Number 57 July 1, 2007	A publication of Project Eagle, St. Petersburg College

Best Bets Archives

For a subscription to BEEP, contact the Project Manager: lechnerj@spcollege.edu

This Month's Best Bets
	Student Support Services	Innovative Technologies	Instructional Resources

Project Eagle Revisited
Part I: An Overview of Accomplishments

"The original Project Eagle was a multi-year strategic initiative by St. Petersburg College to build a national model for increasing access to four-year degrees and work force training for students attending community colleges. The goal of Project Eagle II is to move from an anytime, anywhere learning environment to an everywhere, all-the-time learning environment."
Project Eagle II, Executive Summary
St. Petersburg College, 2003

June 30, 2007 marked the end of seven years of hard work building a national model for e-learning using Congressionally-authorized moneys known collectively as Project Eagle. BEEP itself is just one of the many accomplishments made with Eagle funds, but there are many, many more. This issue takes a general look at the many facets of St. Petersburg College’s (SPC) Eagle enterprise; the next, which will also be the final BEEP, will more closely examine some of the most innovative and noteworthy achievements.

Administrative Matters

Project Eagle Overviews. Summaries of the goals set out in each of Project Eagle’s three phases, which ran from July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2007.
Eagle Documents. Complete texts of all three grant documents that governed Eagle throughout its lifetime.
Eagle Deliverables. Unique and highly praised online system for accountability in completion of Eagle-related tasks. Because many college staff members were somehow involved in Eagle-related work, duties defined in the actual grant documents were extracted and assigned to the appropriate parties for updates and report of completion.
Policies, Procedures and Forms. Links to every procedural document and form developed to accompany various activities initiated for SPC’s electronic campus (eCampus) with Eagle research and funds. Topics range from copyright and travel procedures to guidelines for annual selection of online courses for development.
Eagle-Supported Programs. Links not only to the website of the eCampus, the largest program to be supported by Project Eagle, but also to the University Partnership Center and the National Center for Teacher Transformation, two innovative concepts with a large online component that received some Eagle funding toward achieving their goals.

Research, Evaluation and Dissemination

Best Educational E-Practices (BEEP). The newsletter that you are reading was published online monthly from October 2000 to June 2003, then bi-monthly thereafter. Each issue is devoted to a different subject of interest to the e-learning community, with a Best Bets section that includes recent developments on predetermined topics relevant to the Eagle project.
Project Eagle Research Capsules (PERC). Occasional publications that summarize findings from current reports and surveys on the use of technology in education-related ways.
Publications and Reports. Links to a variety of regularly scheduled eCampus reports, including Student Surveys of Instruction, Enrollment Data, Web Site Activity, Web Site Visitors, Student Profile Reports, and Withdrawal and Grade Distribution.
Papers and Presentations. Treasure trove of PowerPoint presentations on e-learning advances developed with Eagle funds from 2000 to the present. Topics range from teaching the blind in an online class to setting standards and monitoring quality in online education.

Eagle-funded Innovations for the SPC eCampus

eCampus Home Page. Starting point for both current and prospective e-students interested in e-learning at SPC.
My SPC Portal. Students’ personal access for registration, information and more.
Courses and Programs. Access to a complete searchable list of all e-courses offered by the college, plus links to the many online and degree certificate programs that were in some part developed under Project Eagle.
Explore Online Education. Variety of tools to help students decide if e-learning is suited to them. Included is a sample online course, online student readiness quiz and a learning style analysis.
Help/FAQs. Links to the information most often needed by e-students, including general FAQs, technical support, academic support and a close look at the SPC e-learning community.
Online Student Conduct Code. Guidelines that define the rules of courtesy, ethics and academic honesty for e-students.
Student Services. Links to a variety of support services, including online tutoring, online student survey of instruction and video resources for the college’s teleweb students.

BEEP’s Best Bets

Innovative Technologies

"Internet Pioneer to Oversee Its Redesign Under Government Contract." Associated Press release, 5/21/07, about a National Science Foundation grant of almost $10 million to BBN Technologies to oversee planning and redesigning the Internet’s underlying architecture.
"Virtual Tours Offer Trips Through Time." Article in eSchool News, 5/31/07, about the growing educational use of video, animation, graphics, and other technology to depict historical sites virtually, in three dimensions - beyond what text, maps, and drawings can offer.

Instructional Resources

Adapting Learning Materials for Distance Learning. Online publication by the Commonwealth of Learning, 2007, with tips on adapting existing materials of all kinds to an online environment.
Best Value Textbooks. Company that offers textbooks at an average price of $19.95, in an effort to provide a "high quality textbook at a price your students can afford."
Designing Learning Objects for Online Learning. Online publication by the Commonwealth of Learning, 2007, with tips on designing reusable learning objects for e-courses.
"Scientists Compile Massive Biology Web Site." Announcement in eSchool News, 5/10/07, about the creation of the Encyclopedia of Life, a massive website that will contain information about all of Earth’s 1.8 million known species.

Student Support Services

AskStudent: The Online Student Portal. Website that offers online students information on college life, security, hacking, careers and more.
Colleges.com Website with links to various kinds of colleges, searchable by program and degree, undergraduate and graduate, as well as information on financial aid, careers and travel.
Education Planner. Self-proclaimed "one-step career and college planning site." Includes the categories of discovering, preparing, selecting, applying, deciding and paying.
Guide to Online Education. Website that features "simple-to-navigate, concise, yet in-depth, research, advice and ’how-to’ sections to answer online learners’ questions."
Schoolwork.ugh. Yet another student-help website, this one with assistance on homework, student loans, credit cards and loan consolidation programs, as well as online school programs.

The contents of BEEP were developed under a grant from the U. S. Department of Education (DOE). However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the DOE, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.