Categories
Announcements

Desire2Peek?

Do you have a desire to view some of the new features that will be coming soon to Springboard (D2L)? We are installing version 9.2 on our TEST system today. You will be able to try out the new features beginning tomorrow. Beginning tomorrow, login at springboardtest.uakron.edu from a campus network or VPN client.

To read more about the new features in version 9.2, check out this article in THE Journal.

We will install the new features on our PRODUCTION environment on May 11th, 2011. We are looking forward to the following enhancements:

  • The ability to post to discussions from a mobile device
  • Dramatic improvements to Rubrics
  • Integrated audio recording from within multiple areas of the Learning Environment and ePortfolio
  • Enhancements to the Pager
  • New release conditions, including user enrollment dates and rubric scores;

We will test heavily to verify all is ready for the May 11th upgrade and we hope you will take a peek and let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Categories
Announcements

Springboard Unavailable Sunday, March 13

A number of Web-based services will be unavailable from 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday as UA expands its storage system to allow for more online course content and new Web services.

The following services will be unavailable:

  • Exchange,
  • Springboard,
  • Zipspace,
  • Videomedia,
  • departmental files, such as your H: drive, and
  • printing.

If you have questions about this upgrade, please e-mail storageupgrade@uakron.edu.

Categories
Diving Deeper

LOR: Program LORs

Digital storage space is at a premium and there are no plans to eliminate the LOR. This means that learning objects that you publish will be secure and will be available for the foreseeable future. Along with the security of the general University of Akron LOR it is possible to create program LORs. In this type of LOR, learning objects would be available to all students in a particular program, yet not the entire university community. Individual programs would be able to control access to their own resources and learning objects. A particular class could be selected to gain access or the program as a whole. For more information on this type of LOR, contact Design and Development Services.

Select this link for an overview of the LOR.

Select this link for detailed information on the LOR.

The LOR is waiting, create a program LOR today!

Jacob Bane
Graduate Assistant Design and Development Services.

Categories
Announcements

Dr. Jill Phipps and Dr. Qetler Jensrud will be presenting at the Eastern Educational Research Association Annual Conference on February 25, 2011

The Title of the symposium session they will facilitate “Structuring Online Learning Experiences: Beyond Technology.”
Abstract:
Online courses (and entire degrees) are now common place in higher education. However, the strong underpinning of instructional design cannot be traded for technological “bling.” Careful consideration to principles of “best practice” must be taken into account when designing curriculum for online delivery. To generate rigorous learning experiences that are motivating to today’s savvy students, the online teacher must engage participants while maintaining instructional rigor based on pedagogically sound principles.
The University of Akron, Technical Education Program, will be the first totally online degree offered by the institution. The learning strategies implemented are based on Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) “Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education,” as well as the five key areas on successfully transitioning into cyberspace identified in Palloff and Pratt’s (2000) “Making the Transition: Helping Teachers to Teach Online.” A data matrix has been developed depicting the online strategies, structure, and activities employed in these classrooms and their correlation with the Chickering and Gamson’s principles and Palloff and Pratt’s online principles. Each component employed in the courses is based on characteristics and principles of instructional best practices. Discussion regarding the approach used during development, strategies implemented, successful examples, instructional design, and lessons learned will be encouraged.

Categories
Announcements

Desire2Learn (Springboard) 9.2 Update Sneak Peek

Desire2Learn (Springboard) recently released a sneak peek at the features that will be available in their upcoming update, version 9.2. The new Learning Environment will offer new ways to align learning objectives, improved grading features to increase efficiency, and fixes to make everyday tasks easier, like monitoring student progress and access. The Learning Object Repository will be given updates to streamline the upload, searching, and download process.  New tools will also be given to the ePortfolio tool including templates, support for media, and groups. These are only some of the updates and new features that will be available after the 9.2 update.
The update will be applied on our test server March 14th. If you would like to test-drive the new features they will be available at this link after March 14th. If the new update proves to be reliable, the update will be applied to our production server March 17th.
For more information select this link to be taken to D2L’s Sneak Peek Page.

Jacob Bane
Graduate Assistant Design and Development Services

Categories
Announcements

Ohio Learning Network Hosts First Annual Spring Colloquium!

Don’t delay, submit your proposal and be a part of Ohio Learning Network’s First Annual Spring Colloquium!  Proposals are due by Monday, February 14, 2011.

