1/12 Peer Team Meeting

The KCTCS Distance Learning Peer Team met this afternoon.  You can see the full agenda here.  A couple items struck me as significant:

• Blackboard has purchased Presidium, the company that KCTCS currently contracts with for Bb support.  Click here for more information.  Maybe this will mean better support for students and instructors needing Bb assistance?
• The Online Barnes and Noble Bookstore (housed at Ashland) cotinues to make improvements.   Better commuucniation with KCTCS Financial Aid has reduced delays in processing vouchers.   B&N has a new facility at Ashland which is a significant difference and orders are going out much more quickly.  I know that on my end, I'm hearing fewer complaints about textbooks--but that doesn't mean I'm not hearing anything.  If you have students with difficulties getting textbooks, please let me know.
• There was a System firewall was interrupting some Wimba functionality at the start of the semester; that has been fixed.
• If a student is not in Bb but is in PeopleSoft, 99% of the time their PeopleSoft record is incorrect. . . so the fix is on the PS side.  Usually waiting a day until PS reloads info into Bb solves everything but ocassionally data in PS needs to be edited.  
• Pearson Open Access Initiative. The idea here is seamless access to content--namely, the MyLab products offered by Pearson. The plan is to have Pearson provide students with days of free access to the materials at the start of the semester. Students have a period of time to purchase the materials and will lose access unless they pay.

Questions/Comments? Use the link below to send feedback or email me directly.

Network Upgrades

In the wake of the Blackboard failures during finals week last Fall, there has been a lot of discussion about providing a more secure and dependable network. In the Academic Leadership Team, Faculty Council and the KCTCS Distance Learning Peer Team, I hear many voices stressing the importance of reliable access to Blackboard and other services.

Well, it's good to know that steps are being taken. See this update from Ren Bates:

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1G_mvkma0SFJmCuxbNWAdTMmVf81N5n5HdrUHj3HFsnk&embedded=true

Dr. C

Ask Dr. C is a resource to ask “how to” questions about uses and functionality of Blackboard. Stumped about a Bb problem? Click http://discussions.blackboard.com/

Call for Proposals--Convergences

May 23-25, 2011 will see the first the first Kentucky Conference on Converging Trends in Teaching & Learning. This conference is a blend of the three established conferences: Convergence / CPE’s KYSoTL / Teacher Quality Summit. "One conference, one trip, and a wide array of information, ideas, and updates!"

The conference takes place in the NKU METS Center in Erlanger, KY.

Proposals are due February 7, 2011

To submit a proposal:

http://www.wku.edu/teaching/db/conferences/cpe

Make Bb Available to Students

In order to make your Blackboard web site available to your students, you must change Blackboard settings.  From the Bb Control Panel, click customization then properties. Under “Set Availability” have “Make Course Available” read “yes”.

Bb Technical Help

Where to direct students who need help with Blackboard?

Here is the link to the Blackboard Technical Help Desk:

http://d2.parature.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=8158

This link provides other “help” information for KCTCS areas including PeopleSoft, check grades, charges/fees, catalog:

http://www.kctcs.edu/Students.aspx

How to Log In As a Student

It is good practice to examine your course in a student mode.  We used to do this by logging in with a User ID plus the letters 'stu'.  That option has been replaced.  From eLearning Services:

KCTCS eLearning Services has installed a new building block in Blackboard that allows instructors to add/remove a Test Student account to courses at any time. Instructor instructions for using the Add Test Student tool can be found at

http://elearning.kctcs.edu:80/bbcswebdav/xid-31234655_4

Since this tool allows instructors to enroll a test student account at any time, KCTCS eLearning Services will no longer add instructor student accounts to courses in a batch process.