Hello Bb users,
Blackboard mobile learn is back online and ready to be used again.
Please let us know if you have any question or concern by calling us at 305-284-3949 or email us at blackboardhelp@miami.edu.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Thanks,
Rick Ramos
Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor
305-284-3949
Bb users
Please be advised the Blackboard mobile learn version is not working at this moment. We are working with Blackboard to restore the service as soon as possible.
We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.
Rick Ramos
Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor
305-284-3949
For example, I attended the talk today on "Innovation for the 21st Century." It was both educational and inspiring. I wish more people would have been there, beyond the engineering faculty and students. Hopefully that will happen over time.
I am using Google Calendar to manage these items. You can see all the items on the calendar by going to the "News" tab in Blackboard and choosing the "@ The U" sub-tab. If you have events that you think would be appropriate, please let me know.
Guidelines:
* Should be an academic event, such as a lecture or presentation
* Should feature a person of importance (someone who has won awards of some kind or is at least slightly famous)
* Should be at a level that everyone can attend, from first year students on up
* Should be free (at least for students)
* Should be on the UM campus
* Should have a web page with more information about the event
Information Required
* Date of event
* Time
* Location
* Name of speaker
* Title of speech
* Web page for more information
Bill Vilberg
Another little "trick" I have been using is to add a tool/email to the
course home. Everyone seems to use email and I just added it to most
peoples course home to help them save time.
Lyndon Godsall Ed.D, Ed.S, M.Ed, B.Ed
Instructional Designer
305-284-2710 Office
954-647-4634 Cell
l.godsall@miami.edu
On 9/6/11 4:05 PM, "Vilberg, William R." <bill.vilberg@MIAMI.EDU> wrote:
>Blackboard users,
>
>------ 1. No "Send as Email" Option with Announcements -----
>
>You may have noticed that the "Send as email" check box is no longer in
>the announcements in Blackboard. The workaround is to make the
>announcement, copy the message, go to the Control Panel > Course Tools >
>Send Email. Paste the message in there and send it to all users. This
>takes a few extra steps, but it accomplishes the job.
>
>----- 2. Sometimes the "Send Email" option, in the Control Panel's
>"Course Tools" section, is off the bottom of the screen -----
>
>In order to send an email to all the users in your class, you expand the
>"Course Tools" in the Control Panel and select the "Send Email" tool.
>Depending on the size of your screen, "Send Email" might be off the
>bottom, with no scroll bar to get down to it. This is a side effect of
>the way things open and close without redrawing the page. They forgot to
>recalculate the page size each time they open or close an item in the
>menu bar. The workaround is to close the course menu temporarily, raising
>the Control Panel and letting the "Send Email" appear. Confused? Watch
>the two minute video at http://goo.gl/ccLLT to see both the problem and
>the workaround.
>
>Forgive me for using "echelon" in place of "chevron" in the video. I
>realized my mistake, and decided "Good enough is good enough" and "Good
>is good, but done is better." So rather than redoing the recording I am
>sending it out as-is with the hope you will forgive my misuse of the
>terms.
>
>Bill Vilberg, bill.vilberg@miami.edu, 786-250-2255
>
>http://vilberg.com - Spreading seeds of education, technology, and more
------ 1. No "Send as Email" Option with Announcements -----
You may have noticed that the "Send as email" check box is no longer in the announcements in Blackboard. The workaround is to make the announcement, copy the message, go to the Control Panel > Course Tools > Send Email. Paste the message in there and send it to all users. This takes a few extra steps, but it accomplishes the job.
----- 2. Sometimes the "Send Email" option, in the Control Panel's "Course Tools" section, is off the bottom of the screen -----
In order to send an email to all the users in your class, you expand the "Course Tools" in the Control Panel and select the "Send Email" tool. Depending on the size of your screen, "Send Email" might be off the bottom, with no scroll bar to get down to it. This is a side effect of the way things open and close without redrawing the page. They forgot to recalculate the page size each time they open or close an item in the menu bar. The workaround is to close the course menu temporarily, raising the Control Panel and letting the "Send Email" appear. Confused? Watch the two minute video at http://goo.gl/ccLLT to see both the problem and the workaround.
Forgive me for using "echelon" in place of "chevron" in the video. I realized my mistake, and decided "Good enough is good enough" and "Good is good, but done is better." So rather than redoing the recording I am sending it out as-is with the hope you will forgive my misuse of the terms.
