Category: Academic Technology

Academic Technology, Blackboard, Faculty/Staff, Moodle, Workshops and Training

Blackboard Shut-down and Moodle Training

Andrew Ruether

Blackboard will be turned off on June 29, 2012.  Starting at the beginning of June, ITS will be archiving all courses and organizations in preparation for the shut down.  If you have important information in a Blackboard course or organization, please download your materials or export your course to your computer. The college has successfully transitioned many of our courses to Moodle already.  ITS is offering many hands-on Moodle training sessions to assist with learning Moodle.   Introduction to Moodle workshops help you get started using your own materials to begin developing your course in Moodle.  Consider attending an Intermediate … Continue reading Blackboard Shut-down and Moodle Training

Academic Technology, Web Projects

Announcing Summer Educational eProject Development (SEED) recipients

Eric Behrens

The ITS academic technology team is pleased to announce the eProjects selected for collaborative development this summer. We are grateful to all 16 submitters, who proposed a diverse and creative collection of projects for us to consider. For our inaugural year, our team of professional staff and student workers will be taking on these six projects: Enhancing Physical Chemistry Lab with Digital Video, Josh Newby. The project will involve in-house production of two pre-lab videos that substitute for in-class lectures. The Hoodoo-Conjure Online Database, Yvonne Chireau. The project will result in a publicly searchable database and historical information on practitioners … Continue reading Announcing Summer Educational eProject Development (SEED) recipients

Academic Technology, Open-Source, Students

Open-Source Textbooks Aim to Curb Education Costs

admin

A recent article appearing in The New York Times highlights progress in the open-source textbook movement by Connexions, “a dynamic digital educational ecosystem” based at Rice University in Houston. Over the next few months, Connexions, via OpenStax College, will provide an initial offering of freely available textbooks covering physics, sociology, introductory biology, anatomy, and physiology. Connexions’ director, Richard Baraniuk, said, “if we capture just 10 percent of the market with these first five textbooks” students in the United States could save $90 million over the next five years. The content, provided using an open license, will allow faculty to freely customize … Continue reading Open-Source Textbooks Aim to Curb Education Costs

Academic Technology, Faculty/Staff, Moodle

Copying Course Material in Moodle

Andrew Ruether

It is easy to copy course material from one semester to another in Moodle.  To start the process, go to your new course and make sure that you have at least as many topics/weeks in your new course as your old course (otherwise all the extra material will end up at the top of your course).  If not, adjust the number under the “Settings” area. Now click on the “Import” link in the Administration area.  From here, select the course you want to come material from and click on the “Use this course” button.  All your previous courses should be … Continue reading Copying Course Material in Moodle

Academic Technology, Moodle

Course Evaluations in Moodle

Andrew Ruether

Moodle can be used to give anonymous course evaluations for classes.  To set up your own course evaluation, go to your course in Moodle and turn editing on.  Pick the location where you want to add the evaluation, then click on the “Add an activity . . .” pull-down menu and select “Questionnaire”.  Fill out the options as follows: General: give the questionnaire and name and provide some summary information (e.g. “Please complete the course evaluation”) Timing:  you can optionally specify dates and times that the course evaluation will be available to students. Recommended options: Type: Respond once Respondent Type: … Continue reading Course Evaluations in Moodle