Monday, May 09, 2005
Use of Blackboard at Algonquin College (log file analysis)
-----Original Message-----
From: blkbrd-l - "Listserv" [mailto:BLKBRD-L@asu.edu] On Behalf Of Crystal Nielsen
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 1:43 PM
To: BLKBRD-L@asu.edu
Subject: Re: [BLKBRD-L] surveys
June,
Algonquin College has posted the results of their study of how faculty use Blackboard (a look at statistics more than a survey, but still
helpful):
From: blkbrd-l - "Listserv" [mailto:BLKBRD-L@asu.edu] On Behalf Of Crystal Nielsen
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 1:43 PM
To: BLKBRD-L@asu.edu
Subject: Re: [BLKBRD-L] surveys
June,
Algonquin College has posted the results of their study of how faculty use Blackboard (a look at statistics more than a survey, but still
helpful):
http://elearning.algonquincollege.com/blackboard/showcase.htm
>>> jyeager4@NAZ.EDU 04/30/05 2:22 PM >>>
Has anyone created a survey to send to faculty to determine how they are
using it in their classes? I would be interested in seeing the
questions.
Thanks in advance.
June Yeager
Information Technology Services
Nazareth College
4245 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14618
voice: 585-389-2085
fax: 585-586-2452
e-mail: jyeager4@naz.edu
Directions to BLKBRD-L archives and settings:
http://is.asu.edu/instruction/faq/usingBLKBRD-L.html
Book Suggestions
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 6:05 PM
Subject: [BLKBRD-L] Book and Material Suggestions - URGENT!!!
I just received word that a small sum of money has been allocated to purchase books, training materials, reference guides, etc. that are related to my job of providing support and training for faculty in the use of Blackboard. Oh, I forgot to mention that it has to be spent by Monday!
Does anyone have any great suggestions about books, materials, or guides that you use and would recommend to add to my arsenal? I'm open for any suggestions, but am specifically looking for a few web-based, instructional design guides and portal design guides. I'd also love to see some online teaching-related training guides especially those about current edtech topics instead of just technical how-to's for Blackboard.
-----RESPONSES-----
The power of eLearning: The Essential Guide for Teaching in the Digital Age, Allyn & Bacon, Shirley Waterhouse (2005)
Discussion-Based Online Teaching to Enhance Student Learning: Theory, Practice and Assessment by Tisha Bender
Engaging the Online Learner : Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction (Online Teaching and Learning Series (OTL)) by Rita-Marie Conrad, J. Ana Donaldson
Creating Significant Learning Experiences : An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses by L Dee Fink
From a related thread on the POD mailing list:
Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators, Atwood Publishers, by George Collison, Bonnie Elbaum, Sarah Haavind, and Robert Tinker
Subject: [BLKBRD-L] Book and Material Suggestions - URGENT!!!
I just received word that a small sum of money has been allocated to purchase books, training materials, reference guides, etc. that are related to my job of providing support and training for faculty in the use of Blackboard. Oh, I forgot to mention that it has to be spent by Monday!
Does anyone have any great suggestions about books, materials, or guides that you use and would recommend to add to my arsenal? I'm open for any suggestions, but am specifically looking for a few web-based, instructional design guides and portal design guides. I'd also love to see some online teaching-related training guides especially those about current edtech topics instead of just technical how-to's for Blackboard.
-----RESPONSES-----
The power of eLearning: The Essential Guide for Teaching in the Digital Age, Allyn & Bacon, Shirley Waterhouse (2005)
Discussion-Based Online Teaching to Enhance Student Learning: Theory, Practice and Assessment by Tisha Bender
Engaging the Online Learner : Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction (Online Teaching and Learning Series (OTL)) by Rita-Marie Conrad, J. Ana Donaldson
Creating Significant Learning Experiences : An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses by L Dee Fink
From a related thread on the POD mailing list:
Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators, Atwood Publishers, by George Collison, Bonnie Elbaum, Sarah Haavind, and Robert Tinker
Building block activation from second page
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 9:34 AM
To: BLKBRD-L@asu.edu
Subject: [BLKBRD-L] Problem activating building block?
Bb 6.2.3.19, RHAS Linux 2.1, Oracle 9i.
