A while ago I posted about a guide to Moodle that Joyce Seitzinger had created – “Moodle Tool Guide for Teachers“, and I am pleased to say it was well received and gained quite a lot of re-tweets and hits, both on my website and even more importantly on Joyce’s. At the time I said I was working on a version (copy?) for Blackboard and I am pleased to say I have completed the first draft.

I am not as comfortable with Bloom’s Taxonomy as Joyce so therefore have not included the information in the version below, but I hope that with continued time and effort to become familiar with it I can incorporate it into version 2, and any new/updates. This version is intended to be included in a Conference I am hoping to attend later this year so is set at A1 size for printing, but still looks good printed on A3 (hint: A4 is a little too small).

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It is always a good idea to check your learning materials once you’ve loaded them to the VLE – if you have access to a student account then I strongly recommend this, if no other reason so you can test to see file permissions are set correctly. Alongside this kind of checking it is worth trying your materials on a student PC (if you have access to the student PC labs) to see if video plays correctly.

For those who haven’t realised it YouTube recently changed the default code you use if you want to embed a video in a webpage. While the majority will not notice any difference (my included) some PCs are not set up to display the media in the same way and, for some poor souls, it doesn’t play at all.

So, what do you do? Thankfully YouTube have left the old embed code available for you to use. So, here is how you do it in Blackboard:

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I have been an advocate of the use of plagiarism detection / deterrent software ever since I was shown the benefit. The first time I saw TurnItIn in action was when I had to demonstrate it to a group of undergraduate students almost three years ago now, as part of a pilot study in the Business School.

Don’t forget my previous, recent, post on plagiarism: Video – A Plagiarism Carol

For various reasons we stopped using TurnItIn, but we are now getting ready for it’s re-introduction to our Blackboard installation, and I have started to see blog posts and various other links about an imminent upgrade to TurnItIn … TurnItIn 2.

Planned for an August launch (I wonder when we will be able to make use of upgrades?) it is looking like TurnItIn is upping the game in the plagiarism detection and deterrence industry, and are making the changes to help both students detect and the Institution to deter plagiarism.

Changes coming to Turnitin summer 2010? – This link came to me from JoBadge on Twitter;

“The biggest change is that student work will be shown with full formatting, including diagrams and figures. The matching text is highlighted in situ, a little like using a highlighter pen on real paper. This will give a far more intuitive feel to the analysis of originality reports and include a huge amount of context in a very visual way. The current system of highlighting matches using boxing out, tends to over emphasize their importance and makes it difficult to judge the amount and severity of the non-original text. Including figures will help us to judge whether the figures have been properly used and referenced.”

By all accounts the changes are only going to make TurnItIn an easier and clearer system to use, and hopefully encourage staff and students to make use of it’s facilities to ensure good honest work.

There is one downside for any Institution that relies on anything like plagiarism software; it will only look for the originality of the work. It does not, and cannot, replace the tutor’s knowledge of the individual who is supposed to have written the piece. There are many websites out there where, for a measly £75 or more you can buy a totally original assignment. Only the tutors knowledge of the student and their writing style will enable them to determine whether the student actually wrote the piece they submitted.

So, do you use any system for plagiarism detection (or deterrence), do you allow students to upload themselves to check for correct referencing, are your staff happy or comfortable using something like TurnItIn? What kind of emphasis do you put on the use of TurnItIn, is it for detection or is it as a deterrence?

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I recently found this awesome reference guide, created by Joyce Seitzinger, that shows a simple traffic-light system to see if the tool of choice is ‘appropriate’ for what you are trying to do (assessment, collaboration, etc).

Please look through this, it is a really simple and effective way to present the information.

I have worked on a version for the Business School at Bournemouth University, that covers the same kind of information in Blackboard, but have added a few of my own interpretations on the tools and reasons for using them. I will try and upload it here at some point.

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I’m really looking forward to our upgrade to Blackboard version 9 this summer. I’ve had a play on the BB development website (last year!) and on the test server here at BU, and I want to like it … I really do!

