1. Q: What
is Blackboard?
A:
Blackboard is a course management software package written
by a company called Blackboard,
Inc., based in Washington, DC. Princeton University
purchased a license to use Blackboard. The program code
runs off of
a dedicated Solaris server, while the database runs off of
a dedicated Oracle server. Users of Blackboard can only
interact
with the program by using a Web-browser based interface.
Blackboard allows creation and administration of course
content without
the need to purchase or learn a full-fledged web editing
program. It also provides access to numerous interactive
tools such
as a discussion boards, e-mail lists, and online assessments
that would otherwise be rather difficult to set up.
Because
the World Wide Web is a constantly evolving entity, and because
technological capabilities continually move forward, the needs
and expectations for the use of information technologies change
as well. Whereas just putting text online and calling it a
web site was adequate a few years ago, users now demand a
higher level of sophistication and interactivity with their
web experience.
Blackboard,
Inc. is constantly adding new features, and/or improve existing
ones. In the past, we used a product of theirs called "CourseInfo."
In fall 2001 we upgraded to Blackboard 5.5, which not only
provides improved user-end functionality, but also allows
us to integrate with campus databases to keep our user base
and course information up-to-date and to assure enhanced security.
We upgraded to their newest iteration, Blackboard 6, for the
fall 2003 semester. This version moves even closer to providing
the level of functionality our users are requesting. We hope
that Princeton and Blackboard's relationship will be a long
and productive one.
Academic
Services will attempt to make sure that migration to new versions
of Blackboard will be as painless and seamless as possible
for the end user.
2. Q:How
can I move content from my old Blackboard site into my new
site?
A:
In the Control Panel, under Course Options or
Organization Options, click the Course Copy or Organization
Copy link. This will take you to a page that
allows
you to select the destination site and the materials
you wish to copy. Your choices will be:
Content (your site's individual
content areas will also be presented as sub-category choices)
Announcements
Tests, Surveys, and Pools
Calendar
Collaboration Sessions
Course Settings
Discussion Board
Gradebook Items and Settings
Group Settings
Staff Information
To
move specific content items to a different site:
Open
a Content Area in the site Control Panel.
Click
Copy next to a content item. You
will see a screen that looks like this:
Content
Information
The name and description of the item appears here.
Destination
Destination Course or Destination Organization: Select
the destination site for the item being copied from the drop-down
list.
Destination Folder: Click Browse. A map of the
content areas for the destination course appears. Select the
folder where the item should be copied.
Delete item after copy?: Select Yes to delete
this item from the current course once it is copied. Select
No and this item will remain in the course after it
is copied.
You
can move folders (though anything contained in the folder
listed
in red below will not move with
the folder), items, URL's (external links), and learning
units.
You
cannot move individual assessments, assignments, announcements,
gradebook items, staff information, internal links,
tasks, groups, users, or menu items in this way. For moving
such item, it is all-or-nothing. Use the course copy or organization
copy function described at the top of this answer.
3. Q:I
have a Blackboard web site but am unable to edit it in
any way.
What's wrong?
A:
Unless your
role in the course is that of instructor/ leader, instructional staff / assistant, course builder/ builder, or grader,
you will not have Control
Panel access (the Control Panel being the
page for editing and managing the site).
Primary
instructor(s) enrollment in the course sites is automated,
and reflects the instructor assignments found in the registrar's
Online Course Offering. Should the information therein
be incorrect, please contact your department manager to have
it rectified in the PeopleSoft Course Information System.
This adjustment will then be reflected in Blackboard the next
business day.
As
there is no official database provided to us with the AI assignments,
we have no way of knowing who should be enrolled in the
Blackboard
sites as Instructional Staff, so it is up to the instructors
or academic managers to notify us. This can be done through
a web
form.
This form can also be accessed through the "Add people
to your site" link found in the Control Panel
under User Management or by choosing the "Help"
tab found in the top frame of the Blackboard site, then selecting
the "Add people to your Blackboard site" link.
