Re: [BB] good news

Hello,

 

 

I think I have a very good news for you, you're gonna be surprised! Read it here please http://dyquerdumi.historybooya.com/aeqtv

 

Bests, Calendar calendar-notification@google.com

[BB] New Blackboard Help Desk process - Leave a Message

Greetings, 

 

TWITTER SUMMARY:  

Leave a message when you call the Blackboard Help Desk. We are not answering the phone at this time of year. 

 

DETAILS: 

The process of responding to your requests for service from the Blackboard Help Desk has changed. We are now handling requests in the order received. Whether you leave a voice message at 305-284-3949, send an email to blackboardhelp@miami.edu, or fill out a form from the https://lpt.it.miami.edu/forms/ web page, an incident will automatically be opened in uService and assigned to our group, Learning Platforms. Incidents will be handled in chronological order.  

I know that you would probably prefer speaking to a person and having them work on your request immediately. We would prefer being able to do that for you. At the beginning of the semester we receive five times as many requests as in the middle of the semester. It seems unfair to prioritize phone calls over other requests, as we have done in the past. Under this new plan, the method used to contact us will not influence where you are placed in the queue.  

Please give this new process a try. We hope that overall you will get better and faster service using this new way of handling requests.   

Sincerely, 
- Bill - 

William (Bill) Vilberg 
Director, Information Technology 

 

P.S. I am about to go on leave, so replying to this message may result in an "Away" message. Don't be worried or surprised. 

[BB] Start of Semester Bb Checklist

If you are using UM's Blackboard Learn course site system, here are a few things to do just before the start of the semester.

1. Make sure the course site is visible and open to students. You can do this using either Qwickly or the steps in the https://youtu.be/MH0-BExpzpw video.
2. Using Blackboard, send a "Welcome" email to your students.  Either create an Announcement and use the "Send immediately" option, or use Control Panel > Course Tools > Send Email > All Users to bring up the email page.
   1. Use a Subject such as "Welcome to MAT211" using either your course code or course tile.
   2. Tell them how much you are looking forward to seeing them at the first class session (include title of class, date, time, and location).
   3. Remind them of anything to do before class (for example, DO or DO NOT buy the textbooks, read the syllabus on the Blackboard course site, post an introduction on the "Who are we?" discussion board, record an introduction on the "Who are we?" VoiceThread board, etc.)
   4. Give them an idea of what to expect at the first class session. Will you be reviewing the syllabus? Will you be covering any material from the text? Will you be using i>clicker for class feedback? Should they be ready to introduce themselves to the class? Do you want them to sit in the front rows of the classroom? Set them up for success.
   5. Wish them a great semester.
   6. Explain that any extra blank lines in the email are a "feature" of Blackboard and they are not your fault. (See NOTE 1 below.)

Want to know more about how to do any of this? Contact our UM Blackboard Help Desk by sending email to blackboardhelp@miami.edu or calling 305-284-3949 and leaving a voice recording. Someone will get back to you.

I hope you and your students have an EXCELLENT semester. Let us know what we can do to make that happen!

Sincerely,

- Bill -

William (Bill) Vilberg

Director, Information Technology

Academic Technologies, Learning Platforms

bill.vilberg@miami.edu

305-284-3944 

NOTE 1: There is currently a problem with email from our Blackboard Learn system whereby extra blank lines are inserted between paragraphs. We are working with the Blackboard company to get this problem resolved. Your email will go out, but it will not look as nice as it should,  or as nice as it looks in the editor in the Blackboard Learn system. If you are a Windows user you can workaround this problem by creating your message in Notepad, copying it, and pasting it into the Blackboard Learn text box. Everything will look fine if you use that workaround.

[BB] Use "Qwickly" to open your course to students

Greetings,

Students can not access or even see your course sites on Blackboard until you "open the door" for them. To make your course site available to students, use Qwickly on the Blackboard (Home) tab. 

Instructions on how to use Qwickly can be found on the https://lpt.it.miami.edu/updates/2014/08/qwickly-tool-added-to-blackboard/ web page.

Let us know what else we can do the make this an EXCELLENT semester for you and your students.

- Bill -

William (Bill) Vilberg

Director, Information Technology

Academic Technologies, Learning Platforms

bill.vilberg@miami.edu

305-284-3944 

[BB] Collaborate Ultra is coming to Blackboard Learn

Hello Blackboard users,

 

We wanted to inform you of some changes coming to Blackboard Collaborate for the fall semester. On August 16^th, 2016 we will be adding the new version of Blackboard Collaborate called “Blackboard Collaborate Ultra”. This new version will be available alongside the older version, so that you can decide when you want to begin using the new Collaborate Ultra.

 

When available, a new link will be added to the Course Tools:

 

 

You can add the link to your course for student access from any content area and add the tool:

 

The new clean interface looks like this when you click on the "Blackboard Collaborate Ultra" tool link after it is deployed in the content area:

 

 

To start using Collaborate Ultra, just click on the "Join room" link:

 

To learn about Collaborate Ultra, watch this short video. It will show you how easy Collaborate Ultra is to use and how to get the most out of it.

 

There are some limitations to the new Blackboard Collaborate Ultra experience that everyone should be aware of:

·          Currently, screen sharing can only be used when the presenter is using Firefox or some other java-capable browser.

·         There is a limit of 250 participants in Ultra sessions, but that should be increasing to 1,000 by the end of 2016.

·         Recordings of Ultra sessions are only available as MP4 videos.

·         These videos do not include the chat from the session.

·         The use of a telephone conference call for audio in Ultra sessions is limited to 25 users and all users must be logged into the session in order to use the dial-in.

