November 4, 2009
Bb Will Be Down 11/6, 10 p.m. to 11/7, 6 a.m.
To address issues with web browser compatibility and back up the system before applying latest patches and hot fixes, DoIT will be taking the main Blackboard system down from 10 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, to 6 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7.
Reminder: More info about why DoIT needs scheduled downtime.
Posted by fritz at 7:01 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
24/7 Blackboard Support Starts Wed, Nov. 11
As indicated in the August 24 "Challenges and Changes to Blackboard Support" announcement, UMBC's Division of Information Technology (DoIT) will begin working with Presidium Learning to provide basic Blackboard support starting Wednesday, Nov. 11. The DoIT Help Desk and Instructional Technology staff will still provide walk-in and by-appointment Bb support, but all students, faculty and staff will be able to get 24/7 Blackboard support via phone, IM chat or online knowledge base. Based in Lexington, Kentucky, Presidium specializes in answering technical support questions for faculty, staff, and students at more than 700 educational institutions, and provides a 95 percent first call resolution rate.
 |
| UMBC Blackboard Support Portal (sample) |
For the Nov. 11 implementation, students, faculty and staff can do the following to get Blackboard help:
1. Access the online knowledge base at http://bbsupport.umbc.edu (will be active on 11/11).
2. Ask a question via live Instant Messenger (IM) Chat
3. Call the existing DoIT Help Desk phone number of 410.455.3838
Note: A short, brief phone tree will be implemented so as to route all other IT-related calls to the DoIT Help Desk, while still allowing Presidium to handle Blackboard-related calls. In addition, UMBC users will have to create a separate account and password the first time they submit a help request ticket. This may change in the future to use the UMBC userid & password, but is not available at this time.
Initially, Presidium will be responsible for the following:
- All Blackboard-related application questions or issues, including how to get started, add content, manage discussion, create electronic assignments, quizzes and surveys and use the new grade center.
- Refer all UMBC-specific uses of Blackboard back to the DoIT Help Desk. These include all account management and password resets as well as integration with SA to auto-create and enroll courses.
- Provide a monthly report to DoIT showing all Bb-related support requests or knowledge base accesses, identify trend and root-cause analyses, and help benchmark UMBC usage against similar institutions using Blackboard.
"As we go forward in this pilot, it is important to note we are augmenting not outsourcing Blackboard service," says John Fritz, Asst. VP for Instructional Technology & New Media. "By supporting one part of the overall structure with a partner who has a wealth of experience in higher education technical support, we hope to provide a higher level of service for UMBC students, faculty and staff."
Posted by fritz at 2:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 30, 2009
Peer Instruction Workshop
Peer Instruction Workshop
Thurs, Nov. 12, 2009, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., UC 312
Limited to 30 participants
 |
The basic goals of Peer Instruction are to encourage and make use of student interaction during lectures, while focusing students' attention on underlying concepts and techniques. The method has been assessed in many studies using standardized, diagnostic tests and shown to be considerably more effective than the conventional lecture approach to teaching. Peer Instruction is now used in a wide range of science and math courses at the college and secondary level.
In this two hour workshop, participants will learn about Peer Instruction, serve as the “class” in which Peer Instruction is demonstrated, discuss several models for implementing the technique into the classroom, and learn about available teaching resources.
Limited to 30 participants. For more information and to register, please visit www.umbc.edu/training/fdc.
Posted by darnold at 11:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 29, 2009
Webinar - Clickers and Peer Instruction: A Powerful Way to Improve Student Engagement and Learning, but Only If You Do It Right
Clickers and Peer Instruction: A Powerful Way to Improve Student Engagement and Learning, but Only If You Do It Right
ELI Web Seminar, October 5, 2009, 1-2 p.m.(joint viewing available in ECS 023)
 |
Duncan is the author of “Clickers in the Classroom,” a guide to the powerful new technology that enables teachers to know what all their students are thinking, not just those who raise their hands. He has served as national education coordinator for the American Astronomical Society and has led efforts for better teaching and public communication for astronomers throughout the United States. From 1997 to 2002 he did science commentary on the Chicago public radio station WBEZ. He has authored over 50 refereed publications and his work has been funded by NSF, NASA, the Smithsonian, and the National Geographic Society. Duncan is now part of the University of Colorado group, founded by Nobel Prize winner Carl Wieman, which researches better ways of teaching science.
