Monday, August 31, 2009
Update on password for off-campus library database searches
In case you missed Nancy George's email, the Salem State library "is now using Windows/Network/VPN (*not* Navigator or email) user names and passwords to log into library databases from off-campus locations. This change is a result of GroupWise email being phased out this academic year. (Groupwise is the email system used by full-time faculty at Salem State, but not by students, as I understand it). For more information, please see IT's page on Accounts and Passwords: http://www.salemstate.edu/4416.php."
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Procedure for sharing WebCT/Blackboard content across sections
Many of our social work courses share the same syllabus. As we move towards the increased use of WebCT/Blackboard as a document delivery mechanism - and more - some of our multiple section courses may want to share content. The following are directions directly from the mouth (ok, her email) of Gail Rankin:
1. Get the shells on Blackboard/WebCT set up: Each faculty needs to follow the instructions below and request their course.
a-Log into Navigator.
b-Click on "Faculty Home" and look for the box entitled "Academics."
c-Click on 'set myclasses for elearning'
d-Choose the term (i.e. Fall 2009, Spring 2010) and click on 'search.'
e-Then check the to the left of the title of the course and click on 'save.' The course will be available the next business day. (Some delays have been experienced, but some have really been up the next business day).
2. The lead faculty member then needs to create a complete WebCT/Blackboard course site. This is sometimes referred to as a "session" in Gail's parlance, not to be confused with a "section." This will then become a "template" for the other sections of the course.
3. It will be VERY important that the faculty follow these instructions when they first enter their new course session (i.e. the WebCT/Blackboard session for their section).
a-When you first enter your course shell a display of four options appears: create a blank course; copy the course content from a previous course; get content from a template assigned to this course or import material.
b-If the material is coming from a single source of course content as is indicated below, then faculty will need to choose the third option.
Good luck with your technological exploits on WebCT/Blackboard!
1. Get the shells on Blackboard/WebCT set up: Each faculty needs to follow the instructions below and request their course.
a-Log into Navigator.
b-Click on "Faculty Home" and look for the box entitled "Academics."
c-Click on 'set myclasses for elearning'
d-Choose the term (i.e. Fall 2009, Spring 2010) and click on 'search.'
e-Then check the to the left of the title of the course and click on 'save.' The course will be available the next business day. (Some delays have been experienced, but some have really been up the next business day).
2. The lead faculty member then needs to create a complete WebCT/Blackboard course site. This is sometimes referred to as a "session" in Gail's parlance, not to be confused with a "section." This will then become a "template" for the other sections of the course.
3. It will be VERY important that the faculty follow these instructions when they first enter their new course session (i.e. the WebCT/Blackboard session for their section).
a-When you first enter your course shell a display of four options appears: create a blank course; copy the course content from a previous course; get content from a template assigned to this course or import material.
b-If the material is coming from a single source of course content as is indicated below, then faculty will need to choose the third option.
Good luck with your technological exploits on WebCT/Blackboard!
Updates to "Information for Practice" website - stemming the research-to-practice gap
Dr. Gary Holden, a professor at New York University's Silver School of Social Work has updated his website, entitled "Information for Practice" (IP). This free website is a clearinghouse of sorts - and has been running for a number of years. The stated goal of this website is "to help social service professionals throughout the world conveniently maintain an awareness of news regarding the profession and emerging scholarship."
Why you want to look at IP: In addition to a newsreel related to social work-related news, IP tracks the "grey literature," funding opportunities, calls for papers, meta-analyses and systematic reviews and more. I have found this to be a good website to share with graduating students who will not have access to online databases once in the field. A good way to stay connected to the research - and stems the tide of the research-to-practice gap.
Updates to the IP website: Dr. Holden has recently re-designed and updated the site and I, for one, find it very refreshing and easy to manage. The following is a summary (from Dr. Holden) of the changes to the site:
- A new search engine is currently being beta tested which allows you greater control.
- The site has been reconfigured and expanded. There are now 10 categories of information: news; guidelines plus; meta-analyses & systematic reviews; funding; images in the news; video; books; grey literature; open access journals; and calls.
Caveats from Dr. Holden: "As before, IP is free to you (although a few categories may not get you to
the final full text material (e.g., books)), it is updated 24 hrs per day, 7 days per week, (and almost) 365 days per year. IP: isn't optimal about anything; you wouldn't base a research synthesis on it; and it isn't exclusive enough that you don't see things that you are not interested in. Yet, it is a current slice of the social care/social welfare/social work field that I don't think you get anywhere else. My goal is to provide a
place where any social care/social welfare/social work student or professional can visit, anytime, and have a quick sense of what is happening in these related fields. Browsing/searching the archives allows one to
extend that view backward in time."
