There are a number of useful tools written by third-party deveopers in the course tools area which can be used for specific tasks. Here's a description of the tools which are not a standard part of Blackboard (and do not appear in the Instructors' manual):
Blackboard enhanced the functionality of Groups in version 9 to include the ability to create "sign-up sheets" for appointments. These are created using the "group set" function from the Groups page and can be linked from any other content area in your course.
For a PDF of these instructions with screen shots, go to: Using the Sign-up Tool documentation.
In the Control Panel area, click on "Users and Groups," then click on "Groups." In the "Groups" page, hover your mouse over "Create Group Set" and select the "Self-enroll" option.
Enter a name for the group (you can modify this later, so enter something like "Monday 9 AM"), then select the option for "Sign-up Sheet Only" (just under the Description box). In section 4, "Sign up options," enter a name for the set of groups (for example, "Advising Appointments"). Enter any instructions and the maximum number of students per group (this will probably be "1" (one) for appointments). Enter the number of groups to create (this will equal the total number of appointment slots). In the "Tool Availability" area, uncheck all the group tools. Uncheck the option "Allow students to sign up from the Groups area" if you plan to create a link to these groups from another area. Click Submit when you are done.
You should now see a page with all your groups/appointment slots. You can see that Blackboard created multiple groups/slots by simply appending a number to the end of the group name you provided. You can modify this name to reflect the actual appointment times by clicking the "chevron" to the right of each name and selecting the Edit option. You can set each group to "available" as you modify the name.
Now go to the content area where you'd like students to see the sign-up lists (for example, "Appointments"). Make sure Edit Mode is turned on. Hover your mouse over the "Collaborate" button and select "Create Groups Link."
Pick the option "Link to a Group or Group Set" and select the group set you just created. On the following page, you can change the name of the link, set the link availability, and set the dates when the group/sheets will be available for students to sign up.
When students go to the course area, they will click on the link for the appointments. Then they will click on the "Sign Up" button to sign up for an appointment slot
In order to see all students currently enrolled in groups/signed up for appointments, go to the Groups page, select the display option "Group Sets" (upper right corner), then click the chevron next to the group set name and pick the option "Edit Set Enrollments." This will show all students currently signed up in groups
Go to the Control Panel area of a course, expand the Course tools sub-manu and click Link Checker. This will check the validity of all the URLs in all areas of your course. If any are invalid, they will be marked with a red "X" and can be hidden until they are fixed or removed.
Go to the Control Panel area, expand the Course Tools sub-menu, then click on Online Attendance. Use the Setup page to set semester start/end dates and days of meeting each week, then quickly enter attendance for every class meeting (there are values for present, absent, excused, late, etc.). This tool is not connected to the Grade Center, but does provide a report showing total number of days present, absent, etc. for each student.
This is an anti-plagiarism service run by Blackboard; one can either create an assignment that will automatically be submitted for checking against databases of known paper mills, or submit occasional papers manually if you suspect that a bit too much cutting and pasting has gone on. Here's how to submit a single paper:
Go to Control Panel area of the course, expand the Course Tools sub-menu and select the SafeAssign tool.
Click the Direct Submit link.
Under the Private Direct Submit area, click the Submit Papers tool button.
In the File Upload area, browse to the paper and click Open to attach it as usual. The other options can remain as is.
Click Submit. You should have results back within an hour indicating if the service found any duplicated sections of the paper. Under the SA Report section, you can click the green link to see a full report with likely sources.
The SafeAssign service accepts the following formats: Word 2003 (.doc); Word 2007 (.docx); Rich Text Format (.rtf); text files (.txt); Portable Document Format (.pdf); and archive files (.zip).
Click here to see these instructions with screen shots.
