Potential Blackboard Copy Issue

Are you planning to copy your 2012 summer course to create your 2013 summer course?  If so, this email contains important information regarding the setup of your 2013 summer course.  If you are not planning to copy your 2012 summer course, then this information may not apply to you.

We would like to inform you of a potential problem with documents that were attached to 2012 summer (2012SU) courses.  We have found that many of the documents that were attached to 2012SU courses were inadvertently deleted by Blackboard last December when they ran a process to delete ‘orphaned’ content.   Before copying your 2012SU course, please go into the course and look to see if your documents are available.  If they are not, you will see a red error message where the document should be attached that looks like the following:

In order to resolve this issue, Blackboard has restored all of the 2011 summer courses, which you can now access on your Blackboard course list.  Although these courses are 2 years old, this is the only available option to retrieve documents from a summer semester.  If you have taught the class in a more recent semester such as 2013SP or 2012FA, the documents should still be available in those courses.

If you had reconfigured your 2012SU course to use the 7 template buttons, it is recommended that you use that course to copy into your 2013SU course to keep the required button structure.  You will then need to download the documents from your 2011SU course and re-upload them into your 2013SU course.

If you receive this error in courses from semesters other than 2012 summer, please contact eLearning.

ONLINE FACULTY: NEW 2013SU Blackboard Course Setup Procedure

This summer eLearning Services will implement a new procedure for Blackboard Setup of Online and Hybrid Courses. Online faculty will be automatically enrolled into their Blackboard courses using data retrieved directly from Colleague/Owl Link. The ‘Blackboard Course Request Form’ for online and hybrid courses will be replaced with an electronic email form for course setup.  

Note:  On-campus courses will continue to use the “Blackboard Course Request Form.”  

The new procedure for Blackboard Online and Hybrid Course Setup will work as follows:

1. The faculty assignment is entered into Colleague/Owl Link (by the department chair, dean or other designee).
2. Through an automated process, faculty will be enrolled in their online and hybrid courses in Blackboard based on the faculty assignment entered into Colleague/Owl Link.   
3. Once faculty are enrolled in their Blackboard courses, they will receive an email.  The email will contain an electronic form requesting faculty to respond with any “Special Instructions” for their online and hybrid courses.  “Special Instructions” include Instructor Orientation information, On-campus testing, and Special Computer Requirements that are posted on the eLearning website for student access prior to the start of the semester. 

We will begin setting up summer Blackboard courses on Tuesday, April 30th. Below are some FAQ's that will answer some common questions.  If you have any additional questions regarding this process let us know. 

 

Blackboard Online and Hybrid Course Setup FAQs

Q1: How often will Blackboard be updated with faculty assignments?

A1:  Faculty assignments will be updated in Blackboard once per day (M-F) at 10:30 a.m.  At the start of each semester, faculty assignments will be updated twice per day (M-F) at 10:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. 

Q2: What should I do if my course is not showing up in Blackboard?

A2:  Check the Owl Link “My Class Schedule” area to confirm that you are listed as the instructor of record.  If you are not listed as the instructor, contact your department chair to update Colleague/Owl Link.   If you are listed as the instructor in Owl Link, your faculty assignment will be updated in Blackboard during the next scheduled update (see A1 above).   

Q3: What should I do if I confirm I am the instructor of record in Owl Link, but still do not see my course(s) in Blackboard?

A3: You will need to wait until the next scheduled Blackboard update (see A1 above).   If the Blackboard course is still not available after the scheduled update, contact eLearning.   

Q4: What should I do if my course is no longer on my Blackboard course list? 

A4: Check the Owl Link  “My Class Schedule” area to confirm that you are listed as the instructor of record.  Contact your department chair if you are no longer listed as the instructor; otherwise contact eLearning.

Q5: What happens if my section assignment changes after my Blackboard courses are set up?

A5: Once the assignment change has been entered into Owl Link, your new Blackboard course sites will be available after the next scheduled Blackboard update (see A1 above).  Note: You will no longer have access to course sites for course(s) you are no longer teaching. 

Q6: What happens if my section assignment changes after I have posted content?

