MELA Meeting Minutes 2003 - 2017

MELA Meeting Minutes 2003 – 2017

Table of Contents

I. 2003 MELA Minutes ............................................................................................................. 7

2003 – June ......................................................................................................................................7 2003 – August.................................................................................................................................10 2003 – September V1.....................................................................................................................14 2003 – September Enrollment Tool Notes .....................................................................................16 2003 – September V2.....................................................................................................................17 2003 – October...............................................................................................................................21 2003 – November...........................................................................................................................25 2004 – January ...............................................................................................................................29 2004 – February .............................................................................................................................34 2004 – March .................................................................................................................................38 2004 – July V1.................................................................................................................................44 2004 – July V2 Edited......................................................................................................................52 2004 – August.................................................................................................................................57 2004 – September V1.....................................................................................................................58 2004 – September V2.....................................................................................................................62 2004 – October V1..........................................................................................................................68 2004 – October V2..........................................................................................................................73 2005 – January V1 ..........................................................................................................................79 2005 – January V2 ..........................................................................................................................84 2005 – February V1 ........................................................................................................................89 2005 – February V2 ........................................................................................................................93 2005 – April ....................................................................................................................................97 2005 – May...................................................................................................................................101 2005 – June ..................................................................................................................................104 2005 – August...............................................................................................................................106 2005 – October.............................................................................................................................109 2005 – November.........................................................................................................................113 II. 2004 MELA Minutes ........................................................................................................... 29 III. 2005 MELA Minutes ........................................................................................................... 79

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IV. 2006 MELA Minutes ......................................................................................................... 117

2006 – January .............................................................................................................................117 2006 – February ...........................................................................................................................121 2006 – March ...............................................................................................................................124 2006 – April ..................................................................................................................................127 2006 – May...................................................................................................................................130 2006 – June ..................................................................................................................................133 2006 – August...............................................................................................................................136 2006 – October.............................................................................................................................138 2006 – December .........................................................................................................................141 2007 – January .............................................................................................................................145 2007 – March ...............................................................................................................................148 2007 – May...................................................................................................................................152 2007 – June ..................................................................................................................................158 2007 – August...............................................................................................................................160 2007 – November.........................................................................................................................162 2008 – January .............................................................................................................................165 2008 – February ...........................................................................................................................168 2008 – March ...............................................................................................................................171 2008 – April ..................................................................................................................................174 2008 – May...................................................................................................................................176 2008 – June ..................................................................................................................................178 2008 – July V1...............................................................................................................................180 2008 – July V2 Final ......................................................................................................................193 2008 – August Draft......................................................................................................................201 2008 – August Original .................................................................................................................213 2008 – September Draft ...............................................................................................................223 2008 – October Draft....................................................................................................................231 2008 – November.........................................................................................................................237 V. 2007 MELA Minutes ......................................................................................................... 145 VI. 2008 MELA Minutes ......................................................................................................... 165

VII. 2009 MELA Minutes ......................................................................................................... 247

2009 – January .............................................................................................................................247 2009 – February ...........................................................................................................................254 2009 – March ...............................................................................................................................258

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2009 – May...................................................................................................................................264 2009 – June Part 1 ........................................................................................................................269 2009 – June Part 2 ........................................................................................................................275 2009 – July Part 1 .........................................................................................................................276 2009 – July Part 2 .........................................................................................................................282 2009 – August...............................................................................................................................283 2009 – September Part 1..............................................................................................................293 2009 – September Part 2..............................................................................................................299 2009 – October.............................................................................................................................300 2009 – November.........................................................................................................................304 2010 – January .............................................................................................................................309 2010 – February ...........................................................................................................................315 2010 – March ...............................................................................................................................319 2010 – April ..................................................................................................................................327 2010 – May...................................................................................................................................334 2010 – August...............................................................................................................................341 2010 – September ........................................................................................................................345 2010 – October.............................................................................................................................348 2010 – November.........................................................................................................................353 2011 – January .............................................................................................................................357 2011 – February ...........................................................................................................................363 2011 – March ...............................................................................................................................366 2011 – April ..................................................................................................................................371 2011 – May...................................................................................................................................374 2011 – June ..................................................................................................................................379 2011 – August...............................................................................................................................383 2011 – September Part 1..............................................................................................................388 2011 – September Part 2..............................................................................................................393 2011 – October.............................................................................................................................405 2011 – November.........................................................................................................................408 VIII. 2010 MELA Minutes ......................................................................................................... 309 IX. 2011 MELA Minutes ......................................................................................................... 357

