Please see the following questions and answers, both for faculty/staff, and for students.
I am trying to make changes to a course site; why doesn't it let me edit anything?
Students say they can't see my course site; how do I make it "Available"?
How are students added to my course site?
How can I view a list of students who are currently in my course site?
What do I need to do to get started adding content?
How do I copy course materials from a previous site into this semester's course site?
After I have copied materials into a course site successfully, how do I delete what I don't need?
How do I customize my course menu buttons?
I have logged into my course site, but I have no menu buttons; how do I navigate and build the site?
How does Blackboard handle cross-listed courses?
Why is a posted PDF file not opening for some students?
How do I get started using Grade Center?
What should I know about using the discussion board tool for my classes?
How do I add news headlines (RSS feeds) to my course site?
How do I change the language settings in my course site?
How do I recover my digital drop box files?
For what length of time are my Blackboard course sites available for me to access?
How do I request a Blackboard site for a committee or organization?
What if I don't see sites for all of my courses?
What do I do to open a PDF from Blackboard?
How do I request a Blackboard site for a committee or organization?
Although there are several browsers to choose from, Firefox 3.0.x has been vendor certified for Mac 10.4 and 10.5 as well as Windows XP and Vista. Testing has indicated that Firefox performs most Blackboard functions with the greatest consistency.
Download Firefox.
Safari and Internet Explorer users, please note that these browsers are both vendor supported and tested. Both are stable and will perform most Blackboard functions satisfactorily.
Google Chrome users should be aware that this browser has not been certified by the vendor nor extensively tested by IT Services. Please proceed with caution when using this browser in conjunction with Blackboard version 9.
If you experience a problem with the display of Blackboard in your chosen browser, please see the section "A page isn't loading right" to troubleshoot this issue.
The site may not have the Edit Mode turned On. This is critical for any form of course-building or customization. Enter into the course site and the Edit Mode button appears in upper right hand corner. If it reads Edit Mode Off, click on Off and the display should change to On. Editing functions will then be enabled. Please see the Quickstart Guide for further information.
Please see the directions for Making a Course Available for further information.
There are two primary ways that students may be added to a Blackboard course site:
Within the Blackboard course site, in the Course Management area, click on Control Panel > Users and Groups > Users. In the text box, type a percent sign (%) and click Go. Please see Displaying a List of Currently Enrolled Students directions for further information.
Within a Blackboard course site, click on Content or Information in the course menu and a new window will appear. Within this window several drop-down menus are available that will provide most of the content functionalities that you are accustomed to using in the previous version. The Build, Evaluate, Collaborate and More dropdown menus all provide options for adding and organizing new items to your course site.
Please see the Copying Course Materials directions for further information.
The two downward arrows in Blackboard indicate dropdown menus with options associated with an object, usually including some form of editing and deleting. Click on the arrows beside the item you would like to modify and a box of options will appear. Click Delete and your content will be removed. This applies to both course menu items and course content materials.
Within a course site, in the Course Management area, click Control Panel > Customization > Style and then select the relevant changes and click Submit.
In some cases, Blackboard will hide the course menu items. In order to reveal the menu, click the arrow located at the mid-point of the left side of the screen (see images below).
Blackboard sites will be created for each listing of the course, and populated with the students registered specifically to each section. This results in multiple Blackboard sites for a course. Faculty are advised to pick one of the sites to use and make it "Available" (see directions). After doing so, faculty will need to manually add the students to the site who were registered via a different listing in order to grant all students access. Faculty are encouraged to talk with Instructional and Research Technology staff about such instances for further guidance.
The adjustment of release dates is a known issue. The assessment (assignment, test or quiz) can be safely deleted without removing any grades that have been already recorded to the grade center. You will be prompted by Blackboard when you delete the corrupted assessment if you would like to keep the grades already attempted. Click Yes and the completed grades will be kept.
A work-around is to make a folder where you would like the test to be posted. Post the assessment to the folder. To set release dates for the assessment, adjust the release dates on the folder, rather than the assessment itself.
For further assistance please contact the help desk at ext. 4357 or e-mail helpdesk@hws.edu.
Some students and Mac users in particular will report from time to time that they are unable to open a PDF file that has been posted to Blackboard. There are a couple of simple fixes:
If both of the above suggestions have been tried, please contact the help desk for further assistance at ext. 4357 or by e-mail at helpdesk@hws.edu.
