DoIT News tag:www.umbc.edu,2012:/blogs/oit-news//5 2012-01-23T04:13:55Z Movable Type 3.34 New Features in Bb Learn 9.1 SP6 tag:www.umbc.edu,2012:/blogs/oit-news//5.15487 2012-01-23T03:41:38Z 2012-01-23T04:13:55Z The December 23 upgrade of the Blackboard Learn 9.1 system to Service Pack 6 has introduced a variety of new features and enhancements, several of which are listed below. 1. Increased Browser Support: Blackboard is now compatible with Internet Explorer... Karin Readel December 23 upgrade of the Blackboard Learn 9.1 system to Service Pack 6 has introduced a variety of new features and enhancements, several of which are listed below. 1. Increased Browser Support: Blackboard is now compatible with Internet Explorer 9, Safari 5, and stable release channels of Firefox and Chrome. 2. Timed Assessments: Attempt information for timed assessments includes details on how much time the student spent on the attempt versus how much time was allotted. Instructors can now choose to make the timed assessment save and submit automatically when the timer expires, or to allow the assessment to continue beyond the allotted time. 3. Interactive Rubrics: Instructors can now create interactive rubrics for gradable content items including Blogs, Journals, Wikis, Discussion Boards, Assignments, Tests etc. When creating a rubric, instructors can assign weights to categories, allowing the same rubric to be used across multiple items with different possible points. Instructors can interact with any associated rubric for grading in a grid or list view, and Feedback can be typed for each criteria as well as the entire assessment. Rubrics can be made visible to students at any time, before or after grading has occurred. 4. Enhanced "Needs Grading" Tool: Gradable Blogs, Journals, Wikis, and Discussion Board activity can appear in Needs Grading status in the Grade Center and on the Needs Grading page. When an instructor chooses to make an interactive tool gradable, they will also have the option to choose how many interactions will place the item in needs grading status. A Discussion Board forum, for instance, might be set to only appear in Needs Grading status after a student has made three posts, rather than with each individual post.]]> UMBC Blackboard Update: SP2012 tag:www.umbc.edu,2012:/blogs/oit-news//5.15486 2012-01-23T03:16:36Z 2012-01-23T19:17:18Z UMBC Blackboard update is provided by the Division of Information Technology for students, faculty and staff using Blackboard at UMBC. If you have questions or need help, please consult the Blackboard Help tab inside Blackboard or directly at www.umbc.edu/blackboard/help. You... Karin Readel Blackboard Help tab inside Blackboard or directly at www.umbc.edu/blackboard/help. You can also contact the Technology Support Center (formerly the Help Desk) at 410.455.3838 or submit an RT (Request Tracker) ticket via the myUMBC Help menu or directly at http://rt.umbc.edu. HEADLINES 1. Known Issues with Enrollment of Bb Courses 2. New Features in Bb Learn 9.1 SP6 3. SP2012 Blackboard Drop-in Sessions 4. Bb Down for Maintenance 10 pm 1/27 to 1 am 1/28 5. Sloan-C Workshops on Online Teaching Open to UMBC Faculty ]]> Sloan-C Workshops on Online Teaching Open to UMBC Faculty tag:www.umbc.edu,2012:/blogs/oit-news//5.15485 2012-01-23T03:02:37Z 2012-01-23T03:14:58Z UMBC is an institutional member of the Sloan-C College Pass program and has approximately 70 free seats to be used towards their workshops. The 2012 workshops include such topics as Getting Started in Online Teaching, Academic Integrity in Online Education,... Karin Readel Sloan-C College Pass program and has approximately 70 free seats to be used towards their workshops. The 2012 workshops include such topics as Getting Started in Online Teaching, Academic Integrity in Online Education, Copyright Compliance, Second Life and Improving Student Engagement in Online Courses. UMBC full time and part time faculty can access the required College Pass Coupon Code by going to this URL: http://www.umbc.edu/oit/hybrid/support/downloads/index.php. You will need to be logged in to myUMBC in order to access this webpage. ]]> Blackboard Down for Maintenance from 10 pm Fri. 1/27 to 1 am Sat. 1/28 tag:www.umbc.edu,2012:/blogs/oit-news//5.15484 2012-01-23T02:58:21Z 2012-01-23T03:01:26Z The UMBC Blackboard server will be down for three hours of scheduled maintenance from 10 pm Friday, Jan. 27 to 1 am Saturday, Jan. 28. DoIT staff will be performing MS Windows Server maintenance and updates during this time. We... Karin Readel scheduled maintenance from 10 pm Friday, Jan. 27 to 1 am Saturday, Jan. 28. DoIT staff will be performing MS Windows Server maintenance and updates during this time. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconveniences that this down time may cause.]]> Known Issues with Enrollment of Bb Courses tag:www.umbc.edu,2012:/blogs/oit-news//5.15481 2012-01-20T19:23:30Z 2012-01-24T18:48:39Z UPDATE: 1/24/12 As of 10:30 a.m. today, course enrollment updates are now occurring hourly. Current SA to Bb Update Schedule: New user updates - top of the hour New enrollment updates - bottom of the hour New course updates -... John Fritz UPDATE: 1/24/12 As of 10:30 a.m. today, course enrollment updates are now occurring hourly. Current SA to Bb Update Schedule:
  • New user updates - top of the hour
  • New enrollment updates - bottom of the hour
  • New course updates - daily at 2:15 a.m.
