All Blackboard faculty are invited to attend a “town hall” meeting to discuss Blackboard and chat with other Blackboard faculty members. Also, at this meeting we will welcome our newest member to the Center for Teaching and Learning, LaWanda Burrell-Love, our new Instructional Designer. Please RSVP using Training Manager if you plan to attend. Light refreshments will be served.
Training Manager can be accessed at https://tmweb.morainevalley.edu.
Date: Wednesday, February 4th
Time: 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Location: D239
We hope to see you there!
Posted in blackboard, communication.
Tagged with blackboard, communication.
By Anthony Marcasciano
– February 3, 2009
Welcome Back and Happy New Year!
Here are a few reminders as you begin the new semester:
All Faculty
- Please remind your students to activate their Moraine Valley Student e-mail account. Students must use their Moraine Valley student e-mail to stay in the loop. For information about e-mail: http://www.morainevalley.edu/studentemail/Default.htm
- We have some new workshop offerings. Please check Training Manager for professional development opportunities: https://tmweb.morainevalley.edu/
- Check your Moraine Valley e-mail for important updates and information
Bb/Online Faculty
- Please remember to make your Blackboard courses available to your students.
1. Go to the Control Panel
2. In the Course Options box, click the link, Settings
3. Click the link, Course Availability
4. Select the option, Yes
5. Click the button, Submit.
- Access help resources for online courses at: http://online.morainevalley.edu/
- For technical support, please contact the Helpdesk: 708-608-HELP(4357) or http://online.morainevalley.edu/help.htm
- For Faculty training/questions on Blackboard, please contact one of us in the CTL (our contact information is below)
We’re starting the new year off right! We now have a complete team that is ready to help you with instructional technology, Blackboard, pedagogical questions and methods, integration of media, and online teaching/learning. If you have questions about teaching in other instructional delivery modes (e.g., FastTrack, Independent Study, Telecourse, etc.), we can also help in those areas as well. Scroll down for our contact information.
Best wishes for a productive and exciting semester.
Tracey
Posted in blackboard, communication, ctl resources, general, online learning.
Tagged with blackboard, communication, ctl resources, general, online learning.
By Tracey Stuckey-Mickell
– January 14, 2009
Hello to all,
An issue with Blackboard Grade Center has been brought to our attention in the CTL regarding final letter grades. The issue is that when a grade column is created using a display type of “letter”, Blackboard instinctively converts the letter grades that an instructor enters into percentage grades. This is obviously not helpful to many of you, as many of you are likely trying to use these columns to inform students of their final letter grade for the course.
The solution is to create a column using a display type of “text”. This will allow you to input any information you wish into a student’s grade field — be it a simple letter or even a very small message. Doing this will prevent the system from attempting to convert the letter into a score/percentage.
Have a good end of semester and great holiday!
Anthony
Posted in blackboard, online learning.
Tagged with blackboard, online learning.
By Anthony Marcasciano
– December 19, 2008
Hi all,
BLACKBOARD MAINTENANCE: Blackboard will have intermittent periods of unavailability during the morning of Tuesday, December 23rd, from 7:00 am to 11:00 am. We are making necessary changes to the Blackboard environment in order to resolve the recent authentication problem (this is what I explained above). IT and the CTL want to extend our thanks for your continued patience and support. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Happy Holidays!!
Tracey
Posted in blackboard.
Tagged with blackboard.
By Anthony Marcasciano
– December 15, 2008
There are some known issues with the Blackboard Grade Center. Due to the issues, it is strongly recommended that you verify that your grades are properly calculated by exporting the grade book to Excel format and performing the necessary calculations or by calculating the grades manually (a lot of work, I know, but we want to be sure that our students are assigned the grades they earned.).
Below are the current issues that we have discovered—a couple of which are new to us. If you know of any others that could cause inaccuracy in the calculation of your students’ final point totals, please let us know so that we can alert other Blackboard users and have the problem investigated.
· Extra credit: Extra credit is not automatically included in the total grade column in the grade center. Workarounds have been created if points are used to calculate the final grade. If the total grade is computed using weighted averages, the extra credit columns will need to be assigned to one of the grading categories.
· Null value: This is the dash you see in the grade column before you enter a grade. By default, the total column is set to calculate a running total. Individual student grades are ignored until a grade is entered. Unless you have changed the setting so that this column does not calculate a running total, this means that you need to enter a score of zero if you want your students to be penalized for not completing an assignment.
· Dropping lowest score in a category: This feature does not work. It is a known bug and Blackboard is aware of the problem. An alternative to using this feature is to manually exempt grades.
· Hidden grade columns: Hidden grade columns may still be included in the total grade, depending on individual column settings. It is strongly recommended that you delete unused columns instead of hiding them. Columns must be displayed before they can be removed. To show hidden columns, go to Manage > Organize Grade Center.
If you have any questions about the integrity of your Blackboard grades, please contact the Center for Teaching and Learning for assistance.
Posted in blackboard, communication, online.
Tagged with blackboard, communication, online.
By Anthony Marcasciano
– December 15, 2008
