Center for Distance Education

Spring Office Hours Extended

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:09:20 -0900

CDE has extended office hours to accommodate end of semester testing. The office is open from 8 AM to 8 PM on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, April 28-30. Don't forget that in most cases, all lessons and exams are due by Thursday, May 1.

Semester Schedules now available

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:58:39 -0900

Independent Learning class schedules for Summer 2008, Fall 2008 and Year-long have been added and updated. Registration for both summer and fall is open right now and enrollment in our year-long, as always, is on a continuous basis. To see what's new, don't forget to check out the schedules as well as what's in development.

In Development

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:11:27 -0900

We're always working to improve our courses and offer more options for students. These are the courses we're working on now:

Courses Being Revised

ART/MUS/THR F200X (print-based): Aesthetic Appreciation
ART/MUS/THR F200X (online): Aesthetic Appreciation
DRT F140 (online): Architectural Drafting
ECON F100X (print-based): Political Economy
ECON F100X (online): Political Economy
ECON F200: (online) Principles of Economics
ENGL F200X (print-based): World Literature
ENGL F212 (print-based): Business, Grant, and Report Writing
ENGL F212 (online): Business, Grant, and Report Writing
ENGL F350 (print-based): Literature of Alaska and Yukon Territory
ENGL F350 (online): Literature of Alaska and Yukon Territory
GEOG F101 (print-based): Local Places and Global Regions: Introduction to Geography
GEOG F211 (print-based): Elements of Physical Geography
HIST F101 (print-based): Western Civilization I
HLTH F203 (print-based): Science of Nutrition
JRN F311 (online): Magazine Article Writing
LING F101 (print-based): Nature of Language
MATH F161X (online): Algebra for Business and Economics
MATH F202 (print-based): Calculus III
MATH F205 (print-based: Math fof Elementary School Teachers I
MATH F206 (print-based): Math for Elementary School Teachers II
PS F101 (print-based): Introduction to American Government
PSY/SOC F250 (print-based): Introductory Statistics for Behavioral Sciences
PSY F469 (print-based): Health Psychology
PSY F469 (online): Health Psychology
SOC F375 (online): Research Methods in the Social Sciences

New Courses in Development

DEVM F060 (online): Elementary Algebra
ECE F245 (online): Child Development
ENGL F200X (online): World Literature
JUST F310 (online): Principles of Corrections
JUST F340 (online): Rural Justice in Alaska
LING F101 (online): Nature of Language
MATH F201X (online): Calculus II
MATH F262 (online): Calculus for Business and Economics
MSL 111X (online): The Oceans
PS F101 (online): Introduction to American Government
PSY/SOC F250 (online): Introductory Statistics for Behavioral Sciences
PSY/SOC F333 WMS F332 (print-based): Human Sexualities Across Cultures
SPAN F393 (online): Spanish Composition

New Courses Completed and Ready for Enrollment

BA F151 (online): Introduction to Business
HLTH F203 (online): Science of Nutrition
JUST F222 (online): Research Methods
PSY/SOC F333/WMS 332 (online): Human Sexualities Across Cultures
SWK F484 (online): Social Work Practice with Military Families

Recently Revised Courses Completed and Ready for Enrollment

Art / Mus / Thr F200X (print-based): Aesthetic Appreciation
Art / Mus / Thr F200X (online): Aesthetic Appreciation
BA F151 (print-based): Introduction to Business
BA F330 (online): The Legal Environment of Business
BIOL F150 (print-based): Introducation to Marine Biology
BIOL F150 (print-based): Introduction to Marine Biology
CIOS F110 (online): Microcomputer Operating Systems
CIOS F240 (online): Microcomputer Databases
CIOS F246 (online): Building a Web Presence with Social Software
CIOS F256 (online): Internet Authoring and Design
DEVM F050 (print-based): Prealgebra
ENGL F111X (print-based): Introduction to Academic Writing
ENGL F111X (online): Introduction to Academic Writing
ENGL F213X (print-based): Academic Writing about the Social and Natural Sciences
FLM / JRN F308 (printed-based): Film Criticism
MATH F201X (print-based): Calculus II
MATH F205 (print-based): Math for Elementary School Teachers I
PSY F370 (print-base): Drugs and Drug Dependence
WMS F201 (online): Introduction to Women's Studies

last updated: April 8, 2008

Course Develoment List Updated

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:15:18 -0900

Our list of new and revised courses is constantly changing. Look under the "Courses Tab" at "In Development" to see what class are being reviewed and updated and what new classes are in the works.

Blackboard Login Changes

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:17:14 -0900

Beginning on April 8, the username you use to log into Blackboard will be changing and you will begin using your UA Username. If you do not know your UA Username you can Look up your UA Username here. Your password will not change. Your UA Username is normally the initials of your first and middle name and then your complete last name and may end with a digit. For instance if your name was John John Johnson your username might be jjjohnson. If you use Blackboard through the MyUA portal, this change will be seamless. This is one of many UAF services that will be switching to using UA Usernames to minimize the necessity to remember different ids and passwords. The process will centralize authentications required to access applications.

Student/Faculty Withdrawal

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:34:42 -0900

The last day for Student and/or Faculty Withdrawal is Friday, March 28. Students - some instructors have warned you that if you don't have a certain amount of work completed by a specific date then they might withdraw you. This can have harmful consequences on your financial aid and could make you in eligible for full-time status.

