Frequently Asked Questions
Top Five questions:
Question categories:
Go to the page What is Blackboard and Ways you and your
students can use Blackboard.
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NOTE: To complete the steps below, you must have already requested your
Blackboard sites and therefore had an account created.
- Go directly to
http://www.chabotcollege.edu/online/Login/ or go to the Chabot College
Homepage and click the Blackboard icon at the bottom of the page.
- Click Login.
- Type in your username and password (as provided to
you by staff).
- Click Login. If you receive an error message,
request help.
- Upon successful login, you will be taken to the My Institution page, where
you should see the links to the course site(s) you requested. (If you do not
see the sites,
request
your sites). Note that new course sites start out
as "unavailable" -
this means that it is unavailable to students (in other words, they can login
to Blackboard, but they won't be able to enter your course site(s)). Be sure to
make it available when you are ready to do so.
- CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD:
- Look for the Tools box
(see screenshot, right), and click on Personal Information. (If you do not
see the Tools box, you are not on the "My Institution" page. Click
on the "My Institution" tab in the upper-left corner).
- Click Change Password
- Enter your own unique password in both password fields.
- Click Submit at the bottom. At the next two screens, click
OK.
- If you forget your password, click on
Forgot Password or
request
a password
re-set from the Help Desk.
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- VERIFY YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. Look on the far left side for a text box titled "Tools," and click on the
last item, Personal Information. (If you don't see a box titled
"Tools" you are on a different page. To get to the My Institution page, click
the "My Institution" tab in the upper left corner).
IF YOU NEED TO UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
- Login to CLASS-Web (for
CLASS-Web login help, call ITS at x1715)
- Click the link What is my email address?
- Click Update Email Address
- Under Faculty/Staff (from Groupwise), click on the email address link. If
you don't see Faculty/Staff then click on Type of E-mail to Insert and
select the Faculty/Staff option.
- If there is an email address in the E-mail field, erase it and type in the
correct email address.
- Check the box, Make this your Preferred address.
- Click Submit.
- Be sure to exit CLASS-Web.
Within a few hours, the correct email address should display in Blackboard as
well. If you need help with CLASS-Web, call the ITS help desk at x1715.
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Since Fall 2004, students have been added and dropped from Blackboard
automatically via a "Snapshot" tool that in effect takes a 'snapshot' of the
enrollment data from Class-Web. Generally speaking, once students are
enrolled or dropped in CLASS-Web, his/her status is reflected in Blackboard about
4 hours later. However, the change may not take effect until approximately 11pm
that evening. Therefore, it is safest to let your students know that the effect
can take as long as 24 hours.
Throughout the semester, the basic process is as follows:
Enrolling Students into Blackboard: the Process
- A student enrolls through Class-Web.
- During the next Snapshot run (8am, 12pm, 4pm, or 8pm, and 11pm seven days a
week), the student is uploaded to Blackboard and/or the course(s) they are
enrolled in.
- Instructor will see student on his/her Blackboard roster, and student can
now login.
Dropping Students From Blackboard: the Process
- Either the student drops themselves through Class-Web, or the instructor drops the
student through Admissions and Records, or the student is dropped by AandR for
other reasons (i.e. non-payment of fees).
- During the next Snapshot run (5am, 8am, 12pm, 4pm, or 8pm, seven days a
week), the student is dropped from the Blackboard course site (technically
speaking, students are actually just "disabled" - that is, while the student
disappears from the instructor's Blackboard roster, the student and his/her
records are actually just "disabled" in case they ever re-enroll).
- Instructor no longer sees student on his/her roster, and the student no
longer sees the course after they login to Blackboard.
When do we upload students for a new semester or a new site?
We begin uploading students (who are already enrolled) about 1 week prior to the
start of the semester. Students enrolling afterwards will be enrolled according
to the details provided above. Note: if your site was just created, all
students may not be uploaded until 11:00 pm that evening. The following morning,
you can view the list of students by going into the Control Panel and either
clicking on the Grade Center or List/Modify Users.
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Our campus/district uses a tool called Snapshot which essentially takes a
"snapshot" of what is in Class-Web and reflects it onto Blackboard. In other
words, the enrollment in Blackboard should exactly represent the enrollment in
Class-Web. Therefore, if you do not see a student in a course in
Blackboard, most likely the student isn't on the Class-Web roster either (for
whatever reason). (For more details on how students
are enrolled/dropped, click here).
Fortunately, if a student was dropped in Class-Web, they haven't been erased
from the course; rather, they are simply
"disabled" in Blackboard which causes his/her enrollment and almost anything
tied to that student to be hidden from view (exception: any posts to the
Discussion Board from that student should remain). How to resolve this depends
on the scenario. To figure out what to do, please
follow the steps below:
- First, login to
Class-Web
(don't know your login? contact
the Help Desk) and make sure that the student is listed on your
roster. If the student is in fact on your CLASS-Web roster, but not on the
Blackboard roster, then
submit a
help request to the campus Bb Administrator. There could have been a
problem with the last Snapshot run.
- If the student is in fact not on the CLASS-Web roster and should be, then the
key is to re-enroll the student back into the class via Class-Web. We have had
cases where an instructor dropped a particular student but did not realize
they did so. Contact
Admissions and Records
if necessary. Once the student is back on the roster in Class-Web, they will be
re-enrolled ("re-enabled") during the next Snapshot run (5am, 8am, 11pm, 4pm, or 8pm, seven days a
week - although it's best to wait until the following day). The student should
reappear in the Grade Center and all of
his/her work should display
just as it did before.
