Spring 2009 Courses Available

As of today, Instructional Technology Support @ PhilaU will be accepting requests for Spring 2009 Blackboard, eRes and iTunes U Course Sites. If you plan to use any of these three content management systems during the Fall, please complete the ITS Course Request Form located at:

ITS Course Request

Notes:

Reusing Material from a Previous Semester - Faculty who wish to reuse material from a previous semester are asked to indicate the Course Name, Semester, and, if known, the Course ID in the Course Import section.

Using One Course Page for Multiple Sections—If you are teaching more than one section of a course, but would only like one site, please indicate this in the Special Instructions/Requests section.

iTunes U Course—Creation of an iTunes University course is also located on this form. If you are interested in possibly trying podcasts for the spring semester, please indicate this on the form and I will also create a course on iTunes University for you.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please review the Blackboard Policies and Procedures (http://www.philau.edu/ITS/bb/bbpolicy.htm) or contact me via phone (215-951-6332), e-mail (clauburgm@philau.edu) or stop by my office in the Gutman Library

What is Blackboard Project NG?

At its world conference in Las Vegas this past July, Blackboard announced forthcoming plans to further develop the Academic Suite. The plan is called Project NG (Next Generation) and will encompass versions 9.0 and X of the popular course management system. I previously posted about the web site that details Project NG. However, if you want more detailed information, you can join Jessica Frinnefrock, Vice President of Product Development, in a webinar all about Blackboard's Project NG. The webinar will take place on Wednesday, September 17, and you can register here.

How do I get rid of those weird characters that show up when pasting text from Word into Blackboard?

You may copy and paste text from Microsoft Word into Notepad(PC) or Text Editor(MAC). This will rid the text of any extracted code or special characters before pasting into Blackboard. All formatting will be lost in this process.

In Word, the default setting for quotation marks and apostrophes is something called "Smart Quotes." This setting replaces "regular" quotes with the curly quotes. When you paste text into Bb, the text editor converts it automatically to HTML to be viewed on the Web.

Since Blackboard's text editor doesn't know what to do with "smart quotes, it replaces each "character" with a question mark. There is also a setting that converts two hyphens (--) into a long dash. If you do a lot of copy/pasting from Word you can turn off the "smart quotes" feature:

1. In Word, go to the TOOLS menu --> AUTOCORRECT.
2. Click the Format as you Type tab.
3. The first box is "Straight Quotes" with "Smart Quotes." Uncheck the box.
4. OPTIONAL: Uncheck the hyphen/dash box.

For existing text, you'll have to use FIND and REPLACE (from the Edit Menu) to change the "smart quotes" to "straight quotes" for the changes to take effect.

Blackboard Upgrade Update

Due to unresolved technical issues with the new Blackboard server, the upgrade to Release 7.3 was not successful. OIT has reconnected the original server, and we will continue on Release 6.3 until further notice. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Blackboard Down Today

In order to perform a major upgrade, Blackboard will be unavailable on Monday, August 18, beginning at approximately 7AM. Our Network and Systems team expects to complete this upgrade and have the new Blackboard available Monday afternoon. During this time no Blackboard data or features will be available for use. If you plan to prepare your course site for the Fall semester, please take this downtime into account. Course instructors do not need to do anything to prepare for the upgrade.

A message will be posted at http://philau.edu/its when the work has been completed. An additional email message will be sent to all users with current Blackboard accounts upon completion. If the upgrade is not complete by 4PM on Monday, an additional update message will be sent to all system users. We apologize for any duplicate messages you may receive due to multiple course associations.

After the upgrade is completed, Philadelphia University will be running Blackboard Learning System - Basic Edition 7.3. The upgrade will bring some welcomed abilities and features. Please check the previously mentioned ITS web page for announcements concerning information sessions on new features and Blackboard training for faculty and staff. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Blackboard Inc. Downgrades Software Support

As of October 1, 2008, Blackboard Inc. has announced that it will be downgrading support on certain editions of software. This includes support to version 6.3 which is currently in use here at Philadelphia University. Blackboard, Inc. reported that software support for version 6.3, along with 7.0 and 7.1 will be converted from Full Support Coverage down to Operational Support. Software under this umbrella of coverage consists of Blackboard Academic Suite, Learning System Enterprise, Community System, Content System and Learning System Basic. Previous versions 6.3, 7.0 and 7.1 were provided with full support that offered active maintenance to Service Packs and Hot fixes as needed.

