Hi Chalkies! It's hard to believe that it's already December, but alas the holidays are upon us and 2011 is quickly coming to an end. We here at SoftChalk are particularly proud of all that took place in 2011, but we're even more excited about what's in store for 2012, our 10th year of providing educators with award-winning software solutions!

Speaking of our plans for 2012, we would love for you to share your experience with our products by participating in a customer satisfaction survey. Your input will help us shape the direction of our products for 2012 and ensure that we continue to serve with you with world-class support. Just scroll down and click the survey link below to participate.

Other items of interest this month — the 2012 Lesson Challenge is underway, SoftChalk launched the first Common Cartridge v1.2 conforming application, new tips from our Support Team and a story about how one of our users, James May, was recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as the 2011 Florida Professor of the Year! Read on to get the full stories.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from the whole team here at SoftChalk!

-Sue Evans, SoftChalk CEO

As a SoftChalk customer we value your opinion and invite you to share your experience with our products by participating in our customer satisfaction survey. Just for participating, you'll have a chance to win a $100 amazon gift card (great for holiday shopping)! Please respond soon as the survey closes December 19th. Click here to take the survey now.

We hold the Lesson Challenge each year to recognize current clients who are doing exciting things with SoftChalk. We've already started receiving submissions but we know there are more out there! It's super easy to submit your lessons or e-coures into the Lesson Challenge — all you need to do is share your lesson or e-course on CONNECT and click the submit button between now and Friday, January 13th!

For full details on the Lesson Challenge or to see the winning lessons from previous years, visit the Lesson Challenge page.

Through collaboration with JES & Co., the developers of the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), SoftChalk's content authoring solution has become the first IMS Global Common Cartridge version 1.2 conforming application!

Content is more useful when educators know what topics are being covered. Now with SoftChalk, educators can now include state, Common Core State Standards, and other vital curriculum standards within their content. Authors easily select the appropriate standards from a comprehensive list compiled by the ASN and accessible from the SoftChalk Metadata page. SoftChalk exports these standards as part of an IMS Common Cartridge (v1.2), suitable for uploading to a learning management system.

We know that curriculum standards are a key element in matching content to students' needs and hope that this new feature will help make things easier for our users in the K-12 space.

Read the full details about the collaboration between ASN, IMS and SoftChalk on our blog.

James May, a professor at Valencia College and an avid SoftChalk user, is known as a "grammar rock star" to his students and now the Carnegie Foundation's 2011 Florida Professor of the Year! The awards program, sponsored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, recognizes the most outstanding undergraduate instructors in the country. May teaches English to speakers of other languages, but he has developed his own style -- using technology to get beyond language barriers and help students learn. He is one of 27 state winners to be saluted as the nation's best professors across all institutions of higher education. Congrats James!

Check out the video below to see Professor James May in action and hear what his students have to say about the way he teaches:

James May was also our featured innovator in April of this year! Check out his short presentation on learning how to utilize a variety of free and easy-to-use applications with SoftChalk.

Student Guide to SoftChalk

Is SoftChalk working well for most of your students but not for a small number of students? Our Student Guide to SoftChalk may be the answer for you. This guide has a troubleshooting section and screen captures for the most common issues students experience. We recommend that you distribute the following URL. (As we update this guide, the URL will remain the same.) http://support.softchalk.com/FileManagement/Download/f63c73ce33fb45f091657ba93a4d92b0

Blackboard Building Block 1.0.9

We encourage Blackboard administrators using SoftChalk to update to the latest SoftChalk building block (1.0.9). (To download this building block, you can go to the SoftChalk Support Center. In the white area, click Download our SoftChalk Blackboard Building Blocks.) Enhancements include breadcrumbs for published zip lessons and archive/import support. (For additional details, please email help@softchalk.com) Please delete your current building block before installing the new building block. If you happen to have a building block several versions older, you can delete the previous version and install the latest version. In other words, you don't have to update each successive version.

Moodle 1.9 ScoreCenter Plug-in

We now provide our ScoreCenter functionality to Moodle 1.9 users. (This feature is not currently available to Moodle 2.x users.) The ScoreCenter feature provides more detailed scoring options than the current Moodle gradebook provides. For details, please see our Moodle 1.9 Administrator Guide and our Moodle 1.9 Integration Guide. (We also have a Moodle 2.0 Integration Guide.)

Collaborate with Other Instructors to Create SoftChalk Lessons

With a SoftChalk CONNECT Plus account, you can collaborate with other instructors to create SoftChalk lessons and e-courses. This collaboration feature allows you to go to previous versions of the same lesson. For details on using a SoftChalk CONNECT Plus account, please see the SoftChalk CONNECT and CONNECT Plus Guide.

www.softchalk.com
www.softchalkconnect.com
www.softchalk.com/blog