Mail Tool and the Demo Student

We logged a case with Blackboard and indicated to them that “when sending mail to all students; the demo student does not receive the message.” The response from Blackboard Support was:

“This is actually functioning as designed. To have the mail sent to the Demo student, check the box next to the Demo Student's name so that [the] mail will show up in the Demo Student's [mail] box as well. This is not quite as convenient as simply checking the box for all students, but it does send the mail to the Demo student. Let me know if you need anything else.”

The Difference Between New and Unread Messages

After reporting problems with the “New” and “Unread” numbers of postings (in Discussions) and messages (in Mail) not reflecting the actual totals of new and unread postings and messages, Blackboard Support responded with the following explanation of the difference between the two concepts in Blackboard. Since it’s “right from the horse’s mouth” I’m repeating their responses verbatim (but with a few grammatical corrections):

This issue has been reported to our developers by a few institutions. According to them the discussion tool is functioning as design[ed]. Here is the explanation on New, Read and UnRead:

New and Unread are different concepts.

"Unread" only is used to indicate there are messages never read before. The number before "unread" represents how many messages have not been read in this thread.

There are two different kind[s] of meaning[s] [for] "New":

#1. "New" after the discussion topic is used to [indicate] if there [were] messages posted after this user accessed this topic last time or not. The number before "new" represent[s] the number of messages posted after this user accessed this topic last time.

#2. "New” after the message subject is used to [indicate] this message has never been read before.

The number of "unread" messages under the topic does not have to [be] equal to the number of "new" (#1 [above]) messages for this topic because it is possible and reasonable for [the] user to read the messages which they have interest in only and leave some messages unread, [so for] this topic for him/her, it is not "new" any more.

In other words, “New” refers to new messages or postings and any posting or message can be “New” only once. If you fail to read a “New” message, it is not “New” the next time you access the thread but may still be “Unread.”

SoftChalk and Setting Column Widths

If you use SoftChalk LessonBuilder to create Learning Modules, you may find that including tables enables you to better layout data (place text and images). By default, when you create a new table the column widths are uniform in width. You can modify column widths (to create varying width columns) in 4 easy steps.

To set the width of a table column:

1. Click anywhere in the column,
2. Select the Table command on the menu bar,
3. Roll over the Column option, and
4. Choose the Set column width option.

Keep in mind that only the most recent version of SoftChalk (Version 3.03.07) has this option. If you don’t see it, open SoftChalk and if your computer has Internet access, the application will automatically upgrade itself.

Printing from a SoftChalk-created Learning Module Page

Faculty members using SoftChalk to create Learning Modules for use in Blackboard have found that when the student uses the Blackboard Learning Module Print function, the top of each printed page repeats the table of contents (TOC). Here’s the response from SoftChalk regarding this problem.

"What is happening is that when you print a page using the WebCT/Blackboard print function, Blackboard is just grabbing the "text" of the html page. When you created your lesson pages, you included the page navigation at the top of the page and the "drop-down" Table of Contents link in the sidebar. Normally when the student views the page, this information is formatted as the navigation bar across the top of the page and also as the drop-down TOC link in the sidebar. The navigation bar displays as it does because of the CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) that is "behind-the-scenes". But when WebCT/Blackboard displays the page for printing, it doesn't reference the CSS, so all of the text for the navigation bar and the TOC sidebar link appear as a list of items at the top of each printed page.

"You could easily get rid of the TOC appearing on the printed page by just removing the TOC drop-down link in the sidebar of your lesson. You will have to decide if it is more important to have the TOC as a drop-down link in the sidebar, or have the TOC info print when the student uses the Blackboard print function.

"In our next version of LessonBuilder, we plan to include a new "print all pages" option that will appear on each lesson page. Then, your student could click that link and it would print all of the lesson pages with the correct formatting. But until then, I would suggest that you might want to remove the sidebar TOC drop-down menu."