IP is sponsored by the New York University School of Social Work; the Division of Social Work and Behavioral Science, Mount Sinai School of Medicine; the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research, and the Society for Social Work and Research.
Why you want to look at IP: In addition to a newsreel related to social work-related news, IP tracks the "grey literature," funding opportunities, calls for papers, meta-analyses and systematic reviews and more. I have found this to be a good website to share with graduating students who will not have access to online databases once in the field. A good way to stay connected to the research - and stems the tide of the research-to-practice gap.
Updates to the IP website: Dr. Holden has recently re-designed and updated the site and I, for one, find it very refreshing and easy to manage. The following is a summary (from Dr. Holden) of the changes to the site:
- A new search engine is currently being beta tested which allows you greater control.
- The site has been reconfigured and expanded. There are now 10 categories of information: news; guidelines plus; meta-analyses & systematic reviews; funding; images in the news; video; books; grey literature; open access journals; and calls.
Caveats from Dr. Holden: "As before, IP is free to you (although a few categories may not get you to
the final full text material (e.g., books)), it is updated 24 hrs per day, 7 days per week, (and almost) 365 days per year. IP: isn't optimal about anything; you wouldn't base a research synthesis on it; and it isn't exclusive enough that you don't see things that you are not interested in. Yet, it is a current slice of the social care/social welfare/social work field that I don't think you get anywhere else. My goal is to provide a
place where any social care/social welfare/social work student or professional can visit, anytime, and have a quick sense of what is happening in these related fields. Browsing/searching the archives allows one to
extend that view backward in time."
IP is sponsored by the New York University School of Social Work; the Division of Social Work and Behavioral Science, Mount Sinai School of Medicine; the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research, and the Society for Social Work and Research.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
New procedure for requesting a Blackboard/WebCT session...
Thanks to Jeff and Sue G., we have just found out the following........"please note that Blackboard/WebCT requests are now processed through your Faculty Navigator account."
Note: New faculty - you will need a SSC email to get a Navigator account...which may delay getting Blackboard/WebCT sessions up and running before the very start of the fall semester, we will address this issue at the next meeting of the School of Social Work's Committee on Technology.
1. When you log into Navigator, click on Faculty Home.
2. In the box for Academics look for "Set my classes for elearning", and click the link.
3. On the next screen, please use the pull down menu to select the Term and click on Search. Your course(s) will appear below.
4. Click on the check boxes next to the course titles you want put on Blackboard.
5. Click on Save. The course(s) will be available the next business day (Note: Jeff has been waiting a while for his....so the squeaky wheel rule may apply)
Note: New faculty - you will need a SSC email to get a Navigator account...which may delay getting Blackboard/WebCT sessions up and running before the very start of the fall semester, we will address this issue at the next meeting of the School of Social Work's Committee on Technology.
1. When you log into Navigator, click on Faculty Home.
2. In the box for Academics look for "Set my classes for elearning", and click the link.
3. On the next screen, please use the pull down menu to select the Term and click on Search. Your course(s) will appear below.
4. Click on the check boxes next to the course titles you want put on Blackboard.
5. Click on Save. The course(s) will be available the next business day (Note: Jeff has been waiting a while for his....so the squeaky wheel rule may apply)
Sunday, August 9, 2009
What the heck is Moodle?
Moodle is an open-source, online learning environment. According to Salem State's Info Teech folks: "Moodle is a course management system that provides faculty with teaching tools and students with access to course materials 24 hours a day. This system is part of a category of technology applications called Open Source. This means that administrators can make changes( additions) to the system as needed." (Click here for more)
To call it the new version of Blackboard/WebCT may be an over-simplification, but Salem State's Info Tech Department is encouraging faculty to check it out for use in courses over the coming year.
You can check out Wikipedia's description of moodle or you can go to the Salem State moodle site to check out the test courses available there (most are in progress).
Be sure to watch for trainings on how to best use this new technology in your teaching! We'll keep you posted as soon as we hear more.
Zgoda on the Twitter phenomenon
Check out our very own adjunct instructor Karen Zgoda's most recent Social Work 2.0 column in The New Social Worker Online entitled How Tweet It Is: Social Tweeters. Not only does this column address the twitter phenomenon, it also addresses the social work implications of tweeting...which we will likely see unfold. Regardless of whether you want to jump on the twitter bandwagon, it is good to know what's up in the world of our students!An excerpt from Karen's column:
"Twitter is essentially a free micro-blogging service that allows you to post 140-character messages called tweets. If you are interested in setting up your own Twitter account, here’s a great video guide (click here). Folks who are “following” you can see your tweets. Likewise, once you log in to your Twitter account, you can view continuously updated tweets from those you are following...
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