Blackboard Tips

How to Create an iTunes U Site for your Blackboard Course

2012-02-13T19:18:00.002-05:00

You can create a private iTunes U page for your Blackboard course. You can use the site to upload media files for your course. Your students can subscribe to your course's iTunes U site using the Apple iTunes client on their computer (Mac or PC), or their iOS devices (iPad, iPod, iPhone).

Adding an iTunes U site to your Blackboard course is a 3-step process. Here are videos demonstrating how to perform each step in your course.

1. Enable iTunes U for your Course.

Video has audio, please enable sound.
Link to video: http://screencast.com/t/Vv3I3DhZ
Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

2. Post a link in your Blackboard course that students can use to access the iTunes U site

Video has audio, please enable sound.
Link to video: http://screencast.com/t/V9gDn0NQP6ca
Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

3. Upload and manage content (media files) in your iTunes U site

Video has audio, please enable sound.
Link to video: http://screencast.com/t/eDPdkHntbsiu
Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Any content you add now or later will be automatically downloaded to the computers and devices of students who have subscribed to your course's iTunes U site. You can use the "Upload and Manage Files" button to remove media files as well, using the "Choose Action" dropdown:

That's all there is to it.

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Blackboard Email and Blackboard Messages

2011-11-15T16:52:00.001-05:00

Blackboard has two separate messaging systems: (1) an internal messaging system called "Messages", and (2) an external messaging system called "Email".


If you use Tools > Messages or Course Tools > Messages, then the messages you send stay within Blackboard. You can send and receive Messages, and the students can check their messages and reply within Blackboard using Tools > Messages. You will find folders in Messages similar to the ones you would see in an email client (Inbox, Sent).

If you use Tools > Send Email or Course Tools > Send Email function in Blackboard, then the email will go out of Blackboard and into the Internet email system (to the students' email). Email is external to Blackboard, so when students reply, their replies will go to your email inbox (Outlook, Northeastern webmail, Lotus Notes, Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.). Email replies will not be sent back into Blackboard. Email delivery via the Internet may not be instantaneous. In the event of delay, the Internet will try to re-send messages for several days until it is delivered.

The Email and Messages functions in Blackboard are separate (messages do not travel between them). This means that if you send an "Email" from Blackboard using the Email function, it is not retained inside Blackboard anywhere. If you send a "Message", it does not go outside of Blackboard.

We hope this clarifies the Blackboard messaging system. Thanks for using Blackboard!

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How to Allow One Student More Time on a Timed Test/Quiz in Blackboard

2011-10-07T13:10:00.002-04:00

You may want to allow a student to take longer than the time limit for a timed Test or Quiz in your Blackboard course.

When you set a time limit for a test, you can tell Blackboard to allow students to submit the test after the time limit is past. Blackboard will notify the instructor of the overtime in the Grade Center.

To allow students to submit past the time limit, in the Test Options make sure "Auto-Submit" is set to OFF.

If a student submits the test past the time limit, Blackboard will put an exclamation mark in the Grade Center for that student where the grade would normally be.

Click the "chevron menu" in the cell to view the attempt.

Click the "Test Information" link. Blackboard will report how many minutes over the time limit the student submitted the test.

This gives the instructor an opportunity to change the grade based on the time the student went over. Some instructors choose to deduct one point per minute over, or similar scheme.

In the case that you have one student who needs to be able to take longer on the exam, the easiest thing to do is to set the same time limit for everyone, and then just tell that particular student not to worry about the time limit (to just ignore it). After the student has submitted the test, click the chevron menu next to the exclamation mark in the Grade Center cell and submit his/her grade as-is with no changes or deductions. As usual, if anyone else gets an exclamation mark for going over, you can deduct from the grade as you usually would.

A similar problem is the case that you want to go back and make a previous Test / Quiz available to just one student to take over again. To do so, modify the test options for that test to include requiring a password to access it. Then set the test to available again for everyone, and only give the one student the password (more detailed instructions for how to do this are here)

We hope this information is helpful.

How to Add a Textbook to your Course in Blackboard

2011-10-04T10:38:00.000-04:00

There are several ways to add a link to your textbook in Blackboard. Here is a way that automatically creates a link to the Northeastern University bookstore.

1. Enter your course site in Blackboard and make sure Edit Mode is set to ON at the top-right so you can add content to your course.

2. Click the "Tools" section in the Course Menu on the left.

3. Click the "Textbooks List" link.

4. Use the drop-down to search for your textbook by Title, Author, or ISBN number. Type your search text in the Keyword field and click the "Go" button.

5. Locate your book and click the "Select" button.

6. The book is now added to your course. The students can access the book by navigating to Tools > Textbooks List.

Blackboard Service Pack 7

2011-10-01T13:54:00.004-04:00

Service Pack 7 for Blackboard includes bug fixes and improvements. Some of the features enabled by this Service Pack are:

- Interactive Rubrics (rubrics sharing) to enable consistent and fair grading for students

- Automatic Test/Quiz submission for a timed assessment when time is up

- Course Files permissions adhere to content availability settings (security improvement)

- Support for the "Common Cartridge 1.1" standard for exporting and importing course content

- Improved McGraw-Hill content integration

- Grade Center improvements, improvement to "Needs Grading" feature

- Improved tutorials for educators

- SCORM content player improvements

- Site performance improvements

Please see Blackboard's own site which details some of the changes in this Service Pack:

www.blackboard.com/sites/sp6/index.html

For more information, please contact the Help Desk at 617.373.HELP (x4357)

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How to Create a Sign-Up Sheet in Blackboard using Google Calendar

2011-09-12T21:19:00.005-04:00

You may want to create a sign-up sheet for Office Hours in your Blackboard course.

Here's how to do it using Google Calendar in a way that is convenient for students to use.

Video link: http://screencast.com/t/40XGIo9egj

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Note: To sign up for an office hours slot, students must have a Google Account (this is how the Office Hours calendar knows the names of the students in the slots without having to have them explicitly type their names). All students at Northeastern University already have Google Accounts via the G-Apps service (more information on G-Apps is here).

How to Change the Entry Point for your Blackboard Course

2011-09-12T19:48:00.001-04:00

The Entry Point is the first page students see when they click into your course site.

Here's a video showing how to change to Entry Point to a different Content Area:

Video link: http://screencast.com/t/yt6yr0Vl2fNI

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

How to Upload Many Files and Folders to Blackboard At Once

2011-08-18T18:00:00.004-04:00

If you have a lot of files and folders and you want to upload all of them to Blackboard at once, you can use a "Document Package".

A Document Package is a .zip file containing a structure of folders and files to be uploaded.

When you add a Document Package to a content area in your course, the folder structure and contents of the zip file will be uploaded to your course site in Blackboard and unpackaged into separate files and folders, preserving the folder hierarchy contained in the .zip file.

You can add a Document Package to a content area in Blackboard as follows:

1. Create a .zip file on your computer containing the files and folders you want to upload to Blackboard. If your zip file contains folders as well as files, make sure you use the "preserve folder information" option when creating your .zip file.

2. Log on to Blackboard and enter your course.

3. Make sure Edit Mode is on so you can add content to your course.

4. Click into the content area into which you want to upload the contents of your .zip file (e.g. the "Course Materials" section).

5. Select "Document Package" from the "Build Content" button.

6. Click the Browse button, browse to the .zip file you have prepared, and click Open.

7. Choose options and click the Submit button.

The file's complete contents will be uploaded to your Blackboard course and unpackaged to separate items in the Content Area you selected.

How Do Students Get Enrolled Courses in Blackboard?

2011-07-16T10:21:00.004-04:00

Here is how students gain access to course sites on the NEU Blackboard site at blackboard.neu.edu

Northeastern University students are enrolled automatically in course sites in Blackboard based on their enrollments in the Northeastern University Registrar's system, which is known as "Banner".

Students register for courses on the myNEU portal at myneu.neu.edu (CPS/NU Online students may register here)

If you have not activated your myNEU account yet, click the "How do I get a myNEU username and password?" link on the myNEU site. You choose your password during the activation process.

To Register for courses log into the myNEU site and click the "Self Service" tab:

Then click the "Course Registration" link:

Adding Courses

The Blackboard site automatically enrolls students in courses from the Registrar within 2 hours of official registration. However, only courses for which the instructor has made the course site available in Blackboard will appear for students in Blackboard. If the instructor does not use Blackboard for his/her course, students will not see the course site in Blackboard. Students: if you have a course which you believe should be available, please contact your instructor, who can make the Blackboard course site available to you and the other students enrolled in the course.

Dropping Courses

To drop a course, use the "My Schedule" link on the Self-Service tab on the myNEU site. Any course you drop via the myNEU portal / Registrar's Office will be removed from the Blackboard site within 2 hours.

To see a complete list of your registered courses at any time, use the "My Schedule" link on the Self-Service tab on the myNEU site.

CPS / NU Online students: if you have CPS / NUOL courses, they will be found on the NU Online Blackboard site at nuonline.neu.edu. The NU Online site operates independently of the NEU Blackboard site, however updates to the NU Online site from the Registrar's office happen at a similar interval.

For support for NEU Blackboard, please contact the Help Desk at 617.373.4357 or help@neu.edu.

For support for NU Online Blackboard, please contact the 24/7 NU Online Support Desk at 855-836-3520.

Connect Blackboard to McGraw-Hill Connect

2011-07-14T10:20:00.002-04:00

This is how to connect your Blackboard course to the McGraw-Hill Connect service.

