EdTech Connect

Blackboard 9.1 will be released to campus on Sunday, May 20, 2012, starting just after midnight.

Blackboard will be unavailable while services are transferred over from version 9.0 to 9.1. This process may take up to 12 hours, though the expected time to completion is considerably less than this.

EdTech is offering several training opportunities for instructors. To sign up, please visit the link below:

http://edtech.mst.edu/events/blackboard9-1/ 

More information about training can be found HERE.

Here is what campus customers can expect from the transition to Blackboard 9.1:

• All existing Blackboard courses will be transferred over as is. This includes both Summer 2012 and Fall 2012 semester courses as well as the current Spring semester courses and any courses from previous semesters.
  
  
• Instructors who would like to export/archive a course for future use are encouraged to review the process for exporting/archiving courses: http://edtech.mst.edu/support/blackboard9/archivecourse/
  
  
• NOTE: Importing a course from Blackboard 9.0 into 9.1 may cause some issues as features that exist in the 9.0 course may not be supported in 9.1. This happened with some courses that were transferred from Blackboard 8 to 9 as well.
• A few Blackboard features will be going away for good due to changes in the system. This includes:
  
  
• Wimba Live Classroom will be replaced by Blackboard Collaborate, but other Wimba tools (Voice Podcaster, Voice Email, Voice Board, etc.) will still be available. Blackboard purchased Elluminate (which powers Collaborate) and Wimba recently, so elements from both toolsets are incorporated into Blackboard's Learn platform.
  
  
• Learning Objects blogs and wikis will no longer be available. Instead, Blackboard has its own built-in blog and wiki system that are more compatible with the Grade Center. Instructors can more easily track usage of the blog and wiki entries and grade contributions quicker and easier from within the blog or wiki itself.
  
  
• Content from existing blogs and wikis can be archived from the existing blog or wiki. Click HERE to see how to export a blog. Click HERE to see how to export a wiki (they are very similar processes).
• New features are being introduced. This includes:
  
  
• Grading rubrics for more consistent rating of highly subjective topics (e.g. essay questions and discussion board posts).
  
  
• Collaborate virtual classroom environment. It's very similar to Wimba Live Classroom in most respects with video web cam conferencing, desktop application sharing, and web sharing enabled along with the standard text chat window. Collaborate sessions can be archived for later review or converted into a downloadable format (e.g. *.MP4).
  
  
• "Mashups" of content can be imported directly from YouTube, Flickr, and Slideshare. An improved content management system allows for "single-sourcing" of content inside a Blackboard course.
  
  
• Improved and more-powerful Grade Center options--including grade filtering and favorite smart views.
  
  
• Powerful question-choosing and -organizing tools. Alas, creating questions remains challenging inside of Blackboard, but once they are created (perhaps using Respondus or Diploma and then imported into Blackboard), very flexible assessments can be created to address a wide-variety of student and instructor needs.
  

Information about these items and more will be discussed in more detail on the EdTech Connect blog going forward. Visit http://edtechconnect.mst.edu/blackboard_91/ for more information.

Educational Technology is offering several opportunities to learn more about Blackboard 9.1 in May (before Summer 2012) and August (before Fall 2012).

To sign up for a training opportunity, visit the link below:

http://edtech.mst.edu/events/blackboard9-1/

Each training opportunity will cover the following:

• Basic functions of Blackboard 9.1 - A few functions have changed since Blackboard 9. This includes, but is not limited to:
  
  
• Adding content (more features available)
  
  
• Content management (single-sourcing now possible)
  
  
• Syllabus tools
  
  
• Learning Modules
  
  
• And more...
  

• Grade Center - Many of the Grade Center features remain unchanged from version 9, but many additional enhancements have been added.
  
  
• "Needs Grading" to immediately see which assignments need attention.
  
  
• "Quick" smart views for tests and assignments; additional smart views can be created for easy filtering.
  
  
• Color code cells based on instructor-created criteria (e.g. grade thresholds).
  
  
• Rubrics can be tied to assignments, blogs, wikis, and discussion forums for easy and consistent subjective grading. Rubrics can be made visible to students before or after they submit an assignment (or not at all).
  

• Assessments - New test creation tools allow for much more flexibility in creating a test or quiz.
  