Form submissions are generally processed within one business
day. E-mail
sent by the instructor or academic manager from her/his Princeton
IMAP e-mail to blackboard@princeton.edu,
with the NetID and role, is also acceptable. It is a good
idea for academic managers to send a list of AI assignments
before the start of the semester.
Likewise,
as Blackboard has no way of knowing from semester to semester
which department personnel should be registered in
which courses and in which roles (Instructional Staff,
course builder, or grader), this information
must also be submitted as described in the previous paragraph.
To enroll
someone for the first time in all Blackboard course sites
for an academic department, the chair's authorization is
required
(an e-mail from her/his Princeton
IMAP e-mail to blackboard@princeton.edu
is acceptable). It is a good idea for academic managers to
provide a list of departmental staff to be added to the
Blackboard
sites before the start of the semester.
Faculty
can request a free Blackboard
office visit to learn more about managing your site. Once
you complete our web form,
a trained facilitator will contact you to schedule an office
visit. The facilitator will then come to your office at your
convenience to give you a demonstration of the features in
Blackboard and help you get started with your own course web
site.
4. Q:How
do I set up my Blackboard site e-mail list?
A:
Enrolling users in a Blackboard COURSE site automatically
generates a course e-mail list in the course web sites.
When possible, we use official enrollment data from the Registrar's
office to "enroll" students in course web sites; there are
some exceptions to this, and in those instances, we manually
add enrollment data provided by instructors or other authorized
staff (for more on adding users to your site, see FAQ Top 20 Questions #6). There are three
ways to send mail to the Blackboard site e-mail list for regular
courses listed in the Online
Course Offering; two for other course sites and
for organization sites:
- Via the Course
Tools in the Control Panel
(Available to those who have Control Panel access
for any Blackboard sites.)
An option on the left side of the Control Panel in
the Tools area is Send E-mail. E-mail options are as follows:
All Users
All Groups
All Instructional Staff / Assistants
All Instructors/ All Leaders
All Observers
Single/Select Users
Single/Select Groups
Single/Select
Observers
The Control
Panel e-mail feature cannot be disabled; only users
in the role of Instructor / Leader or Instructional Staff
/ Assistant can use this feature.
- Via Communication
in the Course View (Availability
and location can be controlled by site managers.)
Unless it has been disabled, an option in the student/
participant view of the site (usually under Communication,
but it may
be placed elsewhere by someone with editing rights to the
site) is an envelope icon with the words "Send E-mail."
By default the e-mail options beneath this icon are as
follows:
All Users
All Groups
All Instructional Staff / Assistants
All Instructors/ All Leaders
All Observers
Select Users
Select Groups
Select Observers
Unlike the e-mail
feature in the Communication Center of the Control
Panel,
anyone enrolled in the site has access to this feature.
It can be disabled for students/ participants by users
with Instructor / Leader, ta / Assistant or Course Builder
/ Builder access
to the
site.
To do this, go to the Course Options
area in the bottom left of the Control Panel and
select Manage Course Menu or Manage Organization Menu,
then click the Modify button to the right of Communications.
Under #2, turn on the Disable radio button next to Send
E-mail, then scroll down and click the Submit at
the bottom of the screen. Any e-mail restrictions make
here
only
affect
the e-mail
feature that students can access; the Control Panel
e-mail feature will remain unchanged. To
disable e-mail for any users of the site, use the Manage
Tools link, then Enable Blackboard Tools, then uncheck
the box next to Email, then scroll down and click the Submit at
the bottom of the screen.
- Via your
regular e-mail program (Only
available for Course sites listed in the Registrar´s
Online
Course Offering. NOT available for Organization
sites.
