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Latest Updates
Teaching Large Classes
We are excited to announce the next Teaching Wednesday event on the topic "Developing and assessing teamwork in large classes" by Associate Professor Mark Freeman. Just prior to his current secondment to the Australian Learning and Teaching Council ALTC as Discipline Scholar (Business, Management and Economics), Mark was Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) and Director Learning and Teaching at the University of Sydney Business School. Teaching Wednesdays offer the opportunity to hear internationally recognised speakers presenting on topics of national priority for learning and teaching in the higher education sector. A detailed abstract and speaker bio for this event is available from the CLPD website. http://www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/teaching/wednesdays/
Date: Wednesday 11 May 2011, 12.30 pm - 2.00 pm
Venue: Margaret Murray Room, Level 4, Union House
Please note, half an hour is provided prior to the presentation for a light lunch and post the event for networking opportunities. For catering purposes please register online at https://apps.adelaide.edu.au/training/courses/11597
posted by Tristram Lawson 5/5/2011
Designing Learning using LAMS
Date/Time: Thursday 12 May 2011, 09:30 AM to 12.00 pm midday (2.5 hours duration)
Venue: CLPD Seminar Room 2, Level 2, Schulz Building West
Please register at the University Booking System for "Designing Learning using LAMS"
The CLPD is privileged to have Ernie Ghiglione as a guest teacher for a Designing Learning using LAMS seminar. Ernie is the Project Manager for the LAMS project and staff of Macquarie University's E-Learning Centre Of Excellence (MELCOE). Ernie is visiting Adelaide and has agreed to help demonstrate how this creative learning management system can be used to develop pedagogically strong curriculum without knowledge of the complex learning theory behind good learning design. LAMS which stands for Learning Activity Management System, is a revolutionary new tool for designing, managing and delivering online collaborative learning activities. It provides teachers with a highly intuitive visual authoring environment for creating sequences of learning activities. These activities can include a range of individual tasks, small group work and whole class activities based on both content and collaboration.
posted by Allan Carrington 4/5/2011
MyUni upgrade and group wikis
Over the weekend we successfully upgraded MyUni to Blackboard 9.1 Service Pack 4. This update provides functional enhancements as well as resolving a number of known issues in MyUni.
We have become aware that unfortunately, as a part of this upgrade, group wikis have become unavailable (this appears to have only affected group wikis, ordinary wikis appear to be fine). Please check your courses, and if you have any group wikis, you can re-enable them as described below.
Checking and changing wiki availability:
- Go to Control Panel > Course Tools > Wikis
- The properties of wikis (including group wikis) can be edited by clicking on the options button next to the wiki name and choosing ‘Edit Properties’ from the pull-down menu.
- A number of wikis can be made available in one action by selecting them using the check boxes and then using the Availability button at the top or bottom of the list.
- All displayed wikis can be selected by clicking the check box in the list heading.
If you encounter any other issues in MyUni after the upgrade on the weekend, or if you have any further questions, please contact the Service Desk on x33000 or servicedesk@adelaide.edu.au
posted by Service Desk 4/4/2011
MyUni Performance Update
Unfortunately, a software incompatibility prevented us from performing the upgrades planned for MyUni yesterday morning (Sunday 27th March 2011).
We have been working with the vendors to find a solution and are proceeding with new upgrade plans for next Sunday 3rd of April.
We apologise for any on-going inconvenience.
posted by Service Desk 28/3/2011
MyUni Performance
We are relieved to advise that we have identified and eliminated the root cause of the slow response times experienced in MyUni in recent weeks.
We still have some unresolved functionality issues to resolve, especially relating to announcements and quizzes, but expect that some upgrade work scheduled for this Sunday 27 March between 8am and 10am will fix the majority of the current problems. Due to this upgrade, please avoid scheduling student activities for this Sunday morning.
We will be alert to performance or functionality issues that persist or recur after today's change and the Sunday upgrade. If you do encounter problems please contact the Service Desk on 8303 3000 or servicedesk@adelaide.edu.au and include information about the date and time that the problem has been encountered.
