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What is the difference between My Official Class Rosters and the rosters found in a Blackboard Course Shell?
For this discussion it is important to distinguish between the Blackboard Learning Management System and the MyBGSU web portal.
Official class rosters are distributed through the MyBGSU web portal via the My Official Class Rosters link on the My Services
menu on the MyBGSU main page. Access to the official current term roster is removed two weeks before the end of the semester
in order to avoid confusing this roster with the official grades sheets which are in "bubble sheet" form.
The Blackboard course areas you control are available on your Courses page. The rosters for these course areas are unaffected
by the change in the official roster application. Rosters in the Blackboard course areas will continue to be present until
the course is removed from the Blackboard server.
After the implementation of the PeopleSoft Student Records module we expect to see the discontinuation of bubble sheets for
grade reporting. More details will be available as the implementation date approaches.
What if I am the instructor for a course but the My Official Class Rosters does show my section in the list?
Faculty should contact their department secretary and request that they be loaded as the instructor of the course. The change
should be immediately reflected in Blackboard.
I noticed that Blackboard course shells have been created for classes I am teaching this semester but I didn't request course
shells.
The Blackboard course shell creation process has been automated. Starting Fall 2002 course shells are automatically being
created for courses in the SIS system.
What if I am the instructor for a course but course shells do not appear in Blackboard?
Faculty should contact their department secretary and request that they be loaded as the instructor of the course. The change
should be reflected in Blackboard the next time instructor enrollments are updated which is usually the following morning.
Are students going to be automatically enrolled in the Blackboard course shells for classes they are registered in?
The student enrollment process has also been automated for course shells created from SIS. Students will no longer be able
to self-enroll in any courses. The process will run daily through the add/drop period. After that the process will be run
weekly. Students who have added or dropped your course will be updated and the change reflected on the class roster the following
day.
Students who have dropped your course will still appear on the class roster you see in the course control panel, but the name(s)
will be grayed out and a life preserver with a red slash through it will appear next to the name(s). You cannot remove nor
re-enroll the student(s) who have dropped your course by using the Remove User option. The roster that appears in the course
content area will accurately reflect active enrollments.
Note that enrollment in Blackboard terms means that you have the ability to participate in the class web site and use all
of its features (get announcements, see events on the calendar, post messages to discussion boards, enter the chat room, etc.).
Academic credit can only be awarded for classes officially registered through the Office of Registration and Records. Participation
on a Blackboard course shell does not qualify students to receive academic credit without an official registration.
Under the current course maintenance schedule, what stages do course shells created through the automatic creation/enrollment
function progress through during their life cycle?
Under the current course maintenance schedule, Blackboard course shells created through the automatic creation/enrollment function have a 4-stage life-cycle.
Creation/Enrollment: Course shells are created 4 weeks prior to the start of a semester. Instructor enrollment begins as soon as course shells
are created, students are enrolled at the end of registration period or upon course shell creation, whichever is later. Enrollment
takes place daily during active registration periods.
Expiration: All course shells with a current term prefix, e.g. 20041, will be made unavailable at the end of the current term. This
action will remove the link from your students’ Courses page. This action will not be taken if your course shell has a suffix
code of C, D, G, T or U. Faculty teaching these courses will need to manually make the course shell unavailable.
Disable: All expired course shells with a term prefix, e.g. 20041, will be removed from the instructor's Courses page after the 3rd
week of the following semester. Courses can be recalled by emailing your request to blackboard@bgsu.edu.
Delete: All disabled course shells with a term prefix code will be removed on the 1st anniversary after disappeared from the instructor's
Courses page.
This maintenance cycle does not apply to development shells or course shells created before automated course shell creation
was implemented in Fall of 2002.
What are the end of the semester tasks that I need to perform?
Use this checklist to remind yourself of the tasks you need to perform at the end of the semester if you are using a Blackboard
course shell.
- Export your gradebook. Blackboard gradebooks can be exported to Microsoft Excel. You can then use that spreadsheet to make your final computations
and letter grade determinations. You also have access to these grades long after your course shells are removed.
Use the following directions to export your gradebook:
- Print your course statistics page. Regenerate and print any course statistics you've used in your grade determination. Your printout becomes the official record
if ever a grade is challenged.
- Save your discussion board as an Adobe Acrobat PDF. This action is recommended because it will produce a document readable by most every workstation/desktop environment. The
file format is also widely used on the Internet. Every workstation ITS provides is capable of creating a PDF file.
