November 30, 2011
 At the beginning of the semester we announced a face lift for the Faculty Computer Lab. Those changes are nearing completion.
The first and probably most noticeable change is that the lab is no longer serving as office space. Lynn Cooke’s office has been moved to Fuller 108, just down the hall next to Joe Horgos’ office. Both Lynn and Joe can assist you with access to the lab or in using the equipment in the lab. In the next few weeks, you’ll probably see both of them in the lab, learning to use the new interactive whiteboard systems.
We see one of the functions of the Faculty Computer Lab as a testing lab (AKA “sandbox”) for new technologies that you may want to try in the classroom. To that end we have installed two interactive white board systems that we have been piloting on campus, an Epson projector and a Mimio system. The Mimio system includes the Mimio bar, a document camera, and a Mimio pad. Both systems have their benefits but both require a bit of practice before you’ll be comfortable using them in the classroom. Since classroom access can be at a premium, having the Faculty Lab as a practice space will allow you to get comfortable before facing a classroom of students. We also have clicker systems that can be tested and checked out for use in the classroom. This summer we replaced our hard-to-use PRS systems with easier to use Turning Technologies clickers. As with the classroom response systems, the clickers may take some getting used to and practice in an environment similar to a classroom can help.
We also have other technologies you may be interested in exploring. We have web cameras and microphones for use in recording instructional video and audio from your laptop or desktop computers. We have some small video cameras similar to flip cameras that you might want to use in the classroom for a variety of activities. These devices are available so you can experiment with them without having to purchase a device that you may end up not using or which might not be quite right for your instructional situation.
In addition to these devices, we still have a document scanner and slide scanner for those who need to create electronic versions of documents or who are converting 35 mm slides to digital format. A wireless digitizing tablet is available if you need to draw or modify images. We have installed ArcView Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software on the 3 available computers.
August 26, 2011
We updated Blackboard to version 9.1 Service Pack 6 on August 16th. While this update does not change much in the way things work, it corrects some errors that we’ve noticed. For most users the changes will be invisible.
Students who have timed tests in Blackboard may notice that there is now an autosubmit option that instructors can select that will save and submit a test after a specified time. In previous versions, students could continue to work and Blackboard would record start and end times for instructors to determine if students completed the test in the alloted time. With the autosubmit feature, an instructor can require that students stop work when time runs out – Blackboard will save the test answers and submit without the students intervention.
For instructors there are a few minor changes. In addition to the autosubmit feature, the attempt details list the amount of time used for tests – you no longer have to calculate the amount of time a student exceeded the time limit if you choose not to use autosubmit. If you grade discussion boards, wikis, blogs, and journals, you can indicate how many posts must be submitted before you are notified that an item needs grading. Finally, rubrics can be created and linked to assignments, blogs, wikis, and journals. Any gradable content type will have an option to create or select a rubric once the grading option has been selected. Rubrics can be made available to students any time or only after the item has been graded.
Course Creation
As with Spring semester, we created a Blackboard site for every course offered by the College. We accomplishing this by feeding data from our institutional database system, Datatel, and importing the information (course number, name, instructor, and student enrollments) into Blackboard. We are employing an automated process so that enrollments and changes in courses are updated daily. Although a site is created for every course offered by the College, this does not mean that you have to use Blackboard for your courses. The decision to use Blackboard for any course remains with the instructor.