Once again, we apologise for the inconvenience and frustration experienced by MyUni users in recent weeks and expect to deliver a more reliable service following the aforementioned changes.
posted by Service Desk 23/3/2011
MyUni Issues
We apologise for the instability of MyUni over the last two of weeks.
The recent MyUni upgrade should be more stable than previous versions. We are working with the vendor to optimise our system for the current software version. We expect to be able to make some changes in the next 48 hours with the expectation of improved system stability.
We will also be applying two Service Packs to fix some bugs, including the announcement date problem, on Sunday the 27th March.
We are working with the vendor to get to the bottom of the problems some users are reporting when saving and/or submitting quiz attempts. Please note that once a submission attempt has failed (for whatever reason) MyUni follows the rules that a lecturer has applied. If the lecturer has invoked the force-complete rule or limited the number of attempts then s/he will need to clear that student's attempt if s/he wishes the student to try again. We encourage lecturers to avoid single-attempt and force-completion quiz rules wherever possible.
If you have any further queries, please contact the Service Desk on x33000 or servicedesk@adelaide.edu.au
posted by Service Desk 16/3/2011
Two Issues with Announcements
Future-dated announcements
There is a bug in the version of My Uni we are running that causes the Display-After date to be ignored, resulting in announcements that are intended to become visible at a future date/time becoming visible immediately. The problem has been fixed in a more recent release of the software and we are planning to apply that upgrade as soon as possible after careful testing and within the constraints of your collective teaching activities.
The alternatives for lecturers with such announcements are:
- Accept the situation and leave all the announcements visible
- Hide the announcements using the Display-Until date (set to yesterday) and progressively reveal them by adjusting that date
- Delete the announcements and re-create them as required
We understand the frustration and added work associated with the second and third options.
Announcements cannot be e-mailed
With version 9, My Uni removed the ability for lecturers to email to students the contents of announcements when they are created. We note that a number of lecturers miss that functionality. My Uni have introduced a new set of Notification features that provide similar and more extensive capabilities and we are working with CLPD to release that functionality in the near future. We will keep you posted.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused by these issues.
posted by Service Desk 04/3/2011
SafeAssign and Turnitin
As a result of feedback from academic staff gathered throughout 2010 we are now
alerting staff that SafeAssign text matching reports sometimes return
inconsistent results compared to Turnitin.
We therefore recommend that staff consider using Turnitin rather than SafeAssign if consistent text matching reports are required.
SafeAssign does work in many cases, but we have seen instances of
inconsistencies in the degree of text matching between SafeAssign and Turnitin.
You may continue to use SafeAssign if you choose to and it will remain a part
of MyUni. However, the SafeAssign tool has been set to 'unavailable' by
default. If you wish to re-enable SafeAssign in your MyUni course go to Control Panel > Customisation > Tool Availability and then tick the boxes
for SafeAssign and SafeAssignment.
We are currently testing a MyUni plugin for Turnitin and hope to have this
available later in 2011 so that assignments submitted through MyUni can be
automatically sent to Turnitin.
posted by Dayle Hall 25/2/2011
ICT Checklist now available for Teaching Staff
A checklist has been developed to assist teaching staff with start of semester preparations. The checklist has information on; recent changes to ICT services, a personal checklist for teaching staff and information on what to do to obtain assistance in relation to technology and online teaching services.
The checklist is in pdf format and can be downloaded here.
posted by Danielle Hopkins 16/2/2011
MyMedia Lecture Recording and AV Facilities
Many of the lecture theatres at The University of Adelaide have modern audio-visual facilities. These include multiple projectors, computers, document cameras and DVD players. The lecture may be recorded in MyMedia and uploaded to MyUni for students to watch or listen to again later.
If you have never used these facilities, you may find it useful to come to a demonstration of the functions available. Technology Services are providing short demonstration sessions, followed by time for questions and hands-on practice. It may be just what you need to prevent “technology induced embarrassment” in your first lecture.
