IRT: News & Events: TechUpdates: Friday, August 17, 2007

Our "coming soon" notice is gone. Microsoft Office 2007 is here and is now available for download from the IRT software server to your Windows XP or Windows Vista computer.

To access the IRT software server, go to http://www.drexel.edu/irt, chose Computer Marketplace, and then Get Software. Log in as instructed, select your status (Student or FacultyandStaff), and then PC Software. "Microsoft Office 2007" is about half-way down the list, along with the older Microsoft Office 2003 version.

During the installation of Office 2007, any previous version of Office will be removed from your hard drive. To insure a clean install, however, IRT advises users to remove previous Office versions manually through the Add/Remove Programs control panel before beginning the installation process. No document files will be removed during this uninstall process.

Please read thoroughly and follow the instructions in the readme.txt file found inside the Office 2007 directory on the software server to avoid any errors during the new installation of MS Office 2007. The Office 2007 installation provides a full version of the application, not simply an upgrade.

The new Office 2007 suite includes all the usual suspects: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, and more. Be mindful, however, that documents in the new Office are not backwards compatible (see next article for conversion information). Since the change-over on campus will probably be phased in throughout the coming term, the computers in the Korman Computing Center labs will retain Office 2003 through the end of the fall 2007 term.

2. MS Office to MS Office Compatibility

One of the many changes to Office 2007 is the file format. The new format is XML, and you will see the file extensions as .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, etc. Previous versions of Office, such as Office 2003, will not by themselves open Office 2007 files.

Microsoft provides a file conversion tool. In fact, users are automatically offered the opportunity to download the conversion tool whenever they attempt to open an Office 2007 file with a previous version. In addition, IRT's software server makes the conversion tool available (see FileFormatConverters.exe in the MicrosoftOffice2003 folder.)

The parting wrinkle is that, once you have opened an Office 2007 file with a previous version, you need to decide in which version you want to save that file for future opening. For example, to keep an Excel file in the current version of Office, choose Microsoft Excel Workbook (.xls) from the Save As drop down box; to save it as Office 2007, choose Microsoft Excel 2007 Workbook (.xlsx).

3. RMCP Wins Yearly Competition for Colleges and Universities

IRT's Rich Media Conversion Project, a user-friendly digital drop box for publishing rich media elements for academic use, was one of only 13 programs noted for outstanding technology innovation by Campus Technology magazine for 2007. Some 338 institutions submitted case studies for consideration.

The RMCP was developed in house to provide an easy way for faculty members to encode and publish "objects" for their classes with a minimum of IT staff intervention. The program's graphical user interface (GUI) enables authenticated users to create new content channels, upload content, select schemas based on media type, create and manage playlists that aggregate cross-channel content, and manage content access rights.

The complexity of the program is transparent to the user. In the past year and a half, Drexel faculty have staged over 10,000 objects through RMCP. And the busiest season - beginning of fall term - is yet to come.

For information, see the RMCP web site at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/rmcweb/, and look especially for the "Capture Cheat Sheet" that outlines the process. To ask questions, email richmedia@drexel.edu.

4. Voicemail Tip for This Month

Question: You've just listened to a voicemail message and realize there is some critical information you needed to copy down ... but it went by you too fast. What can you do now?

Answer: Before exiting the message, press 6 to replay it. If it's a long message and you don't need to hear it all again, you can press 9 to move forward through the message in five-second intervals, or press 3 to back up in five-second intervals. All of these commands may be repeated as needed.

5. Upgrade Files for Windows Tablet PC

Upgrade files for the Windows Tablet PC Edition have been uploaded to the software server at the Computer Marketplace (http://www.drexel.edu/irt). Click on Get Software, then Login to Download Software, click on FacultyandStaff or Students (choose your status), and then click on PCSoftware.

The list is arranged alphabetically; WindowsTabletPC_Upgrade is near the end.

News & Notes on Online Learning

6. Special Instructional Technology Center Hours at Start of Term

The Online Learning Team will staff the Instructional Technology Center (Korman 109) on the weekend before the start of fall term. Hours of coverage will be Saturday, September 22, 2007, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, September 23, from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Stop in, or call at 215-895-1224, or email to olt@drexel.edu.

7. Walk-in Bb Vista Sessions for Students

Once again, the Online Learning Team is scheduling walk-in sessions during the second and third weeks of term for students to bring in their questions about Blackboard Vista. Students may walk in to the Korman Computing Center and get one-on-one help with their issues with OLT members at any time during the one-hour time slots.

For the schedule, see http://www.drexel.edu/irt/services/webct/WalkInSchedule.html.

