Users Can Hide & Rearrange Courses In Bb Learn

With the start of the Summer semester, I am getting asked about how to personalize the "My Courses/Course List" module within Blackboard (Bb) Learn. I figured if I am getting this question, the chances are that others are also. Maybe my post will reduce questions for my peers or give them a starting point to build instructions for their users.

As new courses are loaded into Bb, users start to see past, present, and future course within the My Courses/Course List module. Many users only want to see their current courses. The good news is they can follow these quick steps to edit the courses displayed in this module or rearrange the order you see them.

To start select the sprocket (gear) from the My Courses Module in Blackboard. This will allow you to mange the settings for this module.

Users can rearrange the order of courses in one of two ways: Drag & Drop or Reorder Button
1) Rearrange the order in which course will be displayed in Blackboard by utilizing the drag & drop option on the left hand side of the screen and taking your cursor over the double headed arrow for the course you want to move and drag it to the location you want it to be in the list. Or simply click the Reorder Button (up & down arrow at all course arrows) and move the courses in the order you want them and hit submit.

Users can hide course or selected items about a course
2) Determine which courses you would like to display in the module or hide from the module, including individual settings for each course such as announcements, course name, course id, tasks, and calendar.

3) Once all the desired changes have been made click the submit button to lock them in.

Graphic shows areas described above

Remember hiding courses does not delete them so users can always go back to the settings and make changes at anytime. Users can also see and access all there courses via My Blackboard, even if hidden within the My Courses module.

The same approach can be used for organizations listed within the My Organization module. This type of user empowerment is what differentiates Bb Learn from other LMSs that dictate how things appear for the user.

Enhance Connect For Learn With Mobile Preferences B2

Blackboard (Bb) Connect for Learn is a tool that helps ensure that Bb users get up-to-date course/organization notifications. When a user opt-in to receive notifications through the Connect for Learn, they can receive automated alerts for a variety of course/organizations changes including system announcements, course/organization notifications such as due dates, and/or grade posts by voice, text, or email.

Notifications without Connect For Learn, just gives your users the options of notifications via the dashboard, email, and Mobile. Note that Mobile is Mobile Learn not text messaging. The Connect For Learn one-way notifications is FREE, to Learn customers running SP9 or highter and it adds SMS (text messaging) & text-to-voice options to notifications.  The system administrator needs to provide some information to the Bb technical support group via the Behind The Blackboard (BtBb).

Supply this information to Bb Learn Support: 

1.  Institution information including:

1. Institution Name: 
2. Address: 
3. Phone number:
4. Time zone: 

2. Contact information for the Learn admin including:

1. Name: 
2. Title: 
3. Email address
4. Direct phone number 

3. Your Contact information if different from the information in #2 above including

4. URL of the Learn instance

5. Version and SP Learn instance is running

After your connect instance is setup and Learn is configured per the instructions in the email you receive. The LEARN system administrator will need to turn on the tools for the users to use. They will go to the notifications dashboard and select their options. Users will have to enter their mobile phone number before they can select the notifications they want to receive via SMS & text-to-voice.

Some users have found this entry difficult because it is just a text box and it is not clear of the format used to enter you mobile number. 

However, there is a way to make mobile number entry easier, that is with the Mobile Preferences building block (B2). Yes, it is FREE and from the same developer that gave us the great BbStats B2, Szymon Machajewski. You can download it from Oscelot or by clicking here. This B2 provides a custom page which may be reached via direct link from Community pages or tools menu. It provides extensive information on how a mobile program at the institution works and how to use the Bb Learn Notifications system.

Want more engagement with your students? Then consider paying the small fee to purchase blocks of messages and enable two-way messaging integration with LEARN. This allows faculty to meet the students need for immediate assistance. 

Learn more about Connect For Learn by clicking here or come to BbWorld/DevCon and talk directly with a Connect representative. Click here to register for the conferences.

