Information

OCC Modules Demo Course Registration

If you would like to view the Online Core Competency Modules as they would be seen by your students in a Blackboard course, please send email to dave.basener@elmhurst.edu.

To register to use the modules in your course, see the registration form below.

What are the Online Core Competency Modules?

These are a set of short, instructional modules that may be incorporated individually into the Blackboard site for your course. We are currently beta testing these modules and looking for a large range of courses in which to test them.

What is the purpose behind the Online Core Competency Modules?

Students must learn a number of foundational skills in order to be successful in their academic and professional careers. These are not defined by major or discipline, but without them, new students and recent graduates may be unprepared for future work. We want our students to have a fulfilling, far-reaching, and enriching learning experience. How can we help them achieve that?

The Online Competencies Curriculum meets this specific need. Funded by a generous grant from the Teagle Foundation, faculty and administrators from Augustana, Illinois Wesleyan, St. Norbert, and Elmhurst colleges have collaborated on learning modules covering three emerging and evolving competencies:

• Communication and Presentation
• Information Fluency
• Technological Adaptability

How do I view the modules?

If you think you might want to use the OCC lessons, or if you are just curious, please send email to dave.basener@elmhurst.edu to get student access to the demonstration class.

How would I incorporate the Online Core Competency Modules into my course?

The modules are easily incorporated individually into your Blackboard course. You can either get an account on the SmartSparrow site and have direct access to the modules, or, you can request the link for one or more of the modules from by filling in the form below. Either way, the actual incorporation only takes a few minutes.

The OCC modules can be incorporated as either a graded assignment, or as an ungraded activity in Blackboard. Whether you decide to do a formal assessment or not, SmartSparrow can collect information on how your students did with the chosen module even if you don’t want to grade them in Blackboard.