Blackboard Browser-Related Issues
Blackboard Learn
Some behaviors in Blackboard are browser-related and may be fixed by changing your settings. Please also check here for useful tips and tricks.
My student submitted a file and I can't open it.
My students can't open/download a file; they just get a blank page (IE only).
When I click on a link to open a document, I see a Windows Security dialog asking for user name and password.
I'm getting security messages asking if I want to display mixed content. What do I do?
I'm getting messages asking if I want to trust a certificate. How do I answer?
I'm using Microsoft Vista and/or IE 8 and I'm having trouble with Blackboard.
I'm using AOL and I got kicked out of Blackboard!
I'm clicking a link to take a quiz but nothing happens!
I'm trying to join a Collaboration session (Virtual Classroom or Chat) but nothing happens.
The text in Blackboard is really small. Can I make it bigger?
I sent an e-mail to several students, but now I can't remember which ones (or what exactly I said). Is there a copy of this e-mail in the Sent folder/Out box?
I'm entering information into the Text box (or I pasted it in from Word) and it looks really bad. What's going on?
My student submitted a file and I can't open it.
It's possible that your student prepared the file on a Macintosh computer without the Office file extensions turned on (which produced a file name such as "essay" instead of "essay.doc"). You should be able to open the file if you change the file name to include the .doc file type extension (you may need to use .docx if the .doc doesn't work).
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My students can't open/download a file (IE only).
When a user of Internet Explorer clicks on a link for a document in Internet Explorer, they see a pop-up blocker (or a yellow message bar). If they agree to enable the download, they're returned to the course home page, and so can't download the file unless they return to the content area page and try again. This results from a security setting in IE and can be changed on a per-user/per-system basis.
Go to Tools->Internet Options->Security->Internet->Custom Level
Scroll down to the Downloads section
Select the Users option
Set Downloads->Automatic prompting for file downloads -> Enable.
Set Downloads->File Download -> Enable.
Click OK.
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When I click on a link to open a document, I see a Windows Security dialog asking for user name and password.
This problem affects only Internet Explorer 8; therefore, one of the solutions is to use a different browser (Firefox or Chrome). Other solutions are:
Click the Cancel option twice (there will be another dialog box that pops open when Word starts to open).
Enter your user name and password twice (in each of the two security windows). This should stop the security dialog from opening for subsequent documents.
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I'm getting security messages asking if I want to display mixed (secure/insecure) content. What do I do?
This issue affects Blackboard as well as the Web mail server. First, click OK. Then, check the following settings on your browser (these instructions apply only to Internet Explorer):
Click on "Tools" in the IE menu bar
Choose "Internet Options"
Click on "Security" tab
Click on the "Internet" icon
Click on "Custom Level" button
Scroll down until you see "Display mixed content" (under Miscellaneous). Set this to "enable".
Click on "OK" and again on "OK"
CAUTION: Be sure that you don't unintentionally modify any other settings.
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I'm getting messages asking if I want to trust a certificate. How do I answer?
This type of message will appear differently for Macintosh and for Windows users, but the meaning is the same. You may click the "Trust", "Accept" or "Run" button; the applet referred to in the message is actually a third-party product used by Blackboard. Note: If you click the "Show Details/Certificate" button and then check the "Always trust these certificates" option, this message should never re-appear.
Additionally, if you try to use the Virtual Classroom or Chat collaboration tools and receieve a warning message asking whether you want to accept a certificate from the website "blackboard.hamilton.edu," you may also click the "Trust" button (or click the "Show certificate" button and check the "Always" option).
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I'm using Microsoft Vista and/or IE 8 and I'm having trouble with Blackboard.
A number of Blackboard problems for users of Vista can be fixed by making Blackboard a trusted site in Internet Explorer:
Click on "Tools" in the IE menu bar
Choose "Internet Options"
Click on "Security" tab
Click on the "Trusted Sites" icon
Click on "Sites" button
Enter "http://blackboard.hamilton.edu" in the Add field.
Click OK and the click OK again.
CAUTION: Be sure that you don't unintentionally modify any other settings.
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I'm using AOL and I got kicked out of Blackboard!
Internet Service Providers such as AOL or MSN use a proprietary system to connect to the Internet. Blackboard does not work well with these systems; using AOL could result in problems with downloading files, taking exams, or other aspects of Blackboard. If AOL or MSN provides your Internet connection, then follow these steps:
Log in to AOL, etc., as usual
Locate the "keyword" button to the immediate top right and click on it.
Type in "smile4u" in the search field, click on "GO"(submit). A yellow smiley face should appear.
Minimize the proprietary browser
Open stand-alone browser (IE, Netscape, Opera, Firefox, Safari, etc. -- one can usually download a free version of these browsers from the company's website, if the software is not already on your computer)
Log in to Blackboard and go about work as usual
If "smile4u" does not keep the connection up, return to AOL occasionally and click a link so the connection remains live.
If possible, set preferences with ISP to allow long periods of inactivity on their browser (or go to a website that will do this for you, such as http://www.sector101.fsnet.co.uk/keepalive/
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I'm clicking a link to take a quiz or join a Collaboration session but nothing happens!
Blackboard needs to use cookies, popups and Java scripting. Check the following settings on your browser (these intructions assume Internet Explorer on Windows, but other browsers will be similar):
To enable cookies in IE:
Click on "Tools" in the menu bar
Choose "Internet Options"
Click on "Privacy" tab
Slide bar to medium or low
Click on "Apply"
To allow popups in IE:
Click on "Tools" in the menu bar
Choose "Internet Options"
Click on "Privacy" tab
In the Popup Blocker area, click the Settings button
Enter blackboard.hamilton.edu in the "Address of Web Site to Allow" field and click Add
Click on "Close"
Click on "OK"
Note: make sure that any third-party popup blocking software is disabled.
To enable Java scripting in IE:
Click on "Tools" in the menu bar
Choose "Internet Options"
Click on "Security" tab
Click on the "Internet" icon
Click on "Custom Level" button
Scroll down until you see "Scripting of Java Applets" (under Scripting). Set this to "enable".
Click on "OK"
CAUTION: Be sure that you don't unintentionally modify any other settings.
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I'm trying to join a Collaboration session (Virtual Classroom or Chat) but nothing happens.
First, please be aware that the Collaboration tools (Virtual Classroom and Chat) currently work only with the following configurations: Windows systems, Internet Explorer or Firefox; Macintosh systems, Safari or Firefox. You must remember to unblock popups (this can be done for only the Blackboard site if you wish to block popups for other sites). Second, check all of the settings in the topic above (clicking a link to take a quiz). Also, please check that some other tool (e.g., the Google toolbar) is not blocking popups.
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The text in Blackboard is really small. Can I make it bigger?
This is actually a browser setting, not a Blackboard problem. Depending on what platform (Windows, Macintosh) and browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox) you are using, look at the top menu bar -- the one that starts File-Edit-View. Under View, look for an option that says Text Size or Text Zoom. Under that option, you should be able to select a different text size for the browser window.
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I sent an e-mail to several students, but now I can't remember which ones (or what exactly I said). Is there a copy of this e-mail in the Sent folder/Out box?
E-mail sent from Blackboard is routed through the mail server, but does not result in a copy left in your Sent folder or Out box. You should automatically receive a copy of the e-mail you sent (note the comment below the Message area that states "A copy of this email will be sent to the sender."). If you also check the box for "Return Receipt," then this copy will also have the list of recipients (this option is available only from the Send Email tools in the Control Panel).
Note: if you receive an error message stating "unable to send mail" but you do receive your copy of the e-mail which you just sent through Blackboard, then it is probable that most of your students received the e-mail also, but one of the students in your course is over-quota or is having some other problem with his/her e-mail account. The students must keep track of their quota usage themselves.
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I'm entering information into the Text box (or I pasted it in from Word) and it looks really bad.
The WYSIWYG text box editor is a "smart text" editor; that is, it assumes that text entered is in HTML format and treats it accordingly. If you are entering text and hit the Return key to enter a blank line into the text, the editor actually enters the HTML "paragraph" command. This tends to space out the text more than you probably want. The workaround is to hold down the Shift key and then hit Enter; this is read as the HTML "break" command, and will probably be closer to the spacing that you want. If you know something about HTML, you can click the HTML link in the WYSIWYG editor's second toolbar row; this will open a window containing the text with all the HTML formatting and you can edit it directly there.
Note: Blackboard does not recommend copying and pasting text from Word into the WYSIWYG editor window. Word puts a lot of formatting commands into the text and this is not handled well by the "smart text" editor (no pun intended). For longer documents (e.g., a syllabus), you can just attach the entire Word document. You can also select the text from the Word document, paste it into Notepad/WordPad/TextEdit (which will remove the formatting commands), and then select it and copy it into the text window.
Second note: We also do not recommend cutting and pasting web pages into the text editor of Blackboard. These pages may contain javascripting commands (such as buttons) that will destroy the navigation in Blackboard window.
Final note: if you find the new WYSIWYG editor annoying and would prefer to continue using the old plain-text editor, you can set that option for yourself.
Go to the My Blackboard home page.
In the Tools area on the left, click Personal Information.
On the Personal Information screen, click the last option, Set Text Box Editor Options.
Next to Set Availability, select Unavailable.
Click Submit and then click OK.
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Blackboard Communication Tools
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Communication
Sending E-mail
Notification System
Discussion Board
Virtual Classroom
Chat
Sending E-mail
The e-mail functions can be accessed via the Tools area or the Control Panel (Course Tools).
Clicking on All Users will send an e-mail to every student registered for the class; Select Users allows you to select individual users.