A6: The content will remain in the course.  Contact eLearning immediately to discuss removing the content. 

Q7: What should I do if the Blackboard course site already contains content?

A7: You should contact eLearning immediately.  This can only happen when a section assignment change occurred after the original faculty member began to upload content.   We will need to contact the original faculty member prior to removing the content.

Q8: How do I request instructor-led orientation?

A8: All online and hybrid faculty will receive an email with an electronic form requesting “Special Instructions” which includes Instructor Orientation.

Q9: How do I indicate any “Special Instructions” for my online or hybrid course, such as on-campus testing or special computer requirements?

A9: All online and hybrid faculty will receive an email with an electronic form requesting information regarding Instructor Orientation, On-campus testing and Special Computer Requirements.  

Why Your Students See ALL Discusson Boards

**UPDATE**

The known issue with the Blackboard Discussion Board forums explained below has been fixed.  Students should no longer see Discussion Board forums that are marked as ‘Unavailable’ or have a selected date range that is outside of the current date.

Please note that there is a known issue in Blackboard that allows students to see Discussion Board forums even if they are configured to “Not Available” or have date range restrictions. See below for when and what a student can see.

Discussion Boards marked “Unavailable” still show up on the main Discussion Board page. 

Students can read the name and description of the forum, but they cannot enter or post to the forum. 

1. The name of the forum is still displayed and the link looks active although a statement saying “This forum is currently unavailable” (see image below) is seen under the forum name. 

click image to view

2.  If the student clicks on the forum name (or if there are old posts existing in the forum the student can click on the number of posts), a red “Access  Denied” message is displayed that says they do not have access. 

click image to view

All Discussion Boards marked “Available” are accessible even if date range is selected 

Even if the date range would indicate that students should not be able to see the forum,

students can still read the name and description of the forum on the main Discussion Board page,

AND they can enter and post to the forum, too. 

1. Students can access any forum marked ‘Available’ and create a thread even though the statement under the forum name says that the forum is no longer available.

click image to view

Blackboard is aware of this issue and will fix it in a future service pack.  We will keep you informed when we are on a release where it has been fixed.

Trouble Pasting into the Content Text Editor? Keyboard Shortcuts May be the Answer

It has come to our attention that in some web browsers (such as Firefox), you must use CTRL-C to copy and CTRL-V to paste when working in the content text editor (instead of using a right-click to copy and paste). If right-clicking your mouse does not work, you may need to use the keyboard shortcuts instead.

To Copy: 

1) Highlight the text you would like to copy.

2) Hold down the control button while simultaneously pressing "C" 

To Paste: 

1) Hold down the control button while simultaneously pressing "V"

The Content Editor: “Paste from Word” is No Longer an Option

Please note there is a new default content editor throughout Blackboard.  With the new content editor comes many changes to the toolbar; one of which being that the “Paste from Word” option in the mashup dropdown is no longer available. You can now paste directly from Word into the content area.
Click for more information

"Unavailable" Discussion Board Forums? Not Really

Please be aware that a Blackboard “Known Issue” exists where unavailable Discussion Board Forums are visible and sometimes accessible to students. Discussion Boards that are set to “Available” but have a Date/Time restriction set for a future date are still visible and accessible to students.  Students can enter the forum and create threads in those situations.

To make a discussion board inaccessible to students, you must manually make it “Unavailable”. The forum will still be visible to students but they will not be able to access it.  We recommend waiting to add discussion board forums until you are ready to use them. This bug will be fixed in a future service pack.

Important Grade Center Issue for Online Faculty

Please note that a grade MUST be entered into each graded column in the Grade Center for final grades to be calculated correctly.  If you leave the dashes (--) in a graded column, that column will NOT be included in the student's total grade calculation. You must enter a zero if a student does not submit the assignment (test, et al) for that column to be calculated.

Example:  If a student only turns in two assignments for the entire semester but receives the highest number of points on those assignments, the total grade will be calculated as an "A" if there are no other letter grades entered into the missing assignment grade columns and they are left with dashes (--) for a grade where there should be a zero.