Combining Sections or Courses
If you have multiple sections of a course or cross-listed courses that you want to combine into a single site you can combine them using the Course Enrollment Merge tool. The instructions for merging course enrollments are posted on the Instructional Technology Blog. The direct link to the instructions is: http://www1.assumption.edu/blogs/support/wp-content/documents/CourseMergeTool.pdf
Removing Unused Sites from My Courses
The Course Enrollment Merge tool will make the course you are using as the combined course available, but make the other course sites unavailable. If you don’t want to see these unused sites in your list of courses in the My Courses module in Blackboard you can choose not to display them. The instructions for changing which courses appear under My Courses are also posted on the Instructional Technology Blog. The direct link to the instructions is: http://www1.assumption.edu/blogs/support/wp-content/documents/MyCoursesQG.pdf
Copying Content
In the past we have copied content from old courses to new, however, with the increased number of courses using Blackboard this has become unmanageable. Blackboard does have tools available to course instructors that permit copying content from one course to another. The course copy tool is one option but a somewhat better option seems to be the Export/Import tool set. The instructions for using the Export/Import tools are available on the Instructional Technology Blog. The direct link to the instructions is at: http://www1.assumption.edu/blogs/support/wp-content/documents/CourseExportImport.pdf
Course Availability
Another change in procedures is in making courses available to students. In the past we made all Blackboard courses available on the first day of classes. Instructors who wanted their courses available sooner had to do so themselves. Because we are creating Blackboard sites for all courses and because instructors are not required to use Blackboard we will not know who is using Blackboard and who is not. Additionaly, some instructors using Blackboard want students to have access to their sites in advance of the semester and others want to wait until the first class (or later) for students to access the sites. To accommodate these varying needs we will no longer make courses available. Instructors can at any time after a site is created make their Blackboard sites available to students. Instructions for making course sites available are posted on the Instructional Technology Blog. The direct link to the instructions is: http://www1.assumption.edu/blogs/support/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Bb9CourseAvailabilityQG.pdf
December 2, 2010
As you may have already noticed, Blackboard sites have been created for Spring 2010 courses. Going forward we will automatically create sites in Blackboard for all courses offered. Currently we are using a manual batch process but as spring semester progresses we anticipate switching to an automated system which will pull the course listings from Datatel and generate the sites in Blackboard. Although a site is created for every course offered by the College, this does not mean that you have to use Blackboard for your courses. The decision to use Blackboard for any course remains with the instructor.
Combining Sections or Courses
If you have multiple sections of a course or cross-listed courses that you want to combine into a single site you can combine them using the Course Enrollment Merge tool. The instructions for merging course enrollments are posted on the Instructional Technology Blog. The direct link to the instructions is: http://www1.assumption.edu/blogs/support/wp-content/documents/CourseMergeTool.pdf
Removing Unused Sites from My Courses
The Course Enrollment Merge tool will make the course you are using as the combined course available, but make the other course sites unavailable. If you don’t want to see these unused sites in your list of courses in the My Courses module in Blackboard you can choose not to display them. The instructions for changing which courses appear under My Courses are also posted on the Instructional Technology Blog. The direct link to the instructions is: http://www1.assumption.edu/blogs/support/wp-content/documents/MyCoursesQG.pdf
Copying Content
In the past we have copied content from old courses to new, however, with the increased number of courses using Blackboard this has become unmanageable. Blackboard does have tools available to course instructors that permit copying content from one course to another. The course copy tool is one option but a somewhat better option seems to be the Export/Import tool set. The instructions for using the Export/Import tools are available on the Instructional Technology Blog. The direct link to the instructions is at: http://www1.assumption.edu/blogs/support/wp-content/documents/CourseExportImport.pdf
Course Availability
Another change in procedures is in making courses available to students. In the past we made all Blackboard courses available on the first day of classes. Instructors who wanted their courses available sooner had to do so themselves. Because we are creating Blackboard sites for all courses and because instructors are not required to use Blackboard we will not know who is using Blackboard and who is not. Additionaly, some instructors using Blackboard want students to have access to their sites in advance of the semester and others want to wait until the first class (or later) for students to access the sites. To accommodate these varying needs we will no longer make courses available. Instructors can at any time after a site is created make their Blackboard sites available to students. Instructions for making course sites available are posted on the Instructional Technology Blog. The direct link to the instructions is: http://www1.assumption.edu/blogs/support/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Bb9CourseAvailabilityQG.pdf
Additional changes:
As we move forward with the integration of Blackboard with the Datatel system, we will be automating functions including creating course sites and enrollments. At present, we plan to implement the integration tools on the test system this spring. We will test the system and compare to the production system to determine whether the system is working properly. A number of instructors will be contacted to verify enrollments on the production system for comparison to the integration data on the test system. Our hope is that we will begin integration on the production system after registration for Fall 2011. As the project progresses we will provide updates on changes to procedures and timetables.