Although you send the e-mail out from Blackboard, it goes to the students' regular Hamilton e-mail accounts, so that they can read it anywhere. Note: The outgoing message will NOT appear in your Out or Send box, but a copy of the e-mail will be automatically sent to the sender.
The All/Select Groups and other options will be active if groups (or other special users) have been defined. It is also possible to attach files to an e-mail.
Notification System
The Blackboard Notification system provides alerts and emails regarding new material in courses, due dates, assignments, etc. The alerts appear in the "Course Home" of each course (this should be under the Announcements link in the course menu). The emails will be delivered once per day, generated at 4:00 AM, summarizing all changes in any course space you are enrolled in.
This Notification system can be configured depending on your individual needs. Go to the "Course Home" of any course. Click the "Edit Notification Settings" button in any of the modules. You can set notification preferences either for all courses or for each course individually. The "alerts" appear in the Course Home modules (under the "Dashboard" of the edit settings pages) and are automatically turned on. The individual emails for courses are off by default and need to be turned on if desired.
Discussion Board
Discussion Boards enable you or your students to post Discussion Questions and discuss them outside of class. The comments generated are posted as individual "threads" and can be read and responded to at anytime. Blackboard's Discussion Board is subdivided into Forums (one per topic or question, for example) and each forum is further subdivided into threads (comments and responses on the same issue). There are many features available with the Discussion Board; what follows are just the basics.
Click on the Tools link on the left-hand side of the main Course page.
You should see a page with many different options; click on Discussion Board.
Click Create Forum to create a forum (the instructor must carry out this step in order for students to be able to use the discussion board).
Fill in the "Name" field (for example, "Origins of World War One") and the "Description" (for example, "various social, economic and political factors which preceded the outbreak of hostilities").
Select the "Forum Settings" options as desired and click Submit. Your new forum should appear with the options you have selected. Note: there are a number of options (including grading forums or threads, rating posts, and subscribing to posts, which are explained fully in the Instructors' Manual.
Click the title of the forum in order to begin a discussion thread. If there are no pre-existing messages, click the "Create New Thread" button.
Fill in the Subject (for example, "Build-up of War Machine") and the message you wish to post (an intriguing question or provocative statement). You also have the option of attaching a file in the Attachment field. Click Submit.
Now you have begun an exciting discussion. Students may read and reply to messages by clicking on the title of the message itself (which will display the message) and then clicking on the Reply button located in the lower-right-hand corner of the message. They will fill in the Message area just as in a regular e-mail. Note that the message to which one is replying appears below. They must also click Submit to post the reply.
If you would like to collect messages together and print a discussion forum in order to bring the questions and responses to class, select the messages you wish to print (you may use the Select All button), then click the Collect button. You should see all the selected messages appear on one page. Then click the Print Preview button and you can print from this window.
Virtual Classroom and Lightweight Chat
Blackboard has two Collaboration Tools, the Virtual Classroom and the Lightweight Chat (both accessible from the Tools area or the Control Panel, under Collaboration). The new Virtual Classroom includes a whiteboard, chat area and other tools in addition to the main display for full-fledged web seminars. The Lightweight Chat contains display and chat areas only and is suitable for more limited purposes such as on-line office hours.
Blackboard Compatible Browsers
Blackboard Learn
Windows Client Configurations
Windows XP: Internet Explorer 8; Firefox 3.6 or Final Release Channel; Google Chrome (stable release channel)
Windows Vista: IE 9 0r 8; Firefox 3.6 or Final Release Channel; Google Chrome (stable release channel)
Windows 7: IE 9 0r 8; Firefox 3.6 or Final Release Channel; Google Chrome (stable release channel)
Macintosh Client Configurations
OS 10.5 (Leopard): Safari 5 or 4; Firefox 3.6 or Final Release Channel; Google Chrome (stable release channel)
OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard): Safari 5 or 4; Firefox 3.6 or Final Release Channel; Google Chrome (stable release channel)
Blackboard Course Files
Blackboard Learn
Any file uploaded to Blackboard (other than student submissions) is visible in the “Course Files” area and can be edited, replaced, and retrieved. Under “Control Panel,” click the double-arrow symbol TO THE RIGHT OF THE WORD “FILES” (see below). This will bring you to the “Course Contents” page, which presents information about all files in your course space.
If you click the Upload button and select “Upload Files,” you will see the new “drag-and-drop” window for moving files directly from your local computer to the Blackboard server. This will be very convenient for moving a number of files at the same time from your computer (or ESS space) to the Blackboard course space. You can also choose to upload a zipped package of files (Blackboard will unpackage them into this content area, maintaining the folder structure).
Then, when you are on a Content page (see previous section), pick “Create Item” or “Create File” and select the “Browse Course” option under “Attachments,” you will see all the files you have uploaded to this area and can select one (or more). You can also change the name of a file if needed when it is linked from a content area.
If you click the double-arrow symbol to the right of an individual file’s name, a small menu will pop up with additional options for that file, including the ability to overwrite it with a new version. The “Permissions” option will show who has access in your course to this file. You can quickly check the validity and availability of links to all your course content by using the Check Course Links tool in the Packages and Utilities sub-menu under the Control Panel.
You can also select all the files in the Course Contents area (or as many as you desire) and then click the “Download Package” button, which will give you a zipped file of all the files in your course, in their original format (Word, PDF, etc.). This is handy if you need to take your files elsewhere.
Finally, the “Setup Web Folder” button allows you to create a direct link from your local computer to the storage space for this course on the Blackboard server. This will appear (in Windows 7) on the same window as local drives, networked drives, peripheral devices, etc. You will then be able to access files directly without going through Blackboard. There are instructions on this page for setting up this folder in Windows 7/Vista/XP and the Mac OS.
Blackboard Course Management Tools
Blackboard Learn
There are a number of useful available for managing various aspects of a Blackboard course space. Some of these tools are part of Blackboard and some have been written by third-party developers and are not a standard part of Blackboard (and do not appear in the Instructors' manual).
Sign-up Lists
Online Attendance
Safe Assign (anti-plagiarism service)
Add a Test Student
Course Groups
Sign-up Lists
Although Blackboard does not have a full-fledged scheduling system within itself, we do have a third-party tool that will allow the creation of time slots which students can sign up for – a system which can be used, for example, for scheduling advising appointments.
For a PDF of these instructions with screen shots, go to: Using the Sign-up Tool documentation.
Online Attendance
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.
Safe Assign
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).
For further information, please see the SafeAssign Wiki.
Add a Test Student
This tool allows an instructor to create a sample student account to use for checking what a course looks like to students. You can enroll this student account in any course. Go to the Control Panel area, expand the Course Tools sub-menu, then click on Add Test Student.
Course and Section Groups and what to do with them
Every course section in Blackboard has a group in the "Groups" area which has a title such as "ITS_100_01_FA2009_Group". This group is created automatically when we create the course shells every semester. It contains all the students for that section and is automatically updated as students add and drop courses. If a course is cross-listed with another department, these groups reflect the enrollments as seen in WebAdvisor. If an instructor requested that multiple sections of the same course be merged, then the enrollments reflect the original sections. These automatically-created groups can be used for a number of different purposes, such as group file exchange, viewing sub-groups of students in the Grade Center, and for group assignments.
Group File Exchange
For example, if you need an area in Blackboard for students to share files, just tell your students to:
Click on "Groups" in the Tools area.
Click on the name of the group that looks like a course id and ends in "Group."
Click on the "File Exchange" tool in the Group Tools area.
Click the "Add File" button and browse to the file to upload.
Click "Submit."
Filter by sections in the Grade Center
If you would like to organize the Grade Center to see the grades of different sections separately, you can create a "Smart View" in the Grade Center using these automatically-created groups:
Go to the Grade Center of your course (under the "Evaluation" sub-menu).
Under the "Manage" menu, pick "Smart Views."
Click the "Create Smart View" button.
Enter a name for this view (for example, "Section 01").
Under "Selection Criteria," the "Type of View" should already be "Groups" by default.
In the next area, select one of the groups under "Value."
Click Submit and go back to the Grade Center.
In "Current View," if you mouse over the "Full Grade Center," a list should drop down which includes your newly-created view. Select this view and the Grade Center will load with only the students from that group.
Group Assignments
You can also create assignments for individual groups.
Go to the course area in which you wish to create the assignment.
Select "Create Assignment" under the "Evaluate" button.
In section 6, you will see that you can set the "Recipients" to "Groups of Students."
When you click this radio button, you will see a list of all the groups in your course. Highlight the one you want and click the right-pointing arrow to move it to the "Selected" box.
Click Submit. The assignment will now only appear to the members of that group.
For more details on using section groups, see the Section Groups in Blackboard documentation.
Blackboard Grade Center Overview
Blackboard Learn
The Blackboard Grade Center is a wonderful tool full of helpful features – so full that it’s often difficult to know where to start. Here’s an overview of all the basics, plus some time-saving tips. The Grade Center can do everything from calculate weighted totals, to score online quizzes, to enable you to grade papers completely electronically. If you’ve never used the Grade Center (or if you’ve been using Excel all these years), take a look and see what Blackboard can do for you.
Adding a Column
The Grade Center of every course space begins with several default columns: student names, last course access date, total and weighted total, and more. Some types of assessments automatically create a grade center column for you (for example, tests, surveys, assignments, discussion boards, and more). For other types of assessments (exams, papers, participation grades, etc.), you will need to add a column to the Grade Center in order to be able to enter student grades.
Click on the Grade Center sub-menu of the Control Panel area, then click on the words “Full Grade Center” to see the Grade Center. Click the “Create Column” button.
Blackboard Grade Center Overview Continued
Blackboard Learn
Now that you've set up your Blackboard Grade Center, it's time to learn some advanced topics. First, set up a Weighted Total column to show students their current or final grade. The Grade Center can accommodate most grading schemes. Don't forget to check out some of the nifty time-saving tips at the end.
