Each class offering of any course has its own unique identification number.
This is referred to as the CRN (or Course Reference Number). Typically, the CRN consists of 5 digits for Spring or Fall semesters and 4 digits for summer semesters.
For example, you might register for a fall section of an online Accounting 101 course which has a CRN of 20001.
Online Academy (OLA) is your opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills to design and develop an online course and teach it successfully. In addition to the OLA trainers, you will have access to other faculty who are currently teaching online. A current online instructor will be assigned as your mentor. All of the staff and faculty involved will do their best to help you translate your best practices into the online environment. All OLA learning materials are available in Blackboard. As you become familiar with the HACC Learning Circle, the course delivery system, the Virtual Campus Course Review Rubric (VCCRR) and other aids, you are preparing for one of the greatest adventures of your teaching career: working with students in a shared virtual room which you have designed and crafted.
We hope that you find the Online Academy experience to be rewarding and worthwhile. If you have any questions or concerns at any point during the course, please do not hesitate to contact one of the OLA trainers.
If you have any questions or concerns at any point during the course, please do not hesitate to contact one of the OLA trainers.
Online Academy is designed to meet the need for qualified online faculty by HACC's Virtual Campus as mandated in its mission statement. Online Academy is an intense online training program with a focus on the skills and pedagogy required to successfully develop and teach online courses based on the Virtual Campus' Course Assessment Rubric (VCCAR). This is accomplished by placing the participants , in dual roles as both prospective online teachers, and as online students enrolled in a training course called Online Academy. These perspectives form an experiential foundation for the participants to apply proven instructional principles to the course being developed, and to integrate them into the online electronic environment supported by HACC's Virtual Campus.
Participants will complete nine weeks of online training and show application of knowledge by preparing materials for their proposed online course. At the conclusion of Online Academy, participants will be expected to have completed three chapters (units, elements, modules) of the course they are developing for online delivery. While Online Academy is required for teaching online classes at HACC (Administrative Procedure 772), and reasonable effort is made to accommodate graduates of Online Academy, enrollment and completion of Online Academy does not guarantee employment to teach online courses at HACC.
At the completion of Online Academy, participants will be able to:
develop an online course that meets the baseline standards set forth by the Virtual Campus Course Review Rubric (VCCRR)
develop an online course using a Virtual Campus approved course management system
incorporate Internet appropriate materials that are usable by all users into their online courses
Attendance
To fulfill the attendance requirement and to be successful in this course, you will be expected to log into the OLA Blackboard course at least 3 – 4 times a week to stay connected with the class, complete assignments, and keep up with discussions and other communications. In order to successfully complete Online Academy, participants must participate in at least 7 of the course discussions. Please post your original response to each discussion by Thursday of the week the discussion is released. You can expect to spend 9 – 12 hours per week working on OLA materials.
Course Communication At least one trainer will login every business day throughout the nine weeks of Online Academy to provide feedback and respond to communications. If you have questions related to course content that are not of a personal/individualized nature, please post them to the "Questions for Training Staff" discussion area on the course homepage. Please do not use email for these types of questions as the answers to these questions will be relevant to all course participants.
Course Requirements
After the final day of OLA, the Online Academy instructors and mentors will be evaluating your progress in your Practice Course to determine your successful completion of OLA. Please have a minimum of 3 chapters/lessons/modules/units completed for this evaluation. If you do not have a minimum of 3 chapters/lessons/modules/units completed, OLA instructors will not forward your name to Virtual Campus administration as successfully completing Online Academy.
Course Drop/Withdraw Policy
Participants who fail to login to the course for a period of two weeks or who fail to participate in two consecutive weekly discussions can be dropped from the course for non-participation. Any participant who is dropped from the course for non-participation must reapply for Online Academy if s/he wishes to be included in a future section of OLA.
For optimal functionality in this training course, please make sure that you have the QuickTime Player/plug-in installed on your computer.
If you do not have QuickTime installed, please download it from Apple's website. After you have Quicktime installed, you should set it as the default player for .mp3 file types.