To use
this method, simply open your regular e-mail client
(e.g., Netscape Mail, Outlook) and address the e-mail to:
courseid_semester@princeton.edu
For
courseid_semester, the course identifier. For example,
if you are teaching a course with courseid ENG361 during the
Fall 2003 semester, you can send e-mail to everyone in your
current semester course by addressing the e-mail to:
ENG361_F2003@princeton.edu
For
cross-listed courses, the courseid may be both or either
one:
Ita302-MED412_S2004@princeton.edu
or Ita301_S2004@princeton.edu or MED412_S2004@princeton.edu
RULES:
E-mail
may be sent this way only from default Princeton e-mail
accounts for current Princeton faculty, staff, and
students (contact us at 258-0737 or
blackboard@princeton.edu
if you are faculty and would like to be able to send e-mail
from multiple e-mail accounts). If you are not a
current Princeton student, faculty, or staff member, but
are enrolled in a Blackboard course site, you must send
e-mail from the e-mail address with which you are enrolled
in the site if you want to send e-mail from your regular
e-mail client.
Only
those enrolled in the course site are permitted to send
e-mail to the course list. This includes instructors, ta's,
builders, graders, and students. (The user designated "Library
Blackboard Zzzzz " is the exception. See FAQ
Top 20 Questions, #9 for more information on this user.)
If
someone not enrolled in the course site sends e-mail to
the list, the sender will receive an error message telling
of the failure.
When
someone enrolled in a course site sends e-mail to a course
list, the sender is notified of a successful list mailing.
The
sender of a message to a list does NOT receive a copy of
the message even though that person is a subscriber to the
list. If the sender would like a copy of the message, using
"Cc:" or Bcc:" is suggested.
5. Q:I
can't filter and sort my Digital Drop Box. What's wrong?
A:
One of the major improvements in the version of Blackboard
we upgraded to in the summer of 2003 is the replacement of
the Digital Dropbox with the Assignment Manager.
The Assignment Manager allows the course designer to
place an assignment in any content area of the site. At the
time the assignment is created, a corresponding item is automatically
generated in the gradebook. This is where the instructor or
grader accesses, downloads, grades, and returns the students'
submissions. Advantages of this is that now a column
for each assignment's grades is conveniently linked to the
assignments and all of the submissions for a particular assignment
may be downloaded to your hard drive simultaneously.
When
you create an assignment in a content area, the item that
the student sees contains a link labeled View/Complete.
Below is an example of how a typical assignment item may look:
The
student clicks on View/Complete
to access a file submission window for that particular assignment.
The window may also contain a digital document that contains
or explains the assignment:
Click
in this text to learn how to create, post, access, grade,
and return an assignment.
If
you still wish to use the Digital Dropbox, it is
available in a modified format, without the sorting
and filtering capabilities that the old one had. If it
is not activated, go to the
Course Options area of the Control Panel and select
Manage Tools, then Enable Blackboard Tools.
Check the box next to Dropbox under the heading Enabled,
then scroll to the bottom of the page and click Submit.
You must also make sure you have a Menu link where the
students
can access the dropbox. If you have a Tools link in
your site menu, the Dropbox link will appear there.
If not, you can either create a link in you menu that just
goes to the Dropbox, or you can create a Tools
link through Manage Course Menu. Select Add Tools
Area, then choose either Dropbox or Tools from
the dropdown list next to Area Type, then type the
name you wish the link to have in the Area name text
box (even if you are going to call it by the same name
that
appears in the Area Type box, a name must be
entered). Make sure the box next to Make available for
Student/Participant users is checked, then click Submit.
6. Q:How
do I add users to my course web site?
A:Sarting with the fall 2004 semester, all instructor and AI enrollment in Blackboard course sites is automated through the PeopleSoft Course Information System (CIS). If you find that an instructor or AI is not enrolled in a Blackboard site for which s/he is one of the course's official instructors or AIs, please contact the person in your academic department who is in charge of updating the CIS (this could be the Academic Manager or another support person). S/he will then enter the person's name in the CIS and the person will be enrolled in the cooresponding Blackboard site within 24 hours.
If someone is serving as a ta, course builder, or grader for a course through an informal arrangement with the professor in charge, enrollment in the Blackboard site can be requested by the course instructor through a web form. This form can also be accessed by the instructor through the "Add people to your site" link found in the Control Panel under User Management or by choosing the "Help" tab found in the top frame of the Blackboard site, then selecting the "Add people to your Blackboard site" link. Form submissions are generally processed within one business day. E-mail sent by the instructor or academic manager from her/his Princeton IMAP e-mail to blackboard@princeton.edu, with the NetID and role, is also acceptable.