Date |
Campus |
Time |
Location |
Monday, Feb 14 |
North Terrace |
10:00 am |
Plaza 2060 |
Thursday, Feb 17 |
Waite |
2:30 pm |
Charles Hawker 205 |
Friday, Feb 18 |
North Terrace |
10:00 am |
Plaza 2060 |
Monday, Feb 21 |
North Terrace |
10:00 am |
Plaza 2060 |
Wednesday, Feb 23 |
Roseworthy |
2:30 pm |
Richardso |
There is no need to book – just arrive in time for session.
posted by Dayle Hall 11/02/2011
Course Availability Bug
We have discovered a service issue that may have arisen with the MyUni upgrade of 18 December 2010. It appears that overnight data processing has been making courses unavailable to students and not respecting the lecturer's setting. This is not the expected or intended system behaviour. We will avoid processing that component of our data feeds until we have fixed the problem.
It is likely that courses that you have made available to students have been made unavailable. Please check your current MyUni courses and ensure that they are available to students if that is your requirement.
Course Availability setting is now in Control Panel > Customisation > Properties
We apologise
for any inconvenience
Should you have any queries regarding the above, please contact the Service
Desk on 33000 or email servicedesk@adelaide.edu.au.
Service Desk 05/01/2011
MyUni Upgrade Successful
MyUni has been successfully upgraded to BlackBoard 9.1. Well done to the Teaching and Research team in Technology Services for working hard on this over the last few months. You will notice some improvements and changes to the interface and there are also many technical advances behind the scenes.
More information and resources can be found on the upgrade page.
posted by Dayle Hall 20/12/2010
MyUni Upgrade - 17 Dec
In order to improve MyUni and keep current with the latest learning management system features we will be upgrading to BlackBoard 9.1 over the end of year break.
MyUni will be unavailable from 5pm, Friday 17 December 2010 and will be back online by 9am, Monday 20 December or sooner.
The upgrade will result in a new look and new features for MyUni
so we recommend you attend an information session. The next
session is:
A First Look at MyUni in 2011 - Information for InstructorsFurther dates for information sessions can be found on the MyUni Upgrade page.
Date: Monday 29 Nov
Time: 10am - 11am
Venue: Horace Lamb Lecture Theatre
Please email dayle.hall@adelaide.edu.au to register.
posted by Dayle Hall 22/11/2010
New Look MyUni in 2011 - Preview Session for Instructors
MyUni will undergo an upgrade to BlackBoard 9.1 over the end of year break which will mean a new look and some new features. This preview session will give you a first look at some of the functionality and differences you will see as instructors in 2011.
Date: Friday 1st October
Time: 2pm - 3pm
Venue: Room 307a, Level 3, Schulz Building
Please email dayle.hall@adelaide.edu.au to register.
There will be repeat sessions scheduled over the coming months prior to the upgrade.
posted by Dayle Hall 27/09/2010
Online Administration - Online Learning Seminar
This seminar will focus on strategies for managing large classes, communicating with students, online office hours, generic MyUni courses and student view, Grade Center, MyGrades, adaptive release, tracking and statistics, as well as setting up online groups.
Wednesday 01 September 2010, 10:00 AM
CLPD Seminar Room 2, Level 2, Schulz Building West
For further details and to book go to the booking form.
posted by Dayle Hall 01/09/2010
StudentView of MyUni for instructors
This new tool allows you to create a 'student account' for yourself and use it to enrol as a student in the courses you teach. This allows you to check your course as a student would see it including assignment submission and interactive activities.
Create and manage my StudentView account (staff login required)
Note that this is currently only accessible from univeristy networked computers.
posted by Dayle Hall 18/08/2010
The Future of Learning by Bror Saxberg
The CLPD is proud to sponsor a presentation on The Future of Learning by Bror Saxberg, Chief Learning Officer, Kaplan, Inc, Tuesday 31 August 2010, 10am-12n, CLPD, Level 2, Schulz Building.
