The Iowa Community College Online Consortium (ICCOC) is focused on supporting online faculty by offering a comprehensive set of faculty training and resource options to meet the diverse needs of our online instructors. The following strategies are currently employed:
Faculty Trainer:
The ICCOC supports a part time faculty trainer to serve as a resource for all online instructors. Gretchen Bartelson from Northwest Iowa Community College serves as the faculty trainer. Gretchen currently teaches two online courses and is also experienced in other technical applications. She is available to answer technical questions in setting up your course, classroom management and other pedagogical questions.
Faculty resources on ICCOC Web Site:
The ICCOC has established a comprehensive set of resources on the ICCOC informational Web site. (www.iowacconline.org) The following faculty resources are located on this site:
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Library Resources – The library directors at all seven ICCOC colleges designed and implemented Web resources for online instructors and students.
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Best Practices Sessions – PowerPoint files from ‘Best Practices Sessions”.
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eCollege Faculty Resources – Faculty tips and tricks from eCollege, eCollege newsletter, online pedagogy resources, and much more.
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Resources from ICCOC faculty – Tips and information from ICCOC online
instructors. In many cases, this information is transferred from listserv/email
communication.
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Contact Information – Important contacts for ICCOC instructors
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Online Resources – Resources from experts throughout the world ineference to teaching and learning online.
ICCOC Annual Conference:
The ICCOC coordinates a conference every spring for online instructors. This conference brings online instructors together to discuss a variety of topics related to online education. In addition, this conference builds an online community that serves as a valuable resource
throughout the year. Topics include relevant topics like time management, assessment, best practices, building online communities, student support, and more.
Best Practices:
The ICCOC faculty trainer coordinates best practices sessions over the statewide videoconferencing network. This network allows instructors from all seven colleges to present and discuss online strategies, issues, and trends. Each month an ICCOC instructor is asked to present their online strategies to the consortium. A question and answer period follows the presentation. In addition, the discussion can be extended via the consortium’s instructor listserv. These sessions are scheduled in ninety-minute time frames to allow for discussion on additional topics.
Instructor listserv and e-mail distribution lists: Communication tools used to communicate between and among online instructors, administrators, and professional staff. Western Iowa Community College maintains the listserv. The listserve for ICCOC faculty communication is ICCOC-FAC@witcc.com. In addition, the ICCOC Director maintains a distribution list.
eCollege Resources:
In addition to the training strategies implemented by the ICCOC, the ICCOC has contracted with eCollege to provide additional resources for online instructors. The ICCOC outsources these resources because of the quality of the eCollege professional team and the economical efficiency of offering these services through a third party. eCollege provides the following resources for our online instructors:
eTeaching Solutions Training Manual:
eCollege distributes a training manual that provides a comprehensive set of instructions and information on the eCollege system and online teaching. Topics include :
1. Authoring the eCollege System
2. Instructional Design for the Online Environment
3. Uploading Instructional Multimedia Applications
4. Overview of Course Tools and Views
5. Linking Files, Images and Web Pages
6. Technical Tips and Tricks
7. Course Templates
8. Academic Services Products
Online e-Teaching solutions courses:
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ID2002eCollege AU Tutorial - eCourse AU
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NEW101What's New? New Features and Functionality of eCollege
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AU (12/2001) (Professor) - eCourse AU
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ORIENT-AUStudent Orientation Tutorial - eCourse AU
Multimedia Team & Assistance:
eCollege provides multimedia services, which include transferring files into digital format, video and audio streaming applications, and implementing files into course.
Example:
Online instructors can send multimedia team a VHS tape to be transferred into digital format and uploaded into their online course.
Weekly Updates & Tips:
eCollege sends a weekly e-mail to update all instructors, administrators, and staff on topics related to the eCollege system, online teaching and learning, as well as current technical issues.
In addition, the e-mail pinpoints tips that help instructors with a specific
aspect of their online course.
e-College Newsletter:
The monthly eNewsletter provides information from the Center for Internet Technology in Education (CiTE), eCollege product and service news, upcoming online education events, resources for online instructors, and information from the academic services team.
Iowa Community College Online Consortium
