Online Student Help Desk

Deanna Thompson has created a valuable resource for students at http://www.cuyamaca.edu/helpdesk/. This website provides answers to most of the questions students have about their online courses. You can link to this website from your Blackboard courses and/or your faculty website so that students know how to find it.

Site highlights include:

• Quizzes to help access your readiness for distance learning (linked with permission)
• Instructions for configuring your browser, enabling Java, Cookies and more
• Blackboard, Microsoft Office 2007 tutorials
• Links to academic priced software and discounted textbooks
• Utilities that test plug-ins and Java
• Best Practices for ensuring success in an online learning environment
• Known issues regarding Blackboard and/or compatibility problems in other programs
• And much more

Changes to Blackboard Course Copy Instructions

I changed the instructions for how to copy a Blackboard course container to include more detailed information for what selections to make as well as how to avoid some errors in the copy process. I also added information from Bb on how to copy course cartridges.

If you have printed out these instructions, please toss the old ones and use the new instructions.

IS Announcements

During the ITC meeting on Friday, IS (Information Systems) made a few announcements that will affect online teachers.

• When students drop a class their status will be changed to "unavailable" and their work will be retained, even before census day. This is to protect the work of students who are inadvertently dropped from classes. Students who drop more than 7 days before the semester begins will be removed completely from the container as if they were never there.
  
  
• Faculty will not be able to enroll anyone in their containers. This is so that WebAdvisor drives enrollment in your classes, and will prevent situations where a student is enrolled in your Blackboard course, but has never successfully enrolled through WebAdvisor. Each faculty member will have an account created for them that will be enrolled in their courses as a student so that they can view the course as a student does. This student view account will have a username something like stu.yourlastname. If you need to have guest lecturers or others enrolled in your course, you can contact IS at 619-644-7547 to request that they do this for you.

As we gain experience with the Snapshot system, we can adjust how this works in future semesters.

Goodbye, textbooks; hello, open-source learning

If you haven't explored TED yet, let this be the beginning of your journey. Richard Baraniuk gave a talk at TED explaining "the vision behind Connexions, his open-source, online education system. It cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share and modify course materials freely, anywhere in the world."

While you're at the TED site, check out a few of my favorites:

• Benjamin Zander: Classical music with shining eyes
• Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight
• Philip Zimbardo: How ordinary people become monsters ... or heroes

Teaching Online Website by Tom Doyle

Tom Doyle has created a spectacular website filled with resources for teaching online at http://www.cuyamaca.edu/teachingonline/. Instructors teaching online as well as instructors just beginning to explore using online resources for their classes will find a robust resource of information that is valuable and indispensable.

Tom created this website for his sabbatical project and it has exceeded everyone's expectations. Please check it out, you'll be glad you did!

Extra Credit in Blackboard's Grade Center

There's a little gotcha in Blackboard's Grade Center when you add a column for Extra Credit. The Grade Center doesn't add columns with zero points possible into Total columns. I'll start with how to create a column for extra credit then cover how to compensate for this gotcha.

To create an extra credit column, click the Add Grade Column button in the Grade Center. Give the column a name; set the primary display to score; and enter 0 (zero) or 0.01 for the points possible (see below). Make sure "Include this column in Grade Center calculations" is set to yes.

Two possible solutions:

1. Set the points possible = 0.01
   This is the easiest solution, because now the column has more than zero points possible and will automatically be added into the Total Column. Just remember that if someone is 0.01 points away from a grade, to allow for this anomaly in the system, or you can give everyone a minimum of 0.01 points in the extra credit column.
   
   
2. Set points possible = 0 (zero)
   With this method you will have to modify the Total column to implicitly add the extra credit column(s) to all the other the columns and categories totaled.
   
   You do this by choosing Modify Column for the Total column. Then choose "Selected Grade Columns, Calculated Columns and Categories." You will have to add all the columns and/or categories you want totaled. Do not try to add an Extra Credit category for this. It still won't add any columns with zero points possible. So add each extra credit column individually.
   

Last Snapshot Workshop Today

The last Blackboard Snapshot Workshop will be held today, Friday, December 5th at 10 am in room H-134. Please come and ask any questions you have about the Snapshot process!

SafeAssign Slowdowns

There are some reports that as we get closer to the end of the semester, SafeAssign is slowing down because of increased submission of papers. If you have given your students SafeAssignments, it might be a good idea to tell them not to wait until the last minute to submit them.

Another suggestion is to not have assignments or tests due on Sunday nights. The reason is that most students will wait until the last minute to do their assignments or take their tests. However, at 10 pm on a Sunday night there is no help available if they need it. Most likely you don't want to have to answer frantic student emails on Sunday nights either.

Try making your assignments due during the day on Monday. That way the Help Desk is there to help them and you if anything goes wrong with Blackboard or the network.