A light lunch will be provided for participants.
For further information and booking details please see the flier http://www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/100831_Saxberg_flier.pdf
posted by Dayle Hall 13/08/2010
Assessing Online - Online Learning Seminar
There are still places available in the next Strategies in Online Learning seminar series: Assessing Online to be held on:
Tuesday 10 August 10.00 am – 12 noon
CLPD Seminar Room 2, Level 2 Schulz Bldg West
To book go to the online booking form.
posted by Dayle Hall 04/08/2010
MyMedia Link Emails - Error in Subject Line
There was an issue with the MyMedia database this afternoon which resulted in notification emails being sent out with incorrect subject information - the
links in these email were correct and *you do not need to repost them*. Only
recordings uploaded today were affected.
This issue has now been resolved and new emails have been sent for all
affected recordings.
If you recieved an email with the subject that starts "MyMedia links for
Mathematics IB (3020_MATHS_COMBINED_0004)" and you are not teaching this
course, you can safely delete the email.
Apologies for any inconvenience.
posted by Dayle Hall 04/08/2010
Safe Assign Information Session - Repeat
SafeAssign is a plagiarism prevention tool available within MyUni that can be used to detect unoriginal content in student papers. This repeat session will outline how to set up and use the SafeAssign tool from both instructor and student perspectives. The session will be relevant to staff who have used similar tools such as Turnitin, and for staff who are interested in how this tool can be used within their teaching.
Date: Wednesday 4th August 2010, 1.00 pm - 2.00 pm, plus 0.5 hour for extra questions
Venue: CLPD, Level 2, Schulz Building West
Go to the University Course Booking System to book for this seminar.
https://apps.adelaide.edu.au/training/courses/10837
posted by Dayle Hall 02/08/2010
Using Voice Webinar: Attend from your desk
Online Learning at the CLPD has been running a well received seminar series called "Strategies for Online Learning" Most of the seminars have been face-to-face. Now we are going to do something a little different. The next event in the series "Using Voice" is going to be a webinar.
That is we are going to do it totally online using the WImba Virtual Classroom software. You will be able to attend this live event from you own desk … that will make attendance easier don't you think? Please note it will also be recorded for people to revisit should they not be able to attend at the time but please try to attend as we value your contribution.
We will overview Wimba Voice Tools which have recently been integrated into MyUni. The voice tools include Voice Presenter, Voice Boards, Voice Email and Podcasts as well as the Wimba Classroom and Pronto (an instant messaging tool). The content will focus on the integration of voice tools into a blended or fully online curriculum as well as facilitation/moderation techniques and strategies. The emphasis will not be technical,nor hands on, and a discrete workshop in a computer lab may be required as follow up to this webinar. Time will also be given to introduce participants to the role and power of podcasting.
Date/Time: Thursday 22nd July 2010, 10.00am - 12.00 pm
Venue: Access to the online classroom link will be sent to registered participants the day before the event To book for the webinar go to the University Course Booking System.
Regards
Allan
posted by Dayle Hall 23/07/2010
SafeAssign Information Session
SafeAssign is a plagiarism prevention tool available within MyUni that can be used to detect unoriginal content in student papers. This session will outline how to set up and use the SafeAssign tool from both instructor and student perspectives. The session will be relevant to staff who have used similar tools such as Turnitin, and for staff who are interested in how this tool can be used within their teaching.Date: Wednesday 21 July 2010, 2.00 pm - 3.30 pm
Venue: CLPD, Level 2, Schulz Building West
Go to the University Course Booking System to book for this seminar.
https://apps.adelaide.edu.au/training/courses/10837
posted by Dayle Hall 14/07/2010
Core Business Systems Upgrade and Myuni
The University's Core Business Systems (CBS) Project plans to cut-over from Peoplesoft v7 to Peoplesoft v9 between 6-16 August 2010. During that time Peoplesoft will be unavailable and the data feeds from Peoplesoft to MyUni and MyMedia will be halted.MyUni, MyMedia and related services will be unaffected for established users. However, during that hiatus, we will be *UNABLE* to process:
- Course merge requests;
- Instructor assignments; or
- Course enrolments.
