May 16, 2014

First look: Blackboard Video Everywhere

When we upgrade Blackboard this summer a new feature of interest will is named “Video Everywhere”. Video Everywhere allows you to embed a video recorded from your web cam into any Blackboard content area.

Video Everywhere will sign you into YouTube so that you can record a video with a webcam installed on your computer. The video is saved in your YouTube account as an unlisted video. This means that the video will not be seen if someone should look at the videos uploaded by your account. The only way to view the video is to have the link to it. Blackboard will place the link within your Blackboard course making it easy for others on your course to view your video while keeping it private from others outside of your course.

Within the text editor is an icon to access your web cam.

Web cam icon

Matthew Deeprose ⋅ BB 2014, Blackboard, Coming up, First look ⋅ No comments

May 16, 2014

First look: Blackboard’s Global Navigation

When we upgrade Blackboard this summer a key benefit will be the new “Global Navigation” feature.

Blackboard’s “Global Navigation” is an area that is always shown at the top right corner wherever you are in Blackboard. Beside your name a number appears telling you how many notifications there are for you to view regarding news about and changes to your Blackboard courses.

Global Navigation will be accessed by clicking on the downward pointing arrow beside one’s name at the top right of the Blackboard screen.

Global Navigation

Matthew Deeprose ⋅ BB 2014, Blackboard, Coming up, First look ⋅ No comments

May 16, 2014

First look: Instantly change the colour scheme of your Blackboard course

When we upgrade Blackboard this summer you will be able to change the colour scheme used within your course with two clicks.

With the new version of Blackboard, instructors will have the opportunity to change the colour scheme of their course from a preset selection. This can be accessed by clicking on the theme icon and choosing a theme from the drop down list that appears.

Course Theme Icon

Matthew Deeprose ⋅ BB 2014, Blackboard, Coming up, First look ⋅ No comments

May 8, 2014

First look: Improvements to Blackboard quiz features

When we upgrade Blackboard this summer a number of improvements will be made within the area of quizzes and tests.
More

Matthew Deeprose ⋅ BB 2014, Blackboard ⋅ No comments

May 2, 2014

How can I livestream as well as record my lecture in Panopto?

It’s quite simple to live-stream Panopto recordings. You don’t need anything more than the normal Panopto Recorder software, although we do recommend doing a test on the actual equipment you wish to use on the day.

The easiest way to live stream is to tick “Webcast and Record” in the Panopto recorder

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them

The webcast tickbox in the top right hand corner of the Panopto recorder

When you press record a URL will be generated and automatically placed within your Blackboard course and on http://coursecast.soton.ac.uk.

How do I get that URL in advance?

The biggest downside of the above step is that the URL is generated automatically only when the lecture starts. This is good enough for a test broadcast or a secure broadcast to students on your course, but is probably inappropriate for an event. You can follow the steps below to pre-generate a fixed URL. More

Graham Robinson ⋅ Panopto ⋅ No comments

May 1, 2014

Blackboard Analytics – April 2014

Google Analytics and University of Southampton Blackboard service

Google Analytics (GA) is turned on within a number of MLE sites including Blackboard and Panopto. In the interest of openness we will share a number of pieces of analytical data with the community. Note that some data is from a smaller sample size and may not reflect 100% of users.
More

Matthew Deeprose ⋅ Analytics, Blackboard Analytics ⋅ No comments

May 1, 2014

(How Well) Are You Being Served? Teaching Support Ticket Resolutions Stats – March 2014

iSolutions uses ITIL processes as part of its Service Management. We organise our processes in a way informed by ITIL, and provide reports on how well we met our stated aims. The main way that our users interact with us is through the Incidents and Service Requests they raise via ServiceLine. We have targets to resolve 90% of Service Requests and Incidents with a set target time measured in elapsed minutes.

Matthew Deeprose ⋅ Blackboard, Customer Service, Incidents, ITIL, Panopto, Service Level Targets, Service Requests, Streaming ⋅ No comments

May 1, 2014

Semester 2 Exams

Semester 2 Examinations will shortly be upon us (19th May – 6th June 2014) and the MLE Team is gearing up for it already. Nearly four thousand individual computer-based exams are scheduled to be delivered during these three weeks, not including computer-based exams for students with additional examination requirements (AER) who require word-processing facilities to type their answers.

Computer-based exams are delivered principally in our larger public workstation rooms using the ExamStart system which Graham Robinson has written. ExamStart has vastly simplified the process of starting computer-based exams for students and invigilators: it also makes it possible for the MLE Team to have a ‘birds-eye view’ of what exams are being conducted where, using which type of software.

And ExamStart allows us to identify occasional cases where individual students have, for one reason or another, failed to submit their answers properly and we can thereby submit their answers for them. How good is that?!

William Warburton ⋅ Exams ⋅ No comments

April 23, 2014

First look: Updated Blackboard Interface – The Drag and Drop “Handles”

When we upgrade Blackboard this summer, there will be a number of updates to the user interface. Blackboard has listened to feedback from users who found the user interface too cluttered.

The main theme of the new interface is to only see icons when you need to, rather than seeing them all the time.

Watch this video to find out about the updated interface with a focus on the drag and drop “handles”.

Below follows more detailed explanation and screenshots.

Matthew Deeprose ⋅ BB 2014, Blackboard, Coming up, First look ⋅ No comments

April 23, 2014

First look: Updated Blackboard Interface – The Action button.

When we upgrade Blackboard this summer, there will be a number of updates to the user interface. Blackboard has listened to feedback from users who found the user interface too cluttered.

The main theme of the new interface is to only see icons when you need to, rather than seeing them all the time.

Watch this video to find out about the updated interface with a focus on the action button.

Below follows more detailed explanation and screenshots.

Matthew Deeprose ⋅ BB 2014, Blackboard, Coming up, First look ⋅ No comments