- If the student was correctly dropped in CLASS-Web but you need to view
their grades in Blackboard (they dropped the class or you
dropped them), you can
request
that the student account be temporarily re-enabled in the Blackboard course
site. Because of
the convenience of automation we have with the Snapshot tool, we do not have the power to
permanently, manually override
enrollments in Blackboard (to make it permanent, they must be on the roster in
Class-Web). However, what we can do is request Blackboard to re-enable a
student temporarily (about one day). Then, during the 11pm Snapshot run, the
student will be, once again, disabled from your course site and all of his/her
work will disappear from your view (the "Cinderella" effect). The difficulty is that we do not know exactly
when Blackboard will do this (may be a few days from the original request),
and once it's done, the instructor only has that one day to access the student
work. But it appears to be sufficient to faculty. To request this,
request help, being sure to provide the necessary details
(course ID, student W number) and indicate in the comments that you need to
"temporarily re-enable" this student.
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Missing scrollbars have been reported when using Internet
Explorer 8 or Firefox 6.0.2 on Windows XP. To fix this problem,
change the settings in your computer display properties:
- Click on the Start button, and then go the
Control Panel
- Click on Display Properties
- Click on the Appearance Tab
- Select the Advanced Button
- Select the Scroll Bar from
the item drop down list
- Change the Setting to 19
- Submit the changes
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With the automation we gained from Snapshot came some loss of
control, one being that instructors no longer have the option
to make the course unavailable to individual students. If they try to do so, and
the student is still enrolled in the course in Class-Web, within the next
Snapshot run (for exact times, read the above paragraph) the course will be made available to the student again. The
instructor will need to drop the student through Admissions and Records. If the
student is still showing up in your Class-Web roster, contact
Admissions and Records.
According to the
Counseling
Division Academic Regulations, incomplete (I) grades represent an
instructor-student agreement that the student may complete the course work by
the end of the following semester and receive an appropriate letter grade.
How your student(s) will finish an incomplete within Blackboard for a course
depends on the level of need.
- Option 1: Complete coursework in original site (most common).
Most instructors have the student finish the coursework in the
original course site. The instructor must leave the course site set to
available (as a reminder, the instructor is in complete control of site
availability for up to two years). While other enrolled students could
potentially access the course site, this does not appear to be an issue for
most instructors/courses. In addition, instructors have the option to make
various areas of their course unavailable to students as needed. For this
option, you do not need to notify the Chabot Blackboard Administrator.
- Option 2: When interactivity with other students is required.
If interaction with other students is a crucial component of the course,
Option 1 may not be adequate. In such cases, if the instructor is teaching
the same course in a future/current term, the
student(s) can be manually added to the current-semester. Note, however, that none of the coursework will be
brought over to the new site. Instructors
would need to re-enter grades in the Grade Center of the current site and/or
the original site (entering of grades in the original site is recommended
for consistency and accurate record-keeping). For this option, request to have the student manually added to the
new site.
For any questions,
please
submit a help request.
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Go to the Control
Panel, then List/Modify Users, then List All, then List All
again. You will see
his/her names and email addresses. Note that if your site was just created, not
all students may be uploaded. Find out when the
next upload time is.
You can go to Contol Panel > Performance Dashboard. The Performance
Dashboard will show the instructor the last time the student accessed the
course site, as well as the number of days since his/her last login.
You can also go to Control Panel > Course Statistics, but the Performance
Dashboard loads more quickly.
Based on feedback from our student orientations, we strongly recommend that
you name one of your buttons "Start Here" or "Start Here - Syllabus" or anything
that is a clear indicator where the students should begin. You may have a lot of
information posted, and it can be overwhelming to the student where to begin.
Simply go to Control Panel, Course
Menu, Add Content Area.
Note that once the semester begins, you have the option to remove
or change the name of the "Start Here" button, as students become
more familiar with the course site.
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When we create new courses, the default setting is that they are unavailable
to students. This is so that you, the instructor, have complete control as to
when students can access your course. Your course will remain unavailable (students
cannot view your course) until you make your course available. To make
your course site available or unavailable:
- From within each course, locate the Control Panel (directly below
the main course menu).
- Select Customization (if you do not see
"Customization," click on the chevron (double arrow to the right of the
Control Panel).
- Select Properties
- Within the main frame (to the right), look under #2 Set Availability.
- To make available, select Yes
- To make unavailable, select No.
- Click Submit
- To verify that the course site has been made available to students,
click on the My Institution tab and make sure that (unavailable)
does not display.
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While you can always contact support staff individually,
to reach the most available staff member, please use our online
Blackboard
Support Request form. We highly recommend using this form because it asks for
the specific information we need right away so we can better assist you.
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For added security, system-wide guest access has been disabled since Fall
2009. Faculty who would like to provide another instructor or a student TA (or
other role) "guest" access to their course site can provide their
fake student login or they can
request other types of access.
Your own "fake" student (and the "chabotsupport"
student)
What is a "fake" student? - is a student account created
just for you (the instructor) so that you can view your course sites exactly as
your real students do. Logging in as your fake student can assist you in
verifying that content is available, tests are/aren't displayed, and that the
Grade Center columns you intend to be available are displayed, among other things.
