Blackboard: How-tos

Course Management

Add Users to Course/Organization

1. On the Control Panel located under Course/Organization Management click Users and Groups and then select Users from the drop-down list.
2. On the Users page, click on the Find Users to Enroll button.
3. On the Add Enrollments page under Enroll Users enter the username in the Username field and click Submit (you can add multiple usernames separated by commas e.g. username1,username2, username3, etc. OR if you don't know the username, leave the Username field blank and click on the Browse button to browse for the user.
4. If the user is an instructor/leader, select Instructor/Leader from the Role drop-down menu.
5. Click the Yes radio button to designate Enrollment Availability.
6. Click Submit.

Change User Availability in Course

1. On the Control Panel located under Course Management click Users and Groups and then select Users from the drop-down list.
2. On the Users page, access a user's menu and select Change User’s Availability in Course.
3. Set a user's availability to Yes or No. This setting only affects the course you're teaching. Availability appears in the right column on the Users page.

Change User Role in Course

1. On the Control Panel located under Course Management click Users and Groups and then select Users from the drop-down list.
2. On the Users page, access a user's menu and select Change User’s Role in Course.
3. Select the Role. This setting only affects the role in this course.

Entry Change the Course Entry Page

1. On the Control Panel select Customization.
2. On the Customization page select Teaching Style.
3. On the Teaching Style page scroll down to Select Course entry Point.
4. Select the desired entry page from the Entry Page drop-down list. (Menu links must have content in them to appear on the drop-down list)
5. Click Submit.

Check The Size of Your Course

1. On the Control Panel, select Packages and Utilities.
2. On the Packages and Utilities page, select Course Copy.
3. On the Course Copy page, scroll to Course Files under File Attachments, select Copy links and copies of the content (include entire course home folder) radio button.
4. Click on the Calculate Size button.

Last Course Access

If you want to see if students have accessed your course:

1. On the Control Panel located under Course Management, Click Evaluation and then select Performance Dashboard from the list.
2. On the Performance Dashboard page, the column titled Last Course Access provides information such as: whether the student accessed the course and when (if not, Never will appear).

Making Your Course Available

NOTE: Courses are marked (Unavailable) by default. This means the course will not appear on any enrolled student's course list. All the courses listed on your My Blackboard page under Courses you are teaching are available to you whether or not they are marked (Unavailable).

Once you make the course available, the course link will appear on each enrolled student's My Blackboard page. Students just click the course link and will be brought right into your course.

1. On the Control Panel located under Course Management, select Customization.
2. On the Customization page, select Properties.
3. On the Properties page, scroll down to Set Availability.
4. Select the Yes radio button to Make Course Available.
5. Click Submit.

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Course Content

Archiving and Downloading Your Course

Why archive your courses?

• You want to have a personal copy of your course.
• You do not teach the course annually and want a copy of the course to import into a new course shell in the future.
• You want to import the course to Blackboard at another institution and, in some cases, import the course into a different Learning Management System.
• You want to import the course to Blackboard at another institution and, in some cases, import the course into a different Learning Management System.

To archive your course

1. On the Control Panel located under Course Management, click on Packages and Utilities.
2. Select Export/Archive Course from the Packages and Utilities drop-down list.
3. On the Export/Archive Course page, click on the Archive button.
4. On the Archive Course page, select copy options and click the Submit button.

To download your achieved course

1. On the Control Panel located under Course Management, click on Packages and Utilities.
2. Select Export/Archive Course from the Packages and Utilities drop-down list.
3. On the Export/Archive Course page, click on the contextual menu next to the archive file you want to download, and select Open.
4. You will be asked to set where to save the file if you haven't set this up in the browser

Important Archiving Notes

Be patient. You will receive an email alert when the process is finished. Depending on the size of the course, sometimes the package does not appear immediately and can take up to several hours.)

After downloading and saving the Archive package, do not unzip (open) the package, or attempt to open or remove files from within the package. Renaming or changing the .zip file in any way may render the Archive unusable when importing or restoring to Blackboard.

To conserve space on the Bb server, please delete the Archive .zip files, e.g. ArchiveFile_12345.201020_2011081012345.zip from the Bb Export/Archive Course page after the package has been downloaded.

Collaborate Recordings are NOT archived or saved. If you have Collaborate recordings in your courses that you wish to keep, you must download them from your Blackboard course and upload the mp4 recording file(s) to CCRI's Medial video streaming server. If a Collaborate recording in the course is linked to a course remaining on Blackboard, you must relink it from Medial. Once courses are removed from Blackboard, Collaborate recordings in those courses cannot be recovered or restored.

