There's a quirk in the new version of Blackboard. When you do a course copy, Bb copies the course availability settings from your old course to the new course. If your old course is available to students, this would make your new course available before you're ready for students to view it.
In a perfect world, you have already made all your old courses unavailable, but just in case you haven't, please do so before copying Bb containers for the upcoming semester. Instructions for making your courses unavailable can be found at
http://www.gcccd.edu/online/tutorials/bb/course-availability-9.pdf.
A word of caution. You may be tempted to avoid this problem by not copying course settings, but this is one of the most important areas to copy, so please make sure course settings is checked when you do a course copy.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
MS Office 2010 Accessibility Checker
Please follow these directions to make your files accessible to those with disabilities before you do your final save in Microsoft Office 2010. This is just a reminder that making files accessible is not only a good thing to do, we are required to do so by law.
- Click the File tab.
- Click Info.
- Under Prepare for Sharing, an alert will appear if the Accessibility Checker has found any problems.
- If there is an alert, click the Check for Issues button, then click Check Accessibility.
- You are returned to your file where the Accessibility Checker task pane is open, showing the inspection results.
- Click on a specific issue to see Additional Information and steps you can take to fix or revise the content.
Note: If the content in the additional information pane in the bottom of the Accessibility Checker is hard to scroll because you can't use the mouse, press F6 to focus on the task pane, tab until the focus is in that area, and then try to scroll with the keyboard.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Massive Open Online Class (MOOC) on “Online Learning Today...and Tomorrow.”
The Center for Online Learning, Research and Service at the University of Illinois Springfield is hosting a Massive Open Online Class (MOOC) that already has over 2,500 participants registered. This course started June 27th, but there's still time to register and take advantage of the chance to learn, connect, and collaborate with thousands of others around the world that are interested in Online Learning.
There are no grades, certificates, or requirements for this course. You can concentrate on the areas that interest you or take in the entire experience. There will be a weekly webcast on Thursday mornings at 11am Pacific time. This webcast will be recorded, so you can watch it at your convenience. The course runs until August 19th.
Here are the weekly webcast topics:
You can register for this MOOC on the right sidebar about 1/3 of the way down the page at https://sites.google.com/site/edumooc/home.
There are no grades, certificates, or requirements for this course. You can concentrate on the areas that interest you or take in the entire experience. There will be a weekly webcast on Thursday mornings at 11am Pacific time. This webcast will be recorded, so you can watch it at your convenience. The course runs until August 19th.
Here are the weekly webcast topics:
| 6/27/2011 | Online Learning Today |
| 7/4/2011 | Online Learning Research |
| 7/11/2011 | Online Learning Technologies |
| 7/18/2011 | Online Learning Apps and Mobile Learning |
| 7/25/2011 | Public, Private & Open - Learning |
| 8/1/2011 | Personal Learning - Informal Learning |
| 8/8/2011 | Collaboratives & Collectives in the Clouds |
| 8/15/2011 | Online Learning 2011-2021 |
You can register for this MOOC on the right sidebar about 1/3 of the way down the page at https://sites.google.com/site/edumooc/home.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
100 Essential Tips for Microsoft Office 2010
Monday, June 20, 2011
Online Teaching Conference 2011
There is still time to register for the online sessions of the Online Teaching Conference. The conference is being held this Thursday and Friday at Orange Coast College, but many of the sessions will be viewable over the web. Online attendance is FREE, so register now at http://otc11.org/ and watch from the comfort of your home.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Grading Students Anonymously
Another new feature in Blackboard 9.1 is the ability to grade anonymously. This tool helps eliminate bias when grading assignments and test questions that are not automatically graded. Watch the Anonymous Grading video at http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r91/movies/bb91_grade_center_anonymous_grading.htm to find out how.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Bb 9.1 Workshop Links
We had a great workshop today. I was thrilled to see so many faculty attending either online or in person. You are a dedicated bunch of teachers!