What this equates to is that although support will still be available for these programs, Blackboard Inc will no longer be developing any fixes for new bugs that are discovered in the system. While Operational Support will be provided as of October, it is also important to note that this will only be in effect for 2 years. After October 2010, these programs will no longer be supported, and all users will be suggested to upgrade to the newest version of software.For more information See: http://philau.edu/its/bb/pdf/Client_Support_Services_Guide.pdf

Woz Speaks at BbWorld '08

I attended the BbWorld 2008 Conference this past week, where Steve Wozniak (aka Woz) was the keynote speaker. Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, spoke about his role in the development of the personal computer and applied many of the stories in his address to K-12 and higher education. A reporter from The Wired Campus spoke to Woz right after his keynote about his thoughts on computers in education. A short video of that interview can be viewed here:

Blackboard Says New Tool Will Synchonize With Competitor

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Blackboard Inc. has agreed to join forces with Sakai, a free open source that is being used at Syracuse University. Blackboard Inc. has agreed to allow Sakai to link these two programs together in order to use the course-management software along with student electronic portfolios.

In order for these two software's to work in synchrony, Blackboard Inc. has developed the "Blackboard-Sakai Connector" which will be released in the near future. This link will allow users shift between Blackboard and Sakai without having to log out and sign on when switching between the two.

This linkage comes as a surprise to many due to the fact that Blackboard Inc. recently acquired a patent on course management systems which makes it difficult for other course management systems to compete in software production.

While the first collaboration has only occurred with Sakai, Blackboard claims to hopefully collaborate with Moodle, another open source course-management system.

Blackboard Accuses Desire2Learn of Contempt

The ongoing court battle between rival learning management systems Blackboard and Desire2Learn continues as Blackboard has filed lawsuit against Desire2Learn for contempt. These allegations stem from a claim, according to Blackboard that Desire2Learn didn’t makes changes to their software in order to avoid copyright infringements and patent violations.

Due to this, a jury ruled that Desire2Learn wouldn’t be allowed to distribute their software Learning Environment 8.2.2. As a result of this Desire2Learn resorted to creating a new version, 8.3 where they modified certain features of the application by renaming the user role to “student”, along with deleting default roles. Back in 2006 Blackboard was awarded a patent that allowed them to have sole rights to this feature. When Desire2Learn did this, it violated the patent which Blackboard which subsequently led to the lawsuit of copyright infringement.

Blackboard recently acquired WebCT, another stronghold amongst course management systems, and ultimately is seeking to acquire Desire2Learn as well as being the dominant leader. Because Blackboard holds rights to these patents, it makes it difficult for other companies including those of the open source to develop software, and would ultimately result in them having to pay a significant amount of royalties to Blackboard.

While Desire2Learn has refused to settle, many outsiders support their stand against Blackboard in hopes that the lawsuit will not relinquish all rights of technology control over to Blackboard.

How Do I Create Student Groups in Blackboard?

Creating student groups can help your sort and manage large groups of students more effectively. Using groups is useful for emailing, discussion board and collaboration. To create student groups:

• From the Control Panel click on ‘Manage Groups' under User Management.
• Click on ‘Add Group'.
• Type a name for the group and if desired, a description.
• Check the ‘Group Options' that you wish to be available to the group (I recommend selecting all of them).
• Click ‘Submit' and ‘OK'.
• To add students to the group click on the ‘Modify' button next to the specific group.
• Click on ‘Add Users to Group'.
• Without entering anything in the Search field click on the ‘Search' button to show the list of enrolled students.
• Select the students you wish to add to the group by checking the box next to their name.
• Click ‘Submit' and ‘OK'.

To add more groups repeat the steps above.

SBA Transitions to Blackboard

The School of Business Administration has successfully transitioned its online courses from eCollege to Blackboard for the Summer 2008 semester. Course materials were migrated from the eCollege system to Blackboard over the past year. Faculty members attended two informational sessions concerning the differences between eCollege and Blackboard in early May and are now entering the second week of the summer term.

• Students taking online business classes will now log into http://bb.philau.edu instead of http://philau.org.

Any administrative questions can be directed to the School of Business Administration. Technical issues should be directed to the Help Desk at Ext. 4648.

Did You Know?

Instructors are able to enroll other faculty as Teaching Assistants in their online courses.

• From the control panel, select “enroll user.”

