JCCC has once again uploaded a new version of Blackboard (ver,. 6.2) that's supposed to solve the numerous bugs with the current system, but as always seems to be the case, old problems are replaced with new ones. Here's the most irritating one for me. The calendar no longer works when you enter new entries. When you click on a day, and enter your stuff, the date changes to the current day. So as a workaround, you manually have to change the date before posting the new entry. What a time waster! I could go on, but this page from the Ed Tech Ctr at JCCC does a great job of listing all the new bugs: http://ce-annotations.blogspot.com/

You know, I really used to like WebCT, but since Blackboard took it over, the software has created numerous problems, which is kind of a big deal since I've become reliant on CMS for all of my classes. Another example of how mergers that are great for the companies and the CEOs are awful for the consumers...

On a bright note, JCCC purchased a site license for SoftChalk, so I'm converting all my boring web pages into colorful templates with that software. It's really easy to copy and paste pages created using FrontPage into SoftChalk. Uploading to Blackboard is swift and easy. My one complaint: It doesn't let me look at the HTML code to change some problems (font size, formatting, etc.) quickly as does FrontPage.

The League for Innovation has a series of online modules for the community college teacher. Much of the stuff is pretty basic (e.g. tips for learning your students' names), but it is well outlined so you can easily access specific modules of most interest to you. They have some information on teaching online classes, but it makes up only a very sm:all section of a larger module on using technology with your classes. I do want to list some of the technology resources here though because they do contain more information than what's present in the module:

• Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever
• Educause
• Instructional Technology Council
  

I'll be teaching Masterpieces of Cinema in the fall. Here's a list of some film studies web sites that I've found. I'll probably be adding more leading up to the course.

• Film Studies Resources on the Internet: This one page guide was created by students at the University of Alberta, and it hasn't been updated since 1995. However, it does contain links on film journals, directors, academic aspects, and links to other film studies sites on the Internet. I think this is basically a "dead" page, though, and many of the links don't work.
• Senses of Cinema is an online journal devoted to film discussion. Recent articles appear on the Bob Dylan documentary, music in The Royal Tenenbaums, and Robert Towne.
• Film-Philosophy classifies itself as a "salon-journal" where members post messages on directors, philosophers, and specific films. Some good stuff is here, but the web site is designed poorly (kind of like Arts and Letters Daily), making it difficult to find specific subjects that you might be researching. It seems more like a site you just browse weekly.
  

It's now the second week of the semester, and right now I'm quite happy to be on sabbatical. Over the break, JCCC decided to upgrade to WebCT 6.0. This plan seemed like a good idea until I uploaded my old courses into the new software and saw what WebCT did to them -- mainly it re-sets the entire course without giving you the option to only re-set certain items as the old software did. It also gets rid of icons, re-does the layout on the home page, etc. As I left for break, I was thankful that I would have an entire semester to play around with the new software before my summer classes begin. Our WebCT listserve on campus has been flooded with messages of complaint from instructors on what now appears to have been possibly not the best time for an upgrade. WebCT does have a 6.0 orientation page at least. The Ed Tech Center at JCCC has put together it's own helpful FAQ page.

Depressing Course Management Software Merger

Yesterday, it was announced that Blackboard had bought out WebCT for $180 million. I guess this was inevitable since I don't think either company was getting enough business by itself to turn a real profit. Still, I'm not a fan of this merger. First, I worry that WebCT, which has been the more comprehensive (yet not as user-friendly) course management program will be simplified as Blackboard is. Second, less competition can't be a good thing for education institutions who will now have to pay whatever this new bigger company wants. Yes, there's some smaller course management software programs out there, but how realistic is it for large colleges to actually go with one of these companies? Third, to what extent will current WebCT users have to now learn a new program? Right now, Blackboard's site says that the WebCT product line will remain "intact and supported," but I'm sure eventually in some future version WebCT will be dropped entirely as a name. More information on the mergers can be found here:

• The Chronicle of Higher Education (password required)
• The corporate spin
• An analysis from Inside Higher Education

Innovate, an journal devoted to online education, has an entire issue devoted to video games and education. Some of the essays in the issue:

• What Would a State of Art Instructional Video Game Look Like?
  
• Epistemic Games
  
• What can K-12 School Leaders Learn from Video Games and Gaming?
  
• Simschool: The Game of Teaching
  
• Changing the game: What Happens When Video Games Enter the Classroom?
  
• Game-Informed Learning: Applying Computer Game Processes to Higher Education
  

Comp 1 Class: Take a look at this report on a "green" school in Chicago. How does it help to explain a "concept" as you want to do for essay 1? Mark areas where you find information about the characteristics of this school. Mark areas that discuss the implications of this school.

Attention Comp 1 Students: Ideas for new entertainment or media phenomena concepts. (Some of these -- video games -- are too broad, so they would need to be narrowed a bit. Video games would probably be better as role playing games, for example.)