I promised to post a couple of links that I mentioned in the workshop today to this blog so they would be handy for everyone.
First is the "Understanding the Change from Blackboard Learn 9.0 to 9.1 document. This is a "lite" version of the document that Blackboard gave us. I edited 63 pages down to the 21 pages that effect faculty. The rest is a bunch of geeky stuff that you won't miss.
http://www.cuyamaca.edu/rhonda.bauerlein/bb/Understanding_the_Change_in_Blackboard_9-1_Faculty.pdf
The next link is to the instructions on how to archive your courses. Archiving will give you a backup of your course in case anything goes wrong. You should archive your courses several times a semester. As I mentioned in the workshop, don't skip the last few steps where you save the file to your hard drive. If you don't take those last steps and your course is messed up, the archive won't do you any good since it is part of the course and will be ruined too.
http://www.gcccd.edu/online/tutorials/bb/archive-your-course.pdf
Since I'm on the subject of tutorials, take a look at the other tutorials Chris Rodgers (my counterpart at Grossmont) and I have created for you at http://www.gcccd.edu/online/faculty/. Some of them are appropriate for you to link to for your students to show them how to change their email address or submit an assignment.
If you missed the workshop today, you can view the archive at http://tinyurl.com/bb91workshop. The bad news is that I forgot to start recording until 40 minutes into the workshop. Sorry about that! At least you'll get to see the last 80 minutes of the workshop.
I promised to post a couple of links that I mentioned in the workshop today to this blog so they would be handy for everyone.
First is the "Understanding the Change from Blackboard Learn 9.0 to 9.1 document. This is a "lite" version of the document that Blackboard gave us. I edited 63 pages down to the 21 pages that effect faculty. The rest is a bunch of geeky stuff that you won't miss.
http://www.cuyamaca.edu/rhonda.bauerlein/bb/Understanding_the_Change_in_Blackboard_9-1_Faculty.pdf
The next link is to the instructions on how to archive your courses. Archiving will give you a backup of your course in case anything goes wrong. You should archive your courses several times a semester. As I mentioned in the workshop, don't skip the last few steps where you save the file to your hard drive. If you don't take those last steps and your course is messed up, the archive won't do you any good since it is part of the course and will be ruined too.
http://www.gcccd.edu/online/tutorials/bb/archive-your-course.pdf
Since I'm on the subject of tutorials, take a look at the other tutorials Chris Rodgers (my counterpart at Grossmont) and I have created for you at http://www.gcccd.edu/online/faculty/. Some of them are appropriate for you to link to for your students to show them how to change their email address or submit an assignment.
If you missed the workshop today, you can view the archive at http://tinyurl.com/bb91workshop. The bad news is that I forgot to start recording until 40 minutes into the workshop. Sorry about that! At least you'll get to see the last 80 minutes of the workshop.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Blackboard 9.1 Workshop on Wednesday
On Saturday we upgraded Blackboard to version 9.1. To help you transition to this new version I'm offering a workshop covering the new features in 9.1 this Wednesday, June 8th from 10 am - Noon.
For your convenience, you can attend either in person or online. Those that want to attend in person will meet in room C-223 (upstairs in the Library). You don't need to RSVP, I think we'll have plenty of computers available for everyone who wants to attend.
The workshop will be simultaneously offered online through CCC Confer. To attend online follow these instructions:
For your convenience, you can attend either in person or online. Those that want to attend in person will meet in room C-223 (upstairs in the Library). You don't need to RSVP, I think we'll have plenty of computers available for everyone who wants to attend.
The workshop will be simultaneously offered online through CCC Confer. To attend online follow these instructions:
Ø Dial your telephone conference line: (888) 886-3951
Ø Enter your passcode: 416491
Ø Click the Student Log In button under the Teach & Confer logo.
Ø Locate the “What's New in Blackboard 9.1” meeting and click Go.
