Last updated: July 30, 2008

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Changes to Blackboard Vista as a result of Banner implementation

 

• Blackboard Vista courses are automatically created and populated with students


Beginning with the Fall 2008 semester, faculty and staff no longer need to request that their academic courses be created in Blackboard or to have them populated with students. As a result of the Banner implementation, all for-credit, academic courses are pushed from Banner to Blackboard, already populated with student rosters. Instructors are assigned in Banner. An instructor may add a TA, Designer or additional instructor to a Blackboard Vista section.
Shortly before the semester begins, instructors (as designated by their departmental schedule deputy) will see a new Blackboard section or sections when they log in to the "My Blackboard" page. These sections have been generated by Banner and instructors are automatically enrolled as Instructor/Designer of the class in Blackboard. The class title will have this format:
       Fall 2008 - EDCI 27000-001 (this example is for EDCI 270).
The Banner-generated classes are basically empty "shells" into which you can build content as usual, or into which you can copy content from other Blackboard sections.

• Your Preparation for Fall Semester


If you are currently developing class materials in Blackboard in a previously-taught class or development class of your own, you will want to copy the content from that class into the Banner-generated class section before the Fall semester begins.
Please note: If you want to combine two or more of your classes so that they will be taught from only one Blackboard class, you will want to wait to open and enter your Banner-generated class until after you have set up "cross-listing", which will allow you to combine multiple Blackboard classes into one. Until that time, you can continue to prepare your class content in a non-Banner generated Blackboard section. More information about the cross-listing application follows.
When you are ready to copy content into your Banner-generated class, do the following:
1. On the "My Blackboard" page, click the name of the Banner-generated class.
2. At the "Assign Course Content" screen that appears, click to select the radio button next to "Copy content from another course", then click Continue.
3. A list of courses for which you are a Section Designer will appear. Note that if you have more than 10 courses, you will need to change the paging (in the lower right) to see them all.
4. Click to select the radio button next to the course that you want to copy into your Banner-generated section, then click Continue.
5. An activity bar will appear as the section content is copied. The copy process will take anywhere from a few moments to a few minutes.
6. After you've gone through the copy process, do any further development of your semester's class content in the Banner-generated section of the class only.

If you have not done any content development for Fall 2008 and want to begin development with a new, empty class, you should do the following:

1. On the "My Blackboard" page, click the name of the Banner-generated class.
2. At the "Assign Course Content" screen that appears, click to select the radio button next to "Set up a blank course", then click Continue.
All courses pushed from Banner into Blackboard have a term or semester associated with them. Each term has a start and end date and this date range determines when courses are visible to students. By default, students will not see a Vista section until the term starts or after a term ends; however, an instructor does have the ability to change this setting if needed. For the Fall 2008 semester, the term date range is August 25 through December 20.

Important: Students will not be able to enter a Vista course until the section Designer has logged in and applied a template or other course content. Until that is done, students will receive a message stating the course is unavailable and to check with the course administrator.

• Student Enrollment


Instructors no longer need to request "autopopulation", i.e. request to have students added to their Vista section. Students are automatically enrolled into the Banner-generated class in Blackboard. This means that when you enter your Banner-generated class and open up your Blackboard grade book, you will see the list of students currently enrolled in your class.
Banner will process all drops and adds and push these to your Blackboard grade book. It will no longer be possible for instructors to add or remove students or auditors through the grade book; additions will only be made through Banner. However, an instructor assigned in Banner may add a Teaching Assistant, Course Designer or additional instructor to a Blackboard section.

• Where courses are placed in Blackboard


Since all for-credit, academic courses are pushed from Banner to Blackboard, they will be in the same West Lafayette Academic Campus instance of Blackboard. There are now three West Lafayette Blackboard institutions:
• West Lafayette Academic Campus
• West Lafayette Open Campus
• OnePurdue (to be renamed this fall)
For more information about these institutions and how they are used, see: http://www.itap.purdue.edu/tlt/blackboard/institutions.cfm

• Web Applications to Support Blackboard


Because of Banner-related changes, the Section Creation web application and the Add Instructor/TA tool have been temporarily removed from the TLT web site. TLT is currently testing new versions of these applications to assist faculty with administering their Blackboard classes. Use of these tools will be restricted to the Instructor Of Record (as assigned in Banner) and the newly-created Banner role, Course Roster Viewer:
1. Add Instructor/Designer/Teaching Assistant application: to add others to the Instructor, Designer, and/or Teaching Assistant role.
2. Cross-listing application: to group together more than one Blackboard section into a single Blackboard section (put multiple student rosters into one Blackboard class)
These applications will be made available before the Fall semester begins.

• Combining multiple Blackboard Vista sections


Cross-listing in Blackboard Vista allows multiple Vista sections in any course to be selected and grouped together. This allows an instructor to combine rosters and content into one parent section, avoiding the need to create duplicate content across multiple sections. This application is not yet available, but will be in place for the beginning of the fall semester.
Blackboard cross listed sections need to be created prior to any student activity or content assigned in the individual sections. Only the designated Instructor or Course Roster Viewer (assigned by your Departmental Schedule Deputy) has the ability to create a cross-listed section.

• If you need assistance



• Blackboard orientations and workshops are scheduled throughout the semester. On-line tutorials are also available. For a complete catalog of training opportunities and materials, visit the ITaP Training web site at http://www.itap.purdue.edu/training/
• For one-on-one assistance, schedule a consultation with an Instructional Designer.
• Help is also available from the ITaP Customer Service Center by sending email to itap@purdue.edu, calling 494-4000 or visiting STEW G-65.

