TeachOIT: a Blog for People Who Teach with Technology

This October, Academic Computing is offering many workshops on a range of instructional technologies, including creating effective presentations, working with digital images, learning about emerging technologies and copyright issues, and setting up a Blog with the Blogs at UMass Amherst system.

Most sessions are only 50 or 75 minutes long!

October workshop topics include:

• Previews of Window’s MovieMaker and Apple’s iMovie
• Charts and Graphs in Excel 
• Digital Image Basics 
• Mac Tips & Tricks 
• Social Bookmarking with Delicious 
• Setting up a Wiki with PBWorks 
• Copyright Issues for Faculty 

To view the full schedule and register for workshops online, please visit:
https://etna.oit.umass.edu/public/workshops

Please note that our workshop registration process has changed. To access the workshop registration form, you will need to enter your NetID and password (typically the same ID and password you use for your UMail account). Once you have logged in, you‘ll be able to register for workshops and view a schedule of the events you’ve signed up for (including an easy cancel option). Our new registration system will also help us keep track of people who are interested in certain topics or who have been previously waitlisted for specific workshops.

Interested in training, but none of the scheduled times work for you? Contact the Instructional Media Lab (545-2823) to set up a one-on-one consultation.

WebDAV (World Wide Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) is a quick and easy tool for managing your files in UDrive and on SPARK. On a Mac, you can mount your UDrive or your SPARK File Manager directly onto your desktop, allowing you to easily drag & drop (or copy & paste) files between your computer and your UDrive or SPARK course. Here’s a quick tutorial on how it works:

As a regular service of Academic Computing, we can visit your class for a demonstration or workshop on a wide range of technology topics. Recent topics include building PowerPoint presentations, creating Podcasts, getting set up with Blogs, and working with Digital Images.

Recently, we have had an increase in the number of requests for this service. In order to streamline the process and insure that these events meet your instructional goals, we have formalized our process (see below).

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As a regular service, OIT’s Academic Computing staff is available to come to your department and talk to the faculty or graduate students about the teaching technologies available on campus. In particular, we think new faculty or graduate student instructors would find these sessions helpful.

Academic Computing’s Instructional Media Lab will be closed for Labor Day weekend, Saturday September 5th through Monday September 7th, but Academic Computing staff will be monitoring email. Contact us at instruct@oit.umass.edu if you need assistance with SPARK or other instructional technology topics. 

The OIT Help Desk, Software Support, and OIT Account Management will be open on Sunday, September 6 and Monday, September 7 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Call 413-545-9400 or stop by A109 LGRC Lowrise.

Your students will have access to your Fall 2009 SPARK on Monday September 7th (12:01 AM to be exact.)

If you have requested and received a SPARK course, but not yet opened it up and begun building it, your students will see that course listed as when the log into SPARK, but receive a “Course not yet available message” if they try to access it.

Remember that you can hide items in your SPARK course to control access to areas of your SPARK course that may still be under construction at the start of the semester.

Many classrooms across campus are equipped with cabinets of audio visual equipment which including a DVD player, VCR, and the all important laptop-to-projector connection cable. 

Step 1: Check if your classroom(s) are on the list of spaces with the cabinets installed:
http://www.umass.edu/provost/classroom/

Step 2: Request keys for audio visual cabinets through the Provost Office’s webpage:
http://www.umass.edu/provost/key-request/ 

With the beginning of the semester being the busiest, the Provost’s Office encourages advance submission of key requests.

As the beginning of the semester approaches and faculty continue to prepare for teaching, Teaching Assistants are also being assigned. Academic Computing would like to remind you of the necessary steps for giving TAs access to your SPARK course:

For Graduate TAs:

If your TA cannot access your SPARK course, confirm with the Academic Scheduling Representative in your department that the TA is listed in SPIRE as a:

•  Teaching Assistant – if your class is a lecture or seminar with no discussion sections/labs.
• Primary Instructor – if your TA is in charge of a separate discussion/lab.

For Undergraduate TAs:

Undergraduate TAs and some ‘unofficial TAs’, undergraduate and graduate students who assist with limited course activities (e.g., grading), receive access to SPARK only after they are listed as Student Assistants (SPARK-Only) in SPIRE.

Together with your TA, fill out and sign the SPARK FERPA Acknowledgment Form (http://www.oit.umass.edu/spark/undergradta_request.pdf, pdf 34k). File a form for each TA with the Academic Scheduling Representative in your department.

Activating TA access to specific SPARK tools

For both Undergraduate and Graduate TAs, once SPARK is updated with the latest information from SPIRE, your TA will have access to the Teach and  Student View tabs. Use the Teaching Assistant Settings Administration area in SPARK to select the teaching tools your TA will have access to.  For information on TA settings please visit: 
http://www.oit.umass.edu/spark/access/ta_tools.html

Giving TAs access to the Build tab in SPARK

If you want your TAs to be able to upload files and change course content, they will need to have access to the Build tab. To grant them access to the Build tab, you will need to submit an online Special Accounts request form and request that your TAs be granted “Section Designer” access: http://people.umass.edu/accoprod/webct/vista4_special_account.html

If you have any questions please call the Instructional Media Lab at 413-545-2823

Creating a class email list can be a simple way to keep your students up-to-date with announcements on course events. Instructors can use SPIRE to create, refresh, and delete class email lists. This will generate a single email address that lets you email all the students enrolled in the course at once. 

More information at:

http://www.oit.umass.edu/spire/for_instructors/class_information/mailing_list.html

Tip: Your enrollment will be in flux during add/drop so it is best to not rely heavily on email lists until after your roster has settled down  (usually 2 weeks into the semester).

The addition of photo rosters to SPIRE has been a personal boon to me in terms of learning my students’ names as quickly as possible.

Don’t have access to photo rosters for your own courses yet? Take the FERPA quiz and earn your security certificate to activate this feature in SPIRE:
http://www.oit.umass.edu/spire/for_instructors/class_information/photo_roster.html

Teaching any large course inevitably creates an influx of email. Sorting through those messages takes much longer when students don’t provide complete information. Consider sharing some of email these tips with your own students, inspired by Professor Michael Leddy’s guidelines you can find here.)

• Use your official University email address. This can make determining who you are significantly easier to the professor you are writing to, and makes it less likely that your message will be marked as spam. This guideline is particularly important if your personal email address is something slightly “less that professional” in connotation. (Past “legitimate” student email I have received came from such wonders as bootychaser@ and darkjedimonster@)
• Sign your messages with your full first and last name. This simply makes it easier to keep track of who you are. If the email is about something administrative, such as course enrollment, including your student ID number may also be helpful. Most faculty receive a lot of email and talk to a lot of students each day; not having full names just asks for confusion.
• It is always a good idea to check the resources you have available before asking a question; particularly on logistics and administrative issues (i.e. have you read the syllabus recently?)
• Include the course number in the subject line of the email and a provide brief summary of the question/issue you are writing about. (ie CS 391: question about the guidelines for assignment #5.)
• Avoid sending attachments unless asked to, as they can quickly fill up email inboxes. Either wait to be asked for a file or learn how to use UDrive to send links to files in a way that doesn’t clog people’s inbox. 
• Try to keep your messages clear and concise. Again, faculty get a lot of email. The harder it is to figure out what question you’re really asking, the less likely you are to get a prompt response.
• Use appropriate tone, spelling, and grammar. Depending on the professor you need not be exceptionally formal, but sloppy grammar and spelling or a complete disregard for punctuation looks lazy and careless at a time when you want to put your best foot forward.