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Author: Janice Florent

Technology Coordinator in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development at Xavier University of Louisiana

About Janice Florent

Technology Coordinator in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development at Xavier University of Louisiana

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Published on 6 Comments on Bb Tip #102: Content Editor

The newly designed Content Editor vastly improves your experience for adding text and other forms of digital content to your course.

The Content Editor provides instructors and students with content processing tools that help users create text, tables, hyperlinks, embedded multimedia, and file attachments. The Content Editor can be accessed throughout Blackboard to create lesson content, announcements, discussion posts, assignments, test items, and more!

The new Content Editor improves your ability to enter text, paste from Microsoft Word and add content to all areas of your courses and organizations. Gone are the prior formatting problems of cutting and pasting text from Word. The Content Editor retains the formatting of the pasted text.

Video Everywhere is a new feature in the Content Editor that allows instructors and students to record short YouTube videos on the fly using a webcam and seamlessly embed the video into course materials, interactions, and feedback.

Want more information?
Using the Content Editor
Using Video Everywhere
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #101: Are You Ready?

Course delivery is vulnerable to unplanned events. Potential interruptions to class activities include but are not limited to natural disasters, widespread illness, acts of violence, planned or unexpected construction-related closures, severe weather conditions, and medical emergencies.

Here are a few things you can do in Blackboard to help you prepare should the need arise.

  • Understanding and Building Your Course
    • Getting Started with Course Environment (Video) (PDF)
    • Getting Started with Course Content (PDF)
  • Utilize Blackboard’s Communication Tools
  • Collecting Student Work
    • Getting Started with Assignments (PDF)
  • Utilize Blackboard’s Collaboration Tools
    • Blogs, Wikis, Journals, & Discussion Boards Explained (PDF)
  • Posting Grades
    • Getting Started with the Grade Center (PDF)

Additionally, you should consider developing an instructional continuity plan to help you to be ready to continue teaching with minimal interruption. More information about instructional continuity plans can be found on our Instructional Continuity web page. There you will find planning guides, resources, and a link to our April 2014 Instructional Continuity workshop presentation.

Want more information?
Get more information about instructional continuity plans.
Sign up for Blackboard workshops or request one-on-one help.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Visit our Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #100: Blackboard Collaborate Launcher

A new Blackboard Collaborate Launcher utility is available for Windows users. A Collaborate Launcher utility was released last summer for Mac users and now the utility is available for Windows users.

Calendar

The Blackboard Collaborate Launcher simplifies the process for joining Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing sessions and recordings. When you click 'Join Room' on the Room Details page or a recording link in the Recordings table, Blackboard Collaborate checks to see if you have the launcher installed. If you do not, Blackboard Collaborate prompts you to download it.

Using the Blackboard Collaborate Launcher:

- When a participant clicks on a session or recording link, Blackboard Collaborate checks to see if you have the launcher installed and, if you don't, prompts you to download it.
- When the launcher is installed, clicking a session or recording link triggers the download of a .collab file. This .collab file will be used to launch your session or recording.
- The launcher download can be done in advance or just prior to attending the Collaborate session.

Want more information?
Bb Collaborate Launcher
Visit the Collaborate On Demand Learning Center
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #99: Beginning of Semester Tasks

As you prepare for the start of the semester, it is a good time to get started setting up your Blackboard courses. Blackboard courses are automatically created using the course information in Banner a few weeks before the start of the semester. You can post your syllabus, course documents, and announcements to your Blackboard courses. You can also customize your course menu and/or add a course banner.

If you teach a course that is cross listed you will have a Blackboard course for each cross listing. You can combine the cross listed courses into one Blackboard course so that you can post course materials and grades to one combined Blackboard course. Combining courses may also work for you if you are teaching different sections of the same course and would like to have the different sections combined into one Blackboard course so that you can post course documents and grades in the one combined course. The beginning of the semester is the best time to combine your Blackboard courses before you add course material or grades to the courses.

Follow these steps to do it.

Listed below are links with instructions for

  • Merging courses [Web page]
  • Hiding old courses from view [Web page]
  • Getting started with the course environment [PDF] [Video]
  • Course structures and course themes [Web page] [Video]
  • Changing the display name for your course [Web page]
  • Adding a course banner [Web page]
  • Adding items to the course menu [PDF]
  • Posting announcements [Web page]
  • Copying content into another course [Web page]
  • Using date management to update dates after course copy [Web page]

Want more information?

