Office of the Provost
Manfred Kuechler
Acting
Associate Provost for Instructional Technology
Questions & Answers about Teaching Related
Services
This brief document was prepared for the "Information and Training Session" for departmental administrative assistants and other people designated by department chairs and program heads to provide administrative support for teaching related services on July 8, 2009. Beyond this group, this document may also be of interest to both part-time and full-time faculty -- especially those new to Hunter.
It is available online at http://bb.hunter.cuny.edu/QA_trs.html. If you received a
printed version, you may want to access the online version so that you can follow the links without having to retype any URLs. Also, to
improve legibility, only a select number of URLs are shown as visible text, so only the electronic version gives you access to all links. |
Table of Contents
- What is "Informed Registration (IR)"?
- How is this information submitted?
- Who are these "super users"?
- What is the Hunter NetID?
- How to check who is the "instructor of record" for a course?
- How to update the instructor information in SIMS?
- How do students get access to Informed Registration materials?
- Can IR information be changed?
- Is it mandatory to provide IR information?
- Why is it important to keep instructor information current in SIMS?
- What is Blackboard anyway and how do instructors get their Bb sites?
- Is Bb actually working?
- What is the CUNY Portal?
- What is LDAP?
- What is webroster?
- What is webattendance?
- What is webgrade?
Informed Registration is a comprehensive effort to "enable
students to make informed choices at the time of registration, based on information that is more extensive than what
can be found in the College catalog and is easily and quickly accessible" (Report by the Hunter Senate Undergraduate Course of Studies Committee [UCSC] in
fall 2008). Detailed information and step-by-step instructions can be
found at: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/provost/informed-registration
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How
is this information submitted?
The information can be submitted either directly by an instructor or by
the department/program which offers the course using any web browser
(Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.) via "webupload":
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/webupload
- A faculty member must be listed in SIMS as the "instructor
of record" to see his/her course(s) in "webupload"
- Only departmental "super users" can use "webupload" on
behalf of faculty in their area
- Students cannot access "webupload"
Both individual faculty members and "super
users" use their Hunter NetID to log in to "webupload". Illustrated step-by-step instructions for both user groups
are available at the Provost IR web site.
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Who are these "super users"?
By default, department chairs and program directors are
given the status of "super users". In additional, departmental
chairs and program directors can designate additional persons as "super
users" (most often the
departmental administrative assistant, but in some
departments
faculty serve in this role) by contacting Margarett Silva (msilva@hunter.cuny.edu)
in the Office of the Provost for any changes and/or additions. No extra
login information is needed. Once the request is processed, the Hunter
NetID will
provide "super user" access to "webupload".
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What is the Hunter NetID?
In general, it is identical to your user name for Hunter e-mail or what
you use to access the wireless network ("hunternet") at Hunter. E.g.,
my NetID is "mkuechle" (more
info). Using SSN and date of birth, users can also look up their NetID at: https://cfml.hunter.cuny.edu/emaillook/
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How to check who is the "instructor of record" for a course?
There are two ways:
- People with access to SIMS (SIMS is the official "Student
Information
Management System" at Hunter) can check directly in SIMS; typically
only chairs, departmental advisors, and administrative assistants have a
SIMS account (provided by the Registrar's office).
- Everybody can check the "Online Schedule of Classes" (http://registrar.hunter.cuny.edu/subpages/searchclass.shtml) updated nightly and reflecting the status in SIMS as of the
previous day.
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How to update the instructor information in SIMS?
After the "Online Schedule of Classes" for a term becomes available,
departments/program are supposed to update instructor information via
"webteachingload":
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/webteachingload
In contrast to "webupload", a special account is needed to get access.
Departments/program should contact Linda Crownover (linda.crownover@hunter.cuny.edu) at ICIT/Administrative Systems if they need a new account, refresh
the password, or need help with using this feature. Keeping
the
instructor information in SIMS current is essential to provide access to
a number of services to faculty (more below).
When using webteachingload, it is crucial that the SSN of the
instructor is entered correctly. While the instructor may get listed in
SIMS anyway, he/she may not be able to access his/her Blackboard course
site otherwise (below).
