[BB] My Current Courses is fixed

Dear Bb Users,

 

The issue with “My Current Courses” is fixed and you should now be able to see your courses for the current semester.

 

We apologize for the inconvenience it may have caused.

 

Thanks,

 

Rick Ramos

Department of Information Technology

Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor

305-284-3949

 

 

 

[BB] My Current Courses Module

Dear Bb Users

 

The module "My Current Courses" where classes for the current semester are displayed in the Blackboard home tab is not working at this moment. Instead you will see a list of all the courses you are enrolled in Blackboard. We are working to solve this issue as soon as possible.

 

Thank you,

 

Rick Ramos

Department of Information Technology

Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor

305-284-3949

 

 

 

[BB] FW: re: Classroom Technology Training session in Memorial room 115 from 2:20pm - 3:20 pm On Friday August 24th

Dear Blackboard Users:

 

The general purpose classrooms in Memorial, the Learning Center, and the Residential College Classrooms feature some wonderful technology that can be used to enhance teaching. This session will demonstrate the features of the rooms, from the lights and telephone system to the writing tablet and video cameras. All teachers using these rooms are encouraged to attend the scheduled demonstrations.

 

The training session will be in the Dooley Memorial Classroom 115 from 2:20 pm to 3:20 pm, Friday August 24th. For additional information please contact Dale Deas 305-284-3263 or Marie White 305-284-6239.

 

We hope to see you there!

 

Instructional Advancement Center

Blackboard Course Management System

 

 

 

Re: [BB] Classroom Technology Training session in Memorial room 115 from 2:20pm - 3:20 pm

Dear Blackboard Users:

 

The general purpose classrooms in Memorial, the Learning Center, and the Residential College Classrooms feature some wonderful technology that can be used to enhance teaching. This session will demonstrate the features of the rooms, from the lights and telephone system to the writing tablet and video cameras. All teachers using these rooms are encouraged to attend the scheduled demonstrations.

 

The training session will be in the Dooley Memorial Classroom 115 from 2:20 pm to 3:20 pm. For additional information please contact Dale Deas 305-284-3263 or Marie White 305-284-6239.

 

We hope to see you there!

 

Instructional Advancement Center

Blackboard Course Management System

 

 

 

Re: [BB] Set up your Course Site

Actually, we CAN do an augment of a course site that was already merged or vice-versa. Check with Alex.

I think the restriction is that we cannot augment the same course into two different master sites. So if Accounting has already set up an augment to put all of their sites into a master site, and then SBA wants to put everything in SBA in a master site, it won't work. At least I think that was a real restriction. But we just did both an augment and merge of the same courses for Dr. Ram in Engineering.

-- 

Bill Vilberg

8-3944 or 786-250-2255

On Friday, August 17, 2012 at 3:53 PM, Ramos, Ricardo wrote:

Hello Bb Users,

 

With the beginning of every semester, you might like to have your course to be setup in a specific way. Below are services we offer for your courses, please take a look at them and let us know if you are interested in any of them:

1.      Course Merge

If you teach multiple sections of a 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 every section's site separately. To have us create a merged site, request a "course merge".

Note: Access to the original courses site will be lost so make sure to let us know if there is any material you would like to copy over to the newly created merged site. User records, such as discussion board posts, grades, and assessment attempts will not be copied.

2.      Course Augment

There is also the option to do a "course augment" which will maintain all of your original course sites and add 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 course sites for assignments or tests specific to each course section.

 Note: We cannot do an augment of a course site that was already merged or vice-versa.

