December 08
Contents:
01. Attention! Cessation of Virus Definition Updates for Symantec 9
02. Microsoft Office 2010 Availability
03. Restructuring of IRT Mass Email Lists
04. Windows Live Spaces is Moving to WordPress.com
05. Need Computer Repairs? Call the Computer Fixer at Drexel
06. New Web Development Classes Available in January!
07. Windows 7 Accessibility Series: Speech Recognition
Tips & Tricks
News & Notes from the Online Learning Team
12. Why Can't My Students See Their Grades in Bb Vista?
13. Blackboard Vista: Faculty Quick Tutorials
14. Copying Assessments in Bb Vista
15. Mac Firefox Users: HTML Creator Now Available in Bb Vista
16. Setting Up a Bb Vista Assessment to Randomly Select Questions
17. Safari 5 and Bb Vista
18. Sign Up for OLT Workshops
1. Attention! Cessation of Virus Definition Updates for Symantec 9
The official end of support life for Symantec Anti-virus 9 was March 31, 2009. However, a small number of users who purchased content extensions were given a grace period to access updated virus definitions as they became available. On April 30, 2011, that grace period will end. Any virus definitions for SAV 9 will no longer provide the best virus protection—and the software will also no longer work on Windows 9.X or Windows NT machines. Any users of SAV 9 are thus encouraged to migrate to Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.
SEP 11 can be downloaded from Drexel’s software server at https://software.drexel.edu. Simply log in with your DrexelOne credentials to access the software. Please be sure to read the readme (.txt) file included in the download area for SEP 11.
For questions or concerns, contact the IRT Help Desk at consult@drexel.edu or 215-895-2020.
2. Microsoft Office 2010 Availability
Microsoft Office 2010 Availability Microsoft Office 2010, now available for download at https://software.drexel.edu, will require your computer to contact a Drexel license server during installation and at least once every six months. If your computer has not contacted the license server through Drexel’s network within this timeframe, the software will no longer function until that contact is made. Because the license server is only accessible through the Drexel network, off-campus users will need to use Drexel’s VPN software to connect to the network.
Since faculty and staff office computers are almost always connected to the network, VPN access is not necessary. However, employees with notebooks/laptops, students on co-op, or students living off-campus will need to use the VPN software to contact the license server.
Drexel’s VPN software is available online at https://vpn.drexel.edu. Navigate to the Web address and log in with your Drexel username and password. When the VPN Service Web page opens, click “Start AnyConnect.”
Alternatively, consider purchasing your own copy of Office 2010 for about $10 through eAcademy. With your own copy, contact with the license server is not necessary. To access eAcademy, log into DrexelOne (http://one.drexel.edu), click the “Drexel” tab, and click eAcademy’s link in the “Hardware and Software” section.
NOTE: Office 2011 for Mac is expected to be available on the software server very soon. It will not require contact with the Drexel license server.
3. Restructuring of IRT Mass Email Lists
The Mass Mailing Team in IRT has updated the structure of the Drexel Announcements and Drexel Official mass email lists. This restructuring allows for increased precision in the selection of recipients for general University mailings.
As a result of the restructuring, some individuals may no longer receive certain email announcements (e.g., online students will stop receiving parking announcements for Drexel’s Main Campus). If mass email announcements that are of interest to you are no longer being delivered to your account, please email the Mass Mailing Team at mailreq@drexel.edu.
As always, if you would like to unsubscribe from voluntary lists (i.e. Drexel Daily Digest or Drexel Announcements), log in with your DrexelOne credentials at https://www.drexel.edu/irt/subscriptions to manage your subscriptions.
Departments and student organizations who submit mass mailing requests can learn more about the change and newly-available options for selecting the best target audience at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/email/mailinglists/about/restructure.
4. Windows Live Spaces is Moving to WordPress.com
If you use Windows Live Spaces (blogging service accessible through e.g. the LinkEdu Exchange Labs accounts), please be aware that Spaces will be migrating to WordPress.com as of March 16, 2011. You will not be able to make any further changes to your content beginning January 4, 2011 (though you will still be able to view and download older content). On March 16, Windows Live Spaces will be shut down permanently.
So what are your options? When you visit your Spaces page, you’ll be given the following options:
- Upgrade your blog by migrating it to WordPress.com
- Download your blog and save content locally (you can migrate it later)
- Delete your blog
- Decide what to do later (but before January 4)
Why is this migration occurring? According to the Windows Live Team, they are collaborating with WordPress.com to offer a variety of service upgrades and richer blog functionality. Improvements include better spam-fighting technology and continuous, automatic saving of drafts.
Although the migration and upgrades might inconvenience users, the good news is that the service will remain free.
For more information, see the following news article at WordPress.com: http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/welcome-windows-live-spaces-bloggers.
5. Need Computer Repairs? Call the Computer Fixer at Drexel
The Computer Fixer, an independently-operated service located on the lower level of the Korman Center (http://www.thecomputerfixer.com/directions.php), is the University's preferred personal computer repair service. Computer Fixer can provide most of the warranty-covered work on departmental equipment, thus eliminating the need to contact Apple, Dell, IBM/Lenovo or Sony directly.
