Blackboard Vista 4 Course Design Guidelines

A few Vista course construction protocols in addition to notes posted during our Blackboard Vista migration:

• Use banner.jpg on the homepage, not the front.jpg--that's too big with our current design.


• Lessons in Learning Modules should be complete: they need to be linear, and include any quizzes, discussions, or assignments attached to a given lesson.


• HIDING most Tool links in the Course Tools menu may reduce student confusion and encourage them to access activities in the proper order. This is done by going to Manage Course > Course Menu and HIDE on Assessments, Assignments, Discussions, Learning Modules--this is important because
  
  
  
  1. we don't want students to wander aimlessly--the lesson is the core of the course;
  
  
  2. the labels for these areas do not always match the instuctors' labels, adding more confusion
  
  
  3. these general areas often put items in "alphabetical order", also known as "arbitrary order". We manually structure learning modules for a reason.
  
  


• If lessons have titles or subtitles, put them in the Description field of the learning modules.


• Make sure the CSS files are referenced by course pages. This problem is evident if the font is a serif, rather than sans-serif, font.


• When making quizzes follow these guidlines unless specifically instructed not to:
  
  
  
  • Midnight should be interpreted as 11:55pm/11:59pm not 12:00am
  
  
  • Release the score once the quiz has been submitted and all the questions have been graded.
  
  
  • Do NOT 'Show the correct answer for each question.'
  
  
  • Randomize answer choices in multiple choice quizzes
  
  
  • Add questions to a quiz using a question set to randomize question order
  
  

IDS Services Weekly Ed Tech Meeting

IDS Services Weekly Ed Tech Meeting
Attending: John, Jared, Marc, Travis, Janel, Ken, Dorothy

Travis- will purchase SoftChalk following this meeting

Discussed USHA Grant for Course Development (May give grant for Ed Tech not specifically related to course development

• Budget includes all but travel
• Funding: $4,000 to $5,000, possibly $10,000 - if it serves more than one class, more money could be given
• Travis's idea: Art Department video of different artist

Discussed different "looks" for classes, departments

• Preferred concept: three different looks developed for each department; Department Chair approves one look (trying for department consistency)
• This has been protocol, but John and Jared have not met with department chairs about looks
  
• Most departments already have their look; some classes may need updated look
• Are we switching the look of skinny banners? (i.e. Vista) Should probably discuss what banner should be
• Look and department approval needed for following departments:
  
• Tech Management
• Japanese
  
• CLSS

Developers assigned for new classes:

• CLSS 1000 - Janel
• MGMT 3600 - Janel
• TECH 3010 - RJ

Discussed LSAC BESC 4705

• Mystery developer has programmed some files on g-drive prior to editing (Who is GP??) (How did he/she get access to g-drive??)
• Files programmed March 2008 - very mysterious
  

Courses pushed through to spring to ease load of fall courses

• MGMT 3600
• CLSS 1000

Philosophy department concerns

• PHIL 3450 (Philosophy of Childhood) has had no follow up so far
• Elaine Englehardt had a bad experience teaching live interactive Ethic and Values class (She felt there was a lack of attention from students)
• Chris Weigel said concurrent enrollment only applies on campus- this is unclear, needs clarification

Big Mobile (AT&T competition)
Jared's idea: Mobile Moodle (discussed with developers in earlier meeting)
Janel's idea: Find a way to extract flash cards out of a class that would prompt you with questions (a study aid)

• Links through SMS sensor
• You could reply to answer, i.e. multiple choice question, or possibly text an answer( almost impossible to grade)
• Questions could come as flashcard, then answer come at specific interval (10 seconds, 30 seconds, etc.)
• Program so many questions per day at a certain frequency
• A WebCt quiz is basically a set of flashcards
• Think through this idea and present to developers for further discussion
  

IDS Services Weekly Ed Tech Meeting

IDS Services Weekly Ed Tech Meeting
Attending: John, Jared, Travis, Janel, Ken, Dorothy (Marc attending Web Advisory Meeting)