Weighting Grades
Before starting to set up the weighting scheme, it’s a good idea to make sure that all of your grade center items have a category associated with them. This will give you additional options when setting up the weighting. Click the “chevron” for each item and select “Quick Column Information” to check whether there is a category. If not, then select “Edit Column Information” and add an appropriate category (you can also define your own in Manage --> Categories).
You should have a column called “Weighted Total” in your grade center (if not, create one by clicking the “Create Calculated Column” button and selecting “Weighted Column”). Click the “chevron” for the Weighted Total column and then select “Edit Column Information.” You will see an area which is unique to the weighted column and this is where you will set up your grade weighting scheme. Select an item and click the arrow to move it to the “Selected” area.
You should be able to replicate the weighting scheme on your syllabus in the “Columns/Categories to Select” area. As you can see, we can mix categories (quizzes, essays) in with individual columns (exams, attendance). You can also select calculated columns (total, average, min/max or weighted) which you have created to reflect specific grading needs.
As long as each essay-like item has the category “Essay,” it doesn’t matter how many there are; Blackboard will calculate the grade for this category based on however many items are in the category and weight them equally (each one has the same number of points possible) or proportionally (each one has a different number of points possible). You can also choose to drop the X number of lowest (or highest!) grades or use only the lowest or highest value of the group.
A Few Tips and Tricks
1) Shorten column title by adding a Grade Center Display name. This is a handy option if you use long assignment names. The descriptive assignment name remains in the content area; you see a name not longer than 15 characters in the Grade Center. Click the “chevron” next to the column title and select “Edit Column Information.”
2) Use the navigation tools on the Grade Details page to jump from one student to the next or one assignment to the next without reloading the Grade Center page. This will allow you to go directly from one student to the next while grading assignments without the extra step of reloading the Grade Center when you don’t need to do so.
3) Email students directly from the Grade Center. Just check the boxes next to their names and click the “Email” button directly above the name columns.
4) Add a Quick Comment to a student’s grade. Once a grade has been entered for a student, you should see the option “Quick Comment” in the menu that pops up when you click the “chevron” next to the individual student’s grade. When you select this option, an entry box will pop up with two fields, one for feedback to the student and one for notes to yourself. This is faster for quick comments than selecting the “View Grade Details” option.
5) Exempting a single grade from a student’s total grade. This is another option you will see on the menu that pops up when you click the chevron in a grade cell. Selecting this option will cause the grade for that student to not be included in that student’s totals. Once created, it can be cleared if necessary.
6) Overriding Grades. You also have the ability to override a given grade with an updated grade. Click the “View Grade Details” option and look in the series of tabs beginning with “Edit.” Click the “Manually Override” tab and enter a new grade along with comments to the student or notes to yourself.
7) Changing the category of a number of items at once. Go to the Manage menu and select “Column Organization.” Select the columns whose category you need to change and then pick the new category from the list under the “Change Category to …” button.
8) Visual Cues for Grade Center statuses. One may set up a Color Code to set background and text color of Grade Center items based on grading status or grade range
Blackboard Learn Support
Blackboard Learn
The Best Tool Ever
That would be the Assignment manager, a clever combination of content and grade book that allows you to assign, retrieve and grade papers completely electronically.
Monitoring Student Progress
Blackboard has several tools for tracking student performance: the Early Warning System, the Performance Dashboard, Review Status and Adaptive Release of Content.
Student-Centered Tools
Small Groups, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, E-Portfolios, Peer and Self-Assessment
Cool Tools
Additional tools (mostly in the Control Panel, Course Tools area) for online attendance, plagiarism checking, sign-up sheets, and more.
Assessment
Blackboard has an extensive online exam-development facility with many options for creating and deploying tests. This is best explained in the Instructor's manual, but here are a few highlights.
Blackboard Login and Enrollments
Blackboard Learn
General Questions
How do I access my courses?
Using any web browser, go to the "My Hamilton" portal and log in as usual. Your courses will be listed in the My Blackboard Courses channel of the Courses tab (second row of menu items) under "Current Courses." If you have any trouble logging in to the portal you can go directly to Blackboard at http://blackboard.hamilton.edu. Use your Hamilton network username and password to log in. For example, if your email address is jsmith@hamilton.edu, you would log in using the username jsmith and your current password You courses will be listed in the "My Courses" module of the "My Blackboard" home page.
What if I can't log in to Blackboard?
There can be several different reasons. First, you must use your Hamilton network account name and password, even if you do not use Hamilton e-mail. If you want mail sent from Blackboard to go to another e-mail account, you must set up forwarding in the Hamilton web mail interface. Contact the Help Desk (x4181) for help in doing this. If you are a new faculty member or employee, you must have a Hamilton email and Colleague ID in order to log into Blackboard. If you do not have or are not sure if you have these, please contact Human Resources for a Colleague ID and the Help Desk (x4181) for an email account.
I've forgotten my password. How can I get a new one?
For Hamilton users, you should use your network username and password. If you have forgotten your network password, please go to http://passchg.hamilton.edu to request it. For guest users and people without a Hamilton email address, you can use the user name "guest" and password "guest" to access parts of the Blackboard system which are available to guests.
Enrollment Questions
(Students) I added a course, but I don't see it in my course list.
(Students) I dropped a course, but it still shows up in my course list.
All enrollment information in Blackboard comes from the Registrar's system. Only the Registrar's Office can change your enrollment status. First, check your enrollment information in the Web Advisor system. If that information is incorrect, you must contact the Registrar's Office to get it straightened out. Once your Web Advisor records are correct, it may take several hours for Blackboard to correct its records. (The update to Blackboard happens twice daily.)
(Faculty) I'm supposed to be teaching a course, but I don't see it in my course list.
This may happen if you are a new faculty member and the Registrar has not yet been notified which courses you are teaching. Please contact the Registrar's Office (or have your department chair or secretary do so) and notify them of your teaching assignment. Once your Web Advisor records are correct, it may take several hours for Blackboard to correct its records. (The update to Blackboard happens twice daily.
(Faculty) How do I have a TA or grader added to my section?
Go to the Control Panel area
Expand the Users and Groups section
Select the Users option
On the page that follows, click the "Find Users to Enroll" button.
On the page that follows, enter the user id (e.g., jsmith) in the username field and select a role.
Click Submit.
Note: The user id is usually the same as the e-mail account; however, many users have user names which include a middle initial or number, so if there is any doubt, please use the Browse button to search by last name.
Note: if another instructor is team-teaching your course, you should call the Registrar's office and ask to have this instructor added as the secondary instructor for your course. This information will then transfer from the Registrar's system to Blackboard.
(Faculty) When will the next semester's courses appear in Blackboard?
Next semester's course spaces are created approximately one week after the end of registration for that semester (early May for the fall, early December for the spring). You do not need to ask for a course space; course spaces are created automatically every semester, using the Registrar's data. Students and faculty are automatically enrolled in or assigned to courses, again, based on the Registrar's data. Courses are initially set to "unavailable" so that they may be accessed by faculty but not seen by students. Approximately two weeks before the start of the semester, courses will be reset to "available."
(Faculty and Students) What are the "Departmental" and "Advisee" courses?
In addition to regular course spaces, we also provide course spaces for departmental and advising use. The "advisee" spaces contain all the advisees for each faculty member, as recorded in Web Advisor.
The departmental spaces exist for all departments and concentrations. Faculty are enrolled as instructors based on their primary departmental affiliation; this is automatic except for programs, in which faculty need to be enrolled manually (which can be done by any other instructor in the space). Students are enrolled in these spaces based on their declared concentration as recorded in WebAdvisor; if a student has a double major, then that student is enrolled in both spaces. Minors are now being in enrolled in these spaces also.
All the students enrolled in the departmental/program spaces can be seen in either the Roster (Tools area) or Users list (Users and Groups sub-menu in the Control Panel area). In either area, pick the "Not Blank" option to see the complete list of students (and faculty in the Users area). One can send e-mail to everyone in the departmental space by using the "All Users" option on the Send Email page; to all students by selecting the "All Student Users" option; or to all faculty by selecting the "All Instructor Users" option.
It may be more useful, however, to contact students by class years (status). All the students are also enrolled in class-year groups, which can be seen on the Groups page (from the Users and Groups sub-menu). You will notice that there are groups here for every class year whose students can declare a major and also for minors, by class year. So this year's seniors are in the groups that end in 2012, this year's juniors are in the groups ending in 2013, and when the sophomores declare in February, they will be in the 2014 groups. These groups are maintained and updated automatically as students declare or change their concentrations. New class year groups will be created in the summer and the groups of graduating seniors will be retired.
You can see who is in each class year group by clicking on the group name. Majors are in the "Concentration" groups and minors are in the "Minor" groups. To email the students in any single group, click the "chevron" (double down-arrow symbol) next to any group name and select the "Email" option. On the following page, click the "Select All" button and then click the right-pointing arrow to move the selected students to the "Selected" box.
You also might want to send an email to all majors and minors of a given year. Go to the "Send Email" function (from the Tools page) and pick the "Select Groups" option. Pick the groups ending in the same year and you will be sending e-mail to every student in the selected groups.
Of course, all users have access to all the other tools in a Blackboard course space, such as posting documents, discussion boards, blogs, etc. These spaces are for departments and advisors to use as they see fit.
Blackboard Quizzes, Tests and Surveys
Blackboard Learn
Blackboard has an extensive on-line quiz- and test-creating facility (in the Assessment section of the Control Panel). Blackboard also offers surveys, question banks, and interactive rubrics.