So, do I like it? I’m not sure yet, and I want to be fair to the system and the people who have worked, and are continuing to work tirelessly, to get it installed, configured, and integrated with our internal systems.

In the meantime I’m going to post a series of links and resources I find about Blackboard version 9 here, the good and the bad (I haven’t found any ugly ones yet, but a few of the bad ones are fairly damning!).

• University of Syracuse: BB9 Testing Issues:
  blogs.syr.edu/blackboard9testing
• University of Leicester: BB9 YouTube video guides for staff:
  www2.le.ac.uk/institution/lts/talent/blackboard/blackboard9upgrade/
• University of Leicester: Blackboard Staff Development:
  www2.le.ac.uk/offices/staff-development/courses/it/elearning
• Hack College: Blackboard 9 ‘enough is enough’ (and some interesting comments from staff and students):
  www.hackcollege.com/blog/2009/9/9/blackboard-9-enough-is-enough.html
• Leiden University: Log of Upgrade from BB7 to BB9:
  http://bb9.weblog.leidenuniv.nl/
• Kentucky Community College: Issue and Bug ‘fixes’ for BB9:
  efaculty.blogspot.com/2009/05/bb-v9-current-issues-and-work-arounds.html
• Keith Russell: BB9 the next generation:
  keithrussell.blogspot.com/2008/05/presentation-blackboard-9-next.html
• Getting started with BB9:
  www.ric.edu/faculty/revans/bb9/

If you have any links or resources you’d like to add to the list then please email me and I’ll include them (with your name as referral) or just leave a comment with the details below and I’ll publish it.

Either way I am interested to hear from all types of users of Blackboard, whether you are using the current version 9.1 or anything previous to this, whether you love or hate it (but please say why otherwise it is a little pointless!).

Additional Links/Resources:

• Blackboard On Demand – links and videos from Blackboard:
  ondemand.blackboard.com (thanks to alextronic)

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I believe that asking questions is a good thing, and can often bring a greater sense of understanding in whatever subject area you currently inhabit. The question of whether your current VLE (or LMS or CMS or whatever you classify it as) is the right one for your Institution seems to be one of those questions that people would rather you didn’t ask. I’m not sure why considering the costs involved in maintaining a VLE infrastructure; surely we can ask if we are getting value for money?

Which is when I found this:  Transition to Moodle, Florida International University

The article outlines the FIU’s position in the development of their VLE, from WebCT to BlackBoard via the BlackBoard purchase of WebCT, through to the evaluation of alternative systems.

“Our testing and evaluation of open-source alternatives showed that both Sakai and Moodle offer comparable tool/feature sets compared to Blackboard. However, the Moodle university, user, and developer communities are substantially larger than those of Sakai. In addition, Moodle is rated higher on ease of use by many in the LMS community.”

If the question is asked, and the answer (after proper consideration and evaluation) is that your existing VLE system (BlackBoard, Sakai, Moodle, etc) IS the right choice for you then so be it. I’d be happy with that kind of answer, so long as it has been properly addressed. If the answer is NO then that is the right time to ask the next logical question … what should you be using for your intended outcome?

Has your Institution asked this of itself? Are you migrating from one VLE or LMS system to another (if so from what to what)? Please share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment below.

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This article from Campus Technology made me revisit some of my old posts on portfolio’s (see ‘related links’ below) and that, in the right hands and syllabus structure, “seem to improve student engagement and learning”.

Apparently;

“ePortfolio systems and associated portfolio practices finally are on track to become the centerpiece of educational transformation they always seemed destined to be.”

Does that mean we’ve finally worked out the best way to use them, or does it mean the developers and providers have worked out what it is we need, not what they want to give us?

“Many signs now point to a sudden explosion of electronic portfolio planning, adoption, and rapid market expansion [and] behind this market upswing is the return of academia to the learning values of portfolios based on a recognition that portfolio theory is a good guide for transformation of the academic side of the institution in this time.”

