eTROY Colloquium Troy University eTROY Colloquium April17-18, 2012

 Troy University enabled Blackboard Collaborate during Term 2 of 2011  Blackboard Collaborate consists of several additional tools ◦ Blackboard IM ◦ Voice Board ◦ Voice Direct ◦ Voice ◦ Voice Presentation ◦ Voice Podcaster

 Adult Education  American Sign Language (ASL)  International Relations  World Affairs  Public Administration  Counseling and Psychology  Finite Mathematics  History

 Student Presentations  Instructor Lectures  Signing /Foreign Language  Office Hours  Group Meetings  Faculty Training  Meetings between Departments

 Whiteboard  Web Conferencing Recordings in Instant Message  Instant Videos, Directly in Chat  Customize Clipart Library  Insight into Student Activity w/ Page Explorer  Load Engaging Activities in Multiple Breakout Rooms  Breakout Room Activities Made Simple w/Compound Actions in your Plan  Add Closed Captioning  Give Your Test a Voice of its Own  Voice Podcasts Delivered to Inbox or iTunes Library

 Troy University runs both Wimba and Blackboard Collaborate Web-Conferencing platforms.  TROY has this option only until the end of 2014  Both platforms were enabled February 1, 2012  Due to technical issues  Running both platforms allows instructors to choose what interactive tool best fit their needs

 Participants in Collaborate sessions are unable to call in to attend unless eTROY purchases a separate telephone service that connects with Blackboard Collaborate.  Instructors cannot save archived recordings in other formats without assistance in Collaborate.  The creation of Collaborate sessions or archives can only be altered by the individual who created it.  Archives disappear from Blackboard Collaborate’s “Previously Recorded” tab after a few days.  Instructors cannot pre-load content into Collaborate eliminating the opportunity to “prep” before class sessions.  Unable to send external invites to multiple outside users

 Instructors can pre-load content into Collaborate Classrooms using Publish.  Instructors can save archives as MP3 or MP4 using Publish.  External Invites to outside users.

Blackboard Collaborate announced an update to Collaborate. The release includes:  Performance Enhancements  Introduction of Russian Translation  Audio Translations for existing languages  Audible Notifications

 The Troy University Blackboard server will be upgraded to Service Pack 8 during the first week of August.  This will require at 2 days of downtime.  The Blackboard Outcomes System will be a part of this upgrade.  Look for training material coming soon on SP8

 New features of SP8 include:  Merge Enrollments  Multi-Section Management  Activity Reports  Automated Regrading  Negative Marking  Goal, Content Alignment, and Course Performance Reports

 Login credentials same as production for TROY faculty.  You will notice the green banner and bright yellow writing on the Test Server.  Test server will be available as a “sandbox” for you to work in SP8 until the upgrade in late July.  Look for training information on SP8 coming soon.