Faculty who would like to use the Grade Center are encouraged to consult with Instructional and Research Technology staff, especially if weighted grades are being applied. In addition, please remember that the Blackboard Grade Center is not connected to the Registrar's PeopleSoft grade system, so use of the Blackboard Grade Center does not replace grade entry into that system at the conclusion of the semester. If you would like to explore on your own, The University of Illinois has some excellent tutorials.
The discussion board tool is a good way to extend class discussions beyond normal class meetings. However, there are technical considerations to using this tool.
Students may use word processing software while developing their posts, so they can run spelling and grammar checks prior to posting. But, it is not recommended that users copy and paste text from a Microsoft Word document into the text box editor when generating posts. Alternatives include the following:
This is because Word documents now contain Web programming (HTML) that may disrupt the display of the thread. Programs like Notepad (Windows) and TextEdit (Mac) do not use HTML and can be copied from safely.
If students do copy and paste directly from Word, the result may be one of the following:
If you experience any of the above while using the discussion board tool, please contact the Help Desk at ext. 4357 or submit a work order at http://www.hws.edu/itservices/service_form.aspx for assistance.
Please see the Adding RSS Feeds to Blackboard Courses directions for further information.
There are several different options to try:
Within the course site, in the Course Management area, click Control Panel > Customization > Properties > select the Language Pack desired and click Submit. Course menu links should now be displayed in the desired language.
Note: If you want to ensure that students cannot override these settings in the course site with their own personal Blackboard language settings, check the box located next to Enforce Language Pack in the process outlined above.
"In release 9.0, the assignment tool was enhanced to support multiple submissions, and the old and now superfluous digital dropbox has been entirely removed from the product." - Blackboard, Inc.
For users that have uploaded or retrieved files from the Digital Dropbox, and would like access to them in the current version, there is a box on the Blackboard login page titled, "Retrieving your Digital Drop Box Files". There you will find a link that, when clicked, will return a list of the documents that were stored in the digital drop box.
Per Blackboard Policy, course sites and materials remain accessible on the system to faculty for three years. This does not, however, include student-related data such as grades, assignments, or discussion board and blog submissions. If you need access to course materials older than three years, please contact Instructional and Research Technology to inquire about recovery from Blackboard course site archives. Note: Please allow for several business days for the latter process.
Please place a request for a site via the IT Services help desk. In your request, please be sure to include the Chair or Leader of the committee, the name of the committee, and the length of time the site will be needed.
Although there are several browsers to choose from, Firefox 3.0.x has been vendor certified for Mac 10.4 and 10.5 as well as Windows XP and Vista. Testing has indicated that Firefox performs most Blackboard functions with the greatest consistency.
Download Firefox.
Safari and Internet Explorer users, please note that these browsers are both vendor supported and tested. Both are stable and will perform most Blackboard functions satisfactorily.
Google Chrome users should be aware that this browser has not been certified by the vendor nor extensively tested by IT Services. Please proceed with caution when using this browser in conjunction with Blackboard version 9.
If you experience a problem with the display of Blackboard in your chosen browser, please see the section "A page isn't loading right" to troubleshoot this issue.
Check with the faculty member to inquire if s/he is using Blackboard for the semester; you may not be missing anything! A faculty member may have chosen not to use the Blackboard system for the course you are enrolled in.
If the faculty member confirms that s/he is indeed using Blackboard for the course:
Note: Students are not officially enrolled into a course until they have completed the official registration paperwork with the Office of the Registrar.
In your preferred Internet browser, change the preference from using PDF Preview to Adobe Reader. This may stop error messages experienced when attempting to open PDF files from Blackboard. If you are still experiencing difficulties with the opening of PDF files, please contact the help desk at ext. 4357 or by e-mail at helpdesk@hws.edu.
There are several different options to try:
Blackboard sites are available upon request for student organizations that have registered with the Student Activities Office. Requests for organization sites must originate in the Student Activities Office located in Scandling (ext. 3513). Contact them and ask them to place a request for a Blackboard site via the IT Services help desk. In your request, please be sure to include the name of the organization, the chair or president of the organization, the faculty adviser, and the length of time the site will be needed.
