Upcoming Workshops

I am going to offer a couple of short 30 minute mini workshops that may help you get rolling with your spring courses.

In the first session, I will walk you through the process of exporting course content from a previous course area and importing content into a course area for the upcoming spring semester. This will probably not take thirty minutes, so there may be a little time at the end to just answer Blackboard questions.

I will then have a second mini (30 minute) workshop on using Google Calendar and linking to the calendar within Blackboard. Some of you may want to utilize this tool to create course calendars for your spring classes. Google calendar is also a great tool just to keep track of your personal schedule.

Please register if you plan to attend either workshop. Registration Form

Christanna Campus (Room C16)
1:30 - 2:00 November 17th: Exporting and Importing Course Content in Blackboard
Date and Time (Pending) Using Google Calendar

John H. Daniel Campus (Room 22)
2:30 - 3:00 November 18th: Exporting and Importing Course Content in Blackboard
3:00 - 3:30 November 18th: Using Google Calendar

Spring 2011 Blackboard Course Areas

Course shells have been created for all cyber, hybrid, and seated Spring 2011 courses.

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Export and Import Course Content (Alternative to Course Copy)

Course Copy was a very problematic process at the start of the Fall session. We are now recommending that you use the export and import options instead of course copy. Blackboard reps are also saying that it is a more reliable process. It will allow you to copy your content from one course to another and will give you a back-up copy of your content saved to either your computer or other storage device.

I advise you to use this method, and do so sooner rather than later. Don't leave copying content until you come back in January after the holidays. 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 decide to use the course copy tool as opposed to export/import, then it is even more important that you do this before January and make sure that you only run it once per course. Running course copies multiple times for courses contributed to the problems at the start of the fall semester.

I am going to offer a workshop on each campus in which we will walk through this process together using export/import to copy your content. Workshop Information

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, 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 grades buttons on your course menu, get rid of one. (See the template information below.)

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Blackboard Template

Once again, course shells were created in Blackboard based on a template. Within the template a course menu was created with the minimum expectations on what should be found and used in all SVCC cyber courses (Announcements, Syllabus, Instructor, Assignments, Discussion Board, External Links, Student Grades, Email, and Student Help). You can add areas as needed, but the areas that are on the menu should be utilized appropriately. (Ex. Your syllabus should be in the syllabus area.) The hope is to have some consistency from course to course.

More information has been added to the "Student Help" section. Take a look at what is now available, so that you will be able to direct students to that area as needed. DO NOT REMOVE this button!!! If you remove that button from the course menu, all of the content located there will be removed from your course as well.

The Course Evaluation button has been hidden on the course menu. Be careful not to remove this from the menu, just leave it as unavailable to students for now. Near the end of the semester, all cyber and hybrid course instructors will need to make this area available to students on the course menu for online students to complete. This is only for CYBER and HYBRID COURSES. This online evaluation will not be completed by seated courses. There is a link at the bottom of this entry that will take you to a handout concerning adjusting the course menu.

An "Instructor Resources" area has been added as well, but it is not available to students and should not be made available to them on the course menu. There are links to materials and information on online resources that may be of interest to you. There is also a link to Southside's course syllabus template which you can download.

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Course Cartridges

Course cartridges are publisher supplied content. If you plan on going this route, please pay careful attention to the following:

• Publishers are not always clear about whether there cartridges require additional access keys to be purchased by students. Before ordering a cartridge, make sure that your students will not have to buy access keys. If they do, it is up to you to make arrangements with the Bookstore. Managing access keys is NOT supported by the Blackboard Administrator--it is an issue completely between the publisher and the instructor.
  
  
• Course cartridges can take several hours to load, and they can load a tremendous amount of content into your class. Be sure to budget time to review the loaded content before your class starts.
  
  
• When you order your cartridge, be sure and ask the publisher to copy blackboard@southside.edu when they send the key. Also, be sure to submit a ticket to Issuetrak or email me at the blackboard address above when the publisher sends you the key to request that the cartridge be loaded into your course.