Bill Vilberg, bill.vilberg@miami.edu, 786-250-2255
http://vilberg.com - Spreading seeds of education, technology, and more
This is probably too deep an analysis of Blackboard, Inc. for many of you, since you just use Blackboard and are not interested in the company itself. Some of you may find it interesting. I did.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/290299-blackboard-a-tale-of-2-companies
Don't expect any reaction from me. We are still trying to live through the start of the fall semester. We had almost twice as many requests for assistance (tickets) this August as we had last August. Some of that is attributable to the upgrade, some to problems with our snapshot process, some to better ways to offer support, but most of the increase is because more and more faculty are taking advantage of the availability of the Blackboard Learn 9.1 system. Good job!
Bill Vilberg, bill.vilberg@miami.edu, 786-250-2255
http://vilberg.com - Spreading seeds of education, technology, and more
The assessment problem has been resolved. Everyone should be able to get to assessments now.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Our Blackboard system is managed by the Blackboard company. At 5:00 pm yesterday I informed them of the problem accessing assessments from some browsers on some computers. At 11:00 they had resolved the problem. They discovered an add-on (Building Block) that was somehow causing the problem. We were not using its features any more, so the make it unavailable and verified that everything was working. I just verified it myself with three different browsers on both Mac and Windows. They are all working at this point.
If you see any errors or anything else that we need to know about, PLEASE click on the "Help" link at the top of any Blackboard page and fill out a ticket to let us know about the issue. You are using the system in ways that we may not have thoroughly tested. Let us know about problems so that we can get them resolved for you and for everyone else. Thanks.
Bill Vilberg, bill.vilberg@miami.edu, 786-250-2255
http://vilberg.com - Spreading seeds of education, technology, and more
If you have online quizzes or tests, stay tuned for more information. We have generated a ticket with Blackboard and will follow up with them on tomorrow and keep you posted.
Bill Vilberg
Hello Bb Users,
On July 5th, the University of Miami upgraded Blackboard, the class site system, to Version 9.1. The new version has been designed to increase student engagement and faculty efficiency.
== FACE TO FACE TRAINING SESSIONS ==
To help with the transition to the new system, we have scheduled multiple training sessions. "Getting Comfortable with Blackboard 9.1" is designed for people who have used Blackboard 8.0 and need to quickly get up to speed on 9.1. "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 ==
We have also created a nine minute video to explain the six major new features in this new version. This video will help you quickly get started with your class site, if you had experience with Blackboard 8.0.
View the video at: http://snurl.com/sixthings
These six important features are covered in the video:
1. The new "Edit" button
2. The new "Hide and Show Control Panel" button
3. The new "Chevrons" or "Contextual Menus"
4. The new "Control Panel"
5. The new "Drag and Drop" reordering
6. The new "Create Menu" button
== 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
305-284-3949
Hello Bb Users,
Please be informed there are some important maintenances and upgrades coming up. Here is a list and dates for them:
· ARES Course Reserve Upgrade and Maintenance
The library Course Reserve (Ares) service will be temporarily unavailable between 1:00 pm -5pm on Aug. 10th due to a system upgrade.
· SafeAssign Upgrade and Maintenance
Blackboard is upgrading SafeAssign so that it will increase the reliability and performance of the SafeAssign product.
The SafeAssign service will be unavailable on Saturday August 13, 2011 from 8:00 AM US Eastern (GMT -4) until Saturday August 13, 2011 at 11:59 PM US Eastern (GMT-4).
During this outage, SafeAssign will be unavailable. End-users will not be able to submit papers through SafeAssign during the planned downtime and will receive an error message if they attempt to do so. SafeAssign Originality Reports will not be available to Instructors or Students during the planned downtime, nor will Instructors be able to access SafeAssign DirectSubmit.
If you have question, please feel free to contact our Blackboard help desk by calling 305-284-3949 or by email at blackboardhelp@miami.edu .
Sincerely,
Rick Ramos
Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor
305-284-3949
Hello Bb Users,
In July, the Blackboard class web site system at UM was upgraded from 8.0 to 9.1. This is a major improvement in the interface and workflow of the system.
The Instructional Advancement Center will provide training sessions on the Gables Campus for people who are already familiar with Blackboard 8.0 and need to learn how to work in Blackboard 9.1.
We are also offering complete training on 9.1 for people who have NOT used Blackboard before. These training classes are offered before and during the fall semester. Please visit our events page http://www.iacmiami.org , click on upcoming events and register for a training session that is convenient for you.
