Blackboard Troubleshooting Tips
5 Questions to Ask when Troubleshooting Blackboard:
- What browser version does the user have? We had a few Firefox 2.0s around last year, so we probably have a few 3.0s around this year. Blackboard needs at least FF 3.5/3.6, IE 8 and/or whatever version of Safari is appropriate for the corresponding Mac OS.
- Which version of Java does the user have? Users can click the "Do I have Java?" link on http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp and see which version they have. Any version of 1.6 over about build 16 or so should be fine, but never hurts to upgrade.
- Are popups blocked? A number of things in Blackboard don't work if popups are blocked (including some quite unexpected things), so either allow them or (better yet) enter an exception for blackboard.hamilton.edu .
- Are third-party cookies enabled? Have the user check under FF Privacy History, pick Use custom settings and check that Accept third-party cookies is checked. IE set to Medium High or lower.
- Is Javascript enabled? because you never know what users uncheck (like the Content Area under Tool Availability in Blackboard, and then none of their content is available)
- Special things for Internet Explorer: if all else fails, make blackboard.hamilton.edu a Trusted Site and if that fails, use Compatibility Mode (after all that, it probably is a bug).
Known Issues:
Scenario: faculty tries to copy documents or other material from an old course space to a new one. They receive a red error message stating "Error: Failed to grant read permission to the attached file for target course." This is a known issue in Blackboard and they don't have a solution yet, but there are two workarounds:
* Copy the entire folder (if the item is contained in a folder): From the older course, with Edit Mode turned on, look for the double-drop-down next to the folder name. When you click it, you will see a menu and the Copy option is at the bottom..
* Copy the entire content: Go to Control Panel, Utilities and Packages, and select Course Copy. On the next page, click Browse to select the destination (new) course. Then select areas to copy and click Submit.