A fake student is especially essential if you have copyright-protected publisher
material in a course cartridge), since the instructor view includes access to verifying but the student view may not. Note that in order to
access your site as a student, you will need
to make your course available.
What is my fake student username/password?
Submit a Help Request.
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Faculty can request Blackboard sites for their courses using the form
Request Blackboard Course Sites.
For most courses, one course site is setup
for each Course Registration Number (CRN). Instructors also have the option to
"merge" two or more CRN's and setup as one course site. Once courses have been
merged into a single site, students in all of the indicated sections can access
the same Blackboard course site. This site should contain content meant for all
of the students in those specified sections.
Prior to requesting a merged site, please note the following:
- When you request course sites for Blackboard in CLASS-Web, only the
courses for which you are the instructor of record will display. For course
sections that you want to include in the merge but list another instructor
of record, please ask that instructor to request the site, making sure to
indicate it as "merged."
- Courses are setup as either individual sites or as part of a merged site - a CRN cannot
coexist as part of a merged site and also be part of a merged site.
- A merged site cannot be "unmerged." In other words, we cannot separate
individual courses from the merged site. The only option to "unmerge" is to
delete the site and re-create each course (CRN) as individual sites. All of
the course content, student submitted work, and grades would be lost.
- Note that a merged site does not distinguish which students are from which
section, so ALL students will be listed alphabetically in the Grade Center.
However, there are ways to sort the students.
Instructors can request individual or merged sites by using the
Request Blackboard Course Sites in CLASS-Web.
Click here for the steps to Request Blackboard Course Sites in
CLASS-Web.
What is a "developmental" site?
A developmental site is a temporary Blackboard site for faculty to use for
development of a future course or to test out publisher material such as a
Course Cartridge. The site is not tied to
Class-Web, so there is no concern of students accidentally accessing the course.
This is important especially for Course Cartridges, as faculty may need to
temporarily make the site available to test functions available only to
students.
A
developmental course site is typically requested for one of two reasons:
- You are developing a site for a future term that isn't in Class-Web yet
(no CRN available yet). However, If you have the CRN from
Class-Web,
available, please request the "live" course site(s)
instead. This will prevent you from having to copy over the content
later on.
- You are reviewing a
Course Cartridge and you are not sure that you want it downloaded into
a live site yet. Note that if the Course Cartridge will require students to
purchase an access code (that is, it is "copyright-protected"), you won't be able to copy over the content to a live
site later on - you will have to request a new cartridge download key from the
publisher each time a new site is created (each semester too). If the
course cartridge requires students to purchase an access code, you may want to
just go ahead and request the "live" course site(s).
If you find that you do not want the cartridge after all, we can delete
the live site and create a new blank one (granted that it's before the term
begins!).
More info on course cartridges...
Once the CRN of the actual course becomes available in Class-Web,
faculty will need to copy over the content to the "live" site.
How to hide outdated courses on your My Institution page
- Login to Blackboard and make sure you are within the My
Institution tab.
- Click on the pinwheel icon in
the upper-right corner of the My Courses module:
- Uncheck all of the boxes to the right of each course that you
want to hide.
- Click Submit.
Please note that the above steps only affects the display of courses
on the My Institution tab. All of the Blackboard course sites that you
have taught in in the past two years will continue to display on
the My Courses tab.
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If you have any problems,
request help (if having
problems hiding sites, you'll need to provide your password in the help form).
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Yes. As the course instructor, you have complete control over
the naming of all of the navigation buttons in your
course. Go to:
Control Panel-->Manage Course Menu.
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When you follow
the steps on how to copy a course site to another course site, you will be
able to
select areas, such as Announcements, Staff Information or Content areas to copy.
The Copy Course function will add content to a course, but it will not remove or
replace existing
content in any site. Note that if you had a Course Cartridge loaded (general
information about Course Cartridges), it should copy over just fine - unless
it is copyright-protected (those that typically require students to purchase an access code
in addition to the textbook).
If you think you have a copyright-protected Course Cartridge loaded, before you
attempt any copying,
notify staff.
Below is the breakdown available for copy:
- Content Areas (depends on the content areas for the specific
course site)
- Adaptive Release Rules for Content
- Announcements
- Blogs
- Calendar
- Collaboration Sessions
- Contacts
- Discussions Board
- Early Warning System Rules
- Glossary
- Grade Center Columns and Settings
- Group Settings
- Journals
- Rubrics
- Settings
- Tasks
- Tests, Surveys, and Pools
- Wikis
Click here for steps on how to copy a course site to
another course site.
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- Go into the course site that you want to copy content from (the "source"
course).
- Click on the Control Panel > Packages and
Utilities > Course Copy
- Click the Browse button, select the course that you want to copy to (the
"destination" course), and click Submit.
- Under "Select Course Materials," check the appropriate boxes. If you are
unsure what to check, it is best to check all of the content type boxes.
IMPORTANT: If
you have any content/tools that are linked to the Grade Center
(Assignments, Discussion Board, Tests, Surveys, and Pools),
be sure to check those areas AND the Grade Center Items and Settings.
If you don't, connections may be lost and you will have to wait for
Blackboard to fix the problem.
