Friday, October 26, 2012

Fall 2011 Course Deletion

It is time for some housekeeping in Blackboard. Fall 2011 (FA11) course areas in Blackboard have been identified and marked for removal on November 9th.  Although the VCCS does maintain an archive of your courses, it is recommended that you maintain a copy of your course by exporting the course content. All archived courses will be available through the VCCS for about 2 years after they are removed from Blackboard. You should also download a copy of your grade center from Blackboard for each course as back-up as well, if you have not done so already. (Downloading and Uploading from the Grade Center--Video Tutorial)

If you have taught online, login to your "MySVCC" page and click on "Blackboard" to see which courses you are enrolled in as an instructor. From your SVCC tab or Teach tab, you will need to click on the circular icon (looks similar to a gear) found on the upper right corner of your "My Blackboard Courses" module. This will allow you to see all courses that you have taught that are currently in Blackboard, even if you have chosen to not have them display in your "My Blackboard Courses" module.  The criteria for removal at this stage is:

1. Course ID's ending in "FA11"
2. Or created before August 1, 2011

You should export content from any courses planned for removal AND save the zipped files on your computer for future use. (These file are not stored in Blackboard.)

Click on the link below and scroll down to the section called "Course Management and Navigation". From there you will find instructions on exporting course content. You can either view the instructions or download to save or print.

Blackboard Instructional Handouts
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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Upcoming Blackboard Upgrade

On the weekend of November 16th our current Blackboard system will be updated from Blackboard version 9.1 service pack 7 to 9.1 service pack 9.  This is not considered a major upgrade, but it will take approximately 24 hours to complete the process, and there are a few new features to be aware of.  (The upgrade will not take all weekend, but at this time we do not have a confirmed time frame.)

Information on new features and tools have been added to our technology training site.  Here is a direct link.

Blackboard Update - What to Expect
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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

August 21st begins our Fall semester at Southside. The enrollment process to place students into their Blackboard course areas began on August 10th, so any students displaying on your roster within SIS should be displaying within your course. This was done for all online, hybrid, and seated courses. You still control student access to your course area and will need to make your course area available by the start of the session. (If you have an online or hybrid course that begins on August 21st, your course should be available to students no later than 8:00 AM that day.)



There are a few things that should be checked as you prepare to start this new session.
  1. Minimum Requirements for Distance Learning Courses   --  (Online Course Checklist)

  2. Course Copy or Export/Import: Remember that a course copy can take up to 24 hours or more to complete. DO NOT run a course copy a second time, you could end up with double content...this cannot be undone. Submit an IssueTrak ticket after 24 hours if you still have not received an email stating that the process has been completed. I can submit a request to the VCCS to check their logs.  Course Copy Instructions

    Another option when copying content is to export the content out of your original course and import into the new one. By utilizing this option, you will have a back-up of your course on your computer or flash drive, and we have found this process to be more reliable and at times even faster than course copy.  Export Course Content / Import Course Content

    Neither process noted here is full-proof, you MUST check all of your content, test links, etc. and make corrections as needed.

  3. Course Check: Did you check all content, assignments, and tests? Make sure to check everything carefully to make sure all content is displaying correctly.  Once you have made your course available, I recommend using your student account to access your course to double check your content . See what your Grade Center looks like for students. (See step 10 below.)   Using Your Student Account

  4. Duplicate Menu Buttons or Content: When you copied over course content into your new course, you may have included areas that weren't needed. Delete or hide buttons on your course menu that lead to empty or duplicate content. (For example: You should have a "Student Help" button, not "Help?". Delete "Help?" if you see this in your course menu).   Click into each area on your course menu (other than Student Grades), and check for duplicate content within those areas.  Clean-up your course areas.    Adjusting the Course Menu

  5. Copy and Paste from Word Tool:  There is a new copy and paste from word tool that was integrated into our Blackboard system in May.  This allows you to copy content from Word into an area of Blackboard (announcement, item, test question, folder, etc.) without formatting issues or other problems that can arise from pasting from Word.  This tool is easy to use, but would not be easy to locate on your own.  Take a look at the instructional guide linked above. 

