CITations is a report featuring information technology-related news of interest to UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members, graduate instructors and the staff who support them. CITations, published twice a month, is an electronic service of the ITS Teaching and Learning division.

Pre-Upgrade Blackboard Data Verification
Discussion on Instructional Use of Facebook
ELI 2009 Challenges Discussion on 21st Century Literacies
July Webmasters Meeting
LearnIT is Tweeting in Twitter
Recording of CTC Shibboleth Presentation Available
Plone Bootcamps
Triangle-Area Group Focuses on Technology for Social Change
June CTC Tech Brief
Library E-Resources Spotlight
Center for Faculty Excellence Workshops
ITS LearnIT Workshops
2009 CITations Publication Schedule
How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to CITations

PRE-UPGRADE BLACKBOARD DATA VERIFICATION

In preparation for the Blackboard upgrade, instructors using Blackboard should visit the Blackboard data verification site at http://bbverify.unc.edu/ to review their pre-2009 course sites and confirm that your Blackboard content is correct and unchanged. The data verification site will be available until June 30. Please note that the data verification site contains only pre-2009 data. If upon review, you find changed or incorrect data on the data verification site, report the change to 962-HELP.

This data verification period also offers you the opportunity to preview the new version of Blackboard. Feel free to explore the look and feel of the upgraded features. Training is available now through help documentation, online tutorials/videos, and instructor-led sessions. For information on training opportunities, visit http://its.unc.edu/BBNews/blackboard_upgrade/tutorials/index.htm.

Please do not attempt to develop any courses in the data verification site. This environment is separate from the regular Blackboard production environment and any course changes made in the data verification environment will not be saved or migrated to the new upgrade. All changes will be lost.

You may, however, continue developing fall courses in the current Blackboard 6.3 environment (http://blackboard.unc.edu) until July 28 when the system becomes unavailable due to the planned upgrade outage.

For additional information on the Blackboard upgrade, visit http://its.unc.edu/BBNews/.

DISCUSSION ON INSTRUCTIONAL USE OF FACEBOOK

The program for the July Instructional Applications Interest Group (IAIG) meeting is "Facebook: Balancing Possibilities and Privacy." We'll discuss how Facebook could be integrated into instruction while keeping privacy issues firmly in mind. Elizabeth Evans (ITS-Teaching and Learning), Rob Moore (Foreign Language Resource Lab), and Suzanne Cadwell (ITS-Teaching and Learning, Center for Faculty Excellence) will facilitate discussion.

When: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Where: Conference Room 08F, Peabody Hall

The IAIG provides a professional networking venue for staff who work with instructional technologies. Membership in the group is open to all interested University staff. For more information go to the IAIG website at http://its.unc.edu/TeachingAndLearning/AOE/IAIG/index.htm.

ELI 2009 CHALLENGES DISCUSSION ON 21ST CENTURY LITERACIES

During Summer 2008, the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) conducted focus groups within the EDUCAUSE teaching and learning community to talk about "challenges" -- those big issues dominating campus conversations across the country. ITS Teaching and Learning will host a series of discussions focused on the 5 challenges identified by ELI.

The next session will focus on developing 21st century literacies (information, digital, and visual) and computer skills among students and faculty. These skills include:

-- the ability to understand and use basic research techniques

-- the ability to locate, evaluate and synthesize information from a variety of sources

-- the ability to use computers in the gathering, evaluation, and presentation of information

How do we address these literacies on our own campuses? How can we, as a community, define them and better integrate them into the academic experience?

During the discussion, we'll identify

examples that demonstrate what our campus is doing in this area along with our campus experts;

multimedia examples that show the work on our campus (photos, videos, etc); and

readings relevant to our work.

Volunteers to write reviews of emerging technologies, vendors, or open solutions will be solicited. The results from our discussion will be posted to the ELI Wiki for this specific challenge: http://www.educause.edu/wiki/21st_Century_Literacies.

When: 3:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m., Thursday, July 2, 2009

Where: Toy Lounge, Dey Hall

Go to https://www.abcsignup.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0052-0006-493d0ffc156b4990b91168dadca35282 to register.

JULY WEBMASTERS MEETING

The July UNC-Chapel Hill Webmasters meeting will be an open discussion. Bring your questions and get help with your web development problems from your campus peers.