- Click Submit. While the copy process usually only takes
a few minutes for most courses, you may want to wait until you
receive an email confirming that the copy process has completed.
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Typically, faculty are copying content into a new, blank, site.
Occasionally, faculty want to copy over content into a site that
already has content. A few considerations:
- When using the Course Copy tool, content is added but
existing content is not replaced or removed.
- Note that once you use the Copy Course tool, there is no
easy way to remove all of the content that you just copied over.
You will have to individually remove the content, or ask support
to delete the site and use the Course Copy tool again. Deleting
a site means that all of the content would be lost.
- If you plan to import a Course Cartridge, we strongly
recommend that you first import the cartridge, then do the
course copy. If you try the Course Dopy tool first, that can
sometimes cause issues with the Course Cartridge.
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To remove all of the posts in a forum (which are copied over when you copy a
course):
- Go into the forum.
- Click on the List View.
- Scroll all the way down to "Select all."
- Once all of the threads are selected, go to the top of the page and
click remove. This should clear all of the threads in the forum.
- Repeat for each forum.
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If a student does not show up in your roster
in Blackboard, then most likely they aren't in the roster in Class-Web.
Enrollment data is retrieved directly from Class-Web into Blackboard (more
about the upload to Blackboard process). Most likely the student needs to
check with Admissions and
Records to find out why he isn't enrolled. If you verified that the student
is in fact in your Class-Web roster but you still don't see his/her name in the
Blackboard Roster,
request assistance.
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Blackboard actually provides many different "roles," each with different
levels of access. Please click on the link below to read about the details of
each role, where you will also provide the necessary information to request
someone access to your site(s). Please note that we do not enroll anyone in
your course site without your prior request/permission - if the person desiring
access makes the request, a confirmation will be required by you prior to
enrollment.
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When you modify your menu items you may notice the option to allow observer
access. For the most part, you can ignore this. Observer access is a one-on-one
role in which one user is assigned to observer another user's work in the
course. For example, the observer role is used more frequently in the K-12
schools, where a parent could view his/her child's (and only his/her own child's -
one else's) work. If you have a need for this, contact the
request this using the "request for access" form, providing both names.
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All first and last names in Blackboard are retrieved automatically and
directly from the Banner/Class-Web system, which is however you entered your
name on your human resource forms. Due to this automation, there is no way from
the Blackboard end to change a user's first name, last name, or user name. If a
faculty/staff/student would like to change how his/her name displays in
Blackboard, they would need to obtain and submit the appropriate forms from the
Chabot Business Office or
the CLPCCD Human Resources
Department.
Many publishers offer content which can be imported into a Blackboard site to
accompany a textbook. Examples of the content may include PowerPoint
presentations, chapter summaries, and test banks. To find out if a Blackboard
course cartridge is available for any one of the textbooks you use, you can
search from the Blackboard
website or contact your textbook publisher representative. Please note
that cartridges fall into one of two categories:
- Open Access. This type of cartridge does not require students to
purchase an access code, and you should also be able to copy
cartridge/publisher content from one site to another, from one semester to
the next. These typically contain less content than the copyright-protected
cartridges.
- Copyright-protected. IMPORTANT: This type of cartridge requires
students to purchase an access code, and you will not be able to copy the
cartridge to other sites (you will have to request a new cartridge download
key for each site for each semester). After the student logs into
Blackboard, and enters your site, and then clicks on a content area that
contains cartridge content, they will be prompted to enter in an access code
(just once for the entire semester) that they purchased (either
shrinkwrapped with the textbook or sold separately - as determined by you
and your publisher representative). Below is a screenshot of what a student
might see:
To
obtain/import a cartridge:
- Decide which site you want the cartridge in, and if needed,
request a site (either an "official" site
or a developmental site - should be a blank site). Because most faculty do
end up using the cartridge they selected, and copyright-protected cartridges
cannot be copied over (you'll have to request a new download key for each
site), we recommend that you request that the cartridge be imported into an
"official" but blank/empty site for an upcoming semester. That way, you
won't have to worry about extra steps of copying over (if an option) later.
If you decide not to go with the cartridge, we can just delete the site.
Note however that there is no way to remove a cartridge, so do not copy
over any content yet - the only way to "remove" a cartridge is to delete the
site. If you would like to evaluate the cartridge prior to importing it
into a live site, or the course has not yet been scheduled, you will have
the option to request a developmental site.
- Contact your publisher representative and tell them you are interested
in a Blackboard Course Cartridge for a particular text that will go into the
campus Blackboard server. Please be sure that your publisher orders the
correct combination and that the bookstore receives it. There have often
been problems with the bookstore receiving the wrong codes, delaying
students from accessing content.
- Once you have decided on a text/cartridge/package, the publisher representative will
most likely direct you to an online form, where you will select the appropriate text and/or package,
enter other details, and then request a Course Cartridge Download Key. You may be asked a few
details:
- Our Blackboard version:
- For the system administrator name, type "Chabot Administrator"
because it is going to vary.
- For the email address, enter
bbhelp@chabotcollege.edu
(do not use an individual's email address - using this alias email ensures
that it reaches the
Chabot Bb administrator on duty (subject to
change).
- Submit the online form.
