CTDL Services
The Center For Teaching & Distance Learning has many services available to Lone Star College faculty, staff and students.
Online Learning Professional Development
 |
The Professional Development Division of the CTDL is primarily focused on providing training opportunities for faculty and staff, in collaboration with the professional development divisions at each college, which enhance the quality and success of online learning courses.
Online Learning opportunities offered by the Professional Development Division of the CTDL encompass both instructional strategies and various program-specific training, such as eCollege Vista. In addition, the Online Teaching Certification Program is the responsibility of the CTDL and is an integral part of our professional development and training.
The Online Teaching Certification Program is the cornerstone training opportunity for first-time faculty who are planning to teach an online or hybrid course, and should be completed before faculty teach their first online or hybrid section. Additional training is available as needed and as requested each semester.
Training Schedule |
Online Course Development
| Distance Learning at Lone Star College System is continually growing with presently over 900 credit courses being offered to Lone Star College System students online or as a hybrid delivery with more than 50% of instruction online. With this continued growth comes the challenge to maintain the same opportunities for learning as the face-to-face counterparts. CTDL is available to assist in this process toward continued improvement of effective learning for Lone Star College System online students. This service is intended to assist online/hybrid faculty with redesigning online instruction and/or adding multimedia or other interactive components. Services include: Assistance with online course redesign processIndividual consultationsGroup sessionsCourse Development ResourcesSample Online Courses for faculty viewingOnline Course ReviewsJust in Time Assistance with 832-813-6768Vista Repository with sharable course componentsBest Practices eCollege Vista courseCourse Development guidelinesOnline Course Recognition Program |
Online Multimedia Development
| Online Multimedia Development focuses on assisting and training faculty in identifying, creating and utilizing multimedia for experiential content within courses delivered in our learning management system. Some areas of assistance include: • Consultations on identifying interactive media for courses that might include interactive media, simulations and virtual worlds
• Podcasting and vodcasting lecture segments• Addressing ADA compliance in multimedia materials
• Maintaining a district-wide list of multimedia resources available
• Facilitating online multimedia project management
• Development of Professional Development workshops and tutorials focusing on interactive media for online course delivery
• To schedule a consultation, please contact Hilton.J.Lasalle@lonestar.edu.
|
Learning Management System Administration & Web Development
 | With the advent of our new learning management system, eCollege Vista, a number of management functions have changed. We hope to make the transition as smooth as possible for everyone and are ready to help those in need. We have created several forms to help you communicate the appropriate information: • Vista Problem Report Form
• Request Early Access for Students
• Request a Designer or Instructor be Added
• Request a Blank Section for a Resource
• Request a Copy for an Incomplete
• Request My Section Content be Unassigned
We will continue to evaluate, troubleshoot and publish known issues and workarounds. Let us know if you see that we can improve in any way. Contact us at ctdl@lonestar.edu |
Innovation and Technology Division
Innovation and technology focuses on finding tools that faculty may find useful for instruction. Once a technology is identified we will then implement a pilot to assess its usefulness. A few areas of focus are:
• Podcasting
• eCollege Vista enhancements
• Ongoing support of DL Technologies
Please feel free to contact
distance.learning@lonestar.edu to recommend any technologies that you feel would be useful for instruction.
eCollege Vista Tech Support
The Distance Learning Helpdesk strives to bring the last minute training and knowledge to those who use our eCollege systems. Our knowledgeable support staff are ready weekly from 8am to 10pm Monday through Thursday, and 8am to 5pm Friday and Saturday. Although we do not answer our phones on Sunday we still offer e-mail and online chat support between the hours of 1pm to 5pm. Our range of support includes anything from general questions about how Distance Learning works, to guiding faculty and students through our eCollege systems.
As always we wish you a trouble free semester, but should you have to contact us we are always happy to help you.