Currently, the process for adding students to courses for spring is to batch enroll. The first batch enrollment will take place the early the week of January 10th. In addition a second batch enrollment will occur after add/drop ends to pick up adds. Unfortunately the batch process does not remove students who drop the course. Removing students will be manual and we ask that instructors check their rosters in Blackboard after we process the second batch enrollment and remove students who have dropped. The instructions are posted on the Instructional Technology Blog. The direct link to the instructions is: http://www1.assumption.edu/blogs/support/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/addremove.pdf
If you have students who need to be added before the second enrollment update, you can add them using the instructions above (the instructions for removing students include instructions for adding as well). Alternatively, if you send students to IT, please tell them to bring proof of registration – a copy of their course schedule or a signed add/drop slip.
Comments Off
In the past I’ve often suggested, especially to students, that to avoid losing a long post to Blackboard that users compose content in Word and copy and paste to Blackboard. In the past this worked. The early versions of Blackboard did not have a text editor that formatted text, and this wasn’t much of a problem. However, current versions allow formatting of text and the hidden code in text copied from MS Word began causing problems. The most recent versions of Word have a new file format and use XML. XML is a markup language similar to HTML, the code of the web. Because of the similarities between XML and HTML the hidden code in Word text is often interpreted by browsers with varying results. Often the effects produced by this code make the text appear in a way that distorts the text or even makes it invisible.
To avoid problems users should take steps to avoid coping Word code into Blackboard. Granite State College’s Educational Technologists have posted a set of instructions that outline how to copy text from Word and remove the code that causes problems:
http://bbresources.granite.edu/techassist/bb9/pdfs/copy-paste-code.pdf
October 19, 2010
For those members of the Assumption community that have used clickers you are aware of some of the problems we have experienced with the PRS system that we currently own. The short version is that due to upgrades to MS Office the PRS clickers no longer work with MS PowerPoint 2008 for Macintosh. While there are workarounds, I’m looking for a solution that will work for both Windows and Macintosh and which will allow students to respond on mobile devices so you don’t have to hand out and collect clickers in each class. I have found a couple of contenders and IT will begin reviewing them soon.
May 24, 2010
After a number of conversations about whether to update to Blackboard 9.1 or wait, we finally decided to update the production system for the summer terms. There are a few changes to the system but most users should adjust easily. There are changes in the menus for the content areas, more choices and, I think, more intuitive menu names. The instructor control panel now has a direct link for the Grade Center and you can add favorite smart views to the control panel for easy access. The big addition is the wiki feature. For those using wikis you can now set them up in any class without contacting IT.
May 7, 2010
We have Blackboard 9.1 installed on our test system. The new version, while not very different from version 9.0 does have some exciting new features that instructors will find useful.
First, we finally have a wiki tool built into Blackboard. This latest collaboration tool is easy to use and can be used by an entire class or can be used by groups. Group wikis can, be viewed by only group members or viewership can be opened to the entire class. Group wikis can only be edited by the students in a group. At first look the wiki is easy to use. Here’s what the wiki looks like (click on the image to see a full size image):
 screen shot of wiki in Blackboard Other notable changes include a rubric wizard that allows instructors to create and share the rubric by which they will assess student work, and changes in the content creation options. Instructors can create content items containing audio, video, images, files, and links to Youtube videos and other social media.
Since our upgrade to the test system is still being tested, I’ll be posting updates as I find other noteworthy changes.
February 18, 2010
We are experiencing increasingly frequent problems with the display of text in Blackboard when users copy text from Word into Blackboard text boxes. This problem is especially common when text is copied from Word 2007 or Word 2008. In addition, display problems are more common with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser than the Firefox browser.
When Microsoft released the most recent versions of Word they change the file format. Word Documents are now xml files. Xml is a language of the web. Unfortunately, some of the ways that Microsoft is using xml are not consistent with the standards for web use. So, when you copy that code into a web form (a Blackboard text box, for example) you get unexpected results. The web browser interprets the code in accordance with the web standards and displays it. If the code is not compliant with the standards, the browser tries to interpret it or it might ignore the code. Internet Explorer seems to try to interpret the code, Firefox seems to ignore the non-compliant code.