• Search for the faculty member’s name. By default, all users are enrolled into a course as a student. You will need to go into the user’s properties to change the role the user has in your course. This is done in the “list/modify users” section of the control panel.

• Please note that only faculty with the role of instructor are able to enroll TAs.

End Of Semester Reminders

As the semester draws to a close there are a few suggested steps you should take to preserve your Blackboard site for the future. Step-by-step text and video instructions for these steps can be found at http://www.philau.edu/ITS/bb/endsem.htm.

• Make your old courses unavailable to students.
• Export your grade book and print a hard copy.
• Save the Discussion Board forums
• Archive your course

NOTE: Be sure to Archive your course and NOT Export your course. Archiving creates a complete snapshot of your course including students and grades (useful if there is a grade dispute down the line).

Spring 2008 courses will remain available to you until the end of the Spring 2009 semester when they will be removed from the server. If you have students who need access to your Spring 2008 course site to finish an incomplete, you may continue to make your course available to them. It will be your responsibility to make the course unavailable once all work is completed.

IMPORTANT: If you have not already archived your Spring 2007 courses, please do so ASAP. All Spring 2007 courses will be purged from the Blackboard server on May 19, 2008.

FYI: All information and current news concerning Blackboard and Instructional Technology at Philadelphia University can be found at http://www.philau.edu/its/ and http://philauits.blogspot.com/.

Regards,

Mark Clauburg, Instructional Design Specialist

Fall 2008 Courses Available

As of today, Instructional Technology Support @ PhilaU will be accepting requests for Fall 2008 Blackboard, eRes and iTunes U Course Sites. If you plan to use any of these three content management systems during the Fall, please complete the ITS Course Request Form located at:

ITS Course Request

Notes:

• Reusing Material from a Previous Semester - Faculty who wish to reuse material from a previous semester are asked to indicate the Course Name, Semester, and, if known, the Course ID in the Course Import section.
• Using One Course Page for Multiple Sections—If you are teaching more than one section of a course, but would only like one site, please indicate this in the Special Instructions/Requests section.
• iTunes U Course—Creation of an iTunes University course is also located on this form. If you are interested in possibly trying podcasts for the spring semester, please indicate this on the form and I will also create a course on iTunes University for you.
  

If you have any questions regarding this process, please review the Blackboard Policies and Procedures (http://www.philau.edu/ITS/bb/bbpolicy.htm) or contact me via phone (215-951-6332), e-mail (clauburgm@philau.edu) or stop by my office in the Gutman Library

My course list is out of control!

There are several reasons why your "My Courses" list in Blackboard could get a little busy:

• First, it is PhilaU policy to keep courses on the Blackboard server for three semesters. This allows us to give faculty a fair warning before courses are deleted and materials are no longer available. It also provides an opportunity to copy course materials from semester to semester and year to year.
• You may also have an overloaded list because the instructor has not yet made a course that has ended unavailable to the enrollees.
• Additionally, instructors can enroll most users on the system into any of the courses they teach.

The good news is you can control your view of your course list. If you want to get more organized in Blackboard, follow these steps:

1. Log in to Blackboard.
2. Click on the "My PhilaU" tab.
3. Locate the "My Courses" box and click on the pencil icon.

4. In the "Display Course" column, deselect any of the courses you don't want to see.

5. Click "Submit."

Summer 2008 - ITS Course Requests

Beginning March 17, 2008, Instructional Technology Support @ PhilaU will be accepting requests for Summer 2008 Blackboard, eRes and iTunes U Course Sites. If you plan to use any of these three content management systems during the summer, please complete the ITS Course Request Form located at:

ITS Course Request

Notes:

• Reusing Material from a Previous Semester - Faculty who wish to reuse material from a previous semester are asked to indicate the Course Name, Semester, and, if known, the Course ID in the Course Import section.
• Using One Course Page for Multiple Sections—If you are teaching more than one section of a course, but would only like one site, please indicate this in the Special Instructions/Requests section.
• iTunes U Course—Creation of an iTunes University course is also located on this form. If you are interested in possibly trying podcasts for the spring semester, please indicate this on the form and I will also create a course on iTunes University for you.
  

If you have any questions regarding this process, please review the Blackboard Policies and Procedures (http://www.philau.edu/ITS/bb/bbpolicy.htm) or contact me via phone (215-951-6332), e-mail (clauburgm@philau.edu) or stop by my office in the Gutman Library