Getting the Gradebook Wizard Back

During this week’s training on the ANGEL Gradebook, the question was asked “can you go back and use the ANGEL Gradebook Wizard after you initially choose to skip the wizard (Manage > Gradebook > Skip Wizard button)?

Our initial answer based on research (see http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/angel/node/89) was “no, you can’t.” You can simulate the wizard by going through the Gradebook options in this order:

• Gradebook > Preferences
• Gradebook > Categories
• Gradebook > Assignments
• Gradebook > Grading Scale

However after follow-up research (checking ANGEL online Help), we found this note: “If the Gradebook Wizard no longer appears, you can reactivate it by deleting all categories set up. Generally this is not a good idea, but good to know if someone has been testing it out but not really setting up the categories and assignments needed and wants to start over again.”

Thanks for Bob Epp and Michael Rea for their research.

When Windows Media Audio Files Won’t Play from ANGEL

One of our faculty pilots reported that after uploading a WMA (Windows Media Audio) file, he tried to play it from within ANGEL using Firefox. The file would not load and play when the link was clicked; instead the following error message appeared:

Windows Media Player cannot play the file because the specified protocol is not supported. If you typed a URL in the Open URL dialog box, try using a different transport protocol (for example, "http:" or "rtsp:").

After doing some research one of the Ed Tech Center staff found it was just a minor Firefox 2/3 browser setting. To play WMA files using Windows Media Player in Firefox 2 or 3:

1. Click on the Tools menu bar item.
2. Click on Options.
3. Click on Applications.
4. Find Windows Media Audio file in the list and on the right side select Use Windows Media Player (default) instead of Use Windows Media Player Plugin.

ANGEL Tip: More Working Space in the HTML Editor

When editing assessment questions and answers, if the HTML Editor is enabled, the text window (where you enter numbers and text) may seem to disappear or its size is too small to be functional. As you can see on the following screen capture, the answer boxes may be so small that the HTML Editor toolbar occupies all the space and the area for editing text disappears.
If this occurs, you have two choices: you can click the little triangle on the left (to close the toolbar…which may not be the desired option) or you can open the HTML Editor in a free-floating window (see the icon identified below).

Thanks to Davy Jones for this information.

ANGEL Work-around: Course Tools Nugget

If you want to add the Course Tools nugget to your course, you need to “trick” ANGEL. Here’s an example of how you can do this:

1. Go to the Resources tab.
2. Select the Edit Page link, upper left corner of the screen.
3. Select the Add Components button.
4. When the Available Components window appears, scroll down until you find Course Tools item listed and select the check box the precedes the tool name.
5. Select the Add Selected button.
6. Click the User Preview button, select the Student radio button and click the Begin Preview button.
7. Go back to the Resources tab and you’ll see the Course Tools nugget visible.
8. If you go back to view the Resources tab as a Course Editor, you won’t see the nugget, but it is available for the student.

Note: We have reported this problem to ANGEL and they are working on a fix.

Using PowerPoint Slideshows and ANGEL

From the work we do with faculty involved in our ANGEL training sessions, it’s obvious that many of the participants in our transition pilot are using PowerPoint slideshows as part of their course content. So here are a few suggestions.

1. Remember that a PowerPoint slideshow is intended to accompany a “presentation.” That is, it’s meant to be accompanied by a verbal explanation and not to stand on its own.
2. Accepted practice for PowerPoint slides is to apply the 6x6 rule. That is, no more than six words per line (don’t use complete sentences because a presenter should never read a Power Point slide verbatim) and no more than six bullets per slide. That 6x6 rule works for presentations where the text serves as a teaser for the narration added by the speaker.
3. If your PowerPoint slideshow is “wordier” than the 6x6 rule (that is, you have complete sentences of text), and you’re using the slideshow as part of an online class, ask yourself why? Rather than use a bulky medium (PowerPoint) to convey sentences and paragraphs of information, why not just use a web page containing the information? Better yet, use SoftChalk to better format, design and present your content. Additionally, by using SoftChalk you can add text poppers (text that when rolled over displays a pop-up text box with definitions or additional notes), sidebars, inline practice quiz questions, images with hotspots, sidebars of related information, and other interactive learning activities. PowerPoint slideshows cannot integrate any of those features.
4. If you really want to include the PowerPoint slideshow and the necessary audio track to make it useful to your students, then use Camtasia to capture the slides, add the audio and still make the file size small enough to be easily accessed online (Camtasia can output a Flash video file).
5. Finally, if we cannot wrestle away your PowerPoint slideshows, at least minimize their size by using PPTminimizer.

LOR Linking Problem

We reported the following to ANGEL Technical Support:

"When you create a new folder from scratch in the Learning Object Repository (LOR) and then use Lessons > Add Content > File (or Page or Section Heading or Link), we found these results. The Section Headings failed to link at all (they did not appear in the linked folder), the (web) Link did appear and worked in the linked folder but the File or Page objects generated an "Access Denied" error. It does not seem to matter if the uploaded pages are HTML or PDFs or other file types.

"THIS IS THE SERIOUS ISSUE since faculty should be able to construct lessons/folders with content in the LOR and then successfully link to the folder, not just the individual items within the folder."

The reply from ANGEL:

"I apologize for the inconvenience and frustration that this has caused you and your users. I have verified that all of these linked LOR items were working in 7.3 July and they were broken with the 7.3 September update. I have entered this as an issue and it has been assigned #31081 for your tracking purposes.

"I have also gone ahead and escalated this to our Maintenance Planning Team (MPT) for consideration of a fix sooner rather than later because this is a core part of curriculum planning.

