BlackBoard Question of the Week

Q. I have a student who needs to take a Blackboard test earlier than I was planning on making the exam available to the class. Can you direct me as to how to open the exam up to that student specifically?

A. You can use the same test during different time periods for the student who needs to take the test early and the rest of the class.

1. You will need to create two groups: one for the student who needs to take the test early, and one for the rest of the students. For more information on creating groups, please click here.

2. Create the test and deploy it in a content area. If the test is timed make sure you indicate the allotted time and check the Auto-Submit ON radio button in the Test Options for the test to be automatically submitted when students reach the test time limit. Add an adaptive release rule that specifies the date range when the test should be available to the student who will take it early and, under Membership on the Adaptive Release page, select the group for the student who needs to take the test early – the rest of the class will not see the test at this point.

3. Once the student who needs to take the test early has completed the test, change the adaptive release rule so the date range is appropriate for the large group and, under Membership in Adaptive Release, select the large group of students and remove the student who needed to take the test early. The large group will now see the test on the date(s) you selected. You can find a Blackboard video on creating adaptive release rules at Create Multiple Rules for Content Item

Q. Which browsers work best and are approved for use with Blackboard?

A. For an overview of which browsers are supported by Blackboard, visit Loyola’s Blackboard 9 Browser Guide. For more information, visit the Blackboard 9.1 SP6 Supported Browsers and Operating Systems webpage.

Q. How can I create groups in an Adobe Connect meeting?

A. Hosts can create up to 20 breakout rooms in a meeting and send attendees into them. Participants are automatically promoted to presenters in a breakout room, which gives them access to  audio and video broadcasting, as well as any tools the host has made available; they return to participant when the breakout session ends.

Hosts can jump from one room to another and can broadcast messages to all groups, however, if the host is recording the meeting, only the main meeting room is recorded -  the breakout rooms will not be included in the recording. Attendees can ask the host a question at any time even if the host is not present in the breakout room using VoIP or chat.

For more information on Adobe Connect, visit Creating Adobe Connect Meetings.

Q. My students will be doing presentations in class, and I need a way for them to sign up for available timeslots. How can I do that in Blackboard?

A. You can set up a wiki and add a wiki page, listing specific dates and times for student presentations. Since wiki pages are accessible for viewing and editing by students, they can access the wiki page and fill in their names. It is possible for a student to overwrite another student’s timeslot, so you will need to list in your instructions that students should sign up for only open timeslots.

For a Blackboard video on how to create a wiki, please visit Create a Wiki .