At the end of the semester simply perform the following steps to archive your discussion boards as a PDF:
- Click the link to the discussion board
- Click the Select All button (at the bottom of the page)
- Click the Collect button
- Choose sort . Select Thread to sort by discussion. Otherwise, choose Author, Date or Subject.
- Select the frame by clicking on it
- Now print this page. Precise steps are dictated by the browser you are using. Basically I would simply print only the frame
with the discussion board content. Be sure to use the PDF print driver for your operating system.
- Save a back-up of your course content online in a development shell or export your course content to your desktop computer.
If you need a course shell to serve as a holding area for content to be re-used for a future course, we suggest you request a development shell.
What is the difference between a development shell and a course shell?
You can use the development shell to save your course content for a future course or develop your content well in advance
of the date the specific course shell is generated. When a course shell is created for the course you are going to teach,
you can use Course Copy to copy any content area from your development shell to the course shell. Your development shell will
not be removed from the system unless you specifically request that.
The course shells we automatically create each semester are meant to service course activity for 1 term and are automatically
included in the course shell maintenance schedule. The information from these term-specific shells can be used to determine grades and provide a historical record of the student's
performance. Links to courses are removed at the end of the semester so the Courses page of instructors and students is not
cluttered with courses that have ended. Disk space is limited so we can only store information associated with a specific
course for 1 year.
How do I request a development shell for a specific course?
To request a development shell for a specific course, send email to blackboard@bgsu.edu.
My department made some teaching assignment changes at the last minute. Will I have to contact someone to make sure I have
access to the Blackboard course shell for this course?
The third piece in the automatic creation of Blackboard courses is the addition of the faculty member that is assigned to
the course (and any TAs that have contracts for assisting faculty with their courses). As soon as the faculty member has a
contract and has been identified in SIS as a class instructor, the change will be made in Blackboard automatically when instructor
enrollments are updated the following morning. See your department secretary if the change does not appear to be made in Blackboard.
If my TA does not have access to my course site, how can I enable it?
If your TA is officially assigned as your teaching assistant and does not have access to your course, you should contact your
department secretary and request that this person be loaded as the teaching assistant of the course. That change should be
reflected in Blackboard the following morning when enrollments are updated.
If someone is just assisting you in the creation of your Blackboard site, you can give them access to it by manually enrolling
the person and changing the person's role from student to TA.
To manually enroll the person:
- Click on the Courses tab.
- Click on the link to your course.
- Click on your Control Panel button.
- Click Enroll User link in User Management area.
- Search for the user and click the checkbox next to the user(s) you want to enroll.
- Click the Submit button.
To modify the person's participation role:
- Click on the List/Modify Users link also in the User Management area on the control panel.
- Search for your participant(s).
- Click on that participant's properties button.
- Change that participant's role from student to teaching assistant and press the submit button.
How do I use Course Copy to move content from one course shell to another? I have a course shell from a previous semester
which I have spent months developing and refining and don't want to start all over again with the new course shell!
You can use Course Copy to move all or any part of your content from one course shell to another.
To use Course Copy:
- Go to the control panel of the course you want to copy.
- Under Course Options, select Course Copy.
- If you want to limit your search for the Destination Course ID, enter any text in the Destination Course ID (e.g. year or
course number) for Select a Course.
- Click the browse button to locate the destination course.
- Fill out the form selecting the features of the course you want copied. (Hint: To copy deployed tests, you must select the
Content Area, Gradebook items, and the Tests in order to achieve the desired result.)
- Click on the submit button.
Known Issue with Course Copy
Blackboard 7 has changed the internal representation of the course menu items. The change is effective for NEW courses and
organizations created after the upgrade to Blackboard 7 on May 13, 2006. The result of the change is that some content areas
copied from shells created before the upgrade may not copy as expected. No content is lost or duplicated, but the symptom is simply that an additional menu
area is created due to the difference in internal representation. This situation occurs even when the names of the areas are
the same.
You can prevent future occurrences of this problem by modifying the course menu of the source course shell before you use
Course Copy and selecting the predefined names from the list.
To modify the course menu of a course shell created before May 13, 2006:
- Go to the control panel of the course you want to copy.
- Under Course Options, select Manage Course Menu.
- For each of these areas (Course Information, Staff Information, Course Documents, Assignments, Communication, External Links)
- Click on the modify button.
- Modify the names of the default areas by selecting the same name from the pull-down menu.
- If a change was made, click submit. If not, click cancel.