The Ohio Learning Network invites higher education faculty, staff and administrators to attend the First Annual OLN Spring Colloquium, April 11-12, 2011, at the Columbus Hilton at Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio Learning Network Colloquium: Best Practices Using Technology for Teaching, Learning and Student Services will provide opportunities for Ohio Higher Education Institutions to share best practices for using technology in the general areas of Student Services and Teaching and Learning.  As eLearning in Ohio continues to grow, the need for additional eStudent Services and re-tooled academic pedagogies require educators to adapt and adopt new practices in the classroom and beyond. Learn about best practices, administration, new strategies, and what works and what doesn’t from your colleagues around the state.

OLN seeks interactive and engaging proposals in five different presentation modes.  Visit http://www.oln.org/conferences/OLN2011/ to review the Request for Proposals (RFP). Proposal submissions will be accepted until February 14, 2011, and accepted presenters will be notified by March 1, 2011.

Online registration for the First Annual OLN Spring Colloquium will be available in March.  To learn more, please visit the colloquium web site: http://www.oln.org/conferences/OLN2011/ .

Categories
Announcements

Students: Do NOT Take Quizzes and Tests on a Mobile Device

Quizzes and tests in Springboard require advanced browser functionality that may not be possible or supported on your mobile phone or tablet.  You must complete critical graded activities such as quizzes, tests, exams, and dropbox submissions on a computer using a standard, supported browser.  For best results, we recommend that you complete a system check before you begin any quiz, test, or exam.

Categories
Announcements

Professional Development Opportunity for Faculty

Instructional Services congratulates the faculty colleagues who completed the “Quality Matters in Online Course Design” workshop.
The next cohort is now forming and will run February 7th through March 4th. Information during this professional development workshop focused on design of online courses using the Quality Matters standards and directions for registration are provided online. To join the next cohort, please contact Wendy Lampner at wjl3@uakron.edu or Jacob Bane at jhb13@zips.uakron.edu.
Categories
Announcements

Welcome to Spring 2011!

Welcome to Spring 2011! As we begin another semester, here are a few reminders:

Activate Your Course

Before students can access your course in Springboard, you must activate/open it.

  1. Open the course you want to activate.
  2. Select the ACTIVATE Course link.
  3. Select the ACTIVATE checkbox.
  4. Select the Save button.

Copy Components from one course to another

The Copy Course Components function allows you to reuse materials from an existing course. However, user data is NOT copied. Follow these steps to select and copy existing course components from one course to another. For best results, work through these steps in order.

Step 1: Access Copy Components

1. Open the target course where you want to add components. Critical note – this should be your EMPTY course.

2. Click the Edit Course link (far right of the Course NavBar).

3. Click the Import/Export/Copy Components link.

4. Select the Copy Course Components from Another Org Unit button.

5. Click Next.

Step 2: Choose Components to Copy

1. Choose Existing Offering to copy components from another course offering you’re enrolled in.

2. Select an offering from the list or click Search for offering to find the course offering using a pop-up window.

3. Springboard displays the list of components available.

4. Select the top checkbox to Copy all items from a given component/tool, or expand categories to select individual items to copy.

5. Click Next.

6. Verify your selections and click Next.

7. Springboard will display the copy progress. When it is complete, click Done.

Would you like to print these steps in more detail? View this Start of Semester checklist.

Categories
Announcements

Streamlined Pages for Spring 2011

It’s a brand new year, and we have some exciting new changes for instructors in Springboard! As a result of our first Springboard Faculty Steering Committee meeting, two changes were approved –

1.      The listing of semesters in the My Courses widget has been reversed – the current semester will appear on top, while Ongoing and courses with no semester listed will appear on the bottom.

2.      The Course Offering Information page has been revamped – we’ve reworded some settings that were unclear, removed settings that were not needed by instructors, and moved more important settings to the top.

In addition to streamlining the Course Offering Information page, we have also created a link in the default course Navigation bar that makes it easier to reach! Instructors can simply click the ACTIVATE Course (Faculty Only) link in the navbar. Please note that if you have made any changes to the navbar in your course, the Activate link will not appear. However, you can still add the link to your navbar – when adding links, select Custom Links from the View By dropdown menu, and the Activate course link will appear in the list.