• Emo Music -
  
• Transportable Entertainment
  
• Reality TV hero
  
• Tabloid journalism
  
• Blogging
  
• Video games
  
• Music downloading
  
• Internet gaming
  
• Fantasy children's literature
  
• The Michael Bay action film
  
• Nerd films and TV
  
• Blue Collar Comedy

Community topics:

• Progressive cities
  
• Green living
  
• Volunteerism
  
• Community development
  
• Evangelism (for church community)
  
• Employee-Centered Workplace (skim down and look at the table titled "The New Workplace")

This topic doesn't really have to do with writing directly, but since I use the Internet all day long to access my online courses, it does relate. After several months of using and enjoying Firefox as a browser, I've decided to go back to using IE Explorer. I really liked the tabbed browsing, the RSS feeds and the search box at the bottom of the screen, but as time went on, I just found that the browser got slower and slower. It took longer to open and would lock up frequently. The big thing, though, was that one day it just stopped working in WebCT, the course management software that I use to access student work. When I logged into WebCT, I would just get a white screen. I'm now using Explorer again. It's not as exciting, but it's not crashing and the pages load more quickly.

Research work begins this week in Composition 2. Over the next coming entries, I'll link to good research web sites. Here's a start:

For hundreds of research ideas, check out CQ Researcher's index

For a great search engine try A9

For a quick reference page on evaluating web sites see this page from Cornell University.

Now that the college has changed servers, my old web pages no longer work. At first I just considered moving all the material to the new server and keeping things as is, but I decided to use this as an opportunity to completely re-do the entire site. That will keep me busy for awhile if I can ever get the opportunity to devote some time to it that is. The college is in the midst improving itself by tackling the Baldrige award. I've been working on part of the Process Management section for three years now. It's like math was for me in high school - it makes sense when I read over the stuff and then when I actually start writing it, the questions just seem to get very cloudy.

Some important links in this evaluation process:

• AQIP
• Education Criteria for the Baldrige

Some new links to consider:

• A really good blog from a reporter covering Iraq
• Firefox -- a terrific browser
• Arts and Letters Daily
• A wonderful new search engine
  

It's the start of a new semester at JCCC. I'll be doing five online classes. Goals for this semester: 1) Have a smooth online group project in British Writers. 2) Create three unique paper assignments for Introduction to Literature. 3) Add a new topic on my readings page for my online comp 2 class. I'd really like to move back to having students do more writing that is available for viewing on the WWW - I've become too reliant on having everything contained within the course management software we're using. Personal development goals -- research online education more - begin writing about it from a theoretical perspective rather than focusing mainly on the "how to's" aspect. One final goal - keep up with this damn blog this semester.

Some good sites to show the unreliability of the Internet:
The Mankato, Minnesota Home Page at http://www.lme.mankato.msus.edu/mankato/mankato.html
Women and AIDS at http://www.ithaca.edu/library/research/AIDSFACTS.htm The Welcome to the White House Home Page at http://www.whitehouse.org/

My web site is slowly being moved to a new server. I'll now be housed on http://staff.jccc.net/jmcward.

The first two weeks of school have now passed and things are moving along smoothly. Must get my late-start comp 1 ready to go. British Writers class is going well with the hybrid model. The goal with this class is to cut back on the papers and replace them with different writing projects. We'll still have one formal essay that only I will see as instructor. Each week we have bulletin board postings that everyone in class reads. At the end of the semester we'll have group web pages so the focus will be on collaborative writing with classmates. Finally, I'm having each student maintain a blog for some public writing. The blog will also allow students to really study the history of one period of literature throughout the semester. Often, the historical part of the course is overlooked somewhat because of time pressure, and I'm hoping that the blog will help solve this problem. The library now has an excellent literary resource - look for Literature Resource Center on the Library database homepage. Sorry it's only for JCCC students and faculty. Later.

It's been a REALLY long time since I've written anything. I want to use blogs in my British Writers class in the fall. Here's my idea: Each student will take a particular author or period of literature and keep a weekly blog on that subject for the entire semester. Each week, students should post something on their person or period of literature. Present some facts about the subject matter and offer a link for where to find more information on the person. For example, I might write about Daniel Defoe and mention that he wrote one of the first novels Robinson Crusoe. I could then link to an online version of the text. My hope would be that students would also evaluate sites that the visit as well.

It's been a long time since I've written anything. Summer school has started, and I'm busy keeping up with the grading. Don't know if I'll have anymore time to keep this bog updated regularly or not. I do want to post my favorite grammar and writing site. Don't have time to write more now. Will try to come back later this week and discuss the online class more.

It's getting toward the end of the semester. The research papers in my on-campus class are now complete. We begin literary analysis now. We will focus on literary essays over poems, short stories, and plays, however. The first two authors that we're tackling are Annie Dillard and George Orwell.

Next week begins the research project for my on-campus compostion 2 course. My central goal this semester is to make sure that students really understand how to use good sources. I'm thinking of developing an entire course module or something like that in WebCT devoted to the research process. I want to be sure to tell them about the advanced search features of Google and AlltheWeb.com. Another great resource source is Refdesk. However, mainly I'll want them to use the electonic databases at the JCCC Library.