ETC@BMC

Laura Blankenship March 4th, 2008

This is primarily for all the local faculty.  Here are the instructions for archiving your courses in Blackboard.

I. EXPORT PACKAGES

A Blackboard course or organization can be exported into a .zip file which can be downloaded to the instructor’s computer. The export file can be used as a vehicle to transfer content to another course, and as an archive of all files associated with the course. This export file created by Blackboard (named something like ExportFile_sc.BIOL.150.F06.zip) contains copies of all the documents and files in the course which can be opened and used in their corresponding applications (Acrobat, Word, etc.) The exported .zip file is not a “stand alone” site in the sense that it can be viewed in a browser as a functioning Blackboard course — for that, the export file would have to be loaded back up onto our (or another school’s) Blackboard server. You can use Bfree to view your zip file and export to other formats (such as a stand alone web page). See the Bfree site for documentation.

To form a Course Export, go to

• Control Panel > Export course
• Click the Export button (little icon of a computer with an arrow)
• Select the area(s) to export
• Press Submit

After you’ve submitted your export request, it will be queued on the system and you will receive an email when the process is complete. As soon as you get that email, return to the Control panel for the course you’re explorting out of.

• Control Panel > Export Course
  (now you should see a .zip file listed)
• Download the .zip archive by control-clicking or right-clicking on the link.
• At this point, you can either keep the archive on your computer for future use or follow the directions below to upload it into a course.

Next, go to the new course where you want to import the materials

• Control Panel > Import package
• Click Browse to choose the .zip file
• Choose the areas to import and press Submit.

II. ARCHIVES

The other downloadable package format is the course archive

• Control panel > Archive Course

A course archive is similar to a course export, but it is a complete record of the course, including user information and user-specific contributions like discussion board posts and uploaded files.

The archive file created by Blackboard (named something like ArchiveFile_sc.BIOL.150.S05.zip) can be downloaded and saved by the instructor following the same instructions as above for a course export. A .zip archive can be used to create an exact replica of a course including all user-specific information, but only if/when it is loaded onto a Blackboard server by an administrator. Note that an archive of each course is formed as the course is removed from the system (after three full semesters, see Course Archive and Removal Schedule for details.)

NB: When a student account is deleted from Bb, all their posts and uploads are dropped. This removes any/all contributions to a course (file uploads, discussion board comments, etc.) To avoid losing these items, instructors may want to get in the habit of forming their own archive to preserve a “snapshot” of the course with all students (and their contributions) at the end of the semester. They can download this archive to their own computer and save it in case you need to bring anything back.

Retrieved from “http://wikis.swarthmore.edu/~wikis/bbwiki/index.php/What%27s_the_difference_between_a_course_export_and_a_course_archive%3F“

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Laura Blankenship March 3rd, 2008

I’m watching the video from Abilene Christian University about how their new iPhone initiative might be used academically.  I’m thinking about the infrastructure necessary for implementing such a program.  I like the way surveys can be sent in class, but what apps are they using? What’s the back end?

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Laura Blankenship February 28th, 2008

Shameless self-promotion.  Here’s a podcast I did at ELI with Veronica Diaz.  We talk Web 2.0, faculty support and education.  Enjoy.

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Laura Blankenship February 25th, 2008

Here is the presentation from our session on using blogs. It’s also available as a video from iTunes U.

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Laura Blankenship February 25th, 2008

Over the weekend (and snow day), I saw the educational blog world aflutter with the news about Blackboard’s win over rival D2L.  Inside Higher Ed covers the story quite well. (Also at The Chronicle.) Blackboard’s patent has long been disputed and many in the educational technology community have been critical over Blackboard’s recent business practices.  In fact, according to Michael Feldstein, who has been following the case since it began, Blackboard is losing customers and some blame these practices in part.  Blackboard’s many patents are still being reviewed after several entities, including the Software Freedom Foundation asked the patent office for the review (which I discussed here).  Educause, the leading organization for higher education technology, also criticized Blackboard’s patents.  I think it will be a while before we fully know what the fallout (if any) is.  D2L is likely to appeal and we’ll be waiting for the patent review as well.

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Laura Blankenship February 18th, 2008

Most of us are not doing complex image editing projects.  We need to do some cropping or resizing, maybe some simple auto color correction.  We don’t need or have access to Photoshop.  Luckily, there are plenty of applications our there on the web.  I had been asked about these recently and knew about a couple of them, but after an inquiry to my friends on Twitter, I was bombarded with ideas (thanks everyone!).  Here are a few of them.

•  Picnik–allows you to rotate, crop, autocorrect, sharpen, adjust colors and more.  You can add text, shapes, or create fun effects.
• Splashup–this is a more full-blown image editing program with tools similar to those in Photoshop.
• Snipshot–very similar to picnik, but basic editing is available without signing up for an account.
• Pixenate–not as slick–looking as the ones above, but still offers similar features.  I didn’t find it as fun or easy to use

These tools are all online, but there are other tools that can be downloaded for free.

• Irfanview–works on windows PCs
• GIMP–works for windows, linux, and mac
• iPhoto, of course, works well on the mac (comes with the operating system, but upgrades cost a small fee usually)
• Picassa, a Google product, works on all platforms as well

So take some pictures and then go have some fun!

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Laura Blankenship February 14th, 2008

The New Media Lab schedule for the spring semester has been posted.

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Laura Blankenship February 7th, 2008

Automattic, the company behind WordPress, has received a few million dollars in funding, according to CNET.  They’re holding to their open, small pieces loosely joined policy, and hope to tackle some of the sticky issues related to blogging, such as comment spam.  I’m personally looking forward to seeing more from them, especially in the blog platform area.

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Laura Blankenship February 6th, 2008

Google has announced the ability to use spreadsheets combined with a form to collect data.  Let’s try it out.  Here’s a link to my form.

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Laura Blankenship February 6th, 2008

I’ve been back from the Educause Learning Initiative Annual Conference for a few days now, finally catching up on everything. There were lots of great sessions from ELI that I want to recommend to those who did not attend. All the recorded sessions are available here.

First, I’d recommend George Siemens’ talk on Connectivism, which provides a new way to think about learning. I’ve been following his work for quite a while and find it quite compelling. This talk was a good introduction.

Second, I’d recommend Michael Wesch’s talk on Human Futures for Technology and Education: A Crisis of Significance. I didn’t get to see this talk myself as it conflicted with my own panel, the video for which you can find here and the audio here. You may know Wesch’s work from YouTube. He’s had a few videos go viral.

Third, Intellagirl’s talk on using Second Life to teach rhetoric was quite inspiring and had me looking at Second Life in a new way.

Each talk is about an hour, includes video and slides and is well worth the time spent viewing them. It’s a great way to see some of the ideas from a conference without having to go. But it’s also well worth going for the discussions in between. Hopefully, in watching these videos, you’ll have things to discuss as well.

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