Graduate and undergraduate student enrollment is automated through
the registrar's office. When a student add/drops a course,
the Registrar's Office first must process the changes, which
may take two or three business days. Once they have processed
the changes, the Blackboard records are updated the following
morning.
(Unless
the instructor has disallowed guest access to the course site,
students may access the content areas of courses without being
officially enrolled. Simply look the course up in Blackboard's
online catalog and click on it's name or the Preview button
beside it.)
To
add special students, such as undergraduate auditors,
use the Comments box on the web
form or send e-mail with their names
and e-mail addresses to blackboard@princeton.edu.
We cannot add non-Princeton users unless we are provided
an e-mail address to contact them.
7. Q:How
do users get removed from my Blackboard Web site?
A:
When a student add/drops a course, the Registrar's Office
first must process the changes, which may take two or three
business days. Once they have processed the changes, the
Blackboard records are updated the following morning. However,
if the user was added through the add
user form that is accessed through the Control
Panel or the Help tab,
or added by e-mail request, the user must be removed manually.
Please send e-mail to blackboard@princeton.edu to
request such removals, or follow the instructions in the
following paragraph to make the site unavailable to the
user.
If
you do not wish to wait for the automated drop process
to complete, or the user was not added through the Registrar's
course enrollment process, you can make your site unavailable
to specific users. Select List/Modify
Users under
User Management in the Control Panel > find
the user you wish to make unavailable >click the Properties button
to the right of the user's entry >scroll down to Area
4, "Role and Availability" > change the available
status from Yes to No > click submit. When that
user attempts to enter your site, s/he will receive
this message: Access Denied -- Your access has been
disabled. Users made unavailable will also be removed
from the site's e-mail, though exclusion from e-mail sent
through to course e-lists from your e-mail client
may take up to 24 hours. NOTE:
If the user was added through the registrar's office, this
process will not be successful
-- the student will be re-enrolled in the site until s/he has
officially been dropped.
8. Q: Who
has access to my Blackboard site? Can I prevent access by
non-Princeton users?
A:
Unless you've disabled guest access to your web site
(see instructions following this paragraph), anyone anywhere
with Web access can log in
to your Blackboard web site as a guest by selecting
the the Preview button. Instructors should understand that
just
because a course is on the Blackboard server, access to content
areas is not automatically Princeton-only.
The
Communication, Discussion Board, Virtual Classroom and
Tools
areas are only accessible to users enrolled in the course
web site; this is a default and cannot be changed. You
can
similarly secure certain sub-areas of your course by going
into the the Control Panel, selecting Course
Options / Organization Options > Manage
Course Menu > Modify and unchecking the Allow
guest access (general public) option. This will
allow access only to people who are enrolled in the site.
Please keep
this in mind when posting
copyright-sensitive material to your site.
Making
part or all of a Blackboard web site unavailable to
guests (general public)
As
an instructor/ leader or ta/ assistant, you can select
which parts of your site,
if any, are available to guests (general public). To do this,
you start by logging in to your Blackboard course web site.
Once
there,
proceed as follows:
Click
on the Control Panel button located in the lower
left of the site. This will bring
up the Control Panel window. (If you do not see
a
Control Panel button, then you are not listed as
an instructor, ta or builder for the course; please contact
us at blackboard@princeton.edu,
or 8-0737, for help).
From
the the Course Options / Organization Options
area of Control Panel window click on Manage Course
Menu / Manage Organization Menu.
If
the area you want to close to guest access already exists,
click the Modify button at the far right of your
screen that correspond to the area's name, uncheck the box
next to Allow guest access, then click Submit.
If
want to create a new area in which to place content
that
you do not want guests to have access to, click Add Content
Area at the top of the screen, type in a name for the
area,
leave the Allow guest access box unchecked and click
Submit.
(Note:
The Allow observer access option is irrelevant.
This feature was developed for parents of the K-12 cohort.)
