Instructor FAQ

1. Request a Blackboard site for your course
2. Setup your computer to work with Blackboard
3. Log in to Blackboard
4. Setup your Blackboard site
5. Enroll your Students, TAs, Instructors into your Blackboard site
6. Additional training & resources available

• Ensure your Web browser is compatible with Blackboard and is configured correctly. Make sure you have the latest version of Java and have uninstalled all older versions. If you are using IE7 or IE8, be sure to follow the special instructions provided for setting this application up specifically to work with Blackboard. [more...]
• Blackboard is fairly heavy as Internet applications go. High Speed Internet connections are recommended.
• Review your computer's resources and turn off non-critical applications.
• Peak Internet usage on the networks between you and Blackboard can contribute to slowness issues.
  [more...]

Uninstall ALL Java versions installed on your machine, then install the newest version of Java. [more...]

A condensed set of the most common tasks needed to setup your site include requesting a new Blackboard course,  resetting an old course, adding or modifying your content, and enrolling your students. [more...]

Yes—enroll as many sections of a course through a single Blackboard site as you wish. Just enroll more than one Course Registration Number (CRN) in the course when adding your students. [more...]
 
Note that your students' Section Number, Student ID, and preferred Email Address do not automatically show up in the Blackboard Grade Book. However, there is a process you may follow to add this information to the Grade Book so that so that it can be sorted by section number. [more...]

If the due dates are identical between your two sections, then it may be beneficial to put the two sections together into a single Blackboard course. This can save you time by avoiding duplication of work. Import the course section number into the Grade Book to sort the student roster by section. [more...]
 
However, if the two sections have different schedules or you don't want your students to interact together in tools such as Discussions, then it may work better for you to duplicate the Blackboard course for each section you are teaching. [more...]

Login to Blackboard http://www.blackboard.uidaho.edu/ with your myUIdaho account computer account. If you're unable to login, try resetting your myUIdaho password / passphrase at http://support.uidaho.edu/. [more...]

If you continue to have trouble logging in to Blackboard,  contact the ITS Help Desk.

ITS Help DESK
Location: Phone: Email: Web:	TLC Room 128 (208)885-HELP helpdesk@uidaho.edu http://support.uidaho.edu

Enroll your students into your Blackboard course using UI's Course Roster Tool. This tool is linked off your Blackboard Course list home page (My Courses) and is located on the right side of the screen under Campus Bookmarks. [more...]

Enroll additional Instructors and TA's into your Blackboard course using the Course Roster Tool. This tool is linked off your Blackboard Course list home page (My Courses) and is located on the right side of the screen under the Campus Bookmarks. [more...]

UI's Course Roster Tool checks hourly for new additions to your course roster. Once you have enrolled a Course Registration Number (CRN) in your course, all future students will be enrolled and be sent an email indicating they've been added to a Blackboard course. [more...]

Students are automatically removed from Blackboard when the student is removed from the official course roster (Course Registration Number (CRN)) via the Registrar's Office. If you previously enrolled individuals into your course that were never on the official course roster, you may drop them individually by using UI's Course Roster Tool. This tool is linked off your Blackboard Course list home page (My Courses) and is located on the right side of the screen under Campus Bookmarks. [more...]

Students login to Blackboard http://www.blackboard.uidaho.edu/ with their myUIdaho account computer account. If they are unable to login, have them try resetting their myUIdaho password / passphrase at http://support.uidaho.edu/. [more...]

If your students continue to have trouble logging in to Blackboard,  have them contact the ITS Help Desk.

ITS Help DESK
Location: Phone: Email: Web:	TLC Room 128 (208)885-HELP helpdesk@uidaho.edu http://support.uidaho.edu

Blackboard does not provide a direct way to email your students. The recommended method of communicating with your students is by way of VandalWeb. [more...]

The Student View tab shows an exact version of what your students will see via your Demo Student. You may even take assessments and complete assignment submissions as the Demo Student and then issue grades to your Demo Student to see what that looks like. [more...]

