Planning for Launchpad Assignments (the easy way)

Some students who use Launchpad for the first time want to know the best way to find and complete assignments. These instructions assume that a student has registered a McMillan access code and has logged in to Launchpad.

Purpose: Access Launchpad assignments and easily spot their deadline.

When you login the Launchpad website, there are two ways to view the assignments and their deadlines. Method A (Less effective) Locate the stack of blue, collapsed assignments. The deadlines are listed under Assignments. Notice the To Do button on the right. Click one of the highlighted bars to open one of the collapsed assignments. The next picture shows what that looks like Metod B (Highly effective) On the navigation bar to the left, is a vertical list of icons. Locate the Calendar icon. Select the Calendar icon to open the calendar.
This view of the deadlines is confusing. The following are reasons Method A is not encouraged. When I assign an exercise, test, activity, or reading, the entire unit moves to the Assignments list. Only some of the assignments are marked with To Do; that means only those assignments are assigned. While Launchpad pulls the entire unit over, all other assignments, without a To Do are not assigned. Finally, you will need to open and collapse each unit individually to locate the due assignments. Don't bother with Method A.
Method B (Highly effective) The calendar identifies each individual assignment on the day it is due. The entire group is not visible because only the assignment shows. This is the easiest way to see the exact assignments on the exact they are due in the order they are due.
Click on the due assignment you wish to complete, with the mouse. A message window will open with an option on the bottom left. Click on the Open button to open the assignment.
Several Kinds of Assignments
Quiz Assignments like this simply require the selection of the correct answer and click the Submit button. You will not get a chance to change your answer or take the quiz again.
Reading Assignments like this simply require you to read the assignment. There is no other action you need to take.
Learning Curve Assignments like this are adaptive tests that help you learn course principles. When you get a question wrong, Learning Curve will teach you and give you another chance to get it right. The test will continue running until you successfully complete the test with a high score.
Writing Assignments like this simply require you to read the prompt, write the required text in the field, and click the Submit button. You are encouraged to read any available reading assignments before performing writing assignments.
Tutorial Assignments like this require you to watch the video and respond to a question. Those questions may be quiz questions or writing prompts. Click Submit when you complete the question.

All instructions and documentation written by:

Dr. Jason Lawrence, M.S., Ph.D.

Theory and Practice of Professional Communication

Artificial Intelligence writers, Internal Documentation, and Emergent Texts
Visit my Official Blog, my LinkedIn profile, or my Web Page.

Find a School: Southern Connecticut State University

Change default URL on LinkedIn

When you create a LinkedIn account, you start off with the default URL. That URL has numbers, digits, and symbols; it is not an easy URL to share. If you want to print your LinkedIn address on a business card, for instance, then you need a simpler URL. These instructions assume you are already logged in to your LinkedIn account.

Compare the following URLs to see which is simpler to remember:

• linkedin.com/in/jason-lawrence-48b20058/
• linkedin.com/in/drjasonlawrence/

Purpose: Change the default URL address for your LinkedIn account to a more customized name.

You need to access the profile in order to change the URL. On the LinkedIn menu bar, click on the Me button to open a dropdown menu. Click on View profile.
Once on the page to view the profile, look to the right of the screen, directly under the menu. Click the Edit public profile & URL link.
Once again, on the top-right of the screen is a box titled Edit URL. Click on the pencil icon image next to the URL. This image shows the URL after I have already changed it.
LinkedIn will automatically highlight the words. Type in the name you prefer for the URL. Click Save.

All instructions and documentation written by:

Dr. Jason Lawrence, M.S., Ph.D.

Theory and Practice of Professional Communication

Artificial Intelligence writers, Internal Documentation, and Emergent Texts
Visit my Official Blog, my LinkedIn profile, or my Web Page.

Find a School: Southern Connecticut State University

Posting a OneDrive link to a Blackboard Post

There are many reasons to create a hyperlink in an online text. A link provides outside sources, without the long URL web address. The link keeps online texts nice and clean. These instructions are useful for writers who want to include links in their emails, classroom discussion posts, blog posts, and message forum posts. These instructions create a link to a password protected OneDrive document.

Purpose: Create a hyperlink in a Blackboard classroom to a OneDrive document.

Microsoft OneDrive Open your Microsoft account by logging in. Access your OneDrive using the typical links. Search among your OneDrive folders for the classroom shared folder. In these instructions, the shared folder is titled "Eng399_winter19."
Locate your document in the list of documents located in the appropriate classroom folder. Selected the checkmark on the left side of the file.
Copy the Link Option 1 The first of two ways to obtain the document link is to use the right-click. Right-click on the selected file. Select Copy link from the dropdown menu.
Copy the Link Option 2 The second of two ways to obtain the document link is to use the OneDrive menu bar. Locate the Copy link button on the menu bar. Click on the Copy link.
Whether option 1 or option 2, a popup window will open. The URL is already written in the field for you. Click the Copy button. Once you click on the Copy button, a green checkmark will appear on the popup, as shown in the picture.
Blackboard LMS Open Blackboard. Log in to Blackboard. Access your classroom. Create a discussion post or blog post, as required by course instructions. Highlight the text you wish to convert into a hyperlink. I select more than one word so that it is easier to spot the hyperlink. Click on the hyperlink icon from the word-processing palette.	Hyperlink icon.
The hyperlink icon opens a popup screen. Select the empty Linked Path field. Paste the copied URL into the Link Path field. You do not need to click any buttons.
Open the Target dropdown menu. So that you can keep Blackboard open in a window, frame, or tab, you should click on the Open in New Window option.
Click the Insert button to complete the procedure. Complete your discussion post or blog post. Submit your discussion post or blog post.

