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Distance Learning E-News |
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Monthly Newsletter from CNM's Distance Learning Department November 2007 |
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DL Leadership Team
Brian Ditmer
Rafael Martinez
Robin Fernandez
Contact Information:
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What's Happening New! Distance Learning Support Services Website
In addition to the 1-888-560-4927 toll-free number, now you can also chat live or email them your questions. Furthermore, you can also check their Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section. Instructors are encouraged to provide this link to their students. Check out the new page at: https://supportcenter.embanet.com/cnm/main.asp (Note: the page is linked to the DL homepage at http://www.cnm.edu/depts/dl) New! Testing Center Website Instructors, did you know that Organizational Learning maintains a center where, Distance Learning students, external college students, and even CNM students who have missed an exam can take tests in a proctored, quiet environment? Its official name is the Academic Distance Learning and Make-up Testing Center (ADLMTC), though most refer to it simply as the Testing Center. The Testing Center is located in S-16, the lower floor of the building on the north end of the Coal catwalk, and now it has a web presence! Please click on the link below to access testing center hours, procedures, and the latest copy of the instructor cover sheet.
Who's Watching Our
Tutorials?
The
Distance Learning Tutorials located at
http://www.cnm.edu/depts/dl/StudentTutorials.php To measure and analyze who is watching the tutorials, the Media Production group decided to use a very slick tool called Google Analytics. As you can see the great majority of hits came from New Mexico but we also got a few from other states.
Click on the map to view it full size Google Analytics is a free tool that anyone can implement on their website to analyze traffic. For more information, open Google and search for Analytics. DL Tools
What is really impressive about this product is the low bandwidth capability support. Matt was using South Valley's wireless network (56kb) and the connection with Florida (audio and video) was very clear. The other impressive feature is the low overhead required for saved files. You can save around 80 hours of video in only 1 gigabyte of storage. Elluminate Live is fully compatible with Blackboard CE6. It is currently being used at UNM, NM Highlands University, Luna Community College & APS. The recorded demo below will give you a good idea of the video and audio quality we experienced during the live demo! Check it out at: http://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/event/playback (select Elluminate Live! Academic Demo)
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Faculty Spotlight
Patrick Houlihan Patrick Houlihan is a faculty member who teaches online courses ENG 1101 and ENG 1102. Here are a couple of answers Patrick provided us in his interview. Be sure to click on the link below to read the rest of the interview. Question: In addition to your online courses, have you used distance learning to enhance your face-to-face courses? Answer: Yes. When I develop materials for DL, I try some of them in the computer lab with a face-to-face class as a way to troubleshoot and gauge their effectiveness with students. Question: If you could change one thing about your online courses, what would it be and why? Answer: I'd like to include more audio and video exchanges between teacher/student to create online more of the human dynamics that occur in a face-to-face classroom environment.
Blackboard Tips File Formats for Blackboard In theory, just about any file should be displayed by Blackboard, assuming your students have completed a browser check and set up their computers correctly. However, in practice; theory often stinks! I believe that I know the answer to the big question: Which files work best in Blackboard. Blackboard likes html. Try to use “web page filtered” when you save your learning module materials. I recommend resaving any learning module files that you already have saved as MS Word documents. Other formats should work (in theory), but I have never had a problem getting Blackboard to deal with the “web page, filtered” format. RTF files are beautiful (and nearly fool proof) Save your Ms Word files as Rich text format (*.rtf) files when students need to print a document or they need to open a document, fill it out, and submit it back to you. Non-Microsoft computer systems can deal with *.rtf formats easily, which means that you won’t have to worry about what kind of platform your students have at home. Don’t save anything as a Office 2007 Word document (docx). Many campus computers have been switched to Office 2007, and although Office 2007 has many virtues, it does not play nice with old computers or old computer platforms. DOCX files have some bullying issues with Blackboard. I think of it as a programming enforcer, similar to the enforcer spot on hockey teams, so stay away from *.docx to avoid painful injuries. Below you can find two “how to save files as” documents even though I know that most of you don’t need such help. Save the files anyway. They are provided in MS Word and Adobe PDF formats, and I give you all permission to spread the files far and wide. You may need to send the document on saving files in *.rtf format to students some day.
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We'd love to hear your feedback about our newsletter. Please send comments to dl@cnm.edu. |
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Embanet
Corporation, our 24/7/365 Helpdesk contractor now has an expanded CNM DL
Support Services site for both Students and Faculty.
An online
demonstration of Elluminate's Elluminate Live V8 took place last
September 14, 2007, at the South Valley Campus conducted by Matt Creech,
Enterprise Sales Manager - Elluminate. This
synchronous (real time) meeting application supports full-duplex audio,
live video, shared whiteboards, chat & application sharing.
The product is built specifically for live, multi-media, many to many
collaboration. Also participating in the demo was Kristan Bain,
Elluminate Product Manager connecting from Fort Lauderdale, FL. 