  
• Create blocks and sets of questions, which can be randomly assigned to each student.
  
  
• Pick questions out of a pool by a variety of criteria (or randomly assign questions from a pool).
  
  
• Assign topics, levels of difficulty, and categories to question sets.
  

For more information, contact EdTech at edtech@mst.edu.

EdTech is hosting an eLearning Community of Practice event on Wednesday, April 18, in Norwood Hall Room 208, from 2 - 3:30 p.m. The focus of this event is using alternative assessment techniques and tools.

Summative and formative assessments are both important components to the learning process for both students and instructors. Summative assessments typically take place after the students have "learned" the material to gauge how well they actually learned the content (think standardized test for an example of summative assessment).

Formative assessments, by contrast, take place during the learning process, allowing students to practice the conceptual material while minimizing immediate accountability (formative assessments are often ungraded). Self- and peer-assessments are very effective types of formative assessments in the classroom.

A balanced implementation of summative and formative assessments will yield the greatest benefits for both students and instructors.

For more information about how formative and summative assessments might be useful to you, come to the eLearning Community of Practice on Wednesday, April 18, in Norwood Hall Room 208 from 2 - 3:30 p.m.!

(Snacks will be provided courtesy of EdTech)

Wimba and Blackboard Collaborate are temporarily unavailable in classrooms and CLCs due to a security issue identified and blocked by a vendor.

Information Technology technicians are investigating and will restore functionality on classroom and CLC computers as soon as possible.

Updates on this issue will be posted to itpress.mst.edu, edtechconnect.mst.edu, and distributed to the Edumine group via email.

For further assistance, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP (4357) or submit a ticket online at help.mst.edu

At the end of the semester, Blackboard will be upgraded to a new version (9.1). As a result, some of the features in Blackboard will be changing. The basic functions will remain the same, but implementation of those functions will work a little differently.

It is important that any instructor who uses the features below learn about the upcoming changes!

EdTech will be more than happy to provide assistance with using the changed features. Contact EdTech for more information and assistance.

Here are the features that will be changed:

• Wimba Live Classroom - This feature is a virtual classroom environment. It is being replaced by Blackboard Collaborate, which has most of the same functionality. To learn more about Blackboard Collaborate, or participate in the current pilot program, contact EdTech.
  
  
• The 1-800 number that was available for Wimba sessions will NO LONGER BE AVAILABLE. Students (and Instructors) who wish to add their voices in order to participate in a Collaborate session will need to purchase a webcam/microphone or a separate microphone. These are very cheap and easy to obtain either online (e.g. Amazon.com) or through a local retailer (e.g. Walmart, Best Buy, Radio Shack, etc.).
  
  
• Other Wimba tools (Voice Authoring, Voice Board, Voice Email, Voice Presentation, Voice Podcaster) will still be available.
  
  
• Blackboard purchased Wimba some time ago (along with Elluminate, which is the foundation for Collaborate), thus all of the tools provided by Wimba now belong to Blackboard. The best features of Wimba and Elluminate were combined into Collaborate. The other Wimba tools appear to have been left alone for the most part.
  
  
• The functionality of the Voice tools hasn't changed in the new Blackboard 9.1 environment.
• Blogs and Wikis (Learning Objects plug-in) - In the current version of Blackboard (9.0), blog and wiki tools are provided by a third-party vendor plug-in (Learning Objects). In the new version of Blackboard (9.1), these functions will be provided by Blackboard's built-in blog and wiki tools.
  
  
• Blackboard also has a journal tool, which is similar to both a blog and a wiki. The journal tool is similar to a blog in that it can be configured to allow only one contributor (a student) and to be viewable only to the student and the instructor. Or it can be set to be an open journal visible to all students. Journals can also be collaborative (much like a wiki), allowing for multiple contributors. Groups can use the journal tool to record important information for various projects and assignments.
  
  
• Blackboard's built-in tools integrate directly into the Grade Center much better than Learning Objects' tools, and are also compatible with other Blackboard features such as the grading rubrics.
  

EdTech will be providing more information about the transition to Blackboard 9.1 over the next several weeks, through the end of the semester. EdTech will also be offering opportunities to learn more about these and other features through on-campus workshops. Stay tuned for updates!