X. 2012 MELA Minutes ......................................................................................................... 413

2012 – January .............................................................................................................................413 2012 – February ...........................................................................................................................418

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2012 – March ...............................................................................................................................421 2012 – April ..................................................................................................................................424 2012 – May...................................................................................................................................427 2012 – June ..................................................................................................................................432 2012 – July....................................................................................................................................436 2012 – August...............................................................................................................................441 2012 – October.............................................................................................................................445 2012 – December .........................................................................................................................449 2013 – January .............................................................................................................................453 2013 – February ...........................................................................................................................457 2013 – March ...............................................................................................................................460 2013 – April ..................................................................................................................................465 2013 – May...................................................................................................................................468 2013 – June ..................................................................................................................................471 2013 – July....................................................................................................................................476 2013 – August...............................................................................................................................480 2013 – September ........................................................................................................................486 2013 – October.............................................................................................................................492 2013 – November.........................................................................................................................497 2014 – January .............................................................................................................................505 2014 – February ...........................................................................................................................512 2014 – March ...............................................................................................................................519 2014 – April ..................................................................................................................................524 2014 – May...................................................................................................................................529 2014 – July....................................................................................................................................535 2014 – August...............................................................................................................................540 2014 – October.............................................................................................................................545 2014 – November.........................................................................................................................551 2014 – December .........................................................................................................................554 XI. 2013 MELA Minutes ......................................................................................................... 453 XII. 2014 MELA Minutes ......................................................................................................... 505

XIII. 2015 MELA Minutes ......................................................................................................... 557

2015 – January .............................................................................................................................557 2015 – March ...............................................................................................................................560 2015 – April ..................................................................................................................................565

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2015 – May...................................................................................................................................569 2015 – June ..................................................................................................................................573 2015 – July....................................................................................................................................576 2015 – August...............................................................................................................................580 2015 – September ........................................................................................................................587 2015 – October.............................................................................................................................595 2015 – November.........................................................................................................................598 XIV. 2016 MELA Minutes ......................................................................................................... 603 2016 – January .............................................................................................................................603 2016 – February ...........................................................................................................................607 2016 – March ...............................................................................................................................610 2016 – April ..................................................................................................................................614 2016 – May...................................................................................................................................618 2016 – June ..................................................................................................................................622 2016 – July....................................................................................................................................627 2016 – September ........................................................................................................................631 2016 – October.............................................................................................................................640 2016 – November.........................................................................................................................645 2016 – December .........................................................................................................................649 2017 – January .............................................................................................................................653 2017 – February ...........................................................................................................................657 2017 – March ...............................................................................................................................663 2017 – April ..................................................................................................................................667 2017 – May...................................................................................................................................673 2017 – June ..................................................................................................................................681 2017 – July....................................................................................................................................685 2017 – August...............................................................................................................................688 2017 – September ........................................................................................................................691 2017 – October.............................................................................................................................697 2017 – November.........................................................................................................................700 2017 – December .........................................................................................................................704 XV. 2017 MELA Minutes ......................................................................................................... 653

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2003 MELA Minutes

2003 – June Distance Learning Coordinators Association Thursday, June 26, 2003 Minutes

The first meeting of the Distance Learning Coordinators Association was held on Thursday, June 26, 2003, in Room 161 of Reeves Hall at Hinds CC. Attendance was as follows:

Coahoma

Absent

Copiah Lincoln

Margaret Britt

East Central

Mary Hanson

East Mississippi

Susan Sleppy

Hinds

Curtis Kynerd & Richard Blackburn

Holmes

Audra Kimble

Itawamba

Ellene McCrimon

Meridian

Hubert Yates

Mississippi Delta

Audra Nelson

Mississippi Gulf Coast

Mark Smith

Northeast

Absent

Northwest

Natalie Young

Pearl River

Absent

Southwest

Alicia Shows

SBCJC

Jason Pugh & Beverlin Givens

I.

CALL TO ORDER. Mark Smith called the meeting to order at 2:00 PM.