- Check your email to see if you have received an email containing the
Course Cartridge Download Key. Once you have received it, that means the
Chabot Blackboard Administrator received it too. You can either wait until
the administrator emails you to confirm which course you want this
downloaded to, or you can forward a copy
to
bbhelp@chabotcollege.edu
and specify exactly which course site this is for.
- The administrator will then import the cartridge (usually only takes a
few minutes) and you will be notified when this has been completed. Once you
decide that you are going to use the cartridge, you can use the Copy Course
tool to copy content from other sites and/or edit the site as you wish.
How do I import a publisher packaged ePack (zip
file)?
"I need to download an ePack (other names may be used) from my publisher, who
directed me to a ftp website of a packaged zip file. How do I import this?"
To import an ePack (other names may be used):
- Follow the instructions as provided by your publisher representative,
which may include clicking on a link to a ftp website (if you are required to
login, the username and password is provided by the publisher rep.).
- Locate the zip file, and save the zip file to your desktop,
computer, or wherever you normally save files and can easily locate them
later.
- Login to Blackboard, click on the course link that you want to import the
package to, and go to the Control Panel.
- Click on Import Package. Click browse to locate the zip file that
you just saved, check the boxes of the content you want to import, and click
Submit. Importing may take a while. Do not do anything until you receive a log
import status message.
Note: The "Import" option in the Pool Manager is for test banks only. Use
only if you know how to create these test banks or if directed by your
publisher.
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There is an Email Override option when creating an
Announcement but the function was disabled as it is linked to Notifications.
Notifications was a feature that automatically sent email notifications to
students for each Announcement (regardless of instructor prompt). We
discovered that students were getting the emailed notifications of new
Announcements even if their course sites are unavailable.
Furthermore, students were able to click the link in the email to access the
course site, even if the site was unavailable. Therefore, we had to disable
the automatic notification emails of new Announcements, which in turn
impacted the email option in Announcements.
Therefore, the way to send an email of your
Announcement is to use the Send Email feature (under Course Tools). You can
copy the text of the Announcement and paste it into the text box to send a
copy of your Announcement.
The best solution is to save files in a universal
file format so that your students are able to access the files regardless of the
software they use or his/her computer platform. Blackboard recommends saving
documents in one of the following three file formats: HTML, RTF (rich text
format), or PDF (portable document format). Need suggestions what works best as
HTML, RTF, or PDF? Please refer to our
File Format
Comparison chart. To view the list of supported file types according to
Blackboard, go to the
recognized file attachments (Blackboard instructor manual). Chabot Web
Services strongly
recommends converting documents to PDF,
especially large PowerPoint files. Otherwise, direct your students to
download the appropriate 'readers'.
You can find out how to add a document at the
SDSU
Step-by-Step guides - Add Item website.
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The Blackboard Learning System recognizes several
file types that can be attached to content items and opened in the page or
directly in an associated application. To view the list of supported file types,
go to the
recognized file attachments (Blackboard instructor manual).
Theoretically, any type of file can be uploaded to a content item and made
available to students. If the file is not of a type recognized by the
Blackboard Learning System, users can always download the file and open it
locally. However, many students rely on dial-up internet access, so file size
should be kept to a minimum. Because we do not currently have a streaming
server, only relatively small audio/video files can be posted. You can find out
how to add an item at the
SDSU
Step-by-Step guides - Add Item website.
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An instructor wrote: "I Just bought a new computer at home and it has MS
Office 2007 and Vista. When I try to open student files/documents from
Blackboard or I email my files [i.e. via Groupwise] to
myself at work, they won't
open. The system here doesn't recognize the program. I try to open and I get "do
I want these in Turkish" or something."
Most likely, you are trying to open a document created
in Office 2007, when your computer only has Office 2003 or earlier. Since
Office 2007 programs typically creates files in docx, xlsx, and pptx
format, Office 2003 and earlier versions cannot read these files. If you
do not use Office 2007 but would still like to ensure that you can read
Office 2007 files, you will have to install the Compatibility Pack from
Microsoft. The Compatibility Pack can be downloaded at this
link and then follow the instructions below to install it.
All the campus computers should have the converter installed already, so
any campus computer will allow you do this (For help with the converter, contact
the
Chabot College Computer
Support).
More details and a workaround for this problem are provided by
Northern Illinois University.
If you receive the following message when trying to open up a Microsoft Works
(wps) file:
You will need to follow the prompts to download the converter. If you are on
a Chabot computer, you may need to contact the
Chabot College Computer
Support.
Another
Suggestion: When you save the document at home, save as Word 2003."
If you have any other issues with general software, contact the
Chabot College Computer
Support.
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Discussion board postings do not have to be read individually. Here's a short
cut to read those messages: enter the discussion forum in question and click on
the "Show Options" tab in the upper right-hand corner of your screen to reveal a
row of expanded option icons. Place a check in the box next to all the messages
you'd like to read, and then select the "Collect" icon from the row of expanded
options. All of the checked messages will appear on your screen at once, you may
read them or print the entire session.
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If you are considering creating a PowerPoint presentation to include in
Blackboard, here are some things you should consider in advance.
Document structure and design
- Each slide heading becomes a bookmark when converted to a PDF file.
- Use alternate text descriptions for images. When you insert a graphic on
your slide, right-click the graphic, choose Format Picture on
the context menu, and choose the Web tab on the Format Picture dialog. This
tab has an area in which you type the alternate text.