- Click OK to return to the control panel.
Now you should be able to copy your course without creating duplicate menu items.
If you have already copied your course and have extra course menu items to remove:
- Go to the control panel of the course.
- Under Course Options, select Manage Course Menu.
- On your browser's File menu, select New Window so you have 2 windows open (one with your student view and one with Manage
Course Menu). For Internet Explorer, those windows should now be open but for other browsers, you may need to login to Blackboard
again in the second window. The list of menu items in your student view should correspond to the order of items in Manage
Course Menu.
- To identify duplicates, click each menu item in your student view. For items that are empty, delete the corresponding item
listed in Manage Course Menu by clicking on the remove button. Then click Refresh in your student view to see the change.
The Refresh button is located below the navigation menu near the button to access the control panel.
- If desired, re-arrange the order of items on your course menu by changing the numeric value in the pull-down menu.
- Click OK to return to the control panel.
There is no issue when copying content if both the source and destination course shells were created after the upgrade to
Blackboard 7.
I am teaching multiple sections of the same course. Is there any way to combine sections? All of the materials that I will
be posting apply to all sections. I would rather maintain just one course site!.
Blackboard 7 offers enhanced course management that allow faculty to effectively manage content across multiple sections.
The Course Copy command on your course control panel allows you to freely move content areas or entire shells. A single item
copy allows you to update one shell and copy the change to other shells. Finally, a recycle course link allows you to delete
a content area before copying new materials to it.
What that means to you is that with Blackboard 7 you have multiple options to managing your courses. We recommend that you
evaluate your needs in order to develop a course management strategy. We believe the single most important criteria is the
number of sections and total enrollment for those shells. For instance, if you control multiple course shells whose total
enrollment is less than 100 students you should probably opt to use one shell. If your enrollments are greater than 100, then
it would be best to utilize the separate shells for your content and gradebooks. If you rely heavily on email content, then
you may want to request the creation of an umbrella shell where the enrollments for all of your sections will be combined
for you.
Another significant criteria to consider is your need to continually update course content throughout the semester. If the
bulk of your work is done, then using the course copy feature needs only to be done at the start of the semester. Individual
items can be copied using the copy feature within each content area. Entire areas can be moved by using the Recycle Course
feature on the target course to remove all content in a content area and then using the Course Copy feature to copy just that
content area from the source course. Remember that you do lose course usage statistics if you utilize the Recycle Course feature.
Included here are three possible scenarios for instructors teaching multiple sections, cross-listed courses, and courses that
have a lab component as well as a classroom component. Each of these solutions has drawbacks and benefits. Each instructor
will have to decide which fits his/her needs best. Students will see a link to any course in which they are enrolled when
the instructor makes the course available.
Scenario 1 - Request an "umbrella" shell when you are combining enrollments of multiple undergraduate sections:
The umbrella shell would be the main course content shell. An umbrella shell is a shell that is separate from the automated
shells. This feature gives you the benefit of either using or not using the shells for the separate sections. It also eliminates
the hassle of maintaining enrollments. We can automate the enrollments of these umbrella shells and maintain those processes
separate from your other shells. Before the semester starts send a list of the sections you wish to combine to blackboard@bgsu.edu and we'll take care of the rest.
Scenario 2 - Move all students into one course shell for an undergraduate course cross-listed with a graduate section:
Use this method if there are less than 10 students that need to be moved into another course shell. In this scenario, the
graduate section would remain unavailable. All the students would be moved into the undergraduate section shell. Simply add
the graduate students to the undergraduate section course shell by using the Copy Course link to copy only the enrollments
from the graduate shell. Automated enrollment will continue for the undergrads. You will need to manually maintain the grad
student enrollment. Only make the undergraduate course shell available to students. See "How do I remove a Blackboard course from my view?" for directions on removing the graduate course shell link from your display.
Benefits:
- Single point for course content updating.
Drawbacks (depends upon the total number of students in one course shell):
- Student enrollment would only be updated automatically for students registered for the section the shell was originally created
for. Enrollment for other sections would have to be maintained manually by using Course Copy to periodically copy enrollments
from the section shells that are not being used into shell being used for the course. Students dropping the course in sections
where the shell is not used would have to be removed manually.
- All students in a single grade book - in alphabetical order. No way to sort the students by section.
- All students participating in one discussion board - becomes problematic if you intend to make extensive use of the discussion
board. Imagine a committee meeting with 110 people trying to be heard!
