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New At Palomar

Blackboard Upgraded to Version 8 at Palomar  We have updated the Blackboard Learning System to version 8 as of June 22, 2008.  The biggest change is the replacement of the version 7 gradebook with the version 8 Grade Center.  For more on the Grade Center, click here (PDF) and here (video); for more on the new critical thinking tools, click here (video).  To see version 8 in person, login to Blackboard or the Blackboard sandbox.  If you have questions, email onlineclasses@palomar.edu or call ext. 2862.

For a useful handout on common pre-semester Blackboard tasks, click here.

New Blackboard web interface

The old PCOnline interface to the Blackboard Learning System is now gone, replaced with a bright new one featuring YouCan the Toucan (also called "TechCan" by the technicians).  The new site features simpler navigation and a web-based help system.  Fly on over for a bird's eye view...
 

Plagiarism Prevention Services

Palomar's one-year license for theTurnItIn anti-plagiarism service will run through December 17, 2007 and perhaps beyond.  It is administered via the familiar Blackboard interface.  Simply set up a TurnItIn assignment in Blackboard to take advantage of the enormous TurnItIn database of textual materials which can be quickly scanned or originality.  TurnItIn can be used as a very effective teaching tool in the discussion of plagiarism, originality and source citation in academic papers.

Click here for a screen video showing how to set up a TurnItIn Assignment in Blackboard (requires flash player).  Click here for the brief (6-page) TurnItIn manual (PDF format).

Elluminate in Blackboard.  

We have added the Elluminate Live! building block to our Blackboard system.  Elluminate is an online elearning collaboration, file transfer, application sharing system for live synchronous or archived asynchronous web meetings.  It contains the usual online collaboration tools, supports voice-over-IP audio, one-to-many video, presentation, document and even video sharing capabilities, file transfer, desktop sharing and application sharing functionality also in an easy-to-use package.  Click here to find out more about Elluminate in general, here to find out more about the Blackboard building block.

The Oscelot Podcaster

We have added the free, open source "Oscelot Podcaster" to our collection of Blackboard building blocks for fall 2007.  It is easy to create an in-course podcast, placing episodes in any possible content area, using the new building block.  Click here to find out how to use it.

Olympus WS-311 Digital Voice Recorder Checkout.  Faculty members who need a digital voice recorder one time, or for the entire semester, may check out the WS-300M from Academic Technology.  More...

Click here to request checkout of a WS-300 digital voice recorder.

New Microsoft Products

Microsoft has published new versions of their operating system, Windows Vista, their Office productivity suite, Office 2007, and their web authoring product, SharePoint Designer 2007.  Full-time faculty should contact the IS department to have these products installed on your office computers, ext. 2140.  All faculty and staff can purchase these products at greatly reduced prices through the FCCC.  Purchase Vista, Office 2007 or SharePoint Designer 2007 through the following web site:  http://www.collegebuys.org/ Proof of Palomar College employment will be required.  Reduced prices on Office 2007 and Adobe products for students can be found at: http://www.journeyed.com/fccc/.  The new Microsoft products are installed throughout the Academic Technology computer labs.

New Adobe Products

Faculty members, staff and students can purchase the new Adobe CS3 products at very reduced prices through Collegebuys.com.  Click here to begin.  The new Adobe products are installed throughout the Academic Technology labs.

Fall 2007 Workshops.  We have many of the ongoing favorite workshops and several new ones for Spring 2007, including a new Blackboard certificate program.  Click here for an explanation of the new competency approach, here for the Spring 2007 training schedule.

PDF versions of the schedule(s) are available below:

The General fall 2007 Schedule and Training Information Packet (complete - 24 pages)

  Technology Essentials
  Presentation Skills
  Document Preparation Skills
  Communication Skills
  Assessment Skills
  Teaching and Learning Strategies

Lynda.com training.  Two workstations in the faculty technology center, room LL-111 are equipped with logins to the full catalog of lynda.com training materials.  You can drop by the lab at any time to build practical skills with a wide-range of programs and systems, including the new Adobe CS3 products; Apple products, such as Final Cut Pro and Aperture; the full range of Microsoft products, including Office 2007 and Windows Vista; web development products, and many more.