8. Retrieve Your Old Courses in Bb Vista

If you are going to use Blackboard Vista (formerly WebCT) to (a) augment face-to-face classes, (b) use in a blended environment, or (c) teach online classes, now is the time to have us copy the best version of your past classes from Bb Vista version-3 to version-4. Use the form at the link below to make up to six separate migration requests:

https://surveys.drexel.edu/TakeSurvey.asp?SurveyID=6M3864MH3621G

After we sunset (decommission) Vista 3 this September, 2007, you will no longer have active access to past sections or templates in Vista 3. If you need access to these, or to files or other materials from Vista 3, e.g., Student Tracking reports or Grade Books, you need to download and store them locally - now!

For help, contact the Online Learning Team at olt@drexel.edu.

9. Java 1.6 Is Now Supported

Blackboard verifies that Bb Vista 4 now supports Java version 1.6. We recommend that you upgrade, but leave the automatic update feature for Java turned off. When they issue a future new version, we do not want Bb Vista 4 users to move to the new version before Blackboard confirms that it will work.

10. Training for Blackboard Vista 4

Upcoming information, refresher, and full workshops for Blackboard Vista 4 will be held in Korman 116 as follows:

Tuesday, August 21, noon-1 p.m. - Vista 4 highlights and new features

Tuesday, August 28, 1-4 p.m. - Vista 4 refresher (for current Vista 3 users)

Wednesday, August 29, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. - Vista 4 workshop (lunch provided)

Thursday, September 6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. - Vista 4 workshop (lunch provided)

Friday, September 13, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. - Vista 4 workshop (lunch provided)

Thursday, September 20, 1-4 p.m. - Vista 4 refresher (for current Vista 3 users)

Friday, September 21, 9 a.m.-noon - Vista 4 refresher (for current Vista 3 users)

Save a seat by emailing olt@drexel.edu.
See the newest offerings, both for Bb Vista trainings and other online learning tools, at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/services/workshops.

11. Law School Pioneers Innovative Uses of Virtual Community

Need a secure online environment for course evaluations and academic support materials?
The Drexel College of Law is using Virtual Community in Bb Vista 4 as a repository for evaluations, registration forms, exams, exam information, and more. The CoL is also posting its newsletter there.

The College of Law is using Virtual Community to conduct the annual writing contest that determines members of the Law Review board. Students agree to abide by the contest rules (an Assessment in Bb Vista), and then have two weeks to download the contest packets (which become available via Selective Release) and to upload their completed papers (to the Assignment tool). When the paper is uploaded, an email notification is sent to the coordinator of the competition (via a new email option in the Assignment tool).

To request a new community in Bb Vista, email the Online Learning Team at olt@drexel.edu. For questions about how the College of Law is using Bb Vista, contact Julie Allmayer at jha29@drexel.edu.

12. Does My Browser Work with Bb Vista?

Blackboard has announced that Bb Vista version 4 no longer supports AOL, Netscape, or Mozilla browsers for MS Windows computers. Windows machines do support Microsoft IE v.6 SP2 and v.7, as well as Firefox 1.5x and 1.6x. For Mac users, they list Safari 1.3.2.x and 2.x for Intel x86 platform. They are testing Firefox 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0.

To learn whether Blackboard supports the version of your browser with Vista 4, visit their website at http://www.blackboard.com. The direct link for PC and Mac users is:

http://www.webct.com/tuneup/viewpage?name=tuneup_browser_tuneup_information#browsers

In that table, use the row labeled Application Pack 2 for CE 6 and Vista 4.

Additional note: The other Vista - Windows Vista, the new Microsoft operating system - has been found to be compatible with, but is not yet expressly validated by Blackboard for use with, Bb Vista 4. Most individuals using Windows Vista will have good experiences with Bb Vista 4 when using Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox 2.0.

13. Tips: Tools, Tools, More Tools

* The Bb Vista 4 Grade Book contains a Comments area for instructors. This is an instructor's note to self, the student cannot see it. To give feedback to a student, use the Assignment tool or another form of communication.

* Check out the My Tool Options tab in the My Settings area. There you can establish universal defaults for yourself that will cascade through all your Sections in Bb Vista 4. For one example, you may want to have new Mail messages from students appear at the top of your in-box items.

* Use the new Grading Forms tool to link to other tools and to create customizable rubric sets. You start with three criteria and a five point Likert scale and alter it to suit your own purposes. Create as many Grading Forms as you need for your Section in Bb Vista 4 and use them to create columns in the Grade Book. Students can see the Grading Form details beforehand, giving them a clear picture of your expectations.

* The Goals tool allows you to record the goals for a course and to create categories to organize them. Associate the following content with any goal:

• assessments
• assignments
• chat rooms
• discussion topics
• learning modules
• media library collections
• a syllabus
• web links

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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