• Travis - His department is planning Distance Ed retreat on Friday July 18, 8 am to 3 pm. Secret agenda will be submitted to John when completed

• Janel - CLSS class proposal to be launched spring semester.
• As instructor initially wanted fall semester, was sent to Elizabeth
• 24 spring sections, 36 fall sections
• Dual approach: Online coverage and Navajo cultural orientation (geared toward Navajo culture; culturally sensitive. Some questions as to what this entails)
• Travis wondered if any studies about how to make this culturally sensitive have been done; John thought that studies have already been completed
• Jared says we need to determine if the class is to be a) culturally specific (Navajo culture) or b) cross cultural (any culture)

• Ken - Internship training (Marsha Haynes)
• Students fill out form including coordinator, who they are working for, sponsor
• Automatically goes to Moodle
• Students take quizzes, orientation, get certified
• Coordinators are able to check on students, make change
• Time frame to complete:
• One day to get running, one day to style
• Needs to find out what they want for pdf certificate
• Will e-mail Marsha directly for list

• John
  
• Interested in tutorial on logins. Advantage is you don't have to manage logins; it shares it out of database
• Discussed future of Distance Education server
• Interaction with account management system; a new version of old contract management system that works
• Web Advisory Committee support- Ken (?) wanted Blackboard; ended up looking at Wikis, Blogs
• Would like an institutional Blog for staff, students
• Would be easier to implement, more successful for faculty, students

• Jared - WordPress Blog
• Open source Blogging software
• Has a couple of versions, great features, good content management systems
• Would like this for Dist Ed because you can create pages and also give permission to someone make new pages and edit pages
  

IDS Meeting Notes

Attending: Marc, Janel, Jared, Ken

1. Ken demo'ed Softchalk, a tool for adding JS-based course materials enhancement. We've planned to purchase 2 or more versions of Softchalk for use in online course dev. Ken will look into how it might work with templates.


2. Jared has a couple useful ed tech books, will blog & pass around.


3. Janel showed CLSS prototype. IDS gave some ideas for syllabus, restructuring to be more streamlined and usable.


4. Marc and Jared showed cheatability rubric, but the submit did not work.


5. Course progress report by all IDs. Will revisit next week.


6. Dorothy will be asked to make notes at IDS mtgs and post to blog.

Desire2Blog: Desire2Pod Cast 18 - East Texas Law School Lecture

Desire2Blog: Desire2Pod Cast 18 - East Texas Law School Lecture

Blackboard Patents Rejected in "Non-final" Determination

Development Objectives & Measures - Spring 2008

At our end-of-semester planning meeting, IDS discussed the following objectives for Spring semester 2008:

Objective 1

Complete 1 course redesigns per ID.

Measure(s):

• Redesigned courses have superior usability over CEversions


• Significant new features of Vista are properly utilized


• Faculty guidance, input, and feedback is implemented


• Instructional Designers' all review redesigned courses

Objective 2

Publish Online Faculty Orientation Modules on the Web.

Measure(s):

• Relevant DE orientation content available via the Web


• Some number of assessments or interactions to gauge effectiveness


• Integrate Web content into DE Faculty Orientation process

Objective 3

Active engagement in opencourseware/open education movements

Primary measure:

• Ongoing


• Open licensing process in place


• Open Mod for Moodle 1.9 working


• Open Mod proposed for core Moodle

Secondary measure:

• Official OCWC membership status for UVSC


• OCW server running public


• 10 OCW courses on server


• Faculty buy-in

Objective 4

Create a Distance Education Intranet system for all units.

Measures:

• Increased access to departmental information.


• Better facilitation of departmental communication.


• Staff/area usage statistics and general feedback.

