Announcements
Getting Started with Canvas
Apr 19th
Summer and Fall Courses are in Canvas now. If you’re anxious to begin building your course site we’re offering a few Getting Started workshops before the end of this spring semester. We will offer them again in August and on demand throughout the summer as well. Our Getting Started session focuses on tips gathered from faculty from across campus, touching on all the basics you will need to know to begin re-designing your space to fit in Canvas. They will all be held in VMH 3522. Register at:
https://umd.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eM9jEUvuCHxZYEJ
Contact us at canvas@rhsmith.umd.edu with any Canvas questions or to make a one to one appointment anytime.
SYSTEM ALERT: Monthly Server Maintenance Outage – Friday April 19th 2AM – 7AM EST
Apr 18th
To: Smith Community
From: Office of Smith IT
This is a notice to advise you of the upcoming Server Maintenance Outage that will occur at 2am EST Friday, April 19th and last until 7am Friday, April 19th. During this outage many of the Smith servers will be getting patched with the latest Security and Critical Updates that Microsoft and various vendors have released. All Smith School services will be affected due to reboots that are required when the patches are installed. The Active Directory File Server, all Lotus servers and Smith Apps/Citrix servers will also be restarted. Email delivery inbound and outbound will be queued and messages delivered once the servers are placed back into production.
The following services will be effected during the outage:
Blogs (blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu)
MBA Caserooms
Email (Incoming and Outgoing)
Sametime
UNet
MBA Networth
Smith Website
Application Databases that run from Lotus Notes
Active Directory File Server (K and O Drive)
Please direct any questions to the Office of Smith IT Help Desk at helpme@rhsmith.umd.edu or 301-405-2269.
We apologize for any inconvenience that the outage may cause.
Office of Smith IT
Summer and Fall, 2013 course spaces
Apr 17th
Things to know about if you’re teaching Summer or Fall – News about course names, the new EMT tool, migration from Blackboard changes, and steps to copy from one course to another.
The new naming convention for courses should be in place, but missing section numbers until sometime in May. For now they will look something like: ”BMGT000: A real course name here – Fall 2013 jsmith” Before Summer 1 this name will also include section numbers. As before, by default there is one space per course id for each professor teaching. If you want to split that course space into individual courses by section there is a tool to do that now.
Course spaces in Canvas are not created until an instructor has been assigned by the scheduling officer Master course spaces can be created for instructors who are not assigned to a course yet and may want to start building a course space. You can use EMT (see below) using the Create Organizations option to set one up yourself or contact us at canvas@rhsmith.umd.edu and we can set it up for you.
New Tool – EMT
It is called the ELMs Management Tool or EMT. Just click the “ELMs Management Tool” button in the menu at the left on http://elms.umd.edu. With EMT you can:
1. Combine Sections and Courses that are currently separated
2. Create Single Section Courses
3. Manage Enrollments NOTE: While you can add Designers this way (or what we used to call Course Builders in Bb) TAs still must be added by the scheduling officer via SIS data entry (this is a Registrar policy) Email scheduling@rhsmith.umd.edu to add TAs or other Instructors.
4. Create Local Users (users without a Directory login ID)
5. Create Organizations (any non-term based spaces)
6. Look-Up ‘My Courses’ Info
Documentation to support the use of these tools has been is embedded in the EMT both as a full document on the EMT landing page. If you run into problems using it please contact us at canvas@rhsmith.umd.edu.
Blackboard Courses Migrated – it’s different this time
NOTE: The old Blackboard spaces were migrated already. If you haven’t checked them, please do. Make sure any material you will need is there. Blackboard will be completely decommissioned in June and nothing will be available after that happens. The Fall migration this time is more than a file dump! Now it is easier than ever to migrate old course content to new course spaces because all documents, power points, videos, links and text editor content has been migrated into a course structure. Modules were created from the former Bb menu with links to content that was migrated in. It should be far more useful than the old Bb migrated spaces for Spring. See what the Fall migration looks like: http://www.elms.umd.edu/sites/default/files//webfiles/documents/doc/Fall_MigrationInfo.pdf
However, third party content was not migrated and you may need to clean up, relink and rebuild some files that you want to keep or delete. So please do check what migrated before June 30.
6 Easy Steps to get existing Canvas content into New Fall 2013 Course Space
o Go to Fall 2013 course space
o Click on “Settings” on left menu
o Click “Import Content into this Course”
o Choose “Copy content from another Canvas course”
o Select the course you want to copy from
o Then either copy everything from that course or pick and choose what you want to migrate. Make sure to click “Import Course Content”
Here’s a guide on copying courses (complete with screenshots) http://guides.instructure.com/s/2204/m/4152/l/57077-how-do-i-import-content-from-another-canvas-course
Workshops and other help
We will be announcing workshops soon for those who didn’t get a chance to attend Getting Started yet. We plan a few in early May, and more in August. We can schedule other times as needed, and individual appointments too. We have lots of time Monday and Thursday afternoons between now and mid-May and other times on request. Please do let us know if you want to sit with one of us to discuss anything Canvas and clear up any questions you might have. Email canvas@rhsmith.umd.edu to set up an appointment.
