When the font size on a Windows machine is set to a size of 20 or greater, the scroll bars will disappear from the Full Grade Center view in Blackboard.  To fix this issue without changing the font size:

WINDOWS XP ONLY:

1. From your Desktop area, right-click on your desktop and choose Properties.
2. Click on the Appearance tab, and then click the Advanced button to display the Advanced Appearance screen.
3. Select Scrollbar from the pull-down menu and check the size setting. If greater than 20, change the size to 17 (system default setting) and click OK, then Apply.
4. After changing the setting, open a new browser window and access the Full Grade Center. The horizontal scroll bar should now appear.

WINDOWS VISTA or WINDOWS 7:

1. From your Start Menu, access Control Panel > Personalization > Window Color and click Advanced Appearance Settings.
2. If you do not see Advanced Appearance Settings, access Control Panel > Personalization > Aero Themes > Windows 7 and then repeat step 1.
3. Select Scrollbar in the pull-down menu, and set the value for Scrollbar size to 17 or less.
4. After changing the setting, open a new browser window and access the Full Grade Center.  The scroll bars should now appear.

For further questions or assistance, please contact Learning Ventures Support at UTLV@utoledo.edu or by phone at 419-530-8835.

The Performance Dashboard provides user activity report in a course. The report includes last course access, days since last course access, review status, discussion board etc. To find out the last course access of your students to the Blackboard course site please follow the instructions:

• Click Evaluation on the Control panel.
• Click Performance Dashboard.

The performance dashboard with be displayed with user activity reports. For further questions or assistance, please contact Learning Ventures Support at UTLV@utoledo.edu  or by phone at 419-530-8835.

Blackboard will be shut down and restarted from 4:00 to 4:15AM every day for maintenance. The daily maintenance work will improve the performance of the server. Students should NOT schedule to take their quizzes or exams during that time.

We have received several reports of Blackboard instability from faculty and students over the weekend.  We are aware of this issue. Academic Support has been working hard to fix the problem with the tools provided by Blackboard. We will keep you posted regarding this issue via our blog.

Digital textbooks have become more prominent in the higher education. Barnes & Noble introduced the NOOK Study platform.  NOOK Study constitutes both eTextbooks from across different publishers and a free eTextbook reader.  It is also seamlessly integrated with Blackboard.

Faculty can assign an eTextbook and link to reading assignments in a Blackboard course easily. Click the following links to find out:

• How to assign an eTextbook
• How to Link to reading assignments

Students will be loaded into Blackboard for the spring 2012 semester on Friday, December 30 so that they can access the orientation site.  Students will NOT have access to individual course sites until midnight of the course start date; however, the course instructor can grant students access to a course any time after December 30. If you would like to give students access to your course immediately after December 30, please do the following to change the course duration:

1. Click Control Panel.
2. Click Customization.
3. Click Properties.
4. Choose a new start date for Set Course Duration.
5. Click Submit.

Please watch this video clip for step-by-step instruction. For further questions or assistance, please contact Learning Ventures Support at UTLV@utoledo.edu or by phone at 419-530-8835.

APPLYING THE QUALITY MATTERS RUBRIC

Friday, February 24, 2012
9:00am – 4:00pm
Carlson Library, Room 1025

Lunch will be provided. (Please let us know if you have special dietary needs when you register.)

Workshop Description

Are you interested in designing your online/blended courses to maximize student learning and success? If so, this workshop is for you.

Quality Matters (QM) is designed to improve the quality of online and blended courses by establishing a peer-reviewed quality assurance review process. You will become familiar with the Quality Matters standards and participate in a practice peer course review of an online course using the review tools. Participants in this hands-on workshop will be other online/blended instructors from both The University of Toledo and the surrounding area. After successfully completing this workshop, you will be eligible to move into the Online Peer Reviewer Certification. In addition, you will gain practical ideas to improve your own courses using the QM Standards.

Upon Completion of this QM training workshop, you will be able to:

• Describe the underlying principles of the Quality Matters Project
• Use the QM Rubric to evaluate and improve your own online/blended course design
• Apply the Peer Course Review Rubric
• Decide if you wish to participate as a QM peer reviewer

Registration Information:

• Registration is free for all UT faculty and you can register online at https://www.utdl.edu/DL_training/ (bottom of the training schedule page)
• Only 15 seats are reserved for UT faculty, so please register early—registrations will be accepted in the order in which they are received. Once the 15 reserved seats are filled, additional registrants will be automatically placed on a waiting list.
• Registration/cancellation deadline is Friday, February 10, 2012.
• Please note that any cancellations must be received before 5 PM on February 10, 2012. All “no-shows” on the day of the workshop will be charged a $200 fee if cancelations are not made prior to this deadline.