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Improvements made to Software Remote

Users of Software Remote will notice the following improvements this fall as a result of upgrading to Web Interface 4.6 and Presentation Server 4.5 on August 17th.

• Improved download and deployment of Citrix clients.
  The web interface provides a new client detection and deployment process, which includes reconfiguring the web browser, where appropriate.
• Persistent URLs and Bookmarks.
  Users will be able to launch published applications directly using URLs, rather than browsing the web interface application list first.
• Improved drive mapping.
  Local drive mappings now work as expected and are correctly labelled, making it easier to save content onto your local computer. Local drive is now "c" instead of "v".
• Improved Workspace control.
  This feature provides the user the capability of quickly disconnecting and reconnecting to both disconnected and active applications.

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TLT introduces new web-based survey software for faculty, staff and students

ITaP’s Teaching and Learning Technologies is pleased to make Qualtrics survey software available to support teaching and research at Purdue. Qualtrics was selected because it combines exceptional ease of use with an advanced set of features. Qualtrics has:

• an easy-to-use interface
• a wizard to help build surveys
• more than 200 prebuilt survey templates
• multiple distribution options
• integrated graphics and statistical tools
• the ability to download data into Excel and SPSS
• many report options

Qualtrics will be made available this fall and will replace Hosted Survey. TLT consultants will assist Hosted Survey users capture any data that needs to be saved. If you have a Hosted Survey account that you no longer use and do not have data that you need to save, please let us know by sending a quick email to jrantz@purdue.edu and we’ll delete your Hosted Survey account.

TLT is currently working to integrate this new survey tool with Purdue career accounts. Look for more news about this exciting new tool in coming weeks!

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Software changes in the Instructional Computing Labs

Over the summer, TLT will upgrade many standard software programs that are available in the ITaP instructional computing labs. The following products are tentatively slated for upgrade. Final versions and additional information will be listed as they become known.

Windows software

• AutoCAD 2008
• Autodesk 2008 Design Suite:
  • Autodesk 3ds Max 2008
  • Autodesk Combustion 2008
  • Autodesk Inventor 2008
  • Autodesk Revit 2008
• eInstruction version 5.0
• SPSS 15.0.1 and SPSS 15.0.1.1
  • Patches to correct various issues with SPSS 15.0

Macintosh software

• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium
• Adobe Contribute CS3
• Adobe Fireworks CS3
  • Miscellaneous updates; no major version changes
• Autodesk Maya – 2008
• EndNote - X1.01
• iLife ’08
  • GarageBand, iDVD, iMovie, iWeb (purchase pending)
• iTunes - 7.6.1
• Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard"
  • May be upgraded to 10.5.3
• MATLAB - R2008a
• Microsoft Office 2008 (Entourage, Excel, PowerPoint, Word – 2008)
• QuickTime - 7.4.1
• RealPlayer
  • Version 11.0 beta available 11/14/2007. Upgrade will depend on timing of version 11 final release.
• Shockwave Player 11
• StuffIt Expander 12.0.1

Departmental software applications slated for removal

• Business Chinese
• HyperCard 2.1
• Japanese Tools
• Phonetic Symbol Guide
• Portuguese exercises
• PSY 320 - apSim & pspSim
• SignStream
• Sound of the World's Languages, SOWL UCLA Phonetics

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FrontPage to remain for one more semester

FrontPage will remain in the instructional labs through the fall semester. FrontPage was discontinued in 2006 and is not part of the Microsoft Office 2007 suite. Instructors who are still relying on this software should be aware that it is no longer supported and its viability is uncertain. Each time a change is made to the lab environment, as new software is installed or upgrades are made, there is a chance FrontPage will no longer run. Instructors should plan on using alternative software for the spring semester.

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Windows Vista delayed

Windows Vista will not be deployed in the instructional labs until Summer 2009. However, we are now reinstalling departmental software in preparation for this move.

All instructors who have software currently installed for use in the ITaP Windows instructional computer labs will need to provide the media to ITaP Learning Spaces so that it can be reinstalled in time for start of semester Fall 2009. Any software that is not reinstalled will not be available once Windows Vista is fully deployed. Please begin making arrangements asap.

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Classroom Upgrades

Several new Technology In the Classroom (TIC) sites will be added, providing an ITaP instructional Windows computer with projection and sound.

• EE 234
• EE 236
• HEAV 110
• HEAV 111
• HEAV 206

For a complete list of TIC sites, visit Technology In the Classroom (TIC).

eInstruction upgrade to CPS 5.0

The eInstruction Classroom Performance System will undergo a major upgrade this summer to version 5. The most noticeable change with CPS 5.0 will be the more intuitive user interface, making navigation much easier and a much more stable product. Other changes include an improved gradebook, additional supported file types and improved workflow. eInstruction is already working on an upgrade to the new version that may also be installed this summer, depending upon when it’s released. The 5.x upgrade will offer even bigger benefits, such as the ability to use a clicker “out of the box” and improved Blackboard support of large classes.

New hardware

During the summer, almost 900 desktop computers will be replaced in the instructional labs.

• 800 new Windows machines
  HP Compaq dc7800 Convertible Minitower with quad-core CPUs and 4 GB of memory

• 88 new Macintosh machines
  82 iMac
  6 Power Pro
  

Ten new HP 8300 scanners.

All Technology In the Classroom (TIC) site workstations will be replaced with Dell Optiplex 745 PCs.

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New collaboration spaces

Three new student collaboration spaces will be created in CIVL 3144. These spaces will accommodate four to six students and include tables with multiple monitors, laptop connection and whiteboard.