Six Named As VIP Bloggers For #BbWorld13

It is official as of Friday, May 17! Josh Murdock (@professorJosh), Greg Ketcham (@Greg_Ketcham ), Aron Adair (@aaronadairphd), Shayla Burroughs (@shaylamsb), Sky King (@skyvking), and my co-worker George Hoffman (@GeorgeHoffman4) were select as the VIPs for the 2013 BbWorld conference in Las Vegas!

Make sure you follow these VIP Bloggers on Twitter and/or subscribe to their blogs below.

• Josh Murdock
• Greg Ketcham
• Aron Adair
• Shayla Burroughs
• Sky King
• George Hoffman 

Watch Blackboard's (Bb) BbWorld blog here between now and the conference to learn more about these bloggers and the exciting things that are going to happen at the Bb Conferences in July.

The other good news is that everyone who entered is still an official blogger and will get some great rewards at BbWorld.  You still have time to join us as an official blogger by registering at http://www.blackboard.com/BbWorld/Promotions.aspx

If you haven't registered yet for Bb Developers Conference (DevCon) or BbWorld, you need to do so now to get the best price. Click here to register.  This should be a conference with exciting announcements and lots of new Bb employees to meet, such as the new CEO Jay Bhatt. Maybe Jay will even start tweeting with us during the conference!

My Bb Learn 9.1 Experience To SP12

Well after months of preparing users, participating in the SP12 Beta group, participating in the SP12 Admin Cohort, and doing test upgrades on our development and test instances of Blackboard (Bb) Learn last Friday (May 17) SU was finally going to upgrade their production server. Something, I personally thought would take only a few hours turned out to be a weekend nightmare that is continuing into the start of our Summer semester.

The nightmare was caused by a combination of errors on my side and Bb's side. Knowing that SP12 was where we wanted to be and that it supported Java 1.7, I started off by updating Java. That was my mistake, I forgot that SP9 (what we were upgrading from) could not use Java 1.7, so the build failed when I tried to run a PushConfigUpdates to update the JavaHome. It took a while, but with the System Down, Bb's Technical Support staff member Dan Kingsbury came to be our savior. Dan quickly reminded me about installing Bb via the command line, which allowed me to use the newer version of Java instead of letting the GUI pick. This worked perfectly and we were now on SP10. Dan & I confirmed that SU was on SP10 and all appeared fine. Dan assured me he would be there if I needed anything else as my next task was to upgrade to SP12. Silly me thought nothing else could go wrong. I decided to use the same command line approach that worked before, well the installer went all the way through and then gave me the sad message "Learn could not be upgraded", so I was back on the phone with another system down. I was very happy when I got assigned to Dan again because he already was familiar with our issues and was very friendly. Dan quickly realized the error and sent me an SQL script to run, then watch to make sure the installer completed normally, which it did. This time I told Dan, to have a good weekend the only thing left to do was apply the cumulative patch and updated the B2's...what could go wrong.

I updated the B2's without issue and then stopped services and applied the cumulative patch. Boom Collaborate's new B2 would not install and the old version would not go back on either, so now we were system down for Collaborate. Thankfully, our rockin account rep Ken Taylor helped us get a hold of the Collaborate team and by Saturday afternoon, we were back up and running with the old B2. Thanks goes out to Jordan Harris with Collaborate Tech Support for getting us functional and with a work around. Today is a holiday in Canada, but I am positive that Jordan and the Collaborate team will get back with us tomorrow with a solution for us to use the new B2. In the meantime, our Android users just need to launch their Collaborate sessions via the app instead of Learn.