To
make your entire site unavailable to guests (general
public), from the Course Options / Organization
Options
area of the Control Panel window, click on Settings,
then Guest Access, then turn on the "No"
radio button next to "Allow Guests" and click
Submit.
9. Q: Why
is a student, "Library Blackboard Zzzzz" (username "pubserv"),
listed in my course web site?
A:
To facilitate the work of the librarians, who have been
getting requests for assistance from students regarding
information
and assignments in the sites, as of the Spring 2001 term
we have provided them with student access to all Blackboard
web
sites as "ghost" students (they will not receive e-mail
sent to the class, nor will they have access to the Control
Panel).
The last name is "Zzzzz" to avoid interference
with the sequence in your gradebook.
If
you would rather the librarians not have access to your
course
materials, you can make the site unavailable to them. Select List/Modify
Users under User Management in the Control Panel > find
the user Library Blackboard
Zzzzz >click
the Properties button
to the right of the user's entry >scroll down to Area
4, "Role and Availability" > change the available
status from Yes to No > click submit. When librarians
attempts to enter your site, they will receive this message: Access
Denied -- Your access has been disabled.
10. Q: Where
did my buttons go!?!
A:
The version of Blackboard we upgraded to for the fall 2003
semester allows for a user-defined, text-based table of content,
which has a more modern, less cluttered look. If permits you
to create links to content areas, specific content items,
specific tools, specific tools, and external web pages.
If,
however, you are attached to the "button" look,
you can still have it. Follow these steps:
Select
Settings in Course Options / Organization Options
on the Control Panel.
Click
Course Design / Organization Design.
Click
Course Design / Organization Design. You will
see a screen that looks like this:
Select
Buttons to make the areas of the Course / Organization
menu appear in a button format.
When
the Button Navigation Style is chosen an additional set of
functions must be defined.
Button
Type: Choose the Button Type from the drop-down list.
Button
Shape: Click an option to choose the Button Shape.
Button Style: Use the drop-down list to select the
color of the
buttons.
Click Gallery of Buttons to view all of the button
options.
As
with most Control Panel functions in Blackboard, save
your choices by clicking Submit.
Do we recommend this? No. Why not?
Because it limits your ability to modify your menu names
and presentation choices. To learn more about these choices,
see Modifying your Menu and Creating a Template.
11. Q:I
keep getting an error when trying to upload a document. Is
how I name my documents important?
A:
Any time you use text characters other than numbers and
non-accented letters (basic ASCII characters) or spaces
in the names
of your documents and folders, expect unpredictable results.
The first problem with special characters and symbols is
that
different computer platforms may assign different values
to the same characters. What shows up as an "e grave" on
a Mac, for example, may appear as something else on a different
computer
platform (PC, Unix, etc.). A second, but much more serious
problem is that many of the scripts that run on the back
end
of Blackboard use some of those special characters in their
computer language code. Quotation marks and apostrophes
can
be especially challenging to Blackboard 's scripts.
If
you try to upload a document with an apostrophe in the title
to Blackboard , you will receive a "Document contains no data"
error. Also, if you are on a Windows computer, Blackboard
will choke if the directory path that leads to your target
document contains an apostrophe. (e.g., your document is in
a folder called Spring '00). On a Mac, Blackboard ignores
the directory path. (Please note that Blackboard will replace
any spaces in the file name with an underscore.)
12. Q:Can
I use international character sets and diacritical markings
in my site?
A:
Yes! See instructions
on displaying international character sets
and accents
and special characters.
13. Q:What
is the URL for my Blackboard site?
A:
https://blackboard.princeton.edu/pucourse/SITE_ID
By typing a URL based on the formula
above in the location bar of your browser, you can go directly
from login to your
Blackboard site.
For
SITE_ID substitute your entire Blackboard SITE_ID in UPPERCASE.
If your Backboard SITE_ID
is ENG310_F2003,
your
URL is:
https://blackboard.princeton.edu/pucourse/ENG310_F2003
This
works for organizations, as well as for courses.
How
do you find your SITE_ID? For courses, find your site in
the Course List found under the orange Courses tab in
Blackboard. The SITE_ID is listed under the course title.