3.     Course Copy

  If you have material from a prior semester that you would like to copy to the new semester, you can call us to do a course copy for you or you can follow the steps at the link below to do it yourself:

http://goo.gl/uq1qU

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

4.      Teaching Assistant enrollment

Teaching assistants are not added automatically to your class. They have to be entered manually. You can have us do it for you or you can do it yourself using the instructions at the following link:

http://goo.gl/ON85r

Please feel free to contact us for any issues you might have. Our business hours are from Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and our phone number is 305-284-3949 or you can email us at blackboardhelp@miami.edu

 

Rick Ramos

Department of Information Technology

Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor

305-284-3949

 

 

 

[BB] Set up your Course Site

Hello Bb Users,

 

With the beginning of every semester, you might like to have your course to be setup in a specific way. Below are services we offer for your courses, please take a look at them and let us know if you are interested in any of them:

1.      Course Merge

If you teach multiple sections of a 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 every section’s site separately. To have us create a merged site, request a "course merge".

Note: Access to the original courses site will be lost so make sure to let us know if there is any material you would like to copy over to the newly created merged site. User records, such as discussion board posts, grades, and assessment attempts will not be copied.

2.      Course Augment

There is also the option to do a "course augment" which will maintain all of your original course sites and add 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 course sites for assignments or tests specific to each course section.

 Note: We cannot do an augment of a course site that was already merged or vice-versa.

3.     Course Copy

  If you have material from a prior semester that you would like to copy to the new semester, you can call us to do a course copy for you or you can follow the steps at the link below to do it yourself:

http://goo.gl/uq1qU

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

4.      Teaching Assistant enrollment

Teaching assistants are not added automatically to your class. They have to be entered manually. You can have us do it for you or you can do it yourself using the instructions at the following link:

http://goo.gl/ON85r

Please feel free to contact us for any issues you might have. Our business hours are from Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and our phone number is 305-284-3949 or you can email us at blackboardhelp@miami.edu

 

Rick Ramos

Department of Information Technology

Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor

305-284-3949

 

 

 

[BB] New first year students are NOT in Blackboard at this time

Blackboard users,

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

If you send an email today from your Blackboard class site to all the students in that class site, first year students who are new to UM will not receive the email. If you wait and send the email this coming Monday, everyone in your class site at that time (which will then include the first year students who are new to UM) will receive the eMail.

BACKGROUND

New first year students at UM see their schedules on MyUM two days before the first day of fall classes. Blackboard matches that release date. New first year students will be placed into their Blackboard course sites on the Sunday night/Monday morning before classes begin.

A difference between MyUM and Blackboard is what you can see. On MyUM you can see the class rosters, as I understand it, before the students can see their schedules. On Blackboard you can see the students in your class sites at the same time that students can see their schedules. So if you want to see who is in your class right now, including new first year students, go to My UM. If you want to send an email to everyone in your class, and you have any new first year students, wait until Monday to send the email.

-- 

Bill Vilberg

8-3944 or 786-250-2255

[BB] Emails re Lore

Blackboard users,

A message about the Lore learning management system (LMS) is being sent to professors at UM. I have included a copy below. Lore is in no way associated with UM. We are still using Blackboard as our LMS. The goal of the message, I think, is to make it look like we switched to Lore. We didn't.

Bill Vilberg - bill.vilberg@miami.edu, 8-3944

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lore <team@lore-mail.com>
Reply-To: Lore <team@lore-mail.com>
Date: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 4:17 
Subject: ________ , welcome to Lore

Dear ________ , Lore is a new alternative to learning management systems that's now available at University of Miami. It's free and this spring professors at over 600 schools used it for their courses. Like well-known social networks, class discussions on Lore are lightweight and fun. Students have given professors feedback that it helps make courses memorable. On Lore you also have tools for grading, sharing course materials, and keeping a calendar that are incredibly easy to use. Right now Lore is only available by invitation but but we're starting to open access for the fall. If you'd like to give it a try, your invitation is here. Hope you like it — The Lore Team

Click here to unsubscribe. Lore, PO Box 1018, New York, NY, 10013.

[BB] Blackboard New Look and Feel!

Hello Bb Users,

 

On August 8^th 2012, Blackboard at the University of Miami will have a new look to take full advantage of our recent upgrade to Service Pack 8 (SP8). The new version will improve the experience for students, and instructors.

