Starting this summer, UMass Amherst faculty and staff can obtain licenses for popular Microsoft software and desktop operating systems for University–owned computers at no additional cost. Licenses will be available through the Microsoft Campus Agreement (MCA) for: Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus and Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise for Windows (includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook,…
Author: Michele Turre
Crowdsource Online Discussion Grading in SPARK
Creating class discussions is a strong educational technique that allows students to construct ideas and articulate thoughts with their peers. Putting class discussions on the Web is a great way to extend course content outside of the classroom, and exposes students to online interactions– a crucial 21st century skill. However, motivating students to participate meaningfully…
Linking to a Syllabus from SPIRE
Due to recent legislation that requires the University to make textbook and course material available to students during registration (HEOA Textbook Provision(PDF)), a new Class Overview page has been added in SPIRE to allow instructors to publish course information (in the Schedule of Classes). The page includes an option to link to an online syllabus.…
To Share Or Not To Share?
As teachers begin to post multimedia lecture material on their SPARK courses, they often ask our Instructional Media Lab staff how to stop students from downloading, saving, or re-distributing course content outside of the UMass SPARK environment. The short answer is: you can’t. While SPARK is a safe place to post files for educational fair…
Recapturing Classroom Attention with Backchannel Discussions
Teachers in the networked world face many new challenges. As Temple University’s Barry Vacker puts it, instructors may find themselves “competing with the entire Internet” as students multitask during class with laptops and cell phones. But what if instructors could actually use the very tools that seem to be deteriorating students’ attention to increase student…
Webinars & Online Meetings: Communication, Connection & Collaboration
In our digitally infused lives here at the University, it has become increasingly necessary to collaborate and stay in-touch with colleagues far and wide — not to mention carving out time to meet with folks at distant corners of the campus (or even office!). Web conferencing to the rescue. With great efficiency I can connect…
SPARK Course Request Form Updated!
Teaching a class this fall? Log in to SPIRE to request your SPARK course. As of this week, we have a new, more flexible way to request SPARK courses and register for SPARK to SPIRE Grade Upload. The course request form is located in the same area in SPIRE – in the left Menu, under…
Major Upgrade to Blogs at UMass Amherst Planned for Jan. 7
The Office of Information Technologies (OIT) will be performing a major upgrade to our Blogs at UMass Amherst service on Wednesday, January 7, 2009. The new version of Blogs comes with big improvements to the software’s interface and a revised list of supported themes, widgets, and plugins. more…
Camtasia Alert: Invasion of the Chipmunks!
Squeaks and Gurgles in SWF Audio Tracks As good citizens of the Internet, we all dutifully update software, but sometimes it introduces unanticipated side effects. If you or your students have upgraded to Flash Player 9, you are probably experiencing problems with the audio track of SWF files produced in Camtasia. The buzz among Camtasia…
A Journey in Digital Storytelling
This past weekend Tony and I immersed ourselves in the incredibly transformative process of digital storytelling. We rode the Amtrak down to Philadelphia, PA and stepped into a group of 8 other folks with diverse backgrounds and intentions for developing a particular style of communication. The 3-day hands-on tutorial, presented by the Center for Digital…
Request SPARK Courses in SPIRE!
Starting today, August 6, 2008, you can request SPARK courses and sign up for SPARK to SPIRE Grade Upload directly in SPIRE. This replaces the SPARK Course Request Form previously available on the OIT Web site. If you haven’t requested your SPARK course(s) for Fall 2008, you can now use SPIRE to submit your request.…
WebCT CE is Retiring!
The WebCT CE system will be officially retired at 12:00 noon on Tuesday, July 1, 2008. As of July 1st, all faculty accounts will be removed from the WebCT CE system and courses will no longer be accessible. If there is any course material in WebCT you wish to keep that has not already been…