 

Course Cartridge Import

NOTE: You will see a message that the course content has been queued and that you will receive an email when the process is completed. You will need to wait a minimum of 15 minutes and/or up to a few hours for your content to be visible in the course.

1. On the Control Panel located under Course Management, click on Packages and Utilities.
2. Select Import Course Cartridge from the Packages and Utilities drop-down list.
3. On the Import Course Cartridge page under 1. Add Course Cartridge Content, enter the Course Cartridge Download Key in the field provided.
4. Click Submit.

Copy a Course

1. Navigate to the source course, the course you want to copy.
2. On the Control Panel located under Course Management, click on Packages and Utilities.
3. Select Course Copy from the Packages and Utilities drop-down list.
4. In the Destination Course ID text box under Select Copy Options, click on Browse to view a list of your courses. Select the radio button of your destination course. Click on Submit.
5. Under Select Course Materials, select the items you want to copy. To conduct a full copy, click on the Select All button.
   (Note: Do not copy enrollments. Also the course availability of the source course is applied to the destination course.)
6. Click Submit.

Note : It can take up to several hours to complete the course copy depending on the size of your course and the speed of your internet connection. You will receive an email notification when the course copy is complete. DO NOT conduct a second copy. Please contact the Help Desk if you find content missing, or have other issues or questions after the copy.
Note: If you are using the Attendance tool, make sure you UNCHECK it before you copy your course.

Export/Import a Single Test

1. Select Tests, Surveys, and Pools from Course Tools on the Control Panel.
2. On the Test Surveys, and Tools page, select Tests and locate the test you wish to export on the Tests page.
3. Select Export from the test's drop down menu and save file to your computer.
4. Go to the destination course and select Tests, Surveys, and Pools from Course Tools on the Control Panel.
5. On the Test Surveys, and Tools page, select Test.
6. Click on the Import Test button on the top of the page.
7. On the Test Import page, browse for the test file you exported and Submit.
8. The imported test will appear in the list of tests on the Tests page.
9. Deploy the test in your course.

Exporting and Downloading Your Course/Organization

Important Notes: To conserve space on the Bb server, please delete the Export.zip files, e.g. ExportFile_12345.201020_2011081012345.zip from the Bb Export/Archive Course/Organization page after the package has been downloaded.

After the package has been downloaded, do not unzip an Export package or remove files from the package. (Be patient. You will receive an email alert when the process is finished. Depending on the size of the course/organization, sometimes the package does not appear immediately and can take up to several hours.)

1. On the Control Panel located under Course/Organization Management, click on Packages and Utilities.
2. Select Export/Archive Course/Organization from the Packages and Utilities drop-down list.
3. On the Export/Archive Course/Organization page, click the Export button.
4. On the Export Course/Organization page, select Course/Organization Materials from 3. Select Course/Organization Materials option, and click the Submit button.

To download your exported package

1. On the Control Panel located under Course/Organization Management, click on Packages and Utilities.
2. Select Export/Archive Course/Organization from the Packages and Utilities drop-down list.
3. On the Export/Archive Course/Organization page, click on the contextual menu next to the archive file you want to download, and select Open.
4. You will be asked to set where to save the file if you haven't set this up in the browser.

Import Package

1. On the Control Panel located under Course/Organization Management, click on Packages and Utilities.
2. Select Import Package/View Logs under Packages and Utilities
3. On the Import Package/View Logs page, click on Import Package.
4. On the Import Package page, Browse Local Files to Select a Package.
5. Select materials to include in the Select Course/Organization Materials area.
6. Click Submit.

Note: It may take some time to finish importing the package. DO NOT conduct a second import. Summit a service request if you need assistance Importing Package.

Managing the Content Collection

1. On the Control Panel click on Content Collection.
2. Click on the CRN #.
3. Go through your files and delete any files you are no longer using and delete any duplicate files by selecting the check box to the left of the file(s) and then clicking the Delete button at the top of the page.

* When deleting duplicate files, make sure you do not delete the file that is linked to a content area. Usually, the most updated duplicate file has the highest number at the end of the filename... i.e. syllabus(9).pdf

* All video and audio files should be uploaded to Medial and linked in your Bb course.

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Course Tools

Send Email

1. The Blackboard Send Email Tool is located on the default Course Menu in each course. Login to Blackboard. Select a course from the My Courses module on your myBlackboard landing page. In the course, click on the Email link on the course menu.
2. On the Send Email page, select a link, such as All Students.
3. Type your Subject. Your message won't be delivered without a subject.
4. Type a Message.
5. Select Attach a file to browse for file from your computer. You can attach multiple files to your message.
6. Select Submit.

