CE 6.2.2 Bug Updates

The following bugs were reported to Blackboard Support over the past several months and then were referred to the Blackboard Development staff. FYI, the case number, description and latest response from Blackboard support is listed below.

#479817 - Answers not saving during quiz/test.
Case Description: Students are taking an online quiz/test and when clicking the "Save Answer" button the question is not saved. This appears to be a random event as sometimes the answers are saved and other times the server is slow or does not save the answer. Students taking a timed test are not able to complete the test/quiz in the allotted time due to this issue.

Support Response: Our developers have deemed this to be a bug within the software. The fix for this issue is tentatively scheduled for Vista 8.0 SP1. If changes are made to the schedule, I will update the case.

JCCC Note: I have requested information on when Vista 8 SP1 will be released. We’re on Campus Edition 6.2.2 which is equal to Vista 4.2, so I’m not sure how their numbering system for future releases works.

#406008 - Course Tools Menu Automatically Collapses to Just Icons
Case Description: Based on release notes, the Course Tools menu bar should not collapse to just icons when opening the Mail tool or Learning Modules tool, but that’s not the case. The menu collapses when using the Mail, My Files, Grade Book, and File Manager tools.

Support Response: After reviewing the CR which was submitted for this issue, I noticed DEV actually rejected the Change Request. They have stated this issue will be addressed possibly in a future release. Which also can mean, it may get lost in obscurity. Let me know how you would like to proceed with this case.

#476514 - Calendar Changes After Upgrade to CE 6.2.1
Case Description: 1. It’s common for our faculty to copy a course from a previous course shell and then want to move the calendar entries to new dates in the new course. When you change the date for a Calendar entry (by simply modifying the date), the screen refreshes and brings you back to "today's date" (such as the 14th if today's the 14th of August) but in the month from which you came (e.g. the month in which the original date entry occurred before you edited it), but not on the specific date of the original entry you edited. So, if you’ve got three items on January 18th and you want to move them to August 16th (and today is August 14th), each time you change the date of an item on January 18th Blackboard “leaves“ you back on January 14, rather than on the 18th. If you’re moving an item from February 20 to September 25th, after the change you’ll end up on February 14th (if today is August 14th). This is a change in behavior since CE 6.1.1.2. New Calendar entries default to today’s date no matter what you do. If you move to a date in November and try to add a Calendar entry on November 2nd, the default date will be today’s date, not the date you selected in November. You can change it each time, but there’s no sense in navigating to the new month and date, since you’ll need to set the date each time you add an entry.3. If you try to set a time for an event (entry in calendar or assignment or assessment due date) after 10:59 PM on November 4, Blackboard changes the time to an hour earlier. This is the date that Daylight Savings time ends in the Fall of 2007. If you type in a time (like 11:00 PM) or use the drop down menu to choose a time, it may appear correct until you save it, then the time is set back without warning to 10:00 PM. This anomaly only occurs on November 4. If you don’t expect this, you can be frustrated and waste a lot of time trying to figure it out.

Support Response: Our developers have stated the calendar is functioning as designed. When adding a new entry, the start date will show the current day's date. You would have to change the date to required date for the event.

#478596 - Get Files on Mac Cannot Upload Multiple Files & Overwrite Existing Files
Case Description: When using the Get Files button to upload multiple files AND overwrite existing files already in the Class Files area, Blackboard does not give the option to "Replace Existing" files. Instead the filename appears as "Null" and Blackboard offers only these options: "Select another location," "Rename," and "Skip."

Support Response: This is issue is tentatively scheduled for resolution with the release of Vista 8.0 SP1. If any changes occur from our side, I will update the case.

JCCC Note: Subsequently we reported that this same problem happens with Windows users.

#478109 - Inconsistent Discussions Tool New Activity Icon Behavior
Case Description: New Activity icon appears when no postings occur and when a new topic is added (with a description of two words or more or when a period is added to the end of one word descriptions) even when the topic has no postings. This makes it very difficult for instructors and students to use the Discussions topic New Activity icon as an alert that new postings are present for the student to read.

