Technology Update - Feburary 10, 2011
Contents:
01. Important Changes to IBM SPSS (PASW) Licenses
02. 9th Annual e-Learning 2.0 Conference: Call for Proposals
03. e-Learning 2.0 Conference: Spread the Word!
04. Updates for Reference Manager 12 and Mac EndNote X4
05. New Vendor for Discount Computer Purchases
06. Introducing Prezi
07. Out of Office Assistant in Outlook
08. Aero Features in Windows 7: Aero Shake
Tips & Tricks
News & Notes from the Online Learning Team
09. Enter Text Comments into Bb Vista's Grade Book
10. Adding Poll Questions to Wimba Classroom
11. Use a Journal Topic in Bb Vista!
12. Naming Conventions for HTML Files Created in Bb Vista
13. Sign Up for OLT Workshops
Important Changes to IBM SPSS (PASW) Licenses
As a result of last year's acquisition of IBM SPSS (formerly PASW), Drexel's academic licensing options have changed.
IBM will be phasing out Drexel's license for the IBM SPSS student home-use option for privately-owned computers over the course of this year. Although the license will be discontinued after May 31, 2011, there will be a 30-day grace period before official discontinuation on June 30, 2011. However, for less than $100, students will be able to purchase the software from e-Academy (accessible under "Hardware and Software" in the "Drexel" tab in DrexelOne).
For faculty and staff, the licensing terms remain the same with one exception: Decision Trees has replaced the AnswerTree module. Decision Trees, which provides the same functionality as AnswerTree, is now available as a standalone product in our current license for IBM SPSS v. 18.
9th Annual e-Learning 2.0 Conference: Call for Proposals
Presentation proposals are currently being accepted for the 9th annual e-Learning 2.0 Conference, hosted by Drexel's Office of Information Resources and Technology. The conference will be held on Thursday, March 24, 2011, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Behrakis Grand Hall at the Creese Center. Past conferences have included presentations on leveraging existing and emerging technologies to augment face-to-face classes, teach hybrid Web-enhanced classes, and facilitate completely online, Web-delivered courses.
To submit a proposal, please visit the conference Web site at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/news/events/eLearningConf.
Last year's conference was a huge success, with more than 200 participants from 35 institutions all around the region! This is a tremendous opportunity for presenters to share their knowledge and expertise with an academic technology-focused, regional community. It promises to be a fantastic learning and networking event as well. A nominal registration fee will cover welcome materials, access to the presentations and keynote speaker sessions, a continental breakfast, lunch, afternoon refreshments, and a door prize drawing at the conclusion of the event.
Presentations should be approximately 50 minutes in length, and the deadline for proposal submission is February 25, 2011. Any questions or concerns can be directed to el2n@drexel.edu. We look forward to your participation in this year's event!
e-Learning 2.0 Conference: Spread the Word!
Do you have colleagues at other schools who would like to present at the e-Learning 2.0 Conference on March 24? If so, please refer them to the proposal submission form on the conference Web site at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/news/events/eLearningConf. Help us spread the word and make it a great event once again!
Updates for Reference Manager 12 and Mac EndNote X4M
There is now an easier way to update Word 2010's Reference Manager! The new version, 12.0.3, includes such updates as Cite While You Write for 64-bit operating systems, improved handling of duplicate reference IDs, and improvements to the "Find Citation" feature. To obtain the update, follow these steps:
- Open Reference Manager.
- Navigate to Help Menu > Updates.
- Follow the instructions provided to receive the update.
You can also download the update at http://www.refman.com/support/rm1203update.asp.
EndNote X4 for Mac also has a beta update available for Word 2011 that can be accessed here: http://endnote.com/enword2k7.asp. Users can choose to wait for a fully-tested update, or download the beta update for immediate use.
New Vendor for Discount Computer Purchases
Drexel has added another vendor to its listing of discount providers of computers and peripherals at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/computers/discounts. Hewlett-Packard/Compaq offers discounts on PERSONAL purchases of consumer products (typically up to 10% below starting price). This discount is available to:
- Current or incoming students attending Drexel University or its satellite campuses (U.S. residents only)
- Parents of current incoming students (U.S. residents only)
- Faculty and staff, including personnel on approved disability, medical, military, or personal leaves of absence (U.S. residents only)
- Alumni of Drexel University (continental U.S. residents only)
To shop HP online or by phone, visit http://www.drexel.edu/irt/computers/discounts and follow the Purchasing Instructions. You must provide the Drexel PIN included in the instructions in order to receive special pricing.
Introducing Prezi
Prezi is a new web-based presentation tool. Unlike PowerPoint, which utilizes a number of separate slides, Prezi allows you to create a presentation that takes place all on one large canvas. The content of the entire presentation is positioned throughout the canvas, which can be an image of a desktop, logo, landscape—you name it! The user then controls the camera, which can zoom in and out of each section of the presentation to create the "slides."
