Bb 9 - Adding Content Areas

The steps to create content areas in Bb 9 have changed quite a bit.  Please take a look at this 2:30 minute  video to see how to add content areas in Blackboard 9.

How to Help Your Students with Computer Problems

Solving computer problems can be like trying to thread a needle in the dark if you can't see what the person you're trying to help sees on their computer.  ShowMeWhatsWrong.com is a new tool being offered for free that will help you help your students with computer problems.  It will generate a URL so students can send you instant screen recordings. Watch a demo at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNqO_uKui6s

I took the URL they gave me, and turned it into a tinyurl.com link that is easier to remember.  Now whenever anyone is having a problem with their computer, I can just send them my URL at http://tinyurl.com/showrhonda and they can record their screen to show me what the problem is.  When they're done recording, the site sends me an email telling me the video is ready to be reviewed and who sent it.

They've made it very easy to use and dead simple for both the student and the instructor.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million.  This is a great resource that I highly recommend.

Bb 9 - @ONE Lunchtime Series

@ONE is offering three Blackboard 9 online workshops that you can watch at lunchtime.  If that time doesn't work for you, you can watch the recording at a later time.  Here is the signup information:

1. What's New on Blackboard 9: Getting Acquainted
   Wed, 03/03/2010 - 12:00pm
2. What's New on Blackboard 9: Increase Student Retention and Establish Community with Communication and Collaboration Tools
   Wed, 03/10/2010 - 12:00pm
3. What's New on Blackboard 9: Increase Student Success with Blackboard Performance Monitoring Tools
   Wed, 03/17/2010 - 12:00pm

Bb 9 - Course Environment

This week I'd like you to watch a 5 minute video that demonstrates some of the new features in Blackboard 9.  This video will introduce you to the new look and feel of Bb 9 which will be the biggest challenge when we upgrade.

For those of you that missed my blog post last week, we will be upgrading to version 9 during the break between Spring 2010 and Summer 2010.  I will be posting regularly with resources that will help you transition from Bb 8 to Bb 9.

Each of these Bb 9 posts will be tagged with "Bb9" so that you can review them all on one page by going to this blog and clicking on the Bb9 link in the Categories section on the right hand side of the page.

Blackboard 9

A question that came up at both of my Blackboard FAQs workshops during Professional Development week was, "When are we going to upgrade to the new version of Blackboard?"

At this time, we anticipate moving to the next version of Blackboard, which is known as Blackboard 9, or Bb 9, during the break between Spring 2010 and Summer 2010.

I'm often asked, "how big are the changes in Bb 9?"  The best analogy I've heard is that switching to Bb 9 is a lot like switching from Word 2003 to Word 2007 when they added the ribbon.  Word pretty much still did the same thing, but where you found the tools you were used to using was completely different.

The upgrade to Bb 9 will be a lot like that.  It still basically does all the same things it did before; it's just that the way you interact with it will be different.  You will no longer have to go to the Control Panel to make a lot of your changes.

I am planning on offering workshops in Bb 9 later in the semester.  I think it will be helpful to start everyone thinking about this now and will begin regularly posting to this blog about the new features.  The first resource I will give you is a video overview of Bb 9 that was created by Blackboard.

Please ask any of your colleagues who are not subscribed to this blog to do so, so they can get this information as well. Just have them go to http://cuyamaca-online.blogspot.com/ and put their email address in the email subscription box on the right side.