Objective 5

TBD

Development's End-of-Semester Planning Meeting (End of Fall 2007)

Current Org Chart

Having merged IDS with Media Design Services, our new org chart looks like this:

For the near future, IDS will still have semesterly staff meetings with Development + Instructional Technology, and Media Design Services separately to accommodate the large number of staff.

Fall 2008 Accomplishments

We related our semester accomplishments to the
IDS unit's primary responsibilities as an arm of UVSC Distance Education:

1. JR - Worked on putting ACCT quizzes into Moodle


2. JR - Set up Mimio on the whiteboard


3. Tylel - Authored initiation and review docs for usability testing


4. RJ - Set up DOS batch file to conduct weekly backups of network drive


5. Shaline - Retemplatized Building Codes course


6. Clark - TTIX Web site enhanced, including proposal rating system


7. Clark - Completed online facilitator page for Monty


8. Ken - Assisted in completing JPNS 1010; continuing to fix up the course using Flash skills


9. Ken - Planned and began CSSE Web-based sign-up and Moodle-testing system


10. Janel - Upgraded Karen Poole's ECFS online assignments


11. Janel - Revivifying LSAC prior to Fall grant delivery date.


12. Becky - Editing and revised 18 chapters for MGMT 3320 online


13. Becky - Researched opencourseware initiative and drafted a open licensing proposal workflow


14. Cheri - Completed closed captioning of SOC 1010


15. Cheri - Laid out plans for expanding accessibility duties to the Web with Jared


16. Dorothy - Expanded skillset to include HTML, Respondus, etc.


17. Jared - New course development: MGMT 3320 Hybrid, JPNS 1010 IN, POLS 420R IN, and DGM 2120 complete redesign.


18. Jared - Presented a number of proposals and presentations: low-cost degree program to Board of Higher Ed, open licensing proposal to UVSC, Teaching with Technology series for FCTE, and OCW Merit Grant report.

Fall Objectives

We also examined how well we met our Fall objectives.

• Objective 1 was modified to read 1 course redesign per semester per instructional designer. I would like all IDs to be fully accountable to this for Summer 08.
• Objective 2 is considered on-going, though we are optimistic that two big advancements will be completed before summer: the Open Mod for Moodle 1.9, and open licensing of faculty-authored content.
• Objective 4 was the most well-accomplished on the list, and I think TTIX 08 has a chance at being the biggest and best yet.
• Objectives not accomplished were held over for Spring 08. Objective 3 and 5 are terminal for Spring and will not be held over again.

Blackboard Wins Patent Lawsuit vs. Desire2Learn

Out of the Office Policy

John e-mailed out a memo to the DE Directors this afternoon indicating that all absences should be

1. approved by your supervisor
2. reported to those who work under you

This is not much different from the existing IDS Leave Policy, but John does reiterate that team members should notify their staff of any unscheduled absence out of common courtesy.

Even if you don't have staff who report directly to you, the IDS Leave Policy asks that you inform "all team members who may be affected by your absence" if you're not going to be in as scheduled.

For my own part, I want to remind all IDS & DC team members that my weekly schedule, which does include frequent meetings and events both on- and off-campus, is nearly always up-to-date and shared with all of you in the Groupwise calendar. While it is not feasible for me to notify everyone each time I leave the office, you can discover my whereabouts by looking at my Groupwise appointments if you need me. If my Groupwise calendar is not accessible to you, or you don't know how to view my schedule in Groupwise, please let me know.

Additionally, you can count on me letting Travis and Janel know if I ever close up for the day unexpectedly.

Jared and Marc Submit Conference Proposal on Cheatability

As a complement to John Krutsch's How to Cheat Online presentation, Marc and I have planned out a cheatability rubric, which attempts to measure the cheatability of an online course based on it's assessments and other factors. Here's the proposal:

Nobody wants students cheating in their online class, yet an estimated 75% of students have admitted to cheating during their college career, and according to some studies online assessment makes cheating easier. What is your course's "cheatability factor"? Presenters will discuss their rubric for determining cheatability in an online course with special attention to Blackboard Vista 4. Their rubric considers technical, philosophical, and environmental factors that may increase or decrease the cheatability of online courses from design to delivery. Participants will weigh in on the relative value of "direct assault" vs. "hearts and minds" pedagogical approaches to prevent cheating.

