In 1997, CSUN started its web project which included use of online materials and tools for use both in and out of the classroom. The project founder was John Hartzog * - director of the Learning Center at CSUN. The Web Project assisted faculty and students in using the Internet in their teaching and learning. The Project supported two types of Internet teaching: Enrichment of the traditional classroom and Online teaching. (1) * a special thanks to John Hartzog for his leadership, innovation, motivation, collaboration, and mentoring for with his "spark" started a revolution in teaching and learning using the internet and teaching tools.
In August 1997, David Jordan received a webpage at Mission College (2) and developed the page to include law cases, web materials and teaching tools for the paralegal classroom.
In 1999 CSUN held a number of workshops to demonstrate the use of online teaching tools to Community College Faculty, including faculty at Mission College. (3) Prof Jordan also developed internet instructional materials and wrote articles - "How to Integrate technology into the Paralegal Classroom - 6/15/99" (4) and " How to construct your own webpage - 10/13/99" (5), and "Webpage Templates" in December of 1999 (6)
In November of 1999 CSUN held a workshop on "Best Practices" entitled "Virtual Visions" which assisted Mission College faculty, amongst other college faculty, in learning to master online teaching. (7)
In January 2000 - CSUN continued in giving workshops on use of internet teaching tools.(8). Staff Development at Mission College also started to engage faculty in workshops. "Getting started on your new webpage February 2000" (9) and " How to keep the student "on task" in the online classroom - Spring 2000" (10) and "Use of internet in the law classrooms - Spring 2000" (11). CSUN continued to give workshops for faculty - "Sundays in Cyberspace - VCSUN web project - April 2000" (12)
Additional materials were developed for students - "Law links - for the classroom use - Sept. 2000" (13) and "The use of "threaded discussions in the online classroom" - 3/29/01 (14).
In March of 2001, the California College Foundation sponsored a new event, called "Tech Ed" - a conference in Ontario, California which showed the use of technology in the classroom (15). Tech Ed now has prospered and is the largest conference in California on the use of educational technology in the classroom and online. Mission College is sending (for free) many of its faculty, staff, classified, administrators, and students to this conference on March 27, 28, and 29, 2006 (see http://techedevents.org/lamc)
In 2002 Staff Development at Mission College established an online "Best Teaching Practices" - for its faculty (16), and in the summer of 2002 - the Paralegal Program at Mission inaugurated an entirely online paralegal certificate of 12 law classes - the first of its kind amongst the California Community Colleges. (17).
Completely online paralegal certificate inaugurated Summer 2002
In 1995, Foothill Community College developed its own "home grown" course management system - "Etudes" - which stands for (E)asy (T)o (U)se (D)istance (E)ducation (S)ystem - Michael Loceff was its originator and developer. (18). From 1995 until 2002, Foothill developed many online classes using its "Etudes" System.
In 2002, Foothill formed the "Etudes Alliance" - The ETUDES Alliance was formed by Foothill College in 2002. It is a community that supports the on-going development of the ETUDES CMS and provides centralized hosting, support, and training to its members. The Alliance's main focus is to represent and support community college needs. Membership is open to higher education institutions. (19)
Mission College and the other colleges in the L.A. Community College District joined the alliance, and then started to offer online classes utilizing the "etudes" course management system.
Online Classes using etudes has grown from the Spring 2003 semester when just one class was offered - Law 10 (Intro to Law), and increasing ever year (20)
2003 - Summer (5 law classes) - Fall (26 classes including
computer science, history, writing, intro to computers and world
religions) -
2004 - Winter 2004 (1 AJ class) - Spring (32 classes including
chemistry (hybrid), english, ESL, nutrition, hospitality, history,
law, philosophy and marketing) - Summer ( 8 classes- law, AJ,
history, and philosophy) Fall 2004 (32 classes)
2005 - Winter (5 classes) - Spring (29 classes) - Summer (11 classes)
- Fall (32 classes adding more business classes, including management,
and sanitation and safety and physical sciences (hybrid)
2006 - Winter (6 classes) - Spring (30 classes including English
101, and small business entrepeneurship)
Our new AFT contract calls for the establishment, under Article 40, of a Distributive and Distance Learning Committee, and this was organized at Mission in late 2005. (see http://lamission.edu/ddl).