When: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m., Thursday, July 2, 2009

Where: Room 5102, ITS Manning

UNC-Chapel Hill Webmasters meets monthly to discuss issues that affect webmasters across campus. Any UNC-Chapel Hill faculty or staff member interested in participating can attend the meeting and/or join the listserv. For more information go to the Webmasters website at http://webmasters.unc.edu/.

To join the Webmasters mailing list go to http://mail.unc.edu/lists/read/subscribe?name=webmasters.

LEARNIT IS TWEETING IN TWITTER

LearnIT provides a portal to opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to engage in discussions about technology's role and impact on the University mission and to learn how information technology can increase productivity.

Now, in addition to the website (http://LearnIT.unc.edu/) and events (http://LearnIT.unc.edu/workshops), LearnIT is tweeting. To follow the short postings (tweets) in Twitter, search for unc_learnit from your Twitter profile, then select the option to "follow."

New to Twitter? Go to http://twitter.com/ to create a profile and get started.

— Elizabeth A. Evans
ITS Teaching and Learning
email: uevans@email.unc.edu

RECORDING OF CTC SHIBBOLETH PRESENTATION AVAILABLE

The June Carolina Technology Consultants (CTC) meeting featured a presentation on Shibboleth by Celeste Copeland, ITS Identity Management. If you were unable to attend, you can view a Panopto recording of the presentation, thanks to ITS Classroom Hotline staff, at http://coursecast.unc.edu/CourseCast/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=a18af882-717e-46c4-8ae8-52fff4ae9b95.

PLONE BOOTCAMPS

Two Plone BootCamps, sponsored by Triangle Zope and Python Users Group (TriZPUG), will take place on campus in July.

Learn the essentials you need to build your Plone site and deploy it at the fifth annual Plone BootCamp. This course is the most popular in the Plone world. It teaches you practical skills in a friendly, hands-on format. This year's course is updated for Plone 3.1 and 3.2, while still offering the core skills required for all versions of Plone.

When: Monday-Friday, July 20-24, 2009

Where: Carolina Cardiovascular Biology Center, 103 Mason Farm Road, UNC-CH campus

For more details and to register: http://plonebootcamps.com/courses/unc4/.

Interested in building a site using the best practices of Plone 3? Want to advance your skills in scripting and developing for Plone? The third annual Advanced Plone BootCamp covers the new technologies in Plone 3.1 and 3.2 intended for site integrators and developers, including new portlet infrastructure, viewlets, versioning, and an introduction to Zope 3 component architecture. The course is updated for Plone 3.2 and 3.3 betas.

When: Monday-Thursday, July 27-30, 2009

Where: Carolina Cardiovascular Biology Center, 103 Mason Farm Road, UNC-CH campus

For more details and to register: http://plonebootcamps.com/courses/unc4-adv.

TriZPUG is a loosely-organized group focused on improving the usability of Python products through self-education and outreach. The group meets monthly, charges no dues, and the membership ranges from newbies to gurus. For more information, go to http://trizpug.org/.

— Chris Calloway, SEACOOS
email: cbc@unc.edu
tel: 599-3530

TRIANGLE-AREA GROUP FOCUSES ON TECHNOLOGY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

A local Meetup.com group has changed its name and focus. NCTech4Good holds monthly meetings that focus on helping nonprofit organizations use technology to advance their missions. The group plans also to provide opportunities for in-depth learning, to support subgroups of common interests, and to bring together volunteers to provide consulting and "day-of-service" events.

If you are interested in helping nonprofit organizations through the use of technology, you are welcome to join the group. NCTech4Good is supported locally by Public Information Network, Inc. (also known as RTPnet), United Way of the Greater Triangle, the N.C. Center for Nonprofits, and netCorps; and internationally by NTEN and NetSquared.

For more information and to join, go to http://www.meetup.com/NCTech4Good/.

— Judy Hallman, NCTech4Good
email: hallman@email.unc.edu

JUNE CTC TECH BRIEF

The June "CTC Tech Brief" discusses the Web Services Architecture (WSA). WSA is a general and conceptual architectural model promoted by the World Wide Web Consortium to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. View the Tech Brief at http://ctc.unc.edu/images/stories/200906_wsa.pdf.

"CTC Tech Briefs" are reviews of critical issues in information technology and data communications architecture. They are published monthly via the Carolina Technology Consultants (CTC) email list and website. Back reviews are available at http://ctc.unc.edu/tech-briefs/.