1. If you have not done so already, establish a McGraw-Hill Connect account at http://connect.mcgraw-hill.com

2. Go to Blackboard and navigate to your course site.

3. Click the "Tools" area on the left side of your course (if you do not have a Tools area, click here to see how to create one):

4. Click the McGraw-Hill "Higher Education" link:

5. Click the "Pair Course with a Connect Section" link:

6. Follow the instructions that appear on McGraw-Hill's site to finish linking to your course.

7. After your course is linked, McGraw-Hill content may be added to your course using these buttons (click play button):

(video link: http://screencast.com/t/oLwU5CBnD877)

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Build Content >> McGraw-Hill Library

Create Assessment >> McGraw-Hill Assignment

Assign Textbook >> McGraw-Hill Create

How to use Respondus Lockdown Browser for a Test in Blackboard

2011-06-21T11:11:00.003-04:00

Respondus LockDown Browser is a tool that locks down the testing environment within Blackboard to prevent students from browsing to other sites during an exam. There is more information on the features of LockDown Browser here: http://www.respondus.com/products/lockdown.shtml

To require the use of Respondus Lockdown Browser for an existing Test in your Blackboard course:

1. First make sure you have created a Test under Course Tools > Tests, Surveys, and Pools. After you have an existing Test in place, you can require the students to have Lockdown Browser in order to take the test.

2. Click the Tools link on the left side of your course page, then click the "Respondus LockDown Browser" link.

3. Locate the Test you want to lock down, and click the "Settings" button to the right of it.

4. Select "Require Respondus LockDown Browser for this test". You may optionally require a password that the students will need to know in order to take the test (you must distribute the password to the students via your preferred method).

5. In order to take the test, the students will first need to download and install the Respondus Lockdown Browser client on their computers. Students may download the client via this link:

http://www.respondus.com/lockdown/information.pl?ID=538439877

After downloading and installing the LockDown Browser client, students should navigate to your exam in Blackboard and click on the link to take the Test as they normally would.

For more information:

Click for Instructor Quickstart Guide

Click for Student Quickstart Guide

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Trouble Playing Windows Media Video in your Browser

2011-04-20T14:52:00.000-04:00

If you are having trouble playing Windows Media format in Internet Explorer, try downloading and installing the latest version of Windows Media Player here:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/windows-media-player

If you are having trouble playing WMV format in your Firefox or Chrome browser, try downloading the Windows Media Player plugin as follows:

If a page simply links to Windows media files (e.g. .asf or .asx files), you might not see a prompt to download the Windows Media Player plug-in. In that case, follow these instructions to get the plug-in:

Windows instructions

Visit http://port25.technet.com/pages/windows-media-player-firefox-plugin-download.aspx
Click Download Now.
Click Save for the file in the downloads bar to confirm that you want to download the file.
When the download completes, open the set-up file.
Click Run to start the Setup Wizard. Follow the instructions in the wizard to finish installing the plugin.
Restart Google Chrome / Mozilla Firefox

Mac instructions

Visit http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/windows-media-player/wmcomponents
Click Free download to install Flip4Mac.
Click Save for the file in the downloads bar to confirm that you want to download the file.
Mount the .dmg file.
Click Flip4Mac WMV.mpkg.
Follow the instructions on the screen to finish installing Flip4Mac.
Restart Google Chrome / Mozilla Firefox
Open the Plug-ins page by visiting chrome://plugins in the address bar.
Click Enable for Flip4Mac. If you have trouble enabling the plug-in, click Details on the top right corner of the page and click Enable again.

Test whether the Windows Media Player plug-in is successfully installed

We hope this is helpful.

How to Edit Notification Settings

2011-04-05T14:48:00.000-04:00

You may edit your notification settings to tell Blackboard that you want or do not want to receive notifications via email, dashboard, and mobile.

Edit your notification settings via "My Places":

Login to Blackboard.
At the very top of the page, click My Places.
On the My Places window, under My Preferences, click Edit Notification Settings.
On the Edit Notifications page, under Bulk Notification Settings, click Courses I am taking or Courses I am teaching.

You will see the Change Settings page.

Under Select Course, select the courses for which you want to change notification settings by clicking the arrow to move them to the right-side box.
Under Settings, click to select which settings you wish sent to your Blackboard Dashboard, your E-mail, or your Mobile.
If you do not want a notification sent, click to clear the checkbox.
When you are finished, click Submit.

Recommended Browsers for Blackboard

2011-03-19T09:13:00.003-04:00

Click here to view the recommended browsers for use with our version of Blackboard.

Student Home Pages in Blackboard

2011-03-07T18:12:00.001-05:00

Older versions of Blackboard (versions 7.x and previous) had a "Home Page" tool where students could post some information about themselves including a picture for the instructor and other students.

The newer version of Blackboard (9.x +) has retired the "Home Page" tool. Instructors can now use the "Blog" tool to achieve a similar result. To create a place for students to post information about themselves, the instructor can make a Blog, and all students can post some information about themselves on it.

Below there is a link to a video that shows three things:

1. Creating a Content area on the left called "Home Pages" (this is optional; you can put the Blog into any section of your course)

2. Creating a Blog called "Home Page" to simulate the title of the previous feature

3. After turning Edit Mode off at the top right, the video shows how a student would access the blog and post something about him/herself.

The students can upload pictures of themselves using the "Avatar" feature in "My Places" (at the top of Blackboard) > "Personal Information" > "Personalize My Places" link. This should be noted in the "Home Page" Blog instructions (see the video), so students will know how to do it.

Click here to watch the Video

We hope this information is helpful for you and your students.

Blackboard Mobile

2011-03-06T11:47:00.005-05:00

Now available at Northeastern University

The Blackboard Mobile Learn application allows students and instructors to access Blackboard while on the go by giving students and educators access to their courses, content and organizations over WiFi* and Sprint 3G/4G* on a variety of mobile devices including Android, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, BlackBerry, and Palm WebOS smartphones.

Click here for a video demo of Blackboard Mobile on your device

Blackboard Mobile Learn offers features for easy viewing of Blackboard content on mobile devices. Some features include: viewing and posting announcements, discussions, blogs, tasks, view roster, and journals.

Blackboard Mobile Learn also supports playing embedded media such as videos and music from a course’s Blackboard site.

Students can also view grades for assignments on mobile devices using Blackboard Mobile Learn.

Student Features:

View selected course content for your available courses

View Announcements, Tasks, Class Roster, Grades, and some types of embedded media.
Participate in Discussion Board forums, Blogs, and Journals
Comment on classmates’ blogs and journals.

Instructor Features:

Create and view Announcements.

Create and view Discussion Board threads.

Post comments on students’ Blogs and Journals.

View Tasks, Class Roster, and embedded media.

To use Blackboard Mobile, start by downloading the app for your device:
Click here, then download the application for your platform.

After you have installed the application, run it and search for "Northeastern" in the list of schools.

*Students and Faculty can access the application if they use one of the following devices:

• Sprint Android via 3G/4G
• Sprint Blackberry via 3G/4G
• Sprint Palm device via 3G/4G
• iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone on a Wi-Fi connection
Students using Androids, Blackberrys, or Palm devices on other carriers are not able to access Blackboard Mobile Learn.

How to add Pictures to Test Questions in Blackboard

2011-02-23T10:51:00.000-05:00

You can add pictures to your online test questions in Blackboard.

To do so, go to the Test Manager and edit or create a test. Enable the pictures in questions option under "Creation Settings". Then create a question and browse to your computer to find the image to add.

The image must be appropriately sized, as Blackboard will not automatically resize the image. We recommend using images no more than 640 pixels wide.

Here is a video demonstrating how to add pictures/photos to online tests in Blackboard 9.

This video has audio, so please turn on the sound on your computer:

Uploading Grades to the Grade Center from a File

2011-02-15T20:40:00.005-05:00

Uploading Grades from External Sources

Instructors can do off-line grading in an application like Microsoft Excel and then upload grades into Grade Center from a file. Instructors can upload grades from a Comma-separated Value (.csv) or a Tab-delimited (.txt) file. The data in the file must be formatted very specifically to upload correctly and be synched with existing Grade Center data.

Formatting External Files for Uploading

To match the data in the file to existing with Grade Center data, unique identifiers are necessary for each Student and for each column in the file to be uploaded. The unique identifier used for each Student is the Student's Username. The unique identifier for each column is a Column ID number. Column ID numbers are generated by the system and should not be changed or deleted. Columns that do not have Column ID numbers in an uploaded file will create new columns in the Grade Center.

Each data file uploaded to the Grade Center requires a header row with one record per line subsequently. The format of the data file uploaded to the Grade Center is determined by the type of delimiter that is used to parse the data into separate columns. Data files can be tab delimited with a file extension of .txt, or comma delimited with a file extension of .csv. Files with the extension of .xls or .xlsx are generally Excel-formatted files which cannot be uploaded to Blackboard. Tip: Before uploading your file, open it in a text editor such as Notepad, Wordpad, or TextEdit in order to confirm that the file contains text and not binary Excel formatted data which looks like garbage when opened in a simple text editor.

Format:

Data in each column of comma-delimited files must be contained within a quote character, the most common being quotation marks ( " " ). Data in each column of tab-delimited files does not require a quote character.

Tip: To obtain a file that is formatted correctly for uploading, download the full Grade Center first and open it in a text editor or spreadsheet application. Existing columns will have Column ID numbers that must be included in future uploads. For instructions on how to download the Grade Center see Downloading Grades from the Grade Center.

Tip: Blackboard recommends using tab-delimited files for uploading onto the Grade Center to avoid having to use quote characters and because tab-delimited files open directly in Microsoft Excel.

In the sample files below, columns that already exist in the Grade Center have a Column ID number as part of the column name. The column Attendance does not have a Column ID so it will be created as a new column in the Grade Center. There is also no corresponding data for the new column, represented by a double set of quotation marks in the .csv file. Entries for attendance can be added manually from the Grade Center, or can be uploaded from another file.

Tab Delimited .txt File Sample:

User Name Last Name First Name Homework|188 Project|190 Final|191 Attendance 

Aanchor Anchor Anne 10 25 5 

Bbutterworth Butterworth Bob 7 20 12 

Ccharter Charter Chuck 3 23 2 

Ddoong Doong Dan 9 17 19

Comma Delimited .csv File Sample:

"User Name","Last Name","First Name","Homework|188","Mid-term|189","Project|190","Final|191","Attendance"
"aanchor","Anchor',"Anne","10","25","25","25",""
"bbutterworth","Butterworth","Bob","7","20","12","24",""
"ccharter","Chuck","Charter","3","20","23","22",""
"ddoong","Dan","Doong","9","15","17","19",""

Uploading the File to the Grade Center

To upload a file to the Grade Center, follow these steps:

1. Place your mouse cursor over the chevron button (the two arrows pointing downward) in Work Offline on the Grade Center page, and click Upload.

