Springing Forward into DST

Do you know that Daylight Savings Time (DST) starts earlier than usual? This Sunday, March 9, 2008 (in the U.S.) the change in DST will require that we reset our clocks. Our time will “spring forward” by an hour. So it’s time to remind you of a bug alert we originally posted back in December, 2007 (see http://ce-annotations.blogspot.com/search/label/Daylight%20Savings%20Time).

If you try to set a time for an event (entry in calendar or assignment or assessment due date) on March 9, Blackboard changes the time to an hour later. Here’s an example: 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 forward without warning to 12:00 AM (which would be on March 10). As far as we know now, this anomaly only occurs on March 9. If you don’t expect the behavior, you may be frustrated and waste a lot of time trying to figure it out.The work-around is to simply set the time for the due date an hour earlier than you really want.

In actuality, Blackboard has released a hotfix to Service Pack 3 that fixes the DST problem, however, we’re still testing Service Pack 3 and are not scheduled to install it until March 20 (during Spring break), so the hotfix is available to apply to a patch that we have yet to finish testing. Further, since the hotfix was just released we must test it before putting it into production.

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.

Daylight Savings Time in March

It may seem early to plan for Daylight Savings Time (it doesn't start again until March 9, 2008 in the U.S.) but we've already had a faculty member try to set a due date (for a Spring course) on March 9, 2008. When saved the hour the assignment is due automatically increments by an hour. The last notice from Blackboard indicated they're working on the bug, but no fix yet.

So, if you try to set a time for an event (entry in calendar or assignment or assessment due date) on March 9, Blackboard changes the time to an hour later. Here’s an example: 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 forward without warning to 12:00 AM (which would be on March 10). As far as we know now, this anomaly only occurs on March 9. If you don’t expect the behavior, you may be frustrated and waste a lot of time trying to figure it out.

The work-around is to simply set the time for the due date an hour earlier than you really want. That’ll work until Blackboard fixes the problem. J

Helping Students Understand the Structure of Your Course

As you create or update your online course for the next semester, don’t forget to include a statement that introduces the student to the course and to the structure of the student’ learning activities within the course.

One or more of the following methods may be used to accomplished this goal such as:

• Include a course Syllabus, that identifies the types of activities the student will be required to complete (written assignments, online self-tests, participation in the discussion board, group work, etc.).
• Include a schedule or calendar that identifies the structure and pace of student learning; e.g., assignment and test due dates, due dates for required discussion postings, if applicable, and so on.
• Early in the course clearly indicate if the course is self-paced or follows a schedule of due dates for expected activities and assignments.
• Sequence the course so it is clear to the student which tasks are expected first, which are expected in week 1, week 2 and so on.
• If there is a linear structure to the course , make it clear. If learning activities can be accomplished in a random order be sure to provide instruction and guidance at key points during the learning process. Either way, be sure the purpose of each activity and any required activity is clearly defined.
• Identify the preferred mode of communication with you, the instructor (e.g., email, discussion board, etc.), and the preferred mode of communication with other students (i.e., “I Need Help!,” “Student Lounge” topic in the discussions area, etc.).
• Identify testing procedures (e.g., are all assessments online, may assessments be taken under the supervision of a proctor, are some on-campus assessments required, etc.).
• Be sure the procedure for submission of electronic assignments is clearly defined and explained.

If you missed the last course design tip, check out “Where to Start” at http://ce-annotations.blogspot.com/2007/11/where-to-start.html.

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.

Changes After Service Pack 2 installed

JCCC installed Service Pack 2 recently (Mid-October) and here is a summary of some findings:

1. The icons on the My Blackboard screen meant to alert the student/faculty member when there is something “new” do not consistently work in Service Pack 2 (SP2). Within the course itself, New Activity icons (the green asterisk) do not consistently identify when new postings appear. For instance, if you copy content from one course shell to another and then check the Discussions and Assignments tools, both with be marked with the New Activity icon even before any students enter the course. In Discussions the icon seems to appear if the instructor has used the topic description even if initial postings have not been entered. The only way to get rid of the New Activity icon is to open each discussion topic (even if nothing is posted) and then click the Teach tab (or Student View tab), which refreshes the screen. The same erroneous New Activity icons appear in the Assignments tool.
2. Descriptions for the Course Content Home Page icons that use special characters (semi-colons, ampersands, colons and pound signs) now display properly (text following any of the special characters is no longer truncated).
3. Descriptions for Learning Modules can now include special characters (semi-colons, ampersands, colons and pound signs) in their descriptions and the text displays properly (text following any of the special characters is no longer truncated).
4. SP2 fixed the problem generated when an instructor/designer accessed the Student View in Blackboard which generated an "unexpected system exception error" if student access to the course had not yet been enabled.
5. However, when instructors/designers access the Student View, they may see instructor/designer tools and not just student tools and options. Further, the Assignments, Who’s Online and Assessments tools when accessed on the Student View tab, may display an “unexpected system exception error.”
6. Icon descriptions on the Course Content Home Page (Build tab) when using Internet Explorer are no longer rendered one word per line.

