Blackboard Issues: Status Report

It might be helpful for you to know the status of several Blackboard issues reported by JCCC staff over the past several months. This should alert you to the fact that most of these issues are not yet fully resolved. While some of these issues are supposed to be resolved in version 8 of Campus Edition, we're still on Version 6.2.3 and we have no plans to upgrade at this time.

1. Ticket #478596 - Get Files on Mac Cannot Upload Multiple Files & Overwrite Existing Files, Problem 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." Resolution: This issue is scheduled to be resolved with the release of Vista 8 SP1. This release date is scheduled for the early July timeframe.
2. Ticket #483277 - Cannot Save Email Attachment to Local Workstation. Resolution, per Blackboard Staff: This issue is resolved Vista 8. I have completed my testing within our Vista 8 test environment and was unable to reproduce the issue.
   
   Note regarding version 8: The CE/Vista 8.0 product does not contain “new” functionality; instead it can be viewed more as Service Pack 4 for Application Pack 2, so essentially Vista 4.2.4/CE6.2.4. The main purpose of the CE/Vista 8.0 release is to align the numbering conventions of the Blackboard and CE/Vista product lines. The only change is that the Learning Environment Connector (providing CE/Vista clients with access to the Blackboard Community, Content and Outcomes Systems) is now built directly in to the product. However, if your institution does not chose to utilize these products then you will not notice any changes to the application only further stability and additional maintenance fixes for product defects.
3. Ticket #442776 - Moving Custom Icons Causes Edited Text Links to Revert to Original Names. Resolution: This issue has been slated for resolution in Vista 8.0 SP1. The release is scheduled for June/July timeframe. Once a final release date has been scheduled, I will either update the case notes or provide results from internal testings.
4. Ticket #443689 - Web Links Do Not Import When Importing a Learning Module. Resolution: I just completed testing this issue in our 4.2.3 and Vista 8.0 environment and it's still an issue. I will escalate this up to our developers and track the progress. Once we receive a resolution I will update the case.
5. Ticket #435137 - My Blackboard Course Listings not in Alpha Order. Resolution: This case has been escalated to our developers. Once a resolution has been released, we will update the case with any recommendations from our developers.
6. Ticket #467838 - Need Clarity in Naming Cross-Listed Courses. The default naming of cross-listed courses is confusing to instructors, designers and students. When a course is cross-listed the names of the original courses (child courses) do not appear as part of the new name (parent course shell). Instead the instructor and designer see a name like “Cross-Listed Group 599” on their My Blackboard screen. The student sees the same non-descript course name when they enter a cross-listed course. We use Respondus extensively to create an then publish assessments into Blackboard CE. The list of courses displayed by Respondus includes both the parent and the child course shell names. Since you can publish to a child course shell and NOT have it appear in the parent course, this just adds to the confusion. Resolution: None.
7. Ticket #458823 - Need Ability to Edit Assignment Drop Box Comments After They're Posted. When grading an Assignment in the Assignment Drop Box Comments text box, there's no access the HTML Creator (with a spellchecker) and once the comment is posted, there's no way to edit that comment (e.g. correct a spelling error). Resolution: Blackboard support staff submitted a feature request for this issue.
8. Ticket #458825 - Confirmation Needed Before File Attachment Deleted in Assignments Tool. 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). Resolution: New feature request 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.
9. Ticket #446216 - Teaching Assistant/Section Designers Cannot Add Public Calendar Entries. In versions prior to CE 6.1.1 staff who were enrolled in a course as both Section Designers and Teaching Assistants could add public calendar entries to the course calendar. That functionality has been reduced so individuals using that dual role can now only add private calendar entries. See attached screen capture which shows only one radio button under Entry Option. Resolution: Blackboard support wrote “I am going to submit this as an enhancement request. Let me know if you have any questions.”
10. Ticket #478596 - Get Files on Mac Cannot Upload Multiple Files & Overwrite Existing Files, Resolution: None yet.
11. Ticket #479817 - Answers not saving during quiz/test. 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.Resolution: This issue is scheduled to be resolved with the release of Vista 8 SP1. This release date is scheduled for early July timeframe.
12. Ticket #448922 - When Saving Backup as File, Doesn't Default to Current Class Files Folder. If you don't carefully check where the file is being saved (when saving backup as a file), you may lose the backup file in a Class Files folder completely separate from the course you're in. Then, should you attempt to save a file to the course you are in, you may have a list of the bazillion courses to which you have access. Resolution: response from Blackboard support “Thank you for taking the time to submit an enhancement request to Blackboard Product Development. The suggestions we receive from you, your faculty members and students are extremely valuable, as they come from people who use our products on a daily basis. Your request has been thoroughly evaluated; at this time Blackboard does not have any plans to dedicate resources to develop this enhancement in a future release of our products. While this specific case will be closed, Blackboard is dedicated to working with you to leverage existing functionality for your needs. Our Building Block partners may be working on resolutions to your issue, and you can also work with the Blackboard Global Services team to request the development of a customization that would address your concerns. If you have any questions regarding these suggestions, please contact your Blackboard Account Manager. Again, thank you for your input. We may make statements regarding our product development initiatives, including the content of future product upgrades, updates or functionality in development. While such statements represent our current intentions, the product development initiatives may be modified, delayed or abandoned without prior notice and there is no assurance that such upgrades, updates or functionality will become available unless and until they have been made generally available through a commercial release.
13. Ticket #515267 - Assessments (Not Released to Students) Still Have Link to Results. Faculty member created practice quizzes and doesn’t want to release the grades to students. He set the assessment properties so the results would not be released to students. However, after taking the exam, students can go to the View All submissions page and while they “shouldn’t” be able to click to see submissions, it is a clickable link that goes to a screen that says “error: Sorry, this action cannot be executed.” If they try to view the submission by going to the already taken exam first then they can’t click on the title to see the submission, which is the way it should work. Resolution: Fixed in CE 6.2.2. JCCC testing indicates the problem has been corrected.
14. Ticket #458818 - Chat Invitation Window displays Incorrect Course Name. When you send an invitation in the Who’s online tool it shows the course that the person is in but the course title displays wrong. Resolution: This issue has been identified as a bug within our application. Our developers are currently investigating the source of this issue. Once I receive feedback as to a workaround or fix, I will update the case.