"I have discovered that you can work around this by expanding the folder and linking to the actual contents items instead of linking to the folder. You can then also move them into a folder inside the course and the links will still work. MPT usually meets on Monday. I will post the response back to this ticket as soon as I receive it.

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention."

“Source Courses” and Effective Content Editing

Typically, you’d only want one "source course" for each distinctive course you teach, not for each section. This approach saves you work because updates are made to a single source course (ANGEL’s name for a course development shell).

You can place learning objects (pages of content, images, assessments and so on) in your personal Learning Object Repository (LOR) and then link or copy from the LOR to each source course or production course. By using this approach, you avoid having the same content stored in multiple places in such a way as to require you to update the content in multiple places. If/when you need to make a correction or addition, you make the change in the LOR and if that content is linked to multiple courses, the changes ripple through all those linked courses. There is at least one caveat to this approach: anything that is graded (such as assessments and assignments) must be copied from the LOR rather than linked, but having the original in one location still saves you time because you can copy to multiple courses semester after semester.

Note that the source course is not the course shell you’ll teach from. These are only the shells in which you build your course. Later you’ll copy the entire source course to one or more production courses. If you teach multiple versions of the same course (online, face-to-face or self-paced) and the content is basically the same, you will find it far easier to include all information for the course in a single source course, copy that content to the different sections you’ll teach and then just delete any content that is not specific to each section. That will be far easier than trying to add updates to multiple source courses and keeping straight what you need to change or what has already been changed.

Generally, we suggest you use a single source course for each distinct course you teach, unless the content is dramatically different between sections of the course (e.g., different textbooks, different content and so on). You’ll be able to manage course materials with less effort by following this approach.

Screen Capture Instructions

For faculty involved in our ANGEL pilot, we mentioned how important a screen capture can be in helping to report and resolve issues encountered with ANGEL. One ANGEL pioneer suggested we offer instructions on how to capture a screen image. Though there are applications to capture screen images, the methods listed below for capturing a screen image can be used by anyone without additional software.
If you encounter an error screen or other problem where it would help to explain by providing a visual image, you can use these steps and then email the screen capture to your technical support area for your school.

On a Windows system:

1. Get the image you want to capture on the screen,
2. Press the PrtScn key or Alt+PrtScn keys to save the image to the Windows Clipboard (the PrtScn key saves an image of the entire desktop to the clipboard, while Alt+PrtScn saves just the "active window" to the clipboard).
3. Open a blank Microsoft Word document,
4. Press Ctrl+V (or use the Edit > Paste command) to paste the image into the document,
5. Save the document and then submit it to your tech support area using email.

On a Macintosh System:

1. Navigate to the screen image you want to capture on the screen,
2. Press Command+Shift+3,
3. You'll hear a shutter sound and find a Pict (OS9) or PDF (OSX) image file on your desktop,
4. Submit the file to your tch support area using email.

Logging Out of ANGEL

The ANGEL system provides a Logoff button () to log out of the system securely. In some cases, if you only close the browser window, you have not closed the ANGEL session. If someone were to use the computer after you, open the same browser and go to the ANGEL log-in page, they’d find themselves logged into your account. So, use the Logout button rather than simply closing the browser window.

Displaying Advanced Settings & When to Use the LOR

As JCCC begins its transition to ANGEL Learning, we're working with a pilot group of 79 faculty who are completing 6-8 weeks of training in preparation for offering courses online using ANGEL in Spring 2009. As we discover tips, issues and idiosynchrocies with ANGEL, we're informing our "pioneers" using a periodic eNewsletter. Information from the newsletter with more general value will also be posted here.

Displaying Advanced Settings Automatically
In several of the training sessions, faculty have suggested that when adding an item under the Lessons tab (such as Add Content > Page) that the Advanced settings radio button should be the default rather than the Normal settings. This can be accomplished for your account using the following steps:

1. From your Personal Home page, select the Preferences icon on the sidebar.
2. Select System Settings.
3. Change the User Level setting to Advanced. Notice that this setting eliminates some descriptive text which may be helpful.
4. Click the Save button (bottom of the screen).

Your pages should now load with the Advanced option selected and those options visible (if available on the page you’re viewing).

When to Use Your Learning Object Repository (LOR)
Your use of the LOR will depend on how you have your courses organized, how you want to manage the materials for your course, and how many sections of the same course you are teaching. In general, Use your personal LOR if:

• You plan to use the same material in multiple courses,
• You have large files to store (it’s better to import them once rather than multiple times),
• You want to share the files or material with other instructors or
• If you want to store files that may not be used each semester (you teach a course once a year or bi-annually rather than each semester).

In each of these cases, using the LOR would be worth the extra time it takes to upload material. If you have a very large file, such as a video file, you can upload it once and then link to it every semester. If you want all your course materials to be in one place that you can access from anywhere on any machine, then the LOR would be a good place to put those materials.
The LOR could mimic the structure of your course, but it does not necessarily need to nor is it necessarily the best practice. For example, you could have the LOR match the organization of your files on your hard drive. So there’d be a folder for each course in the LOR, and within each folder additional folders that contain all course materials. Then when you actually build the course in ANGEL, you would build the structure of the course in your source course and then link to the appropriate files in the LOR.

If you are only teaching one section of a single course, then uploading all content into the LOR and attempting to build your course structure in the LOR (with links to your source course) may not be the best method. In this case, you could skip the LOR and just upload content to your source course. Or you could use the LOR as a central storage point for your files, mimicking your hard drive organization, and then use those files to build your course. It’s a matter of personal preference.