If you'd like to join us for a joint viewing of this webinar, please register at www.umbc.edu/training. For additional information, please visit https://net.educause.edu/content.asp?SECTION_ID=468&bhcp=1
Posted by darnold at 8:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 15, 2009
CPS Clicker Student Help
Please remind students to contact eInstruction first if they have problems with their CPS clickers. If they do not get satisfaction within 24 hours (Mon-Fri) they may enter a Help Desk request (RT ticket). This request must contain documentation of their correspondence with eInstruction, and their clicker serial number.
Student Support (CPS™ Products Only!)
Phone 888-333-4988 (option 1, then 3, then 2)
Monday - Friday 8am-8pm EST
Sunday 3:30pm-9pm EST
Go to http://www.einstruction.com/support_downloads/index.html# for chat support options and trouble shooting tips.
Posted by souder at 1:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 21, 2009
Changes in Requesting AV Support and Services
Similar to recent user support changes implemented by the Division of Information Technology, Audio Visual Services has adopted the new Request Tracker (RT) call tracking system. As such, AV Services will no longer be accepting requests for equipment delivery or repair by email.
Because email requests often require follow up to get more information, we ask that faculty instead use the "Request Service" form on the recently redesigned AV Services web site.
Eventually, this form will also be connected to the new myUMBC help menu, which you can use. But it does not yet provide as detailed a request as the AV services "Request Service" form. does now.
Finally, AV Services will begin exploring the use or R25, UMBC's campus scheduling system, to schedule deliveries and monitor AV use this semester. Any plans to adopt R25 for SP2010 deliveries will be announced later this semester.
For questions or suggestions about AV Services, contact Classroom Technology Manager Steven Anderson at 410.455.3680 or sanderso@umbc.edu.
Posted by fritz at 4:58 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 20, 2009
FYI: Blackboard Synch for iPhone Now Installed
The Blackboard Synch for iPhone has been tested and installed on UMBC's Blackboard production system. Used primarily to stay current on recent announcements, document uploads and discussion postings, instructions for downloading and installing the iPhone app are available on the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) Knowledge Base.
Posted by fritz at 5:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 17, 2009
Suggestions for Instructional Continuity in Case of An H1N1 Outbreak
Earlier this summer, Provost Elliot Hirshman, in consultation with the Division of Information Technology (DoIT), sent an advisory to all faculty about why and how they might want to consider teaching online in the event of an extended closure of campus due to an H1N1 "Swine Flu" outbreak. The full text of the advisory follows:
Context
In response to the World Health Organization’s recent declaration of an H1N1 level 6 flu pandemic, the University needs to move rapidly to facilitate instructional continuity in the event of a campus closure. Instructional continuity is absolutely essential to ensure the academic progress of our students and the financial stability of the University should the campus be forced to close due to pandemic flu.
The steps proposed here are designed to address the circumstance in which campus is closed, but the information technology infrastructure of the campus remains intact. In this circumstance, remote instruction/distance learning will be necessary to continue courses.
The University recognizes that faculty members may wish to use different approaches to remote instruction and respects the rights of faculty members to pursue any of a range of available approaches. The University also recognizes that some courses (e.g., courses requiring access to specialized equipment or materials) may be difficult to continue remotely. The goal is to continue as many courses as possible to maintain academic progress and financial stability.
Specific Procedures
Some faculty members may teach courses that permit remote instruction, but they may not be familiar with the technology necessary to carry out this instruction. The following steps are designed to assist these faculty members prepare for remote instruction in the most convenient manner possible.
