IT will be upgrading Blackboard on August 7-8. Due to the upgrade, Blackboard will be unavailable starting on the morning of Thursday, August 7, until early afternoon on Friday, August 8

The new version of Blackboard includes:
• A new, easier-to-use Grade Center
• The ability to integrate blogs and wikis for online collaboration
• New timesaving features to help students and instructors organize course loads and assignments

The campus Educational Technology team is offering two training sessions on Aug. 19 to review the new Blackboard features. Click here to register (login required) or visit http://edtech.mst.edu for more information about the scheduled training sessions.

If you have questions about the Aug. 7-8 maintenance window, please contact the IT Help Desk at 341-HELP (4357).

Posted by Matthew Shaner at 03:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Educational Technology and Blackboard will be providing training on Blackboard 8 Grade Center. Grade Center is a new and improved version of the previous Blackboard grade book. It supports an interface similar to a spreadsheet, directed email to students, and the ability for instructors to generate progress reports. Other features include Smart Views, Grading Schemas, Grade Histories, and Hide/Freeze Columns. See a short video clip about Blackboard 8 Grade Center below.

Date:
   Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Times:
   10 a.m. – Noon
   12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Location:
   105 University Center (Technology Classroom)

To sign up for one of the Blackboard 8 Grade Center Training Sessions, follow the steps below:

1. Go to http://edtech.mst.edu
2. Click Register for Training.
3. Type in your Missouri S&T userid and password and click OK.
4. Click on the training session you want to sign up for.
5. Click Register.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On the evening of June 27, Blackboard will be unavailable for up to one hour between 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.

After this maintenance window is complete, courses in Blackboard from previous semesters will become unavailable to students. If they choose, instructors will be able to make courses available again on a course-by-course basis by using the course control panel.

If you have any questions about this issue, please contact the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.

Posted by Matthew Shaner at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Sunday, June 8, from 6-9 a.m., Blackboard will be intermittently unavailable while maintenance is performed on the Blackboard application.

Although you may be able to login and access your courses, you are advised to not make updates in Blackboard during this maintenance window, as any changes made may be lost.

If you have any questions about this issue, please contact the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.

Posted by Matthew Shaner at 01:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard will be upgraded to version 8.0 over the summer. This version includes vast improvements in functionality and features. Here are just a few of the features that will become available:

• Grade Center – A new and much improved way of keeping track of students’ grades. This feature supports an interface similar to a spreadsheet, directed e-mail to students and the ability to generate progress reports.
• Blogs – Gives instructors and students the ability to create blogs and journals within a course, providing a structured and engaging forum for writing about course-related topics, projects and ideas, reinforcing critical thinking and reflective learning strategies.
• Wikis – Enables students and instructors to collaboratively create interactive, multimedia websites within a Blackboard course. In a collaborative online workspace, individuals and teams author, organize and present their work.
• Blackboard Scholar – This is a social bookmarking website that allows students and instructors to collect and tag links to online resources and share those resources with other interested individuals.

Continue reading "Blackboard upgrades this summer" »

Posted by Matthew Shaner at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard is temporarily unavailable, but we expect it to be returned to service around 12 noon today. Thank you for your continuing patience as we make updates to campus networks and applications related to the Jan.1 name change.

If you have any questions regarding Blackboard or the availability of the Blackboard application, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.

Posted by Matthew Shaner at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard will be unavailable to all customers from 7 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Dec. 19.

The service disruption is due to a Blackboard software upgrade to a newer version. The new version will include an enhanced discussion board feature.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP(4357).

Posted by Matthew Shaner at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For faculty members who have not yet taken advantage of Blackboard’s course management tools, IT is hosting a hands-on training session, Blackboard 101, on Thursday, December 13.

Course participants will receive Blackboard course management training using their actual course syllabi. Enrollees will learn how to use Blackboard’s advanced features like the Assignment Tool for streamlining and distributing class assignments, the Add Teaching Assistants feature and the Combine Sections feature, a time saver for instructors who teach multiple sections.

Blackboard 101
Technology Classroom - University Center 105
Thursday, December 13
1:30 - 3:30 p.m.

To enroll visit the IT Training site, click Register for a Short Course and sign up. Space is limited, so individuals interested in the course are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible.

For more information about IT training short courses, call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP (4357).

Posted by Matthew Shaner at 01:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UMR has established an annual training program designed to inform all university employees of the importance of our environmental policy and the requirements of our Environmental Management System (EMS). The 2007 General Awareness Training will be made available to employees on Blackboard starting Monday, Nov. 19.

All UMR employees play a role in the success of our EMS, so please log on to Blackboard and complete the training before Dec. 21. Contact Wade Jadwin from the EMS Department at 341-4089 if you experience any problems accessing the training or have questions about our campus EMS policy

In addition to EMS training, Blackboard is an excellent tool for developing training programs. If you’re interested in using Blackboard for training or you have any questions about using Blackboard you can access training tutorials at the Blackboard Training website.

For more information, please contact the UMR IT Help Desk at 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Matthew Shaner at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Late this afternoon, Sunday October 21, 2007, certain elements of the Blackboard system began to experience sluggish response times. E.g. taking several seconds for pages to load, etc.

