SPARK is the learning management system (LMS) for on-campus courses at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Developed by Blackboard, but dubbed “SPARK” by the Office of Information Technologies (OIT), SPARK offers tools for the development, delivery, and administration of course materials online.

At UMass Amherst, we use SPARK for on-campus, residential courses. Blackboard Vista is the learning management system for courses offered through the Division of Continuing and Professional Education for fully-online courses offered through UMassOnline.

The decision to upgrade our software came after a careful comparison of WebCT’s product line and an examination of the needs of the campus. Compared to CE, this system offers teachers and students a more efficient and rewarding online learning environment.

Blackboard Vista is currently used by UMass Continuing and Professional Education for fully-online courses offered through UMassOnline. OIT’s implementation of this software is separate from Continuing and Professional Education’s and will be specially configured for on-campus courses.

The Office of Information Technologies (OIT)/Academic Computing will be migrating on-campus courses currently using Campus Edition (CE) 4.1 to SPARK by the end of the Spring 2008 semester.

Beginning in Fall 2007 all courses using a learning management system must operate on SPARK. You can either migrate or create a new course from scratch, but you must use SPARK.

Fall 2007 courses can be requested now by completing a Course Request Form. Spring 2008 courses may be requested as soon as courses are listed in SPIRE (typically, mid-October, depending on your department). To learn more about migrating your WebCT CE course to SPARK, see our

To learn more about migrating your WebCT CE course to SPARK, see our course migration documentation.

Specific questions about the transition should be directed to Academic Computing’s Instructional Media Lab. (instruct@oit.umass.edu | 545-2823).

Some features of SPARK include:

• See what your students see. A more streamlined navigation and interface allows you to regularly switch between student and teacher views.
• Share content between courses. SPARK allows you to manage multiple sections quickly and easily.
• Organize your course. In SPARK, you have the ability to create syllabi, lecture notes, and other course organization tools.
• Test your students. You can create quizzes, have students submit their homework.
• Allow students to work together. In SPARK, students have greater opportunities for communication and collaboration between students.
• Stay in touch. SPARK communications tools allow you to stay in touch with students outside of class time.
• Create a conversation. SPARK bulletin board discussions provide a forum for students to post comments and respond to each other.

At UMass Amherst, Academic Computing helps faculty use SPARK.

• The site listing our Tutorials and Handouts is a great place to start learning about SPARK and its tools.
• Faculty can attend SPARK Workshops offered by Academic Computing throughout the year (with special concentrations in June and January). See our Workshop Schedule to find out when the next SPARK workshop will be offered.
• Faculty may also schedule one-on-one consulting through Academic Computing in the Instructional Media Lab (Call 545-2823 or email instruct@oit.umass.edu to set up an appointment).
• For SPARK account information (user name and password), you should contact the OIT Help Desk. You can get help from the OIT Help Desk by submitting an online help request, chatting online with a Help Desk Consultant, calling the Help Desk (545-9400), or stopping by the Help Desk (A109 LGRC, open Mon – Fri, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.).

At UMass Amherst, the OIT Help Desk provides students with SPARK assistance.

• Our Web site Help for Students is a great place to start learning about SPARK.
• For SPARK account information (user name and password), students should contact the OIT Help Desk. Students can get help from the OIT Help Desk by submitting an online help request, chatting online with a Help Desk Consultant, calling the Help Desk (545-9400), or stopping by the Help Desk (A109 LGRC, open Mon – Fri, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.).

To access your SPARK course:

1. Go to https://spark.oit.umass.edu/. You may wish to bookmark this page.
2. On the SPARK Entry page, click Go to SPARK Log in page.
3. On the Log in to SPARK page:
   • In the Net ID field, enter your NetID (OIT Account user name).
   • In the Password field, enter your UMail password.
   • Click Log in. Your My Blackboard page will open, listing all your active course sections.
   Note: You cannot bookmark this page.
4. On your My Blackboard page, click a course title to view its Home page.

If you have a problem logging in to SPARK:

• Make sure you are trying to log in to the correct system. UMass Amherst currently has two options: SPARK (all campus-based courses are now using SPARK), and UMassOnline.
  • If your course is on SPARK, you should be logging in through the yellow Log In button.
  • If you are teaching a UMassOnline course, you should be logging in through the blue Log In button.
• Make sure that you have an active OIT Account and that you are using the correct NetID and UMail password.
• Make sure that you are listed in SPIRE as the instructor of record for the course.
• Make sure the computer you are using meets the OIT Recommended System Configurations .
• Make sure you don’t have any Malware (a.k.a. Spyware and/or Adware) on your computer. Information on finding and removing Malware is available on the OIT Web site: http://www.oit.umass.edu/virus/malware.html.
• If you have a firewall enabled (or aren’t sure whether you do), ask your system or network administrator or your ISP (Internet Service Provider) how to set it up so you can access SPARK.

If these steps do not resolve your problems, please contact the Instructional Media Lab: instruct@oit.umass.eduor call 545-2823.

Faculty can request a course account on SPARK by filling out a Course Request Form. This request form must be filled out for each semester you wish to use SPARK for your course.

After you submit the form, our staff will review it and notify you when the course account is created. Because this is a manual process (your course is not automatically created when you submit the form), it may take a day or so before your course is created. Please plan accordingly.

Some things to keep in mind when applying for a SPARK course:

• The person requesting a SPARK course account must be the instructor of record. Only then are class rosters made available to the SPARK Administrator from the Registrar's Office.
• Instructors are responsible for all course content, course functions, student management and course backups (except for adding students to their course; this is handled by the SPARK Administrator).
• Instructors have the ability and responsibility of allowing or denying student access to their SPARK courses during the semester.

