Discussion – Reading, Replying, Posting
Need to participate in online discussion for course or group work? This short (12 minute) video gives you the basics of reading, replying, and posting to an online discussion forum.
Author Archives: Russell Davidson
Exporting Collaborate Archives as Video Files
If you’ve tried exporting an archive file from Bb Collaborate recently, you may have noticed it takes an exceedingly long time for the file to finish converting. Unreasonably long, one might say. When you click the CONVERT link on Knowledge, you’re actually ordering a process that takes place at Blackboard, alongside every other CONVERT link clicked by every other faculty person at every other institution that uses Blackboard Collaborate. There are quite a few of those. As a result, these conversions take quite a lot of time. Fortunately, there’s a shortcut.
You can use Collaborate Publish (confusingly branded as Elluminate Publish when you get it installed on your desktop) to do the conversion work on your own machine. It’s still pretty time consuming (it may take you longer to publish the file than it took you to record it), but you’ll still probably be done quicker than if you waited for Blackboard to do the work for you.
Here’s how you do it:
First, you need to download and install Collaborate / Elluminate Publish. Go to the Publish web page. If you’re on Windows 8, we recommend installing the 32 bit version (the one that says “Download for Windows XP/Vista/7 (32-bit)”). You may have problems with the 64 bit version finding Java.
The Publish software will probably run as soon as you finish the install. You can leave it open, but set it aside for now. First you need to save that JNLP file you usually just RUN when launching a Collaborate session. Go to your course on Knowledge, find the archive file you want to convert, and launch the session. When you’re prompted whether you’d like to download or save PLAY.JNLP, choose SAVE instead of RUN. If your computer doesn’t ask you where you want to save, it’ll go to your downloads folder. Otherwise, pick someplace obvious (like the desktop). You’ll need it in a minute.
Downloading that PLAY.JNLP file won’t take a minute. Now bring back up the Publish software. If you closed it, hit your Windows button and start typing “elluminate publish”. It will likely show up before you finish typing.
The top line of the Publish window is RECORDING. Click the BROWSE button to the right of that line and locate your PLAY.JNLP file. If you didn’t pick a spot for it to be saved, look in DOWNLOADS.
The default options are probably fine for your publication. We recommend using the OPTIMIZE FOR MOBILE size — it’ll be a better experience for a broader range of users. Feel free to re-publish at desktop resolution if you have the time (or if you decide the smaller version just doesn’t have the level of detail you need).
Click CONVERT. It will ask you where you want to save the file. Select a location that makes sense, hit CONVERT, and be patient. Eventually, you’ll have a video and an audio file you can load up to Blackboard for your students to download and view at their leisure.
Remember, while Collaborate is convenient, it’s not the best tool for pre-recording content for your students. The Instructional Design Studio recommends using Camtasia Studio to create pre-recorded content. It’s easy to use, IDS even has laptops you can check out with the software installed, and a designer would be glad to publish your recordings and put them on your course site for you.
IDS Updates: Webinars, Wimba, Academic Integrity, Rubrics
Stay sharp
Whether you’re heading out or staying on campus, keep your online education skill up to snuff this summer with archived webinars from our partners.
UDM is a member of the Teaching, Learning, and Technology Group. The TLT has a deep archive of webinars on a huge variety of topics related to effective use of technology in teaching. Sample topics include active teaching/learning activities, using apps, social networking, copyright, strategies getting resistant students engaged in learning, and much, much more. If you’d like access to the archive, email Russell Davidson (davidsor@udmercy.edu) to get a username and password.
If you’d like more Knowledge-specific instruction, the Blackboard’s YouTube channel provides a number of webinar recordings and tutorials on teaching with Blackboard’s tools. (Note, UDM may not have access to some tools or content covered in these tutorials.)
http://www.youtube.com/user/BlackboardTV/featured
If you’d rather focus on UDM-provided instruction, check out the Instructional Design Studio blog for text and video walkthroughs of Blackboard tools and tips from the designers on using online tools in your teaching.
http://ids.commons.udmercy.edu
Still using Wimba archives? Export those archives before it’s too late!
Wimba will no longer be available in the Fall. If you’ve been having your students watch lectures recorded in and provided through Wimba, you’ll need to download video (MP4) versions of these archives, then upload these files to the relevant courses. Need help with the process? Check out this tutorial, or give IDS a call!
http://ids.commons.udmercy.edu/2013/02/12/saving-your-wimba-archives-uploading-into-a-course/
Academic Integrity, Testing, and Blackboard
Considering offering online testing as a part of your traditional or online course? We’ve put together a few simple strategies you can employ that will discourage collaboration and research during an online test.
http://ids.commons.udmercy.edu/2013/05/02/academic-integrity-testing-and-blackboard/
Rubrics
Rubrics are an excellent tool for both standardizing how you grade an assessment AND to communicating your expectations to your students. You are likely already using one or more rubrics in your courses – perhaps you’re providing students with a Word or Excel rubric file. Blackboard has a built-in rubric tool which is both pretty powerful and easy to use. We’ve put together a couple videos to help you create and apply rubrics.
http://ids.commons.udmercy.edu/2013/02/01/rubrics-in-blackboard/
Don’t forget to make your courses available
Teaching this summer? Remember, until you make your course site available your students won’t be able to access the online content you’ve created. Don’t remember how to make your site available? Follow the link below:
http://knowledge-faculty.commons.udmercy.edu/2010/08/24/make-a-course-site-available/
The Instructional Design Studio
313 578-0580
ids@udmercy.edu
Rubrics in Blackboard
Rubrics are an excellent tool for both standardizing how you grade an assessment AND to communicating your expectations to your students. You are likely already using one or more rubrics in your courses – perhaps you’re providing students with a Word or Excel rubric file. Blackboard has a built-in rubric tool which is both pretty powerful and easy to use.
In this first 10 minute video, we look at the basics of creating a rubric.
In this second 10 minute video, we look at how to apply a rubric to a new or existing Grade Center column, how to generate a Rubric Evaluation Report, how to grade using a rubric, and how to efficiently navigate between Grade Details pages.
Getting rubric reports
While Blackboard currently doesn’t have the option to download a detailed view of all scored rubrics that includes feedback, you do have the ability to generate a report that provides a broad overview of student performance on an assessment. To access the rubric reports for a column, load up your Grade Center, click the options button for the column in question, and select COLUMN STATISTICS.
Then click the large RUBRIC EVALUATION REPORT button.
Select the report file type from the pull-down list. Note that if you choose the EXCEL option, you will get the raw stats for your rubric, but not the charts. You may also set a date range if you would like, though the default values are set widely enough apart that any scores active in the course will be included in your report.
Click SUBMIT at the top or bottom of the page to run your report. Depending on your machine and the format you selected, the report may open in a new window or you may be prompted to save a file to your machine.