Presentation Objectives

1. Inform participants of the extent to which cheating-related problems exist in online education
2. Present a rubric used to measure the "cheatability" of online course
3. Discuss practices and strategies to avoid or minimize the impact of cheating

We've just submitted this to the Southwest Vista User's Group, which is coming this Spring right here in Utah, and I've thought of sending this on to Distance Teaching & Learning in Madison, Wisconsin before the Jan 15th deadline.

XO Laptops Are In

We received a few XO Laptops today as part of the Give One, Get One initiative through the One Laptop Per Child organization. Marc, Ken, and I popped them open and began fiddling around with the capabilities. Our first impression was that these are clearly made to limit adult usage (tiny keyboard, tiny screen), and to inhibit market value. But the UI is very straight-forward, and after twenty minutes I think we were all literate in the basic menus and functionalities.

I'm sure I'll add more later, but wanted to make a quick, enthusiastic, thumbs-up and provide a handful of photos of the XOs on flickr.

Staff Dedication and Appreciation

I looked at the calendarized version of JPNS 1010 and we have gone from being a week and a half behind schedule to being less than 2 days behind schedule. This makes me very excited, particularly since it reminds me that we are quite close to finishing off this new and innovative fully online course. Sure, there will be some revisions--we know to expect those, and in fact already have some in the queue--but nothing like what we've had to accomplish already. Our developers Clark Nielsen, Ken Woodward, Clayton Lantz, and especially Eric Liu have all put up with a lot of stress and pressure, but have shown more dedication that I could have expected, so, fellas, accept my thanks!

Opencourseware at UVSC - Moving Forward?

Today I met with the UVSC IP Office to go over our proposed process to allow for the open licensing of UVSC-owned, faculty authored materials. This is necessary because UVSC has ownership over most faculty-authored materials as provided in UVSC Policy 136: Intellectual Property.

So the process I proposed sets up an "open licensing request form" that a faculty or department submits to IP, IP passes to a review committee, and the review committee makes a recommendation to IP. Signatures happen, and the materials are released under a Creative Commons license.

The IP Office seemed very receptive and supportive of opencourseware, and we concurred that opencourseware is a suitable activity for a university. Now we just have to wait for legal counsel to weigh in, and we hope for a complete implementation by March 2008!

Rapid Prototyping and Instructional Design

Disclaimer: most of my previous posts have been fairly rudimentary and objective; this probably qualifies as my first "real" 'blog entry as it tries to fuse my opinion with some of our recent experiences in IDS.

I and several folks on our team are currently in what Janel would rightly call "crisis mode" for a certain online course we're producing. We have been for the past 10 weeks. It's not a comfortable place to be, and much of the additional stress is my responsibility--in part through miscalculating the length of the project's development cycles, and in part by acquiescing to the instructors' wishes for an "on-time" delivery. However, now I'm beginning to reflect on the course of this project, and in fielding a number of complaints throughout the process I have returned to an article I read some years ago on rapid prototyping in instructional design:

Tripp, S. D., & Bichelmeyer, B. (1990). Rapid protoyping: An alternative instructional design strategy. Educational Technology, Research and Development, 38(1), 31-44.
(You can read a summary of the Tripp Bichelmeyer article here.)

The number-one complaint I've heard from folks on the team (myself included!) is that the scope of the project is not clear, and both the instructor and the instructional designer (me) are asking for changes to the tools and the learning media "mid-stream"--that is, as the students progress. But when I analyze those complaints, they lose a lot of their legitimacy.