I went into LEARN to connect to the cloud & turn on social learning, but there were missing links within the Cloud Management module and this was one of the most important things for SU to have up by Monday. I submitted a ticket on BtBb and then searched the knowledge base. I found an article that sounded familiar so I reviewed our prior cases, to find we had missing links on our test server. So I quickly followed that case's instructions to fix and bam the missing links were there. I was able to connect to the Bb Cloud easily. Went in and turned on the Cloud Profiles & Tools and set the Cloud & Social settings. Only to find that our My Blackboard was failing...it still looked like the old My Blackboard (Profile) on SP9. There were no social/cloud icons, no profile setup options, there was at least a spaces text link, but that never loads (just shows the dreaded spinning wheel). At this point, I humbled myself and called Bb Learn tech support and they nicely transferred me to Dan. Sadly Dan was unable to assist because he was working on a higher priority case, which I fully understand, but he assured me he reassigned the case and someone would get it working with me on Saturday, well Saturday evening came with no word about Social so I did a status check to be again informed that other things were being worked on and Bb had no time for my case. I reminded them that our classes started on Monday and it was really important to SU (the client) to have this work. I got an email late in the evening that said reboot the server, which I could only do between 4a-6a on Sunday. Upon doing so I notified Bb Tech Support and heard absolutely nothing back from them. Until this morning when I tweeted how sad everyone at SU was about this feature not working. Thank you Randy with Bb Technical Support for jumping on this and trying to resolve the problem. The difficulty is now we are unable to stop/start services or reboot because we have active classes running as of 8:00a. Now SU is a difficult spot because we have to turn social on for Bb Tech Support to visually see the issue, but that causes the new welcome screen to show and then displays an error to our users should they try to update their profile. If I turn it off then Bb Tech Support cannot see the problem. 

My Lesson's Learned:
1) No matter how much prep, training, and practicing you do, something may still go wrong so allow extra time.
2) Make sure your Account Rep knows you are upgrading, so they will be on standby
3) Make sure you don't jump the gun on upgrading Java, if you do use the command line installer

Dan, Jordan, & Ken are our Bb weekend heroes. If not for them, the stress level would have been higher and SU may not be up and running. However, I do wish Bb would realize that what they don't consider to be a critical issue, may be absolutely critical for the client or that sometimes clients need to get assistance during the time that is best for them not when it is best for Bb. Additionally, the things I am learning about Social/Cloud will only enhance the session that I am doing with Terry and Francesca at BbWorld.

I was asked this morning, if I regreted upgrading to SP12, instead of going to SP10 or SP11. I replied absolutely not! I believe the issues (except Collaborates B2) were totally due to SU not staying more current and upgrading faster. For example, had SU been on SP11 with the most recent patch set, I fully believe we would not be having the social issue.

Running Bb Collaborate V12.5 Yet? You Should Be!

Blackboard (Bb) Collaborate 12.5 web conferencing includes:

• Support for Android devices, including Kindle Fire HD, to expand opportunities for mobile learning
• Built-in phone conferencing with auto-provisioned call-in numbers, eliminating the need for a third-party teleconferencing provider (North American enterprise license only)
• Single-click individual permissions and ability to toggle chat emoticons on/off for increased moderator control
• Cloud-based MP3/MP4 conversion service, enabling instructors to make any recorded session easily accessible on desktop, laptop, and any mobile device

Last Sunday, May 12 the Bb Collaborate team upgraded SAS accounts to have 12.5. SAS users will find that the 12.5 version is available in the SAS drop-down menu to create or modify a session. Each user who has access to SAS can choose when to upgrade existing sessions. You can also upgrade your sessions all at once, my personal favorite. Get more information on how to update your sessions within SAS here. The other nice thing is that this 12.5 upgrade does not affect previous Collaborate recordings, user accounts, or session links. Recordings will continue to play in the version in which they were created. Even Elluminate Live! V10, allowing everyone time to train users on the new version prior to upgrading all your sessions. 

Don't worry, Bb makes this upgrade transparent to session participants. They will  automatically download the new version the first time they join a Blackboard Collaborate 12.5 web conferencing sessions. The download is approximately 7MB, and files are stored in the Java cache. Be sure to notify your users of this update.