    As reported previously, there have been a number of issues with auto creation and enrollment of Blackboard courses since the December 23 upgrade: 12/29/11: Spring 2012 Bb courses were auto created but auto enrollment is still once a day 12/28/11: Bb auto enrollment changed from every two hours to once a day 12/26/11: Winter 2012 courses were manually created by hand, not auto created Basically, DoIT has had to completely re-engineer Bb's integration with the Student Administration (SA) system, a project we'd planned for Summer 2012. Good news? It is nearly completed and appears to be working. Bad news? It is not fully tested. ]]> Current Status & Next Steps
    • Blackboard courses are being auto-enrolled ONCE A DAY at 3 a.m. using the new "snapshot" process.
    • This process can take up to 90 minutes to complete and has impacted performance.
    • Enrolling courses more frequently risks overall performance and usability of the system at the hectic start of semester.
    • DoIT is testing a new "event driven" process that would update Bb course enrollments every hour, based on incremental changes in SA. If it doesn't work, we can and will roll back to the once-at-3 a.m. approach.
    What You Can Do To Help? Students If you cannot access your Bb course 24 hours after officially enrolling in it via SA, please submit an RT ticket via myUMBC help or directly at rt.umbc.edu. Please include the following: Faculty Similarly, if you do not see your Bb course, confirm you are the official instructor of record in the Schedule of Classes (SOC). If not, contact your department scheduling coordinator so you can be added to the course in SA, which updates Bb instructor enrollment, just like students. If you ARE the instructor of record but still can't access your Bb course, follow the same steps as students (above), but also include your Blackboard courseID. ]]> Resolved: Slow RT (Request Tracker) Performance tag:www.umbc.edu,2012:/blogs/oit-news//5.15468 2012-01-17T15:43:00Z 2012-01-17T18:45:50Z UPDATE DoIT staff have identified an issue with the system storage which has been fixed. Please contact DoIT if you are still experiencing the slowness identified earlier today. DoIT has received several reports of sluggish performance of the RT (Request... John Fritz UPDATE DoIT staff have identified an issue with the system storage which has been fixed. Please contact DoIT if you are still experiencing the slowness identified earlier today.
    DoIT has received several reports of sluggish performance of the RT (Request Tracker) ticketing system. Initial attempts to adjust the system memory resources have not been successful, so DoIT staff members are exploring possible hardware issues. The Technology Support Center (TSC) can still be reached at 410.455.3838, but RT's current issues will affect the TSC staff's ability to update existing tickets. Meanwhile, several IT-related frequently asked questions (FAQs) are available from the myUMBC help menu or directly at www.umbc.edu/faq. DoIT will update the campus when we know more. ]]>     SP2012 Blackboard Drop-in Sessions tag:www.umbc.edu,2012:/blogs/oit-news//5.15460 2012-01-09T18:31:22Z 2012-01-09T18:47:04Z DoIT is offering drop in Blackboard Drop-in sessions to assist and help faculty prepare for the spring semester The following drop in sessions will be held in Engineering 025. A DoIT staff member will be available to work one-on-one with... Karin Readel DoIT is offering drop in Blackboard Drop-in sessions to assist and help faculty prepare for the spring semester The following drop in sessions will be held in Engineering 025. A DoIT staff member will be available to work one-on-one with with users who show up during the designated times. Please note that this is not a formal Blackboard training class. Users may show up or leave at any point during these sessions. Additional dates and times may be added as demand warrants.
