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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

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #85: Course Files

Creating and maintaining a repository of materials is an important part of developing Blackboard courses. With Course Files, instructors have access to their files from a central location inside their course. They can view, organize, and manage those files to suit their needs.

Files are uploaded into the Course Files storage area in one of two ways:

  • Upload files when creating content in the course. The files are automatically saved in Course Files.
  • Upload files directly into Course Files. When you create content in your course, you can link to the files.
Course Files
Course Files

Large amounts of content can be moved quickly from a local drive to the Course Files storage area in your course. Once content is in the Course Files storage area, it can be organized using folders and sub-folders. The organization of content in Course Files is separate from the organization of content presented in a course.

Course files are not shared across courses taught by the same instructor. However, content in the Course Files storage area can be used in multiple places within the same course just by linking to it. Students do not have access to store or share files in the Course Files storage area. Students will have access to files once the instructor provides a link to them.

Content linked in a course from Course Files is not deleted when the link in the course is deleted. The file remains in Course Files and can be used again. Links to course content are not broken when files are modified or moved to another Course Files folder. You can permanently remove a file from a course by deleting it in the Course Files storage area.

Want more information?

Tour the Course Files feature [Video].
Working with Course Files [Webpage].
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.

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Published on 1 Comment on Bb Tip #84: Global Navigation Menu

The Global Navigation Menu is a new feature in Blackboard Learn SP 12. The Global Navigation Menu is the entry point to My Blackboard and also provides one-click access to your courses, organizations, settings and help. You no longer have to navigate to the Xavier University home page or courses tab to access your courses and organizations. Additionally, you will see an alert next to your name on the Global Navigation Menu when there are changes, notifications, or updates to your courses or organizations since your last login.

Global Navigation Menu
Global Navigation Menu

Follow these steps to do it.

To expand the Global Navigation Panel, click the arrow on the right of your name. A drop-down window will appear showing the My Blackboard Menu on the left and the User Menu on the right.

Want more information?

Step-by-step instructions are available [pdf] [video].
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 10 Tips for Effective eLearning

Katie Lepi, who writes regularly for Edudemic, wrote an article listing 10 tips for effective eLearning. She writes:

Teaching online involves all the difficulties of teaching in person, with a few extra wrenches thrown in. Navigating the path of online learning can sometimes be rough, so the makers of the handy infographic below put together ten ‘links’ that make the ‘chain of e-Learning’ to help guide you on the online teaching path.

The-Chain-of-Successful-eLearning-Infographic

Want to read more? Read the entire article, "10 Tips for Effective eLearning," which is posted on the Edudemic website.

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #83: 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 #82: 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.

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.

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Published on 3 Comments on Bb Tip #81: Video Everywhere

"Video Everywhere" is a new feature in the content editor that allows you and your students to:

  • Record short YouTube videos on the fly using a webcam and seamlessly embed the video into your course materials, interactions, and feedback.
  • Reuse previously recorded YouTube videos by choosing from your own "library" of videos.

Videos are uploaded, processed and stored in YouTube. The videos are uploaded to YouTube as "unlisted" videos. An unlisted video is publicly visible, but not indexed in any search engines. Only people with a link to the video can view it. Videos uploaded through the content editor using "Video Everywhere" will have a link that users in your Blackboard course have access to.

Video Everywhere
Record from webcam

"Video Everywhere" is available in Blackboard wherever the content editor is available. A Google account and YouTube channel are required to use "Video Everywhere."

Follow these steps to do it.

Google/YouTube

Start by ensuring your Google/YouTube accounts are setup correctly:

  1. Create a Google account.
  2. Sign in to YouTube using your Google account credentials.
  3. Click arrow next to your icon (avatar).
  4. Click on [My Channel].
  5. Click [OK] to confirm new YouTube channel.

Note: Setting up your Google account and YouTube channel is something you will do one-time only. You do not have to repeat this process.

Video Everywhere

To record or use a previously recorded video:

  1. Click on the [Record from Webcam] button in the content editor.
  2. Click the [Sign in to YouTube] button. Sign into Google using your credentials.
  3. Click the [Grant access] button.
  4. Click the [Record from webcam] button. Optionally, you can click on the "Browse" tab to select a previously recorded video and then follow the prompts.
  5. In the Adobe Flash Player Settings window, select the "Allow" box to allow access to your webcam.
  6. Click on the microphone and camera tabs to verify the settings are correct.
  7. After verifying the microphone and camera settings, click the [Close] button to close the Adobe Flash Player Settings window.
  8. You may get a message asking to allow access to video camera. If so, click [Allow] and then click [Ok] to the YouTube message.
  9. You should see yourself in the Webcam Recorder window. Click the [Start Recording] button to record your message.
  10. When you are done recording click the [Stop Recording] button.
  11. Click the play button to review the video recording. If necessary, click the [Start over] button to record another video.
  12. Click the [Upload] button to upload the video to your YouTube channel.
  13. Choose your playback options and then click on the [Insert] button to insert the video into the content editor.
  14. You should see a placeholder (frame) for the video in the content editor. You will see the actual video player (or a thumbnail) once you click Submit to save the information. If you don’t see the video, click on the refresh button to refresh the Blackboard page.

Want more information?

Getting Started with Video Everywhere [pdf] [video].
Step-by-step instructions are available [pdf]
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.

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Published on 4 Comments on Bb Tip #80: Date Management

Due dates, availability dates, and adaptive release dates are usually entered when you create assignments, assessments, discussion boards, blogs, wikis, journals, etc. You can use due dates to help keep students on track. Students see the due dates when they go to My Grades to view their grades and when they look at entries in their course Calendars. With the new updated Calendar students can see the due dates for items in their courses. Assignments, assessments, discussion boards, blogs, wikis, journals, etc. with due dates automatically populate into the Calendar.

