Discussion Board Issue Workarounds

Blackboard Administrators are currently working on resolving the issue of instructors not being able to access the Discussion Board. This issue is not affecting students, only course instructors. Estimated time of resolution is unknown at this time. Here are suggested workarounds until the issue is resolved.

If you have a “non-graded” discussion: you need to create a content area that is not visible to students (be sure it is Hidden). Select Tools; select Discussions Boards; then select a Discussion Board Forum. Hit Next, then Submit.

If you have a “graded” discussion: you can access student posts via the “Needs Grading” or the Grade Center area within Blackboard’s Gradebook. This will bring up the familiar inline grading tool.

If you need assistance you may call the TLP, at 898-6167.

Instructors temporarily unable to access the Discussion tool from the course menu

We are currently experiencing an issue with the Bb Learn Discussion tool link.

If an instructor clicks on the Discussion tool link from the course menu, an error displays.

As a temporary workaround, instructors can access discussion posts through Needs Grading or through the Grade Center.

This issue does NOT impact students.

The Distributed Learning Technologies team is working to resolve the issue. TLP will post an update once resolved.

TLP says farewell to Peter DiFalco

Peter DiFalco has accepted a job with a company that will allow him to work from home via telecommute, and for more money! We wish him all the best and hope he will not mind if we continue to send an email from time to time. Peter has done so much for the University in Chico for the last eight years, I can’t begin to recount the many innovative solutions he has come up with. We surely will miss his cheery sense of humor and always willingness to take on one more thing. He has been a true innovator and technical genius within educational technology.

Be assured that the Technology & Learning Program will be hiring for two positions. We have yet to replace Ann Steckel who is doing very well at Sonoma State, by the way. Peter’s last day will be February 26, if you want to stop by and say good luck.

-Laura Sederberg, Technology & Learning Program

New TLP Equipment for Checkout by Faculty and Staff

We’ve got a few great new items available to faculty and staff to checkout for free to meet your instructional needs: cameras, tripods, audio equipment and more. Everything can be reserved by faculty and staff from our equipment checkout page (25 second loading time).

New Video Cameras

The pocket-style Flip Cameras have been very popular. Unfortunately, the company was purchased, and then stopped making cameras – but other devices have stepped up to the plate and we’ve added two GE DVX pocket-style camcorders to the mix. Each of these has 16 GB of flash storage and they’re waterproof (to 15meters) so take ’em out in the field and check out what they can do. They create MP4 files you can easily drag/drop onto your computer to upload to YouTube or Kaltura.

New Tripods Great and Small

With our great high-definition flash and still cameras, we’re seeing new uses both in and out of the classroom.

Great: To help you out with your pro-quality shoots, check out our new Large Tripod. It’s 42″ tall in the bag, but can extend out to a full 72″ in height and features a professional leveling bubble and smooth pan/tilt handle.

Small: A great complement to our Canon S100 still or pocket flash camcorders for your next field trip is our new Flexible Tabletop Tripod from Magnus. This thing looks like a robot octopus (with fewer arms) and comes with a carabiner to conveniently clip it to your backpack when you hit the back country.

Wireless Microphone kits for every occasion

We’ve got not one but two new wireless microphone kits to help you get great sound for your next instructional project. If you’re out shooting with one of our newer Sony CX380 camcorders, you’ll want to check out the new Bluetooth Wireless Mic for Camcorder which gives you a 50 foot range to record audio directly from a discreet lavalier microphone into the video camera via its audio-in jack. It even comes with two earbuds which gives you two-way communication to the ear of your shooting subject so you can feed them their lines.

For classroom lecture capture, a great new item is our RevoLabs XTAG-USB wireless microphone. This is another lavalier microphone, but this time the receiver connects directly to any Mac or PC camera through a USB cable. Once connected, this gives you the ability to have the wireless mic feed audio directly to Blackboard Collaborate, Skype, Camtasia or any computer application. We’ve used this microphone for years in our distance education rooms, and now we’ve got one you can use anywhere.

For these items and all the rest of our gear, make your own reservation from our self-service equipment checkout page!