Blackboard provides extensive tracking capabilities so that you can monitor your students' course progress. [more...]

From the Build tab, select Page Options on the Course Content page. Select Customize Page Display. Next to Icon/Text select Icon Only. Press the Apply button.

The Paging Preference setting refers to the number of discussion posts, assignments, assessments, learning modules, etc. shown per page before you are required to press next to get to the next set of items. Change this default number to something much larger (e.g. 200) to increase the items listed per page and avoid missing something hidden from view because it is not displayed in the initial set. [more...]

The Learning Module tool allows access to course content associated with the lecture, assignments, discussions, etc. There are a number of navigation shortcuts and icons that are helpful for moving through the module. [more...]

There a number of live and online workshops available for Blackboard as well as resources and One-on-One Training options. [more...]

Press the Browser Checker button on the Blackboard Login page to view our current version of Blackboard. It will be located at the top of the window.

There are two parts to creating an assessment. The first part is to build the questions. The second part is to create an assessment which contains those questions.  [more...]

Consider using Respondus which is an external software tool as it can considerably decrease the amount of time involved in building assessments.  [more...]

Use Respondus to convert a Microsoft Word document into a Blackboard assessment. [more...]

When adding questions to an assessment, select the Question Set option to ensure the questions will be given to each student in random order. [more...]

When adding questions to an assessment, select the Question Set option to ensure the questions will be given to each student in random order. If your pool of questions is larger than the number of questions you plan to give in the assessment, Blackboard will select a subset of questions from this pool. You may have a pool of 50 questions, for example, and then have Blackboard randomly draw out and deliver 20 of these each time an assessment is taken. [more...]

The best way to verify that your assessment is setup correctly, is to take the assessment as your Demo Student in the Student View tab. [more...]

The best way to see how your assessment will look to your students is to take the assessment as your Demo Student in the Student View tab. [more...]

• Verify that you can access the assessment as your Demo Student. [more...]
  Reasons why you may not be able to access the assessment as your Demo Student include:

• You may not have released the assessment to the class yet
• You may be trying to take the assessment outside the date and time range allowed for it [more...]
• You may have already taken it as the Demo Student and thus, are not allowed to take it again
• It may have a conditional release applied to it such that you must satisfy some criteria before it is released to the Demo Student
• It may require a proctor password

• Verify the assessment is released to the students you want it to be released to. If you want all students to take it, there should be no conditional tags next to the assessment's title. [more...]
• Make sure the assessment is released for the correct date range.
• Contact the Center for Teaching Innovation (CTI) for further questions.

The best way to see how your assessment results will look to your students is to take the assessment as your Demo Student in the Student View tab and then view the results of that assessment as your Demo Student. [more...]

When viewing the assessment results, the answer given will be marked with a gray check box icon displayed to the left of the answer. The correct answer will be marked with a green check box icon displayed after the correct response. The correct answer will also show a value of 100%.

• Verify that you can access the assessment results as your Demo Student. [more...]
  Reasons why you may not be able to access the assessment results as your Demo Student include:
  • The results and/or grade will not be released until after the assessment has been graded by you.
  • You have chosen not to release the results and/or grade until after the due date has ended.
  • You have chosen not to release the results and/or grade to your students.
• Verify the assessment is released to the students that took the assessment. If you have selectively released the assessment to one or more student to handle a makeup assessment (for example), the selective release will prevent students that already took the assessment from getting to the results. [more...]

Contact the Center for Teaching Innovation (CTI) for further questions.

Go to the assessment Set Release Criteria to limit access by student member so that only desired students are given access. DO NOT set the due dates in Set Release Criteria because they will be ignored in favor of any due dates defined in the the Edit Properties. Instead modify the assessment Due Dates under the assessment Edit Properties. [more...]

While the selective release is in place, the other students in the course will not be able to view their assessment results. Thus, it is important to clear out the Set Release Criteria settings after they are no longer needed.

