Categories
Announcements

Springboard Upgrade on August 18th – New & Improved Features!

For Fall 2010, we are excited to announce that we will be upgrading to Springboard Version 9 on August 18th. Version 9 will bring new and improved features including:

  • Improvements to the Navigation Bar, the Classlist, the Manage Files tool, and Rubrics.
  • A new Course Builder that will simplify tasks such as uploading files and adding pages to your course.
  • A new Manage Dates tool that will allow you to modify most Start and End dates in one easy step.

In order to install this upgrade, Springboard will be unavailable on August 18th. We will post more details here on the Springboard blog.

Categories
Announcements

The News tool – communication done wisely.

newsThe News tool is an effective way to communicate the most current information for any course delivery style: online, web-enhanced, or traditional face-to-face. The News tool is a widget that is usually in the middle of the course home page. This prominent location makes it ideal to post updates. These could include the following types of information:

• Welcome message and instructions on how to get started
• Weekly agendas, outlines, assignments, or activities
• Quick links to content, discussion forums, quizzes, survey, etc.
• Web addresses related to course materials and/or current events
• Images enhancing assigned readings
• Changes in course schedule (reading assignments, test dates, etc.)
• Announcements about class cancellation (snow day, illness, etc.)

The News tool is very user friendly, and the date/time release feature allows you to determine when, and for how long, you would like each message to be displayed. This also makes it easy to reuse many of the posting from one semester to the next, simply revising pertinent information.

For information on the “how to” of creating News postings, click here.

What are some of the creative ways you use the News tool in your classes?  Share your great ideas with your colleagues by submitting your comments on this post link below .

Regards,  Dr. Jill

Jonnie “Jill” Phipps, Ph.D.

Curriculum Designer