CTC Ed Tech News February 3, 2014

Here is my news for this week and last. 

Textbook Deadline. The textbook deadline for fall and summer is looming. For Chugiak -Eagle River, it's just  two days away - February 5. So, do get your textbooks requests in this week. Things will work smoother down the line… we want students to know the cost of their courses when they register and textbooks are a big cost.

Academic Dishonesty. Academic dishonesty is something I hear many faculty members discussing. Michael Votava in the office of the Dean of Students revamped the academic integrity website last fall. There is a detailed procedure on reporting violations of the Student Code of Conduct and a link to a form to file allegations of misconduct. I urge you to check out the resources provided on the site and become familiar with the university's sanctions guidelines. Share with your students that you will use this resource if you suspect violations of the Student Code of Conduct.    

Test Banks For Sale. I know faculty who use test banks provided by textbook publishers. Many test banks are available for sale on the internet. Yes, any time there is a dollar to be made online, someone will probably jump in to make the dollar. If you use test banks to build your tests, this may or may not be an issue for you.  

Online Testing Pilot. The eLearning Workgroup has a subcommittee looking at online and distance testing. We plan to run a couple of pilots after spring break: secure web browser, recording of a student taking a remote test (to discourage cheating) and online proctoring. If you are interested in any of these options, please complete this form. There will be a webinar with Respondus on Wed. Feb. 12 at noon on their Lock Down browser and monitoring software. In two weeks, there will be a webinar from an online proctoring provider. Feel free to sign up if you just want to attend the webinars.

eLearning Predictions. Russ Poulin from WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies) asked for eLearning predictions last January from WCET members. Here are the winning predictions. It's interesting to see what some of the ideas are in eLearning and higher education.  The world is changing and it's good to have an awareness of the possible changes because they will affect us. (And WICHE is Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.)