Step 1: If they are not already, all faculty members who are teaching courses in the fall semester should become familiar with the basic functioning of Blackboard. To access tutorial instructions, visit http://www.umbc.edu/blackboard/help or log in to Blackboard via myUMBC (or directly at http://blackboard.umbc.edu) and review the “Blackboard Help” tab at the top of the screen. Faculty may want to visit the “Getting Started” link first.
All Blackboard courses have a student manual (under “tools”) and an instructor manual (under “control panel”), but Faculty members should be able to carry out three basic functions:
- Turn their UMBC Blackboard course on. |
- Post documents (e.g., a syllabus) on blackboard. |
- Send an E-mail to all class members. |
Step 2: Faculty members should consider the lecture, document or presentation posting and discussion requirements of their fall courses. The material below indicates how to use Blackboard to accomplish these tasks remotely. Faculty members should conduct a trial or practice usage of the referenced capacities to ensure that they can post materials remotely and students can access these materials, if necessary.
For Audio Lectures:
- Record lecture using an MP3 recorder or Microphone (recorders will be distributed to academic departments for usage from DoIT) and upload the recording using Blackboard's file upload capacity (N.B., the process for recording and posting MP3 files can be learned in less than ½ hour and will be critical to instructional continuity in some courses.)
- Through the hybrid learning website, you can learn many other “effective practices” for how to create and publish online audio or video lectures: visit http://www.umbc.edu/oit/hybrid/practice.
For Discussions (text-based):
- For asynchronous (not at the same time, not at the same place) text-based communication, use the Blackboard Discussion Board capacity.
- For synchronous (same time, but not at the same place) text-based communication (often known as “chat”), use Blackboard’s built in “Virtual Classroom” capacity (under the “Communications” course menu).
Document and Presentation Posting
- Use Blackboard’s document upload capacity referenced above.
Additional Guidance from DoIT
- For faculty members who have mastered the above-referenced approaches, OIT STRONGLY RECOMMENDS using “Wimba Classroom” for synchronous text-based chat. In addition to being more stable and full-featured than Bb’s built in “virtual classroom,” Wimba can also allow you and your students to use voice-based email, discussions and real-time synchronous chat. It takes a little time to learn the effective protocols for conducting synchronous text or voice-based discussions or chats without everyone talking at once, but with practice, it can be done.
- For more information on using Wimba, visit the UMBC Wimba guides and tutorials on the UMBC Blackboard Help tab, or Wimba’s own support site at http://www.wimba.com/services/support.
- Through the hybrid learning website, you can learn many other “effective practices” for managing and assessing online discussions or chats: visit http://www.umbc.edu/oit/hybrid/practice.
Resources Available to Support Faculty
In addition to the on-line tutorials referenced above, there are two forms of assistance available to faculty members.
- Peer assistance from faculty and staff colleagues is available. Deans will be working with Department Chairs and other members of the Council of Deans to identify peers who are available to consult with faculty members as they become more familiar with the referenced instructional technologies. Examples include the following:
- DoIT staff are available for additional consultation
- John Fritz, Asst VP, Instructional Technology & New Media (410.455.6596 or fritz@umbc.edu)
- Debra Arnold, IT Training Support Specialst (410.455.3234 or darnold@umbc.edu)
- Jim Keys, Help Desk Consultant (410.455.3127 or keysj@umbc.edu)
- Joan Costello, Classroom Technology/Wimba (410.455.3685 or jcoste1@umbc.edu)
- John Fritz, Asst VP, Instructional Technology & New Media (410.455.6596 or fritz@umbc.edu)
Posted by fritz at 4:01 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 22, 2009
Explore Possibilities With Wimba Classroom, (6/25, 7/28, 8/13)
Wimba Classroom is a real-time virtual classroom environment designed for distance education, hybrid classes and collaboration.