Ø Fill out the form and enter the password: 416491
STUDENT TELEPHONE CONFERENCE FEATURES:
*0 - Contact the operator for assistance with the audio.
*6 - Mute/unmute your individual line with a private announcement.
QUESTIONS?
CCC Confer Client Services is available Monday through Friday between 8:00 am - 4:00 pm at 760-744-1150 ext 1537 or 1554 or email clientservices@cccconfer.org.
STUDENT TELEPHONE CONFERENCE FEATURES:
*0 - Contact the operator for assistance with the audio.
*6 - Mute/unmute your individual line with a private announcement.
QUESTIONS?
CCC Confer Client Services is available Monday through Friday between 8:00 am - 4:00 pm at 760-744-1150 ext 1537 or 1554 or email clientservices@cccconfer.org.
To make the most out of this workshop, please log into Blackboard and take a good look around version 9.1. Write down any questions you have and bring them with you to the workshop.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
New Online Course for Blackboard 9.1 Available
The "Teaching with Blackboard" online course has been updated to reflect the changes for version 9.1. This course is a self-paced course that you can take at any time, or just use it as a reference to look up how to do specific things. If you're fairly new to using Blackboard, this is the best way to learn how to use it.
You can sign up for this course at http://www.gcccd.edu/online/tutorials/bb/twbb.asp.
You can sign up for this course at http://www.gcccd.edu/online/tutorials/bb/twbb.asp.
Friday, May 27, 2011
New in Bb 9.1 - Rubrics
At this point in time, Blackboard rubrics cannot be viewed by students, however that will change in future versions. Until that new version comes out, you can create a screenshot of the rubric and add it to your course content.
Also in future versions, rubrics will become more integrated with grading; allowing you to grade directly from a rubric. For now, it's only a pop-up that you can view while you're grading. This tool may not offer the full functionality you need yet, but depending on your situation, you may find it useful now.
You can find more information about what rubrics are and how to use rubrics in your courses at http://www.squidoo.com/TeachCollege2.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
New in Bb 9.1 - Needs Grading
Today I'm going to switch gears a bit and show you a brand new feature you're going to love about Blackboard 9.1.
The Control Panel has a new top level item for the Grade Center. When you click to expand this, you have two options: Needs Grading and Full Grade Center.
Here you see all items that need to be graded. You have the option to filter these items to only show certain categories, certain assignments, certain students, or select certain dates. By clicking on the column headers, you can sort items to the order that works best for you.
If you click the Grade All button, you will be shown the first item that needs to be graded. Just grade the item like you always have, then click the Save and Next button. You will then be shown the next item that needs to be graded. The screen will look just like this one, except it will be for the next student's work. No more going through 3 or 4 clicks to grade each assignment!
The Control Panel has a new top level item for the Grade Center. When you click to expand this, you have two options: Needs Grading and Full Grade Center.After you click on Needs Grading, you'll see the Needs Grading page.
(Click the image to see it larger)
(Click the image to see it larger)
Here you see all items that need to be graded. You have the option to filter these items to only show certain categories, certain assignments, certain students, or select certain dates. By clicking on the column headers, you can sort items to the order that works best for you.
If you click the Grade All button, you will be shown the first item that needs to be graded. Just grade the item like you always have, then click the Save and Next button. You will then be shown the next item that needs to be graded. The screen will look just like this one, except it will be for the next student's work. No more going through 3 or 4 clicks to grade each assignment!
I hope you enjoy this new tool to make grading easier.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Microsoft Office Web Apps
Microsoft Office Web Apps allow you to store your files on the internet and access them from anywhere. You can use Office Web Apps to collaborate on documents online. More than one person can edit a file at the same time. You can use the Office Web Apps with just about any version of Office, or directly from your browser. Best of all, you get 25 GB of space for free!