- All the text in the slide show must be in the outline. Do not use text
boxes.
- Any fly-in bullets or other fly-in animations may not be preserved, but
the information is preserved in the PDF conversion. If this makes a
difference, then adjust your presentation as needed.
- For information on narrated PowerPoints, please check out the next FAQ.
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I want to post an audio/video file. What do I need to
know? How do I make audio/video ADA
compliant?
Copyright. First and foremost, must make
sure that you have met the rules for copyright. You can find thousands of video
clips on EduStream, which is provided for use to
all instructors at Chabot College. Your textbook representative may also be able
to provide access to video resources.
Size is a factor. For audio or video longer than a few
seconds, we suggest posting your files to EduStream,
which provides streaming service to all instructors.
Accessibility.
ADA says that institutions must make "reasonable accomodations" for disabled
students. Disabled students includes hearing impaired, visually impaired (those
who might use a screen reader on the text), learning disabled, motor impaired
(text files are relatively easy to access), etc.
Before beginning the dauting task of creating your own video and
adding captions, you might first
try searching for closed-captioned videos on YouTube or
EduStream. For any audio/video you
created, please check with the Chabot
College Disabled Student Resource Center for captioning options.
There are many ways to make accommodations. For
starters, the instructor can just type up a
summary of the audio content (such as in the PowerPoint notes area. Scripts can
also keep the developer focused, which makes for a better performance.
For more information about ADA standards, contact the
Chabot
College Disabled Student Resource Center or the
High-Tech Center Training Unit
(Foothill-DeAnza colleges).
You can search only for closed-captioned videos by selecting
"Closed-Captions" from the Type menu. Then type in your topic in the search
field and click on "Search."
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Scenario: A student who says he/she took a test and received a grade
afterward. However, her instructor is saying that when he/she checked the
Grade Center, all he/she saw for the student was the padlock (this was weeks after
the student completed the test).
What may have happened: Most of the time this happens because the test
is setup to allow "multiple attempts" and the student for whatever reason goes
into it a second time (maybe as a way to check his/her grade). Simply going back
to the quiz wipes out the previous attempt/grade. What compounds the problem is
that when a student enters the assessment for a second time, they see
"Assessment already completed. Click OK to review results or take the assessment
again." when it should probably say: "Assessment already completed. Click OK to
review results or click here to clear your grade and take the assessment again."
Workaround: Unfortunately, the last attempt cannot be recovered. The
instructor will need to clear the attempt for that test.
It is strongly recommend that for each assessment allowing multiple attempts,
that the instructions include a warning which makes it perfectly clear to the
students that a subsequent attempt will erase the previous attempt. It is recommended that students check
his/her grades from the My
Institution tab, Tools menu (upper-left hand side of screen, before they enter
his/her course sites).
Students may be 'kicked' out of a quiz for all kinds of reasons, such as:
- If they click the "Back" button
during the quiz,
- Resize the Window on his/her screen, or
- his/her browser times out.
To reset a quiz
within Blackboard go to:
Control Panel -->Grade Center"-->Spreadsheet View.
When the Grade Center loads, locate the numerical score for the test and student.
Click on the score (the numerical score is a hidden link) to pull up a copy of
your student's completed exam. In the upper right-hand corner of the exam,
locate the button that reads, "Clear Attempt." Clicking on that button will
allow your student to take that test over. To prevent future
problems, you may want to provide students tips
for successful test taking (Word doc).
If you are experiencing display issues anywhere in a course site, there
may be hidden html code or font within text copoied to the a Text Box
Editor. When text is copied and pasted from one location to Blackboard (such
as from a web page or from word),
hidden html and font are often copied over as well. Below are
suggestions for resolving the problem:
First, try another browser: Try viewing the content in another
browser, such as
Mozilla Firefox. If the content displays the way you intended in another
browser, the easiest workaround may be to tell students to use the other
browser.
To install Firefox on a personal computer, go to the
Mozilla
Firefox site;
To install Firefox on your office computer,
contact Computer Support.
If the display issue occurs regardless of browser, you must
remove the faulty html: The quickest method is to copy/paste the
text into a format-free program such as NotePad or TextEdit (Mac) and then
copy/paste the text back into the Text Box Editor.
- Copy all of the text from within the Text Box Editor.
- Paste the text into a format-free program such as NotePad ("TextEdit" on a Mac).
As a safeguard, you may want to save a copy of this text that you just
pasted.
- Select all of the text that you just pasted in NotePad or
TextEdit, and copy it.
- Delete all of the text in the Text Box Editor.
- Paste all of the text from the format-free program back into the
Text Box Editor. You can now edit the text as needed.
Another way to remove the faulty html; use the Toggle HTML Source
Code to manually remove the faulty html: This can be easy or
difficult, depending on how much text is in the Text Box Editor. From the text box editor menu, click on the
"<>" (Toggle HTML Source Mode icon (see screenshot below).
Go through and remove all of the hidden code.
If the display issue is within a quiz/test/exam: If you have a lot of tests/quizzes/exams and/or questions with this display
issue, a long-term solution would be to use
Respondus to create and/or modify
your assessments. Chabot College currently has a campus-wide license and
significant support is available.
To prevent display issues caused by hidden html, Blackboard
suggests using the "Paste from Word" option
from the text box editor menu (please see the screenshot below).
