BlackBoard Question of the Week

Q. Students are saying they can’t see my recorded lectures in Adobe Connect in Blackboard, even though I can see them. How do I fix this?

A. If you want your students to be able to enter the meeting space you are using to record, and have access to the recordings in the Adobe Connect area on Blackboard, you should add them all to that meeting space; you can do that by clicking the chevron to the right of the meeting name, selecting Edit, and then adding the students. You can find detailed instructions for this at Adobe Connect in Blackboard: Creating a Meeting .

To access recordings, students should:

1. Click on Tools in the Course Menu.
2. Click on Adobe Connect Pro.
3. Click on the chevron beside the name of the meeting and select Meeting Information.
4. Click on the active link Recordings.

NOTE: If students click on the name of the meeting itself instead of on the chevron, they will get a notice that the meeting cannot begin until the host  arrives; but there is no need for the instructor to be logged in for students to listen to the recordings.

If you don’t intend for students to use the meeting space, and you only want them to access the recorded lectures, you can make your recorded lectures public in Connect Central (http://connect.luc.edu) and then put the links to the lectures in Blackboard; you can find instructions for making your recordings public at Recording a Meeting .

Q. Previously, when I would click on a course, it would bring me to a page of that course with multiple tabs on the left hand side, such as Assignments, Content, Communication, Discussion Board. Now I’m not seeing any of those, so I can’t see any of my materials for any of my courses.

A. It sounds like you have accidentally hidden your course menu from view. To get it back, log into Blackboard and go to one of your courses. Then, follow the instructions at Recover Missing Course Menu .

Q. The link to “Content” has disappeared from the red menu bar on my home page. I can’t locate it, and can’t access my course content. What can I do to bring back my Content area?

A. You may have unintentionally deleted your Content area and that would have deleted all of the content you uploaded into it: the little chevrons on the right side of the red menu for each button give the option to rename, hide, or delete.

You will need to recreate the content area by adding a new content area in the menu and then reuploading your content into that new area. Please visit Customizing your Course Menu for instructions for creating a content area.

Q. I did a course copy, but I’m not seeing all the content from the course I am copying in the destination course. How can I fix this?

A. There is an issue with course copy since Loyola upgraded to Blackboard 9.1: The instructor receives an email saying the copy is complete before it really is complete. We recommend waiting at least 15 minutes after you receive the email before you go to the destination course. If you don’t see the content after that, you can try copying only the parts that didn’t come over in the first copy, or contact blackboard@luc.edu for assistance.

Q. I am a new adjunct and need Blackboard training – when will it be available?

A. Academic Technology Support currently offers Drop-in sessions each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the Lakeshore campus; you can come by during these times to receive help with Blackboard without making an appointment:  http://www.luc.edu/blackboard/Dropin.shtml . You can also schedule an appointment outside of these times, by emailing Blackboard@luc.edu.

And you may also want to take a look at the Blackboard tutorials we have online to help get you started:  http://luc.edu/blackboard/Faculty_Resources.shtml

Q. In Blackboard, my Spring 2012 course has the wrong course name because it is cross-listed with another course. What can I do to fix this?

A. As the instructor in the cross-listed course, you have the option to have the course title (course name) to be listed as you wish.

Go into the Blackboard course, go to the Control Panel, click on Customization, then click on Properties.  Under item 1. Name and Description, you can change the Course Name, then click the Submit button.

Q. I have posted a WMV file  in Blackboard that one of my students cannot access – she uses a Mac. Is there anything I can do to make it possible for her to view the video?

A. Macs cannot play Windows Media Videos, but there is a free media player called Flip4Mac WMV that your student can use to convert and view your video. You can find an ITS Technology Tip with  instructions for downloading the player at  http://blogs.luc.edu/techtips/2011/07/15/play-windows-media-files-on-your-mac/

Q. I would like to add a batch of users to my organization, rather than adding them one by one. Can I do that?

A. If you are a “leader” for the Blackboard organization you can use the My Organizations Plus tool to submit a “.txt” file of a list of students with the list of their UVIDs. 

Please visit this link Managing Organization Enrollment for a tutorial on how to use My Organizations Plus to enroll users, including how to enroll multiple users simultaneously.

Q. How can I print out the students’ grades and fit them on one page?

 A. There is no good way to do this from within Blackboard. But you can download the Grade Center, open it in Excel and then format in Excel for printing. You can download the entire Grade Center or specific columns, e.g., Total column or whichever column you are using for the final grade. 

For instructions on downloading your Grade Center please visit  Backing Up Grades .

Q. I have a Blackboard organization that I am now starting to manage, but I am having trouble uploading documents.  Can you help? 

A. You can use Blackboard Faculty Resources tutorials to learn how to manage your organization – they work the same way in both courses and organizations, except for managing enrollments. 

For help with uploading documents, visit Adding Files in Blackboard ; for help with managing enrollments, visit Blackboard Organizations/Communities and click on “Manage Organization Enrollment.”