 
Updated Versions of Respondus and StudyMate  We have updated our campus-wide license for the Respondus and StudyMate software applications.  There are new, updated versions of these products available: StudyMate 2.0.2 and Respondus 3.5.4.  You will need to visit the Palomar College Respondus/StudyMate web site (Palomar authentication required) in order to re-register your product for the new academic year, even if you are not using one of the updated versions. 

CPS RF Personal Response Systems (clickers)  We circulate 64 radio frequency personal polling devices.  Known as "clickers" for short, they can be checked out from Academic Technology for classroom/meeting use. They are used to ask questions of your class, solicit responses by a simple select/enter operation, then show the results as a histogram to the class. The idea is to generate interest, focus a discussion, and verify that key concepts have been understood in a fun, immediate way.

You may download and install the CPS software (updated fall 2007) on your own system. Click here to login and download (use your Palomar email address and email password to login).  There is new software for the fall 2007 semester.

Click here to reserve the personal response system. You may reserve for one-time meetings, or for each meeting per semester. You must attend Academic Technology training on the use of the clickers before checking them out. To obtain training, call ext. 2341, or email hdavis@palomar.edu.

New Self-Serve FTP/Web Accounts for Students.  Student web/ftp accounts on the server known as "Pluto" (the student projects server) are now created on a self-serve basis.  Students should go to http://pluto.palomar.edu, click the "Pluto Account Request Form" link.  Login with your student ID number and your Palomar eServices password, then fill out the request form.  Your account will be created within 24 hours.  You will receive 125MB of storage.  Click here for more information on your account, and here for technical specifications of the storage area, which is WebDAV-enabled and can be accessed directly from FrontPage, SharePoint Designer, Dreamweaver, and any standard FTP program.

New Teaching with Blackboard Screen Videos.  We have a growing library of "Teaching with Blackboard" screen videos available on the Faculty Services page of PCOnline.

The latest are titled:

• Archiving Your Blackboard Course

• Exporting Your Blackboard Course

• Importing to Your Blackboard Course

• Using the Assignment Manager

• Using a TurnItIn Assignment

• Using Review Status 

In addition to screen videos, our Online Faculty Services page contains textual instructions for various important Blackboard procedures and links to software tools.

Academic Technology Vodcasts  We have begun a series of "vodcasts," video podcasts, which we hope to use to distribute Blackboard training.  You do not need a video iPod to watch them, just watch on your computer.  Our aim is to distribute Blackboard training more widely with this video series.

Blackboard training vodcasts:  PCOX  vodcast web site  |  wmv versions

Academic Technology Podcasts  Since January 2006 have been producing a weekly podcast covering technology news and reviews, a Blackboard feature of the week, Teaching with Technology, Tech Talk Topics, gizmo of the week, and more.  Subscribe to our podcast to keep up with technology news at Palomar.

Subscribe  |  How? - Podcast Help

Academic Technology RSS Feed  To stay informed of the latest technology and news and events, including AT training opportunities, @ONE training, CCC Confer events, anything that's tech related news, in fact, subscribe to the Academic Technology RSS feed.

Subscribe  |  How do I subscribe?

Academic Technology Newsletter.  The best way to stay current with technology at Palomar, and to have training materials delivered to your inbox is to subscribe to our weekly electronic newsletter.  You may automatically unsubscribe at any time if you wish to stop receiving it.

Mobile Labs continue to roll.  We have 30 laptop computers in 2 rolling carts, with wireless network access points.  These can be used as classroom labs...bring the lab to your class, not your class to the lab...or can be checked out to individual students.  More...

Spring 2008 Computer Lab Hours  The computer labs on the ground floor of the San Marcos campus library will maintain the following hours for Fall 2007:

We will be closed Saturday and Sunday.

For more information about the computer labs, or to reserve lab for classes, click here.

Computer Lab Pay-for-Print System.  We have a new pay-for-print system in the Academic Technology Computer labs this semester that is cash-based.  We no longer will be using debit cards or card readers.  Students who submit jobs to the lab printers are asked to submit cash to a vending machine and then release their print jobs on a printer release station.