II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA. The following items were added to the agenda under New Business:

a. SACS update – Mr. Pugh

b. MSVCC migration to Blackboard 6.0 – Mr. Pugh

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c. Blackboard contracting – Mr. Pugh

d. Update on Enrollment Tool enhancements – Mr. Pugh

e. Enrollment Tool Changes – Mr. Smith

f. DLC Association elections – Mr. Smith

g. MSVCC Work Group (DLC Strategic Plan) – Ms. McCrimon

III.

NEW BUSINESS.

a. The meeting opened with a welcome to the two new DLC’s, Susan Sleppy and Audra Kimble, followed by introductions of all attendees.

b. Mr. Pugh provided an update on the status of SACS response to the community colleges. SACS will be sending individual responses to each community college president involved in the accreditation visit conduct in February 2003. c. Mr. Pugh proposed the possibility of migrating to the Blackboard 6.0 software version between the Summer and Fall 2003 semesters. Migration was originally scheduled to occur between the Fall 2003 semester and the Spring 2004 semester. Discussion ensued related to the advantages and disadvantages of changing the original migration date. The two primary reasons for moving up the migration to before the Fall semester were the instability issues plagued by the Blackboard 6.0 software appear to have been corrected and the break between semesters is greater during the Summer to Fall time frame. Mr. Kynerd and Mr. Blackburn provided valuable insight into what to expect with the new Blackboard 6.0 software. Mr. Blackburn offered to create a temporary training shell for each DLC to use for previewing the new software and for conducting training of instructors. Mr. Blackburn also provided copies of the Blackboard 6.0 instructor manual to those that requested the manual. Blackboard has requested approximately two weeks to complete the migration process and Mr. Pugh requires approximately one week for completing the purge of the user database. Mr. Pugh will contact Blackboard to establish a date for beginning the migration. d. Mr. Pugh briefly discussed the contract negotiations with Blackboard regarding the MSVCC. He also discussed the interest by other learning management system vendors. The new Blackboard contract will go into effect in January 2004 and will be for eighteen months. Negotiations for this contract are in the initial phases, and have not yet been confirmed. Also, the DLC’s are encouraged to investigate and include software licensing for the MSVCC and on their campuses (including dollar amounts) when doing strategic planning. e. Mr. Pugh provided a status update on the proposed enhancements to the MSVCC enrollment tool. Praises were given to Mr. Ive Burnett for the fantastic work in building and maintaining the MSVCC enrollment tool. This tool has far exceeded its original intent. Mr. Martin, the prior DLC at Holmes, and Mr. Yates have submitted proposals for creating an option allowing instructors to post final grades directly into the MSVCC enrollment tool. This proposal is under review.

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Mr. Pugh requested that inputs be submitted to him related to what type of history data the DLC’s would like continuously available through the enrollment tool. Mr. Pugh also requested the inclusive dates of the data requested. Mr. Pugh discussed the ghost course problem and how to possibly prevent this problem from recurring. Ghost courses appear when a course has been unchecked for a current semester, or made unavailable after they have been added to the local course lists of some colleges. To prevent ghost courses in the future, the request was made to ensure that all students registered for the course have been removed and then an email is to be sent to all DLC’s for any courses removed for the fall term so that the DLC’s can remove the course from their Local Offering. Also, all DLC’s must periodically check their local course listings against the master course list to make sure there are no courses on their local list that are not on the master course list. Ms. Shows requested that the capability to include a report that can be used when reconciling the enrollment tool with the individual college administrative systems. That report would include a list of all hosted students, alphabetized by student instead of instructor. f. Mr. Smith made a change request related to the Build Local Offering section of the site. A request was made to see if courses selected from the Master list could disappear when the course appears in the Local list. The course would then re-appear in the Master list when it was removed from the Local list. Mr. Pugh will check with Mr. Burnett to determine the feasibility of this proposal.

g. Mr. Smith suggested that election of officers for the DLC Association be completed. An election entailed and the following people were elected:

Chair – Mr. Mark Smith Chair (Elect) – Ms. Margaret Britt Secretary – Ms. Susan Sleppy

h. Ms. McCrimon requested inputs from the association members related to the MSVCC workgroup that she is chairing. The workgroup assignment is to review the future direction of distance learning and the MSVCC. A proposal was made for Ms. McCrimon to request that the workgroup assignment be assigned to the DLC Association to address during the creation of the DLC Association strategic plan. IV. FUTURE MEETINGS. A request was made to meet in person every two months at different community colleges on a rotating basis. Mr. Yates volunteered to host the next DLC meeting at Meridian CC in early August. Mr. Yates will provide a tour of their testing center and their audio/visual studio.

