If you have any questions concerning any of the items in this blog entry or questions at any time about Blackboard (Bb), please submit an on-line help desk ticket at http://www.at.vcu.edu/helpdesk/ or email blackboard@vcu.edu or call 828-2227. If the Help Desk staff can not answer your questions they will forward your questions to a member of the Technology Services Learning Systems staff. A portion of the Learning Systems staff in Technology Services is dedicated to monitoring Blackboard help tickets.
Items covered in this blog entry:
· Wimba Voice Tools and Live Classroom will be upgraded on Friday, September 26
· Bb Regularly Scheduled maintenance – September 12 and September 26
· JournalLX (Bb blog tool) Pilot will end December 2008
· Bb Known Issues – Where to Find?
· News from Center for Teaching Excellence
· Training Opportunities and Help Links
Wimba Voice Tools and Live Classroom will be upgraded on September 26
The Wimba Voice Tools and Wimba Live Classroom will be updated during a regularly scheduled Blackboard downtime on Friday, September 26 from 4pm to midnight. The Voice Tools and Live Classroom are hosted by Wimba and are linked to from Blackboard. Wimba is relocating their servers, therefore this update is moving the access and archives to a new facility. The Blackboard Team has been informed that this change will be transparent to the users.
Live Classroom will be called Wimba Classroom and will have expanded whiteboard options after the upgrade.
Bb Regularly Scheduled Maintenance – September 12 and September 26 – 4pm to midnight
This is a friendly reminder that Blackboard maintenance is the second and fourth Friday of the month from 4pm to midnight.
JournalLX (Bb blog tool) Pilot will end December 2008
It was announced at the beginning the 2008 spring semester a blog tool had been made available in Blackboard as a pilot project. The pilot will end at the end of the 2008 fall semester. It appears at this point the tool is not being used by many faculty. If you would like to try the tool it can be found in a Bb course by going to the course Control Panel, clicking on any content item (Ex. Course Documents), selecting the Select drop-down box on the far right, selecting Blog, and clicking on Go. If you would like to know more about this tool, please send an email to blackboard@vcu.edu requesting someone contact you about using the blogging tool in Blackboard.
If you have used the Bb blogging tool, please send your feedback to Sheila Chandler at sdchandl@vcu.edu.
Bb Known Issues – Where to Find?The Blackboard Team has updated the “Known Issues” entries in the Blackboard FAQ, they can be found at http://faq.vcu.edu/ts/index.php?action=show&cat=41.
News from Center for Teaching Excellence
The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) is in the beginning stages of growing a network of faculty who are Mac users, interested in sharing their learning, providing examples of interesting and creative uses of the Mac to enhance teaching and learning, and being a support network for each other. The CTE hopes this initiative will provide special learning opportunities and become a valuable resource to VCU faculty who are Mac users. Please contact Bud Deihl (wdeihl@vcu.edu) if you are interested in participating in this initiative.
There will be a special seminar on Tuesday, September 9 (9 - 11 AM), which will provide interested faculty members with the opportunity to explore how the landscape of learning is changing in the 21st century, and how Apple products can support innovative practices and learning experiences. For details and online registration, go to: http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/training/course_detail.asp?ID=6127
Training Opportunities and Help Links
Center for Teaching Excellence
Learn about sound pedagogical methods and other resources
http://www.vcu.edu/cte/
Blackboard Training – enter Keyword = Blackboard
http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/training/
Blackboard FAQ
http://faq.vcu.edu/ts/
Technology Help Desk page
http://www.at.vcu.edu/helpdesk/index.html
Email: blackboard@vcu.edu
Blackboard’s Support for Faculty, Instructors and Designers
(NOTE: this is not a VCU site. We run the Blackboard Academic Suite version 7.3)
http://behind.blackboard.com/s/faculty/
Regards,
Blackboard Team
blackboard@vcu.edu