CTC Ed Tech News October 10, 2016

Dear Colleagues,

Lots to share this week:  professional learning opportunities, an update on Blackboard, and a reminder about emergency alerts at UAA.

Gmail Lunch & Learn Monday October 17 at Noon

I confess, I just started using Gmail recently – as a Mac user, I was able to use the Mac Mail client to access Gmail and it had the added advantage that I could see all my old UAA email. On the minus side, I sometimes sent mail from the old UAA account (which didn't work!)

So, I decided to make the migration to Gmail.  I've learned a few things that I think will be useful to you.  Bring your lunch to UC 145 on Monday, October 17 at noon to learn more about using Gmail effectively.

Please, email me any specific questions you have about Gmail.

Here's one tip to entice you:  Enable the preview pane in Gmail to look more like Outlook. Go to Mail>Settings>labs>Preview Pane>enable.

​And, you can toggle the preview pane on and off:

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​eTech Fair

The UAA Instructional Designers and Academic Innovations are bringing you the UAA annual eTech Fair this year. The Fair will feature a variety of sessions – all online in either Collaborate or Google Hangouts the week of November 7-12. We want to know what you want to learn about the Google Apps we now have at UAA. Please help us by completing this quick surveyby Friday, October 14.

 Look for the eTech Fair schedule in the next couple weeks.  

Blackboard Update

Today I have access to the new UA-wide Blackboard for testing and learning materials development. Yes, it's here!

The plan is for all faculty to have access to the new Blackboard on October 31. All of your 2016 courses will be in the Single Instance of Blackboard, as well as your 2017 course shells.  2015 and earlier courses will still be available in BBarchive.uaa.alaska.edu.  

Emergency Alerts

It's time to start preparing for weather and other events that can disrupt teaching. UA alerts sends closure and emergency notices to your email address or text address listed in UAOnline. Please make sure your information is current.  Please note: 

•     In the event of bad weather, UAA announces any potential closures by 6 a.m. for day classes and by 4 p.m. for evening classes.

•    The main UAA web page contains current closure notices and local radio stations also carry announcements.