Skip to content

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

1

Published on 1 Comment on Bb Tip #76: What’s New in Mobile Learn 4.0?

The Blackboard Mobile Learn app has been completely redesigned. The updates made to the Mobile Learn app makes using the app and reading content easier than ever. Some of the new features include:

Faculty and students can stay connected with their Blackboard courses and organizations while on the go. With Mobile Learn 4.0 you can quickly and easily disseminate information to your students. Mobile Learn is primarily designed as a communication tool which will allow you to perform tasks such as post announcements, view discussions, create or reply to discussion threads, view journal entries and blog posts. You cannot use Mobile Learn to set up or organize your courses.

Mobile Learn has Dropbox integration, which allows you to manage course documents with ease. Mobile Learn does not have Grade Center integration.

Depending on the particular mobile device, some Blackboard features may not work, but you can always access those features using a browser such as Firefox, Chrome, or Internet Explorer on your computer.

Want more information?

Introducing Mobile Learn 4.0 [web page]
Get Mobile Learn App [web page]
Recommended Practices for Mobile-Friendly Courses [web page]
Mobile Learn Resource Center [web page]
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center [web page].
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or email or call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

1

Published on 1 Comment on Bb Tip #75: Change the Name of your Course

The names of courses in Blackboard are identical to the names that appear in the Banner system. Instructors have the ability to change the names of the courses to suit their needs. For example, if you teach two sections of English 1010, you can personalize the names to become ENGL1010 – 9 MWF and ENGL1010 – 1:15 TR.

Follow these steps to do it.

To change the name of your Blackboard course, you should:

  1. Go to the [Control Panel] of the course you want to change the name of. Click on the [Customization] link to expand it.
  2. Click on [Properties].
  3. Enter the new name for your course and click [Submit].

Note: Care should be taken to make sure the new name of the course can be easily recognized by the students enrolled.

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 #74: Link Checker

Use Link Checker to check for broken links. Quite often faculty insert links to external web sites into their courses. This makes it convenient for users to get to the external web sites. While the link may be a live link when it's placed in the course, there is no way to automatically know if a link later becomes broken. With Link Checker, you can run a quick scan of your course to determine if any of the web page links are no longer valid.

Follow these steps to do it.

To verify web page links in your course are still valid, you should:

  1. Goto the [Control Panel] for that course and click on the [Course Tools] link to expand it. Click on [Link Checker].
  2. After a few moments, a list of all the web links in your course will appear.
  3. Broken links will have an "X" in the valid column.
  4. You cannot remove a link with Link Checker, but you can make it unavailable by hiding it. Check the Hide box for the link you want to make unavailable.
  5. Click on the [Submit] button when done.

Note: If you do not see Link Checker in your Course Tools, you should verify the Link Checker 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 Link Checker. Click [Submit] to save the changes.

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 #73: Beginning of Semester Tasks

The beginning of the semester is a good time to get started using Blackboard. 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.

Here 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]

Want more information?

Stop by one of the drop-in sessions for 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 email or call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

1

Published on 1 Comment on Bb Tip #72: What’s New in Bb Learn 9.1 SP13?

During the break between summer and fall semesters Blackboard will be upgraded to version 9.1 service pack 13. Upgrading to SP13 gives us a number of exciting new features as well as a few bug fixes. New features include:

1) Global navigation menu: You no longer need to navigate to the XU home page or courses tab to access your courses and organizations. The global navigation menu is the entry point to My Blackboard and also provides one-click access to your courses, organizations, settings and help.

View short video: Global Navigation Menu [3:40]

2) Enhanced content editor: 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 is the prior formatting problems of cutting and pasting text from Word. The content editor retains the formatting of the pasted text.

View short video: Enhanced Content Editor [3:59]

3) Video Everywhere: Video Everywhere is a new feature of the content editor that allows you and your students to:

  • Record a YouTube video on the fly using a webcam and have it seamlessly embedded (through the content editor) into your course materials, interactions, and feedback.
  • Reuse previously recorded YouTube videos by choosing from your own "library" of videos.

A Google account and YouTube channel is required to use Video Everywhere.

View short video: Video Everywhere [1:34]

4) Discussion board enhancements: The Discussion Board maintains all of its existing functions but with improved aesthetic and functional design. Discussion board enhancements include:

  • All posts on one page - all of the posts in a thread are now visible at the same time on one page.
  • "Post First" setting – instructors set a requirement for students to post to a forum before they can see other students' posts. This encourages thoughtful first posts and discourages "me too" posts.
  • Inline replies – when you reply to a post, the new content editor appears on the same page, in the context of the discussion, so you can include rich media and formatting in your postings.
  • Role highlighting (especially useful in organizations) - posts made by forum managers and moderators now contain the course role and forum role of the person posting, making it easy to identify the role of the person who is posting.
View short video: Discussion Board Enhancements [1:20]

5) Inline assignment grading: Inline assignment grading enhances the grading experience for instructors. Instead of requiring instructors to download student-submitted files to view or edit those submissions, instructors can now see those files "inline," i.e. in the web browser. Annotation tools also enable instructors to provide feedback -- comments, highlights, and even drawing -- directly on the inline view of the document.

