Although there are several browsers to choose from, Firefox 3.0.x has been vendor certified for Mac 10.4 and 10.5 as well as Windows XP and Vista. Testing has indicated that Firefox performs most Blackboard functions with the greatest consistency.
Download Firefox .
Safari and Internet Explorer users, please note that these browsers are both vendor supported and tested. Both are stable and will perform most Blackboard functions satisfactorily.
Google Chrome users should be aware that this browser has not been certified by the vendor nor extensively tested by IT Services. Please proceed with caution when using this browser in conjunction with Blackboard version 9.
If you experience a problem with the display of Blackboard in your chosen browser, please see the section "A page isn't loading right" to troubleshoot this issue.
The site may not have the Edit Mode turned On. This is critical for any form of course-building or customization. Enter into the course site and the Edit Mode button appears in upper right hand corner. If it reads Edit Mode Off, click on Off and the display should change to On. Editing functions will then be enabled. Please see the Quickstart Guide for further information.
Please see the directions for Making a Course Available for further information.
There are two primary ways that students may be added to a Blackboard course site:
Automatically via course registration. At the start of the semester, students who register for courses through the Registrar's Office or online will be added automatically to Blackboard course sites daily, until the end of the "Add" period in the academic calendar.
Manually by faculty within a Blackboard site. If a faculty member would like to provide access to a student who is not appearing through the automated process, s/he may do so by following these steps within the Blackboard course site: In the Course Management area, click Control Panel > Users and Groups > Users > Enroll User > Find Users to Enroll > Search for User (by name or HWS username), then enter the relevant data and click Submit .
Within the Blackboard course site, in the Course Management area, click on Control Panel > Users and Groups > Users . In the text box, type a percent sign (%) and click Go . Please see Displaying a List of Currently Enrolled Students directions for further information.
Within a Blackboard course site, click on Content or Information in the course menu and a new window will appear. Within this window several drop-down menus are available that will provide most of the content functionalities that you are accustomed to using in the previous version. The Build, Evaluate, Collaborate and More dropdown menus all provide options for adding and organizing new items to your course site.
Please see the Copying Course Materials directions for further information.
The two downward arrows in Blackboard indicate dropdown menus with options associated with an object, usually including some form of editing and deleting. Click on the arrows beside the item you would like to modify and a box of options will appear. Click Delete and your content will be removed. This applies to both course menu items and course content materials.
Within a course site, in the Course Management area, click Control Panel > Customization > Style and then select the relevant changes and click Submit .
In some cases, Blackboard will hide the course menu items. In order to reveal the menu, click the arrow located at the mid-point of the left side of the screen (see images below).
Blackboard sites will be created for each listing of the course, and populated with the students registered specifically to each section. This results in multiple Blackboard sites for a course. Faculty are advised to pick one of the sites to use and make it "Available" (see directions ). After doing so, faculty will need to manually add the students to the site who were registered via a different listing in order to grant all students access. Faculty are encouraged to talk with the Digital Learning staff about such instances for further guidance.
The adjustment of release dates is a known issue. The assessment (assignment, test or quiz) can be safely deleted without removing any grades that have been already recorded to the grade center. You will be prompted by Blackboard when you delete the corrupted assessment if you would like to keep the grades already attempted. Click Yes and the completed grades will be kept.
A work-around is to make a folder where you would like the test to be posted. Post the assessment to the folder. To set release dates for the assessment, adjust the release dates on the folder, rather than the assessment itself.
For further assistance please contact the help desk at ext. 4357 or e-mail helpdesk@hws.edu .
Some students and Mac users in particular will report from time to time that they are unable to open a PDF file that has been posted to Blackboard. There are a couple of simple fixes:
Rename the PDF and file and repost.
I did this, but the file will not open for Mac users. What else can I try?
If both of the above suggestions have been tried, please contact the help desk for further assistance at ext. 4357 or by e-mail at helpdesk@hws.edu .
Faculty who would like to use the Grade Center are encouraged to consult with Digital Learning staff, especially if weighted grades are being applied. In addition, please remember that the Blackboard Grade Center is not connected to the Registrar's PeopleSoft grade system, so use of the Blackboard Grade Center does not replace grade entry into that system at the conclusion of the semester. Directions from Blackboard are available . If you would like to explore on your own, The University of Illinois has some excellent tutorials .
Please see the Creating a Wiki directions for further information.
Please see the Creating a Blog directions for further information.
The discussion board tool is a good way to extend class discussions beyond normal class meetings. However, there are technical considerations to using this tool.
Students may use word processing software while developing their posts, so they can run spelling and grammar checks prior to posting. But, it is not recommended that users copy and paste text from a Microsoft Word document into the text box editor when generating posts. Alternatives include the following:
attaching Word documents to the thread
placing the text into Notepad prior to pasting to the thread
This is because Word documents now contain Web programming (HTML) that may disrupt the display of the thread. Programs like Notepad (Windows) and TextEdit (Mac) do not use HTML and can be copied from safely.
