[BB] Courses for Fall 2006 Completed

 

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

 

The process for uploading Summer Fall 2006 courses has been completed. 

 

Here is a helpful video on how to copy course content from and old course site into a new course site: http://www.miami.edu/bb/demos/fac/coursecopy.html

 

Other videos on assisting instructors with various tools on Bb are also available here: http://www.miami.edu/bb/demos/instructors.html

 

Please let us (blackboard@miami.edu / x.3949) know if we can be of further assistance or if you run into any difficulty while setting up your courses.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa

Blackboard Help Desk

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[BB] Courses for Fall 2006

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

Today Fall 2006 (071) course sites are being uploaded into Blackboard. We will let you know when this process is complete. Please let us know if you have any questions.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa

Blackboard Help Desk

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[BB] Resolved Processing Delays

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

Safe Assignment informed us that their data center which had a power outage yesterday has been successfully restored.  All submission to SA should now be processed normally.  Please let us (blackboard@miami.edu/x.3949) know if you experience any problems with SA and we apologize for the inconvenience.

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa & the Help Desk

 

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[BB] Safe Assignment Processing Delays

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

We received word this morning, that at 6:48 a.m. today (4/11/06) one of Safe Assignment’s datacenters is shut down due to a local power outage out of Dallas, TX.  This datacenter is critical for timely processing of submitted documents.  Currently they are experiencing long processing times for some clients.  If you experience slow processing times in any of your courses, please let us (blackboard@miami.edu/x.3949) know. 

 

Thank you and we apologize for the inconvenience.

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa & the Blackboard Help Desk

 

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[BB] Safe Assignment Slow Processing (Again)

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

As of 11 a.m. (est) today (4-6-06) we have been experiencing slow processing times with Safe Assignment.  Safe Assignment’s information providers had server downtime for approximately 4 hours today.  The technicians at Safe Assignment informed us that the servers are back up and functioning, however, papers submitted after 11 a.m. may experience slow processing times of a few hours.  The system should be functioning normally after their back-logs have cleared up which may extend through tonight. Please let us know if you have any questions or if you experience any difficulty with Safe Assignment.

 

Thank you for your patience and we apologize again for this inconvenience.

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa & the Blackboard Help Desk

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[BB] Safe Assignment Slow Processing Time Corrected

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

On April 5, 2006 we were experiencing slow processing times with safe assignment. The submission process was working correctly, however, SA reports and matching percentages took hours to process. The underlying problem was a temporary speed degradation with safe assignment's internet search service provider. The process times should be up to speed now. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please let us (blackboard@miami.edu /x.3949) know if you continue to experience any difficulty.

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa & the Blackboard Help Desk

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[BB] Slow Processing Times with Safe Assignments

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

We are currently experiencing slow processing times with two courses on Blackboard, NUR448JY and TY (062). The slow processing time only appears to be affecting these two courses at the moment. You may want to check your current courses and see if any behavior matches this description.  Students are submitting their assignments through Safe Assignment but an SA Report and a matching percentage are not being generated within a normal time frame of 10-15 minutes. We have escalated this problem to the Safe Assignment technicians and are waiting on a fix and the description of underlying problem. We will let you know as soon as we receive word on this.

 

Please let us know if your courses are experiencing the symptoms above with Safe Assignment. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa & the Blackboard Help Desk 

 

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[BB] SafeAssigment Upgrade Completed

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

The upgrade to SafeAssignment (v. 2.0.5) has been completed.  The upgrade was done at 7:56 a.m., on Monday, April 3, 2006.

 

Please let us (blackboard@miami.edu /x.3949) know if you experience any strange behavior with SafeAssignment or have any questions regarding this upgrade.  

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa & the Blackboard Help Desk

 

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[BB] SafeAssignment Upgrade to v.2.0.5

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

On Monday, April 3^rd at approximately 8:00 am, we are going to install a maintenance upgrade (2.0.5) to SafeAssignment (2.0.4) which we are currently using within Blackboard.  According to the SafeAssignment/MyDropBox Suite Team, this new version contains fixes to several bugs and user interface irregularities. Please be aware that some cosmetic changes may occur with this upgrade. We will let you know on Monday, April 3^rd once this upgrade has been completed.

 

Please feel free to contact us (blackboard@miami.edu /x.3949) should you have any questions.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa & the Blackboard Help Desk

 

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

Bb List Information

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 06:00:36

You are subscribed to the Bb list at the University of Miami. I created
this list to distribute information about the Blackboard course web site
system at UM.

Here are a few reminders.