To help you transition to Blackboard Collaborate 12.5, these resources are available:

• View the release notes, along with known issues
• Explore Bb's On-Demand Learning Center for self-help user guides & recordings
• Visit Bb's Support Portal for knowledge base articles 
• Contact Technical Support to get answers to specific questions

Important Notes:

Elluminate Live! V10 clients need to remember that the product will be discontinued on August 31, 2013. Visit Bb's Upgrade Resources area to get help moving to Collaborate 12.5

Moderator Access customers do not have access to Android support and the Cloud-based MP3/MP4 conversion service. EU-SAS customers do not currently have access to Built-in phone conferencing and Cloud-based MP3/MP4 conversion service.

Before Android users can launch Collaborate from Bb Learn, the Learn System Administrator MUST install/upgrade the 4.1.3 building block. Administrators can download the Building Block from the Downloads section of the Support Portal within the LMS Integrations folder. For more information, click here. Maybe with the next release the Collaborate team will use Learn's B2 update alert tool, instead of making us catch it in an email and manual go to another site to download it. 

One Creative Way To Use Bb Collaborate

A little history: 
Blackboard (Bb) purchased two company's: Wimba and Elluminate. You can read more about this by doing a search in any search engine or click here to see one of the news announcements on the Web. Blackboard took features from both companies and made a new product sold as Blackboard Collaborate. Click here to watch a video from Maurice Heiblum about the new product. You can learn more about "Collaborate" by going to Bb's website. Collaborate can be used within Bb or without Bb. Collaborate offers tools  like: application sharing, chat, white board, Web directing, different levels of access, public session options, ability to invite guess (non-Bb users), ability to create sub-groups doing session, video options, and ability to poll during the session. You can even purchase additional features like voice tools that add voice capabilities to discussion boards, announcements, and email within Bb Learn. 

Creative Use:
Shenandoah University's School of Pharmacy uses Bb Collaborate for interviews and the School of Nursing is using it faculty meetings and collaboration with other nursing schools around the world. What really stands out as a creative use to me is how Germanna Community College (GCC), who is part of the Virginia Community College System, uses collaborate for tutoring services.  GCC turned to Collaborate to help with the physical and financial challenge to meet all of our students’ academic support needs, by using it to address this challenge being able to extend their tutoring sessions beyond campus facilities. They created a form of “hybrid tutoring” between existing tutors on campus and students who are enrolled in classes at off-site locations without access to face-to-face individual tutoring sessions. This program allowed them to stretch their limited tutor wage budget while simultaneously improve their services to students. When students prefer face-to-face sessions but are unable to come to campus, they can now schedule and engage in a live video Bb Collaborate session with a tutor located within their tutoring centers. This approach could be done as the sole tutoring service or in partnership with other tutoring applications, such as TutorTrac. Ann Lyons, Brenda Clymire, & Rebecca Mahon presented at this at the New Horizons Conference and I wish they would have also submitted to present at BbWorld13, but they have nicely share their material with the world so others can duplicate their setup.  Below are links to the GCC Resources and the presentation shared during New Horizons. 

GCC's Resources:

• Blackboard Collaborate Basics Handout
• Blackboard Collaborate Tutoring Sessions-FAQ
• GCC Tutoring Secrets for Blackboard Collaborate
• Scheduling a Bb Collaborate Session
• Scheduling a Blackboard Collaborate Tutoring Session in Appointment-Plus
• Tutor Checklist and Blackboard Collaborate Session Report
• Tutoring Services BBCollaborate handout

Learn more:
If you want to learn more about Bb Collaborate, you could visit the Bb website or call to talk to a salesman, which is the traditional approach. Why not step out-of-the-box and attend BbWorld 2013 (#BbW13) visit the Collaborate booth in person or attend the Blackboard Collaborate Connection Summit held the same time during the BbWorld conference. Both of these events will not only let you talk with salesman, but experience collaborate first hand, and network with Collaborate users from all over the world. 