  6. New McGraw-Hill Connect and Blackboard Integration Tools:  Those of you who utilize McGraw-Hill Connect will need to check out these tools.  You now have the capability to link your Connect "Course" with your Blackboard course shell.

    Getting Started Instructions      (Begin with this)
    McGraw Hill's Connect Tutorials Page - Scroll down to the bottom for video tutorials on integrating your course with Blackboard.  (This is a great follow-up to the getting started document with step-by-step instructions on adding content.)
    Blackboard's Instructional Guide   (Page 15 begins the instructions on adding content)

  7. Blackboard Collaborate Web Conferencing and Voice Authoring Tools

  8. Blackboard Mash-Ups:  New tools with Blackboard 9.1 to easily add YouTube videos, Slideshare presentations, Flickr Photos, Links to Collaborate session or recordings of sessions, Record Audio, and copy/paste Microsoft Word content.

  9. Course Availability: You will need to modify the availability of your course for students to have access.   Modifying Course Availability

  10. Grade Center: Remember that your grade center area will need to be either set-up or cleaned-up. If you course copy or utilize export/import to copy content, you will need to go through your grade center and clean it up. Check your categories (they duplicate every time you course copy) and remove categories that you aren't using other than the default categories that can't be removed. (Click on Manage and then Categories within the Grade Center.) Double check assigned column categories and points possible by going to Manage and then Column Organization. Remove columns that you are not using. Use your student account, and click on the Student Grades button on the course menu to find out what students are seeing.    Basic Set-Up and Clean-Up Instructions

  11. URLs to Remember
  • Technology Training Site (This link will take you directly to BB handouts page.)
  • SVCC Technology Page :  This has links to information on Blackboard, Using Blackboard Collaborate Web Conferencing, Using Panopto, etc.   There could be information here that you could link within your course to provide students with information on how to use these tools.
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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Summer Session Reminders

I hope everyone is ready to roll for the start of the summer session.   Here are a few reminders as you put the finishing touches on your courses.

  1. Course Availability:  Don't forget to make course areas available to students by 8:00 AM at the start of your session.  (For example, if you have a 10 week session online or hybrid course, your course area should be made available no later than 8:00 AM on May 23rd.)    Modifying Course Availability Video 

  2. Upgrade Checklist:  If you had content set-up before the upgrade or you ran any sort of course copy or export/import to reuse content from previous semesters, you should go through your courses very carefully to look for areas that may need to be fixed.  Use this course checklist as a guideline. 

  3. Copy and Paste from Word:  As you continue to work on your courses or add content throughout the semester, remember that we have a new Copy and Paste from Word tool  If you are copying content form Microsoft Word to then paste into Blackboard, you need to utilize this tool.   In the past, instructors have been encouraged to not copy and paste from Word into Blackboard because of the number of issues that could result…text formatting problems, students unable to see text at all, corruption of tests, discussion board errors, and the list goes on….  This is due to hidden formatting code that is included when copying and pasting from Word.   We now have a tool in Blackboard that can remove that code which should address these issues and allow you to copy text from Word and paste directly into Blackboard.  It will preserve your tables and formatting from Word, but will remove any problematic coding.    Copy and Paste from Word Mash-Up
     
  4. Instructor Student Accounts:  Do not forget that you will no longer have the capability to enroll or remove students within your course areas.  In the past, you had to enroll your own student account in your course(s), but you will not need to do this now.  I do encourage you to utilize your student account when checking your courses before the start of the semester and during the semester.  (Using Instructor Student Accounts)

  5. The Blackboard Upgrade:   Blackboard 9.1 Information  (This is a link to the last blog post concerning the Blackboard upgrade.)

