SafeAssignments Not Showing Up In Grade Center

We are currently experiencing problems with SafeAssign. From both the student and instructor point of view, SafeAssign is very slow. Students can submit assignments, but once they're submitted, if they click on the link for that assignment again, they get an error that says, "The specified object was not found." The assignment has submitted successfully, but the student can't get that confirmation.

Instructors can view these assignments by going to the Control Panel > Course Tools > SafeAssign > SafeAssignments. However, these assignments are not showing up in the Grade Center at all since March 10th.

This problem has been reported to Blackboard and we hope for a fix soon. In the meantime, the only way to grade these assignments is to view them via the Control Panel, write the grade down (yes, I really do mean use pen and paper... argh!) then once they've all been graded, go to the Grade Center and enter the grades.

Opening Word Files Attached to Emails

Some of you may be having trouble opening Word files when using the web version of MS Outlook to check your email. When you try to open a .docx attachment in the Web version of Outlook, it wants to be saved and opened as a .zip file.

You can correct this problem by following these steps:

1. Clear Internet Explorer's cache by clicking on Tools > Delete Browsing History. In the Delete Browsing History popup window, click the Delete Files button next to "Temporary Internet Files"
2. Close Internet Explorer and restart it
3. Click on Tools > Internet Options
4. Click the Security tab
5. Click the Trusted sites checkmark, then the button below it to the right that says "Sites"
6. In the box labeled "Add this website to the zone:" type https://mail.gcccd.edu 
7. Click Add, then Close, then OK to close the popups.
8. Go to our email site at https://mail.gcccd.edu
9. When you're prompted to accept entrance into a secure site, accept it and log into email.
10. When you choose "Save As Target" for your .docx attachments, you'll have the option to save it as a MS Word document.
    
    
    

New Link for Blackboard

In order to make Blackboard more secure, we have changed the URL to access Blackboard. It used to be bb.gcccd.edu. The new link is gcccd.blackboard.com. If you or your students have the old URL bookmarked, you will need to change the bookmark to the new address. Please change the link on your web pages as well.

Your browser should automatically redirect to the new URL, however some people may have trouble accessing this new URL. A quick fix for that is to clear your browser's cache. If you're still having problems after clearing the cache, call the Help Desk at 619-660-4395.

Online Course Retention Rates

We've all heard and probably believed that online courses typically only have about 50% retention rates. Connie Elder crunched the numbers and discovered that retention rates for Fall 2010 online classes at Cuyamaca College were 79.1%. Check out the full details at http://www.cuyamaca.edu/in/committees/ic/pdf/Retention-Success-Rates-Online-Non-Online-Courses.pdf.

Camtasia and SnagIt Available

We have installed Camtasia and Snagit to a PC in F 625 and on a Mac in E 112C for general faculty use.

Camtasia is screen recording and video editing software. You can turn screen recordings into polished, accessible videos that enhance your teaching.

Snagit is software that lets you capture still images of your computer screen. You can add annotations, clip art such as arrows and callouts, and text to these images. Snagit can even capture long scrolling web pages or just grab the text from a web page.

eBooks For Your Classes

The U. S. Department of Justice and the U. S. Department of Education have issued a joint letter stating that colleges and universities could not require the use of an eBook reader for classes since they were not fully accessible in accordance with the American Disabilities Act. At this time a fully accessible eBook reader doesn’t exist. You can offer the eBook as an option, but you must also have a fully accessible version available for students requiring an accommodation.