    SP2012 Blackboard Drop In Schedule
     DateTime W 1/183-5 pm Th 1/1911 am-12 pm M 1/2312-1 pm M 1/235-7pm Tu 1/243-5 pm - HELP WITH GRADE CENTER W 1/2511 am-12 pm F 1/2712-1 pm M 1/3011 am-1 pm - HELP WITH GRADE CENTER Tu 1/3112-1 pm Th 2/212-1 pm W 2/812-1 pm F 2/1012-1 pm M 2/13 12-1 pm W 2/1512-1 pm]]>     SP2012 Bb Courses Auto Created and Enrolled tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/oit-news//5.15452 2011-12-29T14:12:59Z 2011-12-29T14:28:43Z Following yesterday's announcement of a new "snapshot" data synchronization process between SA and Blackboard, DoIT reports that a Bb course shell has been auto created and enrolled for all Spring 2012 courses in the Schedule of Classes. As previously announced,... John Fritz announcement of a new "snapshot" data synchronization process between SA and Blackboard, DoIT reports that a Bb course shell has been auto created and enrolled for all Spring 2012 courses in the Schedule of Classes. As previously announced, all Bb course shell enrollments are being updated daily at 9 a.m., pending further development and testing of the new process. Reminder: All Bb course shells are unavailable (to students) until the instructor of record makes the course available. If you have questions or concerns not addressed by this update, please consult the specific Blackboard Help section of the IT support FAQs or submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via the myUMBC Help menu or directly at http://rt.umbc.edu. Sincerely, John Fritz Asst. VP, Instructional Technology & New Media UMBC Div. of Information Technology (DoIT)]]> WT2012 Bb Courses Enrolled Daily at 9 a.m., For Now tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/oit-news//5.15450 2011-12-28T14:42:44Z 2011-12-28T16:11:02Z To resolve reported issues with Winter and Spring 2012 Blackboard courses, DoIT has successfully tested Blackboard's "snapshot" process for automatically creating and enrolling all UMBC Bb courses based on updates to the Student Administration (SA) system. As a result, all... John Fritz reported issues with Winter and Spring 2012 Blackboard courses, DoIT has successfully tested Blackboard's "snapshot" process for automatically creating and enrolling all UMBC Bb courses based on updates to the Student Administration (SA) system. As a result, all Winter 2012 Bb course enrollments have been updated today, and will continue to be updated at 9 a.m.]]> Blackboard Help section of the IT support FAQs or submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via the myUMBC Help menu or directly at http://rt.umbc.edu. Sincerely, John Fritz Asst. VP, Instructional Technology & New Media UMBC Div. of Information Technology (DoIT)]]> DoIT Reports Issues Creating WT & SP 2012 Bb Courses tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/oit-news//5.15449 2011-12-27T01:07:43Z 2011-12-28T04:35:04Z While the campus Blackboard server was successfully upgraded on Friday, December 23, DoIT has encountered issues with the planned auto-creation of Winter and Spring 2012 Bb course shells. We are still investigating the issue, but as of today here is... John Fritz successfully upgraded on Friday, December 23, DoIT has encountered issues with the planned auto-creation of Winter and Spring 2012 Bb course shells. We are still investigating the issue, but as of today here is a status update:]]>
  • All 100 or so WT 2012 Bb course shells have been manually created by DoIT staff, and the instructor of record has been enrolled. Faculty can now begin to export old Bb courses and import them into these new WT 2012 Bb shells.
  • However, NO students have been "auto-enrolled" in these WT 2012 Bb course shells, and will none will be able to until DoIT has determined the nature of the current problem.
  • Instructors of WT 2012 Bb courses can use the Student Administration (SA) system to view a class roster. If you need to email students before Winter courses begin on Tuesday, January 3, either download the SA roster and email students directly or manually enroll your students into Blackboard and send email through the Bb course site. When DoIT fixes the auto-enroll function, all officially-registered students will remain in the Bb course site, regardless of how they were initially enrolled in it. Reminder: Instructors need to make their Bb courses available for students to see AND log into them.