  6. Tools:  If you utilize a link to "Tools" on your course menu, do not "Hide Links" to any tools that you utilize in your course from that screen.  You can make this button unavailable and make direct links to tools either on your course menu or within content areas of your course.  In Blackboard 9.1, if you hide the links on this "Tools" page, it hides those areas from students EVERYWHERE in your course.  This is not how Blackboard functioned in the previous versions.  

  7. Web Browsers and Blackboard:  There continues to be issues with using Internet Explorer and Blackboard.  In the past, if you or a student HAD to use Internet Explorer, we recommended that you utilize Internet Explorer in Compatibility Mode.  We are beginning to now find issues with compatibility mode.  We recommend that you use either Firefox or Google Chrome when accessing Blackboard.  We are still testing Google Chrome, but it is now identified as a supported browser, and so far it looks positive.

  8. Duplicate Menu Buttons:  When you copied over course content into your new course, you may have copied buttons that you didn't need. You need to either delete or hide those to clean up your course menu. For example: You should have a "Student Help" button, not "Help?".  Delete "Help?" if you see this in your course menu. Click here for Organizing the Course Menu Instructions (Warning if you course copied Instructor Resources or Student Help, you probably duplicated the content within those areas. Those areas are automatically created for all courses in the template. You don't need to include them in the course copy. Check the Student help button. You should see 4 folders. If you see duplicate folders, please get rid of them.) If your course is either an online or hybrid course, DO NOT remove the course evaluation button on the course menu.

  9. Technology Training Site (This link will take you directly to BB handouts and tutorials.)    We will continue to update this with new Blackboard 9.1 Tutorials.  Also remember that you have access to software tutorials through Atomic Learning.  You can utilize these tutorials with students and/or view them yourself.  There are tutorials for Blackboard 9.1 (and many, many other software programs and tools) through this site, and several of those Blackboard tutorials are linked in the Student Help section of each summer and fall course shell.    There is information on Atomic Learning, including a link to the site, within Blackboard on the SVCC tab.

  10. SVCC Distance Ed Page (Go to this website and scroll down to "Important Links". There you will find links to a Blackboard FAQ page, BB test taking tips page, Computer Maintenance Tips, etc. You might find useful information here that you direct your students to, such as how to submit an assignment into Blackboard or how to post to the discussion board.)
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012

One Final Blackboard Upgrade Update and Summer Session Reminders

It is just about that time!!  The Blackboard upgrade to version 9.1 is upon us.  Blackboard will be unavailable from 8:00 AM Friday, May 11th until 11:30 PM Sunday, May 13th.   Here are some last minute reminders and additional notes for you, and links to training materials for the major areas impacted by the upgrade and/or new tools available to you.

Reminders and Notes:
  1. Before the upgrade - Export your course content and save to your computer (It never hurts to back-up.  This is a good rule of thumb as part of your wrap-up at the end of each semester.  Export your content - This creates a zip file that you can save to your computer or flash drive.  Just remember where you saved it!)  : )   For instructions on how to do this, go this site and scroll down to 'Course Management and Navigation'.  There is an 'Export Course' handout linked there.    Blackboard 9.0 Handouts
     
  2. After the Upgrade - Check your course(s) after the upgrade.  Those of you who are teaching summer courses, need to go through your courses very carefully to look for areas that may need to be fixed.  Use this course checklist as a guideline.  Be ready to make corrections.
     
  3. Change/Note Concerning File Management within Blackboard 9.1  -- Please review notation below within the training materials section.

  4. Two Additional New Tools:  There is a 'Manage Users' tool and 'Copy and Paste From Word' option that will also be added to Blackboard at the time of the upgrade.  These are not new 9.1 features, but are tools that have been approved to be integrated into our system and the upgrade seems like a good time to do it.  : )  Although these are very minor additions, I believe they will prove to be extremely useful.  Here are some guides to these tools for your review. 