Start by watching this video that shows what you can do with it:
http://youtu.be/BJ3PFZBa1BM
First, you sign up for a Windows Live ID. If you already have a Hotmail or Live account that you want to use, you can skip this step and just log in with that ID. Once you have a Live account, you have access to your online storage area called SkyDrive.
To explore more features of Microsoft Office Web Apps check out these links.
Start by watching this video that shows what you can do with it:
http://youtu.be/BJ3PFZBa1BM
First, you sign up for a Windows Live ID. If you already have a Hotmail or Live account that you want to use, you can skip this step and just log in with that ID. Once you have a Live account, you have access to your online storage area called SkyDrive.
To explore more features of Microsoft Office Web Apps check out these links.
Friday, May 13, 2011
New in Blackboard 9.1 - Build Content Menus
Today I'll continue my post from Tuesday about the new menus in Blackboard version 9.1. To refresh your memory, here is the new Build Content menu.
File
I covered Item last time, so let's move on to File. As I wrote in an earlier post, Bb 9.1 has an entirely new file system and the file link in this menu is how you would add a link to a file in your course. The video titled "Course Files" gives an overview of this file sytem, and these Hands-on exercises will show you step-by-step how to use Course files, upload a file to Course Files, and make a link to a file using the file option of the Build Content menu.
Audio
Below is an image of the audio dialog. This option is used to create a link to an audio file that is uploaded into Blackboard. We suggest you use this only for short audio files, say 5 minutes or less. The reason is that large files put too much burden on the Blackboard system and slow it down for everyone. If you have larger files, please save the file to your website file area or iTunes U and link to it using the URL option in the Build Content drop-down. For more information on how to do this, please email me.
Audio Dialog window:
In step 2 of this audio dialog, please say no to Autostart and Loop in order to meet accessibility guidelines mandated by law. If the audio file you are uploading or linking to is required for your students to succeed in your course, you must also provide a transcript of the audio in step 1.
Image
The Image dialog is pretty straightforward. There is a new option under the Browse Mashups button to load images from Flickr. When adding images, make sure to type a short description of the image in the Alt Text area. This is another accessibility feature that we are mandated to comply with. Use the Long Description if a short description in the Alt Text is not adequate to communicate the meaning of the image. Long Description is not required, only Alt Text is required.
I'll continue covering this Build Content menu in my next post.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
New in Blackboard 9.1 - Action Bar Menus
One of the biggest changes in version 9.1 is the Action Bar for Content Areas, Folders and Learning Modules. In Blackboard 9.0 this Action Bar looks like this:
In Blackboard 9.1 it looks like this:
All the tools you've used in the past can be found in these drop-downs, however it may take you a while to get used to looking for them in a different place. Let's take a look at what's in the Build Content drop-down.
As you can see, there are a lot more options than there were in version 9.0. The first option under Build Content > Create is Item. This is the same as the old Create Item button on the old Action Bar, so the only new thing to learn here is where to look for it. An Item is "a general piece of content, such as a file, image, text, or link to which a description and other items may be attached."
Blackboard's Online Help for instructors has detailed information for each of the items on this drop-down. If you'd like to experiment with these new features, you can access our Blackboard 9.1 Test Server at https://gcccdtest.blackboard.com/. If you're having trouble logging in, just send me an email and I'll help you out.
For the next several days, I'll cover what each of these options are and how you can use them.
In Blackboard 9.1 it looks like this:
All the tools you've used in the past can be found in these drop-downs, however it may take you a while to get used to looking for them in a different place. Let's take a look at what's in the Build Content drop-down.
Blackboard's Online Help for instructors has detailed information for each of the items on this drop-down. If you'd like to experiment with these new features, you can access our Blackboard 9.1 Test Server at https://gcccdtest.blackboard.com/. If you're having trouble logging in, just send me an email and I'll help you out.
For the next several days, I'll cover what each of these options are and how you can use them.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Use Outlook 2010 to Schedule Meetings
Lynda.com created a short video showing how to use Microsoft Outlook 2010 to find times that work best in your group for meetings.