- All student assignments in a single Digital Drop Box. Again, no way to sort the students by section.
- In general, reduced flexibility.
Scenario 3 - Leave all students in their respective sections, use Course Copy to copy content from one course section to the
others.
In this scenario, the course shells created through the automated process would be used. One course section would be developed
then used as the source course for copying settings, content, etc. to the other course sections. Enrollment should not be
copied.
Benefits:
- Student enrollment would be automatically updated.
- Each section would have a separate Digital Drop Box, Online Gradebook, Discussion Board, etc.
- Single point for updating course content that is then copied to other shells.
- Greater flexibility in personalizing instruction across sections.
- Overall easier course management.
Drawbacks:
- Remembering to copy data from the source course to the other sections.
Click here for directions for using Course Copy.
How do I make the course available when I am ready to allow the students access to the course site?
- Click on the Control Panel button in your course
- From the Course Options module, choose Settings
- Choose the Course Availability link
- Change the Make Course Available radio button to Yes
- Click on the Submit button
Why are file extensions required for both PC and Macintosh users who upload files to Blackboard?
A file extension is a set of characters preceded by a period at the end of a file name used to identify the file type. Since
file extensions are required for viewing files on a PC desktop, using file extensions is a familiar concept for PC users.
Although file extensions are not required for viewing files stored on a Macintosh desktop, they are required for files uploaded
from a Macintosh to Blackboard. When you click on a link to a file in your browser window, the web server needs to know what
application to tell your browser to launch for you. Without the proper file extension, the server won't recognize the file
type. If a web server does not know what the file type is, it tells the browser to display the file as text.
These are the file types recommended:
- Word document: .doc
- Excel document: .xls
- Power Point document: .ppt
- Power Point Slide Show: .pps
- Portable Document Format: .pdf
- Graphics: .gif, .jpg, and .jpeg
- Video: .mpeg, .mov, and .avi
- Audio: .wav and .aiff
- Multimedia (Shockwave Flash): .swf
Can I upload course cartridges to my Blackboard course site?
A course cartridge is content already readable by Blackboard available from a text book publisher. See http://www.blackboard.com/extend/ccart/. You can upload a course cartridge but be aware of the amount of disk space required. Some cartridges are huge files and
may cause you to exceed your disk quota.
What is the disk quota for courses on Blackboard?
The disk quota for a course is 262,144 K or 256 Mb. You will receive an email message warning you that you are close to the
absolute limit when you reach 248 Mb.
What is the maximum file size for uploading to Blackboard?
The recommended maximum file size for uploading to Blackboard is 16 MB.
How can students access my course on Blackboard?
Course shells are automatically loaded for all classes in SIS but they are loaded as unavailable and will not appear to any
students until the instructor makes the course available. To do that, follow these instructions. Then the students will see a link to your course in these two places:
- on their Blackboard page in their My Blackboard Courses module
- on their Courses page under "Courses in which you are participating:"
What variations will appear in my course site for students who restrict the display of their personal information in Blackboard
to protect their right to privacy?
Student at BGSU have the right to withhold their personal information from Blackboard's user directory. See what variations
to expect in your course site in Student's Right to Privacy information.
What if I don't want to, or am not ready to, use Blackboard with my course(s) at this time?
The status of all course shells when they are created is "Unavailable" to allow time for course development. You will see
this unavailable status if you go to the Courses tab in Blackboard and look at the Course List - Courses you are teaching:
section. The course title will appear with (Unavailable) next to it. You can see the course link but your students can not.
If you don't want to or are not ready to use Blackboard at this time, leave the course set to "Unavailable".
I have used Blackboard for the past two or three semesters and the Courses I am teaching list is getting so long; it's confusing!
Can you delete the old courses for me or change the naming convention so that I see the courses I am currently teaching listed
first? What's going to happen to those previous semester course shells anyway?
A plan for removing course shells was developed in conjunction with the automatic course shell creation. Each course shell
will stay on the system for 1 year. However, they will be disabled periodically to reduce the number of links you will see
at any one time. At most, you will only see course links for 2 semesters. Normally, you will see links for the current semester.
You will see links for the next semester as we approach the end of the current semester. If you ever need access to a course
shell that has been deactivated simply email blackboard@bgsu.edu to request activation.
There is no way to re-order the courses as they are listed under your Courses tab. If you are sure you do not need or want
the data/content that is stored in previous semester's course shells, you can request that the course shells be deleted.
Can I create a copy of my course site?