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Blackboard Training Handouts

Blackboard Training Materials
Here you can find handouts on the following:
Adjusting the Course Navigation Menu (How to make the Course Evaluation Available to students)

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Blackboard Enrollments

Remember as students enroll in courses, do not enroll the students in your course(s)yourself. Please click on the BB/SIS link below for information concerning enrollments.

BB/SIS Integration Tool (This will be utilized for Blackboard enrollments this Spring.)

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Contact Information

Let me know if you have any questions or need any assistance with Blackboard. You can contact me at kelly.goscinski@southside.edu.

• Please submit all help requests concerning Blackboard through Issuetrak.
• Contact Ashley Leslie (ashley.leslie@southside.edu) for help in designing and developing your course content.

Copyright: What is legal?

I just recently attended the VCCS Distance Education Peer Group Conference (October 15th-16th). The keynote speaker for the conference spoke to the group about Copyright and Creative Commons License. There are so many gray areas when it comes to copyright that it can be difficult to understand what you can and can't do especially online. Often when working online, we find images, video, and music that we would like to use, because it is just perfect...but did you consider copyright. Everything is copyrighted upon creation, even without the "Big C". So just because you find it online and you don't see the copyright symbol, doesn't mean you can use it without permission. Instead, look for work that uses a creative commons license.

Creative Commons is a term you may be familiar with, but did you know that there are different levels of Creative Commons? Creative Commons allows groups or individuals to make their work available for some level of use (CC). You can use it under certain conditions, usually with certain restrictions. You do have to be careful and pay attention to what type of creative commons license applies to the work you want to use. There are six primary Creative Commons licenses offered. This website provides a brief description of each. Creative Commons: About Licenses

There are many websites that offer content with creative commons licenses. In fact, the web browser Mozilla Firefox has a built in search button to look specifically for creative commons licensed material. I have provided links to a variety of resources below, and I have embedded the presenters presentation which she has available on the Slideshare website.

Search Engine for Creative Commons Licensed Material
Flickr (Isolate Creative Commons Licensed Photos through Advanced Search)
Flickr Commons (No Known Copyright Restrictions)
Life Photo Archives Hosted by Google (Personal and Non-Commercial Use)
Stockvault (Use without Attribution)
Morguefile
CCMixter (Music Creative Commons)

Digital Copyright: Cool Tools to Legally Spice Up Your Learning

View more presentations from Michelle Lentz.

Blackboard Grade Center Training

I am going to offer a Grade Center training session on both the Daniel Campus and Christanna Campus for the end of October. The training is for those that have either never used the Grade Center or who need a refresher on how to set up the grade center.

This is open to all full-time and adjunct faculty and would be appropriate for both online and seated course instructors. Remember Blackboard course areas are set-up for ALL courses, not just those online.

This workshop will focus on the following topics/tools. If you would like to attend, please click the link below to view the dates and times and to register.

1. Creating a final grade column (calculated column)
2. Creating columns and entering grades
3. Deleting columns (keeping your grade center cleaned up)
4. Managing your grade center (categories, column organization)
5. Sending Emails through the Grade Center

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p5OCzAypDL_96xU_szEzWSA

Availability of Previous Courses

Don't forget to make courses from previous semesters unavailable to students (Spring and Summer 2010).

Since Fall 09 incompletes were wrapped up at the end of the Spring 10 semester, I am going to make all Fall 09 course areas in Blackboard unavailable tomorrow evening (August 19th) before the new semester officially begins. If for some reason your Fall 09 course(s) need(s) to remain available to students, please just let me know by 4:00 pm on the 19th. The Fall 09 courses, if left available, will be most problematic for students. They see fall and don't notice the year, and they think they are enrolled in the wrong course in Blackboard.

