webtechnology

Bb Restart 6/20

ron — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:02:20 +0000

A restart of the Blackboard environment is planned for this Friday morning (June 20^th) during the morning maintenance window.

This restart is to follow up after the Monday evening incident.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Bb Unavailable 6/16

ron — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:55:23 +0000

We wanted to confirm that Blackboard did have periods of unavailability last night (Monday, June 16^th) from approximately 9pm until after 10pm.

The problem affected the storage servers that contain documents such as those attached for download or in the digital drop box so some students may report that they could neither download or upload files to Blackboard last night.

Every effort was made to reduce the amount of impact and to restore availability as quickly as possible.

A restart of the environment may likely be planned in the next few days during a maintenance window to follow up after this incident; we will notify you prior to the restart so you and your students may plan for it.

We apologize for any interruption.

Free Betas from Adobe Labs

ron — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:48:19 +0000

Adobe has released public betas for their next version of Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Soundbooth. To download, visit Adobe Labs.

Note: Remember to coordinate any software install on a college computer with User Support.

Blackboard 8 Workshops

ron — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:35:42 +0000

In preparation for the fall implementation of Blackboard version 8, training workshops are being offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning. The workshops will be held during the summer semester and are designed to provide hands-on experience with the new features and tools including Syllabus, Glossary Manager, Self & Peer Assessment, and the Early Warning System.

More information on the workshops is available at http://www.morainevalley.edu/ctl/summerWorkshops.htm.

New Tools in Bb 8.0

ron — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:17:34 +0000

Click here to watch the latest video tour of Release 8.0.

Blackboard 8 Resources

ron — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:21:56 +0000

Blackboard has recently released a web site designed to provide learning resources regarding their latest release.

Sahar Javadi, Senior Product Marketing Manager says, “you’ll find interactive product tours designed to provide a quick but engaging, and easy-to-forward, look at various parts of Release 8.0. For even more detailed informatino, you can view a recorded Webinar and download a brochure.”

You can visit the site at: http://www.blackboard.com/release8/.

Blackboard 8 Testing

ron — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:59:28 +0000

In order to resolve the technical issues we’ve experienced between our version of Blackboard and Internet Explorer 7 as well as provide more functionality (such as an improved grade book and a plagiarism prevention tool) we are in the planning phase for upgrading our Blackboard system. We would very much appreciate your participation and feedback, so a test server loaded with Blackboard version 8 has been configured for your use and will continue to be available until the week of May 16. Your comments and suggestions regarding the usability and capabilities of the new version will be helpful as we develop the training and implementation timeline.

To login, visit http://bbtest.morainevalley.edu and use your current (version 6.3) username for both the username and password on the test system.

This is a test environment designed to provide our Blackboard faculty an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the new version prior to its implementation in the fall. Hard drive (storage) capacity is minimal and data backups will not be performed, so we are limited to copying one (1) of your courses from our current environment or create a new one, which ever you wish. Please contact Sandi Racich (racich@morainevalley.edu) to create or copy your course. Courses created or copied to the test system are for evaluation purposes and will not be copied to the new system.

Microsoft Product Lifecycle Information

ron — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:20:32 +0000

For the most up-to-date information regarding support for a Microsoft product, visit the Microsoft Support Lifecycle web site.

Accessibility Course

ron — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:27:58 +0000

On-Line Web 2.0 Accessibility Course using the W3C ARIA Specifications

Dates: April 15th to May 8th, 2008
Days: Tuesdays and Thursdays
Time: 3:00pm - 4:00pm CST (Chicago Local Time)

The on-line course is designed for web developers creating Web 2.0 applications to learn about the accessibility of these technologies to people with disabilities. Participants will learn about keyboard support, focus management issues and how to use the emerging W3C Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) specifications to create accessible Web 2.0 applications.

Participants should have web development experience with html, css and javascript technologies. Participants will program and test the accessibility of web widgets created using the new ARIA technology.

A peak at Bb version 8

ron — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:04:20 +0000

Here’s a link to a 30 minute screencast from Donna Wicks at Kettering University for those interested in learning more about version 8. Thanks to Jason Rhode (Northern Illinois University) for sharing.

http://tinyurl.com/3dco7w