COTR Faculty Go the Extra Mile
The College of the Rockies held the annual Employee Recognition Dinner and Dance on June 12. Among the honourees this year were six Faculty recipients of the Extra Mile Award. This award is “given annually as formal recognition for extraordinary contribution to the success of College of the Rockies through support of learning, community involvement, service, academic scholarship, or teaching.”
Faculty members Jim Bailey, Kathy Nelson, Rob Tillman, Jani Vogell, Gretchen Whetham and Heather Wik were applauded for their “contributions that are beyond the employee’s specific job expectations, that exemplify College values, and that have a significant positive impact in the College, in the community, or in the employee’s profession/field.”
Though each of these instructors instructs students in face-to-face courses, they are each also online instructors in a wide variety of programs. Those of us in the Educational Technology Centre are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with these 6 Faculty members – and ALL of our online instructors!
Spring Semester
Ahhh….the sun is shining, the temperature is rising, spring must have finally arrived! For some of you this means the end of your studies here at COTR, for others it is a bit of a hiatus until you start again in the fall, and for some, it means the start of spring semester courses!
If you are taking courses this spring - you should have received your enrolment keys by now (and if you are in CYFS - you’ve started your classes already!). If you have not received your enrolment keys, send me an email (dschmidt@cotr.bc.ca) and I will be sure to get them out to you. University Studies courses will be starting on May 3.
If you are looking for your grades for the winter semester, you can find them (and instructions) at AccessCOTR. This is also the site you would use for registering for courses, checking your schedule, etc.
Good luck to you all for the spring/summer - whether you’re taking courses or enjoying the sunshine!
Wazzup for Spring?
Many of you are currently busy working on completing projects, exams and assignments to wrap up the winter semester. In just a few weeks, final exams will begin and the semester will end. As you bid adieu to winter;however, a whole slate of online courses for spring awaits you. The great thing about online courses is that you can travel around, visit family, experience exotic lands, lounge on your couch, or whatever interests you - and still complete credits toward your educational goal.
The CYFS, ABE (Adult Basic Education) and OFAD programs continue on through spring with a wide slate of courses while those looking for University Studies credits have both ENGL 100 (Composition) and MATH 101 (Finite Mathematics) available in an online format. If you’re looking for general interest courses, Continuing Education offers a host of online options in a wide variety of areas including business, special event management, tourism and safety.
Whatever you choose to do this spring - be sure to spend some time enjoying the warmer weather!
Network Accounts
Alrighty…so you have your Moodle account to access your online courses and your AccessCOTR account to see your schedule, grades, etc…but do you have your network account yet? Sigh, I know…Enough with the accounts already. But, as with all the rest, the network account is very important. You need your network account to:
- confirm an exam invigilator and book an exam date for your online courses (if required)
- access your COTR email and receive messages from college administration and student groups
- access Library databases for research projects and assignments
- access the COTR Student Portal for information specific to students
Note: The requirement to confirm an exam invigilator and book an exam is for online students who must write an invigilated (supervised) final exam only.
So, now you know why you need a network account - now how do you get one? The information below should help you out.
Go to an open computer lab and log on with the following information:
- User ID: Enter your student number e.g. XXXXXXX
- Password: Enter your student number* e.g. XXXXXXX
- Domain: COTRNET
You will be required to change your password the first time you log on. Your new password will need to be a minimum of 5 characters.
If you can’t get to a COTR campus (i.e. Online Students):
You must contact the Student Help Desk to activate your network account and email. (Note: This network account is different than the Moodle user name and password you use to access your online courses.)
- Email: studenthelp@cotr.bc.ca
- Phone: 250-489-2751 250-489-2751 or toll free 1-877-489-2687 Extension 3333
Please provide the following information when you contact the Student Help Desk:
- First and Last Name (please spell your last name)
- Student Number (will be shown on your Registration receipt)
- A new password (You can choose whatever you want as long as it is 5 characters long. Just make sure it’s something that you will remember and that someone else couldn’t guess.)
- Information on how to contact you (i.e. email address or phone number)
The Student Help Desk will contact you when your account has been activated.
Forum Frustrations?
Does your online course have Forums? If so, you’ll want to read on. Nothing is more aggravating than spending a long time carefully crafting every word of your Forum post, only to hit the submit button and have it all disappear! Before you start cursing Moodle, however, it might just be your browser that is causing the difficulty. Sometimes it seems that Internet Explorer just doesn’t want to play nice with Moodle and it has timed out while you’re perfecting your submission. :( There are all sorts of technical reasons for that - I’m sure. Bottom line is, sometimes you’re better off trying a new browser (Firefox, Chrome, and Safari are all options). To play it super safe, however, you are probably wise to create your Forum post in Word or Notepad and save it as you go along. When it is done, you can then copy it into the Forum without fear. If something should go wrong - you still have it saved elsewhere so you can post it again.
