It's been a while!
Since the last post, which seems like ages ago now, it's been busy in e-Learning. Blackboard has been launched, training has been given, Peter has left and I've recruited a new Learning Technologist who I'm really looking forward to working with.
Patsy Cullen, Director of Learning and Teaching has also retired and been replaced, signalling the start of a new directorate called Learner Development Services, which is underpinned by the philosophy of Learning Reconsidered.
At the moment, most of my time seems to be filled with supprting Blackboard and trying to report any niggly issues to the Blackboard support team. Below is the latest report I produced for the L&T Team meeting, which should bring us up to date.
Blackboard
A steady stream of support issues from staff, mostly around technical usability “How do I do…..”, rather than “this is not working”.
Login page is posing a problem at the moment for a couple of reasons:
1. On the first hit, JAVA is initiated in the background and it looks as though nothing is happening on the page. Depending on the computer being used, this can take from 5 to 50 seconds to allow login. I am investigating with Blackboard to see if there is anything that can be done to speed this up.
2. If a user enters an incorrect username or password, e.g a typo, they are presented with a blank screen, rather than an error message telling them that their details are incorrect. This apparently is due to SSL, and is being investigated by Blackboard. This has caused some support queries from students and staff.
Students in Limes Court are having problems with accessing Blackboard on the network because of proxy errors/authentication. The IT networks team are aware that there is an issue in this area and are dealing with students on an ad-hoc basis. Dave has tested the issue and come up with some configuration steps to resolve.
The drop-in sessions being held on Friday afternoons have now been reduced to once a month as demand has steadily fallen. Over the last two sessions, one person turned up; which is a waste of both mine and Phil Vincent’s time. The reduction of this service has been communicated to colleagues via the Blackboard announcements tool and also through the e-Learning website.
TurnitinUK Plagiarism detection service
This service is now integrated into Blackboard and available for all staff to use, should they choose. A training session has been scheduled for November 21st 2007 (AM and PM) to introduce people to the tool. People can book to attend from this page and an all staff email will be sent out via Pauline Aldous very soon. http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/learnteach/VLE_training.html#training
ALPS
100 mobile devices have been delivered to YSJ for use with students. Maria Parks has identified the cohorts of students who will be using the devices but does not intend to send the devices out until semester 2, by which stage Bradford Uni should have the support infrastructure in place. A meeting is being held on Fri 19th Oct to discuss rollout of the devices (procedures, instructions etc) and seek IT team’s advice on how they connect to the mobile exchange service in order to receive emails and calendar info etc.
Wimba
As part of the C4C team fellowship the Enabling e-Learning (EEL) team have been investigating the use of a virtual classroom tool, provided and hosted by Wimba. We previously had problems with connectivity to the service, especially concerning the audio stream, which had been delayed for some time. Thankfully now, the problem has been identified and a resolution suggested and tested successfully. Wimba will now be building the YSJ server on which the virtual classroom will be hosted and use of this tool with students should begin end Sem1, start Sem2. Thanks to Paul for escalating and Pieter for dedicating time to resolve.
e-Portfolios
Maria Parks and Alis Racey have received funding of 4K to investigate the use of the e-Portfolio tool, PebblePad with healthcare students. Alis has also received a University fellowship to investigate and evaluate the impact of the tool on those students involved. PebblePad will be holding a ‘Roadshow event’ at YSJ on November 6th and will be dedicating the afternoon to working with YSJ staff on using the tool effectively. Anyone wishing to be involved should contact Alis Racey or look here: http://www.pebblepad.co.uk/roadshow.asp
Patsy Cullen, Director of Learning and Teaching has also retired and been replaced, signalling the start of a new directorate called Learner Development Services, which is underpinned by the philosophy of Learning Reconsidered.
At the moment, most of my time seems to be filled with supprting Blackboard and trying to report any niggly issues to the Blackboard support team. Below is the latest report I produced for the L&T Team meeting, which should bring us up to date.
Blackboard
A steady stream of support issues from staff, mostly around technical usability “How do I do…..”, rather than “this is not working”.
Login page is posing a problem at the moment for a couple of reasons:
1. On the first hit, JAVA is initiated in the background and it looks as though nothing is happening on the page. Depending on the computer being used, this can take from 5 to 50 seconds to allow login. I am investigating with Blackboard to see if there is anything that can be done to speed this up.
2. If a user enters an incorrect username or password, e.g a typo, they are presented with a blank screen, rather than an error message telling them that their details are incorrect. This apparently is due to SSL, and is being investigated by Blackboard. This has caused some support queries from students and staff.
Students in Limes Court are having problems with accessing Blackboard on the network because of proxy errors/authentication. The IT networks team are aware that there is an issue in this area and are dealing with students on an ad-hoc basis. Dave has tested the issue and come up with some configuration steps to resolve.
The drop-in sessions being held on Friday afternoons have now been reduced to once a month as demand has steadily fallen. Over the last two sessions, one person turned up; which is a waste of both mine and Phil Vincent’s time. The reduction of this service has been communicated to colleagues via the Blackboard announcements tool and also through the e-Learning website.
TurnitinUK Plagiarism detection service
This service is now integrated into Blackboard and available for all staff to use, should they choose. A training session has been scheduled for November 21st 2007 (AM and PM) to introduce people to the tool. People can book to attend from this page and an all staff email will be sent out via Pauline Aldous very soon. http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/learnteach/VLE_training.html#training
ALPS
100 mobile devices have been delivered to YSJ for use with students. Maria Parks has identified the cohorts of students who will be using the devices but does not intend to send the devices out until semester 2, by which stage Bradford Uni should have the support infrastructure in place. A meeting is being held on Fri 19th Oct to discuss rollout of the devices (procedures, instructions etc) and seek IT team’s advice on how they connect to the mobile exchange service in order to receive emails and calendar info etc.
Wimba
As part of the C4C team fellowship the Enabling e-Learning (EEL) team have been investigating the use of a virtual classroom tool, provided and hosted by Wimba. We previously had problems with connectivity to the service, especially concerning the audio stream, which had been delayed for some time. Thankfully now, the problem has been identified and a resolution suggested and tested successfully. Wimba will now be building the YSJ server on which the virtual classroom will be hosted and use of this tool with students should begin end Sem1, start Sem2. Thanks to Paul for escalating and Pieter for dedicating time to resolve.
e-Portfolios
Maria Parks and Alis Racey have received funding of 4K to investigate the use of the e-Portfolio tool, PebblePad with healthcare students. Alis has also received a University fellowship to investigate and evaluate the impact of the tool on those students involved. PebblePad will be holding a ‘Roadshow event’ at YSJ on November 6th and will be dedicating the afternoon to working with YSJ staff on using the tool effectively. Anyone wishing to be involved should contact Alis Racey or look here: http://www.pebblepad.co.uk/roadshow.asp
posted by Mark Dransfield at
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