Frequently Asked Blackboard Questions


Saint Mary's instructors can use our campus Blackboard system to help in specific ways with many teaching tasks. Some in order to improve communications with students, others to distribute course materials, to promote collaborative learning, to use online assessments to improve learning, to permit convenient methods of peer review or facilitate the distribution of student work, to accomodate a greater variety of learning styles or preferences, and many other objectives. This document provides the answer to the most commonly asked questions about using Blackboard.

Resources for Integrating Technology for Better Teaching:

Enhancing Your Course: This section addresses planning for technology and applying appropriate strategies

Copyright: Understanding copyright as it applies to digital content.

Plagiarism and the Web: Prevention, Detection, Tracking down Sources,

Using Library Resources: This section explains how to efficiently and effectively integrate digital library resources.

Using Audio and Video: This section explains available options for incorporating video and audio resources (This section is under construction)

Tips for Effective Use of Blackboard:(not yet ready)

Frequently Asked Questions about Blackboard:

1. Why faculty are asked to request Blackboard (Bb) courses each semester?
2. What do instructors need to do with their Blackboard courses at end of semester
3. Why campus email addresses are preferred in Blackboard?
4. What if my Blackboard password doesn't work?
5.  Are Prism and Blackboard connected ( Why students may be missing from my Blackboard course?)
6 . Why students cannot find your course?
7 . What is Blackboard's Digital Drop Box and how does it work?
8 . How does the discussion board work?
9 . Why students have trouble opening documents? I send
10. Does Blackboard have a Spell Checker?
11. How do I attach documents to a Bb email, discussion board, or digital drop box?
13 . How can I publish PowerPoint presentations so student can print them economically.
14. How do I save an Excel spreadsheet for accounti ng so that I can complete it in later (outside of Bb)?
16. Can audio or video clips be used in Blackboard?
17. How do I find whether my text book publisher makes Blackboard content available ?
18. Powerpoint Presentations sometimes don't open in Blackboard courses in some versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer. When the

      .ppt file is clicked on it appears that nothing is happening.

19. I'm having trouble logging on, and am getting the message
      "An error occurred in the authentication module: Error occurred while trying to lookup the current session."

20. I use Netscape and I keep getting a blank screen instead of the login screen???

21. I cannot get logged into Blackboard. When I try I get an error message that states I don't have the right credentials.

22. Efforts to change my Blackboard site from off-campus are not successful. I don't see any error messages, but changes aren't taking effect.
23. I notice that some students who take an online quiz display a lock symbol on the gradebook, where their grade should be displayed. What does this mean, and how can the student retake the quiz?
24. I want to grant people from another institution access to my Blackboard course content - not the gradebook, or discussion boards, ....

1. Why faculty have to request Blackboard (Bb) courses each semester?

Saint Mary's instructors use our campus Blackboard Course Management System to provide convenient, 24 hour access to digital course materials, facilitate communication among students, distribute course grades, and much more. For technical reasons the Blackboard system administrator creates new course shells each semester based on information provided by instructors in the Course Request Form, and manually enrolls students at the start of the semester. Instructors are kindly asked to use the Blackboard Course Request web form to request Blackboard sites each semester to ensure all requests are handled promptly and correctly. ( Normally Blackboard sites are retired at the end of each semester. The course becomes unavailable to students, but not the instructor. The content may be preserved and re-used in the future.)

2. What needs to be done with a Blackboard course at the end of the semester?

Administrative: Make sure that all of your current students have completed their assignments and will not be needing the course site. If you have posted grades in Blackboard, it is very important that you download the gradebook to an Excel file. so you save a copy for your records. (Contact Dan Mandell if you have questions about this procedure. phone #5321). It is useful to store one copy of each course on the system for use in the future.

It also helps if instructors remove all the users from the Blackboard class roster, using the Control Panel, User Management section. If you are using the same course site for the next semester, you will want to start with a "clean" roster.

Instructional review:
Now look at your course from an instructional standpoint.

• What worked and what didn't?
• Did your students have difficulty finding information?
• Was there limited participation in the Discussion Forums?
• Were important course materials missing?
• How could you make it better?