    Manage User Tool    Copy and Paste from Word Mash-Up
     
  5. Do not forget that you will no longer have the capability to enroll or remove students within your course areas.  In the past, you had to enroll your own student account in your course(s), but you will not need to do this now.  I do encourage you to utilize your student account when checking your courses before the start of the semester...especially after this upgrade.  (Using Instructor Student Accounts)
     
  6. Course Copies - Feel free to run your course copy or export/import of your content into your new summer course areas before the upgrade.  Please DO NOT wait until the day before classes begin to do this.  It can take up to 24 hours for a course copy to process, so you may have to wait awhile, especially right before the beginning of a session. If the copy does not process in 24 hours, please email me at kelly.goscinski@southside.edu.  I can submit a ticket with the VCCS to check their logs.  You don't want to run a copy twice and end up with duplicate content.  (The link above to our Blackboard 9.0 handouts has one on course copies and another on exporting/importing content depending on which method you use.) 
You can find information below on the primary new features and tools available within Blackboard 9.1.  I have included links to the recordings of our online sessions (There are some areas that do not have recordings posted at this time.), and our instructional guides that we shared during the sessions are all linked below as well.


File Management within Blackboard 9.1: "Course files eliminate redundancy and simplify the management of content updates. An in-course file storage structure makes it easier to keep track of documents used in courses, similar to the type of file and folder structure that is used on your PC. A new thumb nail view and drag and drop upload applet make it quick and easy to get files into Blackboard and to view the image files." 

UPDATE:  The drag and drop capability to upload multiple files at once into the "My Files" area within Blackboard 9.1 will not be functional as of the May upgrade.  Although this is a feature of 9.1, there is a modification that must be made to the Blackboard server before this will be functional.  That will hopefully be coming soon, so I will keep you updated.  On another note, you can still upload multiple files at once, but you will first need to organize those files into a zipped file (compressed file).  You can then import them as a package into the My Files area.    Multiple File Upload Instructions

Instructional Handout/Guide to File Management within Blackboard 9.1 

Adding Content - Creating Blank Pages, Learning Modules w/Table of Contents, Mash-Ups, Adding Textbook Information ( Getting started with Course Content )

Instructional Handout/Guide to Adding Content within Blackboard 9.1 (Extended Version)
Quick Guide to New Content Types in Blackboard 9.1 

Interactive Rubrics: Creating a Grading Rubric, Associating a Rubric with a Gradable Item, Grading with a Rubric


Instructional Handout/Guide to the New Interactive Rubrics Tool
Discussion Boards, Journals, Blogs, and Wikis - Special focus on Wikis since this a new option: "Wikis enable active collaboration around course content and group projects. Users collaborate on a document using only a web browser. Educators can see the process and evolution of the work and even participate. Furthermore, educators can see each participant’s contributions and grade accordingly."



Instructional Handout/Guide to Discussion Boards, Wikis, Journals, and Blogs in 9.1 (Extended instructions)

Quick Guide to these Communication Tools
New Options and Features within the Grade Center: Needs Grading View, Anonymous Grading, Grading By Question Attempt, Color Coding

Instructional Handout/Guide to the new Grade Center Features  
New Options and Features in Blackboard Testing: Setting Test Options, Question Finder, Linking to Questions, Question Sets, Copying Tests

Instructional Handout/Guide to Testing in Blackboard 9.1 
Guide to Using the Question Finder and Question Sets Options 
Blackboard Collaborate: Integrated within Blackboard -- Provides instructors with a tool to set-up and utilize online meeting rooms.

