IRT: News & Events: TechUpdates: Monday, February 26, 2007

e-Learning is evolving rapidly. Share insights and learn from the experiences of colleagues at the e-Learning 2.0 Conference to be held on Thursday, March 29, 2007, at Drexel. The featured tracks are:

E-Learning Best Practices: Emphasis on Pedagogy
Technology and Support for E-Learning
E-Learning System Administration

To read about the conference, visit http://www.drexel.edu/irt/eLearningConf2007/index.html.

To register for the conference, go to http://www.drexel.edu/irt/eLearningConf2007/registration.html.

The detailed conference program and schedule will be posted by mid-March.

The event is sponsored by Drexel's Office of Information Resources and Technology and Drexel University Online, along with Villanova, Thomas Jefferson and Eastern universities and Bucks County Community, Gloucester County, Harrisburg Area Community and Raritan Valley Community colleges.

2. WinVista and Office 2007: Reminder

Neither Windows Vista OS nor Office 2007 are supported applications at Drexel until further notice. An important note in your planning for the future regards antivirus protection. Since WinVista does not provide built-in antivirus protection, computers with Windows Vista will need to upgrade their Symantec Antivirus program to version 10.2. Visit http://www.drexel.edu/irt/services/comp_mark/software.html to obtain Symantec 10.2.

Lab managers who wish to begin testing either or both applications should contact IRT. Send an email request to consult@drexel.edu, with the subject WINVISTA TESTING, so you can be placed on the testing list. Only recognized lab managers and IT support staff at Drexel are eligible for Enterprise version testing.

Please see earlier Tech Update issues for support and training information from Microsoft at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/news/technews/techupdate011107.html.

3. File Compatibility with Office 2007

With the release of Office 2007, some new machines may come with the trial or full version of Office 2007 installed.

If you are in that situation or otherwise have chosen to use Office 2007, it is important that you save files in a format that others can read. Unlike previous versions, the default Save option in Office 2007 will only allow those files to be read in Office 2007.

For now, IRT recommends the continued use of Office 2003 to avoid these file issues. Office 2003 will continue to be available for students in the Korman BYOL lab and on the software server. The purchase of new office software is not necessary at this time.

However, if you have already purchased Office 2007, visit this site for steps to save your files in pre-2007 format so others may open them. Go to: http://www.drexel.edu/irt/support/Office07format.html.

4. Y2K Revisited? DST Date Change May Make Trouble

Remember all the hullabaloo as we approached the year 2000? Computer programmers scrambled for several years to adapt software from a two-digit-year date to a four-digit-year date so your birthdate would not end up being wrong by a century.

Another scramble is going on now, since last year there was a change in the dates for Daily Savings Time. As you may know, DST starts this year on March 11, 2007, rather than on the first Sunday in April, and will end in early November instead of late October. And it turns out that the DST time changes had been pre-programmed into many of our software programs, and may need to be adjusted.

It is not clear at this point whether these date-time issues can all be handled on our central servers, or whether users will need make adjustments on individual desktops. You can follow the latest news on this regarding our ubiquitous Microsoft products at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_topissues.

Meanwhile, IRT is working on this problem, and will let you know if you need to take action yourselves.

5. New IRT Podcasts and Alerts

Maybe you've noticed the new links located top-right on the IRT home page content window (http://www.drexel.edu/IRT): namely, IRT News, IRT Tech Talk, and IRT Alerts. Each of these links is actually composed of two parts:

the text part, that links to an HTML-based "Playlist" page listing applicable content, and,
an RSS 2.0 Syndication link, indicated by the orange icon, which you can use in a news-feed reader such as FeedDemon, FeedZilla, or NewsGator and/or iTunes.

All content under these links is in the form of either podcasts or vodcasts (video podcasts). To subscribe to any of the podcasts, just drag the appropriate icon to iTunes, IE7 or Firefox 2.x, or to your favorite news feed reader. Use the "?" to get help on using RSS and iTunes subscription feeds.