The vendor has been contacted and is working to troubleshoot the issue. Thank you for your patience as the situation is resolved.

For more information, please contact the IT Help Desk at 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request at https://help.mst.edu.

Posted by Christopher Dew at 08:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Angie Hammons, Educational Technology Specialist for UMR Information Technology and for the campus, will be hosting a series of training seminars for faculty interested in learning more about effective teaching strategies with Blackboard.

The first seminar will be from 4 – 5 p.m. on Monday, October 29, 2007, in Room 103 of the Library.

This session will demonstrate the use of the Assignment Tool in Blackboard instead of the Digital Drop Box for managing student assignments.

Interested faculty members can sign up for this short course by visiting the IT Training web site and clicking Register Here underneath “Blackboard Training Series”.

For more information, please contact the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP or submit an online Help Request at http://help.mst.edu.

Posted by Christopher Dew at 03:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Are you tired of having old courses listed under your My Courses tab on the Blackboard Home page?

Problem solved! Visit http://helpdesk.mst.edu/documents/How_to_customize_Blackboard_-_students.pdf

Blackboard tips & tricks are brought to you by IT and Student Council.

For more information on Blackboard, visit http://helpdesk.mst.edu/generalinfo/bbhelpindex.html or contact the Help Desk at 341-HELP.

Posted by Christopher Dew at 07:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard will be unavailable from 6 - 7 p.m. on Friday, September 28, during the regularly scheduled maintenance window. System administrators will be performing database tuning in an effort to improve Blackboard stability. Again, Blackboard will be unavailable during this time.

For more information, please contact the Help Desk at (573) 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Christopher Dew at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard services at UMR, UMKC, and UMSL have all recently experienced repeated interruptions of service.

Blackboard administrators are working toward a resolution with Blackboard, Inc. IT anticipates a scheduled interruption of Blackboard services in the near future (later this week) to implement a short-term solution while more permanent solutions are investigated by Blackboard administrators.

In the meantime, we appreciate the patience of all campus customers while these issues are resolved. Blackboard is a mission-critical service for the campus and we are doing everything possible to ensure that Blackboard is a stable, robust environment for campus learning.

Further updates on the Blackboard situation, including regularly scheduled maintenance, can be found in the Blackboard category of the IT Press web log (http://itpress.mst.edu/blackboard).

For more information, please contact the IT Help Desk at (573) 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard will be undergoing routine maintenance from 5:30 - 6 p.m. on Friday, August 24, 2007. As a result, Blackboard will experience a 30-minute interruption of services during the maintenance window. IT will be fine-tuning the database.

For more information, please contact the IT Help Desk at (473) 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard undergoes regular routine maintenance from 5:30-6 p.m., twice each month. On the second and fourth Fridays of each month, Blackboard services will experience a 30-minute interruption while system maintenance is performed.

For more information, contact the UMR IT Help Desk at 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 08:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard services have been restored. UMR customers can now access Blackboard.

For more information, please contact the UMR IT Help Desk at (573) 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 06:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard services are currently unavailable.

UMR IT is currently investigating the underlying cause for this issue.

Please stay tuned for further updates.

For more information, please contact the UMR IT Help Desk at (573) 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard will be upgraded to a new version on August 8 - 11, 2007.

Customers will be unable to login to Blackboard during the upgrading process.

This process will ensure that Blackboard will be available and ready for the upcoming semester for students, faculty and staff. Any course content or other materials that are already within the Blackboard system will be unaffected by the upgrading process.

For more information, please contact the UMR IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP or submit an online Help Request at https://help.mst.edu.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard services have been restored. UMR customers can now access Blackboard.

For more information, please contact the UMR IT Help Desk at (573) 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 07:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard services are currently unavailable. Customers have reported being unable to enter valid authentication credentials.

UMR IT is currently investigating the underlying cause for this issue.

Please stay tuned for further updates.

For more information, please contact the UMR IT Help Desk at (573) 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 04:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard services have been restored. UMR customers can now access Blackboard.

For more information, please contact the UMR IT Help Desk at (573) 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request at https://help.mst.edu.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard services are currently unavailable. UMSL, which hosts Blackboard services for UMR, is experiencing network connectivity issues and as a result, UMR customers are unable to access Blackboard.

UMR IT will post a follow-up notice when Blackboard services become available again.

For more information, please contact the UMR IT Help Desk at (573) 341-HELP or submit an online Help Request at https://help.mst.edu.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 05:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard services will be undergoing maintenance from midnight to 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 29, 2007.

As a result, customers will be unable to login to Blackboard during this time.

For more information, please contact the UMR IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP or by submitting an online Help Request at https://help.mst.edu.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blackboard services will be undergoing routine maintenance from 6 – 8 p.m. on Friday, May 25, 2007. This will result in a 2-hour interruption of Blackboard while the servers are upgraded with the most recent service pack.

For more information, please contact the UMR IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP or submit an online Help Request at https://help.mst.edu.

Posted by Malcolm Hays at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)