2. Click Browse to search for the file.

3. Select the Delimiter Type: Comma, Tab, or Auto. Auto will attempt to automatically detect the delimiter used in the selected file.

4. Click Submit to upload the selected file.

5. Review the list of data from the file to be uploaded. Use the check boxes to de-select any data to be excluded from the upload. Using this method, it is possible to upload only the desired columns of data from the file.

6. Review the Data Preview Column to ensure the correct data is being uploaded. Data that appears incorrect can denote an improperly formatted file. The Data Preview will only show a sample of the data in each column in the file.

Note: Large files take significant time to process and a warning message will be displayed for any files that need extra time to process. To avoid long processing times, break up large files into separate uploads.

7. Click Submit to confirm and upload the file.

Information about uploading "Letter Grades" to Blackboard:

The grades in a Grade Center upload file may be numeric or "letter" grades with the following caveats:

1. Blackboard accepts letter grades only in upper case (e.g. "A, B, C" not "a, b, c"). If the grades in the upload file are in lower case, Blackboard will reject them.

2. When uploading Letter grades to an existing Grade Center column, the existing Grade Center column must be set to Display "Letter" grades.

If you try to upload letter grades to a column which is currently set to display numbers or percentages, Blackboard will reject the letter grades and leave the column unchanged.

How to Upload Many Pictures to Blackboard at Once

2011-02-08T14:52:00.003-05:00

This page describes a method for uploading a .zip file containing picture files. If you would like to upload a collection of a combination of different kinds of files and folders (including picture files) all at once to Blackboard, please also see How To Upload Many Files and Folders to Blackboard at Once.

You can upload many pictures to your Blackboard course site at one time by using the a "package file" - a .zip file on your computer which contains the pictures which Blackboard can "unzip" for you.

Here's a video demonstrating how:

Direct link to video: http://screencast.com/t/jz1HeludO

(there is audio in this video so make sure your sound is enabled)
Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

A Quicker Way to Add Users to Groups in Blackboard

2011-01-21T11:00:00.000-05:00

One way to speed adding students to Groups in Blackboard is to use the letters on your keyboard to scroll down to the person whom you want to enroll.

Here is a demonstration video:

(this video has audio, so turn on your computer's sound):
Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

We hope this tip is helpful.

Using Groups in Blackboard

2010-12-03T15:37:00.005-05:00

Groups are used in Blackboard to divide your class into individual groups to facilitate group communication and interaction.

Common Uses for Groups:

Group Discussion Boards
Group Chat using the Virtual Classroom feature
Group File Exchange
Group Email
Group Blogs, Journals, and Wikis
Group Assignments
Limiting access to posted items or folders to certain Groups of people using the Blackboard Adaptive Release function.

How to create a Group

1. In your course, toggle Edit Mode at the top right to "On".

2. At the bottom left, click "Groups" under "Users and Groups"

3. Click the "Create Single Group" button > Manual Enroll option to create a manually-populated group.

4. In the "Group Name" box, enter the name of the group and an optional description:

5. Check the group options you want to make available to the Group:

6. Next, add users (students) to your group. To do this use the "membership" section to move students from the left box to the right box:

7. Once you have decided on the membership, click the "Submit" button at the bottom.

8. If later you want to go back to a group a edit the membership or add more students, click the >> Edit option to the right of the group name in your Groups list:

How Students access the Group

To access their group pages, students click the "Groups" link in the Course Menu on the left side of the course.

Students are only able to access Groups of which they are members.

How to Make a Test/Quiz available Again For Just One Student

2010-10-09T11:44:00.004-04:00

Your students have already finished a Test/Quiz, but you want to make the Test available again for just one student for a make-up.

The easiest way to make a quiz available to just one student is to set a password on the quiz and give it only to that one student, as follows:

1. Make sure the student doesn't already have a grade or a lock for the Test/Quiz in the Grade Center. If so, clear the grade/in-progress indicator/attempt so the cell is empty.

2. Go to the Content Area where the link to the Test/Quiz was deployed. Click the "chevron menu" to the right of the test link, then click "Modify the Test Options".

3. Make the quiz available in the usual way using "Make the link available" = "Yes".

4. Remove any date restrictions on the Test link by checking the "Display After" date is in the past and the "Display Until" date is in the future.

5. Scroll down to "Password. Require a password to access this Test." Check the box, invent a password and type it in the box.

6. Click Submit at the bottom.

The test is now available, but requires a password to take.

7. Give the password you invented to the one student so only that student will be able to enter the quiz again, verbally or via Email / Message.

Once the student takes the make-up Test/Quiz, you can confirm the grade in the Grade Center and then make Test link unavailable again.

We hope this information is helpful.

Pasting from Microsoft Word into Blackboard

2010-02-23T10:51:00.012-05:00

Instructors and students have experienced problems viewing text that has been pasted directly from Microsoft Word or other Office products directly into Blackboard.

This practice has results ranging from text not viewable by students, to errors in the Discussion Board, to corruption of Test/Survey questions, to strangely formatted text/unusual symbols.

The cause of this issue is hidden formatting code that is included when using the copy/paste feature from Microsoft Office products. This "bad HTML code" must be removed prior to pasting into Blackboard.

To avoid this issue, use the "Paste from Word" button when pasting content from Microsoft Office in the text editor in Blackboard:

(click image to enlarge)

The "Paste from Word" option preserves your text formatting and tables, but removes any problematic HTML code that may be incompatible with the Blackboard application.

If you have trouble using the Paste From Word feature, here is an alternative manual procedure, which also works:

Use the following procedure to prevent issues when pasting Text from Microsoft Word.:

1. In MS Word, highlight the desired text and copy it.

2. Open Notepad (PC: Start > All Programs> Accessories > Notepad) or TextEdit (Mac) and paste your text into the text editor. This action will remove the formatting codes.

3. In your text editor, highlight the entire block of text again (or push CTRL+A on the keyboard to select all) and copy.

4. Go to the course content area or Discussion Board post in Blackboard and paste the text into Blackboard.

5. Format your text again using Blackboard’s own Text Box Editor functions.

6. Submit your document and check for unusual characters. If one does appear, modify the item and correct the character. Again, submit the item and check your work.

Using the process of "cleaning" your clipboard text of Microsoft Word formatting takes longer but it is very helpful in preventing issues that may occur.

We hope this information is helpful.

How to Embed a Vimeo Video in Blackboard

2009-12-15T09:43:00.009-05:00

You may want to post a video in your Blackboard course using the Vimeo.com streaming service for several reasons, including:

1. You can post much longer videos using files that may normally be too large to upload to Blackboard successfully.
2. You can password protect your video and prevent students from downloading it
3. Videos embedded from Vimeo do not take up any quota space in your Blackboard course, no matter how long the video is.

Here's how to embed a Vimeo.com video in your Blackboard course:

[Update: This video below shows Blackboard version 7.x. You can embed videos in an almost identical way in Blackboard version 9.x as well. Just use Edit Mode=ON, and add an item to the course using the "Build Content" button. Then switching to HTML mode as shown in the video is exactly the same. Here's a video example of the process in Blackboard 9.1: http://j.mp/bbx4Ds]

Direct link to video: http://screencast.com/t/YTdmNDU4Z

(this video has audio, please adjust your sound settings)

How to Prevent Students from Printing Blackboard Documents (Using PDF)

2009-12-11T20:18:00.002-05:00

There isn't a 100% reliable way to prevent determined students from printing something you post on any website (the Blackboard site is no different). It is always possible for a student to use a screen-copier to copy what is displayed on the screen and then print it, or even to take a picture of the screen with a digital camera and then print it.

However, it is possible to create a PDF file that has a restriction on printing, which will stop the majority of students from being able to print, and will stop the casual user from being able to print. After you create a print-restricted PDF, you post it on Blackboard as you would any other file.

Here are two ways to create a PDF that is print-restricted:

1. Use PDFCreator

Download and install PDFCreator.
Set the PDFCreator to restrict printing on documents you create.
Print your file to the PDFCreator printer to create the restricted PDF file.
Post the file to Blackboard.

or,

2. Using Adobe Acrobat

Start Adobe Acrobat.
Use Acrobat to create a PDF file with the "no-print" security restriction.
Post the print-restricted PDF file to Blackboard.

We hope this information is helpful.

How to create a sign-up sheet in Blackboard

2009-11-10T10:50:00.005-05:00

This article shows how to create a sign-up sheet using a Wiki in Blackboard. Please also see this article about the alternative of creating a sign-up sheet using Google Calendar.

An instructor may want to create a sign-up sheet to allow students to sign-up for office-hour slots, or to sign up for topics for an assignment, or for meetings with an advisor or conference seats, etc.

The best way to accomplish this is to add a Wiki to your course. A Wiki is a page or set of pages that can be viewed and edited/filled-out by students.

Create a sign-up sheet on the first page of the Wiki with visible slots that the students can sign up for. The students can then come and sign their names in the slots by editing the Wiki page.

Example of the content of the Wiki:

Sign up for Office Hours on this page. To sign up, select “edit” on the right, and add your name to only one slot. Slots are taken on a first-come-first serve basis:

3:00pm _____________________________

4:00pm _____________________________

5:00pm _____________________________

6:00pm _____________________________

Here are instructions for how to set up a Wiki. You will want to create a page that all students in the course have access to edit and name it "Sign up sheet" or something similar:

http://blackboardtips.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-to-add-wiki-to-your-blackboard.html

For more information on how to use Wikis in Blackboard courses, please contact the Edtech Center at 617.373.3157

How to take Attendance using Blackboard

2009-10-20T15:26:00.008-04:00

To take attendance using Blackboard, create an "Attendance" column in the gradebook for each class session for which you'd like to take attendance.

Make the maximum point value 1.
Set the gradebook to display the item as complete/incomplete (instead of as a "score").
Set the column not to be included in the grade total calculations.

