BlackBoard Question of the Week

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 .

Q. My students are sending me papers they have written in Office 2010. I have Office 2003 on my home computer and I can’t open the students’ papers. What can I do?

 A.  Installing the Compatibility Pack along-side of Office 2003 will allow you to open, edit, save, and create files using the formats that are used by both Office 2010 and Office 2007.

You can download the Compatibility Pack here: Windows users, Office 2000, Office XP, and Office 2003 users: Download the Compatibility Pack.

Q. I understand the University is moving to Microsoft Office 2010. Will I be able to post Office 2010 files in Blackboard, and will my students be able to read them?

 A. You will use the exact same process to upload an Office 2010 file in Blackboard as you have for Office 2003 or Office 2007 files, and your students should be able to read those files in those earlier versions of Office. Likewise, if you upload a file created in Office 2003 or Office 2007, your students with Office 2010 should have no trouble opening or downloading the document.

 You can find instructions for uploading files at Post Files to a Content Area .

Q. When I copy and paste text from an MS Word document into a Blackboard text box, the formatting is messed up and I lose my numbering, indentations, or bullets.  Is there a way to paste from Word and avoid this problem?

A. The Paste from Word Mashup tool resolves this issue. For instructions on using this tool, visit this link Paste from Word .