IRT News lists upcoming events such as training sessions, brown bags, conferences and changes to the IRT website.

IRT Tech Talk provides weekly tech tricks and update/upgrade information, such as information on Microsoft's new Vista operating system.

IRT Alerts are timely announcements concerning system outages, upgrades, or maintenance period that might be reflected as inaccessible systems.

Updates to IRT News and IRT Tech Talk will generally be done on a weekly basis. IRT Alerts are produced as needed.

News and Notes for Online Learning

6. Online Learning Support During Winter Term

Faculty members, teaching assistants and trainers using Bb-Vista or associated technologies may contact the Online Learning Team in person in the Faculty Development Center (FDC) in room 109 of the Korman Computing Center, call them at 215-895-1224, or email the Online Learning Team at olt@drexel.edu.

Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Online Learning Team can be called on to assist users in learning newer and emerging technologies.

7. Bb-Vista-4 Is Coming Soon

Drexel will be upgrading to the newest version of Blackboard-Vista in the summer term.

To prepare for this, the Online Learning Team will work with faculty and TAs during the Spring term who will be using Bb-Vista during the summer. Focused information sessions will highlight the enhancements of Bb-Vista-4, and the team will help instructors migrate courses and templates from Bb-Vista-3 to Bb-Vista-4.

These sessions will be repeated during Summer term for those not using Bb-Vista during summer, to help prepare for Fall 2007/2008.

8. Expanded Training and Demo Sessions

Boot Camps, workshops, demos, and other trainings, are offered throughout the year by the Online Learning Team. Topics include Bb-Vista, Dreamweaver, Impatica, Camtasia, and ePortaro Folio. To check the schedule for these trainings, see http://www.drexel.edu/IRT/services/workshops. To request a special topic or arrange a special session for your own group, email olt@drexel.edu.

9. Problems, Suggestions, and Other Feedback

Give us the benefit of your experience with Bb-Vista, and help turn your problems into solutions.

* To report a problem, go to the Bb-Vista section on the IRT Home Page (http://www.drexel.edu/IRT), and click on Report a Problem. The direct link is https://surveys.drexel.edu/TakeSurvey.asp?SurveyID=7KIlo35K9o7KG

* To become part of future enhancements, submit your suggestions directly to the developers. There is a link on the left-hand side of the Log-In page in Bb-Vista (it's the last item in the pull-down menu), or a link on the IRT Home Page (http://www.drexel.edu/IRT). Or, you may go directly to http://www.blackboard.com/products/suggest.bb

* We'll be taking another student survey on Bb-Vista at the end of Spring term. Student input is valuable; faculty members, please encourage your students to participate.

10. Bb-Vista Qwik-Tips

* To Crosslist your sections, have your department handle it with the Banner folks who issue the CRNs. We can facilitate crosslisting your course for you within Bb-Vista, but only before you start using Bb-Vista for the term.

* Add voice to your section using Horizon Wimba or Live Classroom. These tools are built in to Bb-Vista. TurnItIn, for plagiarism detection, is also available as a tool right in Bb-Vista.

* Collaboration. Bb-Vista can automatically generate groups based on number of groups or size of groups. You retain capability to edit these random groupings.

* Timed release. If you want to release content sequentially - assignments, assessments, discussions, or just about any component of your course - use the Selective Release feature. You can create availability times for individual students or groups, or use criteria so that students master existing concepts before going on to more challenging materials.

* Provide access to your TAs or co-designers. You can do it yourself. Go to your Section, the Teach tab, then Grade Book, and use the Add Members feature. All you need to know is their individual Drexel user-ID (e.g., abc123).

To read previous issues of the IRT Technology Update, go to http://www.drexel.edu/irt/news/technews/

To manage your subscription options to the IRT Technology Update and other Drexel Announcements, go to http://www.drexel.edu/irt/subscriptions. If you prefer to receive a plain text version, please email your request to mailreq@drexel.edu.

Modified: February 25, 2008

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