To take attendance:

Click the column heading in the Gradebook, then click "Item Grade List".
Give each student who attends class a "1". Leave absentees blank.

Here's a video showing how to set up attendance columns in the Gradebook and how to take attendance:

Link to video: http://screencast.com/t/PvionzpXR

(This video includes audio. Please turn up the sound on your computer)

Tip: As in the video, when you set up the column, leave "make item available to users" set to YES, so students can view their own attendance record in the course. Students are only able to view their own attendance records (not the attendance of others).

In Internet Explorer, use "Compatibility View" for Blackboard

2009-10-12T12:28:00.010-04:00

If you're using Internet Explorer version 8 or version 9, please turn on "Compatibility View" mode for the Blackboard site.

Please advise your students to do so also, as this will prevent some problems that they may have taking online tests.

To enable Compatibility View for Blackboard in Internet Explorer:

1. Push and release the "ALT" key on the keyboard to reveal IE8 menu toolbar

2. Click "Tools" menu > Compatibility View Settings

3. Type "blackboard.neu.edu" and click the Add button

This will add "neu.edu" to the Compatibility View list.

More information on IE8 Compatibility View: http://bit.ly/ie8compatibility

Add myFiles links To Your Blackboard Course

2009-09-03T09:21:00.015-04:00

The best way to post large files in your course in Blackboard is to take advantage of our myFiles service. This has several advantages including faster download of files from campus, automatic update of files in Blackboard when they are updated in myFiles, and myFiles links will not take up any quota in your Blackboard course.
Here's the easy way to add myFiles links to your Blackboard course:

1. First toggle Edit Mode at the upper right of your course to "on"

2. Click a content area in your course menu on the left in which you would like to add the myFiles link, such as the "Course Materials" section.

3. Choose "Add myFiles Links" from the "Add Interactive Tool" button.

4. Blackboard will display the files and folders in myFiles. Check the boxes next to the files you want to add links to. You can even check an entire folder to add links to all the files. Click the "Make Links" button to make the links in Blackboard.

5. Click OK. You're done.

Blackboard will take care of making sure that the students in your course have access to the files in myFiles by setting up "ticketing" in myfiles to allow for access.

Here's a video tutorial demonstrating how to add myFiles links to Blackboard. Note, this video is a bit outdated (it is for the old Blackboard version 7), but the concept is the same. Follow exact directions above.

(both video and audio, so make sure your sound is enabled)
(Link to video: http://screencast.com/t/dgE2EdFGpI)

Blackboard Video Tutorials

2009-08-03T16:43:00.005-04:00

We have an assortment of video tutorials to help you get familiar with parts of the Blackboard system you may not have used before, or to help shore up your knowledge of a feature which you may have tried.

Check out the video tutorials here:

www.ats.neu.edu/blackboard/tutorials

Uploading Test Questions to Blackboard from a File

2009-06-19T13:35:00.000-04:00

Click here for instructions for how to upload test questions to Blackboard from a prepared text file.

How to minimize and maximize modules on the Home tab of Blackboard

2009-02-18T16:33:00.003-05:00

It is possible to collapse and re-open modules (boxes) on the Home tab of Blackboard such as the "My Courses" module by clicking the small box-shaped icon at the upper-right (next to the pencil-shaped icon):

Here is a video demonstrating how to collapse and maximize a module:

We hope this information is helpful.

Guidelines for posting Multimedia files to Blackboard

2009-01-24T10:39:00.010-05:00

Here are some recommendations that can help in making your multimedia files easier for students to download and view in Blackboard.

Multimedia Guidelines

In an effort to maximize access to dynamic media content (images, video, audio, and Flash files) by students, we recommend that instructors posting multimedia files to a web page or Blackboard course adhere to these file size guidelines.

The diversity of internet connection types among students makes it important to pay attention to the size of files when uploading content. For example, a student using a broadband connection would be able to download a 10MB file in approximately 1 minute or less, whereas a student using a 56K modem connection (there still are some out there) would spend about 30 minutes downloading the same file.

Images

Most images should only be around 60k-100k; however, larger sizes are acceptable when larger files are required (e.g., graphic design courses); in such special cases, the image size should be 500k or less. The best image formats are JPEG (.jpg) and GIF (.gif)

PowerPoint
PowerPoint slide shows can be added to a Blackboard site but should be limited to 10 mb. Care should be taken to compress all contained images (to keep file size small). In addition, PPT should be provided in an alternative format, such as PDF. When creating PDF files, it is recommended that the print setting be set for 3 slides per page. This will reduce the number of pages, should a student wish to print the PDF document. The best PowerPoint format is PowerPoint 97-2003 (.PPT) rather than the newer PowerPoint 2007 (.PPTX) format, which might require students using older versions of Microsoft Office to download a special viewer.

Another option for Slide Shows is to upload your file to the online streaming slide show service Slide Share. You can use the service to add more features to your slide show, such as audio, music, narration, and then embed it in your Blackboard course site using Slide Share's embedding feature.

Video

Please see this related article on how to embed video in Blackboard.

Video can be very tricky; it is very easy to create a video file that is too large to be delivered on the web. Consider that your students may not have access to a broadband connection. Some students are still on dial-up connections, making it impossible to access large video files uploaded to Blackboard.

These are the most acceptable video formats: Quicktime (.MOV), Windows Media Video (.WMV), MPEG-4 (.MP4), Flash Video (. SWF or .FLV), and RealMedia (.RM).

Audio-Video Interleave (.AVI) container file format may also work, but is not recommended, as it is not optimized for the web, and can require "codec" software to view that students may need to download separately (such as the Divx codec and others). Certain newer formats, such as MKV (.mkv) will almost always require the students to download a separate viewer program to watch.

You can also put your video on Blackboard by uploading it to a streaming video site and then "embedding" the video right in your Blackboard course site. It is always better to stream the video from sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, or Picasaweb than to upload the file just to Blackboard. If you choose to upload a video files directly into Blackboard, that file should be no larger than 100MB. Larger files should be uploaded to a streaming video site and then embedded in Blackboard (this makes them appear to be contained in Blackboard, but they are actually streamed from the streaming video site).

Audio

Audio files uploaded to Blackboard should be no larger than 5MB. Acceptable formats are .MP3, .M4A, .M4B, .AAC, and .WMA. The best way to post an audio file to Blackboard is to make it a Podcast episode - that way the player for the audio is shown right in Blackboard and the student does not have to download the audio before listening to it.

Note: .WAV is a legacy format for which the file size is too large and is therefore not recommended.

Flash

For Flash files (.SWF), size is not typically an issue. Flash is intended for web delivery, and takes download time into consideration. Flash file size should be less than 5MB.

Google's Chrome Browser and Blackboard

2008-09-02T21:02:00.009-04:00

Google has developed a browser known as Chrome.

Initial tests of the Blackboard site using the Chrome browser have been encouraging, with many functions on the site working perceivably faster than is typical with Internet Explorer and even Firefox.

However we have not had time to fully test and vet the Blackboard application in Chrome. Please let us know if you find additional issues beyond the ones described here.

Known issues with Blackboard on Chrome:

1. In Blackboard version 7.x, when adding an item to a Content Area in Blackboard, The WYSIWYG editor that appears in Internet Explorer and Firefox appears in Chrome as a simple text box instead. Instructors can still add items, but the rich text formatting options are not available in Chrome for Items or Announcements. Note that in contrast, the rich text editor within the Wiki and Blog tools is still available in Chrome, and the direct HTML option is still available for all items, so instructors who are familiar with HTML can still achieve formatting by entering the HTML directly.

Please send any comments or issues you discover to blackboard@neu.edu

Thank you for using Blackboard at Northeastern University!

How to add Blackboard to Facebook

2008-06-21T14:04:00.011-04:00

Update: Classtop has discontinued support for the CourseFeed application, so the method in this article no longer works. The article will remain posted for historical purposes. To connect Blackboard to Facebook, use the Blackboard Learn Facebook application instead.

______

Information Services at Northeastern University has partnered with ClassTop (developer of the CourseFeed application) to offer a new secure Blackboard / Facebook integration. You can now add your Blackboard courses to your Facebook account in a way that will not compromise your myNEU account credentials.

Some of the benefits of Blackboard on Facebook:

Automatic notifications for new items added to your Blackboard courses
A Facebook "Wall" for your course where you can post messages to your classmates
Announcements from Blackboard delivered directly to Facebook

How to add Northeastern University Blackboard to Facebook (3 steps)
If you have received an invitation to the CourseFeed Facebook application from one of your classmates, you may follow the steps in the invitation to add the CourseFeed application to Facebook. If you have not received an invitation, here is how to add Blackboard to Facebook:

1. Log into Northeastern University's Blackboard site on myNEU or at blackboard.neu.edu

2. In Blackboard, under the Home tab, click the "Facebook" link on the left (this link will be available starting July 8th, 2008):

3. Follow the steps on the screen to add the CourseFeed application to Facebook

To add your courses, you must be a member of the Northeastern network in Facebook

For more information on the CourseFeed application in Facebook, see: http://www.coursefeed.com/faq.html

How to Empty your Browser Cache

2008-02-23T13:46:00.009-05:00

To fix a problem with Blackboard, you may need to empty your browser cache.

Here are instructions for various browsers:

Firefox 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, ... for Windows

If the Tools menu does not appear at the top, press the "ALT" key on your keyboard.
From the Tools menu, select "Clear Recent History".
From the "Time Range to clear" drop-down, choose "Everything"
Under "Details" check "Cache" and "Cookies". Click "Clear Now"

Firefox 2, 3, 3.5 for Windows (version not recommended for Blackboard)

If the Tools menu does not appear at the top, press the "ALT" key on your keyboard.
From the Tools menu, select "Clear Private Data", and then choose Cache.

Google Chrome (all versions)

From the Wrench menu (upper-right), click Tools > "Clear Browsing Data..."
Check "Empty the Cache" and "Delete Cookies..." and click the "Clear Browsing Data" button.

