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.

Extract Blackboard Content Prior to July 28 Planned Outage
CFE/Lenovo Instructional Innovation Grants
ELI 2009 Challenges Discussion on Engaging Today's Learner
Making Your Website Accessible to All Users
SAS Conference Registration Open
Duke's Adobe Day Session Recordings Available Online
Library E-Resources Spotlight
Center for Faculty Excellence Workshops
Blackboard Upgrade Workshops
ITS LearnIT Workshops
2009 CITations Publication Schedule
How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to CITations

EXTRACT BLACKBOARD CONTENT PRIOR TO JULY 28 PLANNED OUTAGE

Blackboard will undergo a key upgrade this summer. The scope of the upgrade requires a total Blackboard outage. Blackboard (https://blackboard.unc.edu) and its contents will be completely unavailable from Tuesday, July 28 through Thursday, August 6.

If any Blackboard materials will be needed during the outage period, these materials must be downloaded or extracted prior to the outage. For assistance downloading a Gradebook or extracting course materials with bFree, contact 919-962-HELP.

To learn more, visit http://its.unc.edu/BBNews/blackboard_upgrade/.

If you are teaching during the outage window and you are worried about the need for you and your students to access the system during the planned outage, contact the UNC Blackboard Team at bb8upgrade@unc.edu.

CFE/LENOVO INSTRUCTIONAL INNOVATION GRANTS

The Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE) is pleased to announce the 2009 CFE/Lenovo Instructional Innovation Grants Program.

The CFE was recently selected by computer-maker Lenovo to serve as one of three education innovation centers to anchor its new Global Education Research Program. The selection is accompanied by a gift that will be used to support faculty development and instruction at Carolina.

The CFE has set aside $45,000 per year for the next three years for instructional grants that will be used to promote technology-enhanced innovation across three specific focus areas: collaborative learning, global education, and enhancement of large classes. The tracks will likely change annually.

In order to make the most efficient use of applicants' time as possible, we are asking for a brief pre-proposal no later than Wednesday, September 2, 2009. For more information about the program and to access the Request for Pre-proposals, visit http://cfe.unc.edu/lenovo/.

Please share this announcement with colleagues who may be interested.

-- Bob Henshaw, Project Coordinator for Academic Outreach
Center for Faculty Excellence/ITS-Teaching and Learning
email: bob_henshaw@unc.edu
tel: 445-9470 or 962-9969

ELI 2009 CHALLENGES DISCUSSION ON ENGAGING TODAY'S LEARNER

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 the challenge of reaching and engaging today's learner. The results from our discussion will be posted to the ELI Wiki for this specific challenge: http://www.educause.edu/wiki/Todays_Learner.

When: 3:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m., Thursday, July 16, 2009

Where: Toy Lounge, Dey Hall

For more details and to register, go to https://www.abcsignup.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0052-0006-f3989718330f41c89deca55563ad85d1

MAKING YOUR WEBSITE ACCESSIBLE TO ALL USERS

Can your website be effectively used by people with hand-held devices, older computers, low bandwidth, or a disability? Learn how at the July meeting of NCTech4Good (previously Triangle Net Tuesday/501 Tech Club). Saroj Primlani, retired Coordinator of University IT Accessibility, NC State University, will provide an overview of Web design concepts that help create websites that are accessible and usable by all users, including those with a disability.

When: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Where: United Way of the Greater Triangle, 2400 Perimeter Park Drive, Suite 150, Morrisville, NC

For more details and to RSVP go to http://www.meetup.com/NCTech4Good/calendar/10662586/.

NCTech4Good holds monthly meetings that focus on helping nonprofit organizations use technology to advance their missions. All interested persons are welcome to attend. For more information, go to http://www.meetup.com/NCTech4Good/.

-- Judy Hallman
email: hallman@email.unc.edu

SAS CONFERENCE REGISTRATION OPEN

Early registration for the 17th Annual Southeast SAS Users Group (SESUG) is now open. Rates will increase on Friday, August 28, 2009. This year, there is a special reduced rate of $200 for student registrations.

When: Sunday-Tuesday, October 25-27, 2009

Where: Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, Birmingham, AL

For more information and to register, go to http://sesug.org/SESUG2009/.

-- Carol Martell, SESUG Operations Chair
Highway Safety Research Center
email: carol_martell@unc.edu

DUKE'S ADOBE DAY SESSION RECORDINGS AVAILABLE ONLINE

Duke recently held an Adobe Day with several sessions that covered Adobe software and helped train people to use them. The following sessions were recorded and are available online.

Electronic Document Publishing Overview (1 hour and 52 minutes)
http://education.acrobat.com/p88936382/

Video Production and Delivery Overview (1 hour and 29 minutes)
http://education.acrobat.com/p19949881/

Communication and Collaboration Overview (1 hour and 49 minutes)
http://education.acrobat.com/p21079921/

Web and Application Development Overview (1 hour and 45 minutes)
http://education.acrobat.com/p97153330/

-- Hilary Culbertson, Communications Specialist
Office of Information Technology
Duke University
tel: 681-3912
email: hilary.culbertson@duke.edu

LIBRARY E-RESEARCH TOOL SPOTLIGHT

The Sanborn Maps for the state of North Carolina provide digital access to 11,173 large-scale maps of 158 North Carolina towns and cities from the late nineteenth through mid-twentieth centuries. Users have the ability to manipulate the maps, magnify and zoom in on specific sections, and compare maps from different years.

Sanborn Maps were originally created to aid the insurance industry in assessing risk. They show towns at specific points in their history and provide detailed information on street layout, civic infrastructure, building type, building use, and ownership. Sanborn maps are valuable historical tools for urban specialists, architects, geographers, genealogists, historians, planners, environmentalists, and anyone who wants to learn about the history and development of specific cities, towns, and neighborhoods.

You can access the Sanborn Maps for North Carolina at http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/eid/description.php?resourceID=861&passthrough=no

For links to all available E-Research Tools go to http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/eid/.

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.

BLACKBOARD UPGRADE WORKSHOPS

There are still spaces available in the following Blackboard workshops. To read a workshop description or to register for any of these workshops, go to http://learnit.unc.edu/workshops.

What's New in Blackboard 8?
July 13
July 15
July 21
July 22
July 27
August 17
August 18

Introduction to Blackboard 8
July 15
July 21
July 27
August 17

Introduction to Blackboard 8 Grade Center
July 16
July 23
July 28
August 19
August 26

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

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: Engaging Today's Learner (Discussion) July 16

Matlab: Introduction
July 23

Introduction to Topsail, a Research Computing Server
July 28

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

Perl: Getting Started
August 4

Introduction to Emerald, a Research Computing Server
August 11

MPI for Parallel Computing
August 11

Linux: Introduction, Experimental Class Setting
August 12

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

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:
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