Blackboard Updates, Fall Courses, and Training

• Fall Course Shells: Fall course shells have been created and instructors enrolled. If you are planning to course copy content from a previous semester into your fall course area, you need to review these updated instructions on the course copy process. DO NOT assume that you can figure this out. Review this handout first. https://docs.google.com/a/email.vccs.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZW1haWwudmNjcy5lZHV8c291dGhzaWRlLWluZm9ybWF0aW9uLXRlY2hub2xvZ3ktc2l0ZXxneDoyODNiNGUxNDc1Zjg1MGQ2
  
  
• Student Enrollments in Fall Courses: Students will not be enrolled until the day before the Fall session begins, and they will be enrolled for all cyber, hybrid, and seated courses. You should not be enrolling any students manually. Remember that Blackboard and Student Information are now linked.
  
  
• Fall Course Availability: When your course areas were set-up, they were set as "unavailable" to students. You will have to make it available when your session is ready to begin. Here is the handout on modifying course availability. https://docs.google.com/a/email.vccs.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZW1haWwudmNjcy5lZHV8c291dGhzaWRlLWluZm9ybWF0aW9uLXRlY2hub2xvZ3ktc2l0ZXxneDo0MDdhMzQ4ZjQ5YjIxZjNl
  
  
• Spring 2010 Course Availability: Did you make your Spring 10 course areas unavailable in Blackboard at the end of the last semester? If not, please do so ASAP. If you have students with incompletes, I can help with this. Put in an Issuetrak ticket with the course information (ex. HIS 102 K6) and identify the students who need to retain access. (See handout linked above on how to modify course availability if needed.)
  
  
• Blackboard 9 Tips and Workarounds: I have been developing a list of Blackboard 9 tips and workarounds for problems, and I will continue to add to this list as new issues arise. Please review the information carefully at this link!! Bookmark this link and check back to it periodically and if you encounter a problem. http://svtechtime.blogspot.com/2010/06/blackboard-9-issues-tips-and-work.html
  
  
• Blackboard 9 Training Materials: Don't forget that there are many handouts and tutorials that have already been created on using Blackboard. Ashley Leslie and I will continue to add to this. (Recently Added: Collecting and Viewing Discussion Board Threads and Replies, Enabling and Utilizing Grade Forum in the Discussion Board, Listing User in Blackboard, Enrolling your Student User Account in your Course) https://sites.google.com/a/email.vccs.edu/southside-information-technology-site/blackboard-1/blackboard-training/blackboard-9-training-materials
  
  
• Student Online Learning Workshop: We have scheduled new online learning workshops for students on both campuses, and the information has been posted on the college website and emailed to students. Please promote these with your students. We have not had a great turnout for these in the past. Here is the link to information on these workshops with dates and times, locations, and an online registration form. http://southside.edu/academics/disted/studenttraining.asp
  
  
• Grade Center Training: Instructor training workshops have been scheduled that will focus on the Grade Center in Blackboard. A two-hour "Back to the Basics" session has been scheduled on each campus. This will be geared towards those who have not used the Grade Center before or feel they need a refresher of the basics. A one-hour session has also been scheduled on each campus that will look at what's new with the Grade Center in Blackboard 9 and will look at clean-up from one semester to the next. This is geared for those of you who have been using the Grade Center, but would like some assistance with looking at the changes from version 8 to 9. This would also be good for those instructors who would like some pointers on what needs to be done to their Grade Center at the start of a session. Go to the website linked here to see the dates, times, and locations for each session and to sign-up to attend. If you register, make sure that you know your user name and password to login to your MySVCC page prior to attending the training session. If you have not logged in to your MySVCC page or to Blackboard in a while, try to do so at at least a few days before the workshop. There will be a hands-on component to each workshop, and logging in issues should be resolved before the workshops. https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p5OCzAypDL_96xU_szEzWSA