We have gathered a series of resources to get you familiar with the new Collaborate Ultra version:

·         Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Training Material

 

Please feel free to contact us if you have any question regarding this matter at 305-284-3949 or email at blackboardhelp@miami.edu

 

Your Blackboard Team

(P): 305-284-3949

blackboardhelp@miami.edu

 

[BB] Introducing VoiceThread, the new Blackboard Learn tool

Dear Blackboard users,

We have installed VoiceThread in our Blackboard Learn system. VoiceThread is a powerful tool that allows multisensory collaboration between faculty and students. Instructors can deliver their content using rich multimedia to enhance student engagement. It allows audio, video, and text comments on uploaded documents, presentations, images, and video. There are no new usernames or passwords to learn, and rosters are sync’d automatically. VoiceThread makes an asynchronous environment feel like a synchronous environment.

Blackboard Voice Authoring (e.g. Wimba Voice Board) tools were used to accomplish similar tasks in Blackbord Learn in the past. VoiceThread is a new system that provides equivalent services, but also includes new capabilities. If you have been using Wimba Voice Board or other Wimba tools, they will reach their end of life on August 31, 2016.  After that date they will no longer function. Change to VoiceThread now.

1. To learn about VoiceThread, watch this short video. It will show you how easy it is to use it.
2. We have gathered a series of tips and tutorials to help you start using this new tool.

• VoiceThread Training Material

3. We have also scheduled an online training on August 17^th 2016 using Blackboard Collaborate:

• Register for VoiceThread Training

 

Please feel free to contact us if you have any question regarding this matter at 305-284-3949 or email at blackboardhelp@miami.edu

 

Your Blackboard team

(P): 305-284-3949

blackboardhelp@miami.edu

 

[BB] Learning Management System (Canvas) Review and Pilot

Dear Blackboard Mailing List Member, 

The University of Miami is reviewing Canvas a an alternative Learning Management System to Blackboard. Canvas is the principal competitor to Blackboard so we want to look at it prior to June 1, 2018, which is the end of our current Blackboard contract.  

If you would like to see what Canvas looks like, please watch "The Canvas Story," a 15 minute YouTube video " Another nice overview of Canvas can be found in the "Canvas Interface Overview," a 6 minute long video. 

For more details on the Learning Management System (Canvas) Review process, visit https://lpt.it.miami.edu/lms-review/ 

A pilot will be held this fall where around 20 faculty will use Canvas to support a course rather than using Blackboard. If you might be interested in being part of this pilot, see the information at https://lpt.it.miami.edu/pilot-invitation/ which contains links to the Details and Expectations page as well as the Participation Request Form. 

If you have any questions about the review process or pilot, please contact Brett Stephens (brett@miami.edu, 305-284-5328). 

Sincerely, 
Bill 

William (Bill) Vilberg 
Assistant Director, Learning Platforms 
Information Technology, Academic Technologies 
305-284-3944  

 

You received this message because you are subscribed to the BB@listserv.miami.edu mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe from the list, please notify blackboardhelp@miami.edu. If your colleagues would like to subscribe to this list, have them go to  http://tinyurl.com/zxh796q. 

[BB] Fall 2016 Blackboard Learn Course Setup Assistance

Dear Blackboard Users,

 

We are here to assist you with the tasks that are often done when setting up a Blackboard course site. Let us know if we can do any of these, or anything else, to assist you at the start of this semester. Send email to blackboardhelp@miami.edu, call 305-284-3949, or when available fill out the form, to make a request or get assistance.

1.       Course Site Availability

When created, course sites are unavailable to students. This way you can set them up before the students access them. Call or email us and we can make them available to your students, or you can follow these easy steps to do it yourself:

·         instuctions for using Qwickly to make course available

 

2.       Course Site Merge

If you teach multiple sections of a course, or have both graduate and undergraduate students in the same course, it may be easier to combine them into one Blackboard course site, rather than have a separate site for each section. With the merged site, you can post your course material once rather than posting it in each section’s site separately. Tell us what sites you want merged and we will take care of it for you.

·         Form to request a course merge

Note: Courses should be merged before any student activity takes place in the course sites for the various sections. User records, such as discussion board posts, grades, and assessment attempts, will not show up in the new, merged, site.

3.       Course Site Augment

We can do a course "augment" rather than a course merge if you would like. An augment maintains all of your original course sites and adds one additional master site with all of the students from your various sections. With the course augment option you can use the master site to post course material in one location, and reserve the individual section course sites for assignments or tests specific to each course section.  Fill out the form below or call to request a course augment.

·         Video about course merges and augments (15 minutes)

·         Form to request a course augment

 

4.       Course Site Copy

If you have material from a prior semester that you would like to copy into the course site you are setting up, you can call or email us, or fill out the form below, and we will do a course copy for you. You can also follow the steps at the link below to do it yourself:

·         Course Copy instructions

·         Video about course copies (7 minutes)

·         Form to request a course copy

 

Note: You need to be enrolled as an instructor in both the source and destination courses sites in order to perform a Course Copy. User records, such as discussion board posts, grades, and assessment attempts will not be copied. Do NOT copy course enrollments.

 

5.       Teaching Assistant enrollment

Teaching assistants are not added automatically to your class, they have to be entered manually. Email or call us and will be happy to do it for you, or you can do it yourself using the instructions at the following link:

·         instructions for Enrolling Users to Blackboard instructions

 

 

Please feel free to contact us for any requests and issues you might have.  Our phone number is 305-284-3949 or you can email us at blackboardhelp@miami.edu. Our business hours are 7 days a week from 9 am to 9 pm.

 

 

 

Learning Platforms Team

(P): 305-284-3949