BlackBoard Question of the Week

Q.  I have had my students turn in their papers through Blackboard, and have read and commented on them in MS Word, and then uploaded them back to the students along with their grade.  But I am not sure how to direct students to download their papers with my comments on them.  And how can I verify that my upload worked?

A. To confirm that your upload worked, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Grade Center in your course, find the column for the assignment, and click on the chevron in the cell for the student whose paper you want to confirm.
2. Click on View Grade Details.
3. Click on the View Attempt button in the lower right corner on the Grade Details page.
4. Scroll down to #3: Grade Current Attempt and look underneath the text box, at Attached files – you should see the commented file you attached for this student on this assignment.

Students can see their graded and commented papers either by going back to where the assignment is posted and clicking on it again to bring up the Review Submission History page, or by going to Tools > My Grades and clicking on the score for that assignment, which should be an active link if you have attached a document. Once a student is on the Review Submission page, s/he can view or download the document.

For instructions for students on how to submit and then review the grade for an assignment, please visit Submitting an Assignment .

Q. My professor makes highlights and notes on papers we submit online to Blackboard, but when he posts the document with his comments, I can’t see anything but his text at the bottom of the screen – his notes in bubbles and his highlights are missing. How can I see his comments?

A. Your professor is using the Track Changes Feature in Microsoft Word. If you have Word on your computer, you will need to download the paper to your computer and open it in Microsoft Word. Then, click on the Review tab, choose Show Markup and make sure there is a checkmark beside the options your professor is using.

Q. I created my Adobe Connect meeting in Blackboard, but edited it in Connect Central – now I can’t see my meeting in Blackboard.

A. Editing a meeting in Connect Central after it was created in Blackboard breaks the link between Blackboard and the Connect server. You will need to create a new meeting in Blackboard and do any editing of the meeting in Blackboard as well.

Q. Is there a way that I can limit access to a folder in my course to only a select group of students?

A. If you click on the chevron icon next to the folder you’ve created, you can select Adaptive Release.  In the Adaptive Release settings, under Membership, you have the option to add the usernames of those you would like to have access to the folder. This Blackboard video explains Adaptive Release rules:  Adaptive Release: Create Multiple Rules for a Content Item .

Or you could create groups and use the File Exchange area to make items available for specific groups.  Here is a link to a tutorial on creating groups:  Creating Student Groups .

Q. We have a series of discussion forums that we are using for our course and they are on time-release. Once the forum becomes unavailable, they disappear from the student view. Is there a way for students to read the threads, but not be able to post on them once the availability date passes?

A. You can “lock” discussion threads in Blackboard to allow students to see the posts, but not to allow any new posts. Follow these steps to lock a thread:

1. Open a Forum in the Discussion Board.
2. Select threads to lock (you can select all threads by checking the box to the left of “Date” in the header).
3. Choose “Lock” for the selected threads using the “Thread Actions” drop-down list. You can unlock the threads in the same way.

Q. I need assistance in setting up a way to alert students when they have an assignment due.

 A. If you are using the Assignment Tool to set up your assignments, you only need to enable the To Do module on your course’s homepage (you can read more about the Home Page at Customizing Course Home Page ) . Once you add a due date to your assignment, it should show up for students in the To Do module in the What’s Due box; they should see the number of assignments set up under one of the headings – Today, Tomorrow, This Week, or Future – depending on when it is due.  Students will see the dates assignments are due, however the instructor will not see the due dates in the What’s Due module.

Q. When I use the Export option to back up my course, assignments are not exported; is there a simple way for me to export the assignments as well?

A. Yes, you can batch download assignments; you can find instructions for batch downloading at Downloading Assignments .

Q. Please advise me on the preferred method for archiving Blackboard course materials and gradebooks. I have exported the course, however that does not include the gradebook. I have exported the gradebook to an Excel file, however, that does not seem like an ideal solution for security reasons.

A. Archive in Blackboard is not an option for instructors because it preserves all student records associated with a course.

You are correct to use Export for course content and to export your Grade center. Once you have saved your Grade Center Excel file, you can password-protect it, for security. For a free Microsoft Office tutorial on password-protecting your spreadsheet, visit Set a Password in an Excel Spreadsheet .

Q. I am trying to listen to an audio clip my professor recorded, but I’m seeing this message: “Applet should be there but Wimba server is down.”

A. If you are using Internet Explorer and seeing a notice at the bottom of the screen that says “Only secure content is displayed” when you click on the audio link, click on “Show all content” at the bottom of the screen.

You will be sent back to the homepage of the course, but you can then go back to the content area where the item is posted and play the item.

This problem doesn’t happen in Firefox, so you could use Firefox as your browser when in Blackboard.

Q. My last name is different in Blackboard than in LOCUS.  It is correct in LOCUS, but still has my maiden name in Blackboard.  Who should I contact to have this corrected?

A. You can correct this quickly and easily yourself.

1. Log into Blackboard.
2. On the Login page under Tools, click on Personal Information.
3. Click on Edit Personal Information.
4. Change your name in the first section, under the “Personal Information” heading.
5. Click Submit.