1. The Impact of
SoftChalk –
From Migrating LMS
to Energizing Faculty
Gregory Priebe & Richard W. Smith
Instructional Designers and Adjunct Faculty, Harford Community College

2. What is SoftChalk?
• Desktop Authoring software:
• Allows you to create engaging, interactive lessons for your course.
• Lessons can be packaged in a .zip file for presentation via
LMS, standard website or even for distribution via CD Rom.
• Even the novice can create professional-looking content:
• If you have used Microsoft Word, you have mastered a far more
confusing program!

3. Benefits
• Quick & Easy content creation or conversion
• Styles and design can be changed at the click of the mouse

4. Case Study #1: HIST 101
• Greg’s Fall 2010 History 101 course
• Last minute textbook change
• Publisher materials
• Had potential
• Very poorly presented and organized
• Some of the best material thrown into a folder, not linked
• SoftChalk
• Used to stitch the salvageable content from previous course iteration
together with the new publisher content
• Consistent look, design and navigation

5. Case Study #2: GEOG 101/103
• Richard’s Geography 101 & 103 courses
• Wanted to make sure I did not have textbook issues in future.
• Do not use much textbook material.
• Constant re-designs
• SoftChalk
• Used for only certain parts of course material
• Consistent look, design and navigation

6. Case Study #3: The Great
Blackboard Debacle of 2011
• January 2011
• Harford Community College migrates from Blackboard CE 8 to 9.0
• Blackboard handled all content migration
• Things looked okay at first
• Big problems discovered later
• Realization: The need for LMS-independent content!
• SoftChalk utilized to reconstitute the most heavily damaged
courses from scratch
• Good deal of faculty buy-in
• Site license purchased
• New, less tech-savvy instructors are steered towards using
SoftChalk from the start
• Veteran faculty adopting it for sheer speed and ease of use

7. Encourage Best Practices from
the Start!
• Eliminate poor design in online and blended courses
• No more broken images from improperly uploaded HTML
content
• Enhance formerly text-based content
• Add more interactivity to content delivery
• Migrate away from Power Point and all the support problems
it can cause

8. SOFTCHALK & QUALITY MATTERS

9. Navigation
• Navigation and table of contents auto-generate based on the
Headings of the content
• Quality Matters
• Standards where SoftChalk may help
• 1.1 – “Instructions make clear how to get started and where to find
various course components.”
• 6.2 – “Course tools and media support student engagement and
guide the student to become an active learner.”
• 6.3 – “Navigation throughout the online components of the course is
logical, consistent, and efficient.”

10. Embed Your Media
• Make sure that all required materials are present in the lesson
so the student does not have to waste time searching:
• Using the “Insert” function, all of the following formats can be
easily placed within the lesson
• Images
• Animated pictures
• Movies
• Sound clips
• Hyperlinks
• As long as you can get an embed code for a online
resource, you can have it appear right in your lesson
• Widgets, Iframes, etc

11. Embed Your Media
• Quality Matters
• Standards where SoftChalk may help
• 6.2 – “Course tools and media support student engagement and guide the
student to become an active learner.”
• 8.2 – “The course contains equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual
content.”

12. Vocabulary
• Text-poppers can be used to reinforce key terms by providing
additional:
• Text
• Media
• Hyperlinks
• Pictures
• Quality Matters
• Standards where SoftChalk may help
• 4.1 – “The instructional materials contribute to the achievement of the stated
course and module/unit learning objectives.”
• 4.4 – “The instructional materials are current.”
• 6.2 – “Course tools and media support student engagement and guide the
student to become an active learner.”

13. Assessment Options
• The “quiz-poppers” can deliver a variety of question formats:
• T/F
• Multiple Choice
• Multiple Answer
• Short Answer
• Ordering
• Matching
• Essay
• Items can be used for student review purposes or points can
be reported directly to the LMS grade book for assigned work
• Can also use Soft Chalk Cloud?

14. Assessment Options
• Quality Matters
• Standards where SoftChalk may help
• 3.1 – “The types of assessments selected measure the stated learning
objectives and are consistent with course activities and resources.”
• 3.4 – “The assessment instruments selected are sequenced, varied, and
appropriate to the student work being assessed.”
• 5.2 – “Learning activities provide opportunities for interaction that support
active learning.”

15. Self-Assessment & Study Tools
• By simply filling out a form, SoftChalk can generate a variety of
interactive activities within the lesson:
Chart Hot Spot Seek a Word
Crossword Jigsaw puzzle Slide show
Did you know Labeling Sorting
Drag and Drop Ordering Tabbed Info
Flash Card Photo album Timeline

16. Self-Assessment & Study Tools
• Quality Matters
• Standards where SoftChalk may help
• 3.5 – “Students have multiple opportunities to measure their own learning
progress.”

17. Demo & Wrap-Up
• Gregory Priebe
• gpriebe@harford.edu
• Richard W. Smith
• rsmith@harford.edu