Your monthly instructional technology updates
Spring 2020
Instructional Technology & Distance Education Training Schedule
*Updated*
Online - The Fourth Campus
Online discussions are the most popular way to get our students talking to you and to each other about their learning and now that Title 5 requires us to arrange for student-to-student interaction, you may find some of the tips available from Tracy Schaelen, a Distance Education Faculty Coordinator at Southwestern College and a lead course reviewer for the California Community Colleges Online Education Initiative.
CTE Online Pathways Update
The second quarter of the CTE Online Pathways grant has come to a close. The grant is designed to increase online pathways for students who want to complete a skill certificate or certificate of achievement in a Career and Technical Education field. In this second quarter, grant-related activity has included modifying curriculum for distance education approval and scheduling online or hybrid sections of courses in addition to traditional on-the-ground sections. Additionally, the grant supports our expert OER librarian and instructional designer to work with faculty to build or enhance Canvas course shells to be used for certificate courses. The grant ends on June 30, 2020.
Home Page
Selecting an effective Home page in Canvas can support student success. Take a look at the @One resource that can show you one option for starting students off right in your course navigation.
Call Canvas directly for technical support. Someone is available 24/7/365.
The teacher support line is: 833-221-7459
The student support line is: 877-894-3392
Faculty can learn more about using Canvas by working with Deborah, the "Canvas Coach." Please contact Deborah by submitting this form or click the button to the right.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) & Accessibility
A joint message from
Dr. Deborah Nolan, Distance Education Coordinator, and Sandra Calderon, AAC Director
Universal Design for Learning and Accessibility go hand in hand. Providing multiple methods of content representation and features in instructional materials that can be accessed by assistive and mobile technology can help all of our students. The California Virtual Campus-Online Education Initiative (CVC-OEI) have developed a checklist to support our efforts to create accessible instructional materials.
Where to find things?
Board Policies (BP) and Administrative Procedures (AP)
The District uses policies and procedures to accomplish its work. Typically, the Board of Trustees sets general policies (BP), and Senior Management supports the general policies with administrative procedures (AP). The governance process within the District enables all governance groups, including the Academic Senate, to be aware of and provide input to administrative procedures. You may find it interesting to see a list of the BP and AP related to Academic Services. If you want to know more about BP and AP, please ask your governance representative.