The California Virtual Campus began a program five years ago to recognize exceptional websites used in teaching online courses at California’s community colleges. We wanted to acknowledge the work that faculty have done to create these sites, often with support from their colleges’ technical staff. We also wanted to encourage others to pursue the same kind of excellence.
We’re very happy to announce the winners of the 2005 CVC Online Teaching Website Awards, as determined by five judges led by Sylvia Amito’elau of Coastline College.
Congratulations to the winners! Best wishes to all of those who were nominated this year. And a big “Thank you!” to our judges.
- First-place – $1,500
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Giorgio Spano, Elementary Italian ITAL 1A, City College of San Francisco
Giorgio Spano’s Elementary Italian course received high marks for educational content, layout and usability, and instructional design. The judges found this course to be extremely rich in content. This course’s Web site is beautiful to look at and has strong graphic design and effective use of images.
Students are able to hear the language both spoken and sung. As the student learns the language, they are also introduced to Italian culture (gestures, music, art, etc.). Students are given opportunities to chat online with the instructor in Italian and to provide audio clips of themselves speaking Italian.
In the opinion of the judges, the instructor does an exceptional job encouraging students to be able to read, write, speak, sing, and listen to the language. The instructor demonstrates a strong desire to ensure student success.
- Second-place $800
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Carolyn Brown, Creative Typography GRDS 062, Foothill College
The judges were very impressed by the Flash tutorials that were used to engage and instruct the students. Students are able to check their progress throughout the course by completing skills tests before advancing from one topic to another. Students are provided with opportunities to share their work online. This course site epitomizes fine graphic design, optimal usability, and effective use of images and animations.
Class URL: http://fh.etudes.fhda.edu/etudes.cgi?request.logframeics_id,198825545!
Guest Login: sofia
Guest Password: sofia - Third-place (tie) $350
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Jodi Reed, Advanced Dreamweaver CIS 213, Cuyamaca College
This website is extremely comprehensive, well organized, and usable. The instructor has created excellent video demonstrations of both prerequisite and current course skills. This course received high marks for the use of multimedia and the Internet.
The instructor clearly states what is expected of the students and provides rubrics and examples for each assignment. Students are able to share their work by displaying their lab assignments and projects.
Jodi Reed, incidentally, won an Honorable Mention in the very first CVC awards competition in 2000.
Class URL: http://cis2.cuyamaca.net/jreed/213/
Guest Login: none needed
Guest Password: non needed - Third-place (tie) $350
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Michaela Monahan, Critical Thinking and Composition ENG 116, Southwestern College
The subject matter in this course is presented in a fresh way that encourages interactivity and collaborative learning. The instructor motivates and encourages students as she explains how the skills being taught will benefit them both in the course and throughout their lives. The course provides students with an abundance of links to well-chosen pages that contain valuable supplementary information.
Class URL: http://swconline.swc.cc.ca.us
Guest Login: preview116
Guest Password: preview116
The five 2005 judges were:
- Sylvia Amito’elau, Training Coordinator, CVC3, Chief Judge
- Donna Eyestone, City College of San Francisco, First-place winner 2004
- Sean Keegan, High Tech Center Training Unit, Accessibility judge
- Judith Norton, Director of Training, CVC PDC
- Monica White, Long Beach City College, Third-place winner 2004