In the past we’ve recommended that users compose lengthy posts, whether discussion board or in other areas, using Word and then copying and pasting into the text box. Before Microsoft’s format change, that process worked OK. The procedure of using Word, which most users were comfortable using, provided a safety net in the case of a failure in the user’s connection to Blackboard. A copy of the post was safely stored on the user’s computer and they could easily copy and paste again, rather than having to regenerate a long or complicated post.
What to do now? There are a few things that can be done to preserve long/complicated posts in the event of a dropped connection. First, compose in the Blackboard text editor using the Blackboard text editor tools to format the text. Next, before submitting, copy and paste the text into a word processing tool. You can use Word for this but, NotePad (windows) or TextEdit (mac) work better if you have to copy and paste back into Blackboard. Finally, save the file from the word processing program in PLAIN TEXT format (txt) and close it if you are using Word. If you need to copy and paste the text back into Blackboard, you can open the file and will have only text and no extraneous code that can cause problems. Copying the plain text back means that you have to reformat the text in Blackboard, but it will display correctly.
An example:
I posted the following text from Word 2007 into a text box in Blackboard:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse vestibulum arcu in nisl malesuada blandit. Aliquam feugiat ornare massa non convallis. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Proin sagittis metus nec ante convallis posuere. Cras nec sapien eros, luctus porttitor enim. Nunc sagittis, orci sit amet porttitor accumsan, odio metus lacinia odio, rhoncus luctus augue mi sed odio. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Morbi lacinia orci sit amet lacus aliquet quis porttitor turpis tristique. Duis vehicula mauris sit amet sem adipiscing imperdiet. Suspendisse nulla lorem, vulputate sed consequat at, pellentesque laoreet nibh. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Duis suscipit neque eget neque dignissim in facilisis nulla dapibus. Sed placerat mi eget metus suscipit non accumsan velit mollis. Donec eget aliquam dolor. Vivamus vestibulum ante nec dolor tincidunt vitae euismod arcu ultricies. Ut sollicitudin hendrerit sagittis. Nullam quis ligula est.
Cras nec orci quam, et vestibulum nunc. Quisque malesuada diam vel nulla dignissim id pellentesque justo congue. Aenean vitae leo mauris. Vivamus diam odio, lacinia sit amet porta sit amet, ullamcorper eu elit. Mauris nec orci vitae nisl rutrum volutpat. Cras quis lacinia tellus. Aliquam erat volutpat. Donec mattis, libero id consectetur viverra, ligula arcu dapibus lacus, eget pharetra tortor tellus quis lacus. Suspendisse potenti. Maecenas sit amet quam nulla, non ullamcorper dui. Curabitur in dolor arcu, vitae cursus enim.
This text file contains what actually was pasted into Blackboard. Note the additional code. There is a lot of code beyond that needed to display the formatted text on the webpage.
December 16, 2009
Blackboard is providing accounts to it’s customers to preview, and provide feedback about, the future of the Blackboard line. I just got my account for the Project NG Playground, an implementation of Blackboard with features being considered for future release. There isn’t much change in the interface which is a good thing given the struggles some users have had getting used to the version 9 interface. I did notice that Blackboard has developed a wiki tool and added grading to the blog, journal, and wiki tools that is similar to grading for discussion boards. One odd feature that is in the “Playground” is the option to put a link to a “blank page” on the course menu. When the link/page is created the instructor/course builder is prompted to create content for the page. It looks similar to creating an item in any of the content areas. I’m not sure what to make of this yet, I haven’t fully explored the built out site they gave me to see how they propose using such pages.
More information in the future as I get time to play on the “Playground”.
November 3, 2009
No I’m not talking about using cell phone for furtive texting but other educational purposes. Since most of our students have cell phones is there a way to leverage them for educational purposes (and texting just might be useful). I’ve been playing with my own phone since I discovered that it has bluetooth and I can connect it with my netbook, my Modbook and other computers and exchange files.
Most newer phones have at cameras that can take stills and videos. There are some obvious uses for pictures and videos. You could have students keep a video diary. You could have students record video of each other speaking a foreign language, performing a task, or interviewing each other.
You might also give students a real reason to text in larger classes. Using AIM you can have students text questions during class. You could keep an AIM window open on a laptop to monitor questions. Or you might use AIM to poll students, kind of like using clickers but with more open responses allowed.
Now to review some of the literature and find out what others have done or are doing with cell phones…
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