the typical semester of 15-16 weeks. For example, a 3-credit course would typically meet for 48 (50 minute) hours during the semester, or the equivalent.

That all seems rather basic and shouldn't be controversial. However, the proposal would call for one more requirement:

4. "All instruction is delivered face-to-face in a classroom setting."

In other words, media code 00 (traditional F2F or "on-ground" instruction) CANNOT use the IMS or even use the Internet in any basic sense. AND APPARENTLY THAT'S OKAY!!

If a faculty member wants to use any kind of Internet resource then we will need to use a separate code for that. Media Code 10 (classroom-based with web facilitation) includes the following features:

1. The course meets in a traditional classroom (or facsimile thereof) on our campus or in another college facility.
2. The course typically meets on a regular schedule throughout the term and DOES NOT have reduced seat time.
3. "May use the Internet"
4. "May use the IMS (currently D2L)"

Apparently, an instructor's decision to include Internet resources into a course requires a completely different coding in the course registration system. When I asked about this, I was told that they WEREN'T going to specify that the Internet CANNOT be used in a face-to-face (code 01) course, but that is how the end result appears to me.

This bothers me on several levels - but I'll only mention three at this time:

1. This appears to restrict an instructor's ability to add new content on the fly if the mood so strikes her. "Gee class, I just found a great new resource on the Internet, but we can't use it in this class because this is a 'NO INTERNET' class."
2. Coding every class this way will be a nightmare. Just trying to get the information about each class about whether it uses the Internet or not will be quite a chore, not to mention the need to explain why you're asking for this information in the first place without sounding like an idiot.
3. It also bothers me that on some level we are making the use of the Internet to be some sort of a special thing - at least that's the way it looks to me. If we are doing that, why don't we also do some of the following? A) indicate which classes are mostly lecture and which are not, B) indicate which classes require students to engage in active learning and which don't, C) indicate which faculty members take most of their test questions from the textbook and which take most from their lectures or other resources, D) which classes use PowerPoint all the time and which don't, E) and what about clickers - shouldn't those be specified too? Etc, etc., etc.

Blackborg Rides Again

Blackboard went on another buying spree today. Just a few random thoughts.

If Blackboard had purchased either Wimba or Elluminate, they could have spun it as a strategic business decision. By purchasing both of them, the only possible explanation is that it is another example of squelching innovation and limiting competition.
In Ray Henderson's blog post, he refers to both companies as "former rivals." Although it's true that Blackborg has some sort of a lame virtual classroom, synchronous tool (I believe they call it the Bb POS), very few people who work in educational technology would have seen Wimba as a rival of Blackboard. Or Elluminate. Hell, we barely see D2L or Moodle as rivals of Blackboard.
Maybe when you are the most hated company in the education sandbox, everyone seems like a rival to you.
Ray also says "We hear consistently from our clients that their online infrastructure and offerings have grown from important to mission critical." Apparently they stop listening when those clients follow that up with "However, the last thing we want is to have total vendor lock-in where we are completely dependent upon you and at your mercy (of which you have none)."
My favorite tweet of the day went something like this: "Blackboard Collaborate sounds so much nicer than Blackboard Conglomerate, Blackboard Cartel, or Blackboard Cabal"
It seems to me that buying Wimba would have been sufficient since it is more fully developed than Elluminate. However, by purchasing Elluminate they have effectively upset the partnership arrangements that Elluminate has with Desire2Learn eCollege, RemoteLearner (Moodle), and Unicon (Sakai). If you believe that Blackboard will really continue to "sustain this work and the partnerships," then you just haven't been paying attention.

To all the Bb lovers out there (you know who you are), I have one question:

Will you still be Blackboard lovers when they purchase Apollo (UofPhx), Kaplan, Capella, and others to complete their vertical integration into the education space?

Custom Home Pages in D2L

I recently gave a short presentation about using custom home pages for courses taught using Desire2Learn. This is a 6-minute Slidecast (via Slideshare) that includes audio. Click the arrow to start the audio.

D2L Custom Homepages by Barry Dahl

View more webinars from Barry Dahl.

Do you know what web pages are "framebusters" if you try to embed them into the D2L course home page? Check out slide 5.
Do you know where you can easily make custom widgets for your course home page? Check out slide 9.
Please share in the comments if you do something different and useful on your course home page.

D2L Intelligent Agents

My first look at Intelligent Agents in Desire2Learn.

Having spent some time working on a Data Analytics project for MnSCU that would have served as an early alert system for online students not making good progress, I've been curious to see how deep the functionality runs in the D2L Intelligent Agents (IA) tool. The short answer is that there's some basic functionality there that might prove beneficial to some users, but the tool falls short of being a full featured Army soldier (you know, Be All That You Can Be!). (CC-by Flickr photo by Sarah G...)

I've recorded a narrated slide show that will illustrate the basics. In the slides you'll see: (a) where to access the IA tool, (b) how to create a new agent, (c) how to write a customized (sort of) email to be triggered by the agent, (d) how to schedule (or not) the agent to run when you want it to, (e) what happens when the agent is run, (f) and some pros and cons about the IA tool.

Click the green triangle Play button at the bottom of the frame to listen to the narration for the slides (or not). For better views of the screen shots, click the Full Screen icon in the lower right corner.

D2L Intelligent Agents

(View more webinars from Barry Dahl.)

Basically, there are a few good things in this tool. You can receive notifications (and/or also send them to students via their D2L email address) for the lack of login activity for a specified number of days. You can also receive notifications when a student has performed poorly (or performed well, if you prefer) on a particular assessment that they have completed.

There are several shortcomings that I feel need to be pointed out. The IA tool could be very useful if these things are added in the near future:

1- The login agent only works at the system login level, not at the course access level. However, faculty will mainly want to know who isnt accessing their specific course, which is where the agent was created in the first place, so this is only logical. With version 9, D2L added information to the User Progress tool to indicate the last time the student accessed the course homepage. Now they absolutely need to make this information available for the IA tool. Slide 14 specifically addresses this concern.

2- Currently the release conditions for an agent require an action on the part of the student, such as you took a quiz and got a high or low score, etc. However, it is usually more valuable for the faculty to know (and for students to get an email) when they are not doing something didnt take the quiz, havent posted to discussion forums, etc.

3- There isn't a way to create an agent that looks at overall user progress based on the overall grade book score, such as "you have only received 50% or less of the points available so far in this course, and your immediate attention is needed." The agent needs to be available to run on an overall view of user progress rather than just on one or more individual items in the course.

I contacted D2L about a future road map for the development of the IA tool. I received a reply from Matt T. He said, "I dont have any details on specific time lines to address any of these or an overall road map for the tool, but I agree all three would be great additions."