After you send an email, a message appears at the top of the Send Email page that lists all recipients. The message isn't a confirmation that any users received the message, just that the message was sent.

Add Tool Menu Item

1. Point to the plus sign on the Course Menu.
2. Select Create Tool Link.

The following example shows how to allow students to see your grade:

1. Name the link e.g. "My Grades"
2. Select My Grades from the Type: drop-down menu
3. Check the Available to Users check box.
4. Click Submit.

Add a Manual Column in Grade Center

1. On the Control Panel located under Course Management, click on Grade Center and then Full Grade Center.
2. On the Grade Center Action Bar located at the top of the page, click on Create Column.
3. At the minimum, fill out Column Name and Points Possible.
4. Click Submit.

Hide/Show Columns in Grade Center

1. On the Grade Center Action Bar located at the top of the page, point to Manage to access the drop-down list.
2. Select Column Organization.
3. On the Column Organization page, select the check boxes for the columns to show or hide. Select the check box in the header row to select all columns.
4. Hover over Show/Hide button, click Hide Selected Columns or Show Selected Columns.
5. Click Submit.

Hide/Show Users in Grade Center

You can hide user rows to reduce the number of rows in the Grade Center grid and help you focus on specific data. When you hide user rows, the data is retained and you can show them at any time. You can hide user rows using the hide functions in a user's contextual menu or from the Row Visibility page. On the Row Visibility page, you can also show hidden user rows.

NOTE: If you have made a user unavailable on the Users page, the User Unavailable icon() appears in the user’s first cell in the Grade Center. However, the row is not hidden in the grid. Unavailable users cannot access your course.

How to Hide User Rows Using the Contextual Menu:

1. On the Control Panel located under Course Management, click on Grade Center and then Full Grade Center.
2. In the Grade Center, move your mouse pointer over a student's name cell to see the Action Link (). Click it to access the contextual menu.
3. Select Hide Row to hide the user's row. A message appears stating that the row has been successfully hidden.

How to Show Users on the Row Visibility Page:

1. On the Grade Center Action Bar located at the top of the page, point to Manage to access the drop-down list.
2. Select Row Visibility.
3. On the Row Visibility page, select the check boxes for the users to show or hide. Select the check box in the header row to select all users.
4. On the Action Bar, click Hide Rows or Show Rows .
5. Click Submit.

Grading Assignments

1. On the Control Panel located under Course Management, click on Grade Center and then Full Grade Center.
2. Go to the individual student's cell for that assignment.
3. Click on the cell drop-down arrows and select View Grade Details from the menu.
4. On the Grade Details page, scroll down to Attempts and select Open Attempt on the right side of the page. You will be presented the assignment to grade.

Reorder Columns in Grade Center

1. On the Grade Center Action Bar located at the top of the page, point to Manage to access the drop-down list.
2. Select Column Organization.
3. On the Column Organization page, Drag the symbol for the column, release to where you want the column to locate .
4. Click Submit.

VoiceThread

Adding VoiceThread to your Course

1. Navigate to the Content area for your course.
2. Click on the Build Content menu.
3. Select VoiceThread from that menu.
   This will launch the VoiceThread Setup Page.
   Please note: The first time you access VoiceThread you will receive a one-time prompt for your CCRI email address to activate your VoiceThread account.

Setting up an Individual VoiceThread link

1. On the VoiceThread Setup page click the blue button titled "Individual VoiceThread."

2. Click on +Create new VoiceThread located at the top left on the page.

3. On the Create new VoiceThread page select +Add Media and select My Computer to add a text file, PowerPoint slide, or image.
4. After you select your file a Thread Settings pop-up box appears. Fill in the Title, Description, and Tags, and click on the Save button.
5. A thumb print of the file/media you added (1. + Add Media) appears on the next page. Select 2. Comment , to add a starter comment, or skip and click on 3. Share with class.
   Note: if you do make a comment, close (X) the page when complete and proceed to 3. Share with class.
6. A pop-up box with the title and other information appears including a Share Link you can copy if you want to create a link to the new VoiceThread somewhere else in your course. Click on blue Share with Class button.
7. On the next page provide an Activity name: (you can use the same name as the title if you wish). Click on Save, and then click on Save and Continue on the next screen. A Success page will appear with the message: "The tool provider content was added to your course. Close this window and refresh your course to view the new content."