CTC is a cooperative organization of professional computer support providers at UNC-Chapel Hill. The CTC is a grassroots based organization formed as a forum for IT professionals at Carolina. For more information about the CTC, go to http://its.unc.edu/ctc/.

— Tyler R. Johnson, Treasurer, CTC
ITS Communication Technologies Engineering
email: trjohns1@email.unc.edu

LIBRARY E-RESOURCES SPOTLIGHT

Take a short trip back to earlier times in North Carolina via the North Carolina Postcards digital collection.

North Carolina Postcards is a project of the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives which holds more than 12,000 North Carolina postcards, including at least one image for each of North Carolina's one hundred counties. You can search by county or town or browse by dozens of subjects. The collection is available at http://www.lib.unc.edu/dc/nc_post/.

To see more of University Libraries digital collections, go to http://www.lib.unc.edu/digitalprojects.html.

CENTER FOR FACULTY EXCELLENCE WORKSHOPS

The Center for Faculty Excellence invites you to join us for our August 2009 events. We offer open-enrollment workshops throughout the semester, addressing a wide variety of teaching topics. Workshops this month include:

Effective College Teaching: A Workshop for Faculty New at UNC
August 21

Orientation for New Graduate Teaching Assistants
August 22

For detailed descriptions, times and dates, and registration for these and other Center workshops go to http://cfe.unc.edu/events.html.

ITS LEARNIT WORKSHOPS

There are still spaces available in the following LearnIT workshops. To read a workshop description or to register for any of these workshops, go to http://learnit.unc.edu/workshops. For links to other campus training opportunities, go to the LearnIT website.

If multiple dates are listed, the workshop is offered on each of those dates.

ELI 2009 Challenges: 21st Century Literacies (Discussion)
July 2, 2009

ELI 2009 Challenges: Engaging Today's Learner (Discussion)
July 16, 2009

Matlab: Introduction
July 23, 2009

Introduction to Topsail, a Research Computing Server
July 28, 2009

ELI 2009 Challenges: Faculty IT Adoption and Innovation (Discussion)
July 30, 2009

Perl: Getting Started
August 4, 2009

Introduction to Emerald, a Research Computing Server
August 11, 2009

MPI for Parallel Computing
August 11, 2009

Linux: Introduction, Experimental Class Setting
August 12, 2009

ELI 2009 Challenges: Advancing Innovation in Era of Budget Cuts (Discussion)
August 13, 2009

Blackboard Upgrade Workshops:

What's New in Blackboard 8?
June 25, 2009
July 6, 2009
July 9, 2009
July 13, 2009
July 15, 2009
July 21, 2009
July 22, 2009
July 27, 2009
August 17, 2009
August 18, 2009

Introduction to Blackboard 8
June 24, 2009
July 6, 2009
July 15, 2009
July 21, 2009
July 27, 2009
August 17, 2009

Blackboard 8: Assignment Tool, Test and Quizzes
July 7, 2009
July 14, 2009
July 20, 2009
August 20, 2009
August 24, 2009
August 25, 2009

Introduction to Blackboard 8 Grade Center
June 22, 2009
June 29, 2009
July 8, 2009
July 16, 2009
July 23, 2009
July 28, 2009
August 19, 2009
August 26, 2009

2009 CITATIONS PUBLICATION SCHEDULE

January 9 & 23
February 6 & 20
March 6 & 20
April 3 & 17
May 8 & 22
June 5 & 19
July 10 & 24
August 7 & 21
September 11 & 25
October 9 & 23
November 6 & 20
December 4 & 18

CITations welcomes announcements from all UNC-Chapel Hill campus organizations involved in instructional and research technology. To have an announcement considered for publication in CITations, send email to Carolyn Kotlas, kotlas@email.unc.edu, or call 962-9287. The deadline for submissions is 11:00 a.m. the day before the publication date.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE TO CITATIONS

CITations is published twice a month by the ITS Teaching and Learning division. Back issues are available at http://its.unc.edu/tl/citations/.

For more information about ITS Teaching and Learning, see our website at http://its.unc.edu/tl/.

To subscribe to CITations, link to http://mail.unc.edu/lists/read/subscribe?name=citations.

To unsubscribe to CITations, send email to listserv@unc.edu with the following message:
unsubscribe citations