Try Prezi for free at http://prezi.com and spice up your presentations!
Out of Office Assistant in Outlook
Going on vacation or to a conference? Outlook's Out of Office Assistant can send customized automatic replies. If you are using Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 with Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010, the Out of Office Assistant allows you to send separate replies to contacts inside and outside your organization. You can also schedule when your out-of-office replies turn on and off. That way, you won't forget to turn them on as you're leaving, and your co-workers won't have to remind you to turn them off after you return.
To use the Out of Office Assistant, select "Out of Office Assistant" from the "Tools" menu in Outlook 2007. For Outlook 2010, click on the "File" tab and then the "Info" tab in the menu, then select "Automatic Replies (out of office)."
Aero Features in Windows 7: Aero Shake
This is the second in a series of articles about the new Aero features in Windows 7. Aero is a collection of visual enhancements designed to make the Windows 7 user interface simpler and more efficient.
If you want to clear your desktop of all open windows and documents except for the one you are working in, you can take advantage of Aero Shake. With Shake, all you need to do is hover your mouse over the title bar of the window you want to keep open, click and hold the left mouse button, and give the window a quick shake. All other open windows will be minimized to the taskbar. To restore the windows, just give the open window another shake.
Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks are helpful articles that address a variety of Windows and Mac applications. Click on one of the links below to view the full article:
Create a SharePoint Wiki
A SharePoint wiki is designed to facilitate collaborative knowledge management within an organization. Using a SharePoint wiki, your department or group can document business processes and record institutional knowledge for future reference. As new processes and procedures are developed, they can be added to the wiki.
To get started with wikis:
- Navigate to the SharePoint site where you would like to create the wiki.
- Go to Site Actions > Create.
- Under Libraries, choose "Wiki Page Library."
- Title the wiki in the "Name" field.
- Add a description (optional).
- Decide whether or not you would like a link to the wiki to be placed in the left-hand "Quick Launch" menu.
- Click "Create."
A new wiki document library will be created with two default wiki pages. Edit the default home page to clearly state the purpose of the wiki and create a table of contents that will define the wiki's structure. The table of contents can be created using "forward links," which will create a new wiki page when they are clicked. The "How To Use This Wiki Library" page provides further instructions along with special syntax that you can use to build your wiki pages.
You can use the "Compare" feature in Word 2007 to easily compare document versions and see exactly what changes were made.
- Click the "Review" tab, click the "Compare" button, and then click "Compare" again.
- Choose the original document and the revised version that you want to compare.
- For additional settings, click the "More" button. You can choose to show changes in the original document, the revised document, or a new document.
If you are working with a PowerPoint slide, there is an easy way to select very small objects or objects that are covered up by other, larger objects. Simply press the "ESC" key to ensure that nothing is currently selected, and then press the "Tab" key repeatedly. This will cycle you through all of the objects (and placeholders) on the slide.
Wrapping Text Around Images in Word
Have you ever had trouble inserting a picture into a Word document? All of the text can get shoved down the page as your image takes over that entire section of the document. Here's how you can insert an image so that the text wraps neatly around it:
- First, insert a text box anywhere in the document by selecting "Text Box" from the "Insert" tab. Then, move the text box so that it is positioned where you want the image to appear (don't worry if it is temporarily covering up text).
- Right-click on the edge of the text box and select "Format Text Box." Under the "Colors and Lines" tab, make sure "Line Color" is set to "No Color." Then, under the "Layout" tab, ensure that "Square" is selected. Click "OK."
- The text box should now be invisible, with text wrapping cleanly around it. Click anywhere inside the text box and select "Picture" from the "Insert" tab to insert your image.
You can easily insert the current date or time into your Excel spreadsheet by using keyboard shortcuts! To insert today's date, press "Ctrl" + ";" (semicolon). To insert the current time, press "Ctrl" + "Shift" + ":" (colon) simultaneously.
News & Notes from the Online Learning Team
Enter Text Comments into Bb Vista's Grade Book
If you would like to provide students with feedback on a midterm or final evaluation that is not associated with an assessment or assignment, you can easily add text comments to the Bb Vista Grade Book and have them display in the students' My Grades tool. To do so:
- From the "Teach" tab, select the Grade Book under "Instructor Tools" in the left-hand pane.
- Create a new Text column by selecting "Create Column" > "Text."
- Enter a name for the column and click "Save."
- Click the ActionLink next to the name of the new column and select "Edit Values."
- In the "Change to" box, type your comments for each student (or copy and paste them from a Word document that you created previously). Do not type any comments in the "Comment" boxes, as these are for grade auditing only and will not be displayed to students.
- Click "Save" at the bottom of the screen.