posted by Dayle Hall 27/06/2010
Strategies for Online Learning - Seminar Series 2010
This series, hosted by Online Learning at CLPD, complement and extend the Introduction to MyUni and Effective Use of MyUni workshops conducted by ITS Training. There are five themes for 2010: Designing for Online learning; Online Administration; Assessing Online; Collaborative Learning; and Using Voice.
You can download the seminars flier from the training page.
To book for the seminars go to the University Course Booking System.
posted by Peter Murdoch 5/02/2010
MyMedia and Audio/Visual Information and Demonstration Sessions
Two one-hour information sessions for staff have been scheduled:
- Friday 26 February at 9.30 am, Napier 102, and
- Friday 26 February at 12.30 pm, Plaza 2060.
NO RSVP is required.
Safe Assign
A recently enabled feature of MyUni is Safe Assign. This is a plagiarism detection system similar to Turnitin and has the advantage of being integrated into MyUni.
Further details about Safe Assign including how to enable it in MyUni and set up a Safe Assignment are available within Tutorials on the MyUni Support website.
The University wide licence for Turnitin will extend until December 2010 and will not be renewed in 2011.
Respondus
There is a new installation password for 2010. Staff will be prompted to enter the password when next using Respondus. To access the password, go to www.adelaide.edu.au/myuni/extratools/respondus/ and scroll down to Installation and Set up.
Teaching, Learning and Technology (TLT) Subscription
The University of Adelaide has a 12 month subscription to Teaching, Learning and Technology Group (TLT). All staff at the University can register with TLT: select the membership level "Individual Membership from a Subscribing Institution", which will give you free access to online resources. TLT also holds online events, some of these are free and others are at a reduced fee for members. In addition a few of the subscriber materials on the TLT website are password protected (most are not). For these, the username and password are the same for everyone. The username is "tltsubscriber" and the password is "surprise".
posted by Nik Cornish 22/01/2010
MyMedia (Lecture Recording) Upgrade & Training
The MyMedia lecture recording system is being upgraded to provide additional functionality. The upgrade will implement a new web based application which will provide lecturers and support staff greater capability in managing their recorded session content.
For detailed information on the upgrade and information and training session times visit the MyMedia Upgrade page.
posted by Peter Murdoch 6/10/2009
MyUni Upgrade to Blackboard 8.0 - New Grade Center
MyUni has been successfully upgraded from Blackboard version 7.2 to 8.0. Functionality changes that instructors will see are:
- The Grade Center is a redesigned and renamed version of what was previously the gradebook. New functionality includes one-click grade editing, one-click feedback to students, customisable display settings, smart views for grouping students on certain criteria and more. This is a significant change and you are encouraged to refer to the new Grade Center tutorials and manuals.
- A Self and Peer Assessment (SAPA) tool has been added that allows students to review and grade their own work and the work of their peers. Instructors can create a variety of criteria or questions for work to be evaluated against. The instructor can randomly assign reviewers, monitor the progress of the assessment, download the submissions and results and add the item to the Grade Center. Refer to the SAPA tutorials and manuals for more information.
- Enhancements to the Discussion Board include forum level subscription, reply with quote, and the ability to mark messages read or unread. You can now easily see all unread messages in one-click by clicking the number under the column 'Unread Messages' next to each forum or thread. Also, the email subscription to a forum feature now has the option to include the full message in the email rather than just a link.
- There are two group management tools that were added last year. You will find these in the Course Tools section of Control Panel, not the User Management section.
Advanced Group Management is an alternative interface for creating groups in your course which you may find faster and easier than the regular 'Manage Groups' tool. It also provides additional functionality to randomly assign students to groups.
