Johnson County Community College (JCCC) has been using WebCT (now Blackboard) Campus Edition for several years (at least back to Fall 2002). The Educational Technology Center (Ed Tech Center or ETC for short) has provided faculty support for the product as we've gone from CE 3.8 to CE 4.1 to CE 6 and now testing CE 6.1.
We've developed our own face-to-face (F2F) training materials and offered faculty workshops such as Quick 'N Dirty WebCT (back in the early days) for faculty who wanted to use just a few tools and capabilities (e.g. post a course syllabus, class notes, include a calendar and discussions) and Xtreme WebCT for faculty who intended to teach fully online.
Starting in Fall 2004, we developed WebCeTera: Learning and Teaching Online, a five-week fully online course for faculty who wish to teach a course online or place course materials on the web for a F2F or on-site class.
WebCeTera (rhymes with etcetera) is not a self-paced course. Participants have online assignments and go through an online student experience. We tell faculty, "If you've never taken a course online, this is your chance." Faculty from non-JCCC institutions (members of the Colleague to Colleague organization) are also enrolled in the course which enables interaction with new and experienced online faculty from multiple colleges and universities.
The entire course is held online except for an optional one-hour introductory meeting. During the course of the online class participants will:
- Use all the major WebCT tools,
- Experience a live chat and a virtual classroom experience,
- Have assignments due using the Assignment Drop Box,
- Participate in online discussions,
- Receive a free textbook (147 Practical Tips for Teaching Online Groups) and
- Receive a WebCeTera t-shirt after successful completion of the course.
That's the background that brings us to this blog.
Our Purpose:
Recently I've received questions from JCCC faculty and other institutions regarding CE 6.x problems, issues, bugs and fixes. When I've searched Dr. C, I've found little on CE 6 and lots of postings on CE 4.1 (two very different products). So for lack of a better, impartial site to post and locate information on CE 6.x, I'm starting to blog.
It's a good challenge for me (someone who constantly advocates faculty technology literacy). Starting with the next post I'll list issues, bugs and fixes of which I'm aware. You're invited to do the same. You're also invited to check out my blog roll which includes links to FAQs and Tips posted at JCCC's web site. Those may disappear as we attempt to move more of that information to this (CE Annotations) blog.
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