Category:Blackboard - Faculty: Difference between revisions

• Use this link to contact the IT Help Desk
• Consult the Faculty Bb Bulletin for help setting up, saving and closing course shells in addition to other important policy and productivity features.

NOTICE:

A message from BLACKBOARD COLLABORATE SUPPORT

Blackboard Collaborate Support Notification for Mac OS X 10.8.4 users who are unable to launch Web Conferencing sessions and recordings.

Affected Platforms

Mac OSX 10.8.4

Issue

Recent security changes released by Apple may prevent Web Conferencing customers from launching Blackboard Collaborate sessions and recordings. Customers using OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.4 will be affected. The security changes no longer allow users to auto-launch JNLP files.

For additional details and information regarding how to enter sessions or play recordings if you have installed this update please reference knowledge base article 2940.

Thank you and regards,

Your Blackboard Collaborate Support Team

Standard Practices

The Basics!

Standard practices are the conventions followed by faculty and the Blackboard support staff in order to guarantee that the semester, in this case, starts smoothly. Sometimes standard practices guarantee a common experience -- students are added to the courses on the same day -- and in other cases they guarantee clear, commonly understood communication between instructors and Blackboard staff.

1. students are added to course shells two days prior to the start of the semester.
2. Instructors can communicate with students before they are added to shells
3. Instructors are responsible for activating their course shells; students will not be able to participate in, or even see, course shells until they're activated. The exception are courses taught completely online.

Transfer course content

The form to request a course content transfer: https://libservices.wpunj.edu/irt/bb/transfer/default.cfm
• In the first of three sections enter the semester and course designations of both the course you are using as a template (origin) and the anticipated course shell (destination)
  

In the example above the origin course is from the Fall of 2014 and the destination is the Fall semester 2015. The course extension is the only difference in the course designation area. When looking at old courses remember that the course designation is pre-pended by the year of the course and the semester designation:

Designation	Semester
10	Spring
25	Summer
40	Fall
50	Winter
For example:
201510	Spring semester 2015
201525	Summer session 2015
201540	Fall semester 2015
201550	Winter session Dec. 2015 - Jan. 2016




• Enter your name and email in the second area
  
• Use the Comments area to make any special requests, for example adding extra sections or asking for retrieval of archived content. And always remember to SUBMIT!
  

For Faculty Who Prefer to Control Their Own Content

The easiest way for faculty to move content from one section to another is to a) download the content from the origin section and b) upload it to the destination section. The process takes as much time as it does to request a course transfer and can be done on your own time -- no waiting!

Text-based instructions for Exporting and/or Archiving a course in on Bb shell and then uploading (Restoring) it to another Bb shell can be found here:

Export/Archive/Restore

Video instructions for the same procedures are available here:

Archive, machine readable files

Export, human accessible files

Restore course to a Bb shell

Create course shells from sections which are associated by cross-listing or multi-sections

The form to request merging course shells: https://libservices.wpunj.edu/irt/bb/combine/default.cfm

Note: Until very recently solution available to us was the Merge (Combine). The availability of the Master option gives faculty more choices, so please consult this link to decide which solution is best for you.

http://bit.ly/wpunj-bb-mergemaster

Merge 1. Students from the child sections -02, -03 and -60 are diverted to the parent section -01. 2. Child sections are inactive and are unavailable to students. All course activity takes place in the parent shell. 3. Merge is a good option for cross-listed course in which a course has two designations but takes place in one classroom. Another example is the case of multi-section courses taught by the same instructor.

Master 1. Students from client shells are added to a master section. The master section exists apart from the shells from which the students are drawn. 2. The client course shells are autonomous and can be used to host content and interaction apart from that which takes place in the master shell. 3. Master is a good option for lecture/lab courses in which separate course shells are needed for the differing needs of course content and delivery.

Cross-listed and multi-section courses can be combined into one shell in order to reduce duplicated posting. An instructor or team of instructors teaching multiple sections of one course might find it to their advantage to put all the content into a single shell rather than replicating it across three shells, for example. Please follow the instructions below to request merging a course shell. Requests should be made before the beginning of the semester; waiting until the first week of classes to ask for a merge could result in delayed fulfillment of the request!

• Point your web browser to https://libservices.wpunj.edu/irt/bb/combine/default.cfm
• In the first section fill out the department, course number and section of both the parent course (the one that will be used) and the children. In the example below the parent course is History 1050-01 and the children are History 1050 sections -02 and -60.
  
• Include any special comments or questions in the next section of the interface
  
• Finally please tell us your name and email address. If more than one instructor is involved only one member of the team needs to be listed.
  

NOTE:

A Combine request can also be made through the Web Help Desk: http://www.wpunj.edu

But for the best service please include the department designations (e.g Hist, Bio) the course number (1010, 1300, etc.) and the section number (-01, -60, -80, etc.) for all the courses involved.

Activate course shell

There are two ways to one might activate a course shell. Remember that students will not see course content, or even a link to the course, until it has been activated.

The new way: Qwickly

• On the My Blackboard page select Faculty: Set Course Availability in the Tools menu (upper left):
  
• Click ON to activate a course and OFF to deactivate (at the end of the semester, for example)
  

The old way: Course properties

• In the Control Panel (bottom left corner of the course shell) select Customization, then Properties
  
• In area number three select availability to Yes
  
• Finish by clicking the Submit button
  

Communicate with students before they've been added to course shells

• Follow these directions: Email students using WPConnect Updated August 2014

View Student Roster

After students have been added to course shells (see the first unit of the Standard Practices module) start by selecting Users in the Control Panel:

• Control Panel => Users and Groups => Users
  
• The Roster:
  

Beginning of the semester

Which Blackboard tasks are most useful in the period leading up to the start of the semester? Content can be moved from previous semesters to coming semester, old course shells can be hidden and new shells can be activated for student use, Many of the items below are covered above in the Standard Practices area. Do you have questions or need support? Please file a ticket with the Online Help Desk: http://www.wpunj.edu/helpdesk/

Blackboard: Getting Started

This area covers basic information including a tour of the Blackboard interface, using course-to-course navigation and learning the importance of Action Link.

Course Building

Collaboration

Blackboard provides a number of tools for interacting with students, including discussion boards, journals, blogs and wikis. Do you have questions or need support? Please file a ticket with the Online Help Desk: http://www.wpunj.edu/helpdesk/

Content Collection

The content collection is one of the most underutilized tools in in the Blackboard suite. In this section learn to transfer content across courses within and between semesters. Why upload ten documents one at a time when you can upload them all in one package and then create links to that content in several courses this semester and throughout course shells semesters to come!

Discussion Board

Grade Center

Assessments

Assessments: Respondus test editing software

Obtaining Respondus

For installing Respondus on your office computer, please either call the Help Desk at 973.720.help (x4357) or file a ticket with the online Help Desk – request type: Blackboard/Assessments. Help Desk personnel will push the software on your office computer.

For help installing Respondus on your private (home) computer, please file a ticket with the online Help Desk -- request type: Blackboard/Assessments – and we’ll provide with instructions for installing the software. Our license with Respondus Corp. doesn’t permit us to post this information publicly.

Course Reports & Retention Center

This tool provides an easy way for you to discover which students in your course are at risk.

Portfolios

End of the Semester