The simplest solution is to not time the assessments. However, if this is not an option, duplicate the standard assessment to provide an alternative version of the assessment for your Disability Support Students (DSS). [more...]

Proctored assessments are those that are setup with a password. This password can be provided to the proctor prior to the exam. When editing the properties of your assessment, scroll down to the Security Properties to set up a password. [more...]

Reset your student's submission, if needed. [more...]
 
If the delivery date/time for an assessment has already passed, you may need to adjust the deliver date/time and then selectively release the assessment to just that student. [more...]

There are some types of corrections that can be made after an assessment has been taken by a student. For example, if the correct answer is A, but C was accidentally marked, you can save a fix to this type of error. Blackboard will dynamically re-grade students who have already finished.

However, there are other kinds of changes that are not allowed while an assessment is in progress. Errors, such as rewording a question, can not be corrected after an assessment has been taken by someone in the course. Blackboard assumes that adjusting these types of errors is not be fair to students that have already taken the assessment and thus, it does not allow this type of change.

The Date Rollover feature allows you to move the dates for all of your assignments or assessments forward to the next semester all at once. There are some limitations to this feature. For example, custom entries in the Calendar cannot be moved forward automatically in the same manner. [more...]

• Ensure the due date and time for the assignment have not already passed. [more...]
• Check to make sure that there are no special characters (!@#$%^&*) in the filename. [more...]
• Ensure the computer is setup correctly for Blackboard [more...]

You may grade your students in a number of different ways using the Assignment Dropbox tool:

• Option 1: Open student submissions online through Blackboard, leaving comments in the submission comment box and entering grades through the submission box. [more...]
• Option 2: Download all of your students' assignments at once. If you do not need to add comments, then you may enter grades more quickly through the Grade Book. [more...]
• Option 3: Download all of your students' assignments. [more...] Comment in their documents and upload their graded submissions back to the Assignment Dropbox so that your students may view them. [more...]

Unfortunately the answer is NO. If you need to modify a file attached to an assignment by uploading a new version of it to Blackboard, the attachment must be removed and re-added manually. The following instructions walk you through the process of replacing/modifying an attachment that is attached to an assignment. [more...]

Set the Release Criteria so that only the correct students have access and then modify the assignment due dates so that it will be open for those students. Be sure to remove the conditional settings once they are no longer needed. [more...]

Try to determine the file type by looking at the three to four letter file extension. For example: .doc & .docx are Microsoft Word documents, .wps is a Microsoft Works document, .wpd is a Word Perfect document. If the file extension is missing, it may have been created on a Macintosh as the Mac does not use file extensions for file type identification.

Return the assignment submission for further editing and ask the student to resubmit their file in a format that you can open for viewing. [more...]

A discussion topic setup to use Peer Review allows students to give feedback to each other. Students may attach files to discussion posts as well. [more...] 

The Date Rollover feature allows you to move the dates for all of your assignments or assessments forward to the next semester all at once. There are some limitations to this feature. For example, custom entries in the Calendar cannot be moved forward automatically in the same manner. [more...]

There are several options available depending on the initial format of the materials you wish to deliver. If you wish to deliver files to your students, use either the Learning Module or Content Folder tools. [more...]

Learning Modules allow you to sequentially list the tasks needed to learn a specific set of material. Students can move through the Learning Module using previous and next buttons. Learning Modules also display a table of contents on the left so that students can more easily see their progress as they work through the material. [more...]

There are several methods for uploading files which are available through the File Manager—found under the Build tab. If you have a lot of files and/or folders to transfer, we recommend using a WebDAV connection. [more...]

Drag and drop files into the Blackboard File Manager using a WebDAV or Web Folder connection. The simplest browser to use with this connection is Internet Explorer (IE), though you can do it without using IE. [more...]

Use the Syllabus tool built into the Blackboard application [more...]

...or use a Learning Module or Content Folder to deliver syllabus related files. [more...]