Unlike other types of design, instructional design has as its highest priority the effectiveness and usability of the learning media for the outcome of learning. What instructional designers deliver to learners is not a product, but an experience. Unlike other media, effective learning media does not entertain, it engages. Technology-facilitated learning media has the potential of providing maximum return for minimal effort. And yet it is still a fairly a new “art”. Though there are principles and best practices, and though instructional designers likely know more about learning and cognition than ever before, there are no easy formulas for designing instruction, and no instructional design will “fit” all instructors, let alone all learners.

Instructional designers design and produce learning media with the assistance of skilled human resources, such as programmers, graphic designers, videographers, etc. In order to provide the optimum learning experience, instructional designers must evaluate the learning media for usability and effectiveness continually, and as early as possible, with the option of immediately revising, rewriting, recreating, or adding to the learning media in a cyclic pattern. As one cycle proves effective and usable, the next cycle begins, based upon the best-practices of the previous, and so on.

Even as the learning media goes into production, instructors should receive formative feedback from learners in each lesson. Formative feedback provides instructors with information as to whether or the not the students are learning, how efficient that learning is, and whether or not the tools that facilitate the learning are frustrating and over-encumbering. When a learner is over-encumbered by extraneous tasks, such as manipulating the technology, learning is inhibited, if not impossible. Such encumbrances must be eliminated as they are discovered.

Scope, therefore, is something that is only recognizably accurate in hindsight for an instructional designer. Scope is a forecast, not a definition.

This idea of instructional design through rapid prototyping may be most necessary when the learning outcomes are skills-based. If you remove the severe time constraints that we’ve been on, this online course is a perfect example of effective instructional design through rapid prototyping. It is also a perfect example of how it is nearly impossible to define scope all at once; the learners have four skills that they must develop, and each skill is dramatically different in how it’s learned and how it’s practiced. Not only that, but as the learners progress through the course, the learning outcomes change, their needs change, and the tools that will best facilitate their skills must also change.

Is there a point at which an instructional design is complete? Not necessarily. Sometimes we finish a project when we’ve shown that we’ve met our learning objectives, sometimes the conclusion is based on more arbitrary factors. Budget, time, personality conflicts—all of these are capable of providing sufficient justification for the conclusion of any given project. But the point is that we are open, we are zen in the way we accept change, we are focused on the learners their experiences, and we base our success on effectiveness more than efficiency.

And though we in Distance Education pride ourselves in outwitting the limitations of time and space, efficiency must still be a principle concern to any director and any project manager. At the same time the process of rapid prototyping and a focus on the learner's experience will help us take learning media from bad to better to best. I don't think the two are necessarily at odds; by practicing the process we can only learn from experience, and our results can surely become better, faster and more efficient. The pay-off is clear; it's merely the mind-sets that are muddled.

--Jared M. Stein

Report on IDS's End-of-Semester Planning Meeting (End of Summer 2007)

Summer 2007 Accomplishments

We related our semester accomplishments to the IDS unit's primary responsibilities as an arm of UVSC Distance Education:

• Janel - Comm 2300; as online instructor and instructional designer this course has been redesigned/enhanced. (IDS responsibility 1)
• Dorothy - Contributed to course maintenance and redesign, particularly BIT courses. (IDS responsibility 1)
• Clark - Contributed to course maintenance and redesign, especially BIT courses. (IDS responsibility 1)
• Eric - Contributed to course maintenance in Vista. (IDS responsibility 1)
• Golf - Contributed to course maintenance in Vista. (IDS responsibility 1)
• Ken - Contributed to course maintenance in Vista. (IDS responsibility 1)
• Jared - Designed and managed production of JPNS 1010 online (IDS responsibility 1, 3, 4, 6)
• Eric - Developing JPNS 1010 (IDS responsibility 1)
• Eric - Began learning Flash. Of particular use in new JPNS 1010. (IDS responsibility 4, 1)
• Ken - Began learning Flash. Of particular use in new JPNS 1010. (IDS responsibility 4, 1)
• Clark - Developed PHP and MySQL functionalities for Flash-based tools in JPNS 1010 on Moodle. This constitutes a major contribution to innovation for language learning and Moodle. (IDS responsibility 1, 3, 4, 5, possibly 7)
• Marc - Faculty training! (IDS responsibility 5).
• Jared - Faculty training for JPNS 1010, ENGL 2200, BIOL 1010, etc. (IDS responsibility 5)
• Janel - Encouraged faculty use of Vista tools. (IDS responsibility 5)
• Jared - Conducted 3 departmental cross-training sessions (Openlearning, Moodle, PowerPoint). (IDS responsibility 9)
• Marc - Transcoded user authentication credentials in Vista (IDS responsibility 9)
• Clark - Developed and maintained Driver's Ed online functionality. (IDS responsibility 7)
• Jared - Coordinated, managed, and assisted on China video production for COMM 3320. (IDS responsibility 1)
• Cheri - Completed captioning of SOC 1010 TV. (IDS responsibility 1, 2)
• Cheri - Improved approaches to captioning with technology (IDS responsibility 3)
• Dorothy - Transcribed video lectures for captioning (IDS responsibility 1, 2)
• Janel - Coordinated TTIX planning meetings and staff assignments. (IDS responsibility 8)
• Jared - With DE Admin directed and planned TTIX 2007. (IDS responsibility 8)
• All - Assisted in execution of TTIX 2007. (IDS responsibility 8)
• Jared - Presented information and training sessions at TTIX 2007 (IDS responsibilities 7, 8)
• Golf, Eric, Clark - Maintained and updated TTIX, DE, and other web site pages and functions (IDS responsibilities 7, 8, 9)
• Jared - Designed and managed new projects and processes for the unit and the department, e.g. Google Docs & Spreadsheets, planning of Intranet site, DE web site, etc. (IDS responsibility 4, 9)
• Golf - Installed, upgraded, and maintained unit hardware and software. (IDS responsibility 9)
• Golf - Discovered an effective web-cam monitoring system. (IDS responsibility 9)
• Golf and Jared - Set up a G: drive backup system (IDS responsibilities 1, 9)
• Clark - Programmed DE web site interfaces and systems. (IDS responsibility 9)
• Jared - Planned and coordinated opencourseware efforts with UVSC administration and Utah State University. (IDS responsibility 6)

Summer's Objectives

We also examined how well we met our Summer objectives. In general, the conclusive answer was, "Not very well."

• Objective 4 was removed in liu of full participation in DE departmental cross-trainings. Be aware that some of you may be called upon to teach one or more cross-training sessions to satisfy my intents for ongoing teaching and learning in our unit. Cross-trainings should be broad enough to appeal to the entire department, but specialized enough to make them attractive and interesting.
• Objective 6 Was removed from the list. The unit agreed that our pilot of Google Docs & Spreadsheets for project, task and time sheet management is satisfactory.
• Objectives not accomplished were held over for Fall 2007.

IDS Objectives & Measures - Fall 2007

At our end-of-semester planning meeting, IDS discussed the following objectives for Summer semester 2007:

Objective 1

Complete 3 course redesigns (one per ID).

Measure(s):

• Redesigned courses have superior usability over CEversions
• Significant new features of Vista are properly utilized
• Faculty guidance, input, and feedback is implemented
• Instructional Designers' all review redesigned courses

Objective 2

Active engagement in opencourseware/open education movements

Measure(s):

• Official OCWC membership status for UVSC
  
• OCW server running public
  
• 10 OCW courses on server
  
• Faculty buy-in

Objective 3

Publish Online Faculty Orientation Modules on the Web.

Measure(s):

• Relevant DE orientation content available via the Web
  
• Some number of assessments or interactions to gauge effectiveness
  
• Integrate Web content into DE Faculty Orientation process
  

Objective 4

Improve Preparations for TTIX 2008.