My first grade for the IA tool is a solid C (I was always a tough grader, just ask my accounting students from back in the day). It is a step in the right direction, and has really great potential moving forward, BUT, it does need to move forward with additional enhancements to really meet expectations.

Now Hiring - Fabulous Salaries

Don't let all the news about budget cuts and layoffs scare you away. Here at Lake Superior College we are hiring adjunct faculty for as much as $545,000 annually. Here's the catch. You won't earn all that because it is only a part-time job (so you might earn 1/2 of the $545K if you teach half-time) and it clearly states that there are no benefits included with this position. (Click to view enlarged photo)

A hat tip to @bergjj for the heads up on this one.

5 Reasons Microsoft Won't Buy Blackboard

Inside Higher Ed's BlogU recently posted the following article: 5 Reasons Microsoft Will Buy Blackboard. While reading the story I couldn't help but think how different the article might have been if I'd written it. A little something like this ...

The top 5 reasons why we WON'T see Microsoft buying Blackboard by the end of 2010:

1. Because they suck! (they = Bb of course)
2. Because Microsoft is trying harder not to suck so much.
3. Because buying Blackboard would only prove that Microsoft is more evil rather than less.
4. Because most of the people in the education space (including lots of Blackboard users) think that Blackborg is a terrible partner for education. Not exactly the best way for Microsoft to become more relevant in the education sector.
5. Because they suck!

Please let me know if I've missed anything.

MnSCU Online Course Definitions - Part Three

Part one looked at the proposed changes to definitions of on-ground courses. Part two looks at the state of affairs regarding blended/hybrid courses in MnSCU. Part three will now parse some of the information related to the new proposals to further define what is and what isn't an online course.

The main reason for this effort appears to be a response to complaints/feedback indicating that students find information in the course registration system to be confusing regarding the

delivery method that they should expect when they sign up for a class. Therefore, MnSCU is attempting to create additional class codes so that students will have better advance notice as to whether the course will use the Internet in any way, whether they will have any required seat time, and even what types of online activities they should expect to engage in. That might not sound too bad on the surface, but the devil is in the details - as usual. (synchronized swimming photo (CC) courtesy by Eric Bgin)

Currently, MnSCU/MnOnline defines an online course something like this:

All courses where the delivery method is entirely or predominately online, are to be setup with the media code set to 03 Internet Delivered Course.
Predominately = where all, or nearly all, course activity occurs in an online environment. One to two activities may occur face-to-face in a classroom, with the maximum being two activities.

Therefore, online courses in MnSCU have traditionally allowed up to two classroom sessions to be scheduled. Obviously this can be a significant issue for true distance students who are unable to come to a campus for the one or two required sessions. Many schools, such as my own, have strongly discouraged these types of required classroom sessions since it severely decreases the attractiveness of the courses to distance students.

IMO, the real confusion in the current set of definitions comes in the area of test proctoring. (No surprise, but I have previously posted about test proctoring in MnSCU here and also here.) At LSC, we have always treated proctored exams as fitting the definition of the "one or two activities that may occur face-to-face." In other words, we treated it more as a maximum of two times that you can require a distance student to have a specific time-and-place requirement. That might be a classroom activity, but it also might be the requirement of finding an acceptable proctor in the area where you live.

In the past we had one or two faculty members who assigned more than two proctored exams. After working with those faculty members, we were able to reduce the number of proctored requirements by changing assessment methods and consolidating small quizzes and tests into more significant exams (like a mid-term and final) that would still be proctored. Our goal was not to eliminate proctoring, but to reduce the angst that is caused on many different fronts by having a large number of proctored requirements.

So, let's get to the proposed changes. There are three proposed categories:

1. Online - Completely Online
2. Online - Completely Online with "synchronous" components
3. Online - Predominantly Online

Category #1 "Completely Online" has the following features:

All instruction is delivered online
No face-to-face meetings
No proctored exams
May not have required synchronous class meetings

Category #2 "Completely Online with synchronous requirements" has the following features:

All instruction is delivered online
No face-to-face meetings
No proctored exams
Has required synchronous online meetings or activities

Category #3 "Predominantly Online" has the following features:

Nearly all course activity occurs in the online environment
One or two activities may occur face-to-face in a classroom, with the maximum being two activities
No more than two face to face meetings -- as a cohort in the same physical location
May have proctored exams
May have synchronous components
NOTE: this is very similar to the current MnSCU definition of online

This brings several questions to mind:

1. Why do we want to allow an unlimited number of required proctored assessments as we have in the current definition and one of the proposed definitions? Isn't this absurd? At LSC we had the pleasure of providing proctoring services for one students from another MnSCU school for more than 20 different quizzes - FOR ONE COURSE!! Indeed, this is absurd.
2. What exactly do we mean when we say that there are "required" synchronous components? Does that mean that if you don't do them that you will fail the course, or does it mean you will miss out on a few of the available points? Big difference. Students often blow off a requirement that doesn't keep them from achieving their goals. What if the synchronous work comprises 5% of the total grade in a course? What if it comprises 75% of the total grade? Aren't those very different - and how will the students know in advance which one is the case for the courses they just signed up for? Oh yeah, they won't.
3. Will students understand what the heck we mean when we say "synchronous components?" Aren't we just creating a much more confusing situation rather than less?
4. Will students want to know which synchronous components will be used? Maybe they're totally down with using a web conferencing solution, but totally against using UStream or Skype. Should we care whether they object to one technology or another? Is that their choice to make?
5. Is a "synchronous group meeting" the same thing as a synchronous class meeting? If three students need to get together online at the same time in order to successfully complete their group project, is that a "required" synchronous meeting, or was it optional since they could have chosen to fail instead, or could have done a lousy job, or could have let one person do all the work?
6. Due to completely normal course scheduling issues, it won't always be possible to know months in advance whether a faculty member will require proctored exams or synchronous components. Many time we don't even know for certain who will be teaching a class until after it is already full of registered students. Perfect example would be late in the registration window when we end up canceling a class for a tenured faculty member and then re-assign a fully registered class to that person to keep them at a full teaching load (this happens all the time, BTW). Is the newly assigned faculty member required to live up to the proctoring/synchronous plan that the previous instructor had laid out, or are they free to change it even though 30 students signed up expecting no proctored exams (or whatever)?
7. Isn't the course registration coding a perfectly ridiculous place to try to tell students about all the nuances of how a course will be "delivered" to them? Students signing up for online courses will be confused by all the extra flags and codes - if they read them at all. Our system-wide course registration system is a highly inflexible beast - with very little chance to provide clarifying information. I can't see this working well in any way, shape, or form.
8. Determining the proper coding for thousands of courses is going to be a nightmare on campuses. The amount of information needed from each instructor will expand exponentially. The opportunities for coding errors or misunderstandings will also skyrocket. I can see it now: Student: "Hey, I signed up for a fully online course and now they say that I need to be connected every Tuesday night at 7 PM. What gives?" School official: "I'm very sorry, but I think our faculty member was confused about the difference between synchronous and asynchronous communications. Sorry about that."
9. This one is a big one for me - how do these new guidelines position us for the future uses of web technologies? IMO, it positions us perfectly for dealing with the online world in about 2002. The whole distinction between synchronous and asynchronous is becoming more and more blurred. Although a traditional LMS discussion board is pretty clearly asynchronous and a Skype Internet phone call is pretty clearly synchronous - most of the newer technologies fall somewhere in the middle and are not easily classified. Is Google Wave a synchronous tool or asynchronous? It's both, of course. What about a webinar using WebEx or DimDim or something similar? Since they can easily be recorded and archived, they are both also. Is the D2L pager synchronous or asynchronous? Both, of course. And on and on and on.
10. Is this a solution in search of a problem? Sure feels like it. Or, alternately stated, I believe this will create an even bigger problem than whatever problem has been currently identified.

