ProfHacker “delivers tips, tutorials, and commentary on pedagogy, productivity, and technology in higher education.” Recent posts focus on topics such as not making assumptions about students’ technical skills, simple ways to enhance in-class group work, and handling Twitter spam. ProfHacker’s editors Jason B. Jones (associate professor of English at Central Connecticut State University) and George H. Williams (assistant professor of English at the University of South Carolina Upstate) are joined by a cadre of faculty and student authors from a variety of institutions to provide 2 or 3 useful posts a day.

1. DOWN ARROWS

Blackboard 8 introduced new  “contextual menus” – the down-arrows icon on the Grade Center. Don’t be afraid to click through some of these icons. You will discover many familiar features you have been used over years as well as some new ones. Mouse over a grade and a student name; you will see even more.

2. DRAG AND DROP

We all like to “Drag and Drop”  because it is so easy. For example, can you  re-arrange your Grade Center to make sense to you and to your students simply by dragging and dropping? Yes, you can. Go to Manage–>Organize Grade Center.

Watch the short movie below to see Neal Caidin shows you how to reorganize your Grade Center along with some other tricks.

3. HIDE GRADE COLUMNS

Often it is easier to enter student grades if some columns are temporarily hidden from you*. Also, you may want to hide grading columns you will never use that appear by default in Blackboard (such as Student ID, Availability status or Username columns, etc ).

*WARNING: “Hide” only affects the instructor’s view of the Grade Center, not the student’s view.  Students can still see their grades that you “Hide”.  “Hide” in this context means “to hide from my current view of the overall Grade Center.” To hide grades from students, choose Modify Column, and then choose “No” for “Show this column in My Grades”.  “My Grades” is what Blackboard calls the student view. By default, students see all grades.

4. FEWER “SUBMIT” AND “OK” CLICKS

Use the “Next” or “Previous” arrows, or “Go” at the top right to jump to an individual student or assignment column, or to navigate sequentially. This will save you a few clicks when you “Submit” and “Ok” and go back and forth between the main grade view and Grade Details.

5. SMART VIEWS

You can create subsets of grade views (so called “Smart Views”) which meet specific criteria.  For example, Smart Views enable you to look into individual users in more detail, examine specific groups to investigate, or filter students based on their performance on a specific item.  Once created and saved, a Smart View becomes an item on the Current View drop-down menu of the Grade Center page.  To create a Smart View,  go to Manage, and Add Smart View.

Bonus tip: ICON LEGEND

Many people have asked me what the symbol  or  next to grades means. I didn’t know either. So, I looked up the Icon Legend and found out what I wanted to know. The Icon Legend is located at the lower right corner of the Grade Center! Hope at least one icon (the error icon) never occurs on your Grade Center.

To learn more, see our help page for the Blackboard Grade Center and visit the Blackboard support website. If you would like more help with Blackboard, request an office visit and we will come to you.

Do you find it is tedious to read a large number of discussion threads, needing multiple clicks to read each one, reply, and read more?  Let us introduce you to an efficient way to save you from clicking, clicking, clicking…

The “Collect” feature within the discussion board places forum posts and replies into a single “flat” page view that only requires a little scrolling to read all.

To use “Collect” to view ALL posts and replies in a forum:

• Choose “Select All” from the drop-down control and then click the “Go” button.
• Click on the “Collect” button.

To use “Collect” to view selected set of threads in a forum:

• Place a check in the box next to each posting or a set of thread (using Expend or Collapse to see or hide all replies)
• Click on the “Collect” button

You can filter, and sort threads by author’s name (choosing to view only one or more author’s posts), date, subject, order, and overall rating.

Watch a video demo recorded by Neal Caidin using Jing

To learn more, see our help page for the Blackboard Discussion Board and visit the Blackboard support website. If you would like more help with Blackboard, request an office visit and we will come to you.

This fall, CIT offers several faculty funding options to support innovative projects using instructional technologies.

Our Strategic Initiative Grant program seeks applicants with high-impact project ideas which directly support Duke’s strategic goals, and have school or departmental support. Proposed projects should be feasible to accomplish in one to two years, involve multiple courses or faculty members, and support such strategic goals as interdisciplinarity, internationalization and knowledge in the service of society. See the full program description on our website; initial applications are due Monday September 28, 2009.

Faculty with smaller-scale ideas for pilot or “proof-of-concept” projects are welcome to apply for a Jump Start Grant. These grants may be awarded for projects focused on one course, particularly if the project has potential to be expanded to other courses or faculty if successful, or if the project could be used as a model for others. More information and examples of previously funded projects are on our website. Applications for Jump Starts are accepted on a rolling basis.

Other funding options include Invited Speaker Grants and Instructional Technology Faculty Fellowships. More information about both is on the CIT website at the pages linked above, or email cit@duke.edu.

Librarians hold the keys to a wealth of resources and techniques that can help faculty with teaching and research, and they’re sharing their knowledge in several workshops in a series titled “Beyond the Stacks.” Faculty are invited to learn more about Refworks (8/26) and Endnote (9/2), data and GIS resources at the Library (9/3), finding images and securing copyright (9/10) and making use of digitized and physical primary sources (9/14). All sessions are held in Bostock Library 023, and registration is requested.