  EdTech is opening up the Computing Learning Center (CLC) software request process for instructors who need specific software packages installed in computer learning centers across campus.

The software request web-based application is available on the EdTech web site.

    1. Go to edtech.mst.edu/clc.

    2. Click Request Software (Faculty).

Please enter all software requests before close of business on Wednesday, April 4, 2012.

Software currently available in each of the CLCs on campus can be found on EdTech's CLC index page.

It is very important to submit requests in a timely manner to ensure the best possible support from IT and EdTech. We appreciate your cooperation!

Questions, comments, or concerns about the CLC Request process can be sent to edtech@mst.edu.

EdTech is hosting an eFellows Call for Participation Workshop on Wednesday, March 21 in Engineering Management 103 at Noon. This is primarily aimed at potential candidates who were unable to attend the first workshop opportunity at the recent Teaching and Learning Technology conference. However, it is open to any instructor who wishes to apply.

If you are interested in redesigning your course to take advantage of new technologies to improve student outcomes, or simply to reach more students, then this workshop may be for you.

This workshop will unveil the newly expanded Missouri S&T Provost's eFellows Program for 2013. The eFellows Program is designed to incentivize and support faculty to redesign courses using best practices for teaching methodologies and technology for blended or online delivery. 

Mini-grants are available to support the redesign process as well as focused support and instructional design expertise from Educational Technology. Participation in this workshop is required before applying to the 2013 eFellows Program. Program materials and application packets will be distributed at the workshop.

IT will be performing Blackboard maintenance on Sunday, March 18, 2012, starting at 12:00 a.m.

Blackboard will be unavailable for 4-6 hours between midnight and 6 a.m.

Please call the Help Desk with questions about this or any other IT issue at 573-341-HELP (4357) or submit an online Help Request at http://help.mst.edu.

The following was forward along to EdTech. We will be making our EdTech Collaboration Room (101 Centennial Hall) available on the dates and times below if possible. If the room is unavailable, we can make arrangements for another room and will send out an announcement to that effect.

=========================================

Dear Colleague:

There is still time to register for the first webinar in the NSF Webinar Series focused on the Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education (TUES) Program and presented by Engineering and Computer Science Program Officers of the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education- Funding Decision Processes at NSF. Duplicate sessions on this topic are scheduled for March 6^th and 7^th [at 1 p.m. Eastern Time -- ed.]. In addition, registration is still open for three subsequent webinars- Proposal Writing Strategies, Project Evaluation, and Making an Impact: Building Sustainable and Transportable Projects. Details are provided below.

IT will be performing Blackboard maintenance on Sunday, February 26, 2012, starting at 12:00 a.m.

Blackboard will be unavailable for 6 hours between midnight and 6 a.m.

Please call the Help Desk with questions about this or any other IT issue at 573-341-HELP (4357) or submit an online Help Request at http://help.mst.edu.

EdTech is hosting an eLearning Community of Practice event on Wednesday, February 29, in Norwood Hall Room 208, from 2 - 3:30 p.m. The focus of this event is effective course design.

What components in a course create a quality online space for your students? Instructional designers will show you some easy ways to implement required and recommended online resources to include in your Blackboard course or website. Whether you are working toward a fully online or blended course or just want to have some web enhanced materials, this is the session for you.

IT and Educational Technology will make Blackboard courses for Fall Semester 2011 "unavailable" to students at 5 p.m. on Thursday, January 19, 2012.

Fall Semester 2011 courses will still be visible to instructors, but students will no longer see the courses.

Questions or comments can be directed to the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP or online at http://help.mst.edu.

Registration for the Teaching and Learning Technology Conference 2012 on March 15 and 16, 2012 is now OPEN!

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Kenneth Green - Founding Director of The Campus Computing Project

THEME: Evidence of Impact

Web-based registration is now available at:

http://edtech.mst.edu/events/tltconference2012/registration.html

Details about our conference can be found on the conference web site:

http://edtech.mst.edu/events/tltconference2012/

We look forward to seeing you at our conference in March!

EdTech and IT have received numerous reports from customers who are experiencing problems when attempting to open documents or download files when using Blackboard in Internet Explorer.

Unfortunately, EdTech will not be able to apply a fix for this problem until the next scheduled maintenance window on January 15. Applying the fix WILL cause a temporary Blackboard outage while patches are applied.