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.

Current List of Blackboard CE 6.1.1 Bugs

Periodically I try to alert you to problems we’ve encountered with Blackboard CE so you’ll know it’s the system and not user error. This list is not complete but at least covers most of the more common and problematic issues we have open with Blackboard Support. By the way, for JCCC faculty members, if you have major issues not listed here, please alert your Ed Tech Center Designer.

We have experienced:

1. Cases where course content from one semester fails to copy successfully to the next semester’s course shell.
2. Unexpected System Exception errors that occur for a variety of reasons (opening a course, switching between tabs, and so on), none of which are clearly indicated in the server logs or displayed on the screen for the user’s benefit.
3. Problems for end users with:
   a. multiple versions of Java installed,
   b. recent versions of Java installed (you should be using version 1.5 with updates 6 or 7 installed, but not Java 1.6)
   c. Internet Explorer 7 or latest version of Mac Safari installed
   d. Windows Vista installed.
4. Search tool failures with incorrect or no results reported.
5. Failure of the Banner XML file to import Summer Non-Credit Courses.
6. Failure of the garbage collection routines to work so the database gets more and more bloated, which we believe contributes to slower access times.
7. Failure of the Media Library/Glossary tool if a single image is attached to an entry in one of the tool’s collections.
8. Crash with an exception error if a Learning Module has more than 20 headings or entries included.
9. Lose of embedded images in assessments when the assessment is exported and then imported into another course shell.
10. Calendar tool entries entered by an instructor for a specific course being displayed as institutional entries in all courses; which is very confusing for students.
11. A limit on the number of characters allowed (1333) when an instructor grades and adds comments to an assignment.
12. Failure of the mail forwarding feature to work when a student or an instructor wants email received in Blackboard CE to be forwarded to their external email accounts.
13. Confusion when the Submitted and Not Submitted tabs in the Assignment tool show the reverse information.
14. WebLinks that do not import when a Learning Module is exported and then imported into another course shell.
15. Course names that are truncated (so as to be indecipherable) or are not in alphabetical order throughout the application (e.g. when setting calendar dates, publishing content from Respondus, importing or copying content from another course and when setting the order of courses displayed or hidden on the My Blackboard screen).
16. No ability for the instructor to edit Assignment Drop Box comments posted for students after they are posted.

We know there are many more bugs, we currently have about 70 cases open with Blackboard support, but these seem to be the major items that effect students and instructors.

Deleted Students Break Grade Book & Assignment Drop Box

Simon Fraser University reports: “If a student who had an assignment submission is un-enrolled from a section, then the Assignment Dropbox will produce an Exception error. Re-enrolling the student and denying access should temporarily resolve this until Blackboard provides a fix.”

Note that the following information has been reported regarding Blackboard Vista 4.1.1 which has the same code base as Blackboard CE 6.1.1 which we use at JCCC.

The following information is a response from Blackboard Support: “The confusing part [of this bug report] is that an instructor won't necessarily know what has caused the problem (individual user unenrollment or group deletion) - they will just know that they can't access the Assignment Dropbox.”

“Back in March [Blackboard Support] put out a “Known Issues from the Field” update regarding the issue [e.g. a student has submitted assignment data in a section, is subsequently unenrolled from that section, and then receives an Exception error]. [Recently] a new Support Bulletin giving a brief explanation of [a] second issue [was released]: If a group is created using Group Manager, and the group submits a group assignment, and the group is then deleted, it will break the entire Assignment Dropbox (for both students and instructors)."

“The problem is slightly bigger than this. If the instructor goes to try to access the assignment in the Grade Book they should also get an Exception error there as well, although it is far less likely for the instructor to try to access the assignment via the Grade Book than the Assignment Dropbox. So this aspect has not been as highly reported.”