Since its inception in 2004, the Duke Digital Initiative (DDI) has explored the application of a range of new and emerging technologies, including iPods and tablet PCs, in teaching and learning. Funded by the Provost’s Office, the program provides training and support to help faculty and students use the tools effectively.

This year’s DDI programs explore new ways to connect and collaborate using digital media, mobile devices and social networking tools.  Programs for 2009-10 are described on the DDI website and include:

• exploring web-based virtual collaboration such as online office hours, virtual guest speakers, web conferencing and more
• providing flexible web publishing for courses using WordPress MU
• investigating how Twitter could be used to support teaching and other academic work
• several options for learning about and using mobile devices students already have, in and outside the classroom
• creating new and flexible teaching spaces with micro-projectors so small they can fit in your pocket
• continuing to use the VoiceThread online media annotation tool to provide easy ways for students to share and comment on media from their instructors and classmates.

Undergraduate faculty interested in learning more or joining one of these explorations should visit the DDI website to apply, or contact cit@duke.edu.

Faculty and students interested in digital video can still check out a variety of equipment – including high-definition Flip video cameras, video camera kits and web cameras – available for loan at the Link in Perkins Library. No application process is necessary, but see the DDI website for specifics of availability.

To learn more, visit the DDI site: http://dukedigitalinitiative.duke.edu/

Blackboard was upgraded over the summer; the new version of Blackboard is similar to the previous version. Those who use the gradebook (renamed the Grade Center) and the Discussion Board will notice the biggest changes.

This upgrade is to ensure that Blackboard, Inc. will continue to provide support for our system.

There are many ways to get help.

• Blackboard help pages now include short video tutorials.
• Call the help desk 919-684-2200.
• Contact CIT to arrange for training for a group of instructors.
• Contact CIT to request a personal office visit.
• Read more about the changes to the Grade Center, emailing announcements, and what students think of the new version.
• Attend a workshop (schedule coming soon). Check our calendar for details.

Guest post by Julie Reynolds, Duke University

Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters, but I discovered it takes slightly more than 140 characters to convince colleagues of Twitter’s value. I’ll try to make my argument for why professionals should use Twitter, and I’ll do it in just 14 tweets. Here we go.

#1) Professional use of Twitter 1 of 3: Post URLs for blogs, articles, & events that you want to make public to a larger audience

• #2) To promote publications, ex: “When Communicating with Diverse Audiences, Use Velcro to Make Science Stick http://bit.ly/4GD4fX“
• #3) To publicize students’ work, ex: “#DukeEngage interns turn dung into fuel in India http://bit.ly/c3u1a”
• #4) To publicize events, ex: “Citizen Science Training Opportunity July 19, 2009 http://bit.ly/16NYgc”

#5) Professional use of Twitter 2 of 3: Network w/folks who share interests or are using similar pedagogy/technology/research method

• #6) Networking tip: be sure your Twitter profile has a descriptive bio so people can find you, ex: http://bit.ly/Vqepp
• #7) Twitter can be like a virtual business card. Be sure your profile bio and webpage are up-to-date and informative
• #8) Join a twibe to find similarly-minded people. Visit http://twibes.com/ to search and join twibes
• #9) Add yourself to http://wefollow.com twitter directory so people can find you (I use #scientist #conservation #educator)
• #10) I posted ex of students’ use of edu software, was contacted by software maker to ask if they could showcase my students’ work!
• #11) Retweet to share info & build community, ex: “RT @saprasanna: Our DukeEngage project is on Duke News: http://tinyurl.com/nmuxkz”
• #12) Search for keywords http://search.twitter.com/ (or via Tweetdeck, my fav Twitr app) & follow people who have interesting tweets

#13) Professional use of Twitter 3 of 3: Back-channel conversation at conferences for feedback on talks & updates on things you missed

• #14) Ex: search for #NECC09 for examples of rich conversation and information resulting from back-channel conversations at a conference

You can follow this conversation on Twitter by searching for #TwitValue. For professional updates, follow Julie at http://twitter.com/JulieReynolds88.

Guest post by Danette Pachtner, Lilly Library, Duke University

Easily and legally share documentary videos in Blackboard. Duke University Libraries has acquired over 80 video titles from Films Media Group that include permissions to stream clips or entire documentaries in Blackboard at Duke. The Films on Demand collection offers a great opportunity to provide easily accessible video content to students for course reserves and to create custom playlists for a broad range of classes and topics.

Duke’s streaming video database can be accessed on the library homepage from the Search Resources/Databases tab (see image).

You can browse titles or search across all titles by keyword. Once you have found a relevant video, copy the URL from the video page and add it to your Blackboard course as an external link.

If you have suggestions for titles to add to Duke’s Films on Demand database, contact Danette Pachtner, Librarian for Film, Video, and Digital Media.

New in Blackboard 8: When you post the announcement in Blackboard, you can choose to email your announcement to all of the users in the course site by clicking a check box.

Blackboard automatically adds the course ID to outgoing email messages, in the email subject field. Usually a course ID consists of Course Subject, Course Number and Suffix, and Course Term. (e.g. ECON101.01-F2009)

To learn more, see our help page for the Blackboard Email Tool and visit the Blackboard support website. If you would like more help with Blackboard, request an office visit and we will come to you.