View short video: Inline Assignment Grading [1:53]

6) Test/survey design and deployment enhancements: New enhancements give you more control over the design and give you flexibility over the delivery of assessments. The new enhancements are:

  • Adding questions to a test/survey – When creating/editing a test/survey you can add new questions exactly where you want them on the canvas by clicking the plus sign before or after another question and then choose a question type.
  • Test/survey availability exceptions - New settings have been added to Test and Survey Options pages to allow you to select one or more groups of students and make a number of exceptions to the already established availability settings. For example if you have a student with a disability that needs additional time to take a test, you can set an exception to give that student extra time to complete the test. You can change these settings at any time, even after the test/survey has been attempted by some students.
  • Test/survey results and feedback - After students complete a test/survey, results and feedback are available to them. By setting up rules, you can set the release of progressive feedback to keep test results secure and prevent cheating.
  • Due date and late submissions – This new enhancement allows instructors to decide whether to allow students to take a test/survey after the due date has passed.
View short video: Test/Survey Enhancements [2:07]

7) Test item analysis and automatic regrading: You can evaluate the quality of objective test questions, including each question’s ability to discriminate between students who understand the material and those who do not. Ineffective questions can be easily identified and then quickly corrected with the automatic regrade feature.

View short video: Test Item Analysis and Auto Regrade [5:00]

8) Calendar: The new updated calendar allows you to spend less time organizing your calendar and more time doing what's on it. You can consolidate course items into an easy-to-use personalized view. You can easily add events, drag and drop to change due dates, input course reminders, and export to third-party calendars like Outlook or Google. Events and due dates you add to your course calendar will be seen by all students enrolled in the course.

View short video: Calendar [1:24]

9) Retention Center: The Retention Center enables instructors to identify and give focused attention to students who are at risk of not performing well. From the Retention Center, you can communicate with struggling students and help them take immediate action for improvement. The Retention Center replaces the Early Warning System feature, providing easier workflow while retaining the Early Warning System's data and rules.

View short video: Retention Center [4:30]

Want more information?
Get more information about the new features of Blackboard Learn 9.1.
Sign up for a Blackboard workshop or stop by one of the drop-in sessions for one-on-one help.
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or email or call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418

7

Published on 7 Comments on Bb Tip #71: Download Your Gradebook

You should download your gradebook to your local computer after you submit your final grades. Student access to Blackboard courses is removed two weeks after the end of the semester. During this process Grade Center records are deleted. All your Grade Center records will be lost if you do not download your gradebook before student access is removed from Blackboard courses.

Follow these steps to do it.
In order to download (export) the gradebook for a course, you should:

  1. Goto the [Control Panel] for that course and click on the [Grade Center] link to expand it. Click on [Full Grade Center].
  2. Move your mouse over the [Work Offline] button on the menu bar and then click on the [Download] link.
  3. Under [Data] section, select the [Full Grade Center] option, under the [Options] section, select [Tab] as the delimiter type and [Yes] to include hidden information.
  4. In the [Save Location] section, choose [My Computer] and then click on the [Submit] button at the bottom of the page.
  5. On the next page click on the [Download] button. You should get a dialog box with a request to save the file. Save the file to a location where you can find it later. The file you saved can be opened with Microsoft Excel.

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

3

Published on 3 Comments on Bb Tip #70: Integrate Web 2.0 Tools in your Course

Web 2.0 tools reflect the new ways people are using the web. First generation web content was comprised of static pages. Web 2.0 tools can engage your students by adding new ways to communicate and collaborate in your course.

Web 2.0 tools can be embedded into your Blackboard course. Integrate Web Tools into Blackboard [PDF] describes and rates the ease of use of 14 free Web 2.0 tools you can use to engage students. Additional Web 2.0 tools that may be helpful in your teaching and learning can be found at this link: 50 Web Tools in 50 Minutes.

Follow these steps to do it.
To embed a Web 2.0 tool into your course:

  1. Access the website for the Web 2.0 Tool.
  2. Create the tool, presentation, or collaboration space.
  3. Locate the embed code. This is usually available by clicking a link to share or embed the content.
  4. Copy the embed code.
  5. In your Blackboard course, create an Item in a content area.
  6. On the Create Item page, type a Name.
  7. In the Text Editor, click the Toggle HTML Source Mode icon.
  8. Paste the embed code.
  9. Click Submit.