Blackboard Collaborate Web Conferencing Tool

Instructional Handout/Guide to using Collaborate in Blackboard 9.1
How to Utilize Collaborate (Recording- Recorded 5/12
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Thursday, April 26, 2012

Spring 2011 Course Removal From Blackboard

It is time for some housekeeping in Blackboard. As you may have already noticed, Spring 2011 (SP11) course areas in Blackboard have been identified and marked for removal on April 30th.  Although the VCCS does maintain an archive of your courses, it is recommended that you maintain a copy of your course by exporting the course content. All archived courses will be available through the VCCS for about 2 years after they are removed from Blackboard. You should also download a copy of your grade center from Blackboard for each course as back-up as well, if you have not done so already. (Downloading and Uploading from the Grade Center--Video Tutorial)

If you have taught online, login to your "MySVCC" page and click on "Blackboard" to see which courses you are enrolled in as an instructor. From your SVCC tab or Teach tab, you will need to click on the circular icon (looks similar to a gear) found on the upper right corner of your "My Blackboard Courses" module. This will allow you to see all courses that you have taught that are currently in Blackboard, even if you have chosen to not have them display in your "My Blackboard Courses" module.  The criteria for removal at this stage is:

1. Course ID's ending in "SP11"
2. Or created before January 1, 2011

You should export content from any courses planned for removal AND save the zipped files on your computer for future use. (These file are not stored in Blackboard.)

Click on the link below and scroll down to the section called "Course Management and Navigation". From there you will find instructions on exporting course content. You can either view the instructions or download to save or print.

Blackboard Instructional Handouts
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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Summer Course Shells

Your course areas in Blackboard for all online, hybrid, and seated summer classes were available to instructors as of April 7th. Remember that the update to Blackboard is scheduled for the weekend of May 12th. The VCCS technicians will begin the upgrade Friday night (May 11th) and should complete the upgrade on the 12th. I do not have an exact start time at this point, but for now plan to lose access to Blackboard on Friday evening, and to be safe, do not plan to regain access until Sunday. You can proceed with running course copies and/or export/imports to move content from previous semester course shells into your summer course areas. You do not need to wait until after the upgrade.

Remember that there are still a few training sessions left addressing Blackboard 9.1. The training dates, times, locations, etc. can be found here. The time for the training on April 17th in Keysville on the new Grade Center features has been changed from 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM. If you had planned to attend, please make note of this change.

The following are reminders concerning Blackboard and information to keep in mind as you develop your courses.

Course Availability
Instructors are to make course areas available by 8:00 AM on the day that the session begins.

Student Enrollments and Instructor Student Accounts
Student enrollments within Blackboard will be activated on May 15th, so students should be enrolled in course areas on the 16th. They will not have access to your course areas until you make the areas available within Blackboard. DO NOT enroll students in your Blackboard courses. This is a completely automated process. If you manually enroll students, this causes problems.

NEW!!! When Blackboard is updated in May, instructors will no longer have the capability to enroll or remove students from courses, but instructor student accounts will automatically be enrolled in all course shells (as students). This is not a Blackboard 9.1 feature, but something that the VCCS has been working towards and will be implemented at the same time as the upgrade.

Export and Import Course Content or Course Copy

You can copy your content from one course to another by using either "Course Copy" or "Export/Import". Neither option seems to be a perfect solution, so remember to always gives yourself time to review the copied content. Export/Import does give you a back-up copy of your content saved to either your computer or other storage device, and Blackboard reps have stated that this is a more reliable process, especially if you have a lot of content. At Southside, however, we have seen some problems when using export/import related to copying tests in Blackboard, so please be aware of that.

Whatever method you choose, do this sooner rather than later. Don't leave copying content until the week before classes begin, or even worse, the day that classes begin. Give yourself plenty of time to review and update your content. I know that sometimes classes are added at the last minute, and nothing can be done about those situations, but for classes that are on the schedule now...go ahead and complete this step early.

If you course copy or use Export/Import to copy content from a previous course(s) into a new course shell in Blackboard or if you use a publisher cartridge, you may unintentionally bring over additional buttons that you don't need. You shouldn't have duplicate buttons on your course menu. Please either remove those or make them unavailable to students. (See the Blackboard Training Materials below.) Here are some tips to keep in mind before you begin this copy process.

  • Review this handout on export/import if you plan to use this process to copy content.

  • Review this handout on course copy if you plan to go this route.

