Bb Vista and Relative Resource Manager

Because it's database-driven, Blackboard Vista doesn't use real paths like WebCT Campus Edition did. Instead, it uses a "relative resource manager" to refer to the current Vista course section's root folder. Use the following URL to refer to the root of a particular course section:

/webct/RelativeResourceManager/Template/

Custom Links in the Course Tools Menu

If you need the entire URL (e.g. for custom links in the Course Tools menu [Manage Course > Add Custom Link]) simply add the server URL before the relative resource manager:

https://online.uen.org/webct/RelativeResourceManager/Template/

...and append your filename:

https://online.uen.org/webct/RelativeResourceManager/
Template/myfile.html

MediaWiki Fall Pilot: wikilearn.uvu.edu

After JR, RJ, and Tyrel investigated possible wiki platforms, Paul Nuffer has helped us set up a MediaWiki installation for UVU educational content.

Mediawiki is one of the top oss wiki platforms, and allows us to LDAP students into the system with directory-specific editing privileges. This means (hopefully) that Banner will send student accounts straight into wikilearn.uvu.edu, and students will login using standard UVID/password.

The URL is wikilearn.uvu.edu, though currently we are piloting it for fall with only subdirectories. I'll work on scripting an index page in the future.

Subdirectories will be added on a departmental level, so Computer Science will have wikilearn.uvu.edu/cs open for editing for their faculty and enrolled students. At this point our objective is to disallow anonymous editing and user account creation--the only wiki editors will be faculty and students (and possibly staff).

We can include wiki content pages into Bb Vista or Moodle courses in place of or in addition to regular content web pages. Similar to the Shadow Files system, the beauty here is that multiple courses can use the same content source. The source content in the wiki will be as current as faculty or students want it to be, and can be the base for a lot of cool collaborative student and faculty authoring projects.

For fall we are going to allow CS and DGM access to wikilearn.uvu.edu. Kirk Love and Nate Snapp will be using it for content in their CS courses, and I'm going to start transitioning some of my DGM stuff to it as well.

The library has asked for access for Spring, and hopefully we will be able to add more departments and courses as well. Spread the word.

Practice: Backing Up Last Semester's Courses

We are implementing a new maintenance procedure for all IDS Developers:

1. Access all of your maintenance courses for the previous semester


2. Make a backup of the course through it's LMS


3. Create a "_backup" folder within the first level of the specific semester/course folder on our network drive (e.g. courses\clss\2100\IN\083_haynes_mosholder\backup)


4. Download the backup to the "_backup" folder (in Bb Vista you must "Save as file" before downloading)


5. Delete all old backup files


6. Export the gradebook to the "_backup" folder

This should be done the 2nd week of each semester on the previous semester's courses

News Re. Moodle, Summer 2008

1. Starting immediately, the domain is http://open.uvu.edu i.e. UVSC --> UVU


2. http://open.uvsc.edu will remain live indefinitely, and your old user/passwords will still work there. No new courses will be built on open.uvsc.edu, though.


3. We have moved to Moodle 1.9 on a new server, and have installed all modules/plugins from the old server. No new plug-in requests will be processed, however, until we are confident in 1.9's stability.


4. Monty and Paul have successfully integrated with Banner LMB, meaning ALL USERS will use their regular UVLink username and password to login. Any password update in Banner will be propagated to Moodle automatically.


5. Course enrollment updates will also be propagated to Moodle automatically.


6. Using the My Moodle plugin, students and instructors will login and see only their own classes, as opposed to the full list of semesters and classes seen on older versions.

Blackboard Vista 4 Course Design Guidelines

A few Vista course construction protocols in addition to notes posted during our Blackboard Vista migration:

• Use banner.jpg on the homepage, not the front.jpg--that's too big with our current design.


• Lessons in Learning Modules should be complete: they need to be linear, and include any quizzes, discussions, or assignments attached to a given lesson.


• HIDING most Tool links in the Course Tools menu may reduce student confusion and encourage them to access activities in the proper order. This is done by going to Manage Course > Course Menu and HIDE on Assessments, Assignments, Discussions, Learning Modules--this is important because
  
  
  
  1. we don't want students to wander aimlessly--the lesson is the core of the course;
  
  
  2. the labels for these areas do not always match the instuctors' labels, adding more confusion
  
  
  3. these general areas often put items in "alphabetical order", also known as "arbitrary order". We manually structure learning modules for a reason.
  
  


• If lessons have titles or subtitles, put them in the Description field of the learning modules.


• Make sure the CSS files are referenced by course pages. This problem is evident if the font is a serif, rather than sans-serif, font.


• When making quizzes follow these guidlines unless specifically instructed not to:
  
  
  
  • Midnight should be interpreted as 11:55pm/11:59pm not 12:00am
  
  
  • Release the score once the quiz has been submitted and all the questions have been graded.
  
  
  • Do NOT 'Show the correct answer for each question.'
  
  
  • Randomize answer choices in multiple choice quizzes
  
  
  • Add questions to a quiz using a question set to randomize question order
  
  

Blackboard Patents Rejected in "Non-final" Determination