Smoogle services now restored
Apr 17th
To: Smith Community
At approximately 8:25am EST we started receiving reports that the Smoogle (hosted on Google Apps for Education) mail system and associated services (e.g. Drive, Sites, Groups etc) were unavailable. This outage appeared to affect all Google Apps customers and not just the business school.
As of 9:50am EST we believe that Google engineers have resolved the issues and services are now available. If you are still having issues logging into your Smoogle account please restart your browser and try again.
We will post updates as and when we have further information. You can also check the status of Google services at any time by visiting their Apps Status dashboard here:
http://www.google.com/appsstatus
Thank you
Office of Smith IT
Adobe Connect Now Available for Web Conferencing
Apr 2nd
Adobe Connect Now Available for Faculty and Staff Web Conferencing
The University of Maryland Division of Information Technology has recently purchased a campus-wide license for the web conferencing software, Adobe Connect. Faculty and Staff may now initiate a web conference, and student hosting capabilities will be added soon. For more information on training opportunities, tutorials, and other online resources, see the Learning Technologies’ Adobe Connect page. (Additional note: There is excellent Tech support available 24×7 by Adobe at 800-422-3623 – let your participants know that connection issues can be resolved by calling this number.)
Adobe Connect Pro is a real-time virtual classroom environment designed for distance education and collaboration. Faculty can now create fully-featured live virtual classrooms to hold office hours, guest lectures and meetings. As long as individuals have stable broadband Windows-based or Mac operating systems computers, they can participate in live (or view recorded) web conferences.
To initiate your own web conference, please visit http://www.webmeeting.umd.edu and login with your directory ID and password. Tutorials and training info can be found at http://otal.umd.edu/adobeconnect. Best Practice tips we’ve gathered from users so far:
Some best practice tips from early Faculty adopters:
- Wired connections with fast internet speed are best. Hosts and other presenters MUST be on a wired connection even if their wireless connection is faster. There is variable latency on wireless connections that can cause problems that require re-connection.
- Don’t give everyone mic rights have them raise their hand if they’d like to speak and then grant them mic rights on an individual basis
- Use a headset w/ mic to reduce echo and background noise.
- Have the room set up how you would like ahead of time with PowerPoints already loaded. The navigational tools are better with uploaded slides than they are with slides on your shared desktop.
- Hosts and presenters should take 4 minutes to watch these tips on sharing Powerpoint. See how to control what the see or allow they to control slide progression: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-adobe-connect/sharing-powerpoint-presentations/
- Prepare in advance – Be sure to click through each slide to make sure they were not changed in the upload conversion. Run the audio set-up wizard. Practice with a friend.
- If you are using guest lecturers do a practice session a couple days ahead of time with them connecting from the exact same location and computer they will be doing the live session to make sure their connection is ok.
- If it is a large group with guest lecturers have a moderator to keep the conversation going and keep track of questions coming in.
- The best troubleshooting tip is to simply switch browsers first. Or log out and then log back in ( I was in a webinar today in Adobe with 250 people at least and that is the only troubleshooting they gave people), they can also just go through the audio-set-up wizard. If these steps don’t work, the user with issues should call Adobe Connect support at 1-800-422-3623
- Here is a doc on known Chrome issues that are different with each different version of that browser: http://helpx.adobe.com/adobe-connect/kb/google-chrome-browser-incompatibility.html Hosts and presenters are most affected by the Chrome issues. Participants can attend, but not share webcam, audio or files if these problems exist.
A recording of the DivIT Intro to Adobe Connect webinar: https://webmeeting.umd.edu/p737vfzf9r0/
April webinars include advanced Adobe Connect, extra credit and more
Apr 1st
“How Do I” Q&A Weekly Webinar Series
- Advanced Features in Adobe Connect (Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 12:30 p.m.)
- Creating an Assignment with Multiple Section-Based Due Dates (Tuesday, April 9, 2013 at 12:30 p.m.)
- Adding Extra Credit Assignments (Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at 12:30 p.m.)
- Connecting External Tools in ELMS (Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 12:30 p.m.)
See below for detailed information about those events.
Advanced Features in Adobe Connect
When: Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: Online Using Adobe Connect Pro
Adobe Connect has replaced Wimba Live Classroom as the university web conferencing platform to support teaching, learning, and organizational needs. Join us for the second part of our introduction where we will go more in-depth into the Adobe Connect platform and explore breakout rooms, room settings, and recording. Participants should have a basic understanding of Adobe Connect to attend this Webinar.
Creating an Assignment with Multiple Section-Based Due Dates
When: Tuesday, April 9, 2013 at 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: Online Using Adobe Connect Pro
In this Webinar, we will create one assignment with two due dates; one for a particular class section, and one for everyone else in the class. We will also explore how ELMS allows you to create a different due date for each section of the class within a single assignment.