That's enough for one post. I guess there will be a part four as I attempt to clarify what I think should be done with this mess. Coming soon.

D2L Enables Web Tools Interoperability

I just finished watching the recordings of the D2L webinars from March where they demonstrate the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) features of Desire2Learn. This seems like a major step forward, IMO.

You can find the webinar links inside the D2L C ommunity. If you're not a member, I do believe that you will need to request access to view the recordings. The webinars were conducted by Chuck Severance of the IMS Global Consortium and Matt Teskey of Desire2Learn.

I've spent the past several years demonstrating ways of embedding web-based tools into D2L and other LSM platforms. However, in all those cases there was only the appearance of integration between the tools and the LMS - but now this is possible to happen in a truly integrated process. "Truly integrated" means that your authentication credentials can be passed between the tool and the LMS with actual single sign-on.

(Screenshot above CC photo from Chuck Severance, dr-chuck on Flickr)

Two specific applications that were demonstrated include MediaWiki and WordPress. That got my attention since we are hosting both of those open source tools on campus and have them tied into our active directory for credentialing. These appear to be easily added to a D2L course through the use of quicklinks. Looks very cool. A few other examples (shown through screenshots) are some new widgets/gadgets and Google Maps.

A few questions.

1. Are there any hopes of greater integration rather than just authentication? For example, I would love to have Zoho tools available for word processing, spreadsheets, web forms and other Zoho apps. Single sign-on is a good start, but I would really like to see integration where you can save documents directly into D2L and share with the instructor and/or other students.
2. Where is the on/off switch for this? I've looked in the Dome and can't find it. We are using version 8.4.2 at the current time and this is the D2L version that they are demonstrating in the webinar. My guess is that MnSCU has not turned this feature on at this point. Generally speaking, we don't get to use the new tools in a timely manner since we are self-hosted and apparently very risk averse when it comes to using new features in the platform.
3. MnSCU has a tentative plan to upgrade to D2L version 9.0 in early June. Are there any changes or improvements to the LTI in version 9, or is it the same as version 8.4.2?
4. What are some of the other tools that people would like to see the LTI bridge built for? For the most part, it seems to me that it would make sense for tools where the login is an essential part of the user experience (for publishing, in other words), but if all you are doing is viewing content that it might not be very important.
5. They stated that accounts in the web-based tools are automatically created for the students and tied to their D2L identity. It sounds then as though a student who already has an account (let's say in WordPress) will then have two accounts with the new one tied to D2L. That might not be a bad thing, but I'm not sure. What about several courses at the same school using these tools - does the LTI piece know not to create another account for that student (sounds like a stupid question, but I can't tell any more)? What about students who are attending more than one MnSCU school? Would they have a WordPress/LSC account and a separate WordPress/CLC account as well (where LSC is Lake Superior College and CLC is Central Lakes College)?

Comic Strips in Online Courses

Over the years I've done quite a few workshops that included some sort of reference to using comic strips in online courses, either as part of the content provided by faculty or as part of the student assignments.

This narrated slidecast is a short (5 min. 40 sec.) description of some of the ways that comics can be used to pump up the creativity in an online course.

Using Comics in D2L

View more webinars from Barry Dahl.

Online Course Student Evals

During a recent 2-day eLearning Quality Workshop in North Dakota we again had a brief discussion about student evaluations for online courses. Part of the discussion centered on the overall validity of student responses on course evals and part of it centered on the evaluation surveys themselves; particularly how long should they be and how can you get good response rates on a voluntary submission basis. (Flickr CC photo by kodomut)

A few years ago we (Lake Superior College) redesigned our end-of-course survey rather dramatically, from 32 questions to 10. We were hoping that the response rate would go up significantly if the students could see at a glance that the survey would only take a couple of minutes to complete. The response rate did go up, but only by a few percentage points and it still is less than 20% overall for all online courses combined.

Near the end of each term, we set up separate course shells within D2L for each online course and then enroll all the students but not the faculty members into those courses. Those extra "courses" appear in the students' course listings when they login to D2L near the end of the term and they can click in to take the survey. We post info there about the anonymity, that faculty won't get results until 2-4 weeks after the end of the term, and profusely thank them for their participation. We send out emails to all students informing them that the evals are open (they don't really read our email) and post messages on the front page of the D2L home page.

So, my questions for you fair readers are these:

a) do you have any advice for how to get the response rates substantially higher for student evals?
b) how do you convince students that their responses are anonymous and won't influence their final grades?
c) has anyone tried evaluating only after the course has closed and grades have been posted? If so, how?
d) do you have the "killer eval" that asks all the right questions and that you're willing to share?

Please reply in the comments section with anything you might want to say.

I'll close with the eval that we use at LSC as shown below.

--------------------------------

Thoughtful student evaluation can help improve teaching effectiveness. This survey gives you the opportunity to express anonymously your views of this course and the way it has been taught. Your assistance is appreciated.

