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Testing Ping.fm please ignore.

Minutes from today’s DLAC Support Group Meeting

Image via CrunchBase

Hello, all.

Today we talked mostly about Twitter and Tweetdeck and their potential for shallow-web research and student teacher interactions, but also about the issues of texting in the classroom, and how we can might this activity from a nuisance and distraction into a way of interacting with the class visio-textually, and giving instant feedback in the classroom, be it virtual or physical.

I forgot to mention that we talked also last week about the idea of Netflix’s instant streaming service, and the possibilities of the impact on learning of a $5 a month account on Netflix instead of one or all of your textbooks. Movies and documentaries are a great starting point for deep learning and discussion, and $15 a semester to get access to thousands of original sources is a small price to pay, especially compared to a $100 textbook.

Image via CrunchBase

We had a very fun and informative gathering last Friday, and I’m reminding you about today’s meeting at 3 to 5 p.m..

Last week in our gathering and in other individual DLAC sessions recently, we all talked about:

Discussion boards vs. other kinds of discussions
Getting to a trusting state on discussion boards
Blogging as a teaching and learning vehicle
Using Scribd.com as a document repository
What is MoodleRooms?
What is ShareStream?
What is Wimba?
Pedagogical approaches for these technologies
Student privacy concerns
The Teach Act and Ferpa
Some differences between Blackboard and blogging.
Using YouTube as a seed article for discussion
Embedding YouTube in Blackboard discussions.
What is Twitter?
Using Audacity
Using SlideShare

I hope to see you in future sessions, but keep in mind that next week on Friday, we have off, and so in case you were wondering, we won’t be meeting.

Hope to see you all the following Friday for DLAC tech support group!

John.

Google Collaborates on Moodle Integration — Campus Technology

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Although we don’t use Google Apps at Rider, it’s nice to know that Moodle could so very easily integrate with it, especially now that we’re getting MoodleRooms.

Google Apps Education Edition is coming to an open source learning management system near you. Moodlerooms, a Moodle partner, is launching a new enhancement to the open source LMS in collaboration with search giant Google to provide access to the application suite using a single sign-on.

Google Apps Education Edition is the widely deployed hosted application suite that includes communications tools like as Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Talk; collaboration apps, such as Google Docs, Google Sites, and Google Labs (for software code review); and various administration features and APIs for integration with existing systems.

via Google Collaborates on Moodle Integration — Campus Technology.

Welcome to DLAC Grant recipients

Image by lemasney via Flickr

Hello, all,

Congratulations on your successful Grant Proposals for the DLAC Grants! I am making contact here to remind you that you have help available to you in meeting the needs and goals of your proposals. For the rest of you, thank you for your parts in the project.

I’ve been tasked with coordinating technology support for the grants, and I’m beginning to do that here, today. I am becoming more familiar with each of your proposals as time passes, and have met with several of you already in regards to your projects.

We have 4 exciting new supported technology services forthcoming, each of which should be available for your use within a month. These are:

• Wimba (Blackboard conferencing addon)
• iTunesU (media and podcasting for teaching and learning)
• ShareStream (streaming media server with TEACH act compliance built in)
• MoodleRooms (A learning management system for the Web 2.0 set)

As they come online, I will let you know about their availability through this list.

I also intend to use a blog in order to gather ideas, share findings, and promote communication. That blog is available at

http://viewtorial.wordpress.com

I’m excited about our prospects, and I look forward to helping each of you to exceed your goals. Please don’t hesitate to reach out and make contact if you have questions, suggestions, or concerns.

John LeMasney
Manager of technology Training at Rider University

How to Use the Course Copy Tool in Blackboard v. 7: Brief Screencast

This screencast will demonstrate how to use the Course Copy Tool in Blackboard. The Course Copy tool lets an instructor copy course material to one course on the server to a new or existing course on the server. The one thing this tool does not do is save a copy of the course materials to a file. This does not back up the material, it simply copies the material. Just like the export/import and archive course tools in Blackboard, you will receive an email once the process has finished. To view the screencast, please click on the link below:

Course Copy Screencast

-Angel Brady

How To View Features Like Timer for Blackboard Test in Gradebook: Brief Screencast

This screencast will demonstrate how to view features you applied to tests like timers, feedback, and how to download all the answers to an exam for all the students in one spreadsheet.

To view this tutorial, please click on the link below:
Gradebook: How to View Test Feature

-Angel Brady

How to Manage Your Blackboard Course Menu in Blackboard (v. 7): Brief Screencast

Image via Wikipedia

This screencast will demonstrate how to edit your course menu in Blackboard. You can add content areas (or delete the content area). You can also add course tools to your menu or course or external links. You can also change the order an item appears in your course menu. To see how to manage your course menu, click on the link below.

Manage Course Menu in Blackboard (screencast)

-Angel Brady

How to Edit Your My Courses List in Blackboard: Brief Screencast

This screencast will demonstrate how to edit your My Courses list in Blackboard. it will go over how to hide old courses from your list and how to turn on course ID’s for your list. Turning on course ID’s is super helpful for faculty members that teach the same course over a few semesters that have the same name, but you’re not sure which semester or year that class was taught. Watch this brief screencast to help you edit your My Courses list on the Welcome Page in Blackboard!

How to Edit the My Courses List on the Welcome Page in Blackboard

-Angel Brady

My WebEQ Equation Editor Does not show up in Blackboard 7: Brief Solution

When the WebEQ Equation edtor does not work or appear properly there are a few things you can do.

1. Make sure your Java is at 1.5 (not Java 1.6).

2. You can turn off the visual textbox editor in your Welcome page. Here’s how you can do this:
1. Log into Bb
2. On the Welcome page, click on the Personal Information Link (at the top left of your screen)
3. Click on Set Visual Text Box Editor Options.
4. Choose Unavailable
5. Click on Submit

These solutions may only work for Safari and Internet Explorer and not Firefox. We found that downgrading your Java version to 1.5 works. This site is a great resource on how to safely downgrade your Java and check for which version you have running on your machine:

http://info.uwe.ac.uk/online/blackboard/technical/knownissues71.asp

-Angel Brady