Our recommendation is to convert your Microsoft Word document to a PDF format which will present less technical problems in its delivery. Office 2007 comes with a free PDF creation plug-in which you may use.  [more...]
 
If you need to deliver a Microsoft Word document in the .doc format, however, consider saving it out as a MS Word 2000-2003 .doc file rather than a MS Word 2007 .docx. The new 2007 version may present problems for your students with older versions of Office. Content Folders and Learning Modules are the most common tools used to deliver these types of files. [more...]

Use the Web Links tool to create the link. You may then reference that link from either Content Folders or Learning Modules. [more...]

• There are several options available. If you are linking to a file on the UI's streaming media server, link to it using the Web Links tool. [more...] If you are linking to a YouTube or Google video, use the Web Links tool or use the embed code provided by YouTube/Google to embed the video into your Blackboard site. Paste the code into any document that has the ability to display HTML (ex: Course Content Header, Discussion posts, Add File > Create File, etc.) [more...]
• There are quite a few different types of audio and video files available online. Some file types such as MP3 and AVI files require modifications to player preferences in order to work correctly in Blackboard. [more...]

Common areas to update are the syllabus, assignment files, due dates, adding students, etc. Depending on the tools you use, there may be other areas that need updating as well. [more...]

• A threaded discussion provides asynchronous conversation (not occurring simultaneously) through posted messages and responses. The term "threaded" indicates a message is displayed with all of its related replies. In online instruction, a threaded discussion gives you the opportunity to have a discussion with your instructor and the other students in the class electronically.
• A blog allows the students in a class to post a chronological series of entries on a particular topic. Students may also add comments to the blog entries. This enables your class to collaboratively create an informational piece about a topic. Login at any time, day or night, to contribute to the blog's content.
• A private journal provides a private place to write and reflect. Journals are typically kept private between the student and the instructor.

Blackboard's Discussions tool is used to deliver threaded discussions, blogs, and private journals. [more...]

Try out the Discussion tool by working back and forth between the Teach tab as yourself and the Student View tab as your Demo Student in the Discussion tool. [more...]

Here are a few tips & comments from faculty who have successfully worked with the Discussion tool:

1. Break up large groups of students into smaller group discussions. [more...]
2. Get the conversations started right away (first few weeks of class) by assigning a point value to each discussion. Create a rubric and provide sample posts so that your students understand what you expect of them. Or use the Blackboard grading forms. [more...]
3. Many faculty have been delighted to find their students entering into more in-depth conversations via threaded discussions than they'd experienced in their live classrooms. This can be due to students having more time to sit and gather their thoughts. It may also be due to a sense of anonymity which occurs online. [more...]

The group manager allows you to place your students into groups. You may dynamically setup discussion topics to coincide with those groups.  [more...]

One option is to create a Journal topic when creating a new topic in the Discussion tool. This option automatically creates a private space for each student to write their thoughts into. When setting up the Discussion Topic, choose to make it public (which may be read by the entire class) or private (which read only by student and instructor). [more...]

If you have not yet added your students to Blackboard, you may access your official course roster through VandalWeb. If you have added your students, you will see them listed in the Grade Book under the Teach tab. [more...]

Import the section number, student-ID, and email address into the course Grade Book using UI's Course Roster Tool. [more...]

To sort the Grade Book by any column, click on the column title and select sort column from the drop down menu. [more...]

Check to make sure that you've added the My Grades Tool. [more...]

Verify that you've released the grade column in question. [more...]

Students CANNOT see each others' grades from the My Grades area. A myUIdaho account and password are required to access Blackboard and any grades displayed after login pertain directly to the specific myUIdaho used to enter Blackboard.

• Use a calculated column in the Grade Book to total selected columns in the Grade Book. [more...]
• Letter grades may be automatically configured based on the value of a final grade.  [more...]
• Review the tips on entering your grades into VandalWeb. [more...]

Drop the lowest score in a series by inserting a calculated column into the Grade Book which will calculate it for you. Note: Although a simple formula can be used to drop the lowest score automatically, there is no simple formula available to drop the two lowest scores in a series. [more...]