If students do copy and paste directly from Word, the result may be one of the following:
discussion board corruption (the forums will not open, user receives access denied error)
improper display of the posted thread (not all of the thread is visible)
the inability of the student to read responses to the posted thread (responses not visible to user)
If you experience any of the above while using the discussion board tool, please contact the Help Desk at ext. 4357 or submit a work order at http://www.hws.edu/itservices/service_form.aspx for assistance.
Please see the Adding RSS Feeds to Blackboard Courses directions for further information.
There are several different options to try:
Open the site in a different Internet browser (e.g. use Firefox instead of Safari or Internet Explorer)
Clear the cache or private data in your Internet browser
In Firefox, go to Tools > Clear Private Data
In Safari, go to Safari > Empty Cache
In Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Internet Options > Browsing History > Delete > (new window) Delete All
Update Java on your machine (note : this may require restarting your machine)
Within the course site, in the Course Management area, click Control Panel > Customization > Properties > select the Language Pack desired and click Submit . Course menu links should now be displayed in the desired language.
Note : If you want to ensure that students cannot override these settings in the course site with their own personal Blackboard language settings, check the box located next to Enforce Language Pack in the process outlined above.
Make sure your Blackboard course content and student information is always accessible by creating archival backups and downloads of course elements. Information on why this is necessary, as well as options for preserving different parts of the course, is available on a separate page . Instructions for creating a course archive are available as a video.
"In release 9.0, the assignment tool was enhanced to support multiple submissions, and the old and now superfluous digital dropbox has been entirely removed from the product." - Blackboard, Inc.
For users that have uploaded or retrieved files from the Digital Dropbox, and would like access to them in the current version, there is a box on the Blackboard login page titled, "Retrieving your Digital Drop Box Files". There you will find a link that, when clicked, will return a list of the documents that were stored in the digital drop box.
Users may also see the directions "Recovering Digital Drop Box Files" for further instruction.
Per Blackboard Policy, course sites and materials remain accessible on the system to faculty for three years. This does not, however, include student-related data such as grades, assignments, or discussion board and blog submissions. If you need access to course materials older than three years, please contact the Digital Learning Team to inquire about recovery from Blackboard course site archives. Note : Please allow for several business days for the latter process.
Please place a request for a site via the IT Services help desk . In your request, please be sure to include the Chair or Leader of the committee, the name of the committee, and the length of time the site will be needed.
Click on the questions below to see the answers.
Although there are several browsers to choose from, Firefox 3.0.x has been vendor certified for Mac 10.4 and 10.5 as well as Windows XP and Vista. Testing has indicated that Firefox performs most Blackboard functions with the greatest consistency.
Download Firefox .
Safari and Internet Explorer users, please note that these browsers are both vendor supported and tested. Both are stable and will perform most Blackboard functions satisfactorily.
Google Chrome users should be aware that this browser has not been certified by the vendor nor extensively tested by IT Services. Please proceed with caution when using this browser in conjunction with Blackboard version 9.
If you experience a problem with the display of Blackboard in your chosen browser, please see the section "A page isn't loading right" to troubleshoot this issue.
Check with the faculty member to inquire if s/he is using Blackboard for the semester; you may not be missing anything! A faculty member may have chosen not to use the Blackboard system for the course you are enrolled in.
If the faculty member confirms that s/he is indeed using Blackboard for the course:
Check your registration status with the Registrar's Office. Blackboard access is updated via student course registration lists daily until the end of the "Add" period.
Also ask the faculty member to see if the course has been made "Available." Once the Blackboard course is ready, it is the responsibility of the faculty member to make the course available to enrolled students.
Note : Students are not officially enrolled into a course until they have completed the official registration paperwork with the Office of the Registrar.
In your preferred Internet browser, change the preference from using PDF Preview to Adobe Reader. This may stop error messages experienced when attempting to open PDF files from Blackboard.
PC users need to download and save a PDF on the desktop. See this video for instructions for the steps on completing this process using a campus PC.
If you are still experiencing difficulties with the opening of PDF files, please contact the help desk at ext. 4357 or by e-mail at helpdesk@hws.edu .
There are several different options to try:
Open the site in a different Internet browser (e.g. use Firefox instead of Safari or Internet Explorer)
Clear the cache or private data in your Internet browser
In Firefox, go to Tools > Clear Private Data
In Safari, go to Safari > Empty Cache
In Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Internet Options > Browsing History > Delete > (new window) Delete All
Update Java on your machine (note : this may require restarting your machine)
Blackboard sites are available upon request for student organizations that have registered with the Student Activities Office. Requests for organization sites must originate in the Student Activities Office located in Scandling (ext. 3513). Contact them and ask them to place a request for a Blackboard site via the IT Services help desk. In your request, please be sure to include the name of the organization, the chair or president of the organization, the faculty adviser, and the length of time the site will be needed.
