BlackBoard Question of the Week

Q. A student asked me if there was any way that she could download my Powerpoint lectures from Blackboard onto a CD so that she can listen to them in the car on her way to and from work. Is this possible? 

A. The answer depends on the format of your narrated Powerpoint lectures.  If they were created in Articulate, they are Flash files and cannot be downloaded (but if you saved the source files in Articulate, the audio files should still be there in a separate folder and you could post those for download).

But if you recorded your lectures in Powerpoint, they can be converted to mp4, which is a format that can be downloaded. You could post those files directly in your Blackboard course, or you could set up an iTunes U area for your course and post them there. Students who wanted to load them onto their ipods could do that in iTunes, or any of your students could download the files and then burn them to a CD.

For assistance with file conversion Loyola faculty should email blackboard@luc.edu.

For instructions for setting up a Loyola iTunes U area, please visit iTunes U in Blackboard.

Q. How can I get into an old Blackboard class that was backed up?  When I open the .zip file it is full of stuff that I do not recognize and cannot do anything with. 

A.  A .zip file backup of a course can only be imported into an existing course on Blackboard.  Opening the .zip file may cause the data to be corrupted; therefore, since you have opened it, you should go through the export process again. You can find instructions online for exporting and importing a course at Export/Import Course.

Q. I have loaded Powerpoint presentations in Wimba Classroom, then realized I want to make changes; the result is that I have two or  three versions of a presentation in Wimba.  Is there a way to delete the ones I don’t want?

A. Here’s how to remove Powerpoint presentations from Wimba Classroom:

1. Log into Blackboard and click on Wimba Classroom.
2. Click on the room where you have uploaded your Powerpoint slides.
   Before you click on Enter Room, you will see a button for Add and Manage Content toward the top of the window .
3. Click the Add and Manage Content button.
4. Click Add and Manage Room Content.
5. In the Modify Room window, click on the trashcan icon to the right of the presentation you want to remove, then click OK to remove it.

Q. My professor suggested that I bring copies of my quizzes with me to the final. If getting copies of my quizzes is possible, how can I do so?

A. If your professor has allowed feedback that shows the questions, you can do the following to print your test results:

1. Login to Blackboard and enter your course or organization.
2. Click on Tools in the Course Menu.
3. Click on My Grades in the list of Tools.
4. In the My Grades page, locate the test you wish to view.
5. Click on the underlined grade you received for the test – it will list in the Grade column.
6. This will open the View Attempts page.
7. Under the Attempts heading you will see a sub-heading entitled Calculated Grade (to the far right).
8. Under the sub-heading Calculated Grade, click on your underlined score; this will open your test results.
9. Copy the test results by left-clicking at the beginning of the area you wish to copy and move your mouse to the end of your test.
10. Right click on the highlighted area and choose Copy.
11. Open Word and paste the information into a Word document.