The Computer Fixer can provide in-warranty and out-of-warranty repairs on PCs, Macs, notebooks, and laptops, as well as printers and other peripherals. Additional services include:
- Data recovery and online data backup
- Data transfer (from old computers and hard drives to new ones)
- Computer setup and installation
Additionally, low-cost service plans are available that guarantee repairs for four years.
For more information, visit http://www.thecomputerfixer.com, email jpowell@thecomputerfixer.com, or call 215-387-5900. You can also visit The Computer Fixer on the lower level of the Korman Center.
6. New Web Development Classes Available in January!
Beginning in January, new Web development workshops will be available to the Drexel community:
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Web Basics I & II will introduce users to basic Web concepts, fundamental HTML coding, and best practices for Web design and Web content.
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Web Content Editing with Dreamweaver will focus on adding and editing content for pre-existing Web pages and Web sites using the Dreamweaver editor.
Attendees of both workshops will learn best practices for formatting text and adding media to Web pages. Additionally, they will discover some tools that make text conversion from multiple sources easier and more efficient.
To view date, time, and location information, visit the Workshops page at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/help/workshops. To register for any of the sessions, email olt@drexel.edu. We hope to offer more classes on Web development topics in the future, so remember to check the Workshops page frequently!
7. Windows 7 Accessibility Series: Speech Recognition
Second in our series about the Microsoft Ease of Access Center:
Windows Speech Recognition is a handy feature in Windows 7 that can recognize and respond to spoken commands to interact with the computer, or to dictate on-screen text. Speech Recognition can also be used to Navigate Windows 7, run programs, surf the Web, and edit text on the computer. This feature is especially useful for individuals with a visual or manual impairment because it allows them to control their computer with their voices and have text read back to them. Additional equipment, such as a microphone, is required.
You can enable Speech Recognition through the Ease of Access Center, located under Start > Control Panel. A Speech Tutorial is available for learning basic commands and dictation. You can also click "Train your computer to better understand you" in order to improve dictation accuracy.
For more information about using common speech commands and dictating to your computer, visit http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Set-up-Speech-Recognition.
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:
Make Faster Deletions in Word Using the Control Key
"Print to Fit" in Excel 2007
Enter Text the Easy Way in PowerPoint 2007!
Windows 7 Tips and Tricks
News & Notes from the Online Learning Team
12. Why Can't My Students See Their Grades in Bb Vista?
When students can’t see their grades for a particular item in Bb Vista, it is usually because the My Grades tool is not enabled or is hidden from students, and/or the grade has not been released to students in the Grade Book.
To ensure that the My Grades tool is enabled:
- Click on “Manage Course” (under Designer Tools in the “Build” tab or Instructor Tools in the “Teach” tab), click on “Tools,” and then make 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).
- To ensure that the My Grades tool is not hidden from students, go to “Manage Course,” click on “Course Menu,” and 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.
To ensure that the grades for the item have been released to students:
- Go into the Grade Book (under Instructor Tools in the “Teach” tab), click on the "Grade Book Options" button in the upper right, and select "Column Settings."
- At the intersection of the “Released to Student” row and the column for the item in question, you should see the word “Yes” appearing. If not, click “No” to toggle it to “Yes.”
To ensure that grades are now visible to students for the item in question, return to the Grade Book’s main screen, enter a grade for the item for the Demo Student in the Grade Book, switch over to the “Student View” tab, and then click on the My Grades tool to ensure that you can see the grade. If so, then your students can see their grades too!
13. Blackboard Vista: Faculty Quick Tutorials
Have you considered putting your syllabus and other course materials online for easier student access? Do you need a fast and easy way to email students and make course announcements? If you are not already using Blackboard (Bb) Vista, it's not too late to start! Bb Vista is the University’s standard learning management system used at Drexel for blended (hybrid) or fully online courses. However, faculty who are teaching face-to-face courses can also benefit from using Bb Vista.
To get started, visit http://drexel.edu/irt/coursetools/toolList/bbvista/help/faculty/onlineQuickStart to watch a series of quick tutorials (3-5 minutes in length).
14. Copying Assessments in Bb Vista
Did you know that you can copy assessments from one Bb Vista section to another? Copying assessments is a two-fold process: You must first export the assessments from the source section before importing them to the destination section (see instructions below). Additionally, in order to perform the export and the import, you must be enrolled as the Section Designer of the source and the destination sections.
Export the Assessment(s) from the Source Section
- From Bb Vista Home, click on the source section.
- From the “Build” tab, click on the Assessments tool.
- Export the assessment(s):
- To export a single assessment, click the ActionLinks icon next to the assessment and click “Export.”
- To export multiple assessments, select the check box next to each assessment you want to export, and click the “Export” button at the bottom of the screen.
- In the “Browse for Location” screen, ensure that Class Files is selected, and then click on the name of the destination section in the left-hand pane.
- In the “Save as” box, enter a name for the .zip file. Lowercase letters are recommended for file names.