 

FACE TO FACE TRAINING SESSIONS

 

To help with the transition to the new look and feel, we have scheduled multiple training sessions. "Blackboard Upgrade Information Session "New Look and Feel"" is designed for people who have used Blackboard and need to quickly get up to speed with SP8. "Introduction to Blackboard" is designed for people who have not used Blackboard before and need to start at the beginning. Multiple offerings of both trainings are available.

 

See the schedule and register for a training session at http://iacevents.org

 

==ON-LINE VIDEO==

 

Blackboard has created several videos to explain the new features and improvements in this new version.

 

-New Themes (Video Demo: http://goo.gl/NKd1h) (Help Page: http://goo.gl/R1Z2b)

 

- Quick Setup Guide and Course Structures (Help Page: http://goo.gl/ZoMTD )

- Course-to-Course Navigation (Video Demo: http://goo.gl/QTuok) (Help Page: http://goo.gl/hnIXZ)

- Activity Reports (Video Demo: http://goo.gl/dCcSP) (Help Page: http://goo.gl/w9SiU)

- Improved Adaptive Release: (Video Demo: http://goo.gl/R7Jrx) (Help Page: http://goo.gl/ReGpc)

 

- Timed Assessments Enhancement: (Video Demo: http://goo.gl/yBoVy) (Help Page: http://goo.gl/kvDcu)

 

- Automated Re-grading: (Video Demo: http://goo.gl/qVmK1) (Help Page: http://goo.gl/ZCt4o)

- Negative Marking: (Video Demo: http://goo.gl/gpOl0) (Help Page: http://goo.gl/vWv4s)

- Interactive Rubrics: (Video Demo: http://goo.gl/qX6cd) (Help Page: http://goo.gl/w0NEM)

 

- Needs Grading Tool Enhancement: (Video Demo: http://goo.gl/oKlg0) (Help Page: http://goo.gl/Ktaol)

==CONTACT THE HELP DESK==

 

Our help desk team is available to answer any of your questions. We can be reached by phone at 305-284-3949 or by email at blackboardhelp@miami.edu.

 

Let us know what we can do to help you use Blackboard at its fullest.

 

Blackboard Support Team: Bill, Alex, Rick, and Kelley Instructional Advancement Center

 

 

 

Rick Ramos

Department of Information Technology

Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor

305-284-3949

 

 

 

[BB] Internet Explorer 9 problem with UM Blackboard system

Blackboard users,

Based on our current testing, it appears that Internet Explorer 9 cannot be used to login to Blackboard. We are working on this problem. In the meantime, you might try a different browser such as Firefox, Chrome, or Safari.

We will update you tomorrow on the status of this issue.

Bill Vilberg - bill.vilberg@miami.edu, 786-250-2255

http://vilberg.com - Spreading seeds of education, technology, and more

[BB] Blackboard maintenance completed

Dear Faculty,

Please be advised the Blackboard system is now available and you can access it again at https://www.courses.miami.edu

We greatly appreciate your patience,

Thank you,

 

Rick Ramos

Department of Information Technology

Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor

305-284-3949

 

 

[BB] Blackboard maintenance

Dear Faculty,

 

Please be advised the Blackboard system is now unavailable. For updates on the current status go to the following web site: http://upgradenotes.weebly.com/

 

We will inform you if we encounter any issue and another notification will be sent once the system will be back up.

 

We greatly appreciate your patience,

 

Thank you,

 

Rick Ramos

Department of Information Technology

Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor

305-284-3949

 

 

 

 

[BB] Maintenance on the Blackboard System

Dear Faculty,

 

Please be advised the Blackboard system at the University of Miami will NOT be available starting Friday July 20^th 2012 at 10 PM, It will be back on-line on Monday, July 23, by 7:00 am. We will be performing an upgrade of our current version of Blackboard SP5 (service pack 5) to SP8. The look and feel will remain the same at this moment.