Internet Explorer 7, 8, 9

Push the ALT key on the keyboard to reveal the menus at the top.
From the Tools menu, select Internet Options...
Choose the General tab.
Under Browsing history, click Delete...
Next to "Temporary Internet Files", click Delete files...
Click Close, and then click OK to exit.

Internet Explorer 6 (not recommended for Blackboard, please update browser)

Push the ALT key on the keyboard to reveal the menus at the top.
From the Tools menu (for version 4.x, the View menu), select Internet Options...
Choose the General tab.
In the "Temporary Internet Files" section, click Delete Files...
To confirm the deletion, click OK.
In the Internet Options dialog box, click OK.

Firefox 1, 2, 3, 4 for Macintosh

From the Firefox menu, select Preferences...
From the sheet that drops down, select Privacy. In 2.0, click Clear Now. In 1.5, click Clear Cache Now. In 1.0, next to Cache, click the Clear button, and then OK.

Safari for Macintosh (not recommended for use with Blackboard)

From the Safari menu, select Empty Cache...
When prompted, click Empty to confirm that you want to empty the cache.

Instructor Manual for Blackboard 7

2008-02-19T14:29:00.004-05:00

We apologize, the manual link from the Control Panel in Blackboard is not currently working.

The Instructor Manual for Blackboard version 7 is available here.

How to Download your Blackboard Grade Center

2007-12-05T19:12:00.003-05:00

You may download the Grade Center so you will have an offline copy to view and manipulate in Microsoft Excel or similar program. We recommend downloading your Blackboard Grade Center occasionally so that you will have a local backup copy.

Here's how to download the Grade Center:

1. In your course, click Grade Center > Full Grade Center

2. Click the "Work Offline" button > Download

3. Leave the defaults as they are and click the "Submit" button

(Screenshot: http://screencast.com/t/n3EyA8Qc4x)

4. Click the Download button. This will tell your browser to download the file.

5. Note where you are saving the file on your computer, and click the Save button.

After your browser downloads the Grade Center file, you may open the file for viewing on your computer using Excel or a similar spreadsheet program, or the text editor of your choice.

If you make changes to the values in the spreadsheet, you may upload it back to the Blackboard Grade Center as well. See Uploading Grades to the Grade Center from a File.

How to Upload a Document to the Discussion Board

2007-10-17T21:13:00.001-04:00

Step 1 - Open the Discussion Board

Access the Discussion Board by clicking on the Discussion Board link located in the navigation pane on the left side of screen in your Blackboard course.

Step 2 - Upload your Document

Click on the title of the Discussion to open it

Click on Add New Thread

Enter a Subject and a Message (description) for your post.

Scroll down and click on the Browse button.

Browse to your file by selecting the Destination.

Next, select your document by clicking on it

Click Open.

Click Submit

If you have successfully uploaded a document to the Discussion Board, you will see a paper clip icon next to the subject of your post.

Version of Java for Chat and Virtual Classroom in Blackboard

2007-10-12T17:28:00.000-04:00

If you're using the Chat or Virtual Classroom options in the Collaboration section of Blackboard, we recommend version 5.0 of the Java plugin for your browser for both students and instructors. Newer versions (such as version 6.x) have been known to cause problems with collaboration sessions.

You can download the version 5.0 of the Java plugin for Windows here:

http://www.ats.neu.edu/blackboard/java/jre-1_5_0_12-windows-i586-p.exe

(for Macintosh, please use the built-in java capability of your browser)

How to add a Wiki to your Blackboard course

2007-09-25T07:44:00.002-04:00

Wikis are shared web spaces (web pages) that students and instructors can post material to and edit together collaboratively.

As the instructor, you can decide who in your class is allowed to edit and add content to a Wiki, and which participants in the class are allowed to view the wiki. You can use a Wiki to have students collaborate on a document, do a team project, produce a group report, or any other exercise in working together.

Here is how to add a Wiki to your course site in Blackboard:

Step 1 - Choose a content area

First toggle Edit Mode at the upper right of your course to "on"

Click a content area in your course menu on the left in which you would like the Wiki to appear (you could choose "Course Material" or "Documents" for example).

Step 2 - Add the Wiki

Use the "Add Interactive Tool" button and click on "Campus Pack Wiki".

Choose "new" Wiki and click the Submit button.

Give your Wiki a title and choose grading options:

Step 3 - Add a page to the Wiki

Use the "Add New Page" button to add the first page to the Wiki. Use the "Permissions" settings at the top to decide which of your students or groups will have access to the Wiki to edit and/or view.

Step 4 - How students can edit the Wiki

The Wiki will appear in your course under the section you chose in step 1. View or edit the Wiki, students click the View link

If they have permission, students can edit the current page of the Wiki by clicking "edit" on the right side of the page. They can add a new page to the Wiki by clicking "Add New Page".

That's all there is to it. Your Wiki is now ready to use.

How to add a Blog to your Blackboard course

2007-08-28T10:47:00.016-04:00

Blogs are journal-like web spaces that students can post material to. As the instructor, you can decide who in your class is allowed to post content to a blog, and who is allowed to read the blog. You can use a Blog to have students post a journal, upload files, upload homework, text, pictures, or even sound files.

Here is how to add a Blog to your course site in Blackboard:

Step 1 - Choose a content area

First toggle Edit Mode at the upper right of your course to "on"

Click a content area in your course menu on the left in which you would like the Wiki to appear (you could choose "Course Material" or "Documents" for example).

Step 2 - Add the Blog

Use the "Add Interactive Tool" button and click on "Campus Pack Blog":

Choose "new" Blog and click the Submit button.

Give your Blog a title and choose grading options:

Step 3 - Add an Entry to the Blog

Use the "Add New Entry" button to add the first entry to the Blog. Use the "Permissions" settings at the top to decide which of your students or groups will have access to the Blog to make entries and view it.

Step 4 - How students can access the Blog

The Blog will appear in your course under the section you chose in step 1. To view or add entries to the Blog, students click the View link

If they have permission, students can add entries to the Blog by clicking "Add New Entry" on the right side of the page.

That's all there is to it. Your Blog is now ready to use.

How to Clean Up/Edit Your Course List in Blackboard

2007-08-24T16:04:00.005-04:00

If you've had many courses in the past, you may have a large list of courses in the My Courses module on the front page of Blackboard.

Here is a quick way to reduce the clutter and make it easier for you to find current courses more quickly:

1. Log in to Blackboard.

2. On the Home tab, you will find the My Courses module.

Click on the gear-shaped icon in the upper right corner of the module:

3. The Customize My Courses screen appears. You will notice a list of your courses with a series of check boxes to the right of each.

4. Uncheck all the boxes in each row of each course you want to remove fro your list, especially remembering to uncheck the Display Course and Display Announcements columns.

5. Click Submit when you are done.

If you prefer to have all your courses listed in the My Courses module, but need an easy way to distinguish between courses by term, check the box in Display Course ID column. When you go back to the My Courses module you will see the Course ID listed next to the name. The Course ID includes a four (4) character suffix that designates its semester and year (e.g. fl09 = Fall 2009, sp08 = Spring 2008).

If you ever need to see a list of all your courses (e.g., you need the Course ID when requesting a new course), you can always see this by clicking on the Courses tab at the top of the screen. Here you will see a complete list of your courses.

How to completely remove your course from Blackboard

If you want to remove (archive) your course from the site completely, fill out the following form:

-> http://www.ats.neu.edu/blackboard/requests/delete

Your course will be deleted (archived). If you wish to have it restored at a later time, send a request to blackboard@neu.edu

How to download many files at once from Blackboard

2007-07-25T10:03:00.000-04:00

If you are using the Firefox browser, there is a solution which will allow you or your students to download all the files in a Blackboard folder at once (without requiring access to the Blackboard Control Panel)

Instructors often post many files in folders in their Blackboard courses. For students, the usual way of downloading these files is by clicking the links one at a time. To speed up this process, there is a plug-in for the Firefox browser called "DownThemAll!" that will go through all the links on a page, let you check the ones you want, and download all of them at once.

This plugin works well with Blackboard.

Using your Firefox browser, get the plug-in here:

-> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201

Here is a picture of "DownThemAll!" in use:

Note: For the Blackboard site, we recommend setting DownThemAll to download each file sequentially. Do to so, in Firefox, go to Tools > DownThemAll > Preferences and set "Max contemporary downloads" to 1. (Thanks to Colin for this tip)

For more instructions on how to use "DownThemAll!" see the developer's website here:

http://www.downthemall.net/howto/features

Blackboard Asks You to Log In Again

2007-06-20T17:37:00.002-04:00

If you log into Blackboard and then leave the browser window idle for a while, Blackboard may ask you to log in again. This is normal.

If, however, Blackboard asks you to log in again during active work, or if Turnitin prompts you to log in again from within Blackboard, it is most likely due to your browser's "cookie" configuration. Here are some fixes to try:

A. Configure your browser to accept cookies

Firefox (recommended for Blackboard):

1. If the menu bar is not displayed, press and release the ALT key on keyboard to show the menu

2. Click Tools menu / Options / Privacy
3. Check "Accept cookies from sites"

4. Check "Accept third-party cookies"

5. Click OK

Chrome (recommended for Blackboard)

1. Click the "wrench" icon at the upper right

2. Click "Options"

3. Click "Under the Hood" > Content Settings > Allow local data to be set

Internet Explorer:

1. If the menu bar is not displayed, press and release the ALT key on keyboard to show the menu
2. Click Tools menu / Internet Options / Privacy tab
3. Configure as follows:

Click Advanced
Check Override Automatic cookie handling
Accept First party cookies
Accept Third party cookies
Always allow session cookies

4. Click OK, OK

B. Empty your browser's cache:

See instructions here: http://blackboardtips.blogspot.com/2008/02/how-to-empty-your-browser-cache.html

C. Upgrade to the latest version of your browser

Mozilla Firefox: http://www.getfirefox.com to download and install Firefox

Chrome: http://chrome.google.com to download Chrome.

Internet Explorer: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/products/ie/home

We hope this information is helpful. Thanks for using Blackboard.