  • Be prepared to wait. When copying, it might take a few minutes, a few hours or even over a day for your course to copy. Do NOT under any circumstances run the copy process more than once for a course. If a course copy takes more than a day, submit a ticket to Issuetrak to have this checked, but do not start it again. If you do, you will end up with multiple copies of your course content and deleting the duplicate content will take you quite a bit of time.

  • Select "Grade Center Columns and Settings" during course copy and export/import if you utilize tests in Blackboard, the Assignment feature that allows students to upload work into BB, or the "grade forum" option with discussion boards. If you want your grade center columns to copy over or if you have anything linked to the Grade Center, this must be selected during course copy or export/import. This DOES NOT bring over your students' names or grades from a previous semester.

  • No matter what process you decide to use, if you copy content, review it carefully after the process is completed. Correct dates, modify content, and reorganize as needed. Within the assignments area, you will have more that one READI assignment due to the copy. Get rid of the items identified as READI assessments, and keep only the one called SmarterMeasure. This is the updated item that was in our template. Also, if you have two "Student Grades" buttons on your course menu, get rid of one. (See the template information below.)
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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Blackboard 9.1 Training

Ashley and I have set-up some dates and locations for training on new features within Blackboard 9.1. Do not forget that the upgrade is planned for May 12th. (Overview of New Features)

Any documents/videos linked below were created by Blackboard. The items linked below are there in case you want to take a look at the tool to get a little more information before attending training.

Some descriptions below were copied from a document created by Blackboard concerning the changes from Blackboard 9 to 9.1.

The trainings will be offered as follows:

 File Management within Blackboard 9.1: "Course files eliminate redundancy and simplify the management of content updates. An in-course file storage structure makes it easier to keep track of documents used in courses, similar to the type of file and folder structure that is used on your PC. A new thumb nail view and drag and drop upload applet make it quick and easy to get files into Blackboard and to view the image files." April 2nd: 11:30am - 12:30pm, Christanna Campus Room B46
April 2nd: 4:00pm - 5:00pm, Online Meeting (Link to meeting will be sent by email on the day of the meeting.)
April 3rd: 10:30am - 11:30am, Daniel Campus Room 108B

Adding Content - Creating Blank Pages, Learning Modules w/Table of Contents, Mash-Ups, Adding Textbook Information ( Getting started with Course Content ) April 2nd: 3:00pm - 4:00pm, Daniel Campus Room 21
April 4th: 11:30am - 12:30pm, Christanna Campus Room B46
April 4th: 4:00pm - 5:00pm, Online Meeting (https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/meeting.jnlp?sid=&password=M.FE89ADB594E5BF1549F924EAD719BC)

Interactive Rubrics: Creating a Grading Rubric, Associating a Rubric with a Gradable Item, Grading with a Rubric
http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Learn/Products/Blackboard-Learn/Teaching-and-Learning/Feature-Showcase/Sharing-Rubrics.aspx April 9th: 11:30am - 12:30pm, Christanna Campus Room B46
April 9th: 4:00pm - 5:00pm, Online Meeting (https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/meeting.jnlp?sid=&password=M.FE89ADB594E5BF1549F924EAD719BC )
April 11th: 3:00pm - 4:00pm, Daniel Campus Room 22

Discussion Boards, Journals, Blogs, and Wikis - Special focus on Wikis since this a new option: "Wikis enable active collaboration around course content and group projects. Users collaborate on a document using only a web browser. Educators can see the process and evolution of the work and even participate. Furthermore, educators can see each participant’s contributions and grade accordingly." April 11th: 11:30am - 12:30pm, Christanna Campus Room B46
April 12th: 10:30am - 11:30am, Daniel Campus Room 108B
April 12th: 4:00pm - 5:00pm, Online Meeting (https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/meeting.jnlp?sid=&password=M.FE89ADB594E5BF1549F924EAD719BC)