This live, virtual classroom supports audio, video, application sharing, content display and whiteboarding. In addition, faculty can hold office hours, host guest lectures, webcasts, set up workspace for student groups and create meetings. The program enables application sharing from your desktop or a remote desktop and can be archived. You can set up group study areas for any class, not just the online variety.
Check out demos, documentation and webinars from the Wimba site at http://wimba.com/services.
Join us for one of the demos (sign up at http://www.umbc.edu/training) or contact Joan Costello at ext. 5-3685 or jcostello@umbc.edu to meet one on one or as a group.
Posted by darnold at 8:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 14, 2009
Use Wimba Classroom for Great Communication
In this age of sustainability and fear of contagion, there is a tool in Blackboard that can help with both of these issues – Wimba Classroom. Wimba Classroom is an online delivery tool – great for hybrid classes and distance education, but general classes and meetings should embrace it also. It could save travel time and expenses for meetings and guest lecturers (non-UMBC people can be invited to participate). Maybe all classes should be prepared to meet this way - no losing important lecture/class time with school closings due to weather/health , etc.
Participants need internet access and a headphone with a microphone. The presentation can be archived for review or later access if there is a problem with their connection. With Wimba Classroom you can present a power point presentation, share whiteboards, applications, desktops, websites and host guest lecturers. Many classes require group presentations –use WC to set up group space for your students to meet, discuss, plan their work.
Please check out tutorial presentations, documentation, etc from the Wimba site - http://wimba.com/services. On campus, our Wimba info person is Joan Costello in AC IV 219, x53685, jcostello@umbc.edu. She will be happy to meet one on one, or a group to help you get started.
Posted by rarmstro at 12:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 18, 2008
FA2008 Clicker Support Issues: Duplicate IDs, Slowness, etc.
In recent weeks, the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) has learned of and tried to work around issues related to the new version of eInstruction's Classroom Performance System (CPS) "clickers." Specifically, we have received reports of students getting a "duplicate pad ID" error message when they try to click, and we've heard some faculty have to wait as long as a minute to move from one question to another.
After working with faculty and technical support staff at eInstruction, this is what we know.
1. Duplicate Pad IDs
Two weeks before the semester start, eInstruction issued a software update for PC and Mac CPS users. Part of that update included a feature called “Out of the Box," which enabled students to participate in class clicker sessions without having to register their clickers during the first 21 days of the semester. Ostensibly, students could go straight from the bookstore to class without registering, but after the 21 day window, they would be blocked. However, in some cases, this caused duplicate Pad ID numbers to appear in the CPS roster. It also seems to have interfered with properly registered users. The “Out of the Box” feature expired late last week, and we've requested that eInstruction make this an optional (not default) setting on their next release.
In hindsight, we didn't realize what this setting was, and didn't have enough time to test its impact on other settings. We also knew of other problems that the update appears to have solved. For now, DoIT recommends that instructors sync their CPS rosters to confirm properly registered users on a weekly basis. The CPS "Best Practices" describes how to sync your class if you are unsure.
2. Slowness
While it appears to have subsided here at UMBC, eInstruction has acknowledged that slowness in displaying question results is a known issue. They expect to address this in a future update.
3. Support
UMBC standardized on CPS clickers in Spring 2007, but individual faculty had been using them a few years later. Currently, we support more than 4,000 student enrollments which represent nearly 3,000 distinct users. As demand has grown, DoIT has been working with eInstruction to represent our needs and support faculty teaching goals for audience response systems. As this technology matures, here are some recommendations for students and faculty to keep in mind:
Students: Registering Clickers
Students: Using Clickers in Class
Faculty: Preparing to Use Clickers & Reporting Problems
DoIT is actively working with eInstruction to improve the support process and improve the performance of the clickers in the classroom. If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, contact Steven Anderson or leave a comment on this announcement.