For all questions, please use the following scale:
1 - Strongly agree
2 - Agree
3 - Disagree
4 - Strongly disagree
5 - Choose not to answer or Don't Know

1. The instructor has created a course layout that is easy to navigate (locate quizzes, lookup grades, find directions to assignments, etc.).
2. There was agreement between the posted course objectives (as listed in the syllabus) and what was taught in the course.
3. This course challenged me intellectually.
4. The course materials used in this class helped me learn the subject matter.
5. The instructor posted information about how best to communicate with him/her and was readily available to students.
6. The instructor provided feedback in a timely manner.
7. The feedback received on my coursework was helpful.
8. Policies for determining grades in this course were clearly explained.
9. I was satisfied with the amount of interaction with other students in this course.
10. Overall, this instructor has created a valuable learning experience for students.

Finally: Please provide any additional comments about the course that you believe will be helpful to the instructor of this course.

READ MORE » Online Course Student Evals

Magna Webinar - March 23

I am the presenter for a Magna Publications webinar scheduled for March 23, 2010. The title is: Free Web 2.0 Tools to Use Inside Your LMS. This seminar costs $249 if you register at least a week in advance. The slides below (embedded from Zoho Show) indicate the things that I will be demonstrating during the online seminar. Because there are so many of them, I will likely have time to show either one or two examples for each of the eight goals.

I've done this workshop many times live and at least once before as a webinar. I'm looking forward to it. We'll see how it goes.

MeeboMe inside Desire2Learn

I offered a one-hour workshop last week about using Meebo and MeeboMe inside D2L as another way of communicating with students. According to the Meebo website:

"Meebo is a web based IM that lets you log into your IM networks from any computer with a browser and internet connection with no firewall issues. It employs technologies (like AJAX) to make it act more like a desktop application, which dramatically improves usability. Many users enjoy the benefits of a native DHTML application, as it does not consume as many system resources as a Java applet (such as ICQ2Go or Yahoo Web Messenger). Meebo also offers other services such as a chat room client and a personal IM client for your personal/corporate web pages."

I've been using it for about three years now. I don't use the basic IM feature as much as I'd like, primarily because so few of my contacts use IM as a regular means of communication. However, I think the MeeboMe feature is just brilliant. You'll see a MeeboMe widget on this blog site as well on all my other blog sites. Here's a screenshot of placing a MeeboMe widget in the News section of the course homepage inside a D2L course shell. (Click image for larger view)

From their website: "Meebo Me lets you chat with anyone who comes to your blog or Web page. Visitors show up in your Meebo buddylist so you can strike up a conversation, answer questions, or just keep tabs on guests. Publish your online status so friends can see if you're available when they visit your site."

Another option would be to place the chat window into a custom widget on the home page. Of course, you could also choose to place the widget on a content page, or anywhere else in D2L where you might want to provide the communications channel between you and your students. You can actually place multiple instances of the chat window anywhere you want, and it will still work as a single window. (Click image for larger view)

If you want a full-featured chat room with one-to-many communications, then check out Meebo Rooms, which allow for a chat room to be embedded anywhere you can paste the html code. I don't use the rooms myself, but they should work as advertised.

The open dialog box from MeeboMe has several advantages.

Students will only see that you are online and available when you are logged into Meebo. In other words, if you want to hide your online status in D2L, you can make your self available through Meebo when it is appropriate to do so (think online office hours, etc.)
No one else needs an account to chat with you in the MeeboMe widget. If they have a Meebo account and are logged in, then you will see their username. Otherwise they appear as anonymous. Clearly there are times when you would need the student to identify himself for help reasons.
You can have any number of one-to-one conversations. There are certainly times when you don't want everyone in a chat room to see what you are saying. You can create groups in Meebo, but typically the MeeboMe widget would be for one-to-one.
It is very easy to convert the web chat into another form of communication. Skype, or anything else can be a time saver.
You can make any number of MeeboMe widgets which allows you to customize the title bar (header), widget size, and color choices any way you want for multiple classes or other uses.

Note: there's not much that you can do with the basic IM service that you can't do with the D2L pager. I think the main benefits come from the MeeboMe widget. My recommendation is that you try out a MeeboMe chat window as a way of opening up a line of communication for your students that easier than email or just about anything else.

READ MORE » MeeboMe inside Desire2Learn

Setting Online Expectations - Academic Freedom

In previous posts, I highlighted part A and part B of the information from St. Petersburg College about their expectations of and for online students. Today I'll take a look at their part C - Academic Civility and Freedom of Expression.

This is what St. Pete has to say about this:

Expectations: Students may expect that:

They will be able to pursue their studies in a stimulating, open environment where the pursuit of truth, free expression of ideas, responsible criticism, and reasonable dissent are recognized as basic to the educational process.
Students have the right to exercise their academic freedom within the responsible confines of the course material.
A process exists for students to express and document concerns they may have about specific action, inaction or behavior by any member of the College faculty or staff.

Responsibilities: Students have the responsibility to:

Act in accordance with standards of reasonable behavior, respect and civility. This standard would prohibit behavior that is disruptive or interferes with the teaching/learning process, including:
- the posting of inappropriate materials in chat rooms, emails, bulletin boards, or Web pages;
- use of obscenities;
- personal attacks on fellow students or faculty;
- sexual harassment; or
- comments that are demeaning or disrespectful to another's ideas and opinions.

That seems to be pretty well stated. I think the bigger (err, harder) question has to do with Academic Freedom on behalf of the faculty when it comes to e-Learning. Don't get me wrong, I think that academic freedom is extremely important and needs to be protected - however, I think that it is often misunderstood. In fact, what I really believe is that academic freedom is tossed on the table in many situations where it is not a question of academic freedom in the first place. Or, to state it another way, academic freedom does not equal freedom - you are not free to do whatever you want just because you work in academe.

With regard to e-Learning, I have been waiting for quite some time for a battle to ensue regarding the intersection of academic freedom and access to technology. Several years ago I heard a negotiator for the state (employer) side of the negotiated contract language (union contract) state unequivocally that the choice of using or not using the state-supported IMS (D2L in our case, but no matter) is NOT a question of academic freedom. In other words, faculty cannot (according to him, at least) just claim academic freedom as the reason why they are choosing NOT to use the state/school-supported IMS, and instead choose to use a different IMS. Because of the licensing, support costs, and several other tech-related factors, and because the IMS is simply the vessel through which they teach, the question of academic freedom does NOT apply in this situation. Part of his rationale was that there is nothing "academic" about the choice of whether you use the supported IMS or not.

I think this is a fascinating argument. I also don't pretend to know the answer. IANAL, but I sure like to pretend as if I am from time to time. I would love to hear your opinions about this question. Please submit a comment (I moderate them due to high levels of spam, but try to approve them quickly) and share your thoughts.

MnSCU Online Course Definitions - Part Two

Part one examined the confusion about what is and what isn't a traditional classroom course. Part two will take a look at what is a hybrid or blended course. Part three (coming soon) will look at the new ideas about what is an online course.