For organizations, search your site in Organization Catalog
found under the orange Organizations tab in Blackboard.
The SITE_ID is in parenthesis (ALL_CAPS) to the right of
the site's name:
Office of Information Technology
(OIT)
If
you have questions or need assistance, please contact Blackboard
support at blackboard@princeton.edu or 258-0737.
14. Q:Can
I put letter grades in my online gradebook?
A:
Yes. Instructors can select a range of numeric grades
to be associated with a letter grade, or create new Grade
Displays, such as Pass/Fail or symbols.
HOWEVER, due to
a glitch in the software at this time, anything but numerical
grades will display to students as "0". We hope Blackboard, Inc. will soon provide
us with a fix for this problem.
Also be aware when assigning items to categories that Blackboard requires each
item to carry the same weight in order to render correct
calculations.
Using Blackboard as your sole gradebook is not recommended.
Solution: Export your gradebook to a program such as MS Excel
to have a copy and to verify the calculations.
To
assign other than numerical grades, follow these steps: Select
Gradebook on the Course Control Panel.
Click
Gradebook Settings.
Click
Manage Grade Display Options.
Select
Add Display Option. You will see a screen that looks
like this:
Note:
Grade Display Options are case sensitive. An “A”
and “a” will not represent the same thing in the
Gradebook.
Name
Name: Enter the name of the new Grade Display Option.
Add Symbols and Values
System-graded items with a grade of: Enter the numeric
values of the range for each grade. The system will automatically
treat the numbers within each range the same.
Manually-graded items entered as: Enter the symbol
the Instructor will use to manually enter grades. Each symbol
will correspond to the range in the System-graded items.
Will be calculated as: Enter a single numeric value
for each symbol in the Manually-graded items column. The number
in this row will be used in Gradebook calculations, such as
for the final grade and grade weight.
Add button: Click Add to add a row in
the Add Symbols and Values Section.
Remove button: Click Remove
to remove a row in the Add Symbols and Values section.
Submit. The
following example demonstrates how a Pass/Fail option
looks when created on the Create/Modify Grade Display Options
page.
For
more information, refer to these tip sheets:
Gradebook
Icons and Definitions
Weighting Grades in Blackboard
6
Modifying Items for Grade Weighting
15. Q:Can
I change my e-mail address listed in Blackboard to something
else?
A:
Because our system routinely checks users against the
university's default e-mail listings and resets them accordingly,
any alterations we make to e-mail addresses in Blackboard
can be overridden without notice. To avoid this, we recommend
that rather than changing your e-mail address in Blackboard,
you forward your Princeton e-mail to whatever e-mail
address you desire so that any mail sent to the e-mail account
listed in the Princeton directory will be automatically routed
to the location. To forward your Princeton e-mail account
to another address, go to the
E-mail Account Management Page and login; choose Set
Your e-mail Delivery Location from the options listed
on the left side of the screen, and proceed as instructed.
Should
you require assistance with e-mail forwarding, contact the
OIT Help Desk at 609-258-HELP. If
you are a faculty member who would like to be able to send
e-mail to the course e-list from a computer with a default
e-mail address other than your@princeton.edu address, send
an e-mail to blackboard@princeton.edu.
16. Q:The
table of contents (menu in the left frame) of my site do not
appropriately reflect the organization of my site. How can
I make changes?
A:
From the Manage Course Menu / Manage Organization Menu
page, those with Control Panel access can modify
the table of contents (the menu in the left frame) of the
Blackboard
site. One can choose to have links to specific content areas,
specific items within content areas, specific tools or
all
the tools, and to external Web sites. On the Manage Course
Menu/ Manage Organization Menu
page one can modify the menu content and names to
suit
the course or organization.
Below are instructions for the
"built in" options for modifying your site menu. To
learn more about other options, see Modifying
your Menu and Creating a Template.
To
modify your site menu:
Go
to
a course or organization site for which you are the instructor/
leader or ta/ assistant and open the Control
Panel.
Click
Manage Course Menu or Manage Organization Menu under
Course Options/ Organization Options.