- To verify that your comments are visible to students, click on the "Student View" tab and then click on the "My Grades" tool under "My Tools" in the left-hand pane. You should see the comment that was entered for the Demo Student.
If the comment you entered is not visible in the "Student View" tab, there are two possible reasons: (1) the "My Grades" tool is not enabled or is hidden from students, or (2) the column has not been released to students in the Grade Book.
If the "My Grades" tool does not appear in the "Student View" tab:
- Ensure that the "My Grades" tool is enabled by clicking on "Manage Course" (under Designer Tools in the "Build" tab or Instructor Tools in the "Teach" tab), selecting "Tools," and then making sure the box next to "My Grades" at the bottom of the screen is checked (if not, check the box and click "Save" at the bottom of the screen).
- Ensure that the "My Grades" tool is not hidden from students by clicking on "Manage Course," then "Course Menu." Ensure that a "Hide Link" button appears next to "My Grades" at the bottom of the screen (meaning that the "My Grades" tool is visible to students). If the button says "Show Link," click on it so that "Hide Link" appears.
If the "My Grades" tool appears in the "Student View" tab but no comments are visible, ensure that the column has been released to students:
- In the Grade Book, click on the "Grade Book Options" button in the upper right-hand corner, and select "Column Settings."
- At the intersection of the "Released to Student" row and the column containing the comments, you should see the word "Yes." If not, click "No" to toggle it to "Yes."
Adding Poll Questions to Wimba Classroom
Do you want to poll your class or audience? In Wimba Classroom, you can create multiple choice questions, open-ended questions, or questionnaires (one-page surveys containing multiple-choice and/or open-ended questions):
- From the "Teach" tab, click on the icon for the Wimba Classroom in which you want to add polling questions. (If you do not already have a classroom, create a new one on the "Build" tab by selecting "Add Content Link" > "Live Classroom" > "Create Live Classroom.")
- Instead of entering the room, click "Add & Manage Content" in the upper right-hand corner, and then click "Add & Manage Room Content."
- Click the "Default Content Folder." (If you prefer to store the polling questions in a separate folder, click "New Folder," enter a folder name and click "Create," and then click on the folder name.)
- Under "Or Create New Poll," choose the type of polling question you want and click "Create."
- Enter text in the appropriate fields and choose the color combination you want. (Yellow text on a blue background is very readable, as are many other possibilities.)
- Click "Save Changes" at the bottom.
- To add additional polling questions, click the "New Content" button and repeat steps 4 through 6 above.
Click "Enter Room" to enter the room, or close the folder view and enter the classroom through the usual "Enter this Room" link.
Use a Journal Topic in Bb Vista!
A journal topic is a type of discussion in Bb Vista. Instructors can create private or public journals, make authors anonymous, or enable grading or peer review for the journal. To set up a journal topic:
- From the "Build" tab, click "Add Content Link."
- Click "Discussions."
- Click "Create Discussion Topic."
- Select "Journal topic," and click "Next."
- On the next screen, enter a title for the journal topic and select the desired options for grading, peer review, journal privacy, etc. When you are finished, click "Save."
If you would like additional information about journal topics or need general assistance with Bb Vista, please contact the Online Learning Team at olt@drexel.edu or 215-895-1224.
Naming Conventions for HTML Files Created in Bb Vista
An HTML file that is created in Bb Vista (by going to Add File > Create File) cannot contain a backslash (\), forward slash (/), or a quotation mark (") in its title. Additionally, the title cannot end with a period. If you wish to use any of these characters, you should first create the file and then add the characters by clicking on the ActionLinks menu next to the file name and selecting "Edit Properties" or "Customize Link."
Sign Up for OLT Workshops
The Online Learning Team conducts training sessions on Blackboard (Bb) Vista, Camtasia, DragonDrop, Dreamweaver, Mac OS X, Respondus, SharePoint, Snap, and Wimba Classroom. In addition, several brown bag lunches and workshops on technology products of interest (Microsoft Windows 7, Office 2010, PowerPoint, Turnitin, GIMP, Audacity, etc.) are held each month. These training sessions are open to members of Drexel's community as well as the general public.
To reserve a spot at any of these workshops, email us at olt@drexel.edu with your name, institution (if other than Drexel), contact information, and the name of the workshop(s) you would like to attend.
Below is a sampling of workshops taking place in February and March:
Recording and Editing with Camtasia for Mac
Tuesday, March 15, 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Bb Vista Full Day Workshop
Wednesday, March 16, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Learning with the iPad
Wednesday, February 16, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
DragonDrop Basic Training
Thursday, February 24, 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Visit our Web site at
http://www.drexel.edu/IRT/help/workshops for our complete training schedule and workshop descriptions. Unless otherwise noted, all training sessions will be held in room 116 of the Korman Center (off the Quad on Drexel's Main Campus, 33rd Street between Market and Chestnut Streets).