Links:
BbWorld
Blackboard Inc
Collaborate Details
Wimba & Elluminate Purchase
Shenandoah University School of Pharmacy
RedRock TutorTrac
GRCC Beyond F2F & Online Tutoring
GRCC Collaborate Basics
GRCC Tutoring Services

Blackboard Learn 9.1 Is A Made To Order Solution

As I waited for my turn to order my made-to-order (MTO) sub from Subway today, it hit me that Bb was a MTO Learning Managment System. Blackboard (Bb) claims that "Learn is an innovative, user-focused LMS designed to engage students and ease the burden on educators." Some will disagree by saying Bb is difficult to use, expensive, and and out-of-date. Others will say that students prefer Bb in Higher Ed because of their familiarity from use in K-12. Regardless of your personal opinion of the Blackboard company,  if you research the capabilities of today's Learn platform, you will find it to be exactly what Bb states and more.

Bb Learn 9.1 is very different from version 8 & 9. Even with in the 9.1 version there is a big difference between the earlier service packs (SP) to the current on, SP12. Bb has started designing more for the clients, specifically students and faculty. For years they rolled out what they thought institutions need with a 50/50 chance of getting it right, but something changed and now they roll-out what the stakeholders want & need. They have even started rolling out new features in a modulated format that does not require the system to be down. These changes is only a small part of what makes Bb a made-to-order (MTO) solution. The thing that makes Bb a MTO solution is that they realized that no two institutions, two faculty, or two students are a like nor will they have the same technology abilities.

A Just Few Reasons Why Bb Learn is MTO LMS:

• Institutions decide when to upgrade, not Bb
• Institutions decide if LMS will be self-hosted or Bb hosted, not Bb
• Institutions decide on the local Bb support skill set needed, not Bb
• Institutions select Bb 3rd party vendor integration, not Bb
• Institutions decide on add-on products needed, not Bb
• System Admins decide what tools are available for use at the institution, not Bb
• System Admins decide how the institutions Bb site looks & feels, not Bb
• System Admins decide how integration occur (SSO, LTI,Links, Embeds,etc), not Bb
• System Administrators decide if Bb is a closed or open system, not Bb
• Faculty decide what tools are available to students in their courses, not Bb
• Faculty decide the complexity of technology integration in their courses, not Bb
• Faculty decide what Web technologies to incorporate into their courses, not Bb
• Faculty decide how Web technologies are in courses (Link,LTI,or Embed), not Bb
• Faculty decide to use design layout styles, not Bb
• Trainers decide what Bb training is available & in what format, not Bb
• Users decide sharing of profile, not Bb
• Users decide how to receive course notifications, not Bb
• Users present majority of sessions at national & regional conferences, not Bb
• Users suggest, vote, and direct development, not decided solely by Bb
• User decideds number of support calls allowed, not Bb
• User community programs open to all, not just large or ivy league institutions
• Users are Bb partners in success, not just vendor & client

Today's Bb Learn lets institutions define their system based on their users and specific requirements and image. For example, some Bb Learn institutions are on Learn version 9 or are on Learn version 9.1 SP5 when the current version is Learn 9.1 SP12. The login page of Learn 9.1 also customization, so you don't have to look like everyone else. For example, click here, here, here, here, here, here, and here to see just a few ways institutions have customized their login pages. The level of partnership is not determined by the size of the school or if the school is ivy league, but by the effort the school is willing to learn the product and to build a partnership with Bb by participating in conferences, product development programs, idea exchanges, tweet chats, usability studies, surveys, bug squads, and cohorts. Click here to see how Bb clients impacted recent developments. Less technology savvy faculty can minimize the textbox editor to the basic tool bar, while more savvy faculty can expose additional toolbars to take advantage of features like mashups & html code. 

Bb Learn is more expensive than other open source LMS systems available, but many of them require the institution to employ a development/programming staff or pay the vendor for customization if they do not require all instances to be the exact same. If your institution is looking for a cheap, feature lacking, modification lacking, free support lacking, and a one-size fits all LMS solution Bb is not for you. If you are looking for a long-term familiar solution, with engaging feature choices, knowledgeable technical support, partnership, and an institution controlled LMS solution then Bb Learn 9.1 is for you. 

Graphic From ualr.edu

Resources:

Bb Learn Platform