I just put a number of cool building blocks onto the system, and I note that I now have two pages worth. I have two on the second page that are Inactive (USF User Performance and ITRDU Visual Student Records). When I try to Active either, I get:
fromIndex(20) > toIndex(10)[Error Id: 291102D0-C08E-11D9-C352-78C9678A05BF]
And it won't activate. I know the Visual Student Records one will require me to do some back end database setup, so that one's not surprising me if it won't activate. But I believe the User Performance one should just activate, right? The error (which is as vague as I've seen) looks like it's saying there's an issue because they're on the 2nd page, not because of something in the building block itself. Everything on the first page (except the one I still have backend database stuff to do) activated fine.
Anyone seen this? Am I just doing something stupid? (if this is in the archives, then feel free to chastize me and just point me there :-( )
Thanks!
Tony Harris
Assistant CTO
Community College of Vermont
harrist@ccv.edu
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 9:39 AM
Hi Tony,
It's a known bug. This occurs when you are trying to set a building block to "Available" when it's on any page other then the first page of the "Manage Building Blocks" page. To avoid this error, use the arrow buttons under the column headings to sort the particular building block so that it displays on the first page. You can then make it available with no problems.
This has been fixed in subsequent versions of Learning System.
Hope this helps,
Santo Nucifora
----------
Directions to BLKBRD-L archives and settings:
http://is.asu.edu/instruction/faq/usingBLKBRD-L.html
To: BLKBRD-L@asu.edu
Subject: [BLKBRD-L] Problem activating building block?
Bb 6.2.3.19, RHAS Linux 2.1, Oracle 9i.
I just put a number of cool building blocks onto the system, and I note that I now have two pages worth. I have two on the second page that are Inactive (USF User Performance and ITRDU Visual Student Records). When I try to Active either, I get:
fromIndex(20) > toIndex(10)[Error Id: 291102D0-C08E-11D9-C352-78C9678A05BF]
And it won't activate. I know the Visual Student Records one will require me to do some back end database setup, so that one's not surprising me if it won't activate. But I believe the User Performance one should just activate, right? The error (which is as vague as I've seen) looks like it's saying there's an issue because they're on the 2nd page, not because of something in the building block itself. Everything on the first page (except the one I still have backend database stuff to do) activated fine.
Anyone seen this? Am I just doing something stupid? (if this is in the archives, then feel free to chastize me and just point me there :-( )
Thanks!
Tony Harris
Assistant CTO
Community College of Vermont
harrist@ccv.edu
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 9:39 AM
Hi Tony,
It's a known bug. This occurs when you are trying to set a building block to "Available" when it's on any page other then the first page of the "Manage Building Blocks" page. To avoid this error, use the arrow buttons under the column headings to sort the particular building block so that it displays on the first page. You can then make it available with no problems.
This has been fixed in subsequent versions of Learning System.
Hope this helps,
Santo Nucifora
----------
Directions to BLKBRD-L archives and settings:
http://is.asu.edu/instruction/faq/usingBLKBRD-L.html
Server monitoring
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 9:10 AM
To: BLKBRD-L@asu.edu
Subject: Paging support when Bb goes down
Has anyone developed/implemented any scripts on Blackboard to have it perform self-checks and page/email tech support staff if problems are encountered? We've had some outages over weekends that have spanned several hours before they were reported and corrected. We're a Microsoft environment, SQL back-end on 6.2.3.23. Any input or suggestions are welcomed.
Jeremy--
Jeremy T. Bond
Coordinator, Online Courses / Bb Admin
Off Campus Programs
Central Michigan University
800-950-1144, ext. 2094
bond1jt@cmich.edu
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 10:10 AM
Jeremy-
We are on a Microsoft environment and use a couple different approaches to alert support if there is an issue with the Bb application.
Using MOM, Microsoft Operations Manager, we can monitor the health of the Bb servers. We can set check points and limits for system parameters. Some of the things we monitor are disk space % free, database file and log size, and process memory usage. If any of these fall out of range we email and page support.
Also, we run scripts from Red Alert (redalert.com) These scripts login to Bb, do some basic checking, and log out every 15 minutes. Any issues are immediately emailed to support. The advantage to this is that the scripts are run from off site, redundantly from two locations, NYC and Boston, we are in Vermont. Disadvantages are that some times Bb upgrades break the script.
-Anthony
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 9:21 AM
We don't have Bb monitor itself much (although there are a couple of scripts that run on our database server and watch for disk usage and such), but we do use another box running Nagios that monitors the Bb app servers and if it gets an error (including "Internal Server Error" or other things that show it's not working) then it uses the email->pager method to page us.