As far as your Spring or Summer 2010 course areas are concerned, instructions on modifying course availability can be found at the web address linked at the bottom of this posting. If you are hiding courses from your view on the SVCC and/or Teach tab, you will need to first go to either your SVCC or Teach tab within Blackboard and click on the circular icon (picture) in the upper right corner of your My Blackboard Courses module (box). It looks a little like a flower. That will allow you to manage the settings for that particular module, and display the courses from previous semester on your tab. (Hiding course on your display only hides them from your view, not your students.) Once you have done this, you will be able to enter that course area to make the course unavailable to students. I appreciate your help with this. Students get very confused when they see links to courses they are no longer enrolled in at Southside.

Modifying Course Availability

Fall Courses and Blackboard: Are you ready?

August 20th begins our Fall schedule of courses at Southside. The enrollment process to place students into their Blackboard course areas will begin on Wednesday, August 18th, so students should be enrolled in course areas sometime Thursday. This will be 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. (Please have your course available to students by Friday morning, August 20th, if you teach an online or hybrid course that starts that day.)

There are a few things that should be checked as you prepare to start this new session.

1. Course Copy: If you still need to copy content from a previous course into your current course(s), here are instructions on how to do so. Please read carefully!! 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. Click here for Course Copy Instructions (Read these instructions carefully!!)
   
   
2. Course Check: Did you check all content, assignments, and tests after the upgrade to Blackboard 9? Make sure to check everything carefully to make sure all content is displaying correctly.
   
   
3. Test Bank Software: If you utilize either Test Gen or Exam View, you may have issues with these publishers' test bank software that can only be corrected by updating to the latest version. TestGen (Pearson) needs to be v7.4.4 (go to help menu and click check for updates). ExamView (Cengage) needs to be v 6.2 – you will probably need to log in to their website get this update. If you run into trouble updating, you will need to contact your book rep for assistance.
   
   
4. Duplicate Menu Buttons: Check your course menu, do you have duplicate 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. By default it is unavailable to students, but you can make it available near the end of the semester for your students to access the online course evaluation survey.
   
   
5. Invalid HTML Message in Blackboard 9: When you checked your course after the upgrade, within editing mode, you may have had some content items displaying an "Invalid HTML" message. You can use these instructions to remove that message. Click here for Invalid HTML Message: Removal Instructions
   
   
6. Course Availability: You will need to modify the availability of your course for students to have access. Click here for Changing Course Availability Instructions (If your content is not quite ready to go on the 20th, either make your course available and post a welcome announcement with information for your students, or send an email to your students stating when they can expect access. Students become very concerned if they can not access their courses on time. Making your course available and posting the announcement is preferred...not all students check their email account. )
   
   
7. Enroll Yourself As A Student: Did you enroll your student account in your courses to check them out as a student sees them? I recommend that you do this, and take a close look at the student grades area. You might be surprised at what students see. Click here for Instructions
   
   
8. Grade Center: Remember that your grade center area will need to be either set-up or cleaned-up. If you course copy, 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. Look at "Student's Grades" when you are enrolled as a student. Are there any problems or columns that you don't want them to see? (There will be grade center trainings scheduled in late August to help with this.)
   
   
9. URLs to Remember

• Blackboard 9 Issues: Tips and Workarounds (Please review. I will update this as issues arise or are resolved.)
  
  
• Technology Training Site (This link will take you directly to BB handouts and tutorials.)
  
  
• 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.)
  

Removal from Blackboard of Summer 2009 and/or Courses Created Before May 2009

It is time again for the normal clean-up of Blackboard. As you may have already noticed, Summer 2009 (SU09) course areas in Blackboard have been identified and marked for removal on July 30th. Although the VCCS does maintain an archive of your courses, it is recommended that you maintain a copy of your course by exporting out the course content. All archived courses will be available through the VCCS for about 1 year 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 displayed in your "My Blackboard Courses" module. The criteria for removal at this stage is:

1. Course ID's ending in "SU09"
2. Or created before May 1, 2009

You should export content from any courses planned for removal and save the zipped files on your computer for future use.

Click on the link below to view instructions on how to export your content from within the Blackboard 9 environment.

Directions to Export Course Content