Posted by fritz at 8:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 17, 2008
Using Clickers to Control Online Access to Recordings of In-Class Lectures
If you record in-class lectures and make them available online, why would students still come to class? If they don’t—but can pass exams—does it matter? While faculty have mixed feelings about recorded lectures, a combination of new technologies makes it possible to allow ONLY students who attend class to access recorded lectures online, for the purposes of review (not discovery).
Problem
For several years, UMBC has been providing a lecture-capture taping service whereby student videographers are paid by professors or departments to trek across campus, set up tripods and cameras, capture a variety of lecture content (and formats), and bring them back for light editing, digitization and distribution online through open and (sometimes) closed access websites. While the process doesn’t scale particularly well, it is relatively unobtrusive to the faculty member, who can go about the process of lecturing pretty much the way he or she has always done.
In recent years, lecture capture demand has grown as have a variety of solutions that include dedicated, wall-mounted, pan/tilt video cameras with remote control and automated, scheduled recording. These are attractive (and expensive) solutions, but still don’t address faculty concerns about whether students will come to class if the lectures are available online.
 |
|
|
|
| A view of the lecturn at the start of Mendelson's Spring 2008 Biology class. |
Last spring, after seeing a photo of 15 personal digital audio recorders aligned along the podium of a large biology class, we talked with the instructor, Tamara Mendelson, who explains her rationale for allowing them: “Everything I say is fair game for a test, so I tell the students ‘If I were you, I’d record it all.’ And they do.”
Just like our labor intensive lecture capture service, Mendelson didn’t have to do anything and apparently the students were content to have only her PowerPoint presentations online and their own audio recordings. When we suggested she could make the recordings herself and post them on Blackboard, Mendelson wondered if she could limit access to only students who were in the class. In other words, she wanted to provide the online, recorded lectures for review by students who were present, not for discovery by students who were absent.
Combined with our own lessons learned about simple screencasting software solutions, clickers and the use of a function called “adaptive release” in Blackboard, we realized it is possible to use a daily record of attendance collected by the clickers as a "precondition" for who can access recorded lectures that the instructor posts to his or her Blackboard site.
While we are using MP3 digital audio recorders only, the same process can be used for recorded screencasts made with Camtasia and published in Blackboard, which we have been supporting for years.
Essentially, any faculty member can adapt this cookbook “recipe” to use clickers to control access to any file or function in Blackboard:
- Record the audio of your lecture with an MP3 digital recorder (we’ve found a good one for $80) accompanied by a powerpoint; or make a screencast which combines audio and any actions or screens on the instructor’s vga display into one synchronized file (we like Camtasia).
- Ask at least one clicker question during the class period or (ideally) the lecture yourself so you don't get clicker-only "drop ins" (you might even want to ask questions at the start & end of the period/lecture).
- Upload your clicker grades into your Blackboard gradebook.
- Create a folder where your lecture materials (e.g., PPTs & audio or screencasts) will reside; make it unavailable to students so you can take your time uploading lecture materials.
- Upload your lecture materials
- Use Blackboard's "Adaptive Release" function to limit access to only those students who have ANY score (e.g., activity) for that day's clicker question(s)
- Make the lecture folder available.
- Send and/or post announcement that the day's lecture materials are available for REVIEW to students who were present and "clicked."
For more information, DoIT has prepared a help sheet, which also uses short screencast videos to "show and tell" the process Mendelson will be piloting this fall:
Posting/Controlling Access to Recorded Lectures
http://www.umbc.edu/oit/newmedia/blackboard/help/audio/audio_directions.html
Posted by fritz at 10:15 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
"Clicker" Hardware & Software to be Upgraded in Lecture Halls
Following a recommendation from eInstruction.com, makers of the Classroom Performance System (CPS) "clickers" used on campus, the Division of Information Technology (DoIT), will be upgrading the clicker hardware and software in all lecture halls for start of semester.
So far, DoIT has upgraded the CPS receivers in all of the lecture halls to the new receivers that are similar to the “stick” USB flash drives that many of us use to transport data. Testing has shown they accept the inputs from clickers faster and more reliably then previous versions.