Good luck!
Checkin’ In
Well, here we are….finishing up week three of the winter semester. Whew! Time flies. So, how are things going in your online courses? Are you able to find your way around in Moodle? Is the online format working for you? If you are having any trouble, I’m here to help (or to hopefully point you in the direction of someone who CAN help).
Don’t forget to check out the links along the sides of the Moodle homepage for tips on taking Quizzes, working with graphics, downloading Adobe Reader and other useful information. Something you’re wondering about that you can’t find information on? Leave me a comment and let me know and I’ll look into it for you.
Until then, Moodle on, my friends….Moodle on!
Welcome back!
Ah, a New Year - which brings with it a new semester…more homework, tests, projects… It will all be worth it in the end, right? Well, that’s what I tell my son anyway! Hopefully you have received your enrolment keys for your online courses by now and are well on your way into the Winter semester fun. As you work through your online courses, don’t forget that the Education Technology Centre is here to support you. If you’re having technical difficulties, I will do my best to help you. You can find me at the back of the Library. Any of the kind Library ladies can point you in the right direction - just don’t be shocked when you round the corner into my office to find that Darryl can actually be a female’s name too 
Best of luck this semester!
Happy Holidays
Another semester has wrapped up, exams have been written, assignments have all been handed in and students can sit back and breathe a sigh of relief for a couple of weeks while your instructors mark furiously over the holidays!
Enrolment keys for Winter 2010 courses have been sent out and courses will be available for students to access as of January 4, 2010. Then the fun all begins anew :)
We hope you found your online course(s) informative, easy to navigate, and well supported over this past semester and that you will be continuing on to take more online courses from College of the Rockies in the future. The Education Technology Centre’s wishes this holiday season are for speedy response times, limited Moodle outages, and a smooth semester!
However you are celebrating during this holiday season - we wish you the very best and look forward to having you back in the New Year!
Best wishes,
The Educational Technology Centre
(Darryl, Ed, Gina, Jesse).
Checking Your Grades
If you are taking an online course, you undoubtedly have been tracking your marks throughout the semester through the “grades” feature of Moodle. If you are unfamiliar with this feature you can see the link to your grades in the “Administration” block of any of your online courses.
When you click on the “grades” link, you are brought to a page showing the “user report” for the specific course you are currently in. This user report shows your mark for each assignment/quiz as well as any feedback you may have received from your instructor.
What you may not have noticed, however, is that in the drop-down menu on the top left hand side of the page you are given the option to go to the “overview report”. This “overview” allows you to see your current grade for all of your active online courses in one spot. If you want details of the grades for a specific course, click on that course name in the overview report and it will bring you to the user report for that course, with the marks for each assignment and quiz clearly outlined - along with the feedback.
Good luck as you finish off the Fall 2009 semester! We hope you’ll take more online courses in the New Year!
Tags: gradebook, grades, overview, report, user report
Office 2007 Tips
Have you started using Office 2007 recently? If so, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that there have been a lot of changes to the software. Following you’ll find a couple of quick tips to help navigate around.
Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar - this toolbar contains buttons for frequently used commands and can be found right beside the yellow Office button on the top right corner of your screen. The default settings include a save icon and an undo icon. The third icon varies depending on the software you are using (Word, Excel, etc.). You may find, however, that you would like quick access to other commands such as Print Preview or Spelling & Grammar. You can add these icons by clicking the ‘Customize Quick Access Toolbar’ drop-down arrow on the right-hand side of the toolbar and adding command buttons from the list that displays. You can also choose to have the toolbar display where it currently sits - above the ‘ribbon’ or move it so it displays below the ‘ribbon’.
Hiding the Ribbon - speaking of the ribbon (the large strip of visual commands that enables you to perform tasks and includes categories like the clipboard, font, etc.), if you are creating a large document or worksheet, you may find that the Ribbon takes up too much space and interferes with proper viewing of your document. You can hide a large portion of the Ribbon by double-clicking the active tab (ie. Home) to hide all the groups and commands. When you want to display the entire Ribbon, you would once again double-click the active tab. You can also minimize and maximize the Ribbon by pressing Ctrl + F1.
Using Keyboard Shortcuts - like the option of just pressing Ctrl + F1 to make something happen? You can use keyboard shortcuts for the commands on the Ribbon as well. If you don’t know what the shortcuts are, you can just press on the Alt key - this will display the Ribbon and the Quick Access Toolbar with shortcuts called Key Tips. The key tip is the letter or number that diplays over each feature and is the keyboard equivalent that you press (i.e. Ctrl + C allows you to copy text).
There are a few simple tips that will hopefully be helpful as you navigate through Office 2007. Good luck!
Tags: 2007, microsoft, Microsoft Office 2007, office, tips