The Uploading Multiple Files Bug

Faculty members have reported a bug that does not enable the Get Files button (in the File Manager) to upload and overwrite multiple files in one action. The radio button that normally would appear to enable you to “replace the existing file” is not displayed and a “Null” option appears instead.

Blackboard Support have indicated that “This is a known issue. Our developers are working on a fix for this issue, which will be due out sometime in November possibly.”

In the meantime, you can still upload and overwrite files, but must do so one file at a time.

Fixes in Service Pack 1

Blackboard’s Service Pack 1 (SP1), which was installed on JCCC’s production server (according to Blackboard) “resolves several Assignment (tool) related issues and lists 33 issues in total on the resolve(d) issues report.”

The following issues specifically related to the Assignments tool were resolved in SP1 and these situations should no longer occur:

• An Instructor would receive an error when trying to access an Assignment Dropbox in which Assignments had been deleted or a Dropbox for a course in which a student, who had submitted assignments, had them graded.
• There are no longer exception errors occurring when attempting to create or edit the Cutoff Date for an Assignment or when leaving blank the Cutoff Date for an assignment.
• If un-enrolling a user and then re-enrolling the same user, the data previously entered, such as grades, are retained as well as the Assignments (which prior to the upgrade were marked as Missing Attachments). Further previous Comments are now displayed.
• When the Instructor goes to the Assignment Dropbox, selects the All tab, and tries to sort the list by the "Assigned to" column, it will now sort “the list properly.” For example, clicking the “Assigned to” link in the Assignment Dropbox does now sort the Student list in alphabetical order. Note: testing at JCCC has found that the sort does now work, but it’s in alphabetical order by the first name not the last name. So it still is not useful or efficient for the instructor. We’ve reported this as a new bug.
• If an Assignment has already been created and marked gradable (numeric), if the Instructor or Designer attempts to change the Setting to Grading Form, that is now an option (we have not yet tested this at JCCC but it’s indicated as a fix in the Blackboard docs).
• Students are now able to attach files with ampersands (&) in the filename to an assignment submission. Previously, If they tried the action would not complete and an exception error was displayed.

Additional bug fixes in SP1 include:

• Accessing a student Assessment Submission for an Assessment with calculated questions no longer generates an exception error.
• Students who have been un-enrolled from a cross-listed Child Section of a Course, but not from the Parent Section, or who have been un-enrolled from both, but not from a Group within the Parent Section, were unable to view their Courses on the My Blackboard page.
• When the Course Menu is expanded or collapsed, most icons displayed a pop-up label of "course tool" rather than the tool name (e.g. “Mail”). This was problematic for students using JAWS or other assistive technology. Further, it made it hard for all users when the menu was collapsed to determine which icon represented which tool. (reported by JCCC).
• The newest version of Java (JRE 1.6.0_01) was not supported properly by the browser checker; therefore, there were multiple warnings throughout the Blackboard when attempting to login or when attempting to use Blackboard Java applets.
• When using the newest version of Java (JRE 1.6.0_01), when accessing the Chat tool a message indicated that the user could start a second Chat Session, even though the user had not yet started a Chat session.
• Following a SP2/HF1 upgrade (to CE 6.2 hotfix 1), invitations to Chat were not received. On loading the chat applet, the participant list was empty and messages were not processed.
• With Java 1.5.0_07 installed or higher, on a hyper-threaded machine, attempting to use the My Computer applet to upload a file using the Content Manager resulted in a system lock up.
• After selecting the Reviews icon to view a peer's review, the student was able to see the reviewers' username even when peer reviews for a Journal type Discussion topic were supposed to be anonymous.
• When using Grading forms, if the comments exceeded 1000 characters an exception error was displayed.
• With Internet Explorer 6 and 7, and Java 1.6.0_01, in a Discussion forum and when using the Content Manager, it was not possible to upload files using the My Computer applet.
• After updating from CE 4.1 to CE 6.0, the glossary terms no longer would hold apostrophes.
• Learning Modules containing the character # in the title or filename did not display on the Teach and Student View tabs.
• If the sender had mail forwarding turned Off in the My Tools tab options (accessed from the My Blackboard by selecting the Settings link), the email would not be forwarded to the recipient's email address regardless of whether the recipient had mail forwarding set to on/off. If the sender had mail forwarding turned On using the My Tools tab options, the email would be able to forward to the recipient's email address regardless of whether the recipient had mail forwarding set to On or Off.
• After upgrading to Application Pack 1, Service Pack 1 (CE 6.1.1), there were performance problems. It would often take 20-30 seconds to load a page. This would occur for users in courses that had a high number of Groups and Assignments.
• When using Internet Explorer 7, the Open in WebDAV Folder feature did not work.

