Archive for the 'Resources' Category

Beginning with Blackboard 8.0, the former Gradebook has been rebuilt and includes many new features for managing student grades and feedback. Here are a few timesaving tips for using the newest features in the Blackboard Grade Center.

Hide unnecessary columns
Blackboard by default adds several new columns to the the Grade Center, including: Username, [...]

The H1N1 virus, formerly referred to a Swine Flu, is expected to make a comeback in the United States this school year and officials say that college campuses could be impacted. The NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center is compiling information and resources at http://www.niu.edu/facdev/resources/healthcrisis for faculty regarding preparing for teaching during a health [...]

NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center has been offering online faculty development programs now for nearly a year.  Not only can faculty/staff or TAs from any institution participate in these free online workshops, but archives are made available for on-demand viewing online.
With the recent upgrade of the Wimba Classroom collaboration tool that powers these [...]

Google Docs includes a very easy-to-use forms tool that can be used for simple online surveys or other basic data collection activities. Here’s a quick introduction to using forms in Google Docs:

How might use of the data collection features of the Forms tool in Google Docs be helpful in an education context? Beyond online surveys, [...]

This new video by CommonCraft explains how Twitter search creates new opportunities for business feedback, tracking news in real time and discovering trends. As a follow-up to Twitter in Plain English, it further illustrates the power of this microblogging technology in bringing people together in new ways.

How might Twitter search be useful for an educational [...]