Timeline for an Online Course
THE YEAR BEFORE (OR AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE)
1. As soon as the instructor is assigned an online class to build, they need to email SCCOnline, scconline@sccsc.edu, their name, course name, number & section, and their division. SCCOnline Support will set up a Blackboard course shell for the instructor to use to develop.
2. Thanks to the integration between Blackboard and Datatel, there should already be a Blackboard account for the instructor to access Blackboard through the portal.
3. The instructor will then login to the SCC Portal and then click on the link for Blackboard. This will take the instructor into Blackboard where he/she can begin building her/his course. The first time the instructor logs in to the course, an automated course builder program will run.
5. A beginning Blackboard developer should contact Shunta Hailey, SCCOnline Support Specialist, at 592-4899 or haileys@sccsc.edu for help.
THE SEMESTER BEFORE (OR AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE)
1. A faculty mentor from the Online Course Review Committee will be assigned to work with the instructor. The mentor will meet frequently (every few weeks, for a minimum of 4 times) with the instructor to make sure development runs on schedule. The mentor will be helpful in making sure that the course contains the required elements to meet the standards as presented by the Online Course Review Form.
2. Early in the development process, the instructor should complete his/her revised syllabus for the online course, making sure to cover the aspects unique to the online method of delivery, and submit it for approval to the CETL staff (Jay Jackson jacksonj@sccsc.edu). The developer should also meet with the CETL staff early on in the process.
3. The Online Course Review Committee will do a mid-term review of the developing course, providing a completed copy of that review to the developer, their supervisor and the Director of SCCOnline.
4. The instructor's supervisor then should take a close look at the course at this semester mid-point.
5. The instructor and mentor will continue to meet every few weeks throughout the remainder of the semester.
6. At some point early in the semester, Datatel will automatically create a blank class shell on Blackboard for each class in the upcoming semester. The developing instructor will at some point then need to backup the course shell they are developing in and move and restore it to the newly created Blackboard course shell.
7. The Online Course Review committee will do an end-of-the-semester Review by the last day of exams of the fully developed course, providing a completed copy of that review to the developer, their supervisor and the Director of SCCOnline.
8. The instructor will then have about two weeks to make any required changes and improvements to the course.
9. At this point, the instructor's supervisor should take a close look at the finished product, and if the course is ready to go live, will sign the completed Online Course Review Form and send it to the Director of SCCOnline.
10. At this point, SCCOnline will make a backup of the blank course.
THE DAYS BEFORE CLASSES BEGIN
1. Once the registration period begins for each term, students are automatically loaded into courses on Blackboard. Students will be unable to actually access the courses until the first day of classes.
2. The instructor can notify students that they can access their Blackboard courses through the SCC Portal.
3. Attend the early orientation for online students offered by SCCOnline to meet with students in your online class. This is a good opportunity to meet your students and pass on any useful course information.
THE FIRST WEEK OF CLASS
1. Once the instructor gets her/his first official class roster, she/he will need to verify that it matches the students loaded into Blackboard. If someone on the roster is not listed in Blackboard, the instructor needs to email their Web ID, First Name, Middle Initial, Last Name, Colleague ID and the Blackboard course id to scconline@sccsc.edu. SCCOnline staff will work with IT to get their account info loaded into Blackboard. This process usually takes several hours.
2. Attend the regular orientation sessions for online students offered by SCCOnline to meet with students in your online class. This is a good opportunity to meet your students and pass on any useful course information.
3. Track all your students and make sure that they contact you in some way during the first week. If you notice someone is having technical troubles which you are unable to solve, find out what is causing them the problem and email SCCOnline Technical Support (scconline@sccsc.edu) to help troubleshoot.
DURING THE CLASS
1. It is a good idea to make periodic backups of your course. However, SCCOnline makes weekly backups of all current Blackboard courses.
2. If you have students experiencing technical problems with Blackboard, have them contact SCCOnline Technical Support (scconline@sccsc.edu) to help troubleshoot.
AFTER THE CLASS IS OVER
When the class is over for the term, and grades have been turned in:
1. Download or print a copy of your grades from Blackboard to Excel for recordkeeping purposes.
2. The instructor may want to make a final course backup that will save the students work for the semester for archiving.
3. Old Blackboard courses will be retained until the next year in case you need access to them, but then will be deleted.
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