Want more information?
Using Web 2.0 tools [Video]
Integrating Web 2.0 tools into your course [PDF]
7 Things you should know about privacy in Web 2.0 learning environments [PDF]
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center [HTML].
Blackboard How-To documents [PDF]
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 #69: Simplify Assignment Collection

The Assignment Tool is an efficient way to manage and collect your student's individual and group assignments digitally. Blackboard's Assignment Tool allows faculty to create a secure location for students to submit class assignments. Faculty use the Grade Center to monitor the submission process, to view and/or download submitted work, to compose and send confidential feedback to students and to grade the assignment. Faculty can download all of a particular assignment’s student submitted files in a single zip file. In the download zip file, each student submitted file will be renamed automatically to include the assignment’s name, the student’s username, as well as the filename the student originally submitted.

A number of options are available when creating an assignment using the Assignment Tool:

  • Assignment Files - allows faculty to attach supplemental information
  • Assignment Availability - allows faculty to create assignments in advance
  • Assignment Submissions (attempts) – allows for multiple or unlimited submissions
  • Date and Time Restrictions - allows faculty to decide when students can access the assignment
  • Individual or Group Assignments – allows faculty to choose who has access to assignment
  • Tracking Statistics - track the number of views and by whom

Use the Assignment Tool to help you set and manage deadlines, unclutter your inbox, and save trees.

Want more information?
Step-by-step instructions are available for faculty [PDF].
Step-by-step instructions are available to show students how to submit assignments [Video].
Explore Blackboard's On Demand Learning Center [HTML].
Blackboard How-To documents [HTML]
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 #68: Beginning of Semester Tasks

The beginning of the semester is a good time to get started using Blackboard. Blackboard courses are automatically created using the course information in Banner approximately two 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.
Here are links with instructions for

  • Merging courses [HTML]
  • Hiding old courses from view [HTML]
  • Getting started with the course environment [PDF]
  • Course structures and course themes [HTML]
  • Changing the display name for your course [HTML]
  • Adding a course banner [HTML]
  • Adding items to the course menu [PDF]
  • Posting announcements [HTML]
  • Copying content into another course [HTML]

Want more information?
Stop by one of the drop-in sessions for one-on-one help.
Explore Blackboard's On Demand Learning Center [HTML].
Blackboard How-To documents [HTML]
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or email or call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418

7

Published on 7 Comments on Bb Tip #67: Course Structures and Course Themes

Two new features included in the Blackboard Learn 9.1 SP9 upgrade are course structures and course themes. (See Bb tip #55 for more information on the upgrade.)

Course structures are predefined structures that correspond to teaching styles. There are five categories of course structures you can use as a launching pad to create content and to organize your course. Each course structure contains materials such as Course Menu links, instructions, and content examples you can add to your course to begin the design process quickly.

Course themes add a background image to the course display and change the color of the menu, buttons, controls, etc.

Setting up your course for the start of the semester is good time to try course structures and/or course themes.

Important: Adding a course structure does not replace existing Course Menu items or content. When using a course structure, its content is added to the existing content and Course Menu in your course. After applying the new course structure you will have to delete content and Course Menu items you do not want.

Themes do not affect course content or a chosen course structure. You can change the theme at any time. Unlike course structures, changing to a new course theme will not affect your course content or structure.


Follow these steps to do it.

To apply one of the predefined course structures to your course:

  1. Goto the [Control Panel] for the course and click on the [Customization] link to expand it. Click on [Teaching Style].
  2. Scroll through the course structures in the list on the left of section 1 and click one that you are interested in. A description will appear in the middle box and an example of the Course Menu for the selected course structure will be displayed to the right of the description. Each time you click on a course structure you will get a description and an example of the corresponding Course Menu.
  3. To select a course structure to apply to your course, select it from the list on the left and then click the [Use This Structure] button which is located under the course structure’s description.
  4. Optionally, you can check the box to include content examples for the selected course structure. If you choose this option sample content and instructions will be copied to your course.
  5. Click [Submit] to apply the selected course structure.


To apply a course theme to your course:

  1. Goto the [Control Panel] for the course and click on the [Customization] link to expand it. Click on [Teaching Style].
  2. Scroll through the course themes in section 3 and click on the one you want to use.
  3. Click [Submit] to apply the selected course theme.

Note: You can change the course theme without going through the control panel by 1) clicking on the color wheel icon which appears to the left of edit mode when edit mode is on, 2) scroll through the list of available themes, and 3) click on a new theme.

Want more information?
Selecting a course structure [HTML].
Setting Course Style Options [HTML].
Explore Blackboard's On Demand Learning Center [HTML].
Blackboard How-To documents [HTML]
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or email or call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418