To
add a Content area
Click Add Content Area. The Add New Area: Content Area
page will appear. If you select Content Area, you will
be able to create a link to a general content area, and the
name you assign the link will appear not only in the site's
table of contents, but also in the Control Panel's
Content Areas section (where you will go to add content to
your newly created area).
If
you select an item from the Area Name dropdown
box, it will automatically place the name in the box
below it.
Otherwise, you should type the name you wish to call the
content area in the second box. If you are using buttons
instead of a text menu, heed the "Suggested
Maximum 18 characters" warning. This limit
includes spaces.
For
the item name to actually appear in the table of content,
the Make available for
Student/Participant users box must be checked. You may
also check Allow guest access and Allow observer
access, at your discretion.
Click
Submit to complete the process.
To add a Tool area
Click Add Tool Area. The Add New Area: Tool Area page
will appear. If you select Tool Area you will be able to create
a link to a specific tool, as defined by the list in the dropdown
box. First, select an Area Type from the dropdown box.
Then type either the default name or the name you wish to
call the tool in the Area name text box. This box
must have a name in it for the link to appear in the table
of contents! Heed the "Suggested
Maximum 18 characters" warning. This limit includes
spaces.
For
the item name to actually appear in the table of content,
the Make available for Student/Participant users box
must be checked. You may also check Allow guest access
and Allow observer access, at your discretion. (If
the area you select is by default not available to Guests
and/or Observers system wide, you will not be present with
the choices)
Click
Submit to complete the process.
For
the tool you added to the menu to function, it must be enabled.
To verify this or to enable the tool, in the Control
Panel under Course Options / Organization Options select Manage
Tools then either Enable Blackboard Tools, Enable
Extension Tools, or Enable Content Tools. The majority
of the tools will be found under Enable Blackboard Tools,
which are tools native to the system. If you do not find the
tool you are looking for listed there, try one of the other
options, Enable Extension Tools or Enable Content
Tools. Extension Tools and Content Tools are tools we
added to the system, such as the face book and the dictionary/thesaurus.
Once you have located the tool, make sure the box under Enabled
is checked, and the choices Allow Guest and Allow
Observer match the selection you made when you added the
new tool area. If, instead of a check box for the Allow
Guest and Allow Observer options, you are presented
with n/a, that means that guests and observers are not permitted
access to that tool system wide.
To
add a Course Link
Click Add Course Link. The Add New Area: Course Link
page will appear. If you select Course Link, you will
be able to create a link to a specific item or folder within
a content area. The name you assign the link will appear in
the site's table of contents.
First,
enter the name of the link as you wish it to appear in the
table of content in the text box next to Area name.
The name should probably match the name of the item to which
you are going to link. Heed the "Suggested
Maximum 18 characters" warning. This limit includes
spaces. Now click the Browse button to see a list of
content items to which you can link.
By
clicking Open All at the top of the dialogue box, you
can get a complete list of the items from which you may choose.
Click on the radio button next to the item you wish to link
to, then click the Submit button at the bottom of the
dialogue box. Now the selected item´s name will appear
on your main screen to the left of the Browse button.
For
the item name to actually appear in the table of content,
the Make available for Student/Participant users box
must be checked. Also, for the item to be viewable, the
Yes
radio button must be checked next to Do you want to make
the folder visible? in the Control Panel area where
is was created.
Click
Submit to complete the process.
To add an External Link
Click Add External Link. The Add New Area: External
Link page will appear. If you select External Link,
you will be able to create a link to a Web page outside your
Blackboard site. The name you assign the link will appear
in the site's table of contents and click it will take the
user directly to the external site. First, enter the name
of the link as you wish it to appear in the table of content
in the text box next to Area name. Heed the "Suggested
Maximum 18 characters" warning. This limit includes
spaces.
In
the text box next to target, either type or paste the
URL for the Web site to which you wish to link. For example,
if you wish to create a link to the Princeton University Library,
you should type or paste this in the box: http://libweb.princeton.edu/
Selecting
Launch in a new window will open to page in it's own
window, as opposed to opening it within the frame of your
Blackboard site.