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How do students get access to Informed Registration materials?
Students simply click on the course name in the "Online Schedule of
Classes". If there is additional information available, they will see
a link to this information.
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Can IR information be changed?
Absolutely, at any time. Simply upload new information and it will
replace any previously posted information for the course. Instructors
are encouraged to replace advance information with the full syllabus
when
it becomes available. This way, the IR system can double
as a syllabus repository, so that students have access to syllabi from
previous semesters as well. Information provided via the IR system is
supposed to be term-specific. Therefore, information for the same
course cannot be simply copied from one term to the next within the IR
system.
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Is it mandatory to provide IR information?
Currently, it is not. However, it is the recommendation of
the Hunter Senate (see above) to provide such information and Hunter
students
have requested such information for a long time. However, in summer
2010, all colleges receiving federal funds (which includes Hunter) are required by law to make
at least textbook information available at the time of registration. The
Hunter initiative precedes these legal requirements and was motivated
to help our students.
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Why is it important to keep instructor information current in
SIMS?
As already mentioned, only "instructors of record" can use "webupload"
themselves and provide students with the best information available
about an upcoming -- or a past -- course. But there are additional
important reasons:
- Only the "instructor of record" can access
his/her Blackboard (Bb) course shell.
- Only the "instructor of record" can retrieve up-to-date
(actually, as of the previous day) official rosters for his/her course
via "webroster".
- The registrar needs accurate instructor information
for
"webattendance" and "webgrade" -- the online submission of attendance
data and final course grades.
- The Office of Institutional Research (within the Provost
Office)
needs accurate instructor information to meet various reporting mandates.
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What is Blackboard anyway
and how do instructors get their Bb sites?
Blackboard (Bb) is a web-based learning management
system (LMS), which
provides instructors with tools for organizing and designing virtual
classroom space. Course shells are created automatically for all
courses that are listed in the online schedule of classes, but it
is up to the instructor to actually use Bb and to make Bb course sites
available to his/her students (more).
About 40-50% of the Bb course sites created are made available
to
students though extent of actual use varies greatly. Bb course sites
are used for both conventional classroom courses as well as
courses which are conducted partly or fully online.
The instructor information from SIMS is automatically transferred to
the Bb system -- unless there is a discrepancy between the instructor
information (like the SSN) in SIMS and in CUPS (the personnel system).
So, access to Bb starts with proper information in SIMS.
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Is Bb actually working?
Following the conversion to a much more integrated Bb system (one system
for all CUNY colleges and all its 250,000+ students) and a version upgrade to Bb 8 (from Bb 6.3),
faculty and students experienced major problems with reliable access to
the Bb system during the spring term. After outsourcing these services
-- using "Blackboard Managed Hosting (BMH)" -- in early May, the system
has been stable and Bb is working well.
However, Hunter will keep a Blackboard (Status) Information page
outside the Bb system which is updated daily -- and if needed more
often -- to provide current information about access and usage problems and solutions.
Faculty are encouraged to bookmark this page and use the link to the
Portal/Bb login page on this page:
http://bb.hunter.cuny.edu
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What is the CUNY Portal?
This is the central CUNY web page at http://www.cuny.edu which is supposed to provide the common starting point for anything anyone may want to learn about CUNY and its colleges and access specific services. While some
information is available to everyone, other information and most
services require a login. After login, a user (student, faculty, staff,
visitors) sees a personalized page ("MyPage") offering the services
and information available to people in this user group. The
Portal login information is passed along ("single sign on" or SSO) so
that it is not necessary to login separately to access specific
services like Blackboard or eSIMS (the online system for students to
register for courses, pay their tuition bills, and more).
To obtain CUNY Portal login information (user name &
password), a one time online registration is necessary -- following the
link on the "Portal Log-in" page. During the registration process, information supplied by the user will be checked against a database (LDAP)
and users can only select a "role" for which as they are already known
to CUNY, i.e., a user can register as "student" only if admitted
already and all admission information is processed; and a user
can register as "faculty" only if he/she is already in the CUNY
personnel system (CUPS).