Enter grades for your Demo Student for each column and then confirm that your calculated columns are working correctly based on the Demo Student's column grades.

Rename columns in your Grade Book through the Grade Book Options > Column Settings. Click on the column title and select Rename. [more...]

There several several possible reasons to explain why you may have trouble renaming a column in the Grade Book. The most likely culprit is that the column was auto-generated by an assessment, assignment, or discussion. If that is the case, edit the properties of that item to change the column title. Another possible cause is that your session is not dynamically updating key information. The fix for this is to logout of Blackboard and log back in. Then attempt to rename the column.

Press the Reorder button in the Grade Book to get to the screen that allows you to Show or Hide columns in the Grade Book. Keep in mind that each Grade Book view tab (Grades, Members, View All, Custom View, SCORM Grades) has its own independent display view. Also remember to press the Save button at the bottom of the screen when you are finished modifying a view. [more...]

Use the Export to Spreadsheet button in the Grade Book to export the Blackboard Grade Book for use in a spreadsheet program such as Excel. Use the Import from Spreadsheet button to import grades into Blackboard. Note: Imported files must be specifically formatted as tab delimited or comma delimited text files where the first row contains field name headers for each column. A column containing each student's myUIdaho account is REQUIRED for any file used to import information into the Grade Book. [more...]

After using the scantron equipment located in the Center for Teaching Innovation (CTI) lab in Education 208 to grade your students' assessments, you may create a column in the Grade Book for that assessment and then enter the scantron grades manually into that column.

Alternatively, you may export the scantron grades with their corresponding student ID numbers to a spreadsheet to be merged with student myUIdaho accounts. This data may then be imported into Blackboard. Note: Imported files must be specifically formatted as tab delimited or comma delimited text files where the first row contains field name headers for each column. A column containing each student's myUIdaho account is REQUIRED for any file used to import information into the Grade Book. [more...]

Grades must be manually entered into VandalWeb. There's no automatic way to move the grades from Blackboard to VandalWeb.
 
TIP: Make it easier to enter grades by having the VandalWeb and Blackboard screens side by side on your monitor. [more...]

Access your students' assessment submissions from the Teach tab. Use either the Assessment Manager or click on the Action button next to an assessment and select View Submissions. [more...]

Partially graded typically indicates that there is a question that must be manually graded by the instructor—such as a paragraph question. [more...]

Blackboard allows you to grade a specific question for all your students. You may even hide students names so that you can grade submissions anonymously. [more...]

The easiest way to manually override a grade is through the Grade Book under the Teach tab. Click on the column heading and select Edit Values. Replace the current score with a new score and save it. [more...]

To use the highest score from a set of multiple attempts by a student, go to the Assessment Properties and look for the drop down selection under Student Score. Select Highest Score. [more...]

Security of educating students in an online environment presents many challenges for confirming your students' work. Having a proctor present while your student takes an online exam is the easiest way to confirm that your student is taking their own exam.  [more...]

DO NOT expect the Blackboard assessment tool to work as an anti-cheating tool. It is not designed to foil cheating in an unsupervised environment. Consider the Assessment Pitfalls associated with online testing before pursuing online assessment to test your students' knowledge. [more...]

First, review their assessment submission. [more...]
 
Next, Blackboard provides extensive tracking capabilities so that you can monitor your student's course progress. Use the Tracking tool to help confirm what your student may be telling you. [more...]
 
Finally, contact the Center for Teaching Innovation if you're unable to determine what may have happened to your student's assessment submission.

Download all submissions for an assignment by creating a printable view which you may then save to a file. [more...]

You may either grade submissions online or download the submissions to grade them offline. [more...]

Set discussion topics as "gradable" to make use of the built-in grading features for Blackboard discussions. [more...]

Blackboard provides a reporting feature for the Assessment tool, which allows you to see statistics on your students, as well as item analysis, mean, median, and standard deviation. [more...]