What tools are out there at the moment that are getting the coverage in articles like this:

• Mahara: “Mahara is an open source e-portfolio system with a flexible display framework.”
• ePortfolios.org: “ePortfolio.org is a student-centered platform.”
• FolioSpaces: “… provides you with the tools to set up a personal learning and development environment.”
• PebblePad: “… is a Personal Learning System being used in learning contexts as diverse as schools, colleges, universities and professional bodies.”

ePortfolio practice is:

“… as an educational process, rewarding and engaging and fits the times; student owned, stays with student over time, produces additional metrics by which to assess and evaluate students, supports high-impact learning experiences outside of the classroom, helps create a strong resume, develops reflective and integrative thinking, supports life-long learning, and so on.”

The article continues by saying traditional VLE-type environments like BlackBoard, Moodle, etc, are at the end of their ‘decade’ and that “electronic portfolio systems are more and more the new center of campus strategic thinking about learning and technology.”

The piece finishes by saying that “electronic portfolios, after seemingly running into a dead end a few years ago, are again a robust growth sector and a path to educational transformation. It’s about time.”

• Trent Batson has created this website for all information and links to ePortfolio resources: www.eportfolio-source.org

So, what system are you using or do you plan to use in the next few months or years, and how do you intend to implement it; fully hosted or hosted for you, integrated into your VLE / LMS or stand-alone? Please share by commenting below.

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Well, it’s here; the iPad has finally landed.

I had said on Twitter that I wouldn’t blog about it until I actually had one (and I’m still thinking about it) but I have read quite a bit over the weekend about and wanted to bring together the various threads of thoughts and ‘research’ already out there on whether it will be good for students, and the classroom, or not.

I’ll start with my final words (!) and they are simply how can we be sure that the iPad will be any good if we’ve literally only just got it (not in the UK we haven’t!)? We may know how the theory fits in with technology and student fashion, but will it work, will the students buy one (or even can the afford one, given that they’ve already got a smartphone and high-end laptop?) and will they see the benefit to their education, or is it just another shiny Apple device? It could be that we, the educators and facilitators, are the only ones who see its potential, and talk to each other about it as the students carry on with their existing kit.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve found …

Tony Bates: Educational affordances of the iPad:

“Although the iPad suggests an exciting future for the design of teaching and learning, we need to bear in mind that many people still have limited broadband access, which is essential for such developments. So the iPad will at least initially further widen the digital divide.”

Elliot Masie: iPad First Look for Learning:

Frederic Lardinois writes on ReadWriteWeb: Colleges Give iPads to All Incoming Students:

“Seton Hill University plans to give every first year undergraduate student a 13″ MacBook and an iPad. Just last month, George Fox University in Oregon also announced that it plans to give its new students a choice between a MacBook or an iPad. The question, though, is if programs like this aren’t a bit premature, given that nobody has actually used the device yet and that we don’t really know how well the iPad will work for textbooks and other school-related activities.”

Brian Chen writes Colleges Dream of Paperless, iPad-centric Education:

“One hitch in the universities’ plans [see above by Frederic Lardinois] is that Apple has not inked deals with any textbook publishers to bring their offerings to the iPad’s iBooks store. So far Apple and publishers have only formed partnerships around e-books for fiction and nonfiction titles, like those available for the Kindle.”

Bridget McCrea writes Measuring the iPad’s Potential for Education:

“The fact that ninth graders like Nothstein are somewhat blasé about a device whose heavily anticipated launch attracted millions of eyeballs around the world isn’t exactly surprising. Call them jaded, but today’s K-12 students have the world at their fingertips when it comes to technology, and are only limited by budget when it comes to getting their hands on items like Apple’s new iPad.”

James Tubbs writes Powering Your Classroom with the iPad, Part 2:

“The effective uses of the iPad in the classroom will multiply as educators adapt to this exciting new technology and find ways to innovate their teaching methods accordingly. As Robert Reynolds notes in his article about the iPad’s future in education , the ultimate educational use of the iPad and similar technology will depend entirely on how students respond to it.”

iPad in the Classroom:

“Today, iPad is probably not the answer, but as a concept it is a stage-setter that gives us a glimpse of what the technological landscape may look like in the classroom of the not-so-distant future.   While the iPad may need several iterations before it becomes a sleek and elegant classroom solution (multi-tasking?!?), this should be a wake up call for the educational publishing industry.”