V. ADJOURNMENT. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:20 PM

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2003 – August Distance Learning Coordinators Association Wednesday, August 6, 2003 Minutes

A meeting of the Distance Learning Coordinators Association was held on Wednesday, August 6, 2003, the Webb Center at Meridian CC. Attendance was as follows:

Coahoma

Absent

Copiah Lincoln

Margaret Britt

East Central

Absent

East Mississippi

Susan Cumberland-Sleppy

Hinds

Curtis Kynerd & Richard Blackburn

Holmes

Audra Kimble

Itawamba

Absent

Meridian

Hubert Yates

Mississippi Delta

Absent

Mississippi Gulf Coast

Mark Smith & Jennifer Leimer

Northeast

Absent

Northwest

Absent

Pearl River

Steve Howard & Janice Poole

Southwest

Absent

SBCJC

Jason Pugh & Beverlin Givens

I.

CALL TO ORDER. Mark Smith called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.

II.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA.

III.

OLD BUSINESS.

a. SACS Response update – Mr. Pugh Mr. Pugh emphasized that the SACS response that is to be submitted by April 2004 was only a progress report of how the colleges within the consortium are measuring attainment of the identified items. He felt that a unified response would not be necessary, as each college will identify how they were ensuring compliance in the identified areas. The community college presidents will make the final decision on the April follow-ups and the need for a unified response.

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b. Blackboard 6 Migration Status – Mr. Pugh The Blackboard migration began August 5, 2003. It is estimated that the migration will be completed within 5 days.

c. Enrollment Tool Enhancements Update – Mr. Pugh

a. The new report listing students alphabetically has been developed and has been loaded on the test server to be evaluated. b. The ghost course problem is currently being examined and a fix will likely be implemented in Spring 2004. c. Beginning in Spring 2004 the Local drop list of the Local Course Offering page will be automatically cleared. d. Mr. Burnett is researching what course of action to take to either remove the course name/number from the Master drop list of the Local Course Offering page or to change the color of the course name/number once the course has been added to the Local list. e. Creating an archive section of past semester is still under review. f. Jason will provide access to all DLC’s to evaluate changes to the enrollment tool when they have been created. The evaluation period will normally be 30 days. d. MSVCC Work Group Recommendation Status – Mr. Smith Mr. Smith read the recommendations made by the MSVCC work group to Dr. Garner on August 5, 2003. Ms. McCrimon did an outstanding job chairing and writing the recommendation package. a. Reduction of the add/drop period. General discussion about the add/drop period for the online courses occurred and it was determined that the add/drop period will be shorten to two days beginning with the Spring 2004 semester. Mr. Pugh will update the MSVCC calendar. It was also identified that the Summer semester of 8 weeks is too short. All DLC’s in coordination with Mr. Pugh will review subsequent Summer calendars to determine if one or two weeks can be added to the semester. The reduction of the add/drop period to two days will ease this problem a little. Changes to the add/drop period, calendar changes, and submission of calendars will follow the MSVCC policy of approval by the academic deans and college presidents. NEW BUSINESS.

IV.

b. New DLC’s, Jennifer Leimer, MGCCC and Janice Poole, PRCC were introduced to the association.

c. SBCJC Organizational Change – Mr. Pugh

Mr. Pugh outlined the new SBCJC organizational changes. The office of Distance Education which has been traditionally directly under the agency executive director will move under the direction of the programs division of the agency effective September 1, 2003. This move should strengthen the MSVCC collaboration and not have a major impact on the colleges.