All instructions and documentation written by:

Dr. Jason Lawrence, M.S., Ph.D.

Theory and Practice of Professional Communication

Artificial Intelligence writers, Internal Documentation, and Emergent Texts
Visit my Official Blog or my Web Page.

Find a School: Southern Connecticut State University

Using the Library Research Databases

The Southern Connecticut State University library, like any other university library in the nation, subscribes to research search databases. Researchers and students can access these library research resources from home or on the campus. These instructions use Ebsco's Academic Search Premier in the instructions.

Purpose: These instructions will help users locate research databases, search a database, track results, and email the results for future reference.

Open southernct.edu in your favorite internet browser. On the SCSU menu bar, click on the Info for link to drop a menu. Click on View More on the menu. The Current Students page is now visible. Scroll to the bottom of the page. Click the Library link on the list of Academic Services.
The SCSU library homepage will open. From this point, there are two search ways to start researching. Click on the EBSCO Articles tab to search Academic Search Premier by default. Click on Databases by Subject to seek specialized research databases.	The following three images showcase different ways to access the library databases from the library homepage.
Way to Start. I. Type a keyword, like "technical writing and rhetoric," in the keyword field. Click the Search button.	Search from the EBSCO Articles tab
Way to Start. II. On the left of the screen is a dropdown menu. Click on the drop down menu bar arrows. Scroll through the list of subjects to find the right subject for your research. In this example, "Literature" is the selected subject. Click the Go! button.	Search from the Databases by Subject dropdown menu
Way to Start. II. The result of searching by subject is a page that presents the research databases used for research by researchers in the field.	View of Literature Recommendations from Databases by Subject dropdown menu
Regardless of how the research is started, On-Campus users will be directed straight to the database. On the other hand, Off-Campus users will be directed to a campus login page. Off-Campus users will need to log in to provide campus credentials.
Type in a search term of phrase. Click the Search button. CAUTION Specific words yield more accurate results but can also yield zero results. However, zero results only means that the right configuration of words has not been discovered.
The result of a search is a screen like this. All the database user interfaces look substantially different. Yet, they all share similar features. Use the Refine Results options on the left side of the screen to obtain better search results.
Each EBSCO brand search result has two symbols at the right of each search result title. Click on the magnifying glass icon to view a quick abstract of the search result. Click the folder icon to save the search result.  Saved search results change from blue to green, as shown. The objective is to save the useful research sources to the folder and use the folder to narrow down results even further. CAUTION The library databases do not save the results permanently. As soon as the browser is shut down, the saved results will disappear.
Every saved search result is listed in the Folder View. Look at the right side of the screen. A short list of the most recently saved searches is listed. Click on the Folder View link to enter the results folder.
The magnifying glass icon opens a quick preview of individual search results. The preview shows author, title, and abstract--among other information.
In the Folder View, check the box of all the research sources you wish to move to your own storage solution.
In the Folder View, there are options listed on the right side of the page. Because the library databases do not store results permanently, users need to export their results to their own storage solution. The Print, E-mail, and Save as File options are all methods to store useful research found in the library databases. The Export button is a unique feature. Many researchers use research management software. The Export button will create files that can import into those software programs.
For this example, click the E-mail button. The following interface becomes visible. Type the email address in the E-mail to field. Type a helpful heading in the Subject field. Click on the Citation Format option. Click on MLA from the dropdown menu for Composition and Literature classes. Click on other citation styles, as needed.
Click Send to send all the saved results to your email address.

All instructions and documentation written by:

Dr. Jason Lawrence, M.S., Ph.D.

Theory and Practice of Professional Communication

Artificial Intelligence writers, Internal Documentation, and Emergent Texts
Visit my Official Blog or my Web Page.

Find a School: Southern Connecticut State University

Upload Video to Blackboard

I asked Blackboard support services to tell me the best way to have students upload video to Blackboard so that students could see the videos and I could grade them. The instructions were prepared by Blackboard support services.

Purpose: In cases when assignments require, upload a video to Blackboard to submit a video assignment.

All instructions and documentation written by:

Dr. Jason Lawrence, M.S., Ph.D.

Theory and Practice of Professional Communication

Artificial Intelligence writers, Internal Documentation, and Emergent Texts
Visit my Official Blog or my Web Page.

Find a School: Southern Connecticut State University