Bob Brogan writes First Look at the iPad for eLearning:

“Another drawback for eLearning and purely from my viewing the initial demonstration, was the appearance of a lack of multi-tasking capability. This may also be a hindrance. Quite often someone wants to working on a document or some other material as they are reviewing eLearning content or sessions.”

Steve Kolowich writes iPads on Campus:

“The e-learning giant Blackboard, meanwhile, today is announcing that it is launching an app for the iPad that will allow students to access their courses from the new device. “

WISE Pedagogy: iPads for Education: How Much is Hype?

“Unless you are a devoted Apple fan who would use a new Apple device anyway, or you teach at a school that is giving each student his or her own iPad, you might want to wait a few months before you buy one solely for pedagogical purposes. Time may tell whether this new device will have enough advantages to surpass the others that are already available. Even if you and some of your students already do have iPads, it may be a while before we can expect to design lesson plans that incorporate them into course activities.”

Robert writes Is education ready for the iPad?:

“iPads are been handed out to students from three universities and faculty with hopes that Apple’s tablet will transform education. These universites … pre-ordered bundles of iPads with plans to experiment with how the tablet could change learning in the classroom. Officials from each university saw the iPad as having potential to render printed textbooks obsolete. One dent in the universities’ plans is that Apple has not inked deals with any textbook publishers to bring their offerings to the iPad’s iBooks store. So far Apple and publishers have only formed partnerships around e-books for fiction and nonfiction titles.”

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Blackboard have announced they’re releasing a custom toolbar for IE and Firefox users;

“Get notifications directly from your Blackboard Learn system with an easy-to-use browser toolbar. You’ll receive regular updates of new content items, grades, discussions and announcements. And you’ll save time and energy with an automatically generated set of links that give you one-click access to all of your courses.”

I’ve installed it and got it running in IE7 (although I usually use Chrome for the majority of my browsing, Blackboard doesn’t work well in it so I use IE7 for all Blackboard activity). However, when I try and login it crashes the browser, the same happens for Firefox 3 as well.

Is anyone using it yet, any comments on how it works, it’s effectiveness, etc, then please let me know, I’d be interested to know.

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Just found this press release on Twitter: “Blackboard Joins Forces with Microsoft to Make Course Information Available on Web Browsers“.

Wow, now how good could that be?

“Under the agreement, Blackboard and Microsoft will work together to enable notifications to appear in their Web browser using the Bing(TM) toolbar when new course information becomes available through the Blackboard Learn(TM) platform. The toolbar will also be compatible with the Internet Explorer® and Firefox® Web browsers.”

If this was tied in with their IT account for access to the PCs on campus, then surely the PC and Internet browsers could be set up so these notifications could be displayed. I guess one area this could be troublesome is for those students who use their own PCs, but we can always ask them to install the toolbar so they get the best student experience from their time at University?

“Streamlined access to course information will make it easier for millions of students who log in to their Blackboard accounts several times daily to check for assignments, grades, announcements and other information. With the Blackboard Learn toolbar for Bing, IE and Firefox, students will receive updates on their courses, groups and organizations directly in their browser, regardless of which Web site they are visiting and without having to log in to Blackboard every time.”

Hmm, I’m liking this!

“Blackboard previously created similar applications to enable students and learners to receive course notifications and alerts through the Facebook® platform and on Apple® iPhone® or iPod touch® devices. Together, the integrations are part of the company’s overall effort to increase student engagement by creating streamlined access to course information in a variety of popular platforms and devices – not just within Blackboard Learn.”

Not all students have an iPhone (although it feels like they do!) or would want the University in ‘their’ space in Facebook, so this toolbar makes good sense.

As a side note to this article (read online using the link above) is that “Blackboard is also using Microsoft’s Bing decision engine to help power its SafeAssign(TM) plagiarism prevention service.”

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