Support Response: No updates have been posted by our developers. Once I receive feedback, I will update the case.

#479657 - No Web Folder option for Firefox
Case Description: When using Firefox 2 you no longer get the “Open as Web Folder” option from the File Manager ActionLink. See attached screen capture.

Support Response: As of right now, DEV has not provided any updates on this issue. Once I receive an additional information I will update the case notes.

Changing the Orientation of Multiple Choice Questions

We've again had some cases where the orientation of multiple choice questions is horizontal by default rather than vertical. This sometimes occurs when questions are imported from publisher test banks. Unfortunately, if no orientation is indicated in the imported text bank, Blackboard defaults to a horizontal rather than the expected vertical orientation for the answers (detractors).

The layout of the answers to multiple-choice questions can be set or changed by the instructor, but this is accomplished on a question by question basis and not globally. What this means is that while the layout of the answers can be changed, it will have to be changed one question at a time.

The process includes these steps:

1. Select the Build tab.
2. Select the Assessments tool.
3. Click the link for an assessment.
4. Click the link for a specific question.
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
6. In the Settings section, next to Answer layout:, click the option labeled Vertical.
7. Click Save.
8. Repeat 4-7 as needed.

Thanks to Saul Epstein for this tip.

Assessments with Random Questions

To create an assessment in Blackboard that randomly selects a number of questions to administer from a larger question pool, you must set up a Question Set. For instance, say you want each student to receive a different set of 20 questions, selected randomly from a pool of 50 questions. You might want to do this in order to make cheating more difficult, or you might want students to use this feature as a self-test option. Either way, the solution is to use a Question Set when you FIRST set up the assessment.

Begin with a blank assessment. Choose Add to Assessment > Question Set. Select the questions you would like to be in the question pool and click Add Selected at the bottom of the screen. Now choose how many questions you want to appear on the test using the Select drop-down box at the top of the screen. Fill in how many points each question will be worth. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Update Total button. Be sure that the new total is correct. For instance, in our example you would choose 20 in the Select drop-down box. If you then chose 5 points for each question and clicked Update Total, the new total should be 100 points. If you want to add more questions to the pool later, use the Add Question Alternates button at the bottom of the screen.

If you already have questions in an assessment, you will need to remove them and then add them back using the Question Set feature.

Thanks to Tracy Newman for this tip.

Backing up your Blackboard Course

Using Blackboard CE, you (the course instructor) can backup each of your courses and save the archive file to your local computer. Should you back up your courses? At JCCC, a full or incremental backup of the Blackboard production database is made daily. if you request it, you can also have your courses backed up daily by contacting the Help Desk with the CRN of each course. Still, many faculty like the assurance of having their own backup, especially if they are about to make major changes or additions to their online course materials or have just completing making changes. If you want the extra "insurance" we recommend that you archive your course before and after you make any major changes as well as at the end of the semester. The backup should then be downloaded to your local machine. Although faculty do not have access to restore a backup to the production server, the JCCC system administrator can do so; this is a precaution so that current student activity is not inadvertently overwritten by a someone restoring a course backup without first considering the effect on current student work and activity.

There is a tutorial movie that covers this process at Creating a Blackboard CE Course Backup Movie. The steps include:

1. From the Build or Teach tab in your Blackboard CE course select Manage Course.
2. Select Backup.
3. To create a new archive, select Back Up Course.
4. To save the backup as a file, use the ActionLink of the backup and select Save as File.
5. You will then be asked to choose where to save the file. You may save it in either My Files or Class Files. The default file name will include the full course title, as well as the date and time the backup was created. You may change this filename if you wish, but be sure to leave the file extension .bak at the end.
6. Once the Save as File action is complete, you should download the file to your computer.
7. From the Build tab in your course, choose File Manager.
8. In the File Manager, navigate to the location where you saved the backup file (My Files or Class Files). You will see the backup file that you created.
9. Use the file’s ActionLink and select the Download option. If prompted whether to Open or Save the file, choose Save to Disk. If prompted, decide where on your computer to save the file, and select Save or OK.

