CTC Ed Tech News Nov. 17, 2016

Dear Colleagues,

First off, plan now for spring course shell development:

Blackboard unavailable

12/23/16 to 1/5/17

Spring 2017 courses in new UA Blackboard

Spring 2017 and spring and summer 2016 course shells are now in the UA Statewide Blackboard at classes.alaska.edu. My advice: Set up your spring 2017 classes now in the new site. Log in with your usual username & password.

·      Build your spring course shells now:

o   To copy content from spring or summer 2016 to a spring 2017 course, use course copy in UABlackboard

o   To copy content from fall 2016, log in to the UAA Blackboard, export the course and then log in to UA Blackboard to import into the spring 2017 course

o   Export from fall 2015 or earlier courses at bbarchive.uaa.alaska.edu 

·      Recommended: Make a backup of each spring 2017 course by exporting a copy and saving it to your computer

·      All 2016 and 2017 courses (including fall 2016) will be available in UA Blackboard on January 6, 2017

·      Help: IT Services Call Center at 786-4646 or 877-633-3888, option 1

Gmail: archive vs. delete - the Smackdown

Gmail stores all your filed mail in a folder (or label) called "All Mail."  Email messages can be in "All Mail" with the label "Inbox" for example. All messages not in the trash label or in the spam label are in "All Mail."  When you are removing a message from your Inbox, you can Archive it or Delete it.  

Archive simply removes the "Inbox" label – the message remains in "All Mail."  When you delete a message, the label "Inbox" is removed, and the message is moved from All Mail to Trash.  Dragging a message to a folder has the effect of removing the "Inbox" label and adding the folder name as a label.  

Be careful when moving messages on your phone – the Archive option is easier to access than the Delete option (at least on my iPhone).

 Accessible Videos, Part 2

We are required by Federal law to provide alternative formats for students who cannot access course materials that do not provide accommodation for their disabilities.  This means for students who can't hear a video, we can close caption (best choice), provide a transcript, or provide an equivalent alternative.  

If you can, start with videos that are already close captioned. When looking for videos in YouTube to use in your course, add "-cc" to your search items.  The search results will only include videos that are already close captioned.

End of Semester Surveys

The end of semester surveys for classes with 11 or more students opens on November 28.  You have until November 27 to add questions to the survey.  See the IDEA dates on the Faculty Services website andcontact them if you have any questions about the survey.

If your class has 10 or fewer students, you will need to collect end of semester data from your students on your own.  Qualtrics is a good tool – it's similar to Survey Monkey.