Instead of pasting text from Word directly into the text box,
you'll click on the icon and then select "Paste from Word,"
which will bring up a separate window for pasting in the text.
Once you submit, you'll be able to edit the text like always.
- While in the edit mode for the item/folder, etc., click
on the last icon, as illustrated in the screenshot below
(Note: the Alt tag may read it as "undefinded," but the
correct label is Add Mashup and clicking on
the icon will reveal options).
- Select Paste from Word.
- Paste your Word text in the new window.
- Submit.
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We strongly suggest that you periodically download a copy of your Grade
Center,
especially right before you drop students or make any significant changes. Soon
after a student drops or is dropped in CLASS-Web, most of the records for for
that student in that particular course disappear from your view in Blackboard and can only be
accessed temporarily with special assistance from staff (if
you are trying to access records for a dropped student, click here for more
information). You can download a copy (such as an Excel file) of your
Grade Center. The downloaded file has no impact on your actual Grade Center records
whatsoever. It is just a copy. You can download as many copies as you would
like.
- Go to the Control Panel of your course site(s).
- Click on the Grade Center.
- In the upper-right-hand corner, click on work Offline,
then click Download.
- Select the data to download, such as the full grade center, a selected
column, or user information only.
- Click Submit.
- Click Download.
- Follow the remaining prompts to save your file, depending on your
browser.
- To view the file, open up the file in Microsoft Excel.
Once you download a copy of your Grade Center (steps above), you can modify or add more items as needed (such as adding a test or changing
a student's score), and then upload the file to make the changes to the
"live" Grade Center.
- Be sure to complete the steps above for downloading a copy/file of your
Grade Center.
- Open Excel, locate the file you just downloaded (unless you changed the
filename, will be named "gb_export"), and open the file.
- Make the modifications that you want made (note: do NOT remove any
student names).
- When you are finished, Save the file.
- To upload the grades, from the Blackboard Control Panel Grade Center, click
Work Offline, then Upload.
- Click Browse to select the Excel/csv file you just saved (must be a
*.txt or a *.csv file).
- You will need to either select the
destination column for the uploaded data, or select Create New
Grade Center Item for the data to appear as a new Grade Center item.
- Click Submit.
- (If applicable) Check the boxes for the
students in which you want to upload modified scores.
- Click OK. You will be returned to the
Grade Center with the changes made.
You can find more details in the
directions for uploading to the
Grade Center as per the Blackboard Instructor
Manual
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If the Grade Center does not calculate your grades the way you want it to, we
recommend that you download the Grade Center from Blackboard, then open the file in
Excel and set up your formulas they way you want. You can then upload this file
back to the Grade Center with the appropriate totals and weights. We also recommend
that to eliminate confusion, you name the
columns appropriately.
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- From the Control Panel, click on the Grade Center
- Click on the column of test for which you want to display grades as
Complete/Incomplete
- At item option screen, select Item Information
- For score, specify a point value
- For Display As options, select Compelete/Incompelete
- Under Options check the following items:
- Check "Yes" in response to " Make item visible to students:"
- Check "No" in response to "Include item in Grade
Center score
calculations:"
As soon as student takes the test, a checkmark appears in greadebook. For
those students who have not taken the test, nothing appears in Grade Center.
At the moment, no. One workaround is to give your
fake student a grade equal to the negative sum of the entire class for the
assignment. This will set the average to zero.
As you'll notice in the key of the Grade Center (left side of screen), the
exclamation (!) normally means "needs grading." If the student completed
the test but there is still an exclamation showing, that indicates that there is
a time limit set on the test and the student went over time.
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(HTTP 404 error when downloading assignments)
The Assignment tool in Blackboard contains an Item Download feature, which
allows instructors to download all student submissions to your computer in a ZIP
file.
In some cases, the error message is caused by a faulty file submitted by the
student. Please check to see that none of the file names contain odd characters
such as %. If so, resetting the assignment and asking the student to resubmit
the assignment may clear up the error message.
In other cases, there is a possibility that there is an issue with this
feature which is converting spaces in Assignment titles to plus (+) signs in the
ZIP filename (example: Draft+1+Essay.zip). Blackboard cannot parse special
characters like plus signs, so attempting to download the ZIP file will result
in an error.
As of February 17, 2009, we are still looking into the problem. Until then,
here is a workaround:
Rename your assignment to remove the space:
- In the Control Panel, go to the Content Area where your
assignment is located.
- Click the Modify button to the right of the assignment.
- Remove the space from the assignment Name and click Submit.
- Follow the Item Download instructions.
For more details on this bug, check out
TLT Blackboard Support Blog (although note that the first workaround listed
does not work for our server).
If you use a single Blackboard course
site for
multiple sections you can
create a Grade Center item to sort the students.
- Go into the Grade Center, and select
Create Column.
- Enter the Column Name, such as
"Section."
- Select Text as the Primary Display.
- Select No Category for the Category.
- Enter "0" for the Points Possible.
- Select "No" for "Include this Column in Grade Center Calculations."
- Select "No" for Show this Column to Students."
- Click Submit.
- Back into the main Grade Center view, locate this column.
- In each cell, enter the appropriate
section number, (i.e. ON1, ON2) or descriptor of your choice for each
student.
- At the top of the column, click on the double arrow and select
Sort Ascending.