Attend a drop-in session to get one-on-one help.
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #98: Test Results and Feedback

A recent update to our Blackboard Assessments Building Block changed the functionality of the Show Test Results and Feedback to Students option. The "Score" option has been replaced with the "Score per Question" option. Choosing the "Score per Question" option will show each test question along with the points earned for the question.

Test Results and Feedback Screenshot

If you only want the students to see their overall test score after they submit their tests, then you must make sure the "Score per Question" box is unchecked. Otherwise students will be able to see all their test questions immediately after they submit the test.

Want more information?

Bb Learn 9.1 Test/Survey Enhancements Video [2:07]
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #97: “Force Completion” Clarified

"Force Completion" is a setting available when selecting test availability options in Blackboard. The idea behind the "Force Completion" setting is to allow for a one-time entry into a test. However, using the "Force Completion" setting may have some unintended consequences. For example, if the student accidentally closes the browser, or loses the connection to the test, the student cannot continue with the exam unless the instructor intervenes and resets the exam (i.e., clears the attempt). For this reason, using the "Force Completion" setting is not recommended. Instead, use the timer AND enable the Auto-Submit test option.

Test Availability Screenshot

Using the timer/auto-submit options allows students to re-enter the exam and continue where they left off as long as there is time remaining. The timer will continue to record the time from when the student initially entered the exam. If there is no more time left the student will not be able to re-enter the exam. Likewise, if the student is able to re-enter the exam he/she will only have the remaining time to complete the exam.

The timer/auto-submit options accomplish the same goal as Force Completion, without students having to contact the instructor because they lost connectivity or abnormally exited the exam. This should lead to less student frustration with the exam and greatly reduce the number of calls to have the instructor clear test attempts.

Want more information?

Student Guide to Taking Tests in Blackboard
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Published on Leave a comment on Using a Backchannel to Engage Students

Are you looking for new ways to engage more of your students? Do you want to provide more authentic learning opportunities for your students? Searching for some way to help students write concisely, critically examine arguments, or take notes? One strategy you might consider using is a “backchannel”

Dr. Michelle Rodems, program manager at the School of Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies (SIGS) and at the Delphi Center for Teaching and Learning suggests using a “backchannel” to give your students a secondary way to communicate with you or each other.

Want to know more? Read Dr. Rodems' article on "Using a Backchannel to Engage Students."

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #96: Resources

Two new tabs were created inside Blackboard in an attempt to simplify access to faculty and student resources and to provide consistency for Blackboard users. You should see the new tabs when you login to Blackboard.

image showing Bb tabs with faculty and student resources highlighted

Send email to Karen Nichols with any comments or suggestions about the new tabs.

Want more information?

Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Published on Leave a comment on Disaster Planning for your Courses

Course delivery is vulnerable to unplanned events. Potential interruptions to class activities include but are not limited to natural disasters, widespread illness, acts of violence, planned or unexpected construction-related closures, severe weather conditions, and medical emergencies. Whatever the event, an instructional continuity plan will help you to be ready to continue teaching with minimal interruption.

For those who missed last week's presentation and for those who want to learn more about instructional continuity you will find a link to the PowerPoint presentation above. Also, please visit our Instructional Continuity web page, where you will find planning guides, resources, and a recording of the workshop presentation.

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #95: End of Semester Tasks

As we approach the end of the semester there are a few things you can do in Blackboard to wrap up for the semester.

image showing empty desks with the caption Getting Ready for the End of the Semester

Download your gradebook

Student access to courses is removed two weeks after the end of a semester. During this process all grade book records are deleted. You should download your gradebook to your local computer after you submit your final grades.

Create a master copy of your course

Courses remain on the Blackboard system for three semesters before they are removed. You can request a Master Course Shell that you can use to develop and maintain your course materials. Master Course Shells will not be removed from the Blackboard system.

Hide old courses from view

When you login to Blackboard you will see your courses for previous semesters listed along with the courses you are currently teaching on the Xavier University and Courses tabs. If you do not want to see older courses in the list, you can hide them from view.

Follow these steps to do it.

Instructions are available in previous Bb tips for downloading your grade book, requesting master course shells, and hiding old courses from view.

Want more information?

Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.