Classes are also offered on the Medical Campus by appointment 305-284-2008
For additional information please contact Kelley Seaman 305-284-2008 or k.seaman@miami.edu
Rick Ramos
Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor
305-284-3949
Hello Bb Users,
Please be informed the classes for Fall 2011 are now available under “My Current Courses”.
If you have any question or concern, call the blackboard help desk at 305-284-3949 or email at blackboardhelp@miami.edu
Thanks,
Rick Ramos
Blackboard Help Desk Supervisor
305-284-3949
Bill
If you see problems, or have questions, let us know. I will be monitoring my email overnight. From 9-5 on Tuesday, call the Blackboard Help Desk at 305-284-3949 with any questions.
If you have not gone to a Blackboard 9.1 upgrade training, and are using the system NOW in a class, see if you can sign up for one of the upcoming trainings on Tuesday and Wednesday. It will really make the migration easier for you. You can find the available times at the http://iacenvets.org web page. No need to log in. Just look in the upcoming events and click on the event to register.
More dates and times will be added soon for people getting ready for the fall semester.
You Blackboard team,
Rick Ramos
Bill Vilberg
Alex Zaldivar
We are waiting for them to hand the system over to us so that we can customize and configure it. Then it will be released for your use. I will keep you informed of developments.
Bill Vilberg, 786-250-2255, http://vilberg.com
Bill Vilberg - bill.vilberg@miami.edu, 786-250-2255
http://vilberg.com - Spreading seeds of education, technology, and more
If you cannot see this email, click or copy and paste in your browser the following link: http://www6.miami.edu/bb/helpdesk/email_upgrade/upgrade%20announcement%20email.htm
Dear Bb Users
I have some exciting news. We will be upgrading to Blackboard Learn™, Release 9.1 over the 4th of July weekend. Here are just a few things that are built into Release 9.1:
In Release 9.1, exciting new social learning and teaching tools foster more logical, visually impactful, and active learning opportunities for students, helping them stay connected to their educational experience 24 hours a day. Features like wiki’s, gradable blogs, and Mashups are part of Release 9.1.
New capabilities in Release 9.1 will save educators and organizational leaders’ time and effort, making it easier to focus on student achievement and retention. Enhanced grading workflow, an assessment manager, and learning modules for course organization allow instructors to be more efficient.
Blackboard is offering more assistance than ever before to help us better understand how to take advantage of all the new features in Release 9.1. A couple of the valuable new resources that you may be interested in checking out are:
• A New On-Demand Learning Center with free access to video quick tutorials and Getting Started Guide
• The University of Miami Blackboard Help Site with links to Blackboard's video quick tutorials and more: http://iacinfo.org/index.php?title=Blackboard_Course_Management_System
Please take some time to look at the attached “What’s New in Release 9.1” brochure. It will give you some more detail about the innovative new features we are about to experience.
Regards,
The UM Blackboard Support Team
Rick Ramos, Blackboard User Support Manager
Alex Zaldivar, Blackboard System Manager
Bill Vilberg, Director of Instructional Advancement
305-284-3949
If you cannot see this email, click or copy and paste in your browser the following link: http://www6.miami.edu/bb/helpdesk/email_upgrade/upgrade%20announcement%20email.htm
Dear Bb Users
I have some exciting news. We will be upgrading to Blackboard Learn™, Release 9.1 over the 4th of July weekend. Here are just a few things that are built into Release 9.1:
In Release 9.1, exciting new social learning and teaching tools foster more logical, visually impactful, and active learning opportunities for students, helping them stay connected to their educational experience 24 hours a day. Features like wiki’s, gradable blogs, and Mashups are part of Release 9.1.
New capabilities in Release 9.1 will save educators and organizational leaders’ time and effort, making it easier to focus on student achievement and retention. Enhanced grading workflow, an assessment manager, and learning modules for course organization allow instructors to be more efficient.
Blackboard is offering more assistance than ever before to help us better understand how to take advantage of all the new features in Release 9.1. A couple of the valuable new resources that you may be interested in checking out are:
• A New On-Demand Learning Center with free access to video quick tutorials and Getting Started Guide
• The University of Miami Blackboard Help Site with links to Blackboard's video quick tutorials and more: http://iacinfo.org/index.php?title=Blackboard_Course_Management_System
Please take some time to look at the attached “What’s New in Release 9.1” brochure. It will give you some more detail about the innovative new features we are about to experience.
Regards,
The UM Blackboard Support Team
Rick Ramos, Blackboard User Support Manager
Alex Zaldivar, Blackboard System Manager
Bill Vilberg, Director of Instructional Advancement
305-284-3949