New Options and Features within the Grade Center: Needs Grading View, Anonymous Grading, Grading By Question Attempt, Color Coding April 16th: 11:30am - 12:30pm, Christanna Campus Room B46
April 16th: 4:00pm - 5:00pm, Online Meeting (https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/meeting.jnlp?sid=&password=M.FE89ADB594E5BF1549F924EAD719BC)
April 17th: 3:00pm - 4:00 pm, Daniel Campus Room 22

New Options and Features in Blackboard Testing: Setting Test Options, Question Finder, Linking to Questions, Question Sets, Copying Tests April 18th: 11:30am - 12:30pm, Christanna Campus Room B46
April 19th: 10:30am - 11:30am, Daniel Campus Room 22
April 19th: 4:00pm - 5:00pm, Online Meeting (https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/meeting.jnlp?sid=&password=M.FE89ADB594E5BF1549F924EAD719BC)

Blackboard Collaborate: Integrated within Blackboard -- Provides instructors with a tool to set-up and utilize online meeting rooms.

Blackboard Collaborate Web Conferencing Tool

April 25th: 11:30am - 12:30pm, Christanna Campus Room B46
April 26th: 10:30am - 11:30am, Daniel Campus Room 22
April 26th: 4:00pm - 5:00pm, Online Meeting (https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/meeting.jnlp?sid=&password=M.FE89ADB594E5BF1549F924EAD719BC)
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Upgrading to Blackboard 9.1

Blackboard 9.1 Presentation

It is time to upgrade to Blackboard 9.1. This upgrade will take place on May 12th, so those of you teaching summer courses will have access to some new tools and options for use with your courses this summer. If you are not teaching any courses this summer, make sure that you are prepared and have worked with this version of Blackboard, before you come back in August.

I have planned an overview session on each campus to walk you through some of the new options (February 23rd: Alberta, Room B45, 11:30 - 12:00; February 28th: Keysville, Room 22 11:30 - 12:00), and Ashley Leslie and I are planning a series of training sessions for the month of April. I hope to see you at one of the the overview sessions, so please mark those calendars! : ) I will email out information in March concerning the workshops planned for April.

Upon request I can set-up a practice course area for you on our Explore site, so that you can work with Blackboard 9.1 now. To utilize the Explore site, please submit your name and MySVCC/Blackboard user name on the form linked below. I will then enroll you in a practice area, but be aware that you may be sharing a practice area with other Southside instructors. Once you are set-up with a practice area, you go can to the explore site (web address can be found below) and log-in using your regular MySVCC/Blackboard log-in information.

Practice Area Request

The explore site is accessible through the following web address.

http://explore.vccs.edu/

You may find that you need to clear out your browser cache and cookies for the site to accept your log-in. The following web address has instructions on how to do this through various browsers.

http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser%27s-Cache
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Blackboard Collaborate

The entire community college system now has access to a program called Blackboard Collaborate Web Conferencing tool. Through Collaborate, you can provide live online instruction, hold meetings, or provide one-on-one help. This is a similar product to the Adobe Connect program that we have been using for several years. We have been needing to either replace or update Adobe Connect, so this is a welcome addition.

Blackboard Collaborate is integrated into your course areas in Blackboard which should make it very easy for instructors to utilize this program with students. It can, however, be used independently from Blackboard. So, if you don't teach any courses, but would like to utilize this program to meet with colleagues on other campuses or if working with students that you can't meet with in person, using this is an option.

Here is a link to the Blackboard Collaborate website where there are some presentations on the web conferencing component. Blackboard Collaborate Website

We are hoping that there are a few of you who would like to be our early implementers with this product. We would like to begin with training a small group to begin using this program very soon. We can then get feedback from that group before offering training sessions open to everyone later this spring. If you are interested in being in our first group, please click on the link below to submit your name. Ashley is going to hold a training session for this group at the end of the month, so don't delay in submitting your name. We would both appreciate your participation.

Sign-Up
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