New and Open For Enrollment

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:43:08 -0900

PSY/SOC F250 UY3

(print) - Intro Stats for Behavioral Sci (3/29)

PSY F370 UY5

(print) - Drugs and Drug Dependence (3/10)

BIOL F50 UY3

(print) - Introduction to Marine Biology (3/04)

DEVM F050 UY5

(print) - Prealgebra (2/26)

MATH F201 UY5

(print) - Calculus II (2/26)

These Independent Learning Courses are now available for enrollment. To find out more about these classes go to the course list and search our database by course number.

Creating and Submitting Screen Shots for MAC

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:01:11 -0900

MAC OSX and Microsoft Word or Open Office

Many of your assignments may involve capturing and submitting "screen shots" (images of what you see on the screen) from web sites. There are many free utilities you can use-- which are listed at the end of this tutorial-- but in this case we will look at what you can do with just the standard MAC utility for capturing screens and Microsoft Word or Open Office.

1. Browse to and/or Create the Screen

In the following example we use Noodle Tools. We have surfed to the site and created the citation we need to submit.

To capture the window, scroll the browser window and, if necessary, resize it so that everything you want to capture is visible, as in this example using Noodle Tools:

Then press the COMMAND (apple key), SHIFT and 4 keys simultaneously on your keyboard. This will turn your cursor into a cross-hair cursor and you will click and drag to highlight the portion of the window that you want to capture. You will hear a "camera-like" snapshot sound and you will see that a .png file has been created on your desktop.

2. Open a Word Document

In order to send this to your instructor you need to put it into a file.

Open a new Microsoft Word or Open Office document go to the INSERT menu to insert a picture from a file. From here you will browse to the picture file you just created and click ok:

and it looks like this:

3. Repeat as Necessary

If your assignment calls for multiple screenshots you can keep adding them to the same document by moving the cursor below the current image and inserting the next picture:

4. Save and Submit

When you have all of the screenshots gathered together, save the Word document and submit it using the proper link in your Blackboard Class.

Note: Screen Capture tools

The built-in MAC screen capture is useful but not particularly full-featured. There are many programs which will capture the screen image and save them to a file directly so you don't have to paste them into a program like Microsoft Word. Some of them are even free:

SnapNDrag - http://www.yellowmug.com/snapndrag/
Paparazzi - http://www.derailer.org/paparazzi/
SnapzPro - http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/

Spring Break - Closed March 14

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:14:15 -0900

Spring break for UAF is Mar 10 – Mar 14 and on-campus classes will not be meeting. CDE will be OPEN during normal business hours Mon – Thurs (Mar 10-13) but will be closed on Friday, Mar 14. Happy Spring!

calendar

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:31:57 -0900

Summer Registration Begins

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:48:56 -0900

Registration for Summer 2008 is February 25 through June 3 for the 12-week session. Classes begin May 27 but for almost all of our Independent Learning classes you can begin early! Take a look at the classes that we have to offer on the course list and then by selecting either the in-Fairbanks or the outside-Fairbanks option.

Talk to CDE

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:00:32 -0900

You are now able to have a live text chat with someone at CDE in real time! This service is available during normal business hours. Just click on the live chat banner at the top of any of the CDE pages and connect with one of the departments. If they aren't available than you'll be given the option to leave a message. Give it a try!

Winter Newsletter Available

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0900

The CDE Winter 2007 newsletter is available now!. Pick up your copy at CDE or download the newsletter to your desktop as a PDF.

Faculty Senate: Plus/Minus Grading Policy

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 08:44:53 -0900

The UAF Faculty Senate passed the following at its Meeting #137 on May 1, 2006:

MOTION:

=======

The UAF Faculty Senate moves to amend the grading policy and grade point average (GPA) computation to include +/-'s as specified in University Regulations R10.04.09.

EFFECTIVE: Fall 2007

RATIONALE: Plus/minus grades allow for more accurate instructor feedback to students. The majority of four-year colleges and universities use the plus/minus grades system. In a recent UAF referendum faculty supported changing to +/-'s by a nearly 3:1 margin.

*******************

UNIVERSITY REGULATION R10.04.09

Numerical Equivalencies for Grades

A+ = 4.0 A = 4.0 A- = 3.7

B+ = 3.3 B = 3.0 B- = 2.7

C+ = 2.3 C = 2.0 C- = 1.7

D+ = 1.3 D = 1.0 D- = 0.7

F = 0.0

Also, reference page 77 of the 2007-2008 UAF catalog.

Internet (Exploder) issues with blackboard

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:34:09 -0900

Internet Explorer has been notorious in giving problems to students and proctors due to its security settings.

To make sure that Internet Explorer gives no problems during testing, make sure that you add UAF's blackboard site to the trusted zone in internet explorer.

To do so, follow the following:

Open Internet Explorer

Click Tools - Internet Options

In the Internet Options window, click the Security tab

Click the Trusted Sites (green icon with a check mark)

Click the Sites button

Make sure that you uncheck the “Required server verification” check mark

On the Add this website to the zone field, type: classes.uaf.edu then click the Add button.

Click OK, the OK again.