  Each semester that you use Blackboard you will learn something new. Use the time between semesters to fine-tune your course. If you would like assistance optimizing your course either technically or instructionally, contact Dan Mandell for a consultation.

3. Why we prefer to use Saint Mary's campus email addresses in the Blackboard (Bb) system?

Blackboard requires an email address for all students and instructors using Blackboard. We prefer use of your regular Saint Mary's (or in some cases a Notre Dame or Holy Cross) email address. Even if you prefer use of another email account, we recommend using your Saint Mary's email address in Blackboard.

One of the reasons we discourage use of Hot Mail and Yahoo accounts is the frequency of complaints indicating that ocasionally messages sent to these systems get lost, filtered out, and never being delivered

Campus email can always be forwarded using the Aegis (Option > Delegated Administrator > Mail Delivery) menu choices to forward copies of mail to secondary account. If you do not currently have an email address, you can establish one at Saint Mary's by contacting the Information Technology Department helpdesk. (Phone #4715)

4. What if my Blackboard password doesn't work?

Starting in January 2005, Blackboard passwords are the same as the password used with the campus email.. However, if for some reason this doesn't work, please notify bbsupport@saintmarys.edu..

5. Are Blackboard and Prism related in some way?

Blackboard provides instructors with a variety of world wide web services to assist with instructional objectives, but all of its resources - including its Grade Book - are separate from Prism and completely unofficial.  Prism is the official student administrative system and grades must all be posted there to be official. Instructors need to verify that all students, especially late Adds and Drops, are enrolled in the Blackboard course, and may need to add students who are missing.

Normally students are enrolled in all Blackboard courses at the beginning of the semester. However, instructors ought to check their Blackboard class list against the official classlist and add and drop students as necessary. Instructors can add students only if they are already in the Blackboard system using Control Panel > Enroll User, and searching for students by last name. If the student's name cannot be found in Blackboard then either notify the Blackboard administrator, providing the student's full name, email, and home institution (since we will need the student's email address in order to create an account for them.) or,

ask the student to visit the Information Technology department helpdesk, LeMans 75, to request an email, computer account, and Blackboard account.

6. What is students cannot find your course in Blackboard?

If students complain they are unable to find the course in Blackboard, then check to verify that the student is a member of the Blackboard class in question. If she is already a member, then check Control Panel>Settings>Course Availability. Make sure the course is "available" (to students).

7. How does the digital drop box work?

The digital drop box is basically a secure folder that the instructor can use to exchange information confidentially with students. Students find the digital drop box in the Student Tools area in the course. The instructor accesses documents and returns them to the student using the Digital Dropbox item in the Control Panel.

• Students should be told to use the “Send Item” option us a title that will help the instructor identify the file, for example “Assignment 1 M_Smith” (The rest of the process is similar to adding an email attechment) After selecting the document, Students click on submit and should get a message that the message was sent to the instructor's Drop Box successfully.

8. How does the discussion board work?

The Discussion Board is the area in a Blackboard course where students and instructor converse by leaving messages. It differs from Instant Messenger, Chat and Blackboard's Virtual Classroom because sender and receiver do not need to be online at the same time. A discussion board differs from email in that messages are not addressed to one person but are posted in an area where they are open to everyone in the course to read and reply. It is the place to "discuss" what is being learned, to raise questions or allow other students to respond to other's remarks. When you enter the discussion board you can create several r “Forums.” Forums are simply ways to organize topics for different purposes in the discussion board.

• Student's click on Communication > Discussion Board. to gain access (unless the instructor has added a Discussion navigation button to the Course Manu.)
• On the next screen - click on the subject ( the underlined phrases ) of messages that have been submitted by other students in the course. (Hint: if you click on the name that will take you to an email option so that you can email the writer of the submission (posting).)
• To reply to a posting, just click on “reply”, then type your message in the dialog box, and hit submit. (Hint: students on a dialup connection might want to consider creating a long message in their word processing program and copying/pasting it into the dialogue box. That would protect them from loosing a message if they loose their Internet connection before they submit.)
• If you want to begin taking a particular discussion forum in a slightly new direction, you might want to click on “Add thread.” Threads are discussions within each discussion forum.