Measure(s):

• Early and expanded advertising
• Enhanced proposal submission
• Enhanced conference registration
• Online proposal ratings

Objective 5

Create a Distance Education Intranet system for all units.

Measures:

• Increased access to departmental information.
• Better facilitation of departmental communication.
• Staff/area usage statistics and general feedback.

Leave Policy

Here's the skinny on what IDS employees must do in order to have approval for any leave time:

1. All leave must be approved by your direct supervisor before the date/time of absence. This means you must telephone or e-mail and receive acknowledgment before taking leave. If your direct supervisor is not available, go to the next supervisor in line.
2. Once leave has been approved by your supervisor, you must notify all team members who may be affected by your absence. In particular, this refers to other developers or instructional designers who may be depending on you as a teammember on any given project.

Finally, I expect everyone to adhere to their scheduled hours. As you know, you have great liberty to determine your own work schedule; I just ask that you stick to it. The more you stick to your schedule in general, the more flexibility we will allow for exceptions.

Leave Immediately Prior to New Semester

No time-off requests will be accepted 7 days prior to or following the first day of any new semester, except for special circumstances or emergencies.

The first day of Fall 2007 semester is August 22

IDS Staff Profiles

I've collected brief profiles of most of our staff as a snapshot of our current team:

John Krutsch
Sr. Director, Distance Education
* Oversees the operation of the many varied programs in Distance Education
* Created the PowerTools for WebCT
* Openly shares his technical and academic innovations with the world
* Enjoys birding, camping, and all things sci-fi

Jared M. Stein
Director of Instructional Design Services
* Oversees DE course & technology development
* Created the TETC
* Teaches Web design for MCT
* Likes literature, writing, film, card games, and tea

Janel Mitchell
Instructional Designer
* UVSC Distance Education
* Assists Faculty in designing courses for distance delivery
* Project Manager for DE course production
* Created processes for DE course development
* Likes structure and organization
* Enjoys exercise, gardening and going to lunch with friends

Eric Liu
Web Developer
* Creating Japanese 1010 online course
* Helps manage course developer projects
* Assistant supervisor on WebCT CE to Vista migration
* Maintains a number of DE course web sites
* Likes martial arts, tennis, cooking, food of any kind, drawing, coffee and tea

Clark Nielsen
Web Developer
* Working on LI Registration web site
* Developing Moodle integration of Flash language tools for JPNS 1010
* Created a custom quiz lock for Driver's Ed Moodle course
* Interested in writing, video games, snowboarding, traveling, and animation

Michelle H. Erickson
Specialist / Editor
* Edits courses for delivery via DE mediums
* Involved with closed captioning initiative
* Transcribes courses
* Likes writing, photography, "flipping" houses (joint hobby with hubby)

Natthaphon "Golf" Pipatchotikul
Web Developer
* Maintains online courses
* Researches latest technologies
* Develops online exams
* Likes movies, driving, learning new things, playing basketball, and Thai food.

Yoshihito Endo
Course Developer
*Learning CSS/XHTML/XML
* Working on Web CT CE to VISTA migration
* Helping coordinate the development of the new DE Intranet site.
* Enjoys learning and using new equipment and applications, such as Mimio, for use in IDS.
* Likes to go camping with his family, playing Golf by himself, and messing around with computers (This is a lot of FUN!!).

New Course Proposal Signature & Review Process

A couple of things were clarified this morning in our weekly DE Directors' Meeting regarding new course proposals:

1. Dept Chair/Dean signature. We are going to proceed with seeking dept. chair/dean signatures at the course proposal step, not at the development compensation step. John K. has agreed that electronic signatures will be sufficient. We will need to build these into the online proposal submission and review system.



2. IDS has been charged with previewing all new course proposals in our weekly IDS meeting and making a recommendation for the IDS Director to communicate to the Senior Director. Senior Director will cover any final approval at the deans/VP level. We will need to make this process as streamlined as possible in the online system.