Thanks to Jeff Kosko for this tip.

Viewing Calendar Entries in the Student View

In the Ed Tech Center (at JCCC) we sometimes hear from faculty that they can’t see any entries in the Calendar tool when using the Student View tab. When viewing the Calendar tool using the Student View tab, be sure the View setting (upper right hand corner of the Calendar screen) displays This Course Only and not Personal Only view. Once you change the setting, click the Go button (looks like a right pointing green arrowhead) to effect the change.

Use the Discussions Tool Topic Description for Your First Posting

In Blackboard 6, the Discussions tool can include categories (such as Module 1, Module 2, Module 3, or Graded Discussions and Ungraded Discussions). Then under each category, you can create topics that separate the various issues/themes you want your students to discuss (such as “Global Warming” or “I Need Help!” or “Student Lounge” or “War on Terror”). In WebCT 4.1, you could create an initial posting to define the purpose of that area or topic of discussion. Each semester, you’d need to re-enter that initial posting.

With CE 6 you can now use the Topic’s Description (select the ActionLinks icon and then the Edit Properties option) as your initial posting. Then when you copy the course to the next semester, the description is copied and you don’t need to re-enter it each semester.

Microsoft Word's Not a Native Web Format

While Microsoft Word is ubiquitous, it’s still not a native web format. In other words, it’s not a file format that is opened by a web browser without a plug-in or without having the application on the recipient’s computer. Further, Microsoft Word 2007 files are often misinterpreted by Blackboard (and other applications) as zip (or compressed) files. The moral of the story is when possible use “native” web formats in Learning Modules and elsewhere in Blackboard rather than using Microsoft Word files (.doc or .docx). The best options are to use .html files (web pages) and PDF (portable document format) files. For images use files saved in either the .gif (line art) or .jpeg/.jpg (photographic image) format.

You can convert Microsoft Word files to .html in several ways. The best options are to cut and paste into Blackboard’s HTML Creator tool or to use a product like SoftChalk.

Preparing for the New Semester Blackboard Caveats

The following caveats may save you some grief as you make final preparations for Spring 2008. Please read on.

1. If you attempt to copy content into a course shell for the new semester and it fails, don’t bother trying again. Our experience is that once a course shell copy fails, and subsequent attempts will also fail.
2. JCCC uses Banner integration and we have had problems with incomplete course rosters (failure of the enrollment synchronization process) for cross-listed courses in the past. To assure that you’re not bitten by this “bug” do the following. If you’re teaching a cross-listed course, log-in to MyJCCC (JCCC's Luminus portal), select the My Courses tab and print the roster for each of the cross-listed course sections. Then log-in to Blackboard, locate the cross-listed course on the My Blackboard screen (it should have a non-descript name such as “Cross-Listed Group 999 – Cross-Listed Group.” Enter the course (the link points to the parent course shell that should include all students in all sections of the cross-listed “child” sections of the course). Check that all students on the rosters from MyJCCC are included in the course Grade Book.
3. Remember, courses cannot be cross-listed after any student activity exists or that activity will be inaccessible.
4. If you’re using the SafeAssign tool in Blackboard, do not delete the Grade Book column associated with a SafeAssign assignment. If you do, the SafeAssign data for the associated SafeAssign assignment will no longer be accessible to users. Blackboard is working on a fix targeted for late January 2008, but for now, please do not delete columns in the Grade Book associated with SafeAssign.

Using SafeAssign, Blackboard's Plagiarism Prevention Tool

We’ve had problems using SafeAssign at JCCC since mid-September (e.g., the product was non-functional or exhibited very slow response times). Blackboard has since addressed the problems we’ve encountered and the Plagiarism Prevention “add-on” to Blackboard now appears to be working properly. For more details on SafeAssign, visit http://wiki.safeassign.com/display/SAFE/About+SafeAssign. If you want to try adding a SafeAssignment tool to your course, the following instructions will be useful.