Quizzes and Tests
Surveys
Question Pools
Rubrics
Quizzes and Tests
There are over twenty different question types and numerous options available. Using question types such as multiple choice, true/false and matching (among others), you can create a test which Blackboard will score automatically (and enter the grade in the grade center). Assessment options include partial credit and various types of feedback for students after taking the test. Delivery options include taking tests multiple times, for self-assessment, with a timer or password, etc. Hamilton College currently provides most of the placement exams for incoming students via Blackboard, so many students have already had experience taking on-line exams. The Assessment tools are excellent choices for periodically testing comprehension of material.
Surveys
Any option used for quizzes can also be used for surveys, including Likert scales. Surveys are anonymous and results are summarized in tabular form. Blackboard surveys are a great way to get mid-semester feedback.
Question Pools
One may also create a pool of questions which can be drawn from randomly when tests are created. This can be done on-the-fly so that every student has a slightly different exam. It is also possible to import publishers' test banks and other material.
New Question types
The Assessment tools (quizzes and tests) now have ten new types of questions, including calculated formula, hot spot, fill in multiple blanks, and opinion scale. There are also a number of new management features such as randomizing question blocks and randomizing the answers to multiple-choice questions. Please refer to the Instructors' Manual for complete details on all the assessment features.
Blackboard Resources for Students
Blackboard Learn
Other institutions have created numerous tutorials and tip sheets. Following are links to some of the best available. (Please note that any references to account information, course setup, contacting the helpdesk, etc., on these pages refers to the originating institution, not to Hamilton College.)
Hudson Valley Community College has extensive tutorials for students, both PDF and video.
USC has produced a several Blackboard Student How-to Movies for students (scroll down below the instructor videos).
Montclair State University has a nice set of Documentation and Videos for both students and instructors.
Lakeland Community College has produced a five-minute Introduction to Blackboard 9 for students.
Framingham State College Student Guide is a 50-page PDF chock-full of great information.
And don't forget the User's Manual, accessible from any course (via the Tools area).
Blackboard Section Merge Request
Blackboard Learn
Faculty have the option of requesting that multiple sections of the same course be merged into one course space in Blackboard (these will remain separate sections in WebAdvisor). (Please note that all cross-listed course sections are already merged when course and enrollment information is downloaded nightly from WebAdvisor to Blackboard.) If multiple sections are merged, groups will be created within the remaining section which reflect the original enrollments as they appear in WebAdvisor. There are several issues to consider when deciding whether to merge sections:
Merging sections is an advantage when the same materials will be posted for all sections of a course. All students will have access to the same course space.
One important issue to be aware of is that, if students from multiple sections are combined into a single section, they will all appear in the same gradebook; it is not possible to have multiple gradebook files in a single course space. If you will be giving out different assignments to the different sections or need to have a different curve in each section, then you will not want to have the sections merged.
If necessary, one can create "Smart Views" which will filter students from different sections into different Grade Center views (especially handy if you have TAs or graders). You can use the new section groups as the basis for these Smart Views.
One can also use the new section groups to send e-mail to selected groups from the Send E-mail page. Each group has its own e-mail, drop box and discussion board capability.
If you decide not to have multiple sections merged but still need to post the same documents to all sections, it is now easier to do that with the Copy/Move option in the Edit menu (for individual items or folders) or the Copy Course feature in the Control Panel (for entire course areas). You can use these features to copy material from a previous course to a new one or from one section to another.
If the different sections of a course to be merged have different instructors (for example, in a team-taught course), you will need to contact Blackboard support directly (x4877 or e-mail blackboard@hamilton.edu.)
Section mergers may take up to two business days to be completed after the request is submitted.
Blackboard Sign-Up Tool
Blackboard Learn
Although Blackboard does not have a full-fledged scheduling system within itself, we do have a third-party tool that will allow the creation of time slots which students can sign up for – a system which can be used, for example, for scheduling advising appointments. Anecdotal evidence has shown that online sign-ups encourage more students to commit to an appointment time than if they had to make a special trip to sign up at your office door.
The following instructions will use advising appointments in the advisor spaces as the main example, but this tool is available in any course space and can be used for any purpose, such as signing up for oral exams. If you need to have students sign up for project-oriented small groups, you can use the Blackboard group set functions (see documentation on our web site).
Go to the content area where you would like the appointment slots to appear (for example, the Appointments area of your advisor space). Here’s a tip: for ease of management, create a folder to contain all the time slots and call it (for example) “Fall 2010 Advising Appointments.” Turn Edit Mode On and select “Create Folder” under the “Build” menu button.
Blackboard Tutorials for Faculty
Blackboard Learn
Several institutions have created wonderful tutorials and videos. Following are links to some of the best available. (Please note that any references to account information, course setup, contacting the helpdesk, etc., on these pages refers to the originating institution, not to Hamilton College.)
Blackboard has a new On-Demand Learning Center with video tutorials of many processes.
Hamilton has a subscription with Lynda.com, an online software training site which has a large number of Blackboard tutorials. Please contact the Help Desk (4181) to get a user name and password for this site.
Hudson Valley Community College has a large set of online tutorials, both PDF and video.
Florida Atlantic University has an extensive Blackboard tutorial, broken down into easily-followed steps.
USC has produced a number of Blackboard Instructor How-to Movies for both faculty and students.
The University of Texas at Austin has a comprehensive set of Blackboard Tutorials for version 9.
Montclair State University has a nice set of Documentation and Videos for both instructors and students.
Southwestern College Online Learning Center has produced a great set of PDFs on various features of Blackboard version 9.
University of Illinois-Chicago has a good set of documentation including Quick Start Guides and short videos.
And don't forget the Instructor's Manual, accessible from any course (via the Control Panel).
Common Blackboard Problems and Their Solutions
Blackboard Learn
A number of issues in Blackboard have workarounds described below. You may also wish to check the section on browser-related issues if you don't see your problem here.
I can't open PDFs anymore; I'm getting an error message about a missing plugin (Macintosh users only).
I've lost the left-hand course menus! All I see are Announcements.
The Virtual Classroom seems to load, but then logs me off.
I can't see the right-hand scroll bar in my Grade Center (IE only).
I'm trying to use weighted grades and I'm getting some error message about Grading Periods.
I can't see the last student in my Grade Center.
My student is having trouble submitting (uploading) an assignment.
I'm having trouble submitting a paper via SafeAssign's Direct Submit tab.
I can't copy or paste text in Blackboard anymore!
I don't have an option in the Text Editor tools for the Math Editor.
I can't open PDFs anymore; I'm getting an error message about a missing plugin (Macintosh users only).
This error affects only Macintosh users who are using a recent version of Firefox or Safari. Due to changes in these browsers, PDF documents no longer display within the Blackboard frame. They can be opened just like Microsoft Office documents, however, as long as the browser is set up to download the document first. This setting needs to be changed by the instructor for every PDF.
If you are the instructor, you will need to do the following for every file (only if the document was originally uploaded using the "Create File" option in the Build Content menu, instead of the "Create Item" option):
Turn Edit Mode to On and go to the item which is the PDF.
Click the double drop-down (chevron) next to it and select Edit from the pop-up menu.
On the Edit File page, in section 1, look for "Open in New Window" and select Yes.
Click Submit.
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I've lost the left-hand course menus! All I see are Announcements.
This is actually a feature, although it does catch many people by surprise. If you look down the left-hand side of the Announcements area, you will see a small tab sticking out. This is the "Show/Hide Menus" tab, and if you click on it, the course menus will reappear. On occasion, this tab seems to get accidentally clicked into the "Hide" state. The point of this feature is that you can collapse the left-hand menus to get more room on the screen for the material you are looking at.
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The Virtual Classroom seems to load, but then logs me off.
The solution for this problem is to force the browser to prompt you to accept the certificate to trust the publisher. Close the Virtual Classroom window (if it didn't close itself), then click the link on the "Launching Virtual Classroom" page that says "Click here for an accessible version." Wait for the message that asks you if you want to accept content from the publisher, and click "Yes." If you see a second message asking if you want to trust the certificate, also answer "Yes."
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I can't see the right-hand scroll bar in my Grade Center.
This is a problem with Internet Explorer 8 only. To fix this, go to the Tools menu of the browser and select "Compatibility Mode." Agree to view all content in compatibility mode, and then the right-hand scroll bar should reappear. Note: the right-hand scroll bar will not appear in any browser until there are enough columns in the Grade Center to make scrolling necessary.
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I'm trying to assign final grades and I'm getting some error message about Grading Periods.
You are working with the Grade Center and you receive a message which looks something like:
blackboard.persist.PersistenceException: Unable to generate id. The provided key value is invalid: blackboard.platform.gradebook2.GradingPeriod - - {2} For reference, the Error ID is 3924d6b8-9eb7-4afb-9581-cf7502061e26.
Are you using Safari on a Macintosh? If so, then the answer is to (a) use Firefox; or (b) add a grading period. We don't know why Safari is behaving this way, but this seems to only happen with Safari on Macs.
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I can't see the last student in my Grade Center.
You can't seen the last student in your class, and if you re-order the Grade Center in reverse alphabetical order, you can't see the first student (who should now be at the bottom).
Fix no. 1: This problem may be happening if the text size is too large. Go to the View menu of your browser, find the Zoom or Text Size option, and make the text smaller. You may need to reload the Grade Center for this change to go into effect.
Fix no. 2: The problem could also be related to the scroll bar setting in Windows XP. This can be fixed by changing the Windows XP scroll bar size back to 20 or smaller.
