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IT Services Online Training

infoshare@ipfw.edu

Kettler Hall

Room 206

260-481-6392

IT Services Training

IT Services has moved and expanded the training Web site. Explore the new site and register for Training  

At the heart of online learning this spring is Blackboard Learn, Blackboard's most advanced version of their Learning Management System.

Helpful facts

• IPFW engaged Blackboard and signed a three year agreement in July of this year.
• Blackboard is hosting the IPFW environment on their servers within their Virginia data center.
• Because the IPFW Blackboard Learn environment is hosted at Blackboard and not at Purdue, IPFW now directly communicates with Blackboard support and project management teams
• All courses for Spring 2012 have been loaded into the new Blackboard Learn system.
• IT Services is offering a "Getting Started" workshop for faculty, who are being asked to download content from Vista now so they can upload and rebuild in Blackboard Learn in preparation for Spring term. We strongly encourage instructors to register for the workshop. Schedule and registration for November 
• Beginning Spring 2012, all Fall 2011 and older course content will be moved to an archive system hosted by Blackboard where it will be available to faculty until December 31, 2012. Instructions on how to access old content will be sent to faculty by the end of the calendar year. Until then, faculty will access and download content from the Vista servers at West Lafayette.

Additional Blackboard Learn questions are answered in this related article 

Faculty training opportunities

• In addition to the 2-hour "Getting Started" workshop, courses are now being offered in Mobile Learn, assignments/ assessments, grade center, building/ managing content, transferring course content, and collaboration tools.  
• Several open workshops have been added in November, where instructors can come and build spring courses and get questions answered.  
• After-hours training (after 5 PM) is also available for instructors. These times are listed on the November schedule. 

Register for training and bookmark your favorite instructor resources for Blackboard Learn at our newly revised training site.  

'Learning on the go' is the latest innovation from Blackboard.  

Blackboard Mobile™ Learn is an application that can be used to access Blackboard on a smartphone or tablet device.  

What can you do with Mobile Learn?

• You can use this app for quick access to your classes starting with the spring semester.  
• Mobil Learn allows you to view course assignments and due dates, messages, announcements, and grades.
• Instructors can also post announcements.  
• Students and instructors can participate and post to class discussions.

As installed at this time, Blackboard Mobile will not offer universal access to online courses this spring. Blackboard Mobile will be supported as a pilot through the spring semester. There are requirements as to phone service providers, devices, and operating systems.

Available Devices

• Wi-Fi connection only
• iPhone�, iPod touch�, and iPad™
• Sprint network (3G/4G/Wi-Fi)
• Android™ devices
• BlackBerry� smartphone devices
• HP webOS devices

Not Available Devices

• All other carriers (3G/4G/Wi-Fi)
• excluding iOS devices stated above

Additional information and instructor resources for Mobile Learn 

The Kaltura Fall pilot was so successful, that the pilot phase was ended early and an agreement was reached with Kaltura that allows us to move to full support.  

What is the IPFW Media Vault?

• IPFW's Media Vault uses Kaltura's technology to provide a great new way to store and deliver streaming media.  
• The Kaltura building block has been enabled in Blackboard Learn and allows you to connect with video in IPFW's Media Vault.  
• With IPFW's Media Vault, instructors can easily upload their own audio and video, make simple edits, create playlists and integrate them into their classes.  
• To Learn More about IPFW's Media Vault, visit The Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) which is offering workshops introducing faculty to IPFW's Media Vault. 

Tegrity is lecture capturing software that allows instructors to record lectures and supplementary course content in the classroom or in their office.  

Recordings are uploaded to the IPFW Media Vault. They can be integrated into Blackboard classes or IPFW's iTunes U.

If you have been using Adobe Presenter, try Tegrity today. Contact the IT Services Help Desk for more information. 

i>clicker Overview

• i>clicker was integrated as a powerlink in Blackboard Vista this fall and will be one of the available building blocks in Blackboard Learn this coming spring.
• Faculty who now use i>clicker in their classes have reported that the system is easy to use and is without any of the issues associated with the previous product.
• Students can purchase or rent their clicker from the IPFW Book Store.
• With i>clicker, faculty can share any application, file, media or presentation with their class and then elicit immediate feedback response.  

Faculty interested in a demonstration of i>clicker or using i>clicker in their classes should contact the IT Services Help Desk or Kathie Surface, Faculty Academic Support.

Follett and Blackboard are a winning combination with Caf� Scribe. Caf� scribe digital textbooks (eTextbooks) offer a number of advantages:

• The Caf� Scribe building block will be enabled in Blackboard Learn and will allow instructors to choose reading requirements for the course: by complete textbook/s, or by selected chapter/s of one or more textbooks.
• A student's entire purchased Caf� Scribe library will be available at all times online.  
• eTextbooks can be downloaded for offline studying, but no specialized reading device is required.  
• Caf� Scribe eTextbooks are compatible with most PCs and mobile devices.  
• Students can add bookmarks and add comments which create study and reference resources that are always available.