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Category: Blackboard Bits, Bytes, and Nibbles

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #179: Discussion Board Access Denied Error

keep calm it's a known issue

After our recent Blackboard system upgrade, instructors began to receive an "Access Denied" error message when attempting to access an unavailable discussion board forum. If an instructor choses the option to make the discussion board unavailable and/or once the display until date/time has past, the instructor will receive an “Access Denied” error message when attempting to access the discussion board.

This is a known issue and will be corrected with the next Blackboard system upgrade. Upgrades to our Blackboard system are normally done between semesters because the system has to be taken down to do the upgrade. Our next upgrade is scheduled to happen in between the spring and summer semesters.

In the meantime, you can use the following workaround if you use discussion boards AND set them up with availability restrictions. The assumption for applying date/time restrictions is that after a certain day and time, the instructor does not want the students to have access to the discussion board. If this your goal, then the workaround to add a link to the discussion board forum and set the availability restrictions on the link should work for you.

Note: Locking discussion threads will let students read posts once the date restriction has past but not be able to submit new posts. The assumption for locking discussion threads is that the discussion board is setup so that students cannot create new threads. The instructor creates the forum and the threads and then students reply to the threads. If you think this may be an option for you, read my blog post for more information on how to lock discussion threads.

Follow these steps to do it.

To add a link to a discussion board forum in a content area:

  1. Turn Edit Mode ON.
  2. Access the content area that you want to add the discussion board forum link to.
  3. On the menu bar, roll your mouse over [Tools] then click on [Discussion Board].
  4. Click on the “Select a Discussion Board Forum” radio button and then select the discussion board forum from the list.
  5. Click [Next].
  6. Enter assignment instructions and select your availability options for the link.
  7. Click [Submit].

Note: The steps above set restrictions on the link to the discussion board forum, not the discussion board forum itself. The discussion board forum that you are linking to should be made available with no date/time restrictions. Therefore, you must remove the availability restrictions from the discussion board forum in order for this workaround to work. The restrictions set in the forum link will determine when students see the link to the discussion board forum. It also determines whether they see the discussion board forum when they access the discussions tool.

Want more information?

Add Discussion Board Forum Link to Content Area (PDF)
Lock Discussion Threads
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 #178: Email the Professor

As we start this new semester students will have a lot of questions. I'm a big fan of setting up your Blackboard course to minimize student questions. A lot of student questions are asked via email. I provided some tips on how you can manage student emails in previous CAT FooD blog post.

For those times when students do need to send email to you, you can give them a one click solution to make it easy for them to send you email from inside your Blackboard course.

Here’s a Bb ninja trick to do the job.

ninja star embedded in a tree

Follow these steps to do it.

To add an “Email the Professor” link to your course menu:

  1. From the [Add Course Menu] option, choose [Course Link].
  2. Click on [Browse] in the Add Course Link window.
  3. Choose [All Instructor Users] from the pop-up window. This can be found in the Tools area under Send Email.
  4. Change the name field to “Email the Professor” and make sure the Available to Users box is checked. Click Submit.

Note: The Tools link must be in your course menu for these instructions to work. Refer to the step-by-step instructions if you need to add the Tools link to your course menu.

Want more information?

Step-by-step instructions are available [Email the Professor (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.

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #177: Beginning of Semester Tasks

checklist

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.

NOTE: Currently, the section merge tool is no longer available. A system administrator will have to merge your courses. Send an email to Yamlak Tsega (ytsega@xula.edu) if you want to merge courses. You should include the course ID (including CRN) for all the courses you want merged together. The course merge process requires that a brand new empty Blackboard course be created that will serve as the primary course for all the merged sections. If you have any course content that needs to be retained in one of the courses to be merged, it will have to be exported and then imported into the newly created combined course. Please include that information with your request to merge courses.

Follow these steps to do it.

Listed below are links with instructions for

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 #176: Course Copy

Copy seal

You do not have to start from scratch when creating content for your course. If you created content in one course you can copy that content into another course. For example, if you are teaching multiple sections of a course, you can create all the content in one course section and then copy the content into the other sections. Copying course content is particularly useful at the start of a semester as it allows you to copy content from a previous semester to a newly created empty course. Course content for the previous three semesters will remain in Blackboard before it is removed.

Follow these steps to do it.

  1. Go to the [Control Panel] of the course in which has the content you want to copy.
  2. Click on [Packages and Utilities] to expand it and then select [Course Copy].
  3. Choose [Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course] for the Select Copy type.
  4. Click on the [Browse…] button next to the [Destination Course ID] field. This will bring up a window containing a list of all available courses. Select the appropriate destination course from the list by clicking on appropriate radio button for the destination course and then click [Submit]. The [Destination Course ID] field will be filled in with the destination course you selected.
  5. Choose which portions of the course will be copied by clicking on the appropriate content section(s). You can either select all or select individual content items like [Announcements], [Grade Center Columns and Settings], [Discussion Board], and [Tests, Surveys, and Pools] by selecting the appropriate checkbox for the item.
  6. Choose [Copy links and copies of the content] in the File Attachments section.
  7. Click the [Submit] button when you are done. You should receive a message telling you that the course copy has been queued and that you will get an email when the process is complete.