Here is how to change the scroll bar setting in Windows XP:
Open the Windows Control Panel, Display Properties
Click the Appearance tab
Click the Advanced button
Select "Scrollbar" from the Item: drop-down list and change the size to < 20 (the default is 17)
For Windows 7:
Go to Control Panel
Select (Appearance and) Personalization
In top right-hand search box, type "windows color"
It will bring up Personalization and a list. Select "Change window colors and metrics".
Click on the Item Dropdown (default says Desktop) and select "Scrollbar" and change to a value less than 20.
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When I click on a link to open a document, I see a Windows Security dialog asking for user name and password.
This problem affects only Internet Explorer 8; therefore, one of the solutions is to use a different browser (Firefox or Chrome). Other solutions are:
Click the Cancel option twice (there will be another dialog box that pops open when Word starts to open).
Enter your user name and password twice (in each of the two security windows). This should stop the security dialog from opening for subsequent documents.
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My student is having trouble submitting (uploading) an assignment.
You student attempts to submit an assignment and receives an error message with a long error id number and a message telling you to contact the System Administrator. This is probably caused by the name of the file containing some character other than letters, numbers, underscores or hyphens. Ask the student to rename the file with a shorter name with no special characters (no commas, extra periods, pound signs (#) or other non-letter, non-numeric characters). If this does not work, then empty the browser cache (Internet Explorer: Tools, Delete Browsing History, delete temporary internet files; or Firefox: Tools, Clear Private Data, make sure Cache is checked) and submit the file again.
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I'm having trouble submitting a paper via SafeAssign's Direct Submit tab.
You are attempting to submit a paper to be checked and receive an error message stating that you are not logged on. This seems to affect Macintosh users and the solution here is to "enable third-party cookies." How to do this depends on your system and which browser you use:
If you are using Firefox, then it's Preferences, click the Privacy tab, check Accept Cookies from Sites and keep until they expire.
If you are using Safari, then it's Preferences, click the Security tab, and check Accept Cookies -- Always.
And if you are using a Windows computer, it doesn't hurt to check the cookies as well:
Firefox: Tools -- Options, Privacy tab, check Accept third-party cookies, keep until they epire.
Internet Explorer: Tools -- Internet Options, Privacy tab, set the slider bar to Medium High.
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I can't copy or paste text in Blackboard anymore!
Firefox does not allow copying or pasting text into a text window for security reasons. You may see a link for some technical information from Mozilla.org which explains how to Set Preferences for Rich Text Editing. We recommend that users make use of the keyboard shortcuts instead: control-V on Windows; apple-V for Mac users. (In addition, the Paste command still seems to be working in the browser menu itself, under the Edit item.)
Note: Copying from a Word document may result in some oddly-formatted responses, so you may want to just type directly into the text window. If you are trying to paste material into the Announcements message box, you may want to just add a course link (below the date options) to a content area where you have posted the document instead. For discussion board postings, one may attach long documents to the posts instead of typing in long replies.
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I don't have an option in the Text Editor tools for the Math Editor.
Most features of Blackboard work with most browsers and on both Windows and Macintosh systems; however, there are a few exceptions. Following are the main cases we know about and which configuration they will work on:
The Math Editor, WebEq, works on all browsers for Windows systems, but does not currently work on the Macintosh; this issue is being actively researched.
The Virtual Text Box Editor works on Windows systems if one uses Internet Explorer or Firefox. This feature also works fully on the Macintosh with Firefox; if one is using Safari, one gets the "lite" version of the text editor instead.
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Common Blackboard Start-of-Semester Tasks
Blackboard Learn
Request to Merge Multiple Sections
Click here to request that multiple course sections merged into one course space. This will move enrollments to the same course space, but cannot move content or grade center entries.
Copy or Move documents between areas or courses
Do you have some course documents from a previous semester's course which you'd like to copy into this year's course space? Did you change your mind about which folder you'd like a particular document to be in? Documents may be copied from one course to another or moved from one folder to another within the same course. Here's how:
Enter the course space which has the document you'd like to copy or move (remember, courses labeled unavailable or inactive can still be accessed by instructors).
With Edit Mode on, go to the Content Area where your document or folder is located, click the "action button" to the right of the content item and select Copy from the menu.
You will then see a page where you can choose the destination course from a drop-down list (same as the source course if moving between areas in the same course).
Click the Browse button to select the area/folder from the Course Map to which to copy or move the document.
At the Remove Item after Copy option, select Yes for a Move operation or No for a Copy.
Click Submit.
If you have a large number of documents, external links, assessments, etc. to move from one course to another, you may wish to use the Course Copy feature instead:
In the Control Panel area of the previous semester's course, under Packages and Utilities, click Course Copy.
Enter the Course Id of the new course (or click Browse to find it -- this is not the title, but the dept-number-section code).
Check which materials should be copied to the new course. To copy assignments, you must select the Grade Center as well as the content area in which the assignment is deployed. To copy quizzes or tests, you must select the Grade Center, the content area in which the quiz or test is deployed, and the Test, Surveys and Pools option. To copy discussion boards, blogs, journals or wikis, you must copy the Grade Center if any of these items have the "Graded" option turned on. There is no need to copy enrollments; these are supplied automatically.
Click Submit; depending on the size of the files, this may take a few minutes. You will receive a Confirmation message.
Getting Started with Blackboard
Blackboard Learn
Getting Started with Blackboard
Creating an Announcement
Automatic Class Listserv/Mailing List
Put Your Syllabus On Your Course Site
Adding Staff Information
Creating an announcement
Announcements appear on the first page of a course (unless you have set an alternate Course Entry Point).
Go to the Announcement page.
Click the Edit Mode switch to On (upper right corner of course).
Click on the Create Announcements button.
Fill out the "Subject" and "Message" fields.
You have two options for dates: Not Date Restricted (the announcement will display for the default period of one week); and Date Restricted (the announcement displays from the date chosen to the date chosen).
If you would like an email to be sent to all students with a link to this announcement, then please check the "Send a copy of this announcement immediately" option.
In section 3, you can directly link to specific area of the course.
Click Submit and you will go back to the Announcements page.
Announcements appear in the order they are created, last item created at the top. If you would like to change that order, drag and drop the double-headed arrows to the left of the announcement.
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Automatic Class Listserv/Mailing List
One of the most convenient features of Blackboard is that all of your students' e-mail addresses are already in the system. This means that you can send e-mail to your class without having to look up everyone's e-mail and generate your own mailing list.
To send e-mail to everyone in your class:
Click on the particular course.
Click on the Tools course area (on the left-hand side).
Click on Send E-mail.
Select the option which best fits your need.
Clicking on All Users will send an e-mail to every student registered for the class; Select Users allows you to check individual users. Although you send the e-mail out from Blackboard, it goes to the students' regular Hamilton e-mail accounts, so that they can read it anywhere. Note: The outgoing message will NOT appear in your Out or Send box, but a copy of the e-mail will be automatically sent to the sender.
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Put Your Syllabus On Your Course Site
Adding content to your course is easy with the templates that exist for any content area. We will use a syllabus as an example but you may add many different types of documents in the same manner (including datasets for class exercises).
Click the Edit Mode switch to On (upper right of course page).
Select the course area where you wish to post the document.
Under the title of the area you have selected, you will see three tool buttons. The Build content button will open a menu which contains options for uploading many different types of content. For this example, you can select "Item" under "create."
Enter the Name of this item and any special instructions. In section 2 you can Browse to wherever your syllabus is stored and select it. Decide whether you need any date/time restrictions and click Submit.
If you hover your mouse over the Create Assessment or Add Interactive Tool buttons, you will see many other options for items you can add to your course space.
To see how the document will appear to students, click the Edit Mode switch to Off. Clicking on the link to the item you just created should open up a window with the syllabus in it. Your students will now be able to access the course syllabus and print it instead of asking you for an extra copy.
To modify or remove an item, click the Edit Mode switch to On. Click the "chevron" next to the item title. This will produce a menu of all the options for this item, including Edit, Copy and Delete.
The good news is that you can use this same procedure to upload any file for your course -- not just the syllabus, but articles, exam questions, bibliographies and any other material which currently exists in a standard Microsoft Office file (or other file for which your students have access to the necessary application, for example, datasets for SPSS).
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Adding Staff Information
You can add information about yourself or anyone associated with your course (i.e. lab instructors, student assistants) in the Contacts area.
Click the Edit Mode switch to On (upper right of course page).
Click on the Contacts link in the course menu.
Click on the Create Contact button. Enter your name, e-mail address, phone, office hours and other pertinent information (you may even upload your picture or create a link to a pre-existing home page).
Click Submit.
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How to Customize a Blackboard Course Space
Blackboard Learn
How to Change Your Students' View of a Course
Changing the default menu items:
a. Click the Edit Mode switch to On (upper-right corner of page).
b. Mouse over the double-headed arrow to the left of any menu item (the cursor changes to a four-pointed arrow) to drag-and-drop the item to a new place.
c. Click the "chevron" to the right of any item and then select Rename Link, Hide Link or Delete (content areas which are empty will simply not appear to students).
Adding new menu items:
a. Click the Edit Mode switch to On (upper-right corner of page).
b. In the course menu area, click the plus sign in the blue box to add a new content area, external link, course link, divider, etc.
Adding or removing course tools:
a. Click the Edit Mode switch to On (upper-right corner of page).
b. Click on the Tools link.
c. Click the "Hide Link" button to make any tools you are not planning to use unavailable to your students (for example, if you do not want students to be able to see their grades, hide the My Grades Tool).
Change the default language and other settings:
a. Go to the Control Panel area of the course.
b. Click the "Customization" sub-menu to expand it and select the "Properties" option.
c. Choose a new Language Pack to change the language of your course (the Enforce option will override users' settings for this course only).
d. You can change the Availability of your course (you can access the course but students cannot).
e. You can change the Name of the course to change the title which displays in the My Courses module.