Adding the Blackboard CE6 SafeAssign Tool to a Course

1. From the Build tab, click on the Add Content Link button on the Course Content Home page.
2. From the drop-down list select SafeAssign, then click on the Create SafeAssign button.
3. You then are given a blank window to name your link to the SafeAssign tool, such as "SafeAssign Assignments."
4. You then click on the Configure button to save the link to your Course Content Home page or Cancel to quit.

Creating SafeAssignment(s) in Blackboard CE6

1. From the Teach tab, click on the new link to SafeAssign on the Course Content Home page.
2. Click on the Create SafeAssignment button and fill in the Assignment specific information:
   a. Title: such as Writing Assignment 1
   b. Description: description of the assignment and optional instructions if needed.
   c. Due date: Submissions are accepted after this date
   d. Draft: Do you want to allow students to submit drafts. These drafts are not sent to your institution’s search database.
   e. Student Viewable: Let students view SafeAssignment reports on their papers only.
   f. Urgent Checking: To process urgently or not. There is a normal 2-3 minute or greater response time.
   g. Grading: Select numeric or Alphanumeric grading, this will create a column in the Blackboard CE Gradebook.
   h. Click Save at the bottom of the page to save this assignment or Cancel to quit.
3. Repeat Step 2 above for any additional SafeAssignments you wish to create.

How Students Use SafeAssign

1. The students are told to click on the SafeAssign tool link on the home page to submit their assignments for plagiarism checking.
2. They select which SafeAssignment they want to submit by clicking on the link to it under the Available Assignments area.
3. They click on the Browse button and find their paper on their local machine and click Open to upload it.
4. SafeAssign accepts Microsoft Word (.doc only), TXT, RTF, HTML, and PDF formats only. Word 2007 format documents are not yet supported.
5. Once submitted they can go back and check the SafeAssign report if you allow them to in Step 2e above.

Thanks to Jeff Kosko and Tracy Newman for composing this tip.

Student View Tab Problems

JCCC currently has Blackboard CE (Campus Edition) 6.2.2 installed. With this version, there are problems with the Student View tab, which exist when student access to the course has yet to be enabled. By default, unless you request otherwise, all Blackboard hosted online courses are not available to students until the first day of the semester (e.g., January 16, 2008). Therefore, until student access is enabled on January 16th, the following “issues” exist with using the Student View tab. These problems go away when student access is enabled. Blackboard has indicated that these issues are resolved in Service Pack 3 (e.g., CE 6.2.3) which JCCC has access to, but has not tested yet (it was released in late December 2007).

1. Despite the Release Criteria (selective release) settings for an item (e.g., Learning Module or other course element) items will show up on the Student View tab even though the selective release criteria has not yet been met.
2. Other schools have reported that the Group Sign up buttons do not appear (the Sign Up for Group column is not present). I do not have access to a course that uses this feature, but we assume this report is accurate since it’s been reported by several other Blackboard schools.
3. An “unexpected system exception error” will appear if a course has either assignments or assessments and the Assignments and Assessment tools (respectively) are selected from the Student View tab. The problem disappears when the course is made accessible to students.
4. Calendar entries are not visible on the Student View tab when the course is inaccessible to students. The entries do become visible once student access to the course is enabled.
5. In the Discussions tool, when the “Students can reply to messages but cannot post messages” setting is selected and you open a message (posted by the instructor) using the Student View tab, the Reply option (button) does not display as long as student access to the course has not been enabled. As soon as the section is open to students, the Reply option is available on both the Student View tab and when a student logs in.
6. An “unexpected system exception error” will appear when attempting to access the Who’s Online tool from the Student View tab if student access to the course has not yet been enabled. The problem disappears when the course is made accessible to students.
7. Some tools, e.g., Discussions, Chat and Announcements, display options on the Student View tab that are not visible to true students. For example, the Discussions tool displays options for creating topics and categories as well as the ability to reorder those elements. The Chat tool includes the Create Chat or Whiteboard Room button. The Announcements tool contains the Create Announcement button.