Students with an OIT Account who are enrolled in your course in SPIRE will automatically be added to your SPARK roster. Students access SPARK using their OIT NetID (OIT Account user name) and UMail password (the same password used to access their UMass email, UDrive, and the campus network. Access to your SPARK course requires that the student be officially registered for the course.

SPARK course rosters are updated automatically each weekday with student data from SPIRE. If a student has not officially registered, there may be up to a 24 hour delay between when a student registers for a course and when that student appears in SPARK.

There are a few possible situations that could be causing a student who is registered in SPIRE to be unable to log in to the SPARK course. Some troubleshooting to consider:

• Make sure the student is logging in to SPARK and not UMassOnline (there are links to both from the same page).
• Consider how long ago the student officially registered for the course in SPIRE. SPARK course rosters are updated automatically each weekday with student data from SPIRE. There may be up to a 24 hour delay between when a student registers for a course and when that student appears in SPARK.
• The student must have an active OIT Account and be logging in with their UMail password. Students can get help with their NetID and password by coming in person with their student ID card to the OIT Help Desk (A113 Graduate Research Center Lowrise). Professors should direct student problems to the Help Desk.

To access SPARK, 5-college students must:

• Appear in SPIRE as being registered for your course.
• Obtain an OIT Account from the Office of Information Technologies (OIT). 5-college students must come in person to the OIT Help Desk (A113 Lederle Graduate Research Center) to apply for an OIT Account. More about OIT Accounts

Instructors should keep their My Files areas as empty as possible. If you get an error message when trying to upload content into SPARK or when creating printable versions of submissions, we recommend you clean out your My Files storage area. For more information, see Over-Quota Error Messages and My Files.

If you get an error message while trying to upload your exported WebCT CE course into the My Files area of SPARK, it is possible that the file you are trying to upload is too large or that you are trying to store too much in the My Files area of SPARK. By default, My Files has a limit of 500 MB of space.

• Check to see if the exported course .zip file you are trying to upload is larger than 500 MB. If it is, you can try fixing this problem by going into your WebCT CE course and deleting any files you no longer need from the MyFiles area, then exporting the course again. If there is not any content that you can delete, and your file size is still larger than 500 MB, contact the Instructional Media Lab (Call 545-2823 or email instruct@oit.umass.edu) for more help.
• Check to see if you have a lot of content already stored in the My Files area of SPARK. If there is a large amount of content, try deleting any files you don’t need or moving them into an area designated for one of your specific courses (“Class Files”) rather than keeping them in the general My Files area.

Check your browser and Java. If you are not using a compatible browser and the correct version of Java, SPARK may not display properly or certain tools such as the HTML Creator or File Manager may not work correctly.

On the SPARK Log In page, click Run Browser Check to check your browser and Java compatibility and set your browser for use with SPARK. SPARK will identify your browser and tell you whether or not it is supported.

If you have a pop-up blocker or a firewall installed, some features of SPARK may not work properly. These features include announcements, discussions, assignments, assessments, chat, mail, and the file manager tool.

To access all areas of SPARK, you must be able to open pop-up windows in your browser. You may have disabled pop-ups directly or indirectly through your browser (e.g., the latest version of Internet Explorer and XP Service Pack 2), by a dedicated program (e.g., Pop-Up Zapper), or another application that can also block pop-ups (e.g., Google Toolbar).

Turn Off Pop-up Blocking
Be sure to turn off pop-up blocking software before logging into SPARK, or set up the software to allow pop-ups within SPARK. For more information on disabling pop-up blocking software, go to http://www.webct.com/tuneup. Click Start the Browser Tune-up, select your operating system and browser. The next page will include instructions on disabling pop-up blockers.

Modify Firewall Settings
If you are experiencing trouble logging in to SPARK, accessing the chat tool, whiteboard, etc., you may have a firewall. Ask your system or network administrator or your ISP (Internet Service Provider) whether you have a firewall, and how to set it up so you can access SPARK.

Yes.
He/she must be officially listed in SPIRE as a Teaching Assistant. This must be done by your Departmental Academic Scheduling Representative. Once listed in SPIRE, the TA will automatically be pulled from SPIRE into SPARK on the following day.

Once the TA has access to the SPARK course, you must set the permissions of what level of access you wish for them to have. To set the level of access: In the Build tab, under Instructor Tools, click Manage Course > Settings > Admin > Teaching Assistant Settings and give the TA the level of access you want them to have. Default privileges are limited and do not include access to the Gradebook. Settings apply to ALL TAs in a course.

If you don't know who does scheduling in your department, go to http://webapp.comcol.umass.edu/cmd/reports/default.aspx and click Department Information Updates and select your department from the drop-down menu. The Subject Area Postions page will open and your Scheduling Representative(s) will be listed.

Yes.

All Undergraduate TAs will be input into SPARK automatically, via a feed from SPIRE. In order for your Undergraduate TA to have access to SPARK, you must contact your Academic Scheduling Representative and request that he or she be input into SPIRE. You must also have your student read and sign the SPARK FERPA Acknowledgement form (pdf, 34K).

Yes.
The grade book download process for TAs is different than for instructors. The designers of SPARK did not include the option to “export gradebook” for TAs, so there are some necessary steps that serve as a workaround when you are not available to export the data. In this process, the TA will basically copy the data from the gradebook and paste it into an Excel file. The instructions for this process are outlined on page three of the document titled Export Student Data from SPARK.

This is not currently an option in SPARK discussions. If a topic is made anonymous, it is anonymous to everyone, including the instructor and teaching assistants. If you have already created an anonymous discussion topic, it is not possible to switch the topic setting to something other than anonymous. Instead, a new discussion topic should be created.