d. Online Grade Submissions – Mr. Pugh

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Mr. Burnett is currently working on the function to submit grades using the enrollment tool. This task is expected to be completed in time for Spring 2004, however it may be in place for the Fall 2003 semester. e. ListServ or Discussion Board – Mr. Smith Mr. Smith led the discussion about having an MSVCC wide ListServ or discussion board for the online faculty. Mr. Pugh will establish an Organization in Blackboard that will provide the capability to us the discussion board function for all instructors. The DLC’s, Mr. Pugh, and Ms. Givens will be responsible for moderating the discussion board on a monthly rotating basis. Mr. Kynerd inquired about the possibility of providing professional development credit for participation in the discussion forums. This area will need to be researched. ANGEL and Trivantis – Mr. Smith Mr. Smith asked if the association was interested in either of these companies conducting demonstrations of their products at one of the DLC meetings. Mr. Blackburn will research the possibility of CyberLearning Labs presenting their ANGEL product at the next DLC meeting. g. Tour of MCC Test Proctoring Facilitiy – Mr. Yates Mr. Yates conducted a tour of the MCC test proctoring facility. He explained how MCC obtained funding for the project and personnel. He also demonstrated the software used for scheduling the lab. h. Strategic Planning – Mr. Smith Mr. Smith led a brainstorming session of how the association should proceed with strategic planning. Mr. Pugh provided valuable insight into what areas the association may need to focus. General discussion ensued identifying many areas that need to be considered. Areas discussed were: best practices, test proctoring, statewide training, cost plans associated with projects, and course quality. This discussion led to the identification of the following five goals for the association. f.

a. Training

b. Technology

c. Quality

d. Support

e. Administration

Mr. Pugh will establish a Blackboard Organization for the DLC’s for the purpose of brainstorming each of these goals. The ideas generated in these brainstorming forums will be discussed at the next DLC meeting.

MSVCC Mission Statement: Mission: The mission of the Mississippi Virtual Community College is to provide educational opportunities to constituencies who live within the various community and

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junior college districts in Mississippi and to others beyond those boundaries. The mission includes providing access to instructional offerings through advanced technologies for those individuals who currently cannot take advantage of the offerings of the community and junior college through traditional means and to those individuals who are seeking alternative educational delivery systems. V. FUTURE MEETINGS. Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Pugh are working to set up the next DLC meeting at the MAC conference in October. Mr. Pugh will set up an alternate location if the meeting cannot be held at the conference.

VI.

ACTION ITEMS.

a. Mr. Pugh will provide access to all DLC’s to access the enrollment tool test server.

b. Mr. Pugh will update the MSVCC calendar to reflect two days for the add/drop period.

c. Mr. Pugh will establish an organization in Blackboard for the faculty.

d. Mr. Blackburn will look into the possibility of CyberLearning Labs conducting a presentation at the next DLC meeting.

e. Mr. Pugh will establish an organization in Blackboard for the DLC’s to brainstorm ideas about the association goals.

f. Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Pugh will set up the location for the next DLC meeting.

VII. ADJOURNMENT. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.

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2003 – September V1 Distance Learning Coordinators Association Wednesday, September 17, 2003 Minutes

A meeting of the Distance Learning Coordinators Association was held on Wednesday, September 17, 2003, at the SBCJC 5 th floor conference room. Attendance was as follows:

Coahoma

Letha Richards

Copiah Lincoln

Margaret Britt

East Central

Mary Hanson

East Mississippi

Susan Cumberland

Hinds

Curtis Kynerd

Holmes

Audra Kimble

Itawamba

Ellene McCrimon

Meridian

Hubert Yates

Mississippi Delta

Robert Strawbridge

Mississippi Gulf Coast

Mark Smith & Jennifer Leimer

Northeast

Jennifer Wamsley

Northwest

Natalie Young

Pearl River

Janice Poole

Southwest

Alicia Shows

SBCJC

Jason Pugh & Beverlin Givens

I.

CALL TO ORDER. Mark Smith called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.

II.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA.

III.

Previous meeting minutes approved.

IV.

OLD BUSINESS. a. Strategic Planning Process Update – Mr. Smith Mr. b. Enrollment Tool Enhancements Update – Mr. Pugh The.

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c. BB Organization for DLCs and Instructors – Mr. Pugh The.

d. Add/Drop Period – Mr. Pugh The.

V.

NEW BUSINESS.

a. Enrollment Tool Enhancement Request – Mr. Smith. General discussion about the add/drop period for the online courses.

b. Spring 2004 build – Mr. Pugh.

c. Blackboard Problems and Options – Mr. Pugh.

d. LDA Determination Procedures – Ms. Hanson.

e. Evaluation of Hosted Courses – Ms. Kimble.

f. Textbooks – Ms. Britt & Mr. Yates.

g. Evaluation of Enrollment Tool Enhancements– Ms. Britt.

h. Technical Support Responsibility – Mr. Yates.

i. MSVCC Communication Process – Mr. Yates.

j. ANGEL Demonstration (When Ready!) – Cyber Learninglabs

VI. FUTURE MEETINGS. Ms. Givens is working to set up the next DLC meeting on October 15, 2003.

VII.