We have tested only some of these bug fixes at JCCC.

Returned Email from Blackboard

In Blackboard, an instructor or student can have mail (received using the Mail tool) automatically forwarded to an external email client, such as Hotmail, gMail or Outlook. The net result is that when a message is received by the student or instructor (in Blackboard), a copy of the message is sent to the external email client’s inbox. This is a helpful way for the student or instructor to be alerted that a new message is waiting inside Blackboard. The copy sent to the external mail client includes the complete text of the message, so you can even read the message before logging into Blackboard.

The problem occurs, when you try to reply to the message using Outlook (or any external mail client). If you try, you’ll receive a returned mail message from Blackboard. This is functioning as designed. Blackboard allows for email to be forwarded externally but does not allow for external email to enter the Blackboard Mail system. As email is forwarded from the system it is stamped with a generic reply address from the Blackboard server. Attempts to reply to this generic address will result in a bounced email message. Blackboard’s Mail tool is completely self-contained. To send a message to any recipient in Blackboard, you must log into Blackboard and use the Mail tool.

To autoforward your email from Blackboard to an external mail client, complete these steps:

1. Log into Blackboard.
2. On the My Blackboard screen select the My Settings link (upper right corner of the screen).
3. Select the Edit Profile button (bottom left of screen).
4. In the E-mail field type the email address to which you want your Blackboard mail forwarded.
5. Next select the My Tools Option tab (top of the screen).
6. Scroll down under the Mail heading and select the checkbox in front of the Forward all mail messages to the e-mail address in my profile option.
7. Click the Save button at the bottom of the screen and you’re all set.

Files that Won't Open and Pop-up Blockers

Have you encountered a file in Blackboard that won’t open? If so, check for a pop-up blocker that’s preventing access to the file or for Internet Explorer’s yellow bar at the top of the screen (which indicates the window has been blocked). Typically, if you have speakers and the sound is not muted, you’ll hear a beep when your computer encounters these situations.

For more on pop-up blockers, check out:

• Trusting pop-ups in Blackboard at http://web.jccc.edu/edtech/notes/get.asp?DocumentID=126 (either a PDF or Flash version),
• Popup Blocking in IE (Internet Explorer) at http://www.jccc.net/home/download/9644/popup-blocking-ie.swf (Flash movie) and
• Allowing pop-up windows for JCCC web applications (Word Document) at http://www.jccc.net/home/download/9643/pop-up-blocking.doc.
  

Accessing Microsoft Office 2007 Files

In case you missed the earlier posting on Microsoft Office 2007 files and how to access them (if you’re using Office 2003), check out:
http://ce-annotations.blogspot.com/2007/02/opening-office-2007-files-from-students.html

Blackboard Client Support Services shared the following information recently on a WebCT user list:

“In Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft added new Open XML formats to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007. Files that are created in the Open XML format are not readable by earlier versions of Microsoft Office (such as Microsoft Office 2003, or Microsoft Office 2000). In order to view and manage files created by Microsoft Office 2007 you will need to install the following compatibility pack. This download will enable users on earlier versions of Microsoft Office to open, edit, save, and create files in the new Open XML format.

“The download is available on the Microsoft website and it can be found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&DisplayLang=en

“Microsoft has created a knowledge base article that discusses required updates, issues that may be encountered, and changes that are made to the Office programs when the compatibility pack has the installation is complete. The article can be viewed here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924074