The new Date Management tool allows you to easily change due dates, availability dates, and adaptive release dates at one time (all on one page). If you have to modify dates for two or more items you should consider using the Date Management tool to adjust the dates. The Date Management tool will save you some time as you will not have to edit each individual item to adjust the dates.

The Date Management tool can be very useful when you use the Course Copy feature. For example, if you created a master copy of a course and copied the content from the master course into a blank course, you can use the Date Management tool to easily adjust dates after the course copy.

Note: You cannot use the Date Management tool to adjust dates of Collaborate sessions, Bb partner integrations or publisher content items (e.g. Turnitin, McGraw Hill, etc.)

Follow these steps to do it.

To adjust content and/or tool due dates, availability dates, and adaptive release dates you should:

  1. Goto the [Control Panel] for the course and click on the [Course Tools] link to expand it. Click on [Date Management].
  2. Choose whether you want the system to automatically adjust dates to new dates or if you want to "List All Dates for Review". The "List All Dates for Review" option allows you to review all dates and manually adjust dates yourself.
  3. Click Refresh to ensure the page is up-to-date.
  4. Review all dates and adjust accordingly. You can filter your review by item type (e.g., assignments, blogs, journals, discussion boards) and date types (e.g., due dates, availability dates, adaptive release dates).
  5. You can adjust dates individually, two or more at one time, or automatically. Use the pencil icon to modify dates for individual items.
  6. Click [Run Date Management Again] to automatically adjust dates.

Note: If you do not see Date Management in your Course Tools, you should verify the Date Management tool is available in your course. To verify, go to the [Control Panel] click on [Customization] to expand it and click on [Tool Availability]. Make sure there is a check mark in the available box for the Date Management tool. Click [Submit] to save the changes.

Want more information?

Step-by-step instructions are available [webpage] [video].
Copy Course Contents into another Course [webpage].
Master Copies of Courses [webpage].
Blackboard Calendar [video].
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 #79: You Can Personalize Blackboard

The "@X@user.full_name@X@" template variable allows you to personalize messages for your students inside Blackboard. Use this template variable to create a more personalized learning environment. For example, you can personalize a welcome message and/or honor pledge by including the student’s name.

Follow these steps to do it.

1) Enter "@X@user.full_name@X@" (without the quote marks) in the content editor wherever you want to substitute the student’s name.

1st example – In a welcome message enter:

Hi @X@user.full_name@X@, welcome to the...

Welcome Message Example
Welcome message example

2nd example – For an acknowledgement in an honor pledge enter:

I, @X@user.full_name@X@, acknowledge that...

Honor Pledge Example
Honor pledge example

2) You will see the substitution once you click [Submit] to save the item.

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 email or call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

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Published on 2 Comments on Bb Tip #78: Master Copies of Courses

Courses remain on the Blackboard system for three semesters before they are removed. You can request a Blackboard 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. If you would like your course content/materials to be available in Blackboard beyond the current retention period of three semesters, you should request a Master Course Shell for the course.

Follow these steps to do it.

If you want your course/materials to be available in Blackboard, you should:

  1. Fill out the Master Course Shell Request form.
  2. Use Course Copy to copy the course content you want to keep into the Master Course Shell. Alternatively, you can start from scratch building content in your Master Course Shell.
  3. Copy the Master Course Shell contents into your “empty” Blackboard course once the course becomes available.

Note: You can share your Master Course Shell with other faculty members by filling out the Request to Grant User Access form.

Want more information?

Step-by-step instructions are available [PDF].
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional Blackboard information
or email or call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #77: Inline Grading for Assignments and Tools

The new Inline Assignment Grading feature introduced new capabilities for grading Assignments in Blackboard and a new user experience for the grading sidebar.

Highlights of Inline Grading for Assignments:

  • Assignment Tool includes collapse and maximize buttons for more screen real estate.
  • By default the rubric and comment fields are collapsed. Click on the Show/Hide Grading Panel arrow to expand it.
  • Rubrics can be viewed inline in the grading sidebar.
  • Instructors can override individual grades for group assignments.
    Inline Grading Assignment Example

    Grading Panel Expanded

This past weekend’s Blackboard update added inline grading and a more consistent grading sidebar to other activities in the course that already had inline grading (i.e. Blogs, Journals, Wikis, and Discussion Boards).

Highlights of Inline Grading for Blogs, Journals, Wikis, and Discussions Boards:

  • Blogs and Journals:
    • The grading sidebar can be expanded to view the comment and rubric panel.
    • Instructors can navigate between students within Blogs and Journals.
    • Instructors can navigate between entries submitted by the currently selected student.
    • The grading sidebar can be collapsed or expanded for more screen real estate.
  • Discussions Boards:
    • Instructors can navigate between students within Discussions.
    • The grading sidebar can be collapsed or expanded for more screen real estate.
  • Wikis:
    • The grading sidebar can be expanded to view the comment and rubric panel.
    • Instructors can navigate between students within Wikis.
    • A participation summary is displayed.
    • The grading sidebar can be collapsed or expanded for more screen real estate.
    Inline Grading Journal Example

Important Note: Students will see the updated sidebar when they access assignments, blogs, journals, and wikis. Before the update students would see the assignment instructions automatically. Now students should click on the view/hide content arrow in the sidebar to see instructions and additional information.

    View/Hide Content Example

Want more information?

View short video: Inline Assignment Grading [1:53]
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or email or call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418