Batch Allocate Groups will allow you to allocate many users to groups in a single action by uploading a CSV file (spreadsheet). There are instructions within the tool on how the file should be formatted.
posted by Dayle Hall 16/01/2009
Adding Online Content citations into your MyUni course/s
Staff who require 10 or more citations to be added to their MyUni course/s can request assistance by filling in the 10+ Online Content Links form.
This service is only available for staff who have already lodged their list/s with DRMC and will only be offered to staff until Tuesday 23 February 2009.
For staff with less than 10 citations to add - instructions can be found at http://www.adelaide.edu.au/myuni//help/onlinecontent/
For more details please contact Online Learning at CLPD, telephone 8303 6040, email online.content@adelaide.edu.au
posted by Peter Murdoch 23/12/2008
New feature in MyUni - Online Content
The Digital Resources Management Centre (DRMC) in the Library provides a service to staff by creating digital versions of copyright text material and making them available online to students. Previously, the DRMC returned to staff a web link (URL) that was copied to a relevant webpage or MyUni course so that students could access the file. In order to provide the necessary control and reporting of the use of copyright materials the University is implementing a new system around resources subject to copyright.
From July 2008 a new database will be used to manage DRMC copyright material. The new system will allow you to place links to copyright material within MyUni using a new drop down tool called Online Content; this tool will be readily available inside your MyUni course.
The DRMC will continue to scan text documents and find text-based papers as they have done previously, the only change is how you will find the digital file and place it in MyUni. You will need to know how to manage this process for any material added by DRMC staff from July onwards. Any material that you have already submitted for DRMC to copy and for which you have already been given a link (a URL), will continue to be accessible with the new system until the end of 2008. However, from the beginning of 2009 there will no longer be access to the copyright material through the library catalogue (your allocated link will not work). All access from 2009 onwards will be via Online Content in your MyUni course.
Nothing different will be required from you if you have already submitted all of your required material for Semester 2 courses to DRMC before the end of June. If you add new material from July onwards you will need to know how to add the link to the material in MyUni by using the new drop down tool (Online Content) that will be available in MyUni.
The Centre for Learning and Professional Development (CLPD) will be making online and face-to-face training courses available as we get closer to the launch date. These courses will explain how to link to the material processed for you by DRMC.
For more details please contact CLPD; Allan Carrington. Telephone 830 38085
Questions relating to DRMC services, such as article scanning should be directed to drmc@adelaide.edu.au.
posted by Tristram Lawson 20/6/2008
Effective Use of MyUni Training
The ITS training team in collaboration with Online Learning, CLPD, has developed a new face to face course and accompanying manual on the effective use of MyUni. This new monthly course offers staff the opportunity to learn how to use some of the more advanced features of MyUni including:
- Discussion boards
- Quizzes
- Gradebook
- Assignments
- Respondus
- Learning units
Date/Time: 27 June 2008, 1.30pm - 5pm
Venue: ITS training room
Click here to book | Click here for more information
posted by Dayle Hall 11/6/2008
TestGen - editing Pearson test banks and creating quizzes for MyUni
You are invited to an information session on Pearson Education's 'TestGen' software for editing test banks and creating quizzes for MyUni. This session will be of particular interest to staff who are using text books published by Pearson Education as they have free access to associated test banks.
Please email dayle.hall@adelaide.edu.au to register your interest, or ph 8303 8064
posted by Dayle Hall 18/4/2008
MyMedia usage in Semester 1, 2008
There has been a significant increase in the usage of MyMedia in Semester I 2008. A total of 447 lectures (156 audio and 291 video) have been recorded so far, an increase from 333 at this time last year. There has been a particular increase in the number of video recordings. All audio and video content is processed automatically, but increased use has caused an increase in the processing time for MyMedia material. Links to media should be delivered by the start of the next business day.
The top 3 causes of failed recordings are:
- Failure to press "Start Presentation" on the lecturn touch panel in a common teaching venue. This will fail to initiate AV equipment in the venue.
- Failure to turn on the radio microphone in the venue. This will result in a recording with no audio content.
