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Truncate Table

October 2, 2008 in Database / Oracle by Ezra F | No comments

Earlier in the week I picked on a DBA at UGA for wanting to use truncate learning_context. Overhearing at the office a developer used truncate and causing those DBAs to recover the data. Ugh.

Using An LMS As a Network Drive

February 9, 2008 in Blackboard Vista by Ez | 2 comments

Ran across a video describing how to get the WebDAV info in CE6 (aka Blackboard Vista 4 Lite) for the purpose of using CE6 as a network drive.

The narrator says this is a good idea because if the site has good policies, then backups are being made. In the event of a site disaster, you can recover your files from it.

This is a HORRIBLE idea.

  1. An LMS is unlikely to be sized in such a way to store backups of all user content. The IT administration will end up buying more expensive storage for CE6 than for other desktop backup solutions.
  2. By placing content unrelated to classes, you will contribute to making the CE6 site slower.
  3. The IT administration will not be able to recover a single file for you should you make a mistake. They will have to restore the whole database, place a CE6 web server in front of it, and get the one file for you. Its a more expensive investment in time to recover your content.

Use a backup system to do backups. Use a online instruction system to instruct.

Enrollments

December 28, 2007 in Blackboard Vista by Ez | No comments

In spelunking the Vista database, the main pieces of an enrollment are the user, the learning context, the membership, the role, and the role’s label. Its almost trivial how easily these tie together. Once you have them, then you can do all kinds of cool things…

  • Administrator reports Section Designer role was deleted but the Build tab is still showing. So, you dump out the user’s enrollments to confirm the role was in fact deleted. It turns out the user had a Designer role at a higher context. [1]
  • Instructor reports students who were never enrolled in the section appear as having missed an assignment. Support at the school says the it has a template, so naturally the vendor thinks it must be a bad template. Wait, you say, I didn’t think student data was part of the template. That changes everything! So, you dump out the enrollments for the members of that learning context to see who is or is not enrolled. Oh, the students were enrolled in the class. They are just deleted now.

[1] Designer access at a higher level means the Build tab shows. So if you hold Institution Designer and Section Instructor, then you have the Build tab you’d normally expect to need Section Designer to use.

RE 2007: GeorgiaVIEW Meeting (Pre-Conference)

October 24, 2007 in Conferences, Work by Ez | 2 comments

I am blogging from the pre-conference GeorgiaVIEW meeting @ Rock Eagle yesterday afternoon and this morning. I enjoy connecting with people around the state of Georgia who use our Vista system. Most of them do not make it to BbWorld. Some hot topics:

  • Alternatives to Blackboard Vista
  • Training
    • Content repository
  • Returning Reports and Tracking to instructors.
    • Some reports still failing. One approach may be to remove tracking data from Vista database and make it available elsewhere.
  • Upgrade to Vista 4. People want a timeline, access to a training instance ASAP, please not do an in-place upgrade.
    • Limited shelf life on internals of Vista 3 / 4.0 - 4.1.2
    • More of customers have moved or are moving to Vista 4 / CE 6 than a year ago.
    • Can take advantage of new tools available in Vista 4.
    • Data retention - policy, reponsibilities (faculty, campus, OIIT)
    • Phased approach - parallel environments, at some point Vista 3 goes away and no longer available.
    • End of Fall 2008 or Spring 2009.
  • People are both quite happy we are going to Vista 4 and disconcerted at the prospect of having to move to Vista 4 in even over a year from now (at the worst by April 2009).
    • Export / import of non-SIS created users.
    • Training

Lovely (yeah a real person and she is) says Lovely Freelove would be one of the best names ever.

links for 2007-07-18

July 18, 2007 in Bookmarks by delicious | No comments

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About Me

July 6, 2007 in Uncategorized by Ez | No comments

So, you want to know who I am…. Hopefully you are in it for the long haul so you will post some comments, drop me some email (sneezypb at the most popular free email sites like GMail), subscribe to my blog.

Click for larger…
365 Days #9 2006-12-19

Am I my job? In that case, I could say I am a Database Administrator. Many of you probably don’t even know what that means. That’s okay, I’m not sure it means much. LOL Mainly I work with Blackboard Vista and ensure to the health of the software. My kicks come from taking something nebulous and determining scope and solution to the issue. The GeorgiaVIEW project has grown one of the largest implementations of Blackboard Vista world wide. Previously, at Valdosta State University, I worked with Vista, Luminis, Banner, Apache, and web design.

Am I my hobbies? In that case, I could say I am a computer geek, an amateur photographer, a bookworm, a blogger, or a social network junkie.

Am I my list of friends? Certainly, I don’t have an extraordinary EQ, so the huge list of contacts should not be interpreted as my list of friends. Yes, I know lots and lots of people. I just don’t know them well. Do check out my blogroll. Those are all exceptional people who in some shape or form impact my opinions.

I use a Canon Digital Rebel XT and Canon Power-Shot SD800 IS (Elph) digital cameras. The Elph goes everywhere with me. The Rebel I break out for special events. One can find more about my cameras and lenses in my profile at Flickr.

My Digital Footprint:

A more comprehensive “About Me” page. I’m not for hire. This especially goes for snooping folks from Blackboard, Inc.!!
:D