Tony Harris
Assistant CTO
Community College of Vermont
harrist@ccv.edu
----------
Directions to BLKBRD-L archives and settings:
http://is.asu.edu/instruction/faq/usingBLKBRD-L.html
To: BLKBRD-L@asu.edu
Subject: Paging support when Bb goes down
Has anyone developed/implemented any scripts on Blackboard to have it perform self-checks and page/email tech support staff if problems are encountered? We've had some outages over weekends that have spanned several hours before they were reported and corrected. We're a Microsoft environment, SQL back-end on 6.2.3.23. Any input or suggestions are welcomed.
Jeremy--
Jeremy T. Bond
Coordinator, Online Courses / Bb Admin
Off Campus Programs
Central Michigan University
800-950-1144, ext. 2094
bond1jt@cmich.edu
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 10:10 AM
Jeremy-
We are on a Microsoft environment and use a couple different approaches to alert support if there is an issue with the Bb application.
Using MOM, Microsoft Operations Manager, we can monitor the health of the Bb servers. We can set check points and limits for system parameters. Some of the things we monitor are disk space % free, database file and log size, and process memory usage. If any of these fall out of range we email and page support.
Also, we run scripts from Red Alert (redalert.com) These scripts login to Bb, do some basic checking, and log out every 15 minutes. Any issues are immediately emailed to support. The advantage to this is that the scripts are run from off site, redundantly from two locations, NYC and Boston, we are in Vermont. Disadvantages are that some times Bb upgrades break the script.
-Anthony
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 9:21 AM
We don't have Bb monitor itself much (although there are a couple of scripts that run on our database server and watch for disk usage and such), but we do use another box running Nagios that monitors the Bb app servers and if it gets an error (including "Internal Server Error" or other things that show it's not working) then it uses the email->pager method to page us.
Tony Harris
Assistant CTO
Community College of Vermont
harrist@ccv.edu
----------
Directions to BLKBRD-L archives and settings:
http://is.asu.edu/instruction/faq/usingBLKBRD-L.html
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
System Check
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 08:50:15 -0600
Sender: "blkbrd-l - \"Listserv\""
From: "Mankoff, Jean"
Subject: System Check
Does anyone have a link you can click on to check your computer and make
sure it meets minimum standards for browser and plug-ins etc and that
you are willing to share? We want to have something students can just
click on and get a message back that tells them they need to update
their browser or not enough memory or everything is fine. Thanks for
the help.
Jean Mankoff
Texas Woman's University
---------------------------------------------------------
From: Deborah Reichler
University of Alaska-Anchorage has a nice set of pages.
<http://uaaonline.alaska.edu/student/Requirements/index.html>
---------------------------------------------------------
From: "Okafor, Emmanuel"
Try this link:
http://cilt.und.edu/gateway/browsercheck/browsercheck.html
---------------------------------------------------------
From: Mark Northover mark.northover@AUT.AC.NZ
I have used the page developed by Seneca College - very simple and effectiveas an instant analysis.
[The original address provided no longer works. The new address is below. wrv]
http://www.senecac.on.ca/elc/tools/set_up_your_computer_for_eteaching/index.html
---------------------------------------------------------
Sender: "blkbrd-l - \"Listserv\""
From: "Mankoff, Jean"
Subject: System Check
Does anyone have a link you can click on to check your computer and make
sure it meets minimum standards for browser and plug-ins etc and that
you are willing to share? We want to have something students can just
click on and get a message back that tells them they need to update
their browser or not enough memory or everything is fine. Thanks for
the help.
Jean Mankoff
Texas Woman's University
---------------------------------------------------------
From: Deborah Reichler
University of Alaska-Anchorage has a nice set of pages.
---------------------------------------------------------
From: "Okafor, Emmanuel"
Try this link:
http://cilt.und.edu/gateway/browsercheck/browsercheck.html
---------------------------------------------------------
From: Mark Northover mark.northover@AUT.AC.NZ
I have used the page developed by Seneca College - very simple and effectiveas an instant analysis.
[The original address provided no longer works. The new address is below. wrv]
http://www.senecac.on.ca/elc/tools/set_up_your_computer_for_eteaching/index.html
---------------------------------------------------------
