--- Forwarded Message from Barbara Sawhill <[log in to unmask]> --- >Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 08:39:33 -0400 >From: Barbara Sawhill <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Blackboard 7.x >To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]> >User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.7 (Macintosh/20050923) Greetings: My institution has signed a contract with Blackboard to upgrade from Bb 6 to the Bb 7.1 Enterprise Edition this coming fall. As a cost saving measure (?) we have chosen to have this hosted off site. Our campus is a 50/50 Mac and PC campus. We teach Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic...with Korean on the way. I have been promised, many times over, that all of the language "functionality" that I could ever need will be possible with this tool. The problem is, we have yet to get our hands on it. The release notes for 7.1 are somewhat fuzzy when it comes to language support, and less than enthusiastic when mentioning how materials in Bb will be displayed on the Mac side of things. I would be interested in hearing from LLTI'ers who have begun tinkering with this tool. What you are seeing with regard to language input and display in the LCTLs (on both the Mac and the PC side)? How does one create a language pack for a language that is not part of the basic Bb 7.1 set up? What are you seeing with regard to the transferability of language files from Bb 6 to 7.1 (does anything break?) Is it possible to make adaptative technologies such as Dragon Reader or JAWS work with this version of Bb? Remember, we are having this hosted off-site... are there any additional challenges for language learning support with that scenario? Please respond to the list...I somehow think others may be interested in this thread as well. Happy Memorial Day Weekend to all, Barbara -- Barbara Sawhill Director, Cooper International Learning Center Lecturer, Hispanic Studies Department Oberlin College Oberlin, OH 44074 Voice: 440-775-8595 Fax: 440-775-6888 http://www.oberlin.edu/ilc President-elect, IALLT http://www.iallt.org "The plural of anecdote is -not- data" *********************************************** LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for Language Learning, and The Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning (http://consortium.dartmouth.edu). Join IALLT at http://iallt.org. Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask]) ***********************************************