A D/DL Committee or its equivalent will serve the function of communicating and advising the college in its decision-making regarding D/DL issues. It should report to the college’s Educational Planning Committee or its equivalent and should include D/DL faculty, information technology staff and administrators involved in D/DL course development and delivery. The college Curriculum Committee and the D/DL Committee or equivalent should address D/DL efficacy as it relates to the total instructional program. The D/DL Committee is under the purview of the Academic Senate. see charter (21)
Etudes is now improving its course management system and Mission College with adopt this new platform for its online classes in Fall 2006. The new platform is Etudes NG -
ETUDES-NG is stylish looking, fast loading, and fun to use, and a better Etudes system. Melete, a Java-based Sakai lesson builder tool - new powerful editor - "The availability of word processor-like formatting tools provides for the quick creation of attractive, readable, and easy to navigate pages," The calendar is another tool that received high marks by users. Events are automatically added to the calendar from assignments and announcements. Math, physics, and chemistry, instructors were happy to learn that there is even a formula feature. The global calendar is quite customizable and displays all the events posted in the calendars of all the courses users are enrolled in. The global calendar feature is especially useful for users with poor time management and study skills. The single log-in feature is outstanding and a real time-saver. You arrive at a personal workspace that is your one-stop gateway to all of your ETUDES Sites. No more multiple URLs and multiple logins!" (22)
Mission and the other LACCD colleges are participating in the Etudes NG Alliance starting in Fall 2006. The ETUDES-NG Alliance is a community of institutions and individuals interested in expanding web-based educational opportunities and supporting learners and faculty. Managed by Foothill College, the consortium provides centralized hosting, training, and support to its members. ETUDES-NG is the Alliance's custom implementation of Sakai. (23)
In order to co-ordinate all of the distance learning throughout
the L.A. Community College District, a District Wide Distance
Education Committee was formed in late Fall of 2005 (24).
The District Distance Education Committee (DDE) will serve the
function of communicating and advising the District in its decision-making
regarding Distance Education issues. The DDE should address Distance
Education efficacy as it relates to the total instructional program.
(25) The
DDE has voiced support of adopting a uniform course management
system (CMS), and at this time it is the Etudes (Classic) and
in Fall 2006 the Etudes - NG CMS platform (26)
____________________________________
notes -
1. History of the web project - vcsun.org - 1997
http://www.vcsun.org/~john/webprojecthistory.html
2. Evolution of the Paralegal Webpage evolves 1997 - present
http://lamission.org/demo/
3. Web teaching workhops held by CSUN - 1998 - 1999
http://vcsun.org/~john/webworkshops.html
4. How to Integrate technology into the Paralegal Classroom
- 6/15/99
http://www.vcsun.org/~djordan/paralegaled.htm
5. How to construct your own webpage - 10/13/99
http://www.vcsun.org/~djordan/webpages/
6. Webpage templates - December 19, 1999
http://www.vcsun.org/~djordan/webpages/template/
7. Workshop - Virtual Visions - CSUN - November 6, 1999
http://www.vcsun.org/~djordan/visions/
8. Web teaching workshops at CSUN for Pace - January 2000
http://hyper.vcsun.org/HyperNews/djordan/get/flex/8.html
9 Getting started on your new webpage February 2000
http://www.lamission.org/start/
10. How to keep the student "on task" in the online
classroom - Spring 2000
http://www.lamission.org/ontask/
11 Use of internet in the law classrooms - Spring 2000
http://www.vcsun.org/~djordan/law10sp20/
12. Sundays in Cyberspace - VCSUN web project - April 2000
http://www.vcsun.org/~john/cybersunday.html
13. Law links - for the classroom use - Sept. 2000
http://hyper.vcsun.org/HyperNews/djordan/get/lawlinks.html?inline=-1
14. The use of "threaded discussions in the online
classroom" - 3/29/01
http://www.lamission.org/hypernews/
15 Tech Ed Events - Ontario March 26, 2001
http://techedevents.org
16. Best Teaching Practices - Staff Development - October
2002
http://lamission.org/best-practices/
17. Completely onlline paralegal certificate inaugurated
Summer 2002
http://www.profj.us/online/
18. Etudes development
http://www.profj.us/etudes/faq.htm
19. Etudes Alliance formed in April 2002
http://foothillglobalaccess.org/etudes2/alliance.htm
20. Etudes Course Shells (2003 - 2006)
http://lamc.etudes.fhda.edu/
21. Charter of the DDL
http://lamission.edu/ddl/charter.htm
22. What is Etudes NG?
http://profj.us/etudes/training2006.htm
23. Etudes NG Alliance
http://foothillglobalaccess.org/etudes2/
24. District Wide Distance Education Committee (DDE)
http://lamission.edu/ddl/dde
25. Charter of DDE
http://lamission.edu/ddl/dde/charter.htm
26. DDE support of a uniform CMS System - Etudes Classic
and Etudes NG
http://hyper.vcsun.org/HyperNews/djordan/get/ddemotions/3.html
updated: 3/09/06 at 9:22 am
David Jordan