Desire2Blog

I put this blog in mothballs while working at D2L. As of August 1, 2025, I'm officially retired. So, expect the occasional post about D2L, other LMS platforms, news about the world of online learning and the more semi-frequent rants.

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 ow...

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 amoun...

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 Bégin ...

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...

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 surr...

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.

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 no...

Yesterday I served as moderator for two hours for an online discussion forum about President Obama’s 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 Obama’s 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 clearinghou...

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.

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 w...

In a previous post I highlighted part A of the information from St. Petersburg College about their expectations of and for online students . Today I'll take a look at their part B. Part C is coming soon. From SPC: Part B. Academic Honesty and Integrity Expectations. Students may expect to: Pursue academic studies in a positive and ethical context, where academic standards are upheld. Have their academic work assessed fully and equitably in a learning community where competition is fair, integrity is required, and cheating is punished. Understand and agree with recognizable standards on plagiarism . Have access to a stated procedure for filing academic grievances and appeals. (See Board of Trustees rule 6Hx23-4.36.) Responsibilities. Students are expected to: Be honest and forthright in their academic endeavors. Familiarize themselves with the College's academic honesty policy and standards as specified in the online Academic Honesty Policy , Board of Trustees rule 6Hx23-4.46...

Continuing from the previous guest post by Jeannette Campos , here are five more suggestions that she gives for shaping expectations about online learning. 6. Make No Assumptions: Establish a baseline of what your faculty do, and do not, know about instructional design. Faculty need to understand the relationship between instructional objectives, instructional strategies, instructional tools and evaluation methods. Be prepared to do a lot of intensive coaching around how to design and develop online, prior to how we deliver online. Take time for the basics. The learning will be so much more solid if it is supported by good ISD. 7. Professional Development: Schedule weekly learning lunches and support them with an online resource center for faculty. In my experience, this predictable and consistent support really made a difference. I also had great success facilitating a week long intensive seminar for all faculty developing online courses for the first time. Prior to that workshop...

One of the better resources that I have discovered about identifying and communicating a college's expectations about online learning comes from a place where I have lots of friends. St. Petersburg College in Florida is rightfully considered to be a leader in the field of online teaching and learning. They have a very large online enrollment, a skilled support staff and administration, an engaged online faculty group, and plenty of awards to prove it. This is the first installment where I take a look at their list of expectations and opine about how a similar list might look when we are finished (if it's ever really "finished") with this project at Lake Superior College. From St. Petersburg College : ----------------- Part I. Guidelines/Expectations for Students A. Academic Participation Expectations. Students may expect: The opportunity to be active participants in a stimulating and challenging education that is international in scope, interactive in process and dive...