If you have any questions concerning any of the items in this blog entry or questions at any time about Blackboard (Bb), please submit an on-line help desk ticket at http://www.at.vcu.edu/helpdesk/ or email blackboard@vcu.edu or call 828-2227. If the Help Desk staff can not answer your questions they will forward your questions to a member of the Technology Services Learning Systems staff. A portion of the Learning Systems staff is dedicated to monitoring Blackboard help tickets.
Items covered in this blog entry:
New Information:
• Bb JumpStart Service started August 1, 2008
• Bb Policies posted on-online
• 2008 Summer courses will be set to Unavailable status the week of September 1
• Bb courses for 2005 Summer, 2005 Fall & 2006 Spring were archived
• Softchalk LessonBuilder upgraded to Version 4
• Bb 7.3 Documentation (new version after May 16, 2008 upgrade)
• Respondus version upgraded and license renewed
Reminders (might be new information if you are first time user):
• Making 2008 Fall courses available to students
• Combining course rosters for Multiple sections or Cross-listed courses
• Download Gradebook from Prior Semester course(s) for your Personal Copy or Upload Grades
• Blackboard Maintenance Schedule (Next date: August 8, 4pm to midnight)
• Wimba Voice tools and LiveClassroom Maintenance Schedule
• Training Opportunities and Help Links
New Information:
Bb JumpStart Service started August 1, 2008
The Blackboard JumpStart Program is for any faculty/instructors that have never used Blackboard. The Learning Systems staff in Technology Services will create the ‘basic’ Black¬board course site and will give the instructor instructions on how to keep it up to date. The initial Bb course site will include a syllabus and, if requested, the faculty member’s office hours and contact information.
For more information about the service go to: http://faq.vcu.edu/ts/index.php?action=artikel&cat=13&id=175&artlang=en
Bb Policies posted on-line
The Blackboard policies have now been posted to the FAQs. Check them out at http://faq.vcu.edu/ts/index.php?action=show&cat=5.
2008 Summer courses will be set to Unavailable status the week of September 1
We will set all Bb Summer 2008 courses to an "Unavailable" status the week of September 1, 2008. This is done so that the Summer 2008 courses will no longer be available to students. The courses will continue to be accessible to instructors. Please note this process sets the course to unavailable and you as the instructor on the course can make it available again if needed (Control Panel – Settings). If you wish to ensure that your Summer 2008 course remains available to students, you may send an email to pasmith2@vcu.edu prior to September 1 with the course id (e.g. PSYC-101-001-2008Spring). This will ensure that the availability of your course is not modified.
Bb courses for 2005 Summer, 2005 Fall & 2006 Spring were archived during the summer
The Bb archive policy is to have two years of courses on the production system (2006 Summer to 2008 Spring) and three years archived. The archive process takes place during the summer. If at any time you need an archived course restored, send a request to the Technology Services Help Desk at http://www.ts.vcu.edu/helpdesk or blackboard@vcu.edu or 828-2227 and please include the course id and semester you taught the course.
Softchalk LessonBuilder Upgraded to Version 4
Softchalk LessonBuilder has been upgraded to Version 4 and is available to download. To download the new version or download for the first time do the following:
1. Login to Blackboard
2. Click on My Blackboard Tab
3. In the My Faculty Downloads box click on Lesson Builder (Softchalk) V4
4. Click on Download for Windows (Win) or Mac
5. Enter you VCU eID and Password to access the download site
6. Follow the download instructions
If you are interested in learning more or attending training session for Softchalk LessonBuilder contact the Center for Teaching Excellence (cte@vcu.edu).
Bb 7.3 Documentation (new version after May 16, 2008 upgrade)
Blackboard was upgraded on May 16, 2008. For documentation on what is new or changed; go to the Blackboard Content System tab, click on Institution Content, and click on Bb Tip Sheets. The items labeled with 7.3 have information related to updated/enhanced features.