View statistics and a histogram graph of each column of grades in your Grade Book using the action button next to the column title. [more...]

To add new tools, go to Manage Course from the Build or Teach tabs. [more...]
 
Adding new features/content can be done in a number of places depending on your content. Content Folders and Learning Modules are the two most common methods. [more...]

Your textbook publisher should provide some instructions on importing your e-pack contents into Blackboard (previously named WebCT CE6). Some e-packs replace the entire courses contents with their own. Others simply import components into your current course. Typically, you will login to your Blackboard course, go to Manage Course, and Import your e-pack. If you have further questions, please contact the Center for Teaching Innovation.

No—not at this time. Link to one of the available external wikis if you need access to one for your course. [more...]

Yes—Turning Point Technologies does have an integration option for Blackboard. [more...]

Troubleshooting Tips for Blackboard:

1. Ensure that your computer is setup correctly for Blackboard [more...]
2. Close & Restart your Web Browser
3. Reboot your computer
4. Uninstall old Java versions & Install the latest Java [more...]
5. Check out Troubleshooting Tips
6. Contact Help Desk

If you have additional questions, please contact the Center for Teaching Innovation.

There is a known problem with the version of Java that is installed on Windows Vista machine. All Vista users need to uninstall all previously installed versions of Java and reinstall a current version of Java. [more...] 

Troubleshooting Tips for Blackboard:

1. Ensure that your computer is setup correctly for Blackboard [more...]
2. Close & restart your Web browser
3. Reboot your computer
4. Uninstall old Java versions & install the latest Java [more...]
5. Check out Troubleshooting Tips
6. Contact Help Desk

If you have additional questions, please contact the Center for Teaching Innovation.

Several conditions can contribute to slow response times from Blackboard:

• There is a known issue with the AVG Anti-Virus Browser Plug-in that causes slowness issues with Blackboard. Please disable this Plug-in if you are experiencing slowness problems with Blackboard.
• Peak Internet usage on the networks between you and Blackboard can contribute to slowness issues.
  [more...]
• Blackboard is fairly heavy as Internet applications go. High Speed Internet connections are recommended.
• Ensure your Web browser is configured correctly for Blackboard. [more...]
• Review your computer's resources and turn off non-critical applications.

Blackboard sessions timeout after 30 minutes of inactivity. Web Browsers DO NOT register typing as activity. If you're typing an assignment or discussion submission for longer than 30 minutes, the session may timeout when the submit button is pressed. This means that you may lose your work. To prevent lost work, create your content in a word processor and then copy & past the content into Blackboard. [more...]

• Ensure you've added your students to your blackboard course by enrolling the Course Registration Number (CRN) in the course. [more...]
• Verify your student's access is set to Grant rather than Deny
  1. Login to your Blackboard Course
  2. Go to the Teach tab
  3. Go to the Grade Book
  4. Check the box next to your Student's Name
  5. Scroll to the bottom and press Grant Access

The Blackboard menu retracts automatically. There is a double arrow bar icon between the navigation and the course content that toggles the menu open and closed. Click on this icon to expand the left menu. [more...]

There are a number of reasons why some links might not work correctly in Blackboard.

• Check that you don't have a pop-up blocker turned on [more...]
• Check that your Web browser is compatible with Blackboard [more...]
• If additional software such as Microsoft Word is required to view the linked document, ensure that you have that software installed and operating correctly

Often times a file will not download due to security settings in Internet Explorer. Be sure that your computer has been setup to properly run with Blackboard. [more...]

Another possibility is that you have a special character in the name of the file you're attempting to upload. Your files should contain no special characters (!@#$%&*) in their names. [more...]

There are a few platform/browser combinations (such as Firefox on the Mac) that are not compatible with the Blackboard HTML Creator plug-in. Also, the HTML Creator in Blackboard is currently unavailable for student use. Use an external html editor for these cases to develop the html code externally before copying and pasting it into a Blackboard text box. [more...]