Within MnSCU, media code 09 has been used for many years to represent those courses that fall into the following description:

1. Course blends online and face-to-face delivery.
2. Some of the content is delivered online.
3. More than two class sessions face-to-face.
4. Reduced classroom seat time.
5. Also know as "web-enhanced."

One reason for differentiating between an online course and a blended course is the special $5 per credit Minnesota Online fee. If a course is coded as an online course it will include a $5 per credit surcharge that is used to partially fund the budget for Minnesota Online. This budget is used to pay for the IMS (D2L) licensing and support costs, a state-wide D2L help desk (which we don't use at my school), and several other services and personnel costs related to the 32-school consortium that makes up MnOnline.

The Minnesota Online website is designed to serve distance learners and others interested in learning through the online offerings from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. The website does not provide information about the blended course offerings. I believe that the main reason for this is to not confuse the issue about which courses and programs can be completed by a true distance student and those that require a significant amount of time on site.

MnSCU allows institutions to separately determine their tuition rates for online courses. This is known in the system as a "market-rate" tuition. The idea of market-rate tuition does not extend to blended courses. Blended courses will be charged the base tuition rate for each institution rather than the campus-determined market rate for online tuition, although campus exceptions are possible if a course falls into an expensive (to offer) program that has a higher tuition rate than the base.

One thing that MnSCU has never dealt with is the question of how much reduced seat time is appropriate for a blended course. Doing some simple math, here is what I come up with given that there are no other restrictions:

-- 1) a course must meet a minimum of three times to be considered a blended course. Consider the minimum to be 3 hours of meeting time out of the normal 48 hours for a 3-credit course. Therefore, a course could be 6% classroom (3/48) and 94% online and fit the MnSCU definition.

-- 2) To be blended, it has to have reduced seat-time, but apparently that could be as little as one fewer course meeting than normal. So, a course could meet 98% in the classroom and 2% (1/48) online and be considered a blended course.

-- 3) In other words, in lieu of other guidance (there isn't any), a blended course could be anywhere from 2% to 94% online with the rest of the instruction delivered on-ground in the classroom.

I really thought that since MnSCU is going through the exercise (again) of trying to define all of these delivery methods (media codes for the MnSCU-ers out there), that they would also try to build a little definition into the possible range for blended courses. For example, the University of Illinois Chicago defines blended as being between 25% - 74% online. It appears as though Central New Mexico CC stipulates a 50-50% breakdown between classroom and online for blended courses. The Florida Distance Learning task force recommends that a blended course be conducted at least 50% and not more than 79% online.

To sum up, blended courses in MnSCU:

don't get charged the $5 per credit fee.
don't appear in course search results at MnOnline website.
are charged the base tuition rate.
receive no guidance about how much or how little instruction must occur in the classroom.

Basically, there will be no more clarity here than there was before. Looks to me like a missed opportunity.
CC photo by wheredidyoubuythat.com

Online Discussion about Obama's CC Initiative

Yesterday I served as moderator for two hours for an online discussion forum about President Obamas American Graduation Initiative The "Jam" was organized by the Knowledge in the Public Interest, the Brookings Institution, the Education Commission of the States, and Jobs for the Future. Community college educators from all around the country joined in the conversation. My topic was one of six different discussions and was titled "Accessing Online Education: Funding to Create Free, Web-based Courses."

Plan is for $500 Million ($50M each year for 10 years)
H.R. Bill 3221 should be voted on this week. Senate bill in earlier stages. UPDATE: 3221 passed right before I posted this. Senate bill still coming.)
Here's the text from Obamas speech in July about the proposal to
- ?build a new virtual infrastructure to complement the education and training community colleges can offer. So we're going to support the creation of a new online, open-source clearinghouse of courses so that community colleges across the country can offer more classes without building more classrooms. And this will make a big difference especially for rural campuses that a lot of times have struggled -- attract -- have to struggle to attract students and faculty. And this will make it possible for a professor to complement his lecture with an online exercise, or for a student who can't be away from her family to still keep up with her coursework. We don't know where this kind of experiment will lead, but that's exactly why we ought to try it because I think there's a possibility that online education can provide especially for people who are already in the workforce and want to retrain the chance to upgrade their skills without having to quit their job." (see video in previous post)

So, what were people saying in the Jam? Here are a few excerpts:

1. How would this open-source clearinghouse of courses fit into the massive development of online courses that has already occurred at community colleges? In other words, would it fill in gaps in online course content that haven't been effectively filled at this point, or would it be duplicative of the many efforts already underway? Some suggestions were for a concentration on developmental (remedial) courses. Another suggestion was to focus on emerging academic programs that don't already exist (or at least not much of an existence).

2. Another major area of conversation centered around the words "free" and "open." The first term (free) doesn't actually appear in Obama's remarks, but it does appear in the White House Briefing Room (in the phrase "freely available courses"). J.S. from Honolulu asked the following: "Does 'open' mean:

Free to use as you will with absolutely no cost?
Free to use without citing or acknowledging sources?
Freedom from any and all constraints in transporting the content -- as is or in modified form -- to different sites?
Complete freedom to alter the content?
Freely and easily accessible with no site subscription fees or complex registration and log-in procedures?
Stable or "permanent" URLs?
Options for different levels of privacy in terms of tracking or "footprints"?

All good questions, but no answers at this time.

Lastly, I'll paste the text from the Briefing Room linked above:
"Create a New Online Skills Laboratory: Online educational software has the potential to help students learn more in less time than they would with traditional classroom instruction alone. Interactive software can tailor instruction to individual students like human tutors do, while simulations and multimedia software offer experiential learning. Online instruction can also be a powerful tool for extending learning opportunities to rural areas or working adults who need to fit their coursework around families and jobs. New open online courses will create new routes for students to gain knowledge, skills and credentials. They will be developed by teams of experts in content knowledge, pedagogy, and technology and made available for modification, adaptation and sharing. The Departments of Defense, Education, and Labor will work together to make the courses freely available through one or more community colleges and the Defense Departments distributed learning network, explore ways to award academic credit based upon achievement rather than class hours, and rigorously evaluate the results." (my emphases added)

From that, John S. made the following recommendations for how it could be crafted:

- Provide funds for grant projects which develop new online degree programs in emerging fields. (I could name several for which I've heard reports of demand.) This would help focus the project on workforce development and degree completion, which is the stated goal of the overall initiative.
- The interactive individualized open courseware is fine, but projects should show how the courseware will lead to higher graduation rates as a criterion for funding. If they could actually do that, it would be tremendous.
- Outline a framework by which open, free course materials will be disseminated. (SCORM is not a dissemination mechanism; it is an interoperability mechanism.)
- Fund a project or two which explores how successful inter-institutional collaborations currently work and how they could be scaled to promote easier 'swirling'.
- Fund a project or two which explores offering "academic credit based upon achievement rather than class hours." But let's use the experience of existing institutions and see if a project can help expand the acceptance of those approaches. For example, how 'bout a project which supports the creation of a national online course catalog with inter-institutional articulation a la SOC/SOCAD? Or what could be done to expand the capacity of the existing institutions (Empire State, Thomas Edison et al.)?
- Allow for the use of broader evaluation methods which measure outcomes more richly. Why should we individualize inputs (as in individualizing courseware) but continue to standardize outputs? (And reliance on experimental or quasi-experimental methods, randomized controlled trials, bias toward standardized tests, does not constitute "rigorous evaluation.")
- Fund a project which changes how graduation rates are currently calculated. According to a recent AACSU report, the current methodology is highly flawed. (I was shocked to learn that I would not count as a successful graduate because I was a transfer student.) This is not just mere window dressing; it would help IHEs and the general public have a better sense of the actual success rate.

All in all, it was a productive and very long discussion thread about the initiative. I'll probably pull out a few more things for future postings.

Twittering about D2L and Blackboard

I usually keep an eye on a Twitter search looking for posts that have something to do with D2L. The beginning of the semester is always interesting, especially as students are posting their unfiltered thoughts about school, online courses, professors, D2L, and lots of other things. Here are some examples. I'll leave out their Twitter names since I don't know these people.

Dear D2L though my college, please fix yourself so I can take quizzes on Firefox. THANK YOU! Love, Cissa
trust me, everything you click on d2l... and the time u spend on each "page" they cn see....
71 unread discussions on D2L? CRAP! I was only gone for one weekend!
In class with a professor that doesn't know how to work the internets and d2l. Maybe he should use the googles.
ocu's desire2learn has to be the shi**iest web page ever. period. well, aside from the other ocu web pages.
Online classes start today. Not liking their new D2L system.
Go to a "Laptop Campus"...should ALL of my classes have D2L sites? Whatever.
just LOL'ed when he looked at D2L at the same class he just took last semester. god taking the same class over is priceless. LOL hate it.
D2L is SUCH a pain in the tuckus.... Maybe online classes were a bad idea
just realized that something she thought she posted to D2L last week didn't actually get posted and of course she didn't save it... :-(
there has to be an easier way to keep track of due dates in d2l.. seriously!
Well this stinks. I've got an assignment due tomorrow and D2L is down :( fml
Really wish that more than 2 of my 5 classes were up on d2l... Come on profs, classes start monday! Get on that sh**!
really hopes this isn't a semester that none of my professors put their stuff on d2l...its friday...classes start monday...lets get movin!
I'm sorry but I have no "Desire2Learn" .. why must I be forced to go on that site.
D2L is making me angry.

Yep, that's mostly negative stuff. I didn't skip the positive posts from students because there basically weren't any (there were some from educators, along with lots of neutral ones). I'm posting this just because I find it interesting what students are willing to post online about this type of thing - and I wonder what their frame of reference is.

To be f

air and balanced, I also check from time to time to see what people are saying about Blackboard. Not surprisingly, it's easy to find lots of comments there that fall in the negative category as well. I think the number of swear words per Blackboard post is higher than posts about D2L - which might be a good topic for a research paper.

Well that was quick, logged onto Blackboard and the only thing my class contains is a link to a real website for the class that works.
But I enjoy starting every semester with the Blackboard is completely unusable, so just send me your assignments via email instead. (Prof, I believe)
Great, my school upgraded to a new bug infested version of Blackboard. At some point I'd love it if they'd just move open source and fix it. (Prof again)
i love how i'd rather be on fbook or twitter than #BLACKBOARD. :)
Few things in life can anger me as much and as quickly as WebCT/Blackboard and their Java Applet CMS crap. And we pay millions for it. ugh
Blackboard is my frenemy.
i'm bout to get real ill. F**K is wrong with blackboard?
I hate Blackboard! Too many folders, no overview :-((
Effin hate the blackboard! Wtf. Pls load.
FUHHHH just noticed that the assignment i submitted online through the new Blackboard 9 for my online class on Fri didn't attach right! :(
i hate blackboard! ugh!
Trying to finish my online homework, but stupid blackboard/open campus isn't working so I can't finish it and it's due tonight, grrrr.....
Why doesn't Blackboard support Firefox versions above 2.X? This is ridiculous.
I've never hated something as much as I hate the new BLACKBOARD. Seriously!!!!!!!
I fu**ing hate #blackboard
hey, blackboard. wanna stop being retarded?

I'm wondering how much any of this chatter affects the general view of either Bb or D2L. Probably not much, but maybe it's growing in importance as a source of information about them. And finally, for the record, this post sums up my thoughts about these two "rivals" (partners?) -

This #desire2learn thing is SO much better than Blackboard. Yay! (post)

MnSCU Online Course Definitions - Part Four

You might need to read the previous three posts to get a feel for all of my concerns about the proposed changed to MnSCU course definitions. For now let's just say that I think they're on the verge of turning a molehill into a mountain. (That's my photo from Pilot Mountain, NC - definitely not a molehill.) So, you should be asking, what is my proposed solution?

Very simple. Here they are.

On-ground courses: any course that is scheduled in a traditional classroom setting for the traditional amount of seat-time, which for us equals about 16 hours per credit. It should not matter whatsoever whether the faculty member chooses to use the Internet (in reasonable ways, see caveat #1 below), whether they use active learning exercises, whether they use PowerPoint, or whatever. Faculty members teach their classes how they choose to, within the normal guidelines of the institution.
Blended courses: any course that meets in the traditional classroom for a portion of the normal amount of seat time and has required online activities that make up the remainder of the learning activities for the students. The portion of learning that is assigned to classroom seat-time can be as small as 25% of the normal amount of seat time (4 hours per credit) or as much as 75% of the normal amount (12 hours per credit). These courses are not designed or intended for distance students.
Online courses: any course that is conducted completely online or can otherwise be completed at a distance. A maximum of two proctored assessments may be required. Students should understand that some online learning activities may require them to interact in real-time with other students and/or with the instructor. No traditional seat-time is required or allowed. (See caveat #2 below.)

Caveat #1 - It is incumbent upon the college administration to ensure that a faculty member does not dramatically expand the time expectations for students by "off-loading" significant amounts of class activities onto the Internet without reducing the seat-time requirements of the students. This is a real and growing problem that can greatly upset students. This is actually a pretty tricky problem to deal with since it begs the question of what are acceptable "homework activities" for a professor to require in an on-ground class. I'm not going to deal with this question fully at this point, let's just say that it is easy to see alternate points of view on this one.