- Click “OK,” and then click “Return” once the export process has completed.
- Click on the Bb Vista Home link in the upper right-hand corner to return to the Course List.
Import the Assessment(s) to the Destination Section
- Click on the destination section in the Bb Vista course list.
- In the “Build” tab under Designer Tools, or the “Teach” tab under Instructor Tools, click “Manage Course,” then click “Import.”
- Select the .zip file you exported from the source section and click “OK.”
- After the content package finishes importing, click “Return.”
- Click on the Assessments tool to view the imported assessment(s).
If you have any questions, please contact the Online Learning Team at olt@drexel.edu or 215-895-1224.
15. Mac Firefox Users: HTML Creator Now Available in Bb Vista
If you have a Mac and prefer to use Mozilla Firefox as your browser, here's a bit of good news: Bb Vista's HTML Creator is now available and functional. For some time, the button that launches the HTML Creator simply did not appear in Firefox on a Mac. The recently-installed Service Pack 4 for Bb Vista addressed this issue.
Functionality of the HTML Creator has been verified in both Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) and 10.6 (Snow Leopard) using the latest version of Firefox (3.6.12). In areas of Bb Vista where you can use the HTML Creator (editing page headers/footers, composing mail messages or discussion board posts, etc.), simply click the "Enable HTML Creator" button to launch it. The first time you do so, it might take a minute or two for your computer to download the necessary Java applet. For subsequent uses, it will load normally.
If you have any problems using the HTML Creator in Firefox on your Mac, please ensure that you have the latest version of Firefox (3.6.12) by selecting "About Mozilla Firefox" from the Firefox menu. (If you don't have the latest version, select "Check for Updates" from the Help menu.) If you are running the latest version and are still encountering problems, please email olt@drexel.edu or call 215-894-1224.
16. Setting Up a Bb Vista Assessment to Randomly Select Questions
Using question sets and presenting randomly-selected questions to students in a random order is a powerful way to ensure integrity in online assessments. Other sets can be automatically scrambled as well. Bb Vista can do it for you.
Let’s say you have a set of 50 questions in Bb Vista and would like the system to randomly choose 20 of them to be presented to students in a random sequence. Here’s how you can accomplish this:
- Click on the “Build” Tab, and then click on Assessments in the left-hand pane.
- Click on “Create Assessment.” If you have already created an assessment containing the questions (but did not include them in a “Question Set”), click on the name of the assessment, check the box in the header row to select all of the questions, and then click the “Remove” button at the bottom of the screen. (NOTE: Removing questions from an assessment removes them only from the assessment; they still exist in the “Question Database.”) Then, follow the instructions starting with step 4 below to re-add the questions using a “Question Set.”
- Enter a title for your assessment, and then click “Save and Add Questions” at the bottom of the screen.
- Click on the “Add to Assessment” button and select “Question Set.” This will bring you to the “Question Database.”
- Check the boxes next to the 50 questions you would like to include in the assessment.
Tip: Expand only the category containing the questions you would like to include, and then check the box in the header row to select all of them at once.
- Click the “Add Selected” button at the bottom of the screen. This will return you to the assessment.
- Note the line that reads "Question Set Select: 1 x 10.” Using the dropdown menu, change the 1 to 20 (to display 20 questions). Also, adjust the point value assigned to each question in the “Points” box (e.g. for a 100-point assessment that contains 20 questions, enter the number 5).
- Click the “Update Total” button at the bottom of the screen.
- If there are multiple attempts allowed for the assessment, you can randomize the ordering of the 20 questions for each attempt. Click on the ActionLinks menu next to the name of the assessment at the top of the screen, and then select “Edit Properties.” Under “Attempts,” check the box next to “Randomize questions in a question set for each attempt” and click “Save” at the bottom of the screen. If you do not check this box, the ordering of the questions will remain the same from one attempt to the next.
- Modify additional settings for the assessment as needed. If the assessment is a newly-created one, remember to unhide it by selecting “Show Item” from the ActionLinks menu.
17. Safari 5 and Bb Vista
Currently, Safari 5 is not yet certified for use with Bb Vista, so there are some features that will not work properly. Specifically, the HTML Creator might not launch in certain instances.
Until full support for Safari 5 is enabled with a future update of Bb Vista, the only fully-supported, certified browsers for the Mac are Safari 4 and Firefox 3.6.
Blackboard Inc. tests and certifies emerging browsers and new versions on a regular basis. We fully expect that Safari 5 will be certified soon. Stay tuned for further news.
If you are a Safari user and have any questions about browser compatibility with Bb Vista, please contact the Online Learning Team at olt@drexel.edu or 215-895-1224.
18. 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, space permitting.
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 December and January:
Desktop and Presentation Recording: Camtasia Relay
Thursday, January 6, 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Bb Vista Full Day Workshop
Friday, December 17, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Producing Online Lectures Using PowerPoint
Thursday, December 9, noon – 1:30 p.m.
Wimba Classroom and Other Wimba Tools
Wednesday, December 8, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.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).