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Turnitin vs SafeAssign for Blackboard. Both are building blocks for blackboard System. SafeAssign is free but a bit unstable, Turnitin is a paid service and subscribed by most institute of higher learning, as well as book publishers.

Great resource. It will be good material for any of our staff who are unsure which tool to use.

it's on our LaunchPAD http://www.cel.nie.edu.sg/launchpad/etsupport/GeNIEus_Turnitin.htm?page=GeNIEus

Something for the ETs and Jason to read and react to.

Interesting article! I think one reason why many teachers keep on sticking to the defaults is because _precisely_ BB can be so flexible and do so many things, and there's a lot of templates available. This panoply of choices leads to decision fatigue on the teachers' part: "Which features should I use for presenting to my students? how can I package and so on... arrrrh I'll just stick with the defaults and customize another day." (Can read more about decision fatigue at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-from-decision-fatigue.html) So, I think our training strategies would have to recognize and take into account this human tendency to choose the easy defaults, especially when mentally tired.

Defaults are bad? hmmm... My son started using the kiddy skate scooter about 4 mths ago and he does it like a pro now. When I bought the scooter, it came with 'default settings', i.e. all fixed up and ready to use. He had a go at it and we adjusted the height and widen the handles along the way. He grew more confident and I removed the trainer wheels. I cannot imagine when the scooter came without any 'default settings', i.e. 4 wheels, 2 bars, rubber tubes, etc, I will be quite frustrated setting it up from scratch and my son will be climbing all over me. Defaults cannot be seen as something bad in my opinion. It gives new users or busy people something to start with, I personally appreciate that. When we design instructions, we provide foundations to get our learners started, building blocks or scaffolding their learning as they progress. A range of basic, intermediate or advanced instructional plans can also be presented later on. Essentially, what are the characteristics of our learners or the users of BB? What do you think they need? Demographics of our acad staffs for example are quite 'senior adult learners' (correct me if I am wrong). Do we think we want to present a blank BB page and tell them, 'hey, guess what? its all about customisation now, whatever you want, put it in.' No prize for guessing what their reactions will be. On the other hand, there maybe a group of people who do not want to conform to defaults but to change things or customise their experiences. Nothing wrong with that too. My point is, let's provide a range of options for users, we inform that there are default settings to get them started but there are also room for customisation for the adventurous. We want to be learner centric, hence customisation of experiences but we also do not want to leave anyone behind. That said, I am going to change all my default passwords and user ids of my mobile.... no wonder banks have been calling me to ask if I needed loans.

How open are we to promote Social Learning Tools in Bb? (Published Jan 17, 2013) Less than five minutes is all it takes to learn about the new and improved social learning tools feature for Blackboard Learn. Use these tools to discover, connect, communicate and collaborate with your learning network. Watch the video and then try it out for yourself !

Useful for ETs :)

Useful to the IDs too. Thanks for finding this and thinking of us!

You are welcome Ashley :)

Blackboard course on ipad

Not sure this will happen to NIE? I wander..

For ETs

Branding for a life science research institute! Great layout, typography and especially the mediums used, emulating blackboard and using chalk to manually draw graphics of atoms & science related objects! Even guerilla campaigns around the compound of the venue of the conference talk! There are also wall displays & installations!

Showcase video

Please follow the development of the apps. If they set up a shared apps area, this will help us in our apps development.

Yeu Ann posted this in FB. For Carolyn, Rachel, and ETs to read and ponder over with respect to our own use of Blackboard. Compare these results with our own survey by Jason earlier this year.

It is a building block plugin for Blackboard Learn LMS which provides statistical and analytical data about the system. The software reports live activity data and creates historical graphs. The reports are available through the browser or via mobile app on the iPhone and Android.

Do we have this? Does Lum know?

Item Analysis helps you refine assessments by evaluating the quality and validity of each question. Far better than the usual Frequency and Distribution reports, our Item Analysis report, available since Service Pack 10, provides discrimination statistics that allow you to identify questions that are poor performers, diagnose the problem and then fix it in a streamlined workflow.

Tan, Hu, Wong, Wettasinghe (2003) on Information Technology and Singapore Education, Instructional Framework, Instructional Strategies (Direct Instruction, SDL, Group Work, Computer-Mediated Communication, Constructivist Learning, Learning through Experience) Computer As an Administrative Tool - Blackboard ! Computer As a Presentation Tool - from PPT to Prezi? Computer As a Tutor - engage the learners in higher order thinking Computer As a Cognitive Tool - mindtools Conclusion: To successfully integrate IT into teaching and learning in schools is a challenging task that hinges on a lot of factors, including effective teacher training. Darling-Hammond (1994) describes the new paradigm of teacher learning as a place in which opportunities are provided for "learning by teaching, learning by doing and learning by collaborating." In our attempt to avoid reducing such training into teaching of discrete IT skills, or merely talking about it through lectures, we presented an approach that modeled various pedagogies, including direct instruction, self-directed learning, group work, computer-mediated communication, and constructivist learning. We also provided a holistic technology-enhanced environment, for the trainees to experience the use of the computer as an administrative tool, as a presentation tool, as a tutor, and as a cognitive tool. These strategies are built upon theories and studies of learning, as well as the use of IT in education. The results of the trainees' evaluation of the module indicated a generally positive reaction to the module and the perception that the instructional objectives have been achieved. These are encouraging indicators of the effectiveness of our instructional strategies, which we will build upon for further improvement in the subsequent delivery of the module.

Check out the QR code, cool.