1. If you want to unsubscribe you can do it a number of ways. A. Send me
an e-mail and I will remove you from the list. B. Go to
http://listserv.miami.edu/archives/bb.html, click on the "Join or leave
the list" link, and follow the instructions. C. Send the message
"UNSUBSCRIBE BB" (in the body of the list, not the subject) to
listserv@listserv.miami.edu. (This will only work if sent from the
address that you are subscribed as.)

2. If you know someone who would like to subscribe tell them to do one of
the following. A. Send me an e-mail and I will add them to the list. B.
Go to http://www.snurl.com/bbforms and fill out the "Mailing List" form.
B. Go to http://listserv.miami.edu/archives/bb.html, click on the "Join
or leave the list" link, and follow the instructions. C. Send the message
"SUBSCRIBE BB" (in the body of the list, not the subject) to
listserv@listserv.miami.edu.

3. Searchable archives of the list are available at
http://listserv.miami.edu/archives/bb.html. The archives go back to July
2001 when the Bb list was created.

Bill Vilberg bill.vilberg@miami.edu Home: 305-255-9138 Work: 305-284-3949
Cell: 786-218-3052

[BB] Students Added for Summer Courses

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

Today students registered for Summer I, Summer II, and Continuing Studies (063, 064, & 070) have been added into their corresponding courses in Blackboard.

 

Please let us (blackboard@miami.edu / x.3949) know if any students are missing from your courses and if we can be of assistance with anything else as well.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa

Blackboard Help Desk

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[BB] Fall 2005 Courses

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

The Fall 2005 courses have been hidden from the current courses option. In order to view the Fall 2005 courses you may need to click on the “All Courses” tab in Blackboard. Theses courses will remain on the system for at least 2 years. This change was made on Friday, March 3^rd, 2006. Please let us know if you have any questions.

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa

Blackboard Help Desk

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[BB] Safe Assignment updated

Blackboard users,

 

Our Safe Assignment feature, the original writing analyzer, has been updated from version 2.0.3 to version 2.0.4.  This is a bug-fix only, designed to improve stability and make things easier when courses with Safe Assignments are copied.  There are no new features.  If any problems with SafeAssignment are encountered, please notify blackboard@miami.edu or call 284-3949 to let us know.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Please welcome Janet De La Rosa

Blackboard users,

 

Back on December 12th, Janet De La Rosa joined our Instructional Advancement team.  She is taking over management of the Blackboard system so that I can focus on my new role at UM as Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement.  My original role at UM was to encourage and support the faculty in appropriate uses of technology to enhance instruction.  My new goal is to encourage and support the faculty in appropriate ways to enhance instruction.  "Advance" and "enhance" are key works to me.  They mean that we only succeed if we help you get better.  The day-to-day maintenance and support of the Blackboard system was limiting my ability to accomplish those goals, so we brought Janet in to focus completely on Blackboard.

 

I realize that it will take her a while to completely assume management of the system, but in just two months she has already surpassed me in some areas.  As you interact with her, please welcome her to UM.  She monitors the blackboard@miami.edu account, so you can reach her there, or at 284-3949, or at janet.delarosa@miami.edu . 

 

She and I are both attending Blackboard World in San Diego this week.  If you need help, the student assistants will be standing by at 284-3949 and monitoring the blackboard@miami.edu account.  Janet and I will both be checking our e-mail during the conference.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Safe Assignment - Working again

Safe Assignment experienced a 20 minute outage around 5:00 PM on Thursday.  The Internet connection for MyDropBox failed.  Their system should have switched over to their secondary Internet connection automatically, but it failed to do that.  They switched if over manually and we were able to connect to their system to submit papers again.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Safe Assignment Not Working

Blackboard users,

 

The Safe Assignment functionality of our Blackboard system is currently not working.  Either clicking on View/Submit or the Safe Assignments link in the Control Panel fails to load a page.  It seems that either the MyDropBox system is off the net or refusing our connections.  We have notified MyDropBox.  We will update you with new information as it becomes available.

 

I apologize for this situation.  I know a number of you have altered your processes so that students submit papers using Safe Assignment.  An unreliable system is unacceptable.  I will work with the MyDropBox company to gather more information about whether they are able to meet our needs and provide the quality that you deserve.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

[BB] Uploading of Summer I, II, and Cont. Studies Completed

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

 

The process for uploading Summer I, Summer II and Continuing Studies has been completed. 