“We know this is a big problem and are currently pushing to get this included in an upcoming release (can't make any promises, of course). We keep an informal list of our highest priority issues within development and this is one of them. As soon as I have an update, even if it's a workaround or a script, I'll be sure to let everyone know.”

This bug should be very rare at JCCC because with Banner integration, students who drop a course after the semester starts are marked as access denied not unenrolled. I’m sharing it with you to assure that we don’t act on any faculty requests to remove students from a course.

Beware of Deleting Your Attachments to an Assignment

Recently an instructor accidentally deleted an attachment from an assignment in Blackboard by clicking the little icon next to the attachment. She thought it was an ActionLink icon. That icon deletes the attachment without a confirmation box. We’ve duplicated the event. Worse, in this case the instructor did not have a copy of the file anywhere else. She assumed a copy was put into her Class Files area (accessible using the File Manager), but that is not the case (We confirmed that as well).

We’ve requested that assignment attachments be placed automatically in the Class Files area and that a warning with an exit option appear before the attachment is permanently deleted. Blackboard considers this a “feature enhancement” so we’ll need to wait on a future release, if they decide to include these changes. In the meantime, be forewarned! Keep a backup of all attachments you use in assignments.

CE 6 Now Supports Personal Settings

By default Blackboard CE 6 displays 10 entries per page when using many tools, such as the Mail tool, Discussions tool, and Assignments tool. When the default number of entries is exceeded, students often think new messages are lost or missing (because they're not displayed). In each tool, you can click the Paging Preferences icon (looks like three small dog-eared pages and it’s located in the bottom right corner of the screen) and set the default as high as 999 entries per page. When you edit this setting, it applies only to the list of entries in the current tool. If you or your students want to change the setting globally, follow these steps.

1. From the My Blackboard screen select the My Settings link (upper right corner).
2. When the My Settings page appears, select the My Tool Options tab.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and change the Paging option to the number of entries you want displayed by default. We suggest using 999, the maximum, to minimize the need to “page” through postings and entries.
4. When finished, click the Save button.

On that screen (before clicking Save) you have several other options including the ability to:

• Forward Blackboard mail to an external email address.
• Show all or just unread messages in the Mail and Discussions tools by default.
• Show the oldest or most recent Discussions postings at the top of the screen.
• Start the HTML Creator in each course by default.
• And more….

Students Timing Out While Working on Assignments

Our JCCC Blackboard CE 6 server has a timeout setting to prevent an inactive “log-in” from consuming system resources (this also helps avoid hacking by a malicious party). The timeout is set to 70 minutes. If students are working online using the HTML Creator or entering text in a text box (e.g. in Discussions, Mail or Assignments) and do not interact with Blackboard for 70 minutes, they’ll be logged off the system automatically. Switching to another tab or saving a message or a posting in draft form re-starts the 70 minute cycle. It’s just when the student types in a text box or in the HTML Creator without using any other Blackboard features, that Blackboard will consider the account as inactive.

To avoid this problem, an alternative is for your students to compose their assignments in Microsoft Word (or another word processor) and then copy and paste the text into Blackboard. If you have your students submit their assignment as an attachment the timeout is usually not an issue.

If the student’s account “times out” before they finish the assignment, they’ll lose their work.

By the way, if a student is taking an assessment, the 70 minute cycle restarts each time an answer is saved or if the student moves from one question to another.

WebCT Good News/Bad News #2:

Here’s today’s installment of good news/bad news concerning CE 6.1.1:

CE 6.1.1 Good News – Assessments & Assignments

1. Assessments with embedded images copy satisfactorily from one CE 6.1.1 course shell (when you copy the entire course) to another CE 6.1.1 course shell.
2. The histogram (report) for statistics now displays all scores.
3. There is no longer a 1300 characters limit to comments in the Assignment tool…the limit is now 1333 characters. :-)
4. An error is no longer generated when the cutoff date for an assignment is left blank because it no longer defaults to “blank.” You must enter a cutoff date, so the error cannot occur.
5. Comments entered in Assignment Dropbox are automatically viewable in the student’s view of the Grade Book.
6. Files attached to the Assignment tool can be replaced by a file of the same name and the old version no longer is displayed. This fixes a bug in 6.0.2.

CE 6.1.1 Bad News –Importing and Exporting Assessments

1. When you export assessments from CE 6.1.1 with embedded images (using the HTML image tag, as opposed to the Browse button) and then try to import that assessment into another CE 6.1.1 course, the embedded images are not imported. In fact, the folder in which the images are stored in the source course shell is not copied to the target course shell.