As the fall semester quickly winds to a close, I wanted to send out a few reminders as you wrap up work for the fall semester and begin making preparations for the rapidly approaching spring semester. Course Evaluations Students have until Friday December 19th at 5:00pm to complete course evaluations. Students are sent periodic reminders that their evaluations are closing to ensure they don’t forget to submit mandatory course evaluations. We will begin sending evaluation reports to course masters via email on Monday December 22nd . Course masters can expect to receive evaluation reports no later than Thursday January 8th. Campus Test Scoring Service (Holiday Closing) The test scoring service will be operating on their normal hours 7:30am – 4:00pm (sheets must be dropped off by 3:00pm for same day processing) through December 23rd. Faculty or teaching assistants experiencing issues with the campus test scoring service should contact me at stucker@rx.umaryland.edu with questions or concerns. Special Closures: December 19th The campus test scoring service will be closed on Friday December 19th from 11-2pm for a holiday function. Test scoring will be taking place during the day, but no test sheets will be accepted between 11am and 2pm on the 19th. December 24th The service will close at noon. December 25th – January 4th Closed. The test scoring center will reopen on Monday January 5th. Preparing for Spring 2009 Blackboard If you haven’t already noticed, Blackboard sites for Spring 2009 have been created. We are working with a few course masters who have special set-up needs and these sites may take a few days longer to complete. Your Course Schedule (CELCAT) If you haven’t already done so, please be sure to check your course schedule to ensure that faculty, lecturers, and technology are appropriately assigned to your courses. If you have changes to make before the winter holiday, please send them to syllabus@rx.umaryland.edu. Correct course schedules are vital to ensure that your course has appropriate technology assigned (i.e. Mediasite and Video Conferencing) well in advance of your actual class sessions. Faculty Course faculty are automatically enrolled as a part of your course set up. Non-course masters are granted “Course Builder” access to post materials and make announcements in Blackboard. However, they do not have default access to the gradebook. If you have faculty that require special access to manage assignments or exams, please let us know by sending an email to help@rx.umaryland.edu. We’re happy to accommodate special requests for your course sites. Student Groups in Blackboard If you would like us to set up student groups in your course, please send an email to the helpline at help@rx.umaryland.edu if you have not already requested this service. We can set up these groups for you using Student Affairs assigned groups or your own custom groups. We will be taking requests through the start of classes. Guest/Invited Instructors We have a special form set up to allow course masters to identify invited instructors. The form is accessible via the Pharmacy Portal under the “Courses” tab or directly, by visiting: https://rxsecure.umaryland.edu/apps/affiliates/apply/instructor/. This will provide you with Recording Release Forms (for Mediasite and Adobe Presenter) and an opportunity to request Blackboard access, and inclusion in your semester end course evaluation. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to ask by sending a note to help@rx.umaryland.edu or calling 6-4488 for the fastest possible response time.

Labels: announcement, faculty