This course requires that you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Please click the Adobe Reader icon to download Adobe Reader from Adobe's website.
This course requires that you have the Adobe Flash Player plug-in installed on your computer. Please click the Adobe Flash Payer icon to download Flash Player from Adobe's website.
NOTE: Course material release dates can be found in the course calendar.
Module 1: Starting Your Course (Week 1)
Module Overview
This first module of Online Academy (OLA) introduces you to the HACC Learning Circle and the Virtual Campus Course Review Rubric (VCCRR). The HACC Learning Circle is an instructional design model that you can use as a guide through the course design and development process. Even though the instructional design concepts and methods we will be discussing can be used in the design of any course, they are vitally important when designing for the online environment. Designing, developing and then teaching an online course requires faculty members to bifurcate themselves into the course designer and the course instructor. For the most part, in order for an online course to be successful, the design and development of that course should be complete before the course even starts. Modifying an online course on the fly is much more difficult than rapidly modifying a traditional face-to-face course.
The best way of ensuring that your course meets the required baseline level for all six standards in the VC Course Assessment Rubric is to follow an instructional design model during the course design and development. The six standards are divided into two areas: course content (Standards 1, 2 & 3) and course design (Standards 4, 5 & 6.) Each course will be assessed by two faculty assessors: the content assessor and the design assessor. In order to be offered by the Virtual Campus, the course must meet the baseline level or above for all six standards. The purpose of OLA is to help you successfully design, develop and eventually teach an online course.
Module Objectives
At the completion of this module, you will be able to
identify the standards set forth by the VC course review rubric
identify the components of the HACC Learning Circle
discuss the differences in online pedagogy vs. face-to-face pedagogy
Module 2: File Management & Structures (Week 1)
Module Overview
Establishing a file management plan before you even begin to develop any of your course materials can save you many hours of frustration in the long run. Blackboard allows you to easily update your files and automatically replace your existing files with your new ones as long as you have a good file management plan. For this learning module we will be focusing on the Blackboard file manager, which is the equivalent to the My Documents® area of Windows® or your course filing cabinet in your office.
Module Objectives
At the completion of this module, you will be able to
create folder and file structures using best practices for file management
replicate your course file structure using the Blackboard File Manager
upload a single and multiple files into the correct locations in your Blackboard File Manager
create web appropriate files for use in your online course
Module 3: Course Expectations (Weeks 2 & 3)
Module Overview
Course communication is a critical aspect of any course regardless of delivery method. However, in an online course the communication is even more critical because of the absence of any face-to-face meetings. You must be clear and concise with your expectations so the students know exactly what is happening in the course. A good course communication plan informs the students not only of your expectations of them but also what they should expect from you. Standards 1 and 6 of the VCCRR deal with communication and expectations. This learning module provides explanations for the baseline criteria of those Standards and also how to achieve/implement them using the Blackboard tools.
Module Objectives
At the completion of this module, you will be able to
design and develop your course so that it meets the baseline requirements for Standard 1 (Achievement of Course Outcomes and Learning Objectives) in the VC course review rubric
design and develop your course so that it meets the baseline requirements for Standard 6 (Communication of Expectations) in the VC course review rubric
convert your files from Word documents to HTML files
upload an html version of your current syllabus
add and remove entries to and from your course calendar
adjust the calendar settings at the course level
use the goals tool to create goals and associate files and course content to the appropriate goals
create web appropriate files for use in your online course
Module 4: Creating Course Content (Weeks 4 & 5)
Module Overview
The primary foci of this learning module are Standards 3 & 4 of the VCCRR. Standard 3 deals with the academic quality of the course. If you have questions about meeting the Baseline level for Standard 3, please contact your department chair (or discipline/program coordinator.) Standard 4 deals with the usability of the course. Usability.gov defines usability as a measurement of "the quality of a user's experience when interacting with a product or system." Taking usability and navigability issues into account during the design and development of your course will allow your students to focus on the course content instead of getting frustrated with the technology. In this module we will provide you with the information you will need to create usable content modules and provide your students with an easy to navigate interface. We will also be looking at some electronic resources and learning object repositories that are available to you during the course development process.