How do I...  We have continued to develop our "How do I..." articles and screen videos as an aid to faculty members using technology.  Our latest titles include:

• How do I use the WS-300 digital audio recorder?
• How do I use the Oscelot Podcaster to create a podcast from within Blackboard?
• How do I search with the new instant search box in IE7?
• How do I embed a YouTube video in my web page or in my Blackboard course site?
• How do I install a new font or fonts in Windows Vista, Windows XP or Mac OS X?
• How do I use Google blog search?
• How do I get started, or get help, with Office 2007?
• How to use Google Notebook
• How to use the new Google "Universal Search"
• How do I control the opening view of a PDF document?
• How do I search a folder full of PDF documents?
• How do I create a web link in a PDF document?
• How do I publish from StudyMate to Blackboard?
• How do I publish StudyMate activities to the iPod?
• How do I create a live classroom session within my Blackboard course?
• How do I configure Windows media components for Mac to receive streaming media?
• How do I import a PDF file into my web site using FrontPage and create a link to it?
• How to access Academic Technology training materials as a guest?
• How do I use tabbed browsing in IE7?
• How do I apply security (disallow printing or changing) to a PDF document? 
• How do I create a PDF from Word with security applied? 
• How do I open my FrontPage web site? 
• How do I save my PowerPoint presentation as a web page? 
• How to create a zip folder from PowerPoint-for-the-web. 
• How to upload a compressed PowerPoint-for-the-web folder into Blackboard. 
• Copying a file from the WS-100 voice recorder to a computer 
• How to Upload and link an audio file in Blackboard 
• How to Download audio file from Blackboard and copy into iTunes 
• How to copy a graphic using Acrobat Reader. 
• How to set up an academic podcast.
• How do I register or re-register my copy of StudyMate? 
• How to I place a simple voice recording on my web site?

• How do I use PCPDF to create PDF documents?

More...

And also...

Wireless Computing.  Wireless access points have been extended across various areas of campus.  In addition to the library and student union, there are now access points located in the "P" building complex, the BES and BE buildings, and rooms ES-14, A-12 and SU-22 and, of course, in the new science building.  Click here for more on wireless computing at Palomar.

PCPDF.  We continue to provide an online tool which will convert  documents from native format to PDF format.  Submit the document and receive back the PDF via email.  Click here to access the service (Palomar login required).  Those using Office 2007 products can save in PDF format if they install the add-in from Microsoft.

Web Advertising.  If you wish to place an ad on the Palomar College web site for an upcoming class or a special event, click here.

Video Production.  Palomar College TV (PCTV) continues to produce on demand video segments for faculty who want to advertise their classes, explain concepts in a brief video, even record an entire lecture series.  Video segments are played on broadcast TV and are encoded for the Internet.  Contact Bill Wisneski for more information.  Click here for Windows media or here for Real media sample videos.

Bill asks that you view the following video before contacting him to make a taping reservation:

Play broadband	Play modem

Hardware Checkout.  Faculty members may check out the CPS (Classroom Performance System) RF polling devices for any particular class or on a recurring basis.  Click here for the request form.  Faculty members may also check out a WS-300 digital voice recorder for up to semester lengths.  Click here for the voice recorder checkout form.

Accessibility Features in Windows Vista.  Click here to preview the accessibility features in the next version of Windows.

Office 2007.  Click here for an introduction to the new Office 2007 interface and other training materials.

What browsers are supported by Blackboard 7.2?  Click here for the OS/browser matrix [PDF].

The California Educational Technology Cooperative

Don't waste the gas and go there, schedule a web meeting.  Free to California Community College employees is this service that allows live web meetings with accompanying phone audio.  More...

New Training for Fall 2006 from the @ONE.  Click here to preview the spring 2008 training offering from the @ONE system.  They offer hands-on institutes, facilitated, multi-week online classes, and 1-hour "Lunch-n-Learn desktop seminars.

3C Media solutions delivers video content 24/7 through television and the Internet.

Subscribe to Tech EDge.  It's free to Community College faculty and staff.  More...

The CCC Clearinghouse is a statewide, web-based repository that allows authorized users at both the local college and state level to electronically deposit, self-index, search, and retrieve documents, files, and certain databases that are of interest to any or all of the 109 colleges and the CCC Chancellor's Office.