How to configure Blackboard and Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Vista

2007-05-09T16:33:00.000-04:00

Blackboard recommends these steps to enable Blackboard to run under Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista:

Set blackboard.neu.edu as a "trusted site" in Internet Explorer as follows:

1. Open Internet Explorer 7
2. If the menus do not appear at the top, press and release the ALT key on the keyboard to display them
3. Select Tools menu / Internet Options
4. Under the Security tab, click Trusted Sites and then the Sites button
5. Uncheck the "Require server verification" checkbox if it is checked
6. Type "http://blackboard.neu.edu" in the "add this website" box and click the Add button
7. Click Close and OK

Set the Visual Text Box Editor to Unavailable in Blackboard as follows:

1. Log into Blackboard at http://blackboard.neu.edu
2. Click the "Personal Information" link directly below the Home tab in Blackboard
3. Click the "Set Visual Text Box Editor Options" link
4. Click Unavailable
5. Click the Submit button on the lower right

The plaintext text box should now function under Vista.

How to Create a Turnitin Assignment

2007-04-23T08:48:00.009-04:00

Creating a Turnitin Assignment is as easy as creating a regular Assignment in Blackboard. Turnitin Assignments have the advantage of automatic plagiarism detection. They accept a limited set of text-based file types from students (see File Types note below).

Here are the steps to add a Turnitin Assignment to your Blackboard course:

1. In your course, toggle Edit Mode at the top right to "On".

2. Click the area on the left side in the course menu into which you want to post the Turnitin Assignment (e.g. the "Assignments" section)

3. Select "Turnitin Assignment" from the "Create Assessment" button:

4. Set the assignment title, point value, and start/due dates options for your assignment. The "post date" is the date that grades and comments are available to students in the "Grademark" feature and should be set for a date later than the due date. Click the Submit button at the top to post the assignment:

5. Click Submit, and OK.

Student Access

Students can access your assignment by going to the content area in which you posted the assignment and clicking the "View /Complete" link:

Instructor Access

You can collect the students submitted work and view their papers and plagiarism reports by going to the "Turnitin Assignments" link in your Control Panel. You can also access the papers via the entries in Control Panel > Grade Center > Full Grade Center

For complete step-by-step visual instructions on how to post a Turnitin Assignment, please watch this video: http://www.turnitin.com/static/videos/bb_vid.html

How to mark up/comment/grade a Turnitin paper using the "Grademark" feature (apple icon): http://turnitin.com/resources/multimedia/training/turnitin/Integration/Blackboard_Grademark/Blackboard%20Grademark.htm

A Note About File Types:

Turnitin currently accepts the following file types for submission: MS Word (.doc, .docx), WordPerfect (.wpd), PostScript (.eps), Portable Document Format (.pdf), HTML (.htm, .html), Rich Text (.rtf) and Plain Text (.txt).

All files submitted to Turnitin must contain actual text (not just a picture of text, for example). Papers which have been scanned must be sent through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software before they can be submitted to Turnitin.

The file size may not exceed 20 MB. Files of larger size may be reduced in size by removal of non-text content or the instructor may be contacted to request multiple assignments to submit the document in sections.

.zip files are not included in the list of file types that are accepted by Turnitin. Please uncompress .zip files to one of the above listed formats before uploading to Turnitin. Turnitin does not accept PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx) files. To accept PowerPoint files, have the students convert them to PDF files before submission to Turnitin, or use a regular Blackboard Assignment instead of a Turnitin Assignment.

More Turnitin Resources / Tutorials for instructors:

(1) Video Tutorial: how to check for plagiarism by viewing an Originality Report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUrTo-0RoHM&hd=1

(2) Video Tutorial: how to use Grademark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9_mmowfEDo&hd=1

(3) Video Tutorial: how to use Peermark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8sDMaGfw9I&hd=1

What's New in Blackboard version 7

2007-03-15T18:21:00.000-04:00

Blackboard version 7 is available at blackboard.neu.edu

Version 7 contains everything you are familiar with from previous versions of Blackboard, with select new enhancements. Please see links below for tutorials and demonstrations of the new features!

Key new and improved features include:

Multi-Language Support
Completely new Discussion Board
Adaptive Release improvements
Review Status improvements
Built-in Syllabus Builder
Performance Dashboard improvements
New Advanced Assessment Questions
Download Assessment Attempts that Include All Questions
Randomized Multiple Choice Answers
Advanced Course Menu and New Course Map
Changes to Import, Export, Archive and Restore Functionality
Course Copy changes for Course Cartridges
Additional Course Content Types - Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts
Additional Tutorials

Multi-Language Support by Institution, Course and User

Institutions can run multiple languages (or locales) on the same system. Institutions can offer the Blackboard Academic Suite in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, and Portuguese. The entire system can be set in a specific language, or a language may be offered as a preference for users. To support cross-border education, as well as foreign language courses, Instructors can set the language of the course independently from the language setting of the overall system.

Click for tutorial

New Discussion Board

The Blackboard Discussion Board has been completely re-written. The new Discussion Board enables threaded, asynchronous discussions, which can be subscribed to (you can choose to receive an email when someone posts a new message). Instructors can set up multiple forums around different topics and embed those forums in appropriate content areas or lessons. Instructors can determine whether students can moderate, modify, delete, post anonymously, include attachments, and other options. Forums can be sorted/viewed by thread, author, date, or subject and are completely searchable. Discussions can be graded for a participation grade and also peer rating may be enable as well. Lastly, there are specific statistics that report on each user’s participation level.

Click for tutorial

Adaptive Release

Course content does not always apply to all users in the course. Using Adaptive Release, Instructors can display content to certain users for a limited period of time, or only after users meet (or fail to meet) predetermined requirements. Some content might be applicable to all users in the course, while other content should be audience-specific.

Adaptive Release allows an Instructor to create custom learning paths through course content and activities. Content items, discussions, assessments, assignments, or other activities can be released to Students based on a set of criteria including: date and time, specific users, group membership, grades or attempts on a particular test or assignment, or Review Status of another item in the course. Instructors create and modifiy Adaptive Release rules from the new Manage page available on all content items.

Click for tutorial

Review Status

Outcomes-based tracking is an important feature to most Blackboard clients. Today, Instructors can track item hits on a user-by-user basis, but Students have no automated way of explicitly notifying Instructors when they review an item. If Review is enabled for a content item, users see a Mark Reviewed icon from the course view. When users have completed their review of the item, they click the Mark Reviewed button. The item then displays a Reviewed icon. The Instructor can view progress from the Performance Dashboard or the User Progress page in the Control Panel. Instructors enable and disable review from the new Manage page available on all content items.

Click for tutorial

Syllabus Builder

The Syllabus Builder is an easy-to-use content item that makes Syllabus creation—the most basic element of any course—simple for Instructors of all levels, with a feature that allows them to easily apply designs to their work. Syllabi can contain general class information such as dates and times as well as an overview of each lesson.

Instructors create a syllabus by selecting Syllabus from the action bar dropdown menu on a Content Area page.

Click for tutorial

Performance Dashboard

The Performance Dashboard is a course tool that allows Instructors to see key information and outcomes for all course users. It displays the last time users logged in, their course role, content availability by user based on Adaptive Release criteria, Review Status for content items, and a direct link to the Gradebook: User Grade List page for individual users.

Click for tutorial

Advanced Assessment Questions

When creating Assessments in the Blackboard Learning System, Instructors may choose from ten additional question types, including: Calculated Questions, Numeric Response Questions, File Response Questions, Hot Spot Questions, Multiple Fill-in-the-Blank Questions, Jumbled Sentence Questions, Opinion Scale Questions, Short Response Questions, Either / Or Questions, and Quiz Bowl Questions.

Click for tutorial

Download Assessment Attempts that Include All Questions

Instructors can download Survey or Test attempts as a .CSV file. Most often, this feature is used to perform statistical analysis in a spreadsheet application, such as Microsoft Excel. Downloaded Assessment attempts now include all questions in the Assessment. In earlier versions, only certain question types, such as Multiple Choice, were included in the downloaded attempt.

Randomize Multiple Choice Answers

Instructors have the option to randomize the answers in multiple choice questions. The answers are randomized for each assessment attempt, which helps prevent Student cheating.

Click for tutorial

Advanced Course Menu and New Course Map

Two views of the Course Menu are now available to users: the Quick View (the original menu design) and the Detail View. The Detail View is the full Course Map, letting users expand and collapse the Course Menu, and displays a clickable link to each item in the course. If allowed by the Instructor, users may toggle between these two views.

In addition, commonly used tools are separated from the Course Menu to make them easier to find and use. To support the advanced Course Menu, the Course Map has been redesigned. It displays new icons based on the item or tool, shows only the content available to the current user (based on Adaptive Release critieria), and loads very quickly even in large, content-rich courses. The map is cached for even faster rendering in subsequent views and has a 20 minute automatic refresh.

Click for tutorial

Changes to Import, Export, Archive and Restore

In Blackboard Academic Suite (Release 7) the import, export, archive and restore processes are asynchronous. This means that users do not have to wait in the browser

window while the operation takes place. This is more efficient for users because the operations are queued and managed in the background. When one of these tasks is executed, the system completes it in the background and sends the user an email upon completion. The new process for Export and Archive matches the process for Course Copy. The new Export / Archive Manager, available on the Control Panel for individual courses and organizations, makes it easier for users to manage these operations. This page lists all of the packages that have been created for the course, including detailed logs

for the package processes. The user can export and archive the course multiple times and keep multiple backups of the course. The user may also remove packages that are no longer needed.

Course Copy changes for Course Cartridges

The Copy Course Materials into a New Course and Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course features now include an option to include protected Course Cartridge content. Instructors and Administrators can choose whether or not they would like to include cartridge content in the copy operation. If this option is selected, the content may be accessed in the copied course by users with a valid Student Access Key. When copying course materials into an existing course, the system will check to confirm that both courses contain the same Course Cartridge. If they do, the selected course

sections will be copied including any protected Course Cartridge content. If the courses contain different Course Cartridges, only non-Cartridge materials will be copied and the user will be given a message stating there was a Course Cartridge conflict.