 

We will send a notification before the system goes down and once the system comes back up. For updates on the status go to this web site: http://upgradenotes.weebly.com/

 

Thank you,

 

 

Rick Ramos

Department of Information Technology

Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor

305-284-3949

 

 

 

[BB] Subscribe

 

 

Barbara A. Wood, MLIS

Librarian Assistant Professor

Department of Health Informatics

Calder Memorial Library

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

P. O. Box 061950 (R950)

Miami, FL  33101

Phone: (305) 243-3999

bwood@med.miami.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BB] SNEAK PEAK - New Bb features for this fall

Blackboard users at UM,

Want to see the new features that will be in Blackboard at UM for this Fall?  Watch 15 minutes of a video and learn about the following:

• New "Look and Feel" - Will roll out at UM on Wednedsay, August 8, 2012, two weeks before fall classes begin
• New "Course Merge Tool" for administrators (me)
• Shortcut between the same areas in your various courses
• Negative and Weighted marks in assessments
• Standards Alignment and Reporting within a course
• Activity Report of student activity in your course
• Regrading of assessments
• Course Themes

To view the relevant 15 minutes of this video, do the following.

1. Go to http://goo.gl/2TmeZ in your browser- This should load a java player for Blackboard Collaborate. The player window will open. Along the bottom you will see an indicator that the presentation is loading. (Called a "thermometer" because it looks like the mercury rising in a thermometer.) Make sure that you have speakers or a headset, since this video has audio, too.
2. Click on the "play" arrow, to the left of the loading indicator.
3. Drag the little button along the timeline to 16:00 (16 minutes). That is when Liam Ferris from Blackboard takes over.
4. Watch until the 31:00 (31 minute) mark. After that it is just questions and answers.
5. If you are really impressed and excited, drag back to the 16 minute point and watch it again and again!

REMEMBER: 

• Blackboard will be taken off-line on Friday, July 20, after 7:00 pm for the upgrade from SP5 (service pack 5) to SP8. It will probably be back on-line on Sunday, July 22, in the afternoon. It will definitely be back on-line on Monday, July 23, by 8:00 am.
• The new "Look and Feel" (2012 Theme) will be turned on Wednesday, August 8.
• More information, including training opportunities, will be send on this, the bb@listserv.miami.edu mailing list.

Bill Vilberg
Instructional Advancement Center
Information Technology
Richter Library, Room 325
bill.vilberg@miami.edu
8-3944 or 305-284-3944

[BB] SafeAssign Critical Maintenance Upgrade - Service will be unavailable from 5 PM to 9 PM on Friday, June 29, 2012.

Hello,

 

SafeAssign service on Blackboard will be unavailable on Friday, June 29, 2012 from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM US Eastern. SafeAssign is being taken offline for a critical maintenance upgrade. If you have any questions please contact us via email at blackboardhelp@miami.edu or call us at 305-284-3949

 

Respectfully,

 

Alex Zaldivar

Department of Information Technology

Instructional Advancement Center

Blackboard System Manager

Email: azaldivar@miami.edu

Phone: 305-284-3949

 

 

[BB] Blackboard Maintenance

Hello Bb Users,

 

Please be advised, Blackboard will be down for maintenance on the morning of Saturday April 28, 2012 between 1 AM and 3 AM.

 

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause,

 

Thank you,

 

Rick Ramos

Department of Information Technology

Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor

305-284-3949

 

 

 

[BB] Blackboard Tip

Hello Bb Users,

 

We are approaching the end of the semester and we wanted to share a few tools Blackboard has available in case you did not know about them. I have attached  handouts for the following options:

 

• Voice Announcement: Voice Announcements are a unique means of vocal communication that only appear within the Announcements Area.
• Voice Email: The Voice Email feature gives instructors and students the ability to send voice email directly from a Blackboard course to anyone enrolled in the course. Voice Emails can be sent to either individual users, or to everyone registered in the course.
• Download Grade Center: Full or partial data can be downloaded from the Grade Center.
• Grade History: The Grade History page in the Grade Center acts like a log file that records all of the changes that occur to grades within a Course. The Grade History page displays all the data for grade submissions within a set date range. It is possible to manipulate the view and export the information

Please feel free to contact us for any issues you might have. Our business hours are from Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, our phone number is 305-284-3949 and you can email us at blackboardhelp@miami.edu.

