FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: WEB-BASED RESEARCH STUDY Lori Lange, Psychology Listen Now  |
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The project is named VOICE, which stands for Verification of Illness, Coping, & Experience. Lange and her team of researchers are conducting a study of personal experiences with ongoing symptoms of chronic illness through a series of online surveys given to patients who meet the study criteria. They are collecting and analyzing data which will be reported to the scientific and medical communities, as well as back to participants. CIRT worked with Lange at several points in the project development. First, she received assistance and support in setting up a project website. The website is a tool to provide information to patients about the study, to provide access the questionnaires on an ongoing basis, and to communicate research findings. The study will deliver the questionnaires via UNF’s Survey tool, Vovici Enterprise. Lange next consulted with CIRT staff member Dave Wilson to determine methods for setting up and deploying surveys, and received training on using the system. It was important for the study to set the surveys up in such a way that users could remain anonymous, yet their data could be linked by the researchers, and that goal was achieved. Another critical part of the project is recruiting participants. CIRT staff member Mike Boyles designed a brochure to be placed in doctor’s offices for this purpose as well as an identity icon to be used in the brochure and on the website. The brochure incorporates content supplied by the research team, integrated into Mike’s design, to promote interest and participation in the project. Lange’s team hopes to improve understanding by gathering firsthand information from people dealing with ongoing illness for which there is no known cure. It is their hope that this information will help improve the lives and support of individuals who are affected by such illnesses. If you have a project that could benefit from consultation and assistance with online surveys or graphic design, we invite you to stop by and talk with us.
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| BLACKBOARD 9 Deb Miller, Director deb.miller@unf.edu Listen Now |
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I wanted to take some time in this newsletter to reflect a bit on the journey that has thus far been Blackboard 9 and what I see to come. It was a bit of a rough road this fall, with several unanticipated bugs that made the transition to the new system difficult for us all. We have heard from and helped many faculty members struggling to adjust to the new system, and their feedback has been valuable in identifying and responding to issues. Of course, some of us, myself included, don't like having our "cheese moved", so why upgrade at all? Simply put, upgrades are part of every software program, and are intended to provide new functionality based on instructor and student feedback. Additionally, vendors stop developing features and fixing problems in older versions of software. Support for Blackboard 7 ended in October of 2009. What does that mean? It means we could keep using it, but the vendor would not respond promptly to problems, and we could be forced into a mid-semester upgrade if anything serious developed. UNF made the decision to leapfrog a version and go directly to Blackboard 9 because it was the current version, and had been out for almost a year at the time of the upgrade. Blackboard 8 had the new Grade Center, and had been piloted here in the spring with good feedback. It did not have the new interface, but we felt it made sense to minimize the disruption that would have been caused by having two major upgrades back to back and go directly to Blackboard 9. I firmly believe it was the right decision, despite the bumps in the road. I have heard from many faculty members who like the new interface and features, some of which have been long desired, including fewer clicks, group assignments, and an Excel-like grade book. The good news is that the service pack applied during the December maintenance window resolved most of the big issues, including the ability to right-click a file to open, color picker, announcement emails, and assessment errors. There are still a few unresolved issues, and we will continue to work with you and the vendor to identify and correct these as soon as possible. We’ve also encountered some new features that just make you go “huh” (no numbering in the test canvas, really?), and are lobbying Blackboard to restore via enhancement requests. There is no “Blackboard 10” looming on the horizon, so I anticipate we will remain on this version of Blackboard for a few years, with minor service packs and upgrades along the way. Above all, I want to encourage you with this note to call us, email, or stop in when you encounter a problem or question with Blackboard - even if you just need to talk through something. We welcome the opportunity to help you, and it is not "a bother." Usually, we have a solution or workaround to share, and if not, your information helps us to identify issues and resolve them promptly. Also, please attend our workshops, and let us know if there are other topics you'd like to see. The events are available at:, and we have several Bb sessions available in the weeks to come, including an evening session for adjuncts. Best to all of you for the new year and the new semester, we look forward to working with you. |
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For a complete list of our events, please visit: Also, check out our past events and handouts, sortable by topic: |
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| FREE STUFF: MINDMEISTER Dave Wilson, Coordinator of Educational Media, david.wilson@unf.edu Listen Now  |
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MindMeister is similar to FreeMind in a lot of ways. The concept is the same, but this adds Web 2.0 accessibility and functionality. MindMeister is web-based, like Google Docs and Blackboard. That means your mind maps are stored on the Internet and you are able to access and edit them from any web browser. There is also an iPhone/iPod Touch app that lets you use those devices to work on your mind maps. When creating mind maps, you have the standard color/font choices but it also gives you a palette of pre-made icons and images to use. If you don't like any of those, you can either upload your own images or link to an image that's already on the web. Once you've created a mind map, MindMeister gives you several ways to share it. You can save it as a traditional file in several common formats including rich text, Adobe PDF, and as a JPG image. Better yet, MindMeister lets you publish the map as a stand-alone webpage and it gives you the embed code that allows you to embed your map directly into sites like Blackboard and Blogger. MindMeister is also a collaborative tool; you can invite others to edit the map with you, which is very useful for group work. If you use the collaboration features, MindMeister will even send you emails and tweets to let you know when the map has been changed so you don't have to keep checking. |
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| BLACKBOARD NEWS: SERVICE PACK 2 Erin Soles, Coordinator of Instructional Design, esoles@unf.edu Listen Now |
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In order to resolve issues with performance, the following vendor-recommended change has been made to the system: Blackboard session timeouts have been set to the default of 30 minutes. This means that if a user is not active in the course for 30 minutes, their session will terminate and they will automatically be logged out. Please note: Web browsers DO NOT record typing as activity. Therefore, if you're typing within a text box in Blackboard or if you are working on an assessment attempt without saving for longer than 30 minutes, the session will timeout prior to submission unless the Save option is utilized. This means that Blackboard users must save all Assessment, Assignment, Blog, Wiki and Discussion Board postings at least once every 30 minutes in order to prevent loss of their work. Instructions are available here: http://www.unf.edu/dept/cirt/bb/faq/timeout_saving.html
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| ITS NEWS: OUTLOOK EMAIL SERVER UPGRADE COMING SOON | ||
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| WHAT'S NEW IN CIRT | ||
The podcast is a great way to hear about projects with which UNF faculty are involved. To view individual episodes, or subscribe to the podcast with iTunes, go to: http://www.unf.edu/dept/cirt/podcasts/fsp.html
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Dr. Lori Lange is currently conducting research on the impact of ongoing physical symptoms in the lives of patients. The study focuses on those who experience persistent or recurring somatic symptoms for more than three months, and includes patients with medically unexplained and functional syndromes. 
In this edition of FreeStuff I am going to feature 
Blackboard was upgraded to Service Pack 2 for Blackboard Learn Release 9 during the maintenance window which took place December 18 – December 22, 2009. Service Pack 2 for Blackboard Learn Release 9 resolves several issues in Blackboard including: 
The server that provides Outlook e-mail for faculty and staff will be upgraded early in February 2010. After the upgrade, faculty and staff will have three times more storage space in Outlook (their default quota will be increased by 500 MBs). Out of Office replies can be set to respond only to e-mails received from other UNF email addresses, which helps to decrease the amount of spam faculty and staff members receive. Additionally, the functionality for 
This newsletter is a publication of the
Center for Instruction & Research Technology at the University of North Florida.
Deb Miller, Editor
Please direct any comments or questions to cirtlab@unf.edu