ACTION ITEMS.

a. Mr. Pugh will provide access to all DLC’s to access the enrollment tool test server.

b. Mr. Pugh will update the MSVCC calendar to reflect two days for the add/drop period.

c. Mr. Pugh will establish an organization in Blackboard for the faculty.

d. Mr. Blackburn will look into the possibility of CyberLearning Labs conducting a presentation at the next DLC meeting.

e. Mr. Pugh will establish an organization in Blackboard for the DLC’s to brainstorm ideas about the association goals.

f. Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Pugh will set up the location for the next DLC meeting.

VIII. ADJOURNMENT. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:20 p.m.

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2003 – September Enrollment Tool Notes

 Testing of new items added to the enrollment tool - The test server is on Ive's Laptop - Not always available for access  Do anything you want to the test database - it cannot be harmed o Test the alphabetical listing of the students o Test the local offering section o Test the ghost course problem  What is the possibility of a users manual for the enrollment tool?  three level of user rights for submnitting grades: instructor, DLC, registrar  Instructors can add grades and modify grades after they have been submitted  The modify grade function can be turned off by Jason at a certain time.  Registrars get a grade submitted link for the classes  CHANGE ROLS TO COUNSELOR  Grade submission will begin on Monday at eight and end friday at five  Have the system tested by October first  Master course form protect the top for DLC only  Have withdrawals and LDA auto populate  DLC needs to see all students on final grade list, all others see only their school's students.  Archive Data Committee: o Curtis o Jennifer o Natalie  Add college to the course list and the semester the couurse was taken  Change the Select Indiviual Instructor display  Remove special characters  Remove dashes in SSN in student listing and student update  BB Organization for DLCs and instructor on hold  Spring add/drop will be reuced to two days  Jason will be submitting the next calendar dates - please check with your school  three key issues addressed with BB o Failure of the migration - BB said these things happen o Servers and infrastructure - No prior testing on setups as large as ours - one other larger organzation had similar problems o Breach of contract with mantaining the service  Can MSVCC host their own server? Bodies will be needed to accomplish this tasking  We want to stay with BB  The damage could be worse.  We will pursue other interests  Look at hosting in house  Want to keep local instalations  Build a standardized online withdrawal form across all of MSVCC - Requires further study

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2003 – September V2 Distance Learning Coordinator Meeting Wednesday, September 17, 2003 Minutes

A meeting of the Distance Learning Coordinators Association was held on Wednesday, September 17, 2003, SBCJC Fifth Floor Conference Room, Jackson, MS. Those attending were:

Coahoma

Letha Richards

Copiah Lincoln

Margaret Britt

East Central

Mary Hanson

East Mississippi

Susan Cumberland

Hinds

Curtis Kynerd

Holmes

Audra Kimble

Itawamba

Ellene McCrimon

Meridian

Hubert Yates

Mississippi Delta

Robert Strawbridge

Mississippi Gulf Coast

Mark Smith & Jennifer Leimer

Northeast

Jennifer Wamsley

Northwest

Natalie Young

Pearl River

Janice Poole

Southwest

Alicia Shows

SBCJC

Jason Pugh

Beverlin Givens

I.

Call to Order-Mark Smith called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.

II.

Approval of Agenda

III. IV.

Approval of August 26, 2003 DLC Meeting minutes.

Old Business a. Strategic Plan Development i.

Jason Pugh spoke with Dr. Garner (CLCC) on the phone and stressed the desire of the Distance Learning Coordinators Association to be involved in the development of the

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strategic plan. Mr. Pugh suggested that a work committee be formed to present the strategic plan. Dr. Garner would like the strategic plan completed by May, 2004.

Mark Smith asked for names to be submitted of individuals to serve on the strategic planning work committee. These individuals need to be experts from the following areas: Institutional Research, Students Services, and Computer Center.

b. Enrollment Tool i.

Mr. Pugh thanked everyone for their cooperation and patience concerning the start of the semester and the problems with Blackboard.