 Thank you,

 Rick Ramos

Manager of your Blackboard Support team

 

 

 

 

[BB] Blackboard Tips

 

 

Hello Bb Users,

 

Blackboard 9.1 comes with the Notification Dashboard. It is aimed at increasing communication and workflow efficiency within Blackboard. The Notifications Dashboard is divided into Student Notifications and Instructor Notifications.

 

The data presented within Notifications are aggregated from all courses and organizations for which an Instructor is teaching or a Student is participating.

 

The Dashboard is divided in four different modules where you will receive information about events occurring in your courses sites.

 

Here are the four modules and what information you should expect:

 

• What’s New: The Communication area displays the number of unread Discussion Board posts for each forum, the unread blog entries, and the unread journal entries. The Materials area displays any updated, submitted, or created content, tests, assignments, and surveys.
• Needs Attention: Only instructors will receive notifications. Any submitted item by a user for review. Categories of the possible notification types:

• Grade Tests: The tests and the corresponding users who have submitted the tests.
• Grade Assignments: The assignments and the corresponding users who have submitted the assignments.
• Grade Surveys: The surveys and the corresponding users who have submitted the surveys.

• Alerts: Only instructors will receive notifications. The Past Due area displays any assessment, assignment, or survey that has passed its due date with no submission by the student. The Early Warning System area displays any rule and the list of students who have violated that rule.
• To Do: Only Students will receive notifications. The What's Past Due area displays any assessment, assignment, or survey that has passed its due date with no submission by the student. The What's Due displays information about any assessment, assignment, or survey that contains a due date.

It is also possible to have the notifications sent to your preferred email address either in an individual email or a Daily Digest email (for information on this see our handout “Notifications Dashboard Settings”).

 

I have attached a series of handouts that will help you better understand the Notification Dashboard and how to use it.

 

Please feel free to contact us for any issues you might have. Our business hours are from Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm; and our phone number is 305-284-3949; and you can email us at blackboardhelp@miami.edu.

 

Thank you,

 

Rick Ramos

Manager of your Blackboard Support team

 

 

 

 

[BB] Blackboard Tips

Hello Bb Users,

 

With so many different computers, OS, and browsers it is sometimes difficult to expect the same results across all these different systems. You might be familiar with what I mean if you have given a test using the Test Tool in Blackboard.

 

A test submitted by a student in Blackboard can fail for different reasons such as wireless failure or browser compatibility. Respondus Lockdown Browser is a tool available that can help reduce the issues associated with browsers during a test. This tool will not prevent issues from, for example, dropped wireless connection or power outage but it creates a unique point of access for the test. The Lockdown Browser is available and ready to use by the instructor, all it takes is a simple download and install from the students on their computer.

 

We have created steps by steps on how to use it and set it up in your class site. Click the following links for more information:

 

Download Respondus Lockdown Browser: http://goo.gl/0kmKb

 

Setup Respondus Lockdown Browser: http://goo.gl/tKs2L

 

Respondus has also a video available showing what the students will experience when using the tool:

 

Respondus Lockdown Browser Intro video: http://goo.gl/WHJj0

 

Note: The Lockdown Browser does not prevent cheating on the test but it reduces the risk by preventing students from browsing the web and the computer or access messengers.

 

TRAINING:  We offer instructor led trainings and workshops in the Faculty Exploratory at the Richter Library. You can register for any of our events by going to our Registration site and clicking on the title of the session:

 

Registration Site: http://goo.gl/0Wjee

 

Please feel free to contact us for any issues you might have. Our business hours are from Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm;  and our phone number is 305-284-3949; and you can email us at blackboardhelp@miami.edu.

 

Thank you,

 

Rick Ramos

Manager of your Blackboard Support team

305-284-3949