Respondus Version Upgraded and License Renewed
Respondus has been upgraded to version 3.5.4e and the annual license has been renewed. To ensure that you have the latest version select “Help” (while in Respondus) from the menu bar at the top of the screen. Then select “Check for updates”. To verify that your installation of Respondus is configured to automatically update, select “File”, “Preferences” and make sure the box beside “Automatically check for program updates” is checked.
Reminders (might be new information if you are first time user):
Making your 2008 Fall course(s) available to students
Remember to make your Fall 2008 course(s) "Available" in the Blackboard system when you are ready for your students to see the course. All courses are set to "Unavailable" when you first create them. Courses that are "Unavailable" are not visible to the students in the course. To set your course to be available to students, please do the following:
1. From the Control Panel of the Course, choose Settings.
2. From Settings, choose Course Availability.
3. Set the course to be Available and Submit.
Combining course rosters for Multiple sections or Cross-listed courses
If you are teaching multiple sections of a course or a course is cross-listed and you would like to have the enrollments for all of the sections combined into a single Blackboard course, please submit an on-line help desk ticket at http://www.at.vcu.edu/helpdesk/ or email blackboard@vcu.edu. In the email, please tell us the name of the course that you have created in Blackboard and the specific course sections that you would like to have directed into that course. For example:
"Please combine sections 001, 002, 003 and 004 of PSYC-101 into the Blackboard course PSYC-101-001-2008Fall."
Or
“Please Combine WMNS-101-001-2008Fall into the Blackboard course PSYC-101-001-2008Fall”
It usually takes a business day for the roster to update after you have made your request for combined sections or cross-listing, and after you have created the course in Blackboard.
Download Gradebook from Prior Semester course(s) for your Personal Copy or Upload Grades
To save your own personal copy of the Bb gradebook (we highly recommend you keep a copy), perform the following steps:
1. From the Control Panel of the Course, click on Gradebook
2. Click on Download Grades
3. Select Delimiter Type (Comma or Tab, if you use Microsoft Excel either will be OK).
4. Click on Submit
5. Click on Download
6. Click on Save (save to your desktop computer)
This file can be opened in Excel.
You can download your gradebook at any time during the semester, open it in Excel, make changes to an existing column or add a column. Then you can upload it back into Blackboard.
To upload grades:
1. From the Control Panel of the Course, Click on Gradebook
2. Click on Upload Grades
3. Follow the instructions on the screen
Blackboard Maintenance Schedule (Next date: August 8, 4pm to midnight)
This is a reminder that the Bb system will be taken down the second and fourth Friday of each month from 4pm to midnight to perform maintenance. Go to this link to see actual dates: http://www.vcu.edu/ls/BbSchedMaint/Index.htm. Please remind your students of these dates.
Wimba Voice Tools and LiveClassroom Maintenance Schedule
Wimba Voice tools and LiveClassroom are hosted by Wimba and so their maintenance scheduled is determined by the license agreement. As outlined in Wimba’s ASP license agreement, Wimba adheres to a maintenance window of Sunday from 1 a.m. ET to 6 a.m. ET. The following notice was received from Wimba: “During the month of August, however, additional maintenance requires the possible expansion of this window from 1 a.m. ET to 8 a.m. ET with possible downtime of up to two hours.”
Training Opportunities and Help Links
Center for Teaching Excellence
Learn about sound pedagogical methods and other resources
http://www.vcu.edu/cte/
Blackboard Training – enter Keyword = Blackboard
http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/training/
Blackboard FAQ
http://faq.vcu.edu/ts/
Technology Help Desk page
http://www.at.vcu.edu/helpdesk/index.html
Blackboard’s Support for Faculty, Instructors and Designers
(NOTE: this is not a VCU site. We run the Blackboard Academic Suite version 7.3)
http://behind.blackboard.com/s/faculty/
Regards,
Blackboard Team