If you plan to use the content from this course for future courses at BGSU, you should save a copy of your content on the
Blackboard server in a developement shell. Development shells are created for you when requested. When your shell is created,
you can copy your own content without the enrollment data into it. For more information, see:
If you want to share all or part of your content with a colleague or take your content with you when you leave BGSU, you can
do that by selecting Export Course on that course's control panel under Course Options. On the Export Course form, you can choose what parts of your course
to export. Export Course creates a .zip file of the parts of the course content you specify.
When you or your colleague are ready to upload the content into a Blackboard course shell, you can do that yourself by selecting
Import Package on that course's control panel in the Course Options area. On the Import Package form, you can also select the parts of the
course to import.
Why should an instructor refrain from changing his/her role to a student?
An instructor should not change his/her role to a student to see what that view is like because doing that removes the control
panel. Without the control panel, the instructor cannot make any modifications to the course site. If you have removed your
control panel, you will need to contact the system administrator to change your role back to instructor.
Who do I contact if I want to put my course on Blackboard?
Because Course Shell Creation, Enrollment and Assignment of Instructors/TAs for courses in SIS are automated processes, you
should not need to contact anyone unless you need help. If you cannot find the answer to your question from the information
and links to resources posted here, faculty may contact the Technology Support Center, 2-0999 or tsc@bgsu.edu for help.
If I am the instructor, how do I remove links to my course shells from my Blackboard Courses tab?
There are two different processes to remove links to course shells from your Blackboard Courses tab -- one for course shells
for the current (or upcoming) term and one for course shells for past terms. Shells for the current (or upcoming) term are updated daily so there is a special process to follow to remove links for
course shells in the present term if you are assigned as instructor for the course in SIS.
Current (or Upcoming) Term: Disabling an instructor enrollment record from a Blackboard course shell
- Click the link to the shell on the Courses tab.
- Click the link to the control panel.
- Make sure the course shell is unavailable. This is needed if you are the only instructor listed and you are making your enrollment
record unavailable.
- Use the List/Modify Users link to identify the membership record, click Properties.
- Set the Availability to No. Click Submit.
- Return to the control panel and use the Remove Users link to remove the demoted enrollment. You get an error message when
you return to the course shell if you are deleting your enrollment record. This is expected. Just click on the Courses tab
to review your list of assigned shells.
Past Term: Removing an instructor enrollment record from a Blackboard course shell
Contact the Technology Support Center at 419-372-0999 and request that the course shell be disabled or deleted.
Can I keep a separate copy of my Gradebook for a Blackboard course for reference when a course ends?
If you wish to keep a copy of your grades for a Blackboard course, you need to export your gradebook. To do this,
- Click on your course's control panel.
- Under "Assessment", select "Gradebook".
- In the bar at the top of the View Spreadsheet window, select the "Download Grades" option.
- To save the file created, click on the Download button and save the file on your hard drive.
Your exported file can be viewed in a spreadsheet program such as Excel.
Are there limitations using Blackboard equation editors, WebEQ and MathML?
The WebEQ and MathML editors are not available on Macintosh systems. However, equations created on Windows systems are displayed
correctly for Macintosh users. Macintosh users can create equations by using the MathML language in the content item editors.
Here are some links to MathML resources:
I am using Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP, and get an error when adding a question to an assessment.
An error occurs following a very specific set of steps in the Bb 6 Test Manager. At the Add Question prompt, you must be careful
when selecting "From a Pool or Assessment" and then clicking Go. Do not select the words --TESTS-- or --POOLS-- and then click
search. In Internet Explorer 6, the items look selectable. They are not useable. You will get the message "Unable to generate
id. The provided key value is invalid. Unable to parse provided Pkid string[]." You cannot select all of the test. Instead,
you need to select entities individually. For all browsers, use the Ctrl (PC) or Shift (Mac) keys to select multiple entities.
I can't get the Collaboration Tools, Virtual Classroom and Lightweight Chat, to work.
The redesigned Collaboration Tools in Blackboard 6 have specific software requirements. Click here to see the supported browsers and Java 2 applications for the platform you use.
- Mac OS X 10.x: See supported browser list for more information. The collaboration tools are available to all Mac OS X users.
- Windows XP: You should have JRE 5.0 Update 11 installed in order to run either tool.
If I am an instructor uploading a course to Blackboard, where should I go for help?
Check out these online help options:
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You can also access a clickable version using your control panel by selecting Manual under Support. That version is kept
current.