 

Here is a helpful video on how to copy course content from and old course site into a new course site: http://www.miami.edu/bb/demos/fac/coursecopy.html

 

Other videos on assisting instructors with various tools on Bb are also available here: http://www.miami.edu/bb/demos/instructors.html

 

Please let us (blackboard@miami.edu / x.3949) know if we can be of further assistance or if you run into any difficulty while setting up your courses.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa

Blackboard Help Desk

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[BB] Courses for Summer I, Summer II, and Continuing Studies

Hello Blackboard Users,

 

Today Summer I, Summer II and Continuing Studies (063, 064, & 070) course sites are being uploaded into Blackboard. We will let you know when this process is complete.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Janet De La Rosa

Blackboard Help Desk

----------------------------------------------------------

Janet De La Rosa (janet.delarosa@miami.edu)

Systems Analyst

Instructional Advancement Center

University of Miami 

Coral Gables, FL

www.miami.edu

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

[BB] Tegrity webinar

UM Blackboard users,

 

The Tegrity webinar below appears to be a sales pitch for administrators, but faculty might also be interested in participating.  Tegrity has a system that allows faculty to capture lectures, including audio, slides, talking head, document camera, and more.  At UM the PDTO (Professional Development and Training Office) uses a Tegrity system to create the presentations for new employees. Most of a new employee's orientation is now done on-line, watching presentations created with the Tegrity system.  Tegrity has a new system to capture and upload the audio from class lectures in a highly automated process but it seems VERY expensive, to me. 

 

If you are interested in learning about Tegrity, you might want to sign up for the Webinar taking place Wednesday, January 15, 1:00 PM.  Go to this link to sign up:

http://cl.exactt.net/?ffcb10-fe6711717564037d7d17-fdf6167576610d7875167372-fefc1571706301

 

(Sorry for the hard to read message.  This is what happens when a gray background is used for an e-mail and the message is forwarded.)

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)

 

---

From: Blackboard Inc. [mailto:Bbfeedback@blackboard.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2006 2:59 PM
To: Vilberg, William R.
Subject: Panel Discussion: Impacting Student Achievement with Tegrity and Blackboard

Panel Discussion: Impacting Student Achievement with Tegrity and Blackboard Join Tegrity and Blackboard for a free Web Seminar focused on how leaders in educational technology are impacting student achievement. To participate, go to Link and enroll. Why you should participate... Reinforce student learning and add flexibility to their lives! In this one-hour session, our panel of distinguished leaders from Colorado Technical University and El Centro College reveal how Tegrity Campus and Blackboard reinforce learning for both on-ground and online students. The panel discussion will include Q&A and focus on impacting retention through greater student achievement. Topics will include automated class capture, CMS integration and new Tegrity-enhanced podcasting. Who Should Attend: • Presidents • Provosts • VP Academic Affairs • CIOs • Academic Deans and Directors As an added incentive for attending, A NEW Video iPod will be given away in a random drawing at the end of the session! Enroll today for this FREE webinar! Are you new to webinars? All you need is a regular phone line for the toll-free conference call and an internet-connected computer to see the presentation slides via Webex. Feel free to invite others to your office or conference room to join in. After you register, we'll send an email with everything you need to know and a helpful reminder just before the presentation. Please contact Jason Penchoff at jpenchoff@blackboard.com with any questions. Feel free to forward this page to colleagues you believe would benefit from the event. If you cannot attend on this date...contact me later with a link to the Tegrity-recorded session. Tegrity is a Silver Sponsor at BBWorld '06 in San Diego, Feb. 28-March 2, 2006. Meet us at Booth #203!

This email was sent to: bill.vilberg@miami.edu This email was sent by: Blackboard Inc. 1899 L Street NW, 11th Floor Washington, DC, 20036 USA Go here to leave this mailing list or modify your email profile. We respect your right to privacy. View our policy.

If you have difficulty viewing this email, go here.

[BB] Safe Assignment situation

Blackboard users,

 

If you (1) used Safe Assignment last semester and (2) copied your old course site into this semester's course site, you may run into problems.  Here are the things to do in your new course site.  (If you are not going to use Safe Assignment until next week sometime, wait until then and follow the new directions that I will be distributing on Monday or Tuesday.  We will be applying a technical patch that will simplify this process.)

 

1. Go to Control Panel > MyDropBox Suite and click on the "Synchronize this course" link.  Wait five minutes.  Nothing will visibly change, but the assignments and database should be correctly attached.

 

2. Go to the Control Panel > Assignments (or where ever your Safe Assignment links are located) and, for each Safe Assignment, click on the Modify button, and the Submit button.  You don't need to change anything, just submit the page.  That will update the links to point to your current course.  Otherwise the students (but not you) will get error messages when they try to submit a paper because the link will point to your previous course.

 

This ONLY applies to course sites where Safe Assignments were copied from a previous course site.

 

Bill Vilberg

305-284-3949 (work); 786-218-3052 (cell); 305-255-9138 (home)