- To return to sorting by last name, you
can click on the triangle above the "Name" field.
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Our Blackboard system currently allows the setup and
enrollment of courses and students associated with a Course
Registration Number (CRN). If you are looking to setup a site
for a non-Chabot course or a non-instructional group, consider
one of the following options:
- CourseSites by Blackboard
- Google Docs for Educators
- Group Studio
CourseSites by Blackboard
CourseSites is a free, hosted online course creation and
facilitation service that enables instructors to add a
web-based component to their courses, or host an entire
course online. CourseSites is currently running Blackboard
Learn, Release 9.1 as well as some of the latest Blackboard
features available. Instructors will need to manually enroll
or remove participants/students from the site. You can find
out more and sign up for an account at the following link:
https://www.coursesites.com/webapps/Bb-sites-course-creation-BBLEARN/pages/getstarted.html
Google Docs for Educators
Google Docs for Educators consists of an easy-to-use online
word processor, spreadsheet and presentation editor that
enables you and your students to create, store and share
instantly and securely, and collaborate online in real time.
You can create new documents from scratch or upload existing
documents; you can even create basic assessments (multiple
choice, text, etc.) and view the results as a graphical
summary or detailed spreadsheet. There's no software to
download, and all your work can be accessed from any
computer. You can view an overview of resources for
instructors at the following link:
http://www.google.com/educators/p_docs.html
Group Studio
Included in the Zone web
portal is a tool called Group Studio. Group Studio
offers faculty, staff, and students the ability to create and manage
group homepages for departments, workgroups, and committees which
includes online tools for collaboration, communication or
information sharing.
Because Group Studio is part of the Zone which is
already accessible to all faculty, students and staff, it is very easy
for the designated group moderator to add members to the site and
provide immediate access, without waiting for new accounts to be
created.
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Types of Groups Available
There are three types of groups available: public, restricted, and
hidden.
- Public Groups: open for anyone (who can login
to the Zone) to join.
- Restricted Groups: membership is subject to
certain restrictions as determined by the group moderator. For
example, only existing committee members may access the site.
- Hidden Groups: reserved for handling sensitive
information.
How to Request a Group in Group Studio
- Go to the Chabot College homepage and login to the Zone:
- Once you are logged in, click on the Groups icon (top right corner):
- Click on Request Group and complete the fields to the best of your
knowledge (you can change most of it later). This request will be sent to
ITS.
For more information on Group Studio, contact the
ITS help
desk.
Chabot College is required by Federal Law (the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990 and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act) to provide
access to its programs and services to all qualified individuals. Accordingly,
as the system develops its capacity for creation of technology based
instructional resources and the delivery of distance learning; it must proceed
with the needs of all students in mind, including the unique needs of students
with disabilities.
Please check each of the following resources:
On occasion, faculty teaching with Blackboard request to allow another
instructor or a Chabot student to access
the instructor's Blackboard course site(s) as a TA, Learning Assistant,
etc. for purposes such as assisting in discussion forum
responses or posting content. Blackboard does include a handful of
varying-level roles to meet these needs. Instructors can make such requests using
our Request for a student TA / staff / instructor to access my Blackboard site
form.
Please note that in order to comply with the
Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), it is
important to note that only the instructor(s) assigned to a particular course
should have access to confidential student information, such as grades,
as well as the instructor username and password. Student Assistants are really only supposed
to be assisting in his/her subject (not necessarily Blackboard). This follows
the district-wide policy for instructor use of CLASS-Web, which reads that "only
the primary instructor is allowed to enter the grades for a class. If you are team teaching,
you must work with your colleague in getting the grades entered into CLASS-Web.
This also means that no one else can use Web for Faculty to enter your grades."
If any of personal student data are compromised - the instructor, college and
District could be held liable of any breeches.
Please note that
requests for access to Blackboard for non-CLPCCD authorized users must
be approved first by the respective division dean before those users can
be placed into Blackboard).
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If you are having problems logging into
CLASS-Web first make sure
you are aware of the standard login information (username and password). Basically, Otherwise,
you should be able to log in using your SSN or W number and your birthdate in
the format MMDDYY. If you are still having problems logging in, please contact
HR at 925-485-5238 (PLEASE NOTE that this phone number is for faculty/staff
only; students need to call Admissions and Records at (510) 723-6700).
At the December 4, 2007 Distance Education Committee meeting (now so named
the Committee On Online Learning, or COOL), the committee
agreed that in addition to the current or future term sites, faculty should have
immediate access to two years worth of old course sites. During Fall 2012,
faculty can expect to have access to the following sites:
- Fall 2012 (current term)
- Summer 2012
- Spring 2012
- Fall 2011
- Summer 2011
- Spring 2011
- Fall 2010
- Summer 2010
Most faculty will not need to take any action. Instructors who would like
immediate access to course content or student work may want to
copy the content to a newer site and/or
download copies of
his/her Grade Center.
If an instructor needs to gain temporary access to an old site, they need to
submit a Blackboard Support Request. In rare instances, we would restore one our our
archived site files to a new site. Just as before, faculty also have the option
to
hide additional sites.
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Suggestions can be submitted through their online product suggestion box at
http://www.blackboard.com/Contact-Us/Feedback/Suggest-Product-Enhancements/For-Learn.aspx
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