Adding Extra Credit Assignments
When: Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: Where: Online Using Adobe Connect Pro
In this Webinar, you will learn different ways to set up an extra credit assignment in an ELMS space. Participants should have a basic understanding of the Canvas Assignment tool to attend this webinar.
Connecting External Tools in ELMS
When: Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: Online Using Adobe Connect Pro
Canvas gives instructors the ability to connect many external tools to their ELMS course space. In this Webinar, you will learn how to add external tools such as YouTube and Kahn Academy, and the steps for adding them to your course site.
Login Instructions:
To join the meeting, please go to http://webmeeting.umd.edu/ltwebinars
For the current Webinar schedule, please visit http://otal.umd.edu/how-do-i-qa-webinar.
All Webinar archives are located at http://otal.umd.edu/webinarArchives.
If you have any questions, please contact us at elms@umd.edu.
We look forward to your participation online!
Adding TAs to Canvas Course
Mar 30th
Adding any users to term-based Canvas course spaces continues to be strictly regulated by the campus Registrar to protect student privacy. TAs, Instructors and Students must all be added via the SIS (Student Information System) data feed. Mike Sparrow, scheduling@rhsmith.umd.edu can add TAs and Instructors for the Business School. The Registrar’s office adds Students when they register. All of these changes take 24-48 hours to show up in your course.
SmithIT can add Course Builders or Observers who have Directory ID logins. The Instructor can email canvas@rhsmith.umd.edu the course ID, and the Directory login name of the Course Builder or Observer and we can provide almost instant access for these roles.
Non-term based course spaces are managed by the Leader/Instructor of the space. Since they have no students enrolled, adding and removing users is completely up to the owner of the space. Once added by the Instructor these participants will receive an invitation and may opt to join the course.
Microsoft Downloads
Feb 18th
University of Maryland software download site now available!
Students can now download popular Microsoft products Office and Windows operating system upgrades for their educational and personal use. Faculty and Staff members can still download Office and Windows operating system upgrades for work-at-home and personal use on their personal computers. All this and FAQs are found at www.software.umd.edu. If issues arise regarding the download site or product key access, contact Kivuto Support at support@kivuto.com or 
1-888-396-1447.
Faculty and Staff can get popular Microsoft software for institutional, work at home, and personal use thanks to an agreement between the university and Microsoft managed by the Division of Information Technology. Several titles are available for download at no cost for work at home use:
– Windows 8 Operating System Upgrade 32bit/64bit Professional
– Office 2013 Professional (for Windows)
– Office 2011 Standard (for Macintosh)
– Visual Studio 2010
– Expression Studio 4
Visit www.software.umd.edu to get started. For product downloads, you will be directed to a website hosted for the university by an external vendor. You will need to log in with your Directory ID and password when you place products in your shopping cart.
The following Knowledge Base articles provide answers to FAQs and give instructions for downloading and installing the software from the website:
– Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Faculty and Staff about the University of Maryland Microsoft Enterprise and Server License Agreement (http://ter.ps/17n)
– How to Download and Install Microsoft Products from the UMD Software Center (https://www.itsc.umd.edu/MRcgi/MRTicketPage.pl?USER=&MRP=0&PROJECTID=1&MR=133584)
Additionally, the agreement makes several enterprise server products available for institutional use, including Windows Server 2012, Exchange 2013, and SharePoint 2013.
If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at 301.405.1500.
Important Turning Point clicker changes
Feb 11th
New for 2013: TurningPoint 5!
Attention Classroom Response System Users
The Classrooms in VMH are all upgraded to a new version of Turning Point – so if you’re using classroom computers for clicker polling, PLEASE PREPARE FOR THIS NEW VERSION.
The Clicker software used in classrooms across campus was upgraded to TurningPoint 5 (TP5). This new version brings together all of the polling options (TurningPoint and TurningPoint AnyWhere) into a single TP5 program for both Mac and PC versions, with a streamlined and user-friendly dashboard. TP5 will allow users to upload participant lists from from their Canvas course sites as well as import polling session data into their Canvas grade book.
Information for presenters can be found at clickers.umd.edu. Email the Clicker Support Team at clickers@umd.edu.
Attention Students
There is a new clicker registration system, the Web Registration Tool. All students must register clicker devices even if you had previously registered the same device for use in a Blackboard course. Use the registration link in the side bar under “Students.” Click on the Students link to the left and then visit the Registration page.
For more information, click on ”Student FAQs” in the Students section to the left.
Canvas feature update – email notifications longer now
Jan 25th
Email notifications sent to students from the Canvas Inbox are no longer truncated. Recipients DO receive the whole long message now. One other popular feature request – the one to enable senders to get a copy of what they send – has yet to be implemented though. Vote on it here to move it up in priority on the Canvas feature development schedule. http://help.instructure.com/
Another frequently requested enhancement you might want to vote for covers hiding total columns in the gradebook. Vote for that here if you would like that ability:
http://help.instructure.com/
We’ll post popular enhancement requests here from time to time. Tell us what you’re voting on and we’ll add a link to it here so others can find it and vote on it too. (make sure to send the URL for us to post)
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