In addition, new PC versions of the CPS instructor software will be installed in all of the lecture halls. As a result, to remain compatible, DoIT strongly recommends that all instructors upgrade their PC or Mac CPS software on their computers as well. The download for the software can be found at http://www.einstruction.com/Downloads/index.cfm.
FYI: One of the best features of the new CPS software is the ability to take attendance without having to start a Teacher Managed engage session.
For more information, visit the eInstruction CPS support site or visit UMBC's "clicker" support site.
Posted by fritz at 12:49 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 14, 2008
3/10 Brown Bag Workshop: Digital Alternatives to Writing (and Drawing) on A Chalkboard
Tired of having to write or draw big so your students can see your notes, formulas or diagrams on the chalk or dry erase board? Then see how you can use digital alternatives that can be projected on a big screen--and even captured, narrated and replayed in Blackboard. This Teaching Learning and Technology (TLT) Brown Bag Workshop will be held on Monday, March 10, at noon in Lecture Hall 8.
Faculty-led demos will include:
- Hitachi Smart Board Input Screens (available in LH 7 & 8)
- Tablet PCs (like the IBM Lenovo X61 currently available in AV Services)
- Wacom Graphic Tablet (http://global.wacom.com/index2.cfm)
- Document Cameras (currently installed in all but two lecture halls: LH1 & LH3)
- AceCad Digimemo "Digital Paper" Pads (http://www.acecad.com)
With most of these options, if you have some kind of screen capture tool like Camtasia (www.techsmith.com/camtasia), you could also capture the screen movements and audio narration for later display in a password-protected space like Blackboard.
Light refreshments will be provided for registered participants. To register, visit www.umbc.edu/brownbag.
Posted by fritz at 1:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 9, 2007
OIT Standardizes on eInstruction "Clickers"
After two years of piloting with faculty in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Psychology, the Office of Information Technology has decided to standardize on eInstruction's "Classroom Performance System" (CPS) student response units, otherwise known as "clickers" (see www.einstruction.com).
Currently, about 10 faculty and 1,000 students use the CPS "clickers" to provide instant feedback to multiple choice questions posed in class, typically through an overhead slide or PowerPoint presentation displayed on a screen. The CPS software displays how many units have responded to a question and immediately summarizes the results for all to see. Each student's answers can also be uploaded to a Blackboard gradebook for the course.
For about $38 during their first semester (or $60 for use throughout their college career), students can purchase the hand-held units at the UMBC Bookstore and buy an activation code. The CPS response pads can be used for multiple courses and in any UMBC classroom with a computer and a free, USB installed radio-frequency (RF) receiver. OIT has equipped all lecture halls with CPS receivers, and instructors can get the CPS software, one receiver and one response unit from eInstruction free of charge.
This semester, OIT has been working with eInstruction to develop and support a wider rollout strategy, which will include a campus-wide demo by Biology Professor Phil Sokolove on Wednesday, April 18, at noon in Meyerhofff 120 (formerly Chemistry 120). Sokolove was the first UMBC faculty member to use CPS, and says he averages "about four clicker activities in 75 minutes" (to see an example, view his class which OIT tapes and publishes online for student review). Then, on Friday, April 27, at 1 p.m. in ECS 025, eInstruction's Marty Abrahamson will conduct a two-hour training workshop for faculty who want to use the CPS system in Fall 2007. To register for the 4/18 demo or 4/27 workshop, visit www.umbc.edu/brownbag (light refreshments will be provided to registered participants).
For more information, contact Steve Anderson (5-3680 or sanderso@umbc.edu) or Bob Armstrong (5-3885 or rarmstro@umbc.edu). You can also visit the CPS Clickers "help sheet" on the Blackboard Help tab or http://www.umbc.edu/oit/newmedia/blackboard/cps/cps_online_2.html.
Posted by fritz at 9:04 AM