TechEDge | California Community Colleges

CVC Grant Awarded To Butte College

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 August 2010 Written by Jen Gednalske Tuesday, 29 June 2010

In June, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) awarded a new California Virtual Campus (CVC) Grant to Butte-Glenn Community College District.

The grant funding will run from July 1, 2010 to July 31, 2011, with possible renewals up to five years. Annual funding is a maximum of $3 million, depending on state budget allocations. The district managed the previous grant for the last five years.

Vicki Suter, Director of the CVC, explained, “The California Virtual Campus, as a systemwide project, will develop, construct and maintain core services and relationships that support and enable distance education efforts at all colleges for all students.”

Doug Cremer, Executive Director of the CVC and the CCC Technology Center, added, “The CVC will focus on a key supporting role to help California Community Colleges address a skyrocketing growth in demand for high-quality online offerings.”

“The aim of the CVC will be to reduce the ‘distance’ in distance education by building strong connections between people through carefully chosen, well-designed and thoughtfully implemented technologies,” Suter noted.

The California Community Colleges, systemwide application developers and intersegmental partners will create an integrated, engaging and helpful student services experience, provided through a CVC Unified Services Web Portal.

The proposed CVC Web Portal.

The goal of the portal will be to build connections between:

• Faculty, through fellowships, communities of inquiry and communities of practice.
• Systemwide student services applications, so students and prospective students have positive experiences with engaging, accessible and integrated tools.
• Students and faculty, through social learning platforms and online service such as microtutoring.
• Courses and a pathway to graduation and meaningful work, through academic planners and ePortfolios.

“In addition to initiating new projects, the CVC leadership team at Butte College will continue current projects, such as ePortfolio California and the Community-Based Online Learning project,” Lisa Buschmann, CVC Statewide Programs Manager, said.

The CVC team members include:

• Vicki Suter; Director of the CVC
• Lisa Buschmann CVC Statewide Programs Manager
• Sandoval Chagoya, CVC Marketing Project Manager
• Doug Cremer, Executive Director of the CVC and CCC Tech Center
• David Hammond, CVC Designer/Developer
• Bruce Racheter, CVC Contractual and Fiscal Project Manager
• Raquel Rios, CVC Catalog Quality Assurance Project Manager

Juri Brilts, Grants Coordinator at the Butte-Glenn Community College District, coordinated the grant application process. Patty Donohue and John Ittelson, contractors for the ePortfolio California team, are also members of the CVC team and helped with grant development. <>

For more information on the California Virtual Campus, please visit the website at: http://www.cvc.edu/.

For more information on ePortfolio California, please visit: http://eportfolioca.org/.

 Jen Gednalske is a writer and editor for TechEDge
and a project manager for the California Virtual Campus and CCC Technology Center.