April 28, 2010

Good Morning Developers,

As we are nearing the 100% course development deadline of May 10th for both your 12-week and 10-week masters, your 12-week masters should be about 100% complete at this point. Please have your 12-week master set by Monday so that you will then have next week to work in the course conversion. Once you have your 12-week course at 100%, please let me know so that I can copy the course and create the 10-week master for you to complete the conversion.

To assist you with the course conversion process, please view each of the Jing presentations below to learn more about how to convert your course to a 10 unit layout. I hope you find these trainings useful and helpful! Amy Ode did a fabulous job of putting them together. And if you have any questions on any of this, please let me know.

How to combine the introductions for the Unit Folders in a course conversion

How to combine reading assignments in a 10 week conversion

How to combine discussion boards in a 10 week conversion

How to combine assignments in a 10 week conversion

How to combine external web links in a 10 week conversion

How to change a quiz/test name in a 10 week conversion Part A

How to change a quiz/test name in a 10 week conversion Part B

How to rename items in unit folders during a 10 week conversion Part A

How to rename items in unit folders during a 10 week conversion Part B

Remember you will need to change your course calendar to a 10 unit layout as well – here is a training on how to make sure the total in your course calendar matches the total in the grade center

Have a great week and once again, please have your 12-week masters set by Monday so next week you can work in the 10-week conversion.

Heather

January 11, 2010

Hello Developers!

Next Monday marks the 75% completion date for this development round and I look forward to going into your courses to check the progress. It is also time to begin thinking about the 10-week master shells.

As you all know, you first develop your courses in a 12 unit format and then I will copy the course into a 10 unit shell and you will need to convert the content to be delivered in 10 weeks instead of 12 weeks. Amy Ode put together several trainings that go over how to combine this information. Please view each of the Jing presentations below to learn more about how to convert your course to a 10 unit layout. I hope you find these trainings useful and helpful! And if you have any questions on any of this, please let me know.

You will not need to do this until after your 12 week course is developed, but there are quite a few videos so I wanted to give you some time to look through them.

How to combine the introductions for the Unit Folders in a course conversion

How to combine reading assignments in a 10 week conversion

How to combine discussion boards in a 10 week conversion

How to combine assignments in a 10 week conversion

How to combine external web links in a 10 week conversion

How to change a quiz/test name in a 10 week conversion Part A

How to change a quiz/test name in a 10 week conversion Part B

How to rename items in unit folders during a 10 week conversion Part A

How to rename items in unit folders during a 10 week conversion Part B

Remember you will need to change your course calendar to a 10 unit layout as well – here is a training on how to make sure the total in your course calendar matches the total in the grade center

Have a great week and please let me know if you have any questions!

Heather

November 23, 2009

Hello Developers!

As you all know, you first develop the courses in a 12 unit format and then I will copy the course into a 10 unit shell and you will need to convert the content to be delivered in 10 weeks instead of 12 weeks. I have put together several trainings that go over how to combine this information. Please view each of the Jing presentations below to learn more about how to convert your course to a 10 unit layout. I hope you find these trainings useful and helpful!

You will not need to do this until after your 12 week course is developed, but there are quite a few videos so I wanted to give you some time to look through them.

How to combine the introductions for the Unit Folders in a course conversion

How to combine reading assignments in a 10 week conversion

How to combine discussion boards in a 10 week conversion

How to combine assignments in a 10 week conversion

How to combine external web links in a 10 week conversion

How to change a quiz/test name in a 10 week conversion Part A

How to change a quiz/test name in a 10 week conversion Part B

How to rename items in unit folders during a 10 week conversion Part A

How to rename items in unit folders during a 10 week conversion Part B

Remember you will need to change your course calendar to a 10 unit layout as well – here is a training on how to make sure the total in your course calendar matches the total in the grade center

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Amy

December 15, 2008

Hello Developers,


Please note that next week I will be going into your courses to check for 50% completion next. I will be out of the office Wednesday, December 24th and Thursday, December 25th, but will be back in the office on Friday, December 26th.

Blackboard 8.0:

On December 24th we will be converting to Blackboard 8.0. This version includes a "Grade Center" instead of the Grade book. The new Grade Center is more robust and contains more features. I have e-mailed out the "how to" document on the new Grade Center so be sure to read through it so that you are familiar with it for the remainder of your development.


**Please refrain from doing any of your development work on December 24th and December 25th. Because the conversion will be during this time we would like to keep Blackboard usage to a minimum to help ensure that the rollover is a success.


Ten Week Summers:

Starting with Summer Quarter 2009 Globe Education Network will offer summer quarters on a 10 week schedule instead of a 12 week schedule. We have done this to improve summer retention and offer our students a more desirable summer break. This means that for every master course we create, we need to have a 12 week shell and a 10 week shell.

When you complete your development I will copy your course into a new master labeled .10wkmaster.09SUM. You will then need to go into the 10 week master and combine the information to be delivered into 10 units instead of 12 units. Two folders will be deleted from the Unit Content Page.

When combining the curriculum you will want to think of the course as a whole to keep the "flow" of the curriculum while fitting into 10 weeks. You may want to consider:

• Is there a midterm/final?



• Is there a group project?



• Are there assignments that build on each other?



• Keep the course objectives in mind, what assignments might be eliminated, added, enhanced, or combined to make the 10 unit course as cohesive as the 12 unit course

Whether you keep all 12 discussion boards depends on the content of the discussion boards and if the content can be combined. Some courses will work better to double up on discussion boards in a unit (Discussion Board A & Discussion Board B) and some courses will be able to combine the content of two discussion boards into one discussion board while still reaching the same outcome.

Be sure to look at all areas of the course: Announcements, tests, assignments, discussion boards, unit introductions, and external links all mention unit names. Be sure to rename items so that they fit into your 10 week structure. The course calendar will also need to be converted to a 10 unit format.

HTML codes for the dates are currently in the unit folders so that they can be updated every quarter. When you have completed your 10 week/unit conversion you will need to go through each unit folder and make sure the HTML code is correct. The "how to" document on this will be coming in the next couple of weeks.

Although it creates an extra step we are very excited to be offering 10 week quarters in the summer with the expectation that more of our students will enjoy the three week break, and then persist through the summer quarter, rather than taking the quarter off. On the annual survey there was an overwhelming support from our students to offer the 10 week summer quarter.

Thanks everyone! As always please let me know if you have any questions.

Have a great week!