Important:

Double-check to make sure the correct destination course is selected. There is no way to reverse the copy process once the wrong course is selected and the copy request is submitted.

Care should be taken when selecting content areas with items that have columns which were automatically created in the Grade Center. If you have content areas with items that have columns which were automatically created in the Grade Center, you should include Grade Center Columns and Settings in the copy as well. Failure to include linked items in the course copy will result in broken links in the destination course.

Want more information?

Step-by-step instructions are available [Copy Course Content (PDF)]
Master Copies of Courses
Merging Courses
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.

1

Published on 1 Comment on Bb Tip #175: Merging Courses

why merge road sign

Faculty can request to have two or more of their courses combined into a single course. Combining courses can be useful when you are teaching multiple sections of the same course or when you are teaching a course that is cross-listed. Merging courses allows you to have all the students in a single Blackboard course which can be useful for collaborative work. Merging courses reduces the number of courses an instructor has to manage within Blackboard, especially when each section has identical content.

Once your courses are merged, you can upload your course content and assignments into the merged course; communicate with the students in the merged course; setup collaborative course work; and have one gradebook for the merged course. You can create groups within your merged course that correspond to the original course sections. This way you can target a particular course section (group) of students for specific things (e.g. send email to a specific group, make content available to specific group, enter/view gradebook entries for a specific group, etc.)

NOTE: Merging of courses is typically done at the start of the semester before content is added and before students submit course work. You should wait to request your courses be merged if there is a possibility that there will be last minute changes to instructor course section assignments. You can request a Master Course Shell to build your course and then transfer the content into your merged course.

You should carefully consider whether merging courses is right for you. Some disadvantages to merging courses are:

  • Course enrollments for the merged courses will be combined which can make grading student work a challenge. You can use Smart Views to make grading easier.
  • If you decide you want to unmerge courses after students have submitted course work, student work and grades will be lost. Only student enrollments are retained when courses are unmerged.

Follow these steps to do it.

NOTE: Currently, the section merge tool is no longer available.

A system administrator will have to merge your courses. Send an email to Yamlak Tsega (ytsega@xula.edu) if you want to merge courses. You should include the course ID (including CRN) for all the courses you want merged together. The course merge process requires that a brand new empty Blackboard course be created that will serve as the primary course for all the merged sections. If you have any course content that needs to be retained in one of the courses to be merged, it will have to be exported and then imported into the newly created combined course. Please include that information with your request to merge courses.

Want more information?

How to merge courses (PDF).
How to manage merged courses (PDF).
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Check out help for instructors at help.blackboard.com.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

2

Published on 2 Comments on Bb Tip #174: Master Copies of Courses

view of kitten and its reflection in a mirror

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 [Master Copies of Courses (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.

Photo credit: Reflection by Paul Reynolds | CC BY 2.0

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #173: Download Your Gradebook

download road signs

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 to download Grade Center (PDF) are available.
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Check out help for instructors at help.blackboard.com.
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.

Photo Credit: Download Signs | CC0

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #172: End of Semester Tasks

classroom with empty chairs

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.
Check out help for instructors at help.blackboard.com.
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.

Photo Credit: Classroom/Lecture Hall | CC0

Published on Leave a comment on Bb Tip #171: Grade Center – Row Visibility

Have you ever met with a student and wanted to review the student’s grades in Blackboard, but couldn’t because the Grade Center shows the grades of all the other students? Row visibility allows you to temporarily hide the grades of all the other students and only show the grades for a single student.

Follow these steps to do it.

To hide rows:

  1. In the Grade Center, roll your mouse to the Last Name, First Name, or Username cell of the desired student and click on the drop-down arrow in the right of the cell.
  2. Select [Hide Other Rows] from the short cut menu. When done, you should only see the selected student.

image showing hide other rows on shortcut menu in the Grade Center

To show rows:

  1. In the Grade Center, roll your mouse to the Last Name, First Name, or Username cell of the student and click on the drop-down arrow in the right of the cell.
  2. Select [Show All Rows] from the short cut menu. When done, you should see all students.

image showing show all rows on shortcut menu in the Grade Center

Want more information?

Grade Center - Row Visibility (PDF)
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 #170: Grade Center

The Grade Center is more than just a way to record students' grades. It's a dynamic and interactive tool, allowing instructors to record data, calculate grades, and monitor student progress. In addition to being able to record grades, instructors can track student work and share private comments and feedback with students throughout the semester.

image showing Grade Center

The Grade Center is integrated with gradable items such as tests, assignments, discussion boards, blogs, journals, wikis, and ungraded items, such as surveys and self-assessments. Instructors can create Grade Center columns for activities and/or requirements done outside of Blackboard, such as exams given on paper, oral presentations, and participation.

Students also benefit when their instructor uses the Grade Center. Students have the opportunity to adjust their approach to learning to improve their performance when they see their grades and instructor feedback.

Follow these steps to do it.

Listed below are links to previous Bb tips on using the Grade Center:

Want more information?

Working with the Grade Center
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.