Additional Course Content Types (Wikis, Blog, Podcasts)

Instructors may add a number of different kinds of content to course Content Areas; these are referred to as Content Types. Additional Content Types (i.e. Discussion Board, Groups, Tools) have been added to the drop-down list of a Content Area page in Bb 7. Wikis, Blogs, and Podcasts can be added to courses.

How to add a Wiki to your course
How to add a Blog to your course
How to add a Podcast to your course

Additional Tutorials

This is the blackboard website that provides links to these tutorials as well as additional ones.

Blackboard Tutorials

How to Podcast using Blackboard

2007-03-06T16:23:00.003-05:00

How to Podcast from Blackboard in four easy steps:

1. First toggle Edit Mode at the upper right of your course to "on"

2. Click a content area in your course menu on the left in which you would like to add a Podcast link, such as the "Course Material" section. Click the "Add Interactive Tool" button, then click "Campus Pack Podcast Feed"*

Choose "New" and click "Submit"

Give the Podcast a title and click "Add".

3. Adding new content to your Podcast is referred to as adding new "episodes". To add a media file, click the "Add New Episode" button.

Give the episode a title and click Continue. You may then decide whether to record a new episode live, upload a file from your computer such as an MP3 audio file, or link to an external file using a URL (address).

Choose your method, optionally type a description of the episode, then click the Save & Exit button at the bottom.

4. Accessing your Podcast

In Blackboard, your students may access all of your podcast content by using the built-in audio player. They may also subscribe to your Podcast content using the RSS or iTunes buttons at the top.

Whenever you want to add more audio content to your Podcast, repeat Step 3 above. The new content will
be added to your course, and any students who have subscribed to your course Podcast will receive the new episode content automatically in iTunes or their preferred RSS reader.

We hope this information is helpful.

*This method of Podcasting in Blackboard uses the Campus Pack LX Building Block from Learning Objects in Blackboard. You must have this Building Block installed on your Blackboard system for this to work.

How to use the Assignments feature to collect student work

2007-02-01T00:02:00.004-05:00

Blackboard "Assignments" are a way to collect student documents and files in Blackboard.

Adding an Assignment item to a course allows an instructor to post instructions or a document, retrieve the completed assignment as another document or file from a student, and review and grade that assignment via the Grade Center. Blackboard also provides enhanced file management options, including bulk downloading and cleanup of these submitted items. The Assignment feature can accept any file type from students.

How to create an Assignment:

1. In your course, toggle Edit Mode at the top right to "On".

2. On the left of the course site, click on the name of the Content Area where you wish to add the Assignment, for example, "Assignments"

3. Click the "Create Assessment" button and then click "Assignment"

Give the Assignment a name, type or paste some instructions into the text box

You may add file attachments ("Assignment Files", such as lists of questions for students to answer, articles to read, presentations to review, maps or spreadsheets to analyze) using the "Browse My Computer" button.

Set options for Grading and Availability. You may set the "Number of Attempts" section to allow the students to submit more than once. The Grade Center will record and preserve all attempts.

4. Click the "Submit" button on the right to post the Assignment.

What the students see:

Students can view the assignment in the selected content area on the left side of the course.

They can look at the assignment and download any necessary documents the instructor has posted. After doing the work necessary to complete the assignment, students should click the assignment link (the name of the assignment is a link) to upload and submit their work. They may use the "Browse My Computer" button to find the files they want to submit, and they can also post comments about the Assignment in the text box. These comments will appear in your Grade Center. A student can submit multiple files for one assignment if desired, but students can only submit an Assignment once unless the instructor sets the assignment options to allow multiple submissions (see above, step 3).

How to view submitted Assignments (Grade Center):

Instructors retrieve and grade Assignments through the Grade Center, much like any other kind of assessment.

When a student submits an assignment, a green exclamation mark will appear in the student's cell in the Grade Center. Click the chevron-button and select "View Grade Details" or a particular attempt to review and grade the students attempt(s).

You may download all the students' papers at once by clicking the chevron button to the right of the column heading at the top, and selecting "Assignment File Download":

Allowing Students to re-submit an Assignment

If a student needs to re-submit a single-attempt assignment, the instructor may manually reset the student's previous submission by clicking the chevron button next to the exclamation mark that represents the student's submission in the Grade Center, and then clicking "View Grade Details" > "Clear Attempt" button.

Tips for Deploying a Test in Blackboard

2007-01-14T09:31:00.010-05:00

Click here for a video tutorial on how deploy online Tests in Blackboard.

Specific tips for deploying an online test/quiz in Blackboard

After you've created on online assessment in the Test Manager, you can deploy it into the content area of your course (e.g. "Assignments") by going to that Content Area in your course and clicking the "Create Assessment" button.

Remember, deploying an online test is not the same as a paper test. Here are some recommended settings to help eliminate potential problems when deploying a test in your Blackboard course. These settings can be found in the content area where you deploy a test (e.g. Control Panel > Assignments). Use the "Modify" button to the right of the test to open the "Modify the Test options" section.

Options:

Open test in new window - Make sure to keep this option set to No. If your student has their browser set to block pop-up windows, setting this to Yes could prevent the test from launching in their browser because the new window will be blocked by the pop-up blocker.

Allow multiple attempts - checking this option will allow the student to take the test multiple times. This is the best option when the test is a self-assessment. If it is a graded test, you will probably want to keep this option off so that they can't restart the test if they don't like their grade. Also note, whenever a multiple attempt is started, the previous attempt is deleted from the Gradebook. Only the most recent attempt is saved.

Force Completion - Don't use this setting. This setting probably causes the most difficulty for students. When this is checked on, it removes the students' ability to exit and re-enter the test at a later time, even if the "save" progress buttons are used. This means the students must complete the test in the same session as when the test is initially launched. If the student closes her browser, her computer crashes, her Internet Provider boots her off, etc., then she cannot get back into the test. In that event, the instructor has to make the decision as to whether or not to let the student take the test again by resetting the attempt in the Gradebook. Resetting the attempt clears out all the previously given answers and will force the student to start over.

Timed Tests - Instead of using the Forced Completion option to force students to take a test in one sitting, use the "Set timer" option instead. This setting records completion time for this Test. By setting the timer on and setting how long they have to take the test, you can see how long it took the student to complete the test, no matter how many times they may have accidentally closed their browser or been booted off.

You can force the test to submit automatically when the time limit is reached by turning "Auto-Submit" option ON.

Note: This will not allow students who need more time on a test to go over the limit. If you would like to allow a student more time for a timed test, please see this article:
http://blackboardtips.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-allow-one-student-more-time-on.html

If Auto-Submit is OFF, Blackboard will not force a submission at the end of a timed test, but will warn the student when they have 1 minute left to submit the test themselves. Students may go over the time limit, but if a student goes over the time allotted, they do not get an automatic score. Instead, they will get an exclamation point in the Grade Center instead, and the Instructor will need to go into the Grade Center manually grade the test, in case the instructor needs to deduct points for going over the time allotted.

Test Feedback - Sometimes an Instructor would like to only show the student their score during the time period the test is available, but then give them more detailed results once everybody has completed the test. This can be done by returning to the test options and changing the Test Feedback from the old setting to the new setting. When the student next goes to view their grades via Tools > My Grades, they will see the test results in whatever the current Test Feedback setting is.

Presentation Mode - There are many differing opinions on what option is better, All at Once or One at a Time. The "One at a time" settings may be slightly more prone to problems, since it involve more browser interaction between questions. Do not use the "Prohibit Backtracking" option--when this is turned on a student may try and get around it by using the Back button in their browser and it is very important that the Back button is never used during a test. It can cause problems with the test and the database storing the answers, possibly booting the student from the test.

If you are presenting your test in All at Once mode, please recommend to your students that they click the Save button next to each question as they proceed through the test. This will immediately save their answer to that question in the Gradebook. Otherwise, if a student is completing a long test and gets booted from the test before completing it, all their answers are lost. If they were clicking the Save button for each question as they proceeded through the test, the questions they already answered would still be saved.

Video demonstration:

Content Types that Can Be Added to your Course in Blackboard

2006-09-19T23:06:00.000-04:00

Here are some of the special types of files that can be added to a content area in Blackboard. You add these by using the +Select drop-down menu in the upper right corner of the edit view of a content area:

Learning Units - Learning Units enable the instructor to set a structured path for progressing through the content within a course. The instructor may either allow students to access content nonlinearly within a Learning Unit or enforce a sequential path. More information on Learning Units is here.

iLrn - iLrn is a format for learning objects and book materials developed by Thomson Learning (www.ilrn.com). The iLrn types in blackboard allow instructors to post links back to Thomson book materials.

Merlot Content - Merlot is a learning object format. If an instructor has downloaded a learning object in Merlot format (from www.merlot.org), she can add the content to Blackboard using the Merlot Content type.

Offline Content - This lets instructors post a link to an item on a CDROM which the student must insert into her computer before clicking the link.

SCORM Content - SCORM is a learning object format. If an instructor has downloaded or created learning object in SCORM format, she can add the content to Blackboard using this type. Here is information on the SCORM format.

Rich URL - This is used in the case that an instructor wants to post an external link on Blackboard, but the URL of the link must be slightly different for each student based on something about the student (such as the student's email address or gender or name). The Rich URL will let you build a link in Blackboard whose URL contains an element of data about the student.

IMS Content Packaging - IMS is a learning object format. If an instructor has downloaded or created learning object in IMS format, she can add the content to Blackboard using this type. Here is information on the IMS format.

NLN Content Packaging - NLN is a learning object format. If an instructor has downloaded or created learning object in NLN format (from www.nln.ac.uk), she can add the content to Blackboard using this type. Here is information on the NLN format.

Turnitin Assignment - Turnitin allows an instructor to add an assignment for which the students' submissions will be automatically checked for plagiarism using the Turnitin system. More information about Turnitin here.

Document Package - A Document Package is a .zip file containing a hierarchical structure of folders and files. When you add a Document Package to a content area in your course, the folder structure of the zip file will be preserved (reproduced) in Blackboard. More information on Document Packages here.