Caveat #2 - I believe that it is important to stress to faculty who teach online courses that students enroll in online courses primarily for the time flexibility that they expect to receive with that registration. Every synchronous requirement, every proctored assessment, every too-small window of opportunity (assignment or exam due dates, for example) can lead to a very inflexible online course. Faculty who are not interested in providing a flexible learning environment for the students should consider a blended or traditional class schedule instead of online.

That's it. Easy peasy. Biggest changes from the current definitions are as follows:

Online: No required on-campus meetings are allowed. Offer a blended class instead.
Online: Doesn't matter what technologies or techniques a faculty member chooses to use (for example: synchronous or asynchronous). These change frequently anyway. Don't try to dictate so much.
Blended: 25% - 75% of the normal amount of seat-time. Everything else online.

All the rest of this is far too confusing and restricting. Don't go there.

New Netiquette Guidelines for LSC Online

The LSC Online Programs Advisory Committee decided to craft a set of netiquette guidelines that would serve as the recommended list that faculty could use for their online courses. It's not a full policy or anything like that, just an attempt to give them some useful information to post in their online courses. Faculty are free to use them, change them, add to them, not use them at all, or whatever. The list is posted in the LSC wiki.

This project was taken on because many of our online faculty had been using a particular web resource for many years as a netiquette guide. That web page began carrying less-than-attractive banner ads and quite frankly was always more about general online netiquette rather than focused on online learning. There are quite a few other sets of guidelines out there, but many of them are rather lengthy or include items that we don't feel are needed, and occasionally we just disagreed with them. So, we decided to write a relatively short list of our own, as follows:

LSC Online Course Netiquette Guidelines

1. Behind Every Name There is a Person

a. Respect the privacy of your classmates and what they share in class.

b. Ask classmates for clarification if you find a discussion posting offensive or difficult to understand.

c. Avoid sweeping generalizations. Back up your stated opinions with facts and reliable sources.

d. Understand that we may disagree and that exposure to other peoples opinions is part of the learning experience.

e. Be respectful of each other. Were all in this together. Before posting a comment, ask whether you would be willing to make the same comment to a person's face.

f. Keep in mind that everything you write, indeed every click of your mouse is recorded on the network server. On the Internet there are no take backs.

g. Keep in mind that you are taking a college class. Something that would be inappropriate in a traditional classroom is also inappropriate in an online classroom.

2. Online Communication

a. Be aware that typing in all capital letters indicates shouting.

b. Be careful with humor and sarcasm. Both can easily be misunderstood!

c. Review all discussion postings before posting your own to prevent redundancy.

d. Check your writing for errors by reviewing what youve written before submitting it.

e. Acronyms (LOL, etc.) and emoticons (smilies) are commonly used online, but be careful not to overuse them.

f. Many communications with your instructor or fellow students are best handled through email. Only post on the classroom discussion board if the conversation is relevant to others in the class.

Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

No Show at D2L User Conference

I've been asked by quite a few people (seriously I have, approaching double digits) why I am NOT attending FUSION, the D2L User Conference that starts in a few days. I will very much miss hanging out with everyone at the Unconference Sunday night - in fact, I almost chose to attend this event without attending the rest of the conference, but decided against it. (CC photo by David Paul Ohmer)

A conference in July is never easy because there's just too much summer stuff, family-time, and all that jazz going on. But that's not the reason. We have severe budget cuts that are restricting our travel to these types of events. But that's not the reason.

Without further ado, here is my Top Five List for reasons why I will not be attending the conference this year:

Number 5: Location (actually this is a very distant fifth place)

I hate attending conferences in Chicago. Getting from the airport to downtown is as bad as flying into Denver.
Once I went out in Chicago with three friends for pizza and beers. Between the four of us we had one pizza and 6 beers. Our "guest check" was $120 before tip. This is the Midwest people - there's nothing special going on here at all. Get over yourselves.

Number 4: Screwups

I don't need to go into details here, let's just say that my days of being on the planning committee came to an end when some things were handled very poorly. Certain people will know what I'm talking about. Nuff said.

Number 3: Transparency

For three years (or whatever) during the Blackborg fight, all I heard from D2L was how "transparent" they were being with their clients - keeping the clients (and anyone else who might be interested) as informed as possible about how they were fighting the good fight for higher education in particular and against software patent bullies in general.
You lose all credibility (with me at least) when you then shut off all information and become as opaque as possible when the end game is reached.
Okay, I understand that you negotiated the silence during the end game as part of the settlement with the Evil Empire of BlackAngel, and that this particular item probably came at the insistence of Blackbeard, BUT STILL - this should have been a deal breaker. Don't tell me that you're transparent and all that crap and then just roll over and say "psych!"

Number 2: Deletion

The Desire2Learn website previously had a "Patent Info Blog" located at the URL that now contains just a single letter from CEO John Baker explaining (okay, not really) the settlement with BlackBart. In it he says "Consistent with our mission and vision, it's time for us to put the past behind us, and look to the future. As a result, we'll be taking down our patent blog tomorrow."
This patent blog had all the documentation, all the D2L assurances, all the maneuvers and counter-maneuvers that had occurred since the beginning of the litigation. It was an important resource. It was linked to by hundreds of people for many different reasons.
Of course Bb would have never posted all this information in the first place. By removing the information, the end result is that D2L looks just like Bb. Close-lipped and close-minded.
BTW. Thanks for the heads up in advance of deleting the blog. I hate to kill trees, but I went ahead and printed well over 100 pages of info from the blog site. I finished printing about 15 minutes before it started to disappear. Someday this will make for good bedtime reading.

Number 1: Desire2Quit?

Seriously? Laying down with the enemy? All the rhetoric over the years was just bullshit? "We're in it to win it?" The long chat we had last year at FUSION in St. Paul about how important it was to fight the good fight and how victory was within grasp - that was all a load of bull?
When you lay down with BlackVader, you become BlackVader.

So here's a list of questions that should be answered at FUSION 2010:

1) Now that you are licensing the portfolio of Blackboard patents, in what ways have those patents impacted the newest version (9) of the Desire2Learn LE or other products?
2) In what ways will those patents impact future versions of the Desire2Learn LE or other products?
3) By licensing their patent portfolio, aren't you giving credence to the validity of the Alcorn patent (the subject of the litigation)? And if not, then what patents do they have that you do find valuable?
4) Is there an end date on your cross-licensing agreement? If so, when? Either way, are new patents included automatically in the licensing agreement, or not?
5) Did you ever get your 3.1 million dollar judgement back from BlackChasenSmall, or did that possibility go away in the middle of the night when the litigation ceased?
6) What is the status of the Alcorn patent in the USPTO, or is this something you no longer care about?