- AV equipment failure or problems with the connectivity between AV equipment and the pc installed in the venue.
Anyone who does experiences problems in a venue or a delay in receiving links should report these as soon as possible to the IT Helpdesk on 33000 and provide details of the venue and time.
MyMedia website
posted by Dani Hopkins 16/4/2008
MyUni service outages in 2008
From 10 February to 5 March 2008 a series of unscheduled outages were experienced that affected MyUni, MyMedia and MapleTA as well as other University services. There were 2 primary causes for these outages:
MyUni has a target availability of 99.5%. An estimated 16.5 hours of unscheduled downtime have been experienced so far in 2008 bringing the current availability to 99.81%.
- A bug in core network equipment caused approximately 5 outages that affected many University services. The issue was raised with the network vendor and workarounds put in place to stabilise equipment until the bug can be fully resolved in April.
- A bug in Oracle software for the MyUni production environment caused 3 separate outages from 15 minutes to 13 hours in duration. The bug unfortunately triggered the corruption of a database index which led to the longest 13 hour outage while the corrupted file was repaired. An emergency patch was applied to the database during week 1 of semester and the database has been stable since.
posted by Dani Hopkins 16/4/2008
Semester one 2008 courses
Courses for semester one 2008 are now available in MyUni.
posted by Dani Hopkins Dec 2007
MyUni Upgrade to Blackboard 7.2
During December 2007, MyUni will be upgraded from Blackboard version 7.1 to 7.2. The upgrade will fix a number of current issues and introduce some new functionality.
Functionality changes that instructors will see are:
- The form used to send email to selected users within a course has now been reverted back so that names are displayed in "lastname, firstname" format.
- It is now possible to generate an email when creating or modifying an announcement. This email will be sent to all users enrolled in the course, and will contain the title and body of the announcement
- A new Course Email tool has been added that allows email to be sent to all student users within the course without an instructor having to select them individually.
- In the Gradebook, for each grade instructors can now add comments that are visible to students.
- This release of Blackboard introduces The Early Warning System - a new feature that builds upon the Performance Dashboard and introduces the ability for instructors to proactively measure and monitor student performance based on key performance metrics.
- Minor enhancements to the discussion forums area.
Issues for instructors to be aware of include:
- If a forward dated announcement is created, the title of the announcement appears immediately in the "New Content" tab.
- If an instructor elects to send e-mail when creating/modifying a forward dated announcement, the email is sent immediately to all course users regardless of when the announcement is set to be visible to students.
- Instructors who use filters on their inbox should note that the course e-mail tool now includes the course name at the end of the subject line rather than at the beginning. Email generated from the announcements tool or from the export/archiving tool puts the course ID at the beginning of the subject line.
- When new courses are created automatically and content copied from a source course, some course tools may be re-enabled in the destination course. Instructors will need to check and modify course tool availability in 2008 courses.
- Tracking statistics functionality is not reporting accesses to content items correctly when enabled.
- .docx file extensions (produced by Office 2007) are now supported as content items but problem exist if these documents are send using the e-mail tool or submitted in the digital dropbox. .docx files are supported in the assignments feature.
The Faculty Release notes for 7.2 and Instructor Manual can be downloaded here. Please note that these documents may refer to products, functionality or tools within Blackboard that we are not licensed for at the University.
posted by Dani Hopkins Dec 2007
MyUni 7.1 Upgrade Successful
A MyUni upgrade occurred on July 6-8 2007. The University is now supporting Blackboard V7.1.
The Instructor and Student Manuals for release 7.1 can be downloaded here.
For an overview of the new discussion board functionality, please view this audio narrated presentation:
Overview of the New Discussion Board
(requires speakers or headphones, opens in new window, 3 min 30 secs, 5MB)The following pdf document provides an overview for students:
How to... Overview of the Discussion Board (for Students)
You can also drop in to the Wednesday MyUni Drop In session.
posted by Dani Hopkins July 2007