9. Why can’t students open some documents I send?

Students are told to purchase Word, but if they use an incompatible word processor, you will have difficulty opening their files, and they yours, unless you both learn to use the Rich Text Format (RTF). Word can open these files with minimal loss of format, and can save documents in the same format. if the instructor uses the RTF format, even students with other word processors should be able to open them.

It is worth knowing that Rich Text Format is file type that allows a file to be opened by any computer with a word processor. To save in Rich Text Format create a file or open a file in your word processing program and go to “save as.” Click on the drop down menu in the “save as type” box and select Rich Text Format. The file will end in .rtf  and should be readable by any word processor.

10. Does Blackboard have a spell checker?

Blackboard does not yet have a spell checker built-in. You might want to compose messages and assignments in a separate word processor (for example, Microsoft Word). You can then run a spell check, when you’re satisfied you can copy and paste the message into the Blackboard section in which you are working (for example, the discussion board).

11. How do I attach documents to a Bb email, discussion board, or digital drop box?

• Click on the box marked “attachment”
• Locate your file on your computer – remember you might have it on a disk
• Click on the file name. The file will automatically load into the Blackboard page. It’s a good idea to save any files you plan to submit in Rich Text Format (select .rtf as the file type) so that your instructor and other students can read the file even if they do not have the same word processor as you.

12. How do I add an MS PowerPoint presentation to my Blackboard site?

While the simplest way is to upload the normal PowerPoint file (.ppt) in Blackboard, it is not recommend because if the file is large and/or has a lot of images, you will find the upload process slow and the students will find the download process slow. Therefore, we recommend saving your Microsoft PowerPoint presentation as a PDF or as web pages.

Go to the PP slide show in Blackboard and right click while you are on one of the PP slides; select print; then:

* Make selections from “Print Range” - do you want all, current slide, or selected sides (if so, you need to type in the slide numbers)
* Make selections from “Print What” (you most likely want “Handouts”). When selecting Handouts you also need to select the number of “Slides per Page” (you can select from 2-9 to be printed on a single page).

For instructions on saving a Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation as a Web site, see the Blackboard Learning Solutions Tip Sheet: http://www.blackboard.com/docs/don/BbPowerPoint_TipSheet.pdf
This tip sheet will refer you to another tip sheet, for the second part of the process,

Importing Web Sites into Blackboard.

Below is a précis of the second part of the process, but if you need more detail instructions, the Blackboard sheet can be found at: http://www.blackboard.com/docs/don/BbImportingWebsites_TipSheet.pdf

After you have saved the PowerPoint as a Web site, you will have to zip the file (compress it) if you have the appropriate software to do so.

Next, you have to upload the zip file to your Blackboard site using the Unpackage these Files option:

• Go to the course Control Panel and select (under Content Areas) the section to which you wish to add the presentation (e.g., Course Documents). Click on Add tem.
• Name the document, and add appropriate explanatory text.
• Go to the File to Attach under Content.
• Click on the Browse button and select the Zip file to be uploaded (Zip or .z suffix).
• Under Special Action select Unpackage this file.
• Click Submit
• Blackboard will then ask you to select an "entry point" (the first page that your user would see in the presentation). Select the index file.

14.  How do I print a Power Point presentation without wasting a lot of paper by printing only one slide per page?

Go to the PP slide show in Blackboard and right click while you are on one of the PP slides; select print; then:

* Make selections from “Print Range” - do you want all, current slide, or selected sides (if so, you need to type in the slide numbers)
* Make selections from “Print What” (you most likely want “Handouts”). When selecting Handouts you also need to select the number of “Slides per Page” (you can select from 2-9 to be printed on a single page).

If you would like assistance with this, or with taking audio or video from an analog source (tape recorder, VHS tape, camcorder) or digital source (DV Cam) and converting it to a web-ready format, please make an appointment to meet with a member of the ITRC staff (284-5321). A staff member can show you how to use the equipment at the ITRC Lab or make recommendations on personal or departmental purchases. They will also make recommendations on what format to use (Quick Time, etc.) when saving your media in order to maximize quality and compatibility, while minimizing file size.

16. My textbook publisher includes a CDROM with the text book but I've heard that many text book publishers now prepare materials specifically for use with Blackboard courses?