For
the item name to actually appear in the table of content,
the Make available for Student/Participant users box
must be checked.
Click
Submit to complete the process.
To
modify an area
Click Modify. The Update Area Name page will appear.
To remove an area
Click Remove. A message will appear verifying that
this area should be removed. This action is irreversible.
See Note below.
To order content
Click the drop-down arrow and select a number. Course areas
will appear in the Course menu in the order selected.
Note:
If Remove is selected for a Course Tool the area will
be removed from the Course menu, but the area associated with
the tool will remain visible in the Course Control Panel.
If Remove is selected for a Content Area it will be
removed from the Course menu and the Course Control Panel,
and all of its contents are deleted.
17. Q:I'm
an AI (or instructor or preceptor) but I'm not enrolled in my course sites. Why not?
A:
Starting with the fall 2004 semester, all instructor and AI enrollment in Blackboard course sites is automated through the PeopleSoft Course Information System (CIS). If you find that you are not enrolled in a Blackboard site for which you are one of the course's official instructors or AIs, please contact the person in your academic department who is in charge of updating the CIS (this could be the Academic Manager or another support person). S/he will then enter your name in the CIS and you will be enrolled in the cooresponding Blackboard site within 24 hours.
If you are serving as a ta, course builder, or grader for a course through an informal arrangement with the professor in charge, enrollment in the Blackboard site can be requested by the course instructor through
a web
form.
This form can also be accessed by the instructor through the "Add people
to your site" link found in the Control Panel under User Management or by choosing the "Help"
tab found in the top frame of the Blackboard site, then selecting
the "Add people to your Blackboard site" link.
Form submissions are generally processed within one business
day. E-mail
sent by the instructor or academic manager from her/his Princeton
IMAP e-mail to blackboard@princeton.edu,
with the NetID and role, is also acceptable.
18. Q:
How can I move documents from one area of my Blackboard site
to another? A:
Instructors are able to copy or move content and place
it in another area within the same course or in another course.
Entire folders and Learning Units can also be copied. Instructors
must have an Instructor role in the destination course when
content is moved or copied to another course. The Copy Content
and Modify Content pages are similar in manner. Instructors
can choose whether to delete an item after it is copied or
to also keep it in its original place.
Follow
these steps to copy or move content:
Open
a Content Area in the Control Panel.
Click
Copy next to a content item.
Content
Information
The name and description of the item appears here.
Destination
Destination Course: Select the destination
for the item being copied from the drop-down list.
Destination Folder: Click Browse. A map of the
content areas for the destination course appears. Select the
folder where the item should be copied.
Delete item after copy?: Select Yes to delete
this item from the current course once it is copied. Select
No and this item will remain in the course after it is
copied.
As
with most Control Panel functions in Blackboard, save
your choices by clicking Submit.
19. Q:Where
can I find the student photographs on my course web site?
A:
The site member photos in course sites are only available
to instructors and ta's and can be accessed through the Control
Panel under
the Course Tools area. As a rule, organization sites do
not have site member photos, unless special arrangements
have been made with the Blackboard staff. Click
here to learn more about site members photos.
20. Q: After
the semester ends, how long before my Blackboard course site
is deleted?
A:
The policy on keeping/archiving courses
will evolve as we continue to understand the needs of the
professors and students. Basically, a Blackboard course will
be archived indefinitely.
On
the My Blackboard tab of the portal, there is a customizable
module called My Courses (sortable) that allows users to
select which semesters they would like to have displayed.
By clicking
the
Courses tab at the top of the portal, one should be able
to view all the courses s/he has ever been enrolled in
(unless,
in the case of a student, s/he dropped the course during
the semester). Check the boxes next to the semesters and
courses in those semesters you want displayed.
Professors
who would like us to copy their Blackboard sites for courses
to be taught in subsequent terms may do so themselves by following
the instructions in FAQ Top 20 Questions #2.
Instructors
also have the option of creating archival copies of Blackboard
courses by selecting Course Utilities > Archive Course
from the Control Panel. A file zipping tool, such as
the free Winzip,
is required.
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