  • Spring 2012 Bb course sites have not been created or enrolled. DoIT will provide another update as we learn more. We apologize for this inconvenience, especially to Winter 2012 Bb faculty. If you have questions or concerns not addressed by this update, please consult the specific Blackboard Help section of the IT support FAQs or submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via the myUMBC Help menu or directly at http://rt.umbc.edu. Sincerely, John Fritz Asst. VP, Instructional Technology & New Media UMBC Div. of Information Technology (DoIT)]]> Blackboard Learn 9.1 SP 6 Upgrade Completed tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/oit-news//5.15446 2011-12-23T19:22:13Z 2011-12-23T19:29:40Z The scheduled upgrade for the Blackboard Learn 9.1 system was completed at approximately 2:30 pm on Friday, Dec. 23, and the system was made available to the campus community at that time. We thank you for your patience during this... Karin Readel scheduled upgrade for the Blackboard Learn 9.1 system was completed at approximately 2:30 pm on Friday, Dec. 23, and the system was made available to the campus community at that time. We thank you for your patience during this scheduled downtime. ]]> DoIT Closed 12/24/11 to 1/2/12 tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/oit-news//5.15431 2011-12-19T20:48:21Z 2011-12-20T11:52:27Z The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) will be closed during the campus holiday break from December 24, 2011 to January 2, 2012. During this time, the 24/7 lab in Engineering 021 can be accessed with a valid Campus ID card.... John Fritz RT ticket ) any issues related to the December 22 Blackboard upgrade and subsequent auto-creation of Winter and Spring 2012 course shells. ]]> Blackboard Acknowledges Delay in Processing of Safe Assign Reports tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/oit-news//5.15430 2011-12-15T20:26:01Z 2011-12-23T19:39:26Z UPDATE: Blackboard released a final support bulletin on Friday, December 23, regarding the performance of Safe Assign. They report that all of the backlogged papers have been processed and that processing times are back to normal (24-48 hours). If instructors... Karin Readel UPDATE: Blackboard released a final support bulletin on Friday, December 23, regarding the performance of Safe Assign. They report that all of the backlogged papers have been processed and that processing times are back to normal (24-48 hours). If instructors have papers without SA reports generated in 48 hours, it is possible that the papers are corrupted, and Blackboard suggests that they should now resubmit those papers. ---------------------- UPDATE: Blackboard released an updated support bulletin on Monday, December 19, regarding the performance of Safe Assign. Though new submissions are on the decline, there is still a significant delay in processing papers, and faculty should expect reports within 3-5 days. As previously announced, they request that papers not be resubmitted unless they have verified that an error with them has occurred. ---------------------- On Wednesday, December 14, Blackboard released a support bulletin that provided an update on the Safe Assign paper processing delay that has happened over the past several weeks. They confirmed that there is still a global backlog of papers waiting to be processed, and that reports will take 3-5 days to generate. They reiterate that the worst thing instructors or students can do is to resubmit a paper, as that will move the paper to the back of the processing queue. If you have papers that have not received Originality Reports within 5 days of their submission date, please submit an RT ticket and include your name, the Bb course, the specific assignment, and the paper ID. Thank you for your patience.]]> UMBC Blackboard Update: WT2012 tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/oit-news//5.15424 2011-12-05T10:43:09Z 2011-12-05T10:53:25Z UMBC Blackboard update is provided by the Division of Information Technology for students, faculty and staff using Blackboard at UMBC. If you have questions or need help, please consult the Blackboard Help tab inside Blackboard or directly at www.umbc.edu/blackboard/help. You... Karin Readel Blackboard Help tab inside Blackboard or directly at www.umbc.edu/blackboard/help. You can also contact the Technology Support Center (formerly the Help Desk) at 410.455.3838 or submit an RT (Request Tracker) ticket via the myUMBC Help menu or directly at http://rt.umbc.edu. HEADLINES 1. Reminder to FA2011 Faculty to Download Bb Gradebook, Bb Upgrade on 12/22 2. Blackboard Collaborate Replacing Wimba 3. Course Redesign/ Hybrid Course Redesign Workshop, 1/20 4. FYI: EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference 1/11 – 1/13 5. FYI: 1/18 - 1/20 Digital Storytelling Workshop]]> Blackboard Collaborate Replacing Wimba tag:www.umbc.edu,2011:/blogs/oit-news//5.15420 2011-12-02T18:13:31Z 2011-12-02T18:53:46Z As previously announced in October, DoIT will be installing Blackboard Collaborate 11 during the Bb upgrade window starting on December 22 at 10 pm. Bb Collaborate 11 is the new web-based conferencing system following Bb's acquisition of Wimba and Elluminate... Karin Readel previously announced in October, DoIT will be installing Blackboard Collaborate 11 during the Bb upgrade window starting on December 22 at 10 pm. Bb Collaborate 11 is the new web-based conferencing system following Bb's acquisition of Wimba and Elluminate in Summer 2010. It allows faculty to incorporate live, multi-way audio and video, a basic whiteboard with mark-up, application and desktop sharing and other tools for interactivity. A free 30-day trial of Collaborate 11 is available to any faculty member wishing to preview it, by signing up at http://try.bbcollaborate.com/trial/register.go. DoIT staff will introduce Bb Collaborate 11 during drop-in sessions in ENGR 025 from 12 - 1 pm on January 4, 6, 9, and 16. Further training sessions will be planned prior to the start of the Spring 2012 semester.]]>