Blackboard Course Cartridge's contain pre-packaged instructional course materials, produced by one of the many publisher partners http://cartridgecatalog.blackboard.com/catalog/publisher_list.pl of Blackboard. To get started ask your publisher, or visit the Blackboard cartridge site http://cartridges.blackboard.com and search for available cartridges in your subject discipline.

17. You can contact your sales representative to inquire about Blackboard "cartridges" which most publisher offer. And there is a link to a catalog of all available Blackboard cartridges on the "Welcome" portal, the first page viewed after logging in to Blackboard.

18. Powerpoint Presentations will not open in Blackboard courses in some versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer. When Powerpoint Presentation .ppt files are clicked on it appears that nothing is happening.

The solution to the problem is to update Microsoft Office. To do the Microsoft update, do the following:
1. Open Microsoft Internet Explorer.
2. Go to the top menu bar and click on Tools > Windows Update.
3. Click on Office Family located on the menu bar just below Window Update at the top of the screen.
4. Go to top/center blue box labeled Office Update and click Check for Updates.
Follow the installation instructions.
Note: If you installed the Windows Service Pack 2 Update on your computer, you may need to do a right mouse to allow for pop ups to continue the installation.

19. These errors are caused when Blackboard cannot set a cookie on your
computer. Some people do not permit cookies on their computer, but Blackboard needs to set what's called a "Session" cookie in order to work. You will not be able to log onto the system until you permit Blackboard to set that cookie. To permit cookies in Internet Explorer, look in Tools -> Internet Options -> Privacy Tab. The privacy must be set to "Medium" or lower in order for Blackboard to work.

One other potential problem can cause this error. If you are trying to use a bookmark to quickly access the login page, remember that Blackboard requires you to start your session at http://solo.cochise.edu - that is the page with the Blackboard Logo and a login button on the left side of the screen. When you click "Login" Blackboard sets the cookie that is needed for the rest of your session. If you've bookmarked the actual login form (as illustrated above), you will bypass that cookie-setting screen and cause the "Empty ResultSet" error message to appear.

20. Question. I use Netscape and I keep getting a blank screen instead of the login screen. What's going on here?

Answer. This is a known issue with Netscape. The problem is related to the way Netscape stores "cache" copies of Web pages. You probably knew that all browsers keep a copy of visited Web pages on the local hard drive. That is to speed up the browsing experience for home modem users (if the requested Web page hasn't changed since the last visit then it's loaded from the local cache instead of downloaded from the Web). With Blackboard and Netscape, there seems to be a problem with the cache copy interfering with the Web version of the page.

You may try the following steps to correct the problem. When the blank page is displayed, click the "reload" button at the top of the screen (that is the button with the bent arrow). If that doesn't work, press and hold the Control Key and tap "R" (that's CTRL+R), which will force a page reload. Frankly, it's not too likely that these will help, but they are quick and easy to try.

Next, you should check your cache preferences. On the menu bar, click Edit -> Preferences. On the preferences screen, click "Advanced" and then "Cache." You should set the cache to "Every time I view the page" rather than the default "When the page is out of date." While you are on that screen, click the button to Clear Cache in order to clear out any old copies of the page. (For what it's worth, I had to clear the cache in order to make Netscape work while I was fooling around with it to answer your question.) After doing all of that, try re-loading the page again. Hopefully, it will work this time.

Q21. When I try to Login to Blackboard I get an error message that states I don't have the right credentials.

Answer. This error is caused by an incorrect security setting on your computer. In order to function, Blackboard needs to be able to execute scripts on your computer. To activate scripts in Internet Explorer, look in Tools -> Internet Options -> Security Tab.

Now, click on the "Internet" zone icon (the globe) at the top of the screen. Next, click on the "Custom Level" button at the bottom of the screen. Scroll down the page until you find the "Scripting" section and be sure "Active Scripting" is enabled.

Q22. Certain ISP provided browsers (e.g. AOL, Earthlink, etc.) have pop-up blockers that can interfere with Blackboard.  Try turning off

things like pop-up blockers, ScamBlocker, and firewalls, or download a clean browser from Microsoft or Mozilla's web site to see if any of those are interfering. 