Change the menu style, add a course banner, change entry point:
a. Go to the Control Panel area of the course.
b. Click the "Customization" sub-menu to expand it and choose the "Style" option.
c. In the "Select Menu Style" area, you can choose a button style or change button/text colors.
d. In the "Select Banner" area, you can add an image to the Announcements area.
e. In the "Select Course Entry Point" area, you can choose a page other than "Announcements" as the initial page of your course.
How to Customize Blackboard
Blackboard Learn
How to Customize Your Own View of Blackboard
Remove old courses from your My Courses module (on the My Blackboard page):
Click the little round icon in the upper right-hand corner of the module.
Uncheck the Display Course and Display Announcement boxes for the courses you no longer wish to see.
How to distinguish between similarly-named courses:
Click the little round icon in the upper right-hand corner of the My Courses module.
Check the Display Course ID box for the courses that have similar names. This will show the section numbers as well as the semester and year.
How to change the modules displayed or modify the layout:
Click the "Add Module" button to choose which modules you'd like on your home page.
Click the "Personalize Page" button in order to choose different colors for the title bars.
Mouse over the title bar (until the cursor changes to a four-pointed arrow) in order to drag-and-drop the module to a new place.
In the upper-right corner of any module, click the minus sign to collapse the module listing, the restore-window sign to expand it or the "X" to remove it.
Change personal information, editing and language options:
In the Tools area of the My Blackboard page, click on Personal Information.
Click on Edit Personal Information to change your first name or remove your middle name.
Select the "Change Personal Settings" option to change your default options for the text editor, Language Pack or Page Instructions as desired.
Change the appearance of the navigation area (within a course):
At the top of the course menu area, select any one of the display icons to see alternate methods of displaying the menu (list, folder, or separate window).
Click the hide/show tab between the navigation area and the course page to create more room for course material (or for the menu).
Managing Documents in Blackboard
Blackboard Learn
Display Mode and Edit Mode
Copy or Move documents between areas or courses
Other Content Menu Options(tracking views, adaptive release, review status)
Adding Material to Blackboard (Documents, Links, Multiple Files, etc.)
Special Instructions for Video Files
Display Mode and Edit Mode
The Display Mode will only show materials which students can see. If you want to add material or change anything about a course, you must be in Edit Mode. Look for the Edit Mode link (switch icon) in the upper-right corner. Click on this link to change the mode from Off to On (or vice versa). When you are done modifying the course, switch the Edit Mode to Off to return to the students' view. Content areas will appear to students only if there is course material in them.
Copy or Move documents between areas or courses
Do you have some course documents from a previous semester's course which you'd like to copy into this year's course space? Did you change your mind about which folder you'd like a particular document to be in? Documents may be copied from one course to another or moved from one folder to another within the same course. Here's how:
Enter the course space which has the document you'd like to copy or move (remember, courses labeled unavailable or inactive can still be accessed by instructors).
With Edit Mode on, go to the Content Area where your document or folder is located, click the chevron next to the content item and select Copy from the menu.
You will then see a page where you can choose the destination course from a drop-down list (same as the source course if moving between areas in the same course).
Click the Browse button to select the area/folder from the Course Map to which to copy or move the document.
At the Remove Item after Copy option, select Yes for a Move operation or No for a Copy.
Click Submit.
If you have a large number of documents, external links, assessments, etc. to move from one course to another, you may wish to use the Course Copy feature instead:
In the Control Panel area of the previous semester's course, under Packages and Utilities, click Course Copy.
Enter the Course Id of the new course (or click Browse to find it -- this is not the title, but the dept-number-section code).
Check which materials should be copied to the new course. To copy assignments, you must select the Grade Cener as well as the content area in which the assignment is deployed. To copy quizzes or tests, you must select the Grade Center, the content area in which the quiz or test is deployed, and the Test, Surveys and Pools option. To copy discussion boards, blogs, journals or wikis, you must copy the Grade Center if any of these items have the "Graded" option turned on. There is no need to copy enrollments; these are supplied automatically.
Click Submit; depending on the size of the files, this may take a few minutes. You will receive a Confirmation message.
Other Content Menu Options (tracking views, adaptive release, review status)
In addition to the Edit, Copy, and Delete options of a content item's popup menu, you will see a number of other options. These other features include:
Statistics Tracking -- see which students accessed this document and when
Adaptive Release -- control who sees this document and under what circumstances, by setting rules related to grades, dates, group membership, or review status (see additional instructions under Monitoring Student Progress)
Review Status -- have your students mark when they have read a document (may be tracked in the Performance Dashboard, more information under Monitoring Student Progress)
User Progress -- track adaptive release and review status for the entire class
Adding Material to Blackboard
Uploading a document (or any other type of file, such as a dataset)
Turn Edit Mode to On.
Go to the area where you'd like to post the document.
Hover over the "Build Content" tool button and select the "Item" option from the flyout menu.
Enter the name and any instructions in the Text box.
Under (2), Content, click the Browse button to navigate to your file.
Click Submit. (One may optionally set display from/to dates.)
Adding an Announcement
Turn Edit Mode to On.
Go to the Announcements area.
Click the Create Announcement button at the top.
Enter Subject and Message and then click Submit (one may also set Date Display options, include a link to another part of the course, or send an email).
Adding an External Link (URL)
Turn Edit Mode to On.
Hover your mouse over the "Build Content" button and select the "URL" option.
Enter the name of the website and the URL (it is often easier to copy and paste it from a browser window opened to that site).
Enter information about the website in the Text box.
Click Submit. (One may also choose whether to open in a separate window or to track students' views.)
Adding a Link to a YouTube video
Turn Edit Mode to On.
Hover your mouse over the "Build Content" button and select the "YouTube Video" option under Mashups (righthand side).
Search for the video you want.
Preview videos from the results returned and click Select when you've found the video you want.
And any description desired, select options and click Submit.
Uploading a number of files at once (for folders of Word or PDF files)
Compress the files into a single "zipped" file using Stuffit or Windows Compressed Files.
Go to the "Files" area of the Control Panel.
Hover your mouse over the "Upload" button and select the "Upload Package" option.
Click the Browse button to navigate to your zipped file.
Click Submit. (Folder structure will be preserved after upload.)
Special Instructions for Video Files
Putting video clips in Blackboard
For copyright compliance, clips should be no longer than three minutes; check with the Library for specifics.
The recommended format is Quicktime; search the ITS Support site using the keyword "compression" for details or call 4877 for help in compressing digital video.
Turn Edit Mode to "On" and go to the content area where you'd like to upload the file.
Hover over the "Build Content" tool button and select the "Video" option.
After selecting the file, you can check the playback with the "Preview" tool. Click Submit.
When students access the video clip, they will need to wait a few moments for the file to load; then they may click the Play button on the controller bar.
Uploading Streaming Media
For video clips longer than three minutes, one should upload the file to our Streaming Server and create a link to the file in Blackboard. This will result in a much better viewing experience for students, since the Blackboard server is not set up to handle large video files. For assistance, please contact the Instructional Technology Services team (x4877).
Monitoring Student Progress in Blackboard
Blackboard Learn
Performance Dashboard
Adaptive Release
Review Status
Early Warning System
Performance Dashboard
Located in the Control Panel area, Evaluation section, the Performance Dashboard tool provides a window into all types of user activity in a course. All users enrolled in the course are listed, with pertinent information about that user's progress and activity in the course. An instructor may check last course access, review status and discussion board postings, adaptive release, early warning system and grades for each student. This page may be easily printed.
Adaptive (Conditional) Release
Adaptive Release of Content provides controls to release content to users based on a set of rules provided by the instructor. The rules may be related to availability, date and time, individual users and user groups (such as course Groups), scores or attempts on any Gradebook item, or review status of another item in the course.
An Adaptive Release rule consists of a set of criteria that defines the visibility of a content item to users. Criteria are the parts that make up the rule. For example, date and membership are two types of different criteria. Each content item may have multiple rules, and each rule may consist of multiple criteria. To view an item, a user must meet all of the requirements of the rule. This means that if a rule has multiple criteria, the user must meet all criteria before the item is available.
For example, the Instructor may add an Assignment to a course. One rule for this Assignment may allow all users in Group A to view the Assignment after a specific date. This rule would consist of Membership criteria and Date criteria. Another rule for this Assignment may allow all users in Group B to view the Assignment once they had completed Homework #1. This rule would consist of Membership criteria and Gradebook criteria.
Here are the basic steps:
Go to the Content area containing the item for which you wish to set up adaptive release rules. Click the Edit Mode switch to On.
Click the chevron next to the item and select the Adaptive Release option.
Choose criteria based on membership, date range, gradebook item and/or review status. Click Submit.
The Instructor may check the status of student reviews on the "Adaptive Release and Review Status: User Progress" page or on the Performance Dashboard.
One may add, modify or remove rules in the Adaptive Release Advanced area.
Review Status
The Review Status tool allows the Instructor to track user review of specific content items. Once the Instructor enables the tool for an item, each student tracks their progress. A Mark Reviewed button appears on the item when the user opens the Content Area. After reviewing the item, the student selects this button to mark it Reviewed.
Go to the Content area containing the item whose review status you wish to set. Click the Edit Mode switch to On.
Click the chevron next to the item and select the Set Review Status option.
Click Enable and click Submit.
The Instructor may check the status of student reviews on the "Adaptive Release and Review Status: User Progress" page or on the Performance Dashboard.
Early Warning System
The Early Warning System is an expansion of and addition to the Performance Dashboard which allows instructors to monitor student performance, based on measures set up by the instructor. This feature has two parts: an additional column in the Performance Dashboard (in the Evaluation area of the Control Panel); and the Early Warning System configuration page (also in the Evaluation area) where rules can be set up to flag at-risk students.