The "role" with which a Portal user is registered determines which
services are available to her/him. E.g., only Portal users with the
role of "student", "faculty" or "staff" have access the Blackboard
system, only users with the role of "student" have access to eSIMS. In
contrast, registration with the role of "applicant" or "visitor" is not
sufficient to access either Bb or eSIMS.
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What is LDAP?
LDAP is a generic computer term referring to a specific kind of
database and technical details on how this database is accessed. In the
context of the CUNY Portal, the term is used as a short-hand for the
content of the database which reflects some basic facts about people
associated with CUNY in various roles (like student, faculty, staff) at
specific colleges. This information is drawn from a variety of sources like
SIMS and CUPS.
If the information in LDAP is not up-to-date, a user's role vis-a-vis
the CUNY Portal may not be determined correctly and, as a consequence,
the user may experience problems with access to services like
Blackboard or eSIMS.
Unfortunately, LDAP problems are not uncommon especially close to the
start of a term. As a number of different offices both at Hunter and at
CUNY are involved in the process of getting correct and up-to-date
information into LDAP, troubleshooting is difficult and improvement of
the work flow and the way in which all these offices interact is an
ongoing challenge.
Departments can help by sending all necessary information ("paper
work") about new faculty (whether part time or full time) to
Human Resources as early as possible and by following up on the
process. (This will also help with getting faculty paid in a
timely manner, but this aspect is not pursued in this document.)
As discussed above, departments should enter faculty as "instructor of
record" into SIMS as soon as the course assignment is made. However,
new faculty (who never taught at CUNY before) may still not be able to
access their Bb course sites until they are known to LDAP as faculty.
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What is webroster?
Faculty and "super users" can access the official roster via "webroster":
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/webroster
As with "webupload" access is via a user's Hunter NetID. Faculty can
see the rosters for which they are the "instructor of record", "super
users" can see the rosters for all courses in their area. These rosters
are updated every night and reflect the official enrollment in SIMS as
of the previous day.
As only students officially enrolled in a course can receive credit and
a
grade, it is important for all instructors to check
whether all their students appear on the official roster. It is
recommended to check frequently during first two weeks of a
semester. Any student not or no longer on the SIMS roster must be asked to
contact the Registrar's office immediately.
These rosters include the Hunter e-mail address for the students,
if the instructor needs/wants to contact (all) students in her/his course -- for whatever reason.
Instructors using their Bb course site can contact their students via
the built-in e-mail feature, but webroster provides another (backup)
option to obtain e-mail addresses for all students in a course/section.
Official enrollments (as shown in the SIMS rosters) are automatically
transferred from SIMS to Blackboard and this process should
complete by noon every day.The course roster an instructor sees in
Blackboard (by afternoon) should match the roster obtained via "webroster".
Instructors are technically able, but not supposed to add regular
students manually to their Bb course sites as stipulated by the "Hunter
Blackboard Policies" (which were developed in spring 2009 by the
"Blackboard Policy Advisory Committee (BPAC) and which will be made
available to the Hunter community this summer) to avoid any confusion
about a student's official enrollment status.
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What is webattendance?
To comply with various mandates related to providing students with
financial aid, colleges need to collect information about students'
class attendance. "Webattendance" provides instructors with a tool to submit
attendance data online using any web browser. Like "webgrade" (see
below), a specific password is randomly generated for each section.
This password information is delivered to departmental offices on paper
(on separate sheets for each section) and is distributed by department
front offices to instructors (requiring a signature to acknowledge
receipt). The "webattendance" application is available only for a
limited time period. Webattendance was suspended for spring 2009, but will return in fall 2009.
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/webattendance (when in use)
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What is webgrade?
"Webgrade" works very similar to "webattendance"-- except that in place of
attendance information final course grades are submitted. Once
submitted, grades cannot be changed online via "webgrade". Rather,
conventional paper "change of grade" forms must be filled out.
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/webgrade
MK -- 7/8/09