SoftChalk eNewsletter December 2009 In this issue: Lesson Challenge Call for Beta Testers What Clients Are Saying Innovator Vignette Highlight January Innovators: Engaging Instructors, Students, and your Kids Follow SoftChalk Learn More The SoftChalk Lesson Challenge is Happening Again Our first SoftChalk Lesson Challenge was such a great success, we're doing another! The Lesson Challenge for 2010 will have a few exciting changes. There will be 4 categories (the winner of each category will receive a $500 award!): Best K-12 Lesson Best Higher Education Lesson Best Corporate Lesson (new!) Best Course in any category (new!) Please visit our website for more information on how to enter your lessons. In the meantime get inspired by checking out the 2009 award winning lessons. Return to Top Call for Beta Testers The SoftChalk development team is in the process of creating new and exciting additions to SoftChalk and we need your help.The following integration projects will need to be beta tested in the near future: Sakai MERLOT D-Space McGraw-Hill If you would like to sign up to be a beta tester please email help@softchalk.com. Return to Top Straight From a Chalkie: Samita Speaks Out "I am facilitating sessions on course redesign using SoftChalk and applying the QM rubric – faculty just love it. I should video record their expressions when I show them my course in SoftChalk. This is truly an excellent tool." Samita Ghoshal, Ph.D., Project Coordinator/Faculty, Lone Star College  (Texas) Return to Top Innovator Vignette Highlight Our Innovators in Online Learning presentations are so popular that we decided to give you quick look at what all the excitement is about. These short presentations might inspire you to check out the full archived sessions on our site. Each month we will highlight one of these 5 minute presentations. This month Dr. Marie Maness, professor of Nutrition and Fitness at Brookhaven College and full-time online instructor, uses a Course Tour developed in SoftChalk to introduce student to her online course. She shows how her fitness students' ability to record their workouts was vastly improved by an interactive workout log created with SoftChalk. Her completed lessons incorporate images, quick time videos, PowerPoint presentations, audio, and links to the Internet. She uses SoftChalk to deliver a complete media package to her students. Return to Top January Innovator Webinar Series This series highlights guest speakers from clients who are using SoftChalk in innovative ways. SoftChalk – the Perfect Tool for Engaging Instructors, Students, and your Kids Jessica Street, Consultant for Broward College, Educator, Student, and Mother This presentation will show how SoftChalk is used to enhance both the professional and personal work of this designer, instructor, student and mother. As an instructional designer she uses SoftChalk to create content that trains faculty to design, develop, and deliver online courses. As an instructor, she creates professional-quality interactive lessons for her students. As a doctoral student, she produced an award-winning tutorial using the product. And as the family historian, she uses SoftChalk to house videos of her children. During the presentation, selected lessons from each of these roles will be demonstrated, and the presenter will discuss methods for incorporating interactivity to engage your audiences. Wednesday, January 27 11am PT |12pm MT | 1pm CT | 2pm ET Click here to Learn More or to Register. Return to Top Become a Facebook Fan or a Twitter Follower Keep up to date on the latest SoftChalk news, meet other SoftChalk users, and possibly win one of our contests by becoming a fan of SoftChalk on Facebook or following SoftChalk on Twitter. Return to Top Where to Learn More Introductory Webinars These 45 minute presentations introduce the key features of SoftChalk LessonBuilder. We will view example lessons, and then demonstrate how the lesson content was created using SoftChalk LessonBuilder. The session ends with a question and answer period. For more information or to register go to http://www.softchalk.com/webinar/. Short Courses SoftChalk is now offering online training sessions to everyone for FREE! Each Short Course is a live 1-hour training session conducted by a SoftChalk instructor using web conferencing. The course includes a presentation and examples, as well as, an opportunity to ask questions and receive assistance from the instructor. For more information or to register go to http://www.softchalk.com/training/. Innovator Vignettes Our Innovators in Online Learning presentations are so popular that we decided to give you quick look at what all the excitement is about. These brief vignettes might encourage you to check out the full presentations. For more information or to view the vignettes go to http://www.softchalk.com/lb_vignettes.html.

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