Rules for determining who is an at-risk student may be set in the Early Warning System configuration pages, within the Evaluation area. Current options are grade-based rules, days since last course access, or rules based on missed due dates for assignments. Once the rules have been created, they are applied by clicking the Refresh button. Click the name of the rule to see results of which students (if any) have triggered the rule. Students may be notified of impending problems by using the Notify tool (message text may be modified); the system also keeps a notification log of warnings sent.
New Blackboard Interface
Blackboard Learn
Navigating the New Interface
Blackboard Learn 2012 features an updated interface which is cleaner, easier to navigate and faster to use. Here are the three things you need to know to get started:
Turn Edit Mode On; this will enable you to see all the tools available to instructors. This setting is located in the upper-right corner of every course.
Hover your mouse (cursor) over what you want to work on; this will reveal all tools for that item. In the new interface, tools don't all appear on the page at once; mousing over an item will reveal the tools associated with it.
Note the reordering tool which appears to the left and the "action button" which appears to the right when you mouse over any item on the page.
Click the "action button" to reveal additional menus of tools and options. This is the same technique as in the previous version of Blackboard, but the shape of the action button has changed slightly.
This pop-up menu appears only when you click the "action button" to the right of the item you want to work with.
And one more nifty new feature
Quick course-to-course navigation: click the “action button” located next to the “home” icon to quickly jump from one course to the next:
The New Course Home Page
Online Assignments in Blackboard
Blackboard Learn
The Assignment Manager is not a separate tool within Blackboard, but rather a tight linkage between content areas and the Grade Center. This capability will be of special interest to those who give daily or weekly assignments and would like the convenience of assigning, grading and returning material in a completely electronic fashion. In addition, you will always have copies of the original and graded versions of the essays. Here's how it works:
The key to this process is to create an item of the type "Assignment." Go to the area in which you would like the assignment to appear (for example, the Assignments area). Click the "Edit Mode" link in the upper-right-hand corner to switch into the Instructor's view of the page. Hover your mouse over the "Create Assessment" tool button and select the "Assignment" option. You should now see the Create Assignment template. Fill in the fields as desired and click Submit. You do not need to create a column in the Grade Center; one will be created automatically for each item of the Assignment type.
Click Display Mode to toggle back to the student's view of the course. When students click on the link for this assignment, they will see a page where they can download any files you have attached, enter comments, upload files of their own, and either Save an interim stage or Submit the completed assignment.
When you look in the Grade Center, you will see a column has been automatically entered for your new assignment. To grade this assignment, click the cell for each student, click the chevron, and select "View Grade Details." To access the student's work, click the "Open Attempt" button on the right of the Attempts area. Files can be printed or downloaded for grading. Enter the grade and any feedback or notes to yourself, upload the corrected file (to be "handed back") or clear the student's attempt if necessary.
Assignment files can be downloaded (either from selected students or all students together) in a zipped file which can then be unzipped to work on them off-line or away from campus. Each file will have the student's user id as part of the name (handy for all those files named Essay 1). Files can them be deleted when necessary. In the Grade Center, click the chevron next to the title of the assignment in the column header for these features.
Pedagogical Uses of Blackboard
Blackboard Learn
Blackboard’s Writing Tools
Blackboard can be more than a convenient way to share documents with your class. In addition to all the features that make Blackboard a quick and efficient course management tool, are several writing tools that can be used to deliver constructivist learning experiences to your students. These tools don’t replace your familiar teaching strategies, but can be used to increase interaction between you and your students, often allowing students who may shy away from class discussions to express their ideas. These tools can allow you to observe your students’ progress between large papers, allowing you to identify when students may need a little extra guidance to hone their writing and ideas. These writing tools can, when used well, not only increase the amount of writing a student produces, but can also help create a sense of community in your class.
Discussion Boards
Use discussion boards to enable conversations between you and your students. Discussion boards are good tools to use for when you are looking for divergent information from students.
Tips
Give students some guidelines on appropriate netiquette for using discussion boards.
Provide deadlines for posts.
Provide an explanation of what “quality posts” are. Consider creating a grading rubric and sharing it with the class.
Add points for both students when one student responds to another student’s post. This encourages students to write their posts early enough for others to read.
Consider the point value of the discussion posts. This is one way to insure that students participate in the assignment.
Ask questions that elicit a range of responses from students.
Wait for students to articulate their ideas and demonstrate peer interaction, then ask probing questions at the right time to scaffold the students’ responses.
Avoid omniscient or evaluative posts that might stifle the students’ ideas.
Continue to encourage critical thinking, allowing the dialogue to emerge, sustaining interaction for the appropriate amount of time.
Students should feel that their work is valued; make sure that all students receive some feedback, either from you, or their peers.
Look for and encourage higher-order thinking skills in students’ posts.
How to Use This Tool
If an area to put your discussion board does not already exist, create one by clicking the plus sign in the upper left of your Blackboard window, selecting Tool Link from the menu, providing a name, such as Discussions, and selecting Discussion Board from the Type menu. Don’t forget to check the Available to Users checkbox so your students will see it.
After the tool link has been added, you can move it to the desired location by hovering over the link until the double-headed arrows are visible, clicking on them, and dragging the link to the desired place in the menu.
Next, navigate to it and click the Create Forum button. Enter a name for your discussion board such as Weekly Reading Discussions, type a description for the discussion board, make sure that the forum is available, set any forum settings you want to apply, and click the Submit button.
Once the forum has been created, click on its link and click the Create Thread button. Type a thread subject, such as Chapter One Discussion, enter a Message, such as What themes in chapter one are relevant to our class discussion?, add any necessary attachments, and click the Submit button.
Wikis
A wiki is simply a webpage that users can edit directly. Use wikis for collaborative writing assignments such as group papers or encyclopedia-type entries. Wikis are good tools for when you are looking for convergent information from students. Use wikis for any situation where you want a collaboratively written paper on a specific topic or set of topics.
Tips
Provide guidelines for how students should agree to make edits to their wiki pages.
Provide clear directions for what students should write.
Consider creating a rubric for the grading of the wiki entries.
Provide ongoing feedback on your students work in the wiki
Encourage students to form their own “support groups” on how to use the wiki effectively.
How to Use This Tool
If an area to put your wiki does not already exist, create one by clicking the plus sign in the upper left of your Blackboard window, selecting Tool Link from the menu, providing a name, such as Class Wiki, and selecting Wikis from the Type menu. Don’t forget to check the Available to Users checkbox so your students will see it.
Once the tool link has been added you can move it to the desired location by hovering over the link until the double-headed arrows are visible, clicking on them, and dragging the link to the desired place in the menu.
Next, click on it to enter the blog area and click on the Create Wiki button. In the resulting form, provide a name and instructions for the wiki, make sure the wiki is available, select how students should be able to participate in this wiki, and the settings for the grading of the wiki. Then, click the Submit button.
Blogs
Blogs are composed of posts presented in reverse chronological order. Blogs are often vehicles for individuals who want to share their ideas with a potentially global audience. Most blogs support the commenting of posts by viewers. Blogs are good tools to use for when you are looking for divergent information from students.
Tips
Encourage blog contributors to identify who their target audience is, and write posts that take their audience into consideration.
If supported by the blog software, suggest that posters incorporate images and/or links in their posts.
Consider assigning students roles for their blogs or blog posts. Soles can include the following (first three roles roles taken from this site)
First Readers: These students are responsible for posting initial questions and insights about the day’s material to the class blog the day before class meets.
Respondents: Students in this group build upon, disagree with, or clarify the first readers’ posts by the next class meeting.
Searchers: Students in this group find and share at least one relevant online resource. In addition to linking to the resource, the searchers provide a short evaluation of the resource, highlighting what makes it worthwhile, unusual, or, if appropriate, problematic.
Summarizer: Students in this group analyze all other posts and provide a brief overview of the ideas expressed.
Devils Advocate: Students in this group articulate “the other side of the story” of blog posts.
Synthesizer: Students in this group put ideas together and make new connections.
Moderator: Students in this group find common ground between posts, connecting ideas and helping posters reach consensus.
How to Use This Tool
If an area to put your blog does not already exist, create one by clicking the plus sign in the upper left of your Blackboard window, selecting Tool Link from the menu, providing a name, such as Class Blog, and selecting Blogs from the Type menu. Don’t forget to check the Available to Users checkbox so your students will see it.
Once the tool link has been added, you can move it to the desired location by hovering over the link until the double-headed arrows are visible, clicking on them, and dragging the link to the desired place in the menu.
Next, click on it to enter the blog area and click on the Create Blog button. In the resulting form, provide a name and instructions for the blog, make sure the blog is available, select whether you want each student to have their own blog or if you want one blog for the entire class, how you want to record blog participation, and the settings for the blog and for grading. Then, click the Submit button.
Journals
Journals are like blogs, but their content is only shared between the student and the instructor. Journals allow students to reflect candidly on what they’re learning and how it is affecting them.
Tips
Write open-ended questions that help students make conceptual connections. One example might be “How do the ideas expressed in this weeks reading influence your understanding of previous readings?”
Provide ideas for starting thoughts; for example, The technology I would miss most if it were to disappear is… or The most personally relevant part of this week’s reading was…
How to Use This Tool
If an area to put your journal does not already exist, create one by clicking the plus sign in the upper left of your Blackboard window, selecting Tool Link from the menu, providing a name, such as Personal Journal, and selecting Journals from the Type menu. Don’t forget to check the Available to Users checkbox so your students will see it.