How to prevent students from copying or printing tests in Blackboard

2006-07-26T10:41:00.002-04:00

Important note: There is no 100% reliable way to prevent the copying or printing of any web page being displayed in a browser, on the Blackboard site or any other site, as it is always possible on any computer to print a copy of the screen, capture the window to the clipboard, or even take a digital photograph of the screen and print it. The script offered here may prevent the casual printer/copier from copying the text of a test, but it will not stop anyone who is purposefully determined to copy or print the content from doing so.

Please see KNOWN ISSUES at the bottom of this page (e.g. issue with hotspot questions).

If you would like to disable the ability of students to select/copy their online tests or to print their tests, follow these directions.

1. In an existing test, click Modify to modify the first question of the test

2. Click the expand arrow in the upper left hand corner of the text box

3. Click the html button

4. Copy the following javascript code and paste it at the bottom, after the text of the first question.

<script language="Javascript"
src="http://www.ats.neu.edu/blackboard/scripts/noprintcopy.js"></script>
<style type="text/css">@media print {BODY {display:none}}</style>

5. Click Submit

6. Click Submit

Do not include this script in a question that is in a Pool, as it will cause problems. Only include this script in a created test.

What it Does
The script disables the ability of a user to select text, making it impossible to copy the question text. It also makes it so the body of the test can not be printed. If a student tries to print the test, they will only receive pages with Blackboard's top menu bar printed on them. Note: this script is somewhat old, and was only tested in previous versions of browsers, such as Internet Explorer Version 6, Netscape 7.1, and Mozilla Firefox 1.6. It is not guaranteed to work in new browsers (IE 7,8, Firefox 3.x, Google Chrome).

Notes / Recommendations
We recommend that you test this script each time you use it in a test. Preview the assessment, and try all of the functionality of the script. You should not be able to click and drag your mouse to select text, nor should the "select all" function work. If you try printing, you should not receive the body of the test itself on the printed page.

This script is not 100% foolproof and may not stop the more computer savvy from copying/printing your test.

KNOWN ISSUES:

1. The script will not allow students to cancel a test submission and return to the test questions. If a student clicks the Submit button on a test and then clicks Cancel to cancel the submission, the test is submitted anyway.

2. This script disables the students' ability to click on "hotspot" questions on tests. If you are using this script, students will not be able to answer any hotspot questions on your exam.

___________

Thanks to the folks at Boise State University for this tip.

How to Drop the Lowest Grades in the Gradebook

2006-04-25T16:55:00.002-04:00

Note: Blackboard version 9 has an automated way to drop lowest grades in the Grade Center. This document is for version 7.x

Dropping the lowest grades in Blackboard version 7 involves using the "Running Total" and "Running Weighted Total" column options in the Blackboard Gradebook.

You can drop students' grades from the Blackboard gradebook by first directing Blackboard not to count ungraded items against the students, and then "ungrading" the marks you want not to count.

In this way you can effectively drop student's lowest grades on a series of quizzes, for example.

NOTE: Before carrying out these instructions, download a copy of your gradebook so you will have it is a reference later if you make unwanted changes. Click here for instructions.

Here's how to use the option to drop the lowest grades:

1. In the gradebook, click the "Total" column header
2. Click "Item Information"
3. Click the YES option next to "Exempt items that have not been graded"
4. Click Submit
5. Do the same steps (1-4) for the "Weighted Total" column in the gradebook as well.

Enabling those options for the Total and Weighted Total columns has the effect of dropping all "ungraded" entries in the Gradebook--the ones marked with hyphens (-). It also changes the column names to "Running Total" and "Running Weighted Total" in the Gradebook.

6. Now, to drop the lowest grades, clear the contents of the lowest grade for each student by clicking on the grade itself (in any particular cell of the gradebook table) and selecting View > Clear attempt.

Any cleared grade will appear as a hyphen (-) will no longer be counted against the student in the totals.

Important Note: If you do want an ungraded item (-) to count against a student, you must explicitly enter a zero (0) for the grade. Leaving it ungraded (-) will cause it not to be counted against the student.

Turn Off Pop-Up Blockers to use the Chat & Virtual Classroom

2006-03-08T08:14:00.000-05:00

Pop-up blockers can cause the Virtual Classroom and Chat functions in Blackboard to fail. Pop-up blockers are built into Internet Explorer and the Google Toolbar, as well as other browser add-ons (Yahoo Toolbar, AOL Toolbar, etc).

In order to make the chat in Blackboard work, you need to disable pop-up blocking for the site blackboard.neu.edu. Here's how:

1. Go into your Blackboard course and select Communication / Collaboration / Chat / Join

2. Watch for the message bar at the top of the page in Internet Explorer and click it:

3. Click to allow popups from blackboard.neu.edu:

4. If you have it installed, the the Google toolbar will also have to be told to allow popups from blackboard.neu.edu. Click on this option:

5. If you have any other toolbar add-ons to your browser (such as the Yahoo Toolbar or the AOL Toolbar which get installed automatically during the installation of Yahoo Chat or AIM), you may need to tell them to stop blocking pop-ups on blackboard.neu.edu as well.

Once all pop-up blocking services have been turned off for the Blackboard site, the chat tool should work normally. Pop-ups will continue to be blocked on other sites.

Improvements in Blackboard 6.3

2006-02-06T14:06:00.003-05:00

This page is here for historical/archival purposes, and lists the improvements which were made to Blackboard when it was upgraded to version 6.3 in early 2006. The current version of Blackboard is 7 and has many further improvements and changes beyond these which are listed at this link.

Improvements in Blackboard version 6.3

Multi-Language Support by Institution, Course and User
Institutions can run multiple languages on the same system. To support cross-border education as well as foreign language courses, Instructors can set the language of the course independently from the language setting of the overall system. Institutions can offer the Blackboard Academic Suite in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, and Portuguese. The entire system can be set in a specific language, or a language may be offered as a preference for users.(more details)

Adaptive Release
Course content does not always apply to all users in the course. Using Adaptive Release of content, Instructors can display content to certain users for a limited period of time, or only after users meet (or fail to meet) predetermined requirements. Some content might be applicable to all users in the course, while other content should be audience-specific. Adaptive Release allows an Instructor to create custom learning paths through course content and activities. Content items, discussions, assessments, assignments, or other activities can be released to Students based on a set of criteria including: date and time, specific users, group membership, institution role, grades or attempts on a particular test or assignment, or Review Status of another item in the course.(more details)

Review Status
Outcomes based tracking is an important feature to most Blackboard clients. Today, Instructors can track item hits on a user-by-user basis, but Students have no automated way of explicitly notifying Instructors when they review an item. If Review is enabled for a content item, users see a Mark Reviewed icon from the course view. When users have completed their review of the item, they click the Mark Reviewed button. The item then displays a Reviewed icon. The Instructor can view progress from the Performance Dashboard or the User Progress page in the Control Panel.(more details)

Syllabus Builder
The Syllabus Builder is a new content item in courses and organizations. It guides the Instructor through a very simple process for building a syllabus without knowledge of HTML. The tool automatically generates lesson shells and the Instructor either chooses a pre-formatted style or creates a new one.(more details)

SCORM 2004
A number of changes to the Content Player have been implemented in response to key developments in the marketplace and client requests. These changes include:

· Support for SCORM 2004, the newest specification for SCORM packages
· Name Change: The Blackboard Content Player is now the Open Standards Content Player
· Updated Gradebook Item functionality to allow Instructors to view user attempt data (such as response to questions and time spent) from the Modify Grade page
· Users may select a package stored in the Content Collection if Copy file from Content Collection (also new in Application Pack 3) is available
· Updated look and feel to the Content Player
· Faster load times for the content

Application Pack 3 also includes a new feature called simple sequencing that branches to content based on user interaction. In addition, Application Pack 3 includes improvements on Gradebook interaction and user Tracking Data related to SCORM. Instructors can view tracked user information such as completion status and length of time an item was viewed.(more details)

Performance Dashboard
The Performance Dashboard is a course tool that allows Instructors to see key information and outcomes for all course users. It displays the last time users logged in, their course role, Adaptive Release criteria, Review Status for content items, and grades.(more details)

Advanced Assessment Questions
When creating Assessments in the Blackboard Learning System, Instructors may choose from ten additional question types, including: Calculated Questions, Numeric Response Questions, File Response Questions, Hot Spot Questions, Multiple Fill-in-the-Blank Questions, Jumbled Sentence Questions, Opinion Scale Questions, Short Response Questions, Either / Or Questions, and Quiz Bowl Questions. (Calculated Formula Questions, Calculated Numeric Response Questions, File Response Questions, Hot Spot Questions, Fill in Multiple Blank Questions, Jumbled Sentence Questions, Opinion Scale/Likert Questions, Short Answer Questions, Either/Or Questions, Quiz Bowl Questions)

Gradebook Null Option
Current Gradebook calculations for Total and Weighted Total include items that have not been taken or graded. A new option to exclude untaken or ungraded items when calculating the Total and Weighted Total appears in Application Pack 3. The Running Total and Running Weighted Total columns display Student performance only on completed items.Calculating Total and Weighted Total in the Gradebook ) Assessment Question Completion Status Students may skip questions that they may wish to come back to in a question-by-question assessment. This feature allows Students to clearly identify which questions they have actually completed from the ones that they have skipped as they progress through the assessment.(more details)

Randomize Multiple Choice Answers
Instructors have the option to randomize the answers in multiple choice questions. The answers are randomized for each assessment attempt, which helps prevent student cheating (settings under CONTROL PANEL - TEST MANAGER - TEST CANVAS - TEST CREATION SETTINGS)

Advanced Course Menu
Two views of the Course Menu are now available to users; the Quick View (the original menu design) and the Detail View. The Detail View lets users expand and collapse the Course Menu, and displays a clickable link to each item in the course. If allowed by the Instructor, users may toggle between these two views. In addition, commonly used tools are separated from the Course Menu to make them easier to find and use. The Course Map has been completely redesigned for Application Pack 3. It displays new icons based on the item or tool, and shows only the content available to the current user.(more details)