Q 23. The online quizzes in Blackboard present several potential problems:

1. Students using AOL Dial-up connections disconnect:
If a student dials in from home using an ISP such as AOL, the ISP may kick him off for inactivity. In AOL, use the keyword "smile4u" to prevent this. For other ISPs, the student should contact his customer service to find out if a setting can be changed. The problem is that when taking a quiz or exam, the students are simply viewing one web page, so it appears that they are inactive. The student can also have another browser window open with a long download or another site on which he selects a link every so often (search engines work well). (By the way, we do not recommend using the AOL browser. Use a browser installed on your hard drive instead.)

2. Quitting by Accident
The quiz software is designed so that once a student begins taking a quiz, she can never take it again -- unless you clear the attempt (see below). For example, if the student closes the quiz window, then she can not take that exam again. This feature has unfortunate consequences for some students who make an honest mistake. For example, a student loses the right to retake an exam if she accidentally closes the window or if the browser crashes or if the electricity to the computer is shut off for any reason. Consequently, students should be warned to take quizzes carefully. To avoid losing a quiz, they should first close down the other programs running on the computer. Avoiding distraction, they should focus only on the quiz until it is finished. They should be careful not to close or even resize the window.

3. Resizing Erases Data
In Netscape, resizing the quiz window will cause all information entered by the student up to that point to be erased. All answers will need to be reentered. For this reason, we do not recommend using Netscape to take quizzes.

4. Retaking a Quiz
An instructor can choose to let a quiz be taken multiple times. Students should be aware that when they retake a quiz, all of the previous answers will be wiped out. The score for the first attempt in your Online Gradebook will be erased, as well.

5. Clearing a Failed Attempt
If a student runs into technical difficulties and is prevented from finishing a quiz, it is possible for you to clear the student's attempt, so that she can take the quiz again. Go to the Control Panel: Online Gradebook. Use the spreadsheet and select on the botched score. Near the upper right is a button to "Clear Attempt." If you select this, any answers and score will be erased and the student can take the exam again.

6. Recommended Instructions
If you offer a quiz in your Blackboard site, we recommend that you give your students instructions along these lines: When you take the quiz, you need to focus your attention and the attention of your computer on the quiz. Before you select on the link to the quiz, exit any competing applications on your computer. Size the window comfortably. Then select on the link to the quiz.

24. To Grant Guest Access to Content in my Blackboard Course ...

1. select Manage Course Menu from the Control Panel, and select "modeify" to the right of areas you wish to make available, and make sure to select Allow Guiest Access for each of these areas.
2. Also select Manage Tools in the CONTROL PANEL selecting TOOL AVAILABILITY and enable guest access to course content and assigments. and click on submit

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Other Blackboard Resources
Northeastern University's EdTech staff has compiled some Blackboard tutorials with tips for faculty who want to teach online, and students who will be taking online courses. Be sure to check out the FAQ.
[LINK]

Webcasts Available for Blackboard

View a collection of archived webcasts that the University of Illinois-Chicago hosted this year. They also have a large support site to assist faculty who are using Blackboard. Please note the webcasts require Real Player for viewing.

[LINK]

View Flash Tutorials for Blackboard University of Alaska-Anchorage has created Flash tutorials for Blackboard v. 5.  View these tutorials by clicking Tips and Training for Students. You may also view a Blackboard demonstration course as well.

[LINK]

Training Materials for BlackboardAt Wake Forest University, you may review a large assortment of Blackboard training material for faculty and students. All files are in PDF format.

[LINK]

Blackboard Demo Course: Tools and Strategies

The University of Kansas has put together a fantastic demo course that highlights the features and functions of the Blackboard Learning System (Release 6). The course includes video tutorials that require Real Player. To access the course please use the following steps:

To access as a guest:

1. Go to https://courseware.ku.edu .

2. Click on the "Catalog" button.

3. Type "IDS" in the "Search" box.

4. Locate the course titled "Using Blackboard V6.0: TOOLS

and STRATEGIES" and either click the link or the "Preview"

button.

University of Southampton
Materials include an online training course and staff and student guides to using various aspects of Blackboard.
[LINK]