Where to Start

As you revise your online courses, be sure to include navigational instructions that make the organization of the course easy for your students to understand. Some suggested ways to address this issue:

• Be sure your course includes a “welcome” statement that identifies the course, how the student should get started, and which content elements the student should begin reading/viewing. The inclusion of a syllabus link on the “homepage” is seldom sufficient. Provide additional ways (beyond the syllabus) for your students to “orient” themselves to the course on their “first entry” or


• Include a “Start Here” button, link or icon that leads the student to a module with introductory information, or a “Getting Started” paragraph tells the student what to do first and offers a course overview or


• Provide a “course tour” with a course overview, guide to exploring the course’s web site/course shell, and an indication of what to do first or


• Offer a “Scavenger hunt” assignment that leads students through an exploration of the different course tools and an introductory (Read Me First-type) module and


• You can always offer a “Read Me First” quiz (worth a few points) that covers the information you think is essential for the new student to know about your course, if they are to succeed.
  

Java

Problems still occur when Blackboard users have more than one version of Java installed. The best solution for most Java problems is to be sure only one version is installed. Our testing indicates that Blackboard is now compliant with the newest version of Java, e.g., Java 1.6.0_03. We still recommend to all users of Blackboard that if you have more than one version installed, you remove ALL versions of Java, go to http://www.java.com/ and install the latest.

We also recommend that once you have a single version of Java installed, you turn off the Java auto updates. Sun Java doesn't "update" when a new version is released, instead it installs a completely new version which is how Blackboard users end up with multiple versions installed…which cause various features in Blackboard to malfunction.

If You Need to Uninstall Multiple Versions of Java

If you have updated to a version of Java beyond update 6 and are having problems, you can uninstall all versions of Java by following the instructions at http://students.jccc.edu/documents/javauninstall.htm. Then you can go to http://www.java.com/ and install the latest version of Java.

How to Disable Automatic Update Notification in the Java Control Panel

Java will continually prompt you to update to the latest version unless you turn off the automatic update feature. Here’s how to turn it off.

1. Click the Start button, then select Settings, and then Control Panel.
2. Double-click on the Java Control Panel icon to open it.
3. Select the Update tab.
4. Uncheck the check box that says Check for Updates Automatically.
5. Click the OK button at the bottom of the window and the Java Control Panel will close.

If Students Report Assignment or Assessment Time Changes

The following is (partially) old news, but it may impact assignments and assessments submitted recently by your students IF the start date, end date, due date or cutoff date was on Sunday, November 4, 2007 AND you modified the assessment or assignment in any way. Just FYI, from Blackboard Support:

Blackboard has identified an issue which causes the start and end dates of assessments and the due and cutoff dates of assignments to count back one hour each time a Section Designer adjusts any settings in that assessment or assignment. This issue only affects assessments and assignments that have a start, end, due date or cutoff date of Sunday, November 4, 2007. For instance, if the assessment (or assignment) is set to end at 8:03 PM and the Section Designer makes any adjustments resulting in pressing the "save" button, the new end time for the assessment will roll back to 7:03 PM. Saving the same assessment one more time will result in the end time changing again to 6:03 PM. In rare instances, the date may also flip back.

This affects all systems using CE 6.2, CE 6.2.1, CE 6.2.2, Vista 4.2, Vista 4.2.1 and Vista 4.2.2 with a Time Zone setting inside the United States, including Indiana (East). This only affects Sections with an assessment or assignment using the date of November 04, 2007, March 9, 2008, and November 2, 2008 (or any date where the time changes due to DST). Times in March will roll forward one hour with each save. Times in November will roll back one hour with each save. This issue does not affect any other dates.

Blackboard is currently investigating this issue. A fix for this issue will be included in a future release and we hope to have this available prior to March 9, 2008, the next scheduled occurrence of Daylight Savings Time. In the meantime, we suggest that Blackboard system administrators inform their users of this issue and, in the event an assessment or assignment needs to be edited, the user increment the time for the November 04, 2007 element by one hour before saving so that the desired time is reflected when it is saved. If you have further questions or concerns please contact Blackboard Client Support.