How do you make sure that your online class runs smoothly for everyone? You really can’t! But you can encourage best practices to free up bandwidth so that those who don’t have the best connection to the internet don’t struggle with staying connected. I based this documentation off of best practices from Blackboard, and customized… Continue reading Improve Session Connectivity in an Online Session
Bridging the Gap with E-Portfolios
Faculty Summer Institute Summer 2017 Recent studies confirm the important contribution that e-portfolios can offer to courses intended as professional training in a variety of areas; yet, the adoption of this tool in higher education is not widespread. A collaboration between an instructor and an eLearning professional on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus… Continue reading Bridging the Gap with E-Portfolios
Respondus and Internet Explorer
Ever since we moved our authentication method to Shibboleth, Respondus will not likely connect to our Blackboard Learn environment unless Internet Explorer is running in the background. The process of troubleshooting with people over the phone, working with Respondus support, and re-using this documentation over and over has taken up more time than I’m willing to… Continue reading Respondus and Internet Explorer
I want to share a file, but I don’t want my students to download it
It’s a very common use case that an instructor will have some scholarly work that they want to share. This document may very well not be a final draft, so they don’t want their students to download it. This functionality is not native to Blackboard Learn, but it’s certainly possible to achieve this by using… Continue reading I want to share a file, but I don’t want my students to download it
Respondus and Online Tests
Respondus is Windows-only software that lets instructors author and configure online tests while offline. Respondus not only runs on just Windows, it looks like old software, but it’s hard to dispute it’s value. I wrote this documentation years ago and it’s still useful today, mostly because the software really hasn’t changed. I also created a… Continue reading Respondus and Online Tests
Print an Online Test!?
Yes, there are many reasons why someone would want this. I spelled it out on the Blackboard Community Website. Until it’s a native feature within Blackboard Learn, we are going to need to maintain documentation on how to use Respondus to print out a Blackboard Online Test. https://answers.uillinois.edu/65113
Blackboard Collaborate Instructor Guide
One of the nice things about my job is that I can “steal” perfectly good documentation that’s publicly available and make some small adjustments to it to fit the needs of our campus. Such is the case with our Blackboard Collaborate Original “Instructor Guide.” Tip of the hat to the outstanding staff at the iSchool’s… Continue reading Blackboard Collaborate Instructor Guide
Help! Students can’t see the test!
Many instructors give high stakes tests online (think midterms or finals) after hours. Thanks to automation, an instructor can release an online test after standard business hours. Unfortunately, this is the worst time to have tech issues, but it happens. People using automation tools to release exams nested in folders that have their own date/time… Continue reading Help! Students can’t see the test!
The Illinois Compass 2g Advisory Group
Spring 2014 IT Professionals Forum In October 2012 during the migration to Blackboard Learn, Technology Services reached out to departments and individuals across campus to establish the Illinois Compass 2g Advisory Group. This poster covers strategies used to promote the involvement of faculty, students, and staff to increase alignment between their needs, campus services and… Continue reading The Illinois Compass 2g Advisory Group
IT Services Brochure
Once upon a time I designed and created a promotional brochure for IT services on the UofI campus. I used Photoshop and Illustrator to create this, and I remain quite proud of the final product. My job duties have since shifted away from creating promotional materials, but I do create outward facing documentation on a… Continue reading IT Services Brochure