You can watch this free, 2 minute video at:
http://blog.lynda.com/2011/04/11/outlook-20072010-shortcut-keeping-track-of-schedules/.
Contact me if you are interested in watching other Lynda.com videos on how to use Microsoft Office 2010.
You can watch this free, 2 minute video at:
http://blog.lynda.com/2011/04/11/outlook-20072010-shortcut-keeping-track-of-schedules/.
Contact me if you are interested in watching other Lynda.com videos on how to use Microsoft Office 2010.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
New in Blackboard 9.1 - Course Files
Paraphrased from the Blackboard 9.1 manual:
Watch this short video to find out more about Course Files.
Course files provides file storage on the Blackboard server for a single course. Course Files within each course displays content for that specific course, not for other courses taught by an instructor. Instructors can create folders and subfolders in Course Files to organize their content in a way that is logical to them. Once content is in Course Files, you can link it to any place in your course where attaching files is available.
Watch this short video to find out more about Course Files.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
SafeAssign is Fixed
Blackboard notified us today that they have fixed the problem with SafeAssign that began last month. However, it is important that you synchronize your course with SafeAssign to make sure it will all work. Here are the steps to do that.
1. In the Control Panel, click Course Tools to expand that section
2. Click on SafeAssign
3. Click Synchronize this course
Students who previously submitted SafeAssignments will probably still see an error message when they try to view them. However, as the instructor, you will be able to grade these from within the Grade Center, which is great news. SafeAssignments submitted after you synchronize your course should not show an error when students try to access the assignment after submitting it.
1. In the Control Panel, click Course Tools to expand that section
2. Click on SafeAssign
3. Click Synchronize this course
Students who previously submitted SafeAssignments will probably still see an error message when they try to view them. However, as the instructor, you will be able to grade these from within the Grade Center, which is great news. SafeAssignments submitted after you synchronize your course should not show an error when students try to access the assignment after submitting it.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Wikis in Blackboard 9.1
Last week I told you we're upgrading to Blackboard version 9.1 on June 4th. As part of this series on the new features in Bb 9.1, today I'd like to tell you about wikis. Wikis enable active collaboration around course content and group projects. Students collaborate on a document using only a web browser. Instructors can see the process and evolution of the work and even participate. Furthermore, teachers can see each participant’s contributions and grade accordingly.
Please watch a video that describes what a wiki is:
http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english
Here are videos that describe how to use wikis in Blackboard 9.1:
Please watch a video that describes what a wiki is:
http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english
Here are videos that describe how to use wikis in Blackboard 9.1:
Monday, April 4, 2011
Blackboard 9.1 Is Coming in June
We plan to upgrade to Blackboard version 9.1 on June 4th of this year. This will not be a huge change like the one you experienced when we upgraded from version 8.0 to 9.0 last summer. This new version will add functionality to enhance your teaching. A few buttons will move or be renamed in the new version, but the basic way things work will stay pretty much the same.
So what's new in this version? I'll start regularly posting information on these new features to this blog until the upgrade takes place. Here are two of the new features you may find useful.
Improved Grading
In version 9.1 you can grade wikis (more about wikis later), blogs, journals, and the discussion board directly into the assignment without having to go back to the Grade Center. In addition, they have introduced flexible visual indicators in the Grade Center allowing you to apply coloring and criteria to help with grading management or to easily spot trends in student performance. View a video on how this is done at: http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r91/movies/bb91_grade_center_color_code.htm
Moving Tests, Surveys, and Assignments
Based on client feedback, Blackboard has made it easier for instructors to design and redesign courses specifically when moving locations of tests, surveys, and assignments. When working on course design all content items can be either moved or copied throughout the course, saving time and eliminating the need to recreate or redeploy content.
Monday, March 21, 2011
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.
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.
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