Module Objectives
At the completion of this module, you will be able to
design and develop your course so that it meets the baseline requirements for Standard 4 (Usability) in the VC course review rubric
select an appropriate color scheme for your course
modify your course homepage to be user friendly
create web appropriate files for use in your online course
modify the course menu so that the necessary options are available to you and your students
design, develop and organize your course using the learning modules tool
develop and manage your course materials without infringing upon the copyright(s) of others
evaluate available electronic resources and select those relevant to your course objectives and outcomes
identify the baseline requirements for Standard 3 (Academic Quality) in the VC course review rubric
create and organize hyperlinks within your course using the Web Links tool
Module 5: Interactivity (Weeks 6 & 7)
Module Overview
Interactivity in any course can be divided into 3 areas: student-to-content, student-to-student and student-to-faculty. Including all 3 of these types of interactivity in an online course is extremely important. In this module we will be discussing some of the tools available to you for creating interactivity in your course.
Student-to-content interactivity extends far beyond the traditional text book and can include activities such as games, simulations, self-assessments and interactive videos. Including student-to-student and student-to-faculty interactivity in your course will help you to create a learning community for you and your students. Class discussions, email, journals, blogs and wikis are tools that can help you create an atmosphere of collaboration and active learning.
Module Objectives
At the completion of this module, you will be able to
design and develop your course so that it meets the baseline requirements for Standard 5 (Interactivity) in the VC course review rubric
send, read and organize emails within the course email system
create and organize threaded discussion and journal topics within your course
create assignment submission areas within your course
create and manage groups for your students using the Group Manager tool
Module 6: Assessment (Week 8)
In this module, we will be discussing assessment from two different perspectives: assessing your students and assessing your course. Assessments in an online course can be some of the same assessments you might use in your face-to-face version of the course— true/false, multiple choice, etc. However, teaching online can also be a way of expanding your assessment tool box and branching out to experiment with different kinds of assessments. Developing creative and innovative assessments can help to keep the course interesting and challenging for your students. Before you start adding traditional quizzes and exams to your course ask yourself, "is there another way that I can assess this course outcome?"
The Blackboard system provides you with a plethora of information that you can use to assess your course. The tracking and reporting tools can provide you with data and statistics about an individual assessment question to help you determine the reliability and validity of that question. These tools also allow you to examine how long your students spend on pages of content. If you find the majority of your students are spending a very long time on a certain page, you can revisit that content to figure out why. In short, the system will provide you with more data than you will probably ever need.
Module Objectives
At the completion of this module, you will be able to
design and develop your course so that it meets the baseline requirements for Standard 2 (Assessment) in the VC course review rubric
discuss the differences in online assessments vs. face-to-face assessments
create assessments and surveys within your course
add assessment and survey questions to the question database
organize questions within the questions database
evaluate the effectiveness of your assessment materials
identify the areas of your course that need revisions based upon various components of feedback
Module 7: Theory into Practice (Week 9)
Module Overview
Teaching online is just as rewarding as teaching in the traditional classroom although this new delivery method offers some unique challenges. The most obvious of these challenges is course communication. The absence of a captive audience forces instructors to be creative yet clear in their communications with students. Another challenge that you will face concerns the differences in the perception of time in an online environment. Your students will be more demanding and less tolerant with delays in responses from you. This learning module provides you with ways in which you can deal with these challenges in a manner that works for you and your students. Other materials that you will find in this module show you how to use the Blackboard tools to automate the release of course materials and how to setup and manage your online grade book.
Module Objectives
At the completion of this module, you will be able to
adjust the columns settings in the grade book
reorder the columns in the course grade book
manage your course roster using the tools in the grade book
create new columns in the grade book
edit student grades in the grade book columns
release course materials to your students based upon their user ids
release course materials to your students based upon specific dates and times
create a weekly schedule suitable to your needs and the needs of your students
