Check the Course Search!

It's always a good practice to go to the ANGEL log-in screen, select the Course Search link in the Search and Help nugget and search for your course(s).

• Do you see the information from the About This Section nugget? If not, add the information to the nugget. It is a good way to share information about your course with prospective students. At JCCC we're beginning to use this nugget to replace information included in our Online Course Information Guide (check out http://web.jccc.edu/courseguide/show/?label=ACCT+121&prof=skleiner).


• Check in the text to see if you’ve used the $First_Name$ token. If you have, the text of the token appears and the student’s name is not substituted for the token. We suggest you go to the About This Section nugget and remove the token. The token does work in the About This Section nugget when a student logs in, but the token itself is displayed when viewed through the unauthenticated Course Search.


• Check to see if you have HTML tags showing in the About This Section nugget text (will appear as text starting with a <> symbol). If so, go to the course and edit the About This Section nugget text (click the pencil that appears when you roll over the nugget’s title bar). If you are copying text with HTML codes into the HTML Editor, first select the Source button (see below) and then paste the text in. If you do not first select the Source button, the tags are copied and displayed.
  



• Check to see if you have any broken image links. If so do back and fix in the images. If you have broken image icons in the course, you’ll see the same broken image icons in the Course Search.


• In general, use the Course Search to check that the information about your course is accurate and properly displayed.

Editing Your Name for the ANGEL Profile

Students (and instructors) have the ability to edit their first name and last names in ANGEL (using the Preferences icon on the left, see below, and then selecting the Personal Information link). Just be aware of this feature in case “Snoopy” or “Captain Jack” shows up on your class roster. Currently, it is not possible to disable the ability to edit the last name without disabling the ability to edit the first name too. It is an all or nothing deal. At JCCC, we have left this feature enabled because of the number of faculty and students who are known by a nickname or middle name (e.g., Davy rather than David, Beth rather than Carol, and so on).

Updated Information on Copying Course Content

We’re learning as we go. Contrary to our previous understanding, you can use the Manage > Import Wizard > Copy Course command to copy content from a source course into a production course even after students have been added to the course but not after the course opens and there’s student activity. Here’s an update:

• The Copy Course function copies content into the target course but leaves students enrolled.
• If you have student activity such as email and tracking information (such as the number of log-in sessions), that information is not overwritten by the Copy Course.
• If students have taken assessments or submitted assignments, that information is overwritten.

In summary, use the Copy Course feature before the course is opened up to students (typically, first day of classes) but not on or after that date.

ANGEL Issue Updates: December Release

We’re expecting a software release from ANGEL on Monday, December 15, 2008. The release includes two fixes that were requested by JCCC. As soon as the patch arrives, we’ll test and if possible install on production before the holiday break. Here are the details:

• Algorithmic Math Computation Error - In the algorithmic question type in Assessments, ANGEL is calculating natural logarithms incorrectly. As near as we can tell, ANGEL is rounding the argument before calculating the natural log. This error appears to be happening with all three versions of logarithms (log, ln, and log10) supplied by ANGEL.
  
  For instance, Angel is saying that the answer to the natural logarithm of 1.49 is 0. The correct answer should be 0.39878. However, the natural logarithm of 1 is 0, which fits the hypothesis that ANGEL is rounding the argument (1.49 in this case, rounded down to 1) before calculating the logarithm.
  
• LOR Folders: Can't Access Course Items When Linked From Inside Folder - When linking to a folder in a LOR, it seems to work okay until you try to view one of the items inside the folder, at which point you get an Access Denied error. Linking to a folder should work, as specified in the ANGEL documentation.
  
  Linking to the individual items in the LOR works, just not linking to the entire folder.