Until then, IT and EdTech strongly recommend all S&T Blackboard customers use an alternate web browser such as Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari (for Mac users).

Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome are all available for free.

Stay tuned for updates while IT and EdTech resolve this issue.

IT will be performing inter-session Blackboard maintenance on Tuesday, December 27, 2011, starting at 8:00 a.m.

Blackboard will be unavailable for 6 hours between 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

Please call the Help Desk with questions about this or any other IT issue at 573-341-HELP (4357) or submit an online Help Request at http://help.mst.edu.

IT will be performing Blackboard maintenance on Sunday, November 20, 2011, starting at 12:00 a.m.

Blackboard will be unavailable for 6 hours between midnight and 6 a.m.

Please call the Help Desk with questions about this or any other IT issue at 573-341-HELP (4357) or submit an online Help Request at http://help.mst.edu.

Missouri S&T Teaching and Learning Technology Conference 2012

Educational Technology is now accepting presentation proposals for the Fifth Annual Teaching and Learning Technology Conference, scheduled for March 15-16, 2012. Interested presenters can download a copy of the Call for Presentation form at the EdTech web site or click one of the links below:

Call for Presentations: Word Document

Call for Presentations: PDF

The theme for this year's conference is Evidence of Impact. EdTech is looking for presentations that showcase how technology is improving student learning outcomes. However, EdTech will review ALL submissions regardless of content.

The opening keynote speaker will be Dr. Kenneth C. Green, Founding Director of the Campus Computing Project, which is the largest continuing study of the role of information technology in American colleges and universities.

This year we will be offering several tracks for presenters and participants:

• Teaching with Technology - Enhancing the instructional process by including a technology component
  
  
• Blended Learning - Replacing some or all of the face-to-face communication in class with online tools
  
  
• Best Practices in Teaching Strategies - Pedagogical theories on effective teaching (with or without technology)
  
  
• "Hands-on" Activity - Computer labs are available for hands-on presentations or demonstrations

Proposals will be accepted until Friday, December 9, 2011. Decisions regarding acceptance will be made by Friday, December 16, 2011.

EdTech is opening up the CLC software request process for instructors who need specific software packages installed in computer learning centers across campus.

The software request web-based application is available on the EdTech web site:

1. Go to edtech.mst.edu.
   
   
2. Click CLC Software Request in the right-hand sidebar item.
   
   
3. Click Request Software to be installed in a CLC to get started.

Please enter all software requests before close of business on Friday, November 4, 2011.

Software currently available in each of the CLCs on campus can be found at:

    http://edtech.mst.edu/clc (This page also has a link to the CLC Software Request tool)

It is very important to submit requests in a timely manner to ensure the best possible support from IT and EdTech. We appreciate your cooperation!

Questions, comments, or concerns about the CLC Request process can be sent to edtech@mst.edu.

IT will be performing Blackboard maintenance on Sunday, October 16, 2011, starting at 12:00 a.m.

Blackboard will be unavailable for 4 hours between midnight and 4 a.m.

Please call the Help Desk with questions about this or any other IT issue at 573-341-HELP (4357) or submit an online Help Request at http://help.mst.edu.

University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL) invites you to register for their Focus on Teaching and Technology Regional Conference on November 10-11, 2011.

Scholars, educators, and practitioners from numerous universities share their technology innovations and teaching experiences.

This year, they will offer two keynote presentations:

• Thursday, November 10:
  Tom Mills -- Executive Director of Global Education; Google
  Education Administration Auditorium 100
  Marillac Hall, UMSL South Campus
  
  
• Friday, November 11:
  Dr. Michele DiPietro -- Executive Director; Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning; Kennesaw State University
  "Understanding the Learning Process as the Gateway to Smart Teaching"
  JC Penney Summit; UMSL North Campus

Choose from 24 concurrent sessions and 9 pre-conference workshops during the two-day conference! There is no charge to attend the concurrent sessions at the conference (thanks to generous sponsors), and there are always good ideas and networking opportunities to take away.  There is, however, a $20 fee for each two-hour pre-conference workshop on Thursday (this fee includes lunch.)  Register for one or both days now!

For program details and to register -- http://www.umsl.edu/ctl/fttc.htm