Mr. Pugh announced that the enhancements in the enrollment tool were complete and ready for testing. He also reminded everyone that the test database is contained on Mr. Burnett’s laptop and may not always be available. To test the Database Production Tool log on to: http://172.30.24.6/enrollment . The following enhancements have been made: New Report: Student Listing Report 1. Build Local Course Offerings: Local course offerings will begin blank, all local courses must be built into local listing. Once the courses have been built into the local listing they should disappear from the Master List 2. Ghost Courses: The “Mark Course as Unavailable” check boxes no longer exist. For exact classes you wish to teach from one semester to next, check the “Assign to:” check box. 3. Grade Submission Tool: a. Three levels of rights: Instructor, Registrar, DLC b. Once the grades have been submitted by the instructor, the grades can be accessed by the host college through the Enrollment Tool. c. The Grade Submission Tool function will be available to Instructors beginning 8:00 a.m. on the Monday of the last week of online classes. The grade submission function will be discontinued at 5:00 p.m. Friday of the last week for online classes. d. Any grade changes submitted after the grade submission function has been turned off will be accomplished using the traditional Change of Grade forms.

ii.

c. Blackboard Organization for DLCs and Instructors- This item is currently on hold. d. Add/Drop Period i.

Jason Pugh announced that the Drop/Add period will change to a 2 day period for Spring, 2004.

V.

New Business a. Enrollment Tool Enhancement Request i.

Mark Smith asked about the possibility of an automatic copy feature for creating a new course section. ii. Curtis Kynerd requested an instruction manual for the Enrollment Tool. iii. After reviewing the new Enhancements to the Enrollment Tool, the following requests were made: 1. New Report:

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a. Include: Host college, grade, semester class was taken b. Remove: Telephone number and e-mail address 2. Protect the top of the Grade Submission form for DLC use only 3. Automatically populate the Grade Submission form with Ws and LDAs; Only DLCs will have override abilities of the automatic grade of W 4. In listing of final grades through the Enrollment Tool, DLCs can see every grade in every class 5. DLCs would like to be able to view grades for a three semesters through the Enrollment Tool iv. Drop-down list of courses be reordered by sorting course numbers rather than Instructor names v. Request for “pop-up” alert if spaces or special characters are used in data entry during registration vi. Request that dashes be removed from SSNs in the Student Listing vii. Mr. Kynerd, Ms. Wamsley, and Ms. Young agreed to serve on a committee to identify what areas of the enrollment tool need to be preserved for archive purposes and in what format. Mr. Kynerd will serve as the committee chair. b. Spring, 2004 Build i. Mr. Pugh asked that review of the Enrollment Tool Enhancements be completed by October 1, 2003 ii. Mr. Pugh requested all Spring, 2004 courses be built by October 16, 2003 c. Blackboard Problems and Options i. Jason Pugh reported that the executives of Blackboard agreed that there were failures in our migration. They reported to Mr. Pugh that failures had also occurred with another migration of this magnitude. ii. Three key issues were discussed with Blackboard 1. Failure of the migration – Blackboard responded with “these things can happen any time a migration occurs.” 2. Servers and infrastructure - No prior testing on setups as large as ours - one other larger organization had similar problems 3. Breach of contract with maintaining the service iii. Blackboard offered to implement a parallel system 6.011. Mr. Pugh agreed to this but as of Wednesday, September 17, 2003, he had no response as to the details of this implementation. iv. After discussion of the experience of the migration and the possibilities of the future of MSVCC, the DLCs agreed to stay with Blackboard for the time being. a. Mr. Pugh advised the DLCs to visit with their college Presidents to alert them of the desire of the group to maintain Blackboard as the MS Virtual Community College platform. b. Discussion about the prospect of MSVCC hosting our own Blackboard server transpired – Further research in this area need to occur and will be included in the strategic planning process. Mary Hanson, East Central, asked about the possibility of giving an LDA of never attended to ECCC students due to the refund policy at ECCC. It was agreed that once a student enters a course site, the student must be issued an actual LDA. The LDA is determined by the information contained in the Course Statistics tool in Blackboard. ii. Ms. Wamsley inquired into the prospect of developing an MSVCC wide withdrawal form for passing information between colleges – This item requires further study. d. LDA determination process i.

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