Okay, so as you can see, I'm avoiding FUSION this year because pizza and beer in Chicago are just too expensive.

A few final points of clarification:

1) I still think D2L is by far the best choice for a vendor-based LMS.
2) I consider many of the employees to be friends, not because they work for D2L, but because they are engaging, smart, and good people. All at the same time.
3) I hope the conference is a smashing success. I am not attempting to send any ill-will their way, but I am willing to boycott something when I feel strongly enough about it. This is one of those times.
4) I haven't decided whether I will feel differently in 2011. Lots can happen between now and then (and probably will).

Obama's Free Online Course Initiative

Looking for your thoughts about the $500 Million ($50M per year for 10 years) that President Obama announced for the "creation of a new online open-source clearing house of courses" during his appearance at Macomb Community College on July 14, 2009. The relevant part of his speech is snipped and shown below.

There seem to be very few details about this project at this time. It seems like a reasonable strategy for experienced distance educators to try to provide some guidance for how this initiative is developed.

Please share your thoughts about how this should be crafted.

Eavesdropping on D2L10

Even though I'm happy with my decision to not attend the D2L User Conference this year, that doesn't mean that I wasn't interested in the goings on, nor did it mean that I didn't miss the many friends who were in attendance. I followed the Twitter stream from the conference in an effort to stay somewhat in the know. Here's a chronological listing of selected tweets.

Desire2Learn_PR: Boat cruises, great food, connecting with colleagues FUSION 2010 is off to a fabulous start! http://bit.ly/17POaR (expand) #D2L10

ajwms: At #d2l10. Last time to see @140universityElluminate as sponsor, I guesshttp://twitpic.com/24h5u9

tabrown: Lots of fun catching up with folks at the #unD2L conference this evening#D2L10

ConnectYard: launching our new learning tool today for #d2l that integrates FB, TW & TM into courses. Stop by our booth at #d2l10 for more details!

ajwms: Has anybody been able to get their iPad connected to hotel wireless at#D2L10 yet? Get a blank login screen only.

kylemackie: 326 new D2L users at #D2L10

krivedal: And none of them were lawyers! RT @kylemackie: D2L has hired 60 new employees this year. #D2L10

barrydahl: RT @ajwms: @condonfnm on stage (in a coat and tie!) to present the first Desire2Excel award at #d2l10 - He does clean up well.

ajwms: SHARE Project (Support, Harnessing & Advancing Repository Enhancement) - Nottingham Trent accepting Desire2Excel Collaboration award#d2l10

Goamick: RT @kylemackie: Keynote: Stuart Brown MD, The National Institute for Play www.nifplay.org #D2L10

barrydahl: RT @katblue14: How do u put on ur playface in an online class?#D2L10 This speaker better have the answer for this one, or why is he there?

dariusz: Listening to Stuart Brown explain why playing around is super importanthttp://www.desire2learn.com/Fusion/keynotes/ #designd2l #d2l10

kylemackie: the opposite of play is not "work", it's depression. #D2L10

ben_ggg: Instruction Design - If you graduate with our degree without learning technology, shame on us. #D2L10

katblue14: Reminder to faculty that a PDF of a scanned doc is a picture and a screen reader can't read it, use OCR. ADA session (faboo session!) #D2L10

ben_ggg: Students DON'T want to visit course related websites, read postings online or participate in online discussions. #d2l10

ajwms: RT @barrydahl: Hey #D2L10 has @ajwms told u about Peillissippi State Ed Tech Svcs. on Facebk? http://bit.ly/a3qtzf (expand) /help us get 2 100 likes!

jcthomsonjr: RT @barrydahl: @kfrisch Maybe the Blackberry should go to a student since almost NONE of our students have Blackberries. How about Android/Apple? #D2L10

atblue14: Kaltura gets it! Same media piece mixed easily into versions for multiple delivery points. Let students control engagement point. #D2L10

kylemackie: Desire2Learn 2Go improvements: delivery of content, schedule meetings, AND they say they're bringing it to iphone and android soon. #D2L10

tjoosten: #d2l mobile will allow you to take video or picts on #droid or others and *share* to #d2l like you share with facebook, picaso, etc. #d2l10 (coming "soon")

w_mcelroy: Some fun web 2.0 tools I want to play with now (ediscio, animoto, glogster....)I can see instructors using these.... #D2L10

ajwms: #designd2l add ability to lock down parts of navbar to protect sections from editing. Please? #d2l10

kylemackie: want to talk community? come to the session @corykittel and I are leading, today at 2:15 (room 6-Illinois) #D2L10

barrydahl: @kylemackie Include this tidbit: developing online community is 36th most important thing to online students at LSC. Out of 36 items. #D2L10

kfrisch: Julie Evans Key note speaker at lunch The New " Free Agent Learner"-Are You Ready? FUSION 2010 http://bit.ly/aqarRN (expand) #D2L10 #osnss10

ajwms: Evans: 55% of students want reminders and alerts sent to mobile device. Glad we are sharing textblaster with faculty this fall #D2L10

rjasonthompson: #D2L10 "Understanding Pedagogy and Instructional Design when moving courses on line" - James Falkofske: www.pedagogyonline.com

tjoosten: Our preso is avail athttp://professorjoosten.blogspot.com/2010/07/student-perceptions-of-desire2learn.html #d2l10 @uwmltc #eportfolio #uwm

duncwhite: Using Soundpaper on the iPad to capture Fusion2010 notes. Patchwork is also a good app to try - will use with teachers this fall. #d2l10

krivedal: #D2L10 National American University has students sign a Self- Directed Learner's Statement

katblue14: #D2L10 the integration of Live Mail w D2L is looking sharp:) This may solve an issue!

jbohreruw: Sweet! RT: @kylemackie: Desire2Excel award, III goes to...learn@ UW.#D2L10 @LearnUWMad

Goamick: Joel Cohen Writer and Co-Executive Producer of The Simpsons talking about engaging an audience #d2l10 this is excellent!

kylemackie: sometimes not using a great idea is a great idea #D2L10

kfrisch: You can get energized by a joke. Goes back to the theme we've heard all conference--play! #d2l10 #osnss10

_dmlong: John Baker: FUSION 2011 will be at Denver! #D2L10 #D2L11

Expectations: Students may expect that:

Responsibilities: Students have the responsibility to:

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