Technology Committee

Have a concern in regard to technology?  Thought of a topic that you’d like the Technology Committee to discuss?  Need training for different types of technology?  Well you’ve come to the right place!

Q: “I was recently told that my H:/ drive was full and that I should delete some of my files. Originally, I was told that there was unlimited space on the H:/ drive, so I shouldn’t have to worry about space. What’s the deal?”

The H:/ drive does have a limit—4 MB. There was a time when 4 MB seemed like a lot of space, and people couldn’t imagine having that many files. When a drive becomes full, graphics are usually the culprit. Graphics and video files will fill up your drive before you know it.  

Q: When I am in Internet Explorer 8 or earlier versions and I try to view my student roster in WebAdvisor, I get several error messages. Why is WebAdvisor giving me these messages?”

The problem is with Internet Explorer. Many Web sites may not be displayed correctly or work correctly in Windows Internet Explorer 8. However, there is a fix. Internet Explorer 8 includes a Compatibility View feature that, when selected, will eliminate those nasty error messages.

Here is what you do:

        1.)   On the Web site that is not displayed correctly or that does not work correctly in Internet Explorer 8.

        2.)  In the Tools menu, click Compatibility View.

        The DataTell team is aware of this problem, and it is something that they are working on.

Q: “I am having problems importing my grades from an Excel spreadsheet into BlackBoard. I have found that BlackBoard will alphabetize students by last name only whereas Excel will alphabetize by last name and then by first name. For example, in Excel, Ann Nguyen would come before Travis Nguyen in my spreadsheet, but when I view my roster in BlackBoard, that is not necessarily true.”

We don’t know what the problem is; however, Scott James, the Blackboard coordinator has been notified. We will post a solution as soon as possible.

Q: “What types of improvements can we expect for WebAdvisor?”

The technology committees from SCC and SAC met in March to discuss modifications to WebAdvisor. The goal of the meeting was to come up with a list of improvements we, the faculty, would like to see implemented. Some of the items included providing notifications for dropped students, numbering students when we view a roster, and handling incompletes.

The good news is that many of the items presented at the joint meeting had already been addressed by Datatel. A new patch was implemented just this month.