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E-Learning

Faculty Teaching in Classroom


ELITE offers trainings for employees who are planning to teach online or want information on online teaching at Montgomery College .

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education recently provided responses for four distance education issues. You can read the responses by download the following file: Middle States Commission on Higher Education 4 Response to Distance Education Issues (PDF, Get Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader - Link opens in new window) .

Blackboard: Learning Management System

At Montgomery College, we use Blackboard as the Learning Management System for faculty who teach fully online or blended courses. Blackboard features exciting social learning and teaching tools that foster more logical, visually impactful and active learning opportunities for students. Read more on some of the available Blackboard tools and applications below.

The Blackboard app provides an intuitive way to interact with different types of features, depending on your role, be it an instructor or a student.

For instance, if you’re an instructor, you’ll only be shown the courses where you're enrolled as an instructor, TA, course builder, or other custom role. If you are a student, you’ll only be shown the courses where you're enrolled as a student.

In the Blackboard app, you can perform these tasks:

Instructor

  • Preview course items, assignments, and tests • Create and upload course content
  • Participate in discussions
  • Send announcements
  • Grade assignments and update assessment settings
  • Change item settings for assessments and other content
  • Work with both Original and Ultra courses

Student

  • View course items and course announcements
  • Take assignments and tests
  • Participate in discussions
  • Access both Original and Ultra courses

For more information, see Blackboard app websitenew window.

As you are developing materials in Blackboard, at some point, you will need to copy materials from one course to another. This may be copying one of the sites with your first and last name into a five digit CRN site you will use with students. Or you may wish to copy the previous semester’s 5 digit CRN site into a new semester’s course to use with students. Here are the steps to copy a course (PDF, Get Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader - Link opens in new window) .

The Blackboard Text editor features improvements to the interface to make adding content easier for faculty and students. View the new editor improvements (PDF, Get Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader - Link opens in new window) .

Make your LMS digital content more accessible with Blackboard Ally.

  • Integrates seamlessly with Blackboard Learn, Instructure Canvas, Self-hosted Moodle, Open LMS, and D2L Brightspace
  • Automatically checks course materials against WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards
  • Provides students with accessible alternative formats such as audio and electronic braille
  • Delivers guidance to instructors to improve accessibility of their course content

Visit Ally for Learning Management Systems Helpnew window for additional information.

Hypothesis is a social annotation tool installed directly in Blackboard. Adding Hypothesis to readings in Blackboard supports student success by placing active discussion right on top of course readings, enabling students and teachers to add comments and start conversations in the margins of texts. View the Hypothesis websitenew window for additional information.

Examitynew window will provide MC students on-line exam proctoring services: automated and live. This service will continue to be free of charge for our students. Examity is compatible with Chromebooks as well as Mac desktops and laptops (no iPhones or iPods.) This particular feature should allow more students to benefit from this service.

Examity is available through Blackboard. They have shared digital resources for faculty and students. I invite you to review the list of resources below.

For Faculty

A Windows application that enhances the functionality and usability of Blackboard’s quiz, survey, and self-test tools. This software is available to faculty who have course sites on Montgomery College’s online learning Blackboard system. For more information, include downloading the software, please see the Respondus Installation Procedure websitenew window.

Respondus Tutorials

SafeAssign is a plagiarism detection tool that is integrated into the Blackboard learning management system.

SafeAssign uploads the submitted work to the Montgomery College SafeAssign database for comparison against other student papers, as well as academic articles and internet resources, to generate an "Originality Report" that identifies areas of potential plagiarized work or poorly cited content.

SafeAssign is a tool that can guide students to properly cite and paraphrase sources and in turn discourage academic dishonesty.

View SafeAssign Guide (PDF, Get Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader - Link opens in new window) for additional information.

The Online Teaching Course

The Online Teaching (OT) course is designed to assist faculty members in transitioning from traditional on-campus or remote teaching to effective online teaching practices. In this 7-week/7-module course, participants will explore pedagogical principles, technological tools, and best practices for designing and facilitating high quality online courses. Through practical activities and discussions, participants will develop the knowledge and skills necessary to create inclusive, interactive, and effective online learning environments. This course integrates the Quality Matters 7th Edition, Higher Education rubric and the L.E.C.T. Competencies Frameworknew window.

Faculty within their first two semesters at Montgomery College with experience teaching online at another institution can apply for Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) as an alternative approach. Read more about CPL assessment (PDF, Get Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader - Link opens in new window) . To apply for this opportunity, please seek permission from your Instructional Dean and Department Chair prior to filling out the Eligibility Application Formnew window. The application is due at least four weeks prior to the start of the semester in which online teaching is desired. If you are eligible, the Dean of MC Online and Academic Support will notify you of the steps required to submit evidence for further assessment.

For additional information, please contact the Dean of MC Online and Academic Support, Dr. Shinta Hernandez.

Quality Matters (QM)

Quality Matters (QM) is a faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online courses and online components. Quality Matters has generated widespread interest and received national recognition for its peer-based approach to quality assurance and continuous improvement in online education.

Montgomery College is a Quality Matters subscriber. ELITE offers training opportunities to faculty who are interested in becoming QM peer reviewers and/or having their courses formally reviewed using the QM Rubric. If your application for QM Review is accepted, ELITE will conduct a pre-review of your course. Check Workshop Calendar and MC Learns for QM training dates and times.

The College is committed to implementing the Quality Matters standards for the design of online and hybrid courses, and we are systematically developing and evaluating these courses based on these rigorous, research-based standards. 

Becoming a Certified Quality Matters Peer Reviewer requires the following:  Experience teaching online within 18 months of taking the Peer Reviewer Course, Completion of the Quality Matters course “Applying the QM Rubric” (APPQMR), and Completion of the Peer Review Certification (PRC) course. If you are interested in becoming a Peer Reviewer at Montgomery College, please contact Tia Roebuck.

To view a list of courses that have been recognized by QM at Montgomery College, download Quality Matters Recognized Courses at MC (PDF, Get Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader - Link opens in new window) .

Participating in a formal QM Peer Review requires the completion of the Quality Matters course “Applying the QM Rubric” (APPQMR) .  You can register for APPQMR with Quality Mattersnew window at the member rate and it is EAP eligible. After making your course adjustments according to the QM rubric, your course must be delivered at least twice over two semesters to support quality assurance.

The QM Higher Ed Rubric, Seventh Edition is now available, effective for all QM reviews after July 2023.  A free Rubric Update professional development self-paced classnew window is available for any faculty or staff member. QM Role holders will have approximately six months to complete the self-paced session to maintain their roles.  Highlights of key changes to the Rubric and Review process can be found in the QM 7th Edition (PDF, Get Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader - Link opens in new window) .

Are you interested in learning more about QM? Contact ELITE.


Please see Employee Professional Development for all available workshops, classes, and programs.

 

 

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