After the tool link has been added, you can move it to the desired location by hovering over the link until the double-headed arrows are visible, clicking on them, and dragging the link to the desired place in the menu.
Next, click on it to enter the journal area and click on the Create Journal button. In the resulting form, provide a name and instructions for the journal, make sure the journal is available, select journal date and time restrictions, journal settings, and grade settings. Then, click the Submit button.
Blackboard’s Test Tool
Blackboard’s test tool can be put to good use by using it for formative assessments in between midterm and final exams. Formative assessments, rather than measuring performance on large amounts of information, can be used to reinforce learning as it occurs and provide students with a low-stakes way to determine how well they are understanding the current material, and what “course corrections” may be helpful in keeping them on track. Formative assessments do not need to take a long time. A brief multiple-choice test may provide all the feedback a student needs to determine if he or she has a solid grasp of the material, or need to review.
Tips
Consider not recording scores to the formative assessment, rather simply mark whether a student completed the assessment or not.
Use the results obtained by your students as indicators of what content should be reviewed before a summative test.
Consider allowing students to work together on the formative assessment. Group work gives the students a chance to explain their thinking with others, which supports their learning of the material.
How to Use This tool
If an area to put your test does not already exist, create one by clicking the plus sign in the upper left of your Blackboard window, selecting Content Area from the menu, and providing a name, such as Quizzes. Don’t forget to check the Available to Users checkbox so your students will see it.
After the content area link has been added, you can move it to the desired location by hovering over the link until the double-headed arrows are visible, clicking on them and dragging the link to the desired place in the menu.
Next, click on it to enter the content area area and select Assessments - Test. In the resulting window, click the Create button and enter the test name, description, and instructions. Then, click the Submit button. Once the test has been created, use the Create Question dropdown menu to select question types. For question types that support it, consider including feedback for responses. Once you have finished adding questions, click the Question Settings button. In this form specify whether you want feedback given for individual answers, whether you want images, files and web links to be addable to questions and answers, whether you want question metadata added to questions, how you want scoring to be assigned, and the degree to which the display of answers can be specified. Then, click the Submit button.
Once you are ready to make the test available, click the downward-pointing chevron and select Edit the Test Options. In the resulting window, click the Yes radio button for Make the Link Available.
Student-Centered Tools in Blackboard
Blackboard Learn
Creating Small Groups
Peer and Self-Assessment
Blogs, Wikis, Journals
Group File Exchange
Creating Small Groups
If you plan to break your class into smaller groups to work on group projects, Blackboard provides the tools to create a group and enable group tools such as e-mail, discussion boards, blogs, wikis and many more. Instructors can create groups or sets of groups and manually enroll students or allow students to enroll themselves. Group sets can facilitate groups of students working on small-group projects. In addition, students can create and personalize their own groups. Groups can work on assignments together and the group can receive a single grade for the assignment (or individual grades, if desired).
In the Control Panel area, expand the sub-menu under "User and Groups" and select Groups.
Under "Create Single Group," you can select Manual Enroll or Self-Enroll.
Under "Create Group Set," you can select Self-Enroll, Manual Enroll or Random Enroll.
The options will differ slightly for these different types of groups, but the basic information required is:
Enter a Group Name and any description
Select which functions you would like the group to have.
Select other options as needed.
Click Submit.
Once the group has been created, students can reach it from either the Groups page or the Tools area. Only instructors and group members can access their particular group. If you need to modify a group already created, click the Edit Mode switch to On, then click the chevron next to the group's title and select Edit.
Peer and Self-Assessment
This is a new tool to allow students to evaluate each others' work. To set this up:
Go to the area of the course in which you would like students to access the assessment (for example, the Assignments area).
Click the Edit Mode switch to On, then select "Self and Peer Assessment" from the "Create Assessment" button menu.
Fill out information as desired; click Submit (this will automatically add an item to the Grade Center).
Now click the Create Question button on the following page and enter questions and model answers for the students to use in the assessment.
You can also preview the evaluation and submission samples.
You can access all submissions and evaluations and enter grading results in the Grade Center.
For a much more in-depth discussion on using self and peer assessment, see the Self and Peer Assessment Guide courtesy of the University of Melbourne.
Blogs, Wikis, Journals
Blogs
Blogs are an open communications tool for students to share their thoughts within a course. Blogs consist of entries by the owners and comments by the readers. There are three different types of blogs: course blogs (all enrolled users can post and comment); individual blogs (only the owner can post, all others can comment); and group blogs (for members of a defined group). Instructors have full access to everything and can grade blogs.
Wikis
Wikis are used to create a collaborative space within the course where all students can view, contribute, and edit content. Wikis can also be used as a resource for students to view information and content relevant to their course. Wikis can also be set up just for groups and can be graded.
Journals
A Journal is self-reflective tool for students. Only the student and the instructor are able to view journal entries. Students can enter text, images, links, multimedia, mashups, and attachments. Journals can be graded in the Grade Center.
Group File Exchange
Every course section in Blackboard has an automatically-created group in the "Groups" area which has a title such as "ITS_100_01_FA2011_Group". It contains all the students for that section and is automatically updated as students add and drop courses. These automatically-created groups can be used for a number of different purposes, such as group file exchange, viewing sub-groups of students in the Grade Center, and for group assignments. For example, if you need an area in Blackboard for students to share files, just tell your students to:
Click on "Groups" in the Tools area.
Click on the name of the group that looks like a course id and ends in "Group."
Click on the "File Exchange" tool in the Group Tools area.
Click the "Add File" button and browse to the file to upload.
Click "Submit."
All students in the course will be able to access all the files in this File Exchange area.
Suggestions for Online Test-Taking
Blackboard Learn
If you are having trouble using Blackboard (especially from home), check the following issues that might resolve your problems:
Do not use the AOL browser for working in Blackboard. If you get your internet connection through AOL, then use AOL just to establish a connection to the Internet. Then, minimize the browser window and use some other browser to access Blackboard. There should be a default browser installed on you computer (Internet Explorer on Windows, Safari on the Macintosh) or you can download Firefox for free.
Do not use a very slow telephone dial-up Internet connection. If that is what you have at home, use one of the public labs instead. Blackboard is a graphics-intensive application.
Be sure to run virus and anti-spyware software regularly. Try rebooting the computer to free up system resources.
Enable cookies (check the privacy settings of your browser).
Check that Java is installed and enabled (free plugins are available from http://java.sun.com).
If you are using Internet Explorer or any other browser with popup blocking turned on, you may need to enable popups from the Blackboard site. Click the yellow message bar in IE or set the options in the Preferences/Tools.
You may need to disable your personal firewall software (Norton or McAfee).
To eliminate messages about mixed secure and insecure content in IE: Go to Internet Options; Security; Custom Level; Make sure that at "Miscellaneous," "Display mixed content" is set to "Enable."
To eliminate spurious trusted site messages in IE: Go to Internet Options; Security; Trusted Sites; List your site as Trusted and uncheck "Require server verification."
In Windows XP/SP2 and IE, go to Internet Options; Security; Trusted Sites; Custom Level. Make sure that at "Miscellaneous," "web sites in less privileged web content zone." is set to Enable.
Not all features of Blackboard work equally well with all combinations of platforms and browsers. The three biggest problem areas are the Text Box (WYSIWYG) editor; the Math Editor (WebEQ); and the Collaboration tools (Virtual Classroom and Chat sessions). For best results, use a Windows system with Internet Explorer, if possible.
Do not resize (minimize or maximize) the browser window while taking a test.
Do not open another window and surf the net while taking a test; if a website opens back into the Blackboard window, your work will be lost.
Do not take a quiz with other applications running in the background, for example, watching movies, listening to music, sending e-mail or running IM.
Do not start a quiz and then walk away for several hours; the Blackboard system has a timeout for security purposes and will end your session (if idle) after one hour.
Remember to click Submit (not Save) when done! The Save button will save an interim version of your work, but only the Submit button will allow your work to be graded.
For further information, or if you still have questions, please contact blackboard@hamilton.edu, or call 4877.
Using Blackboard 9.1
Blackboard Learn
Blackboard Basics
Changing Menu Items
To add items to the main menu, click the in the top left corner of the menu and select the type of item you would like to add.
To hide menu items from the student view, click the down arrow next to an item and select Hide Link.
Changing Tool Availability
To choose which tools students will have access to, navigate to Tools in the sidebar and click Hide Link for any tools that you want to remove from the student view.
If you do not see a tool that you want to use, make sure it is available by going to Customization -> Tool Availability. Customization is an option in the Course Management menu.
From the resulting list, uncheck tools that you want to remove, and check tools that you want to include.
Adding Content
Many types of items can be added to content areas in Blackboard. To add content, assessments, or tools to a content area, first create or navigate to the content area and then choose what type of item you wish to add from the Build Content, Assessments, or Tools dropdown menus.
To add streaming video to Blackboard, follow the instructions on using Streamfile and add the link for the video by navigating to Build Content - Web Link and pasting the link from streamfile into the URL field.
Creating Assignments
One of Blackboard's more powerful tools is the Assignment Tool, which provides a way for you to assign work to students, a vehicle for students to submit documents, and a Grade Center column to record scores. To create an assignment, create or navigate to a content area and select Assessments - Assignment. On the resulting page, add the assignment information, files, points possible, availability, due dates, and recipients. Then click Submit. Students will be able to upload files for you to access and grade using the Grade Center.
Using Groups
To set up groups, first use an existing Group tool link or create a new one. You can then manually create single groups or save time by using the Create Group Set button.
Once you click on the Create Group Set button, select how you want to enroll your students. On the resulting page, add a name and description for the group set and then select the Blackboard tools that you would like to make available to your groups. Next, specify how Blackboard should assign membership to your groups and click the Submit button.