Mac Safari and the Chat Tool

On April 24, 2007, we reported to Blackboard support that the “Chat tool and Private Chat from Who's Online Fails with Safari 2.04.” We added the additional detail that: “Chat does not work on Safari 2.04 when testing 4 out of 5 Macs. When you click on the Chat tool's "go to chat room" link or try to use private chat from Who's Online, it fails to operate. Occasionally a small popup window shows up on the top of the screen, but it is empty. Other than that, nothing happens. In all cases we were using Safari 2.04. Three of the Macs used Intel processors, two were not. Only one of the non-Intel Macs would work.”

In December, 2007 we retested the problem with an upgraded version of Safari. We found that the Chat tool still didn’t work using Safari Version 3.0.4. The only change was that sometimes the Chat window appears but the user cannot type anything (a message) to the recipient, then it closes on its own. Other tests had varied results (everything worked okay on a MacBook running OS 10.4 and Safari V 3.0.4 but failed on a MacBook Pro running OS 10.5 and Safari V 3.0.4. We reported to Blackboard that “We cannot determine if the problem is fixed with Safari 2.04. We can't test that version since when the Mac OS is upgraded it automatically upgrades the browser and we no longer have anyone on Safari 2.04. So the basic issue remains, you can just upgrade the browser number that doesn't work to 3.0.4.”

On February 18, 2008, Blackboard support responded with: “As of right now, Safari 3.0 with Mac OS 10.4, on AP2SP3 (that is; CE 6.2.3, JCCC is on CE 6.2.2) is the only certified support browser for Mac configurations. As our QA department continue with their testing and validation of browsers, OS and Vista versions, we will update the Support Browsers page. This is found through the 'Check Browsers' link.”

Bottom line: If any of your students are using Macintosh computers and Safari, don’t rely on the Chat tool.

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.

Editing a Chat Log

Once you enable the Chat tool and chat logging, you may want to make the log available to students. You can simply enable it but a typical Chat room log may be confusing to read. By editing the log and posting it (for instance under a Discussion topic), you gain the ability to:

• Clear the log after each session and preserve only particular sessions.
• Edit the log as necessary and remove personal information added by students that should not have been shared online or delete student flaming (angry exchanges) or delete other inappropriate entries or language.
• Trim the log of multiple entry and exits notations, and so on.

Here’s a way to edit and post the edited log.

Using FireFox:

1. On the Teach tab, select the Chat tool.
2. Click the ActionLink next to the desired room and select "View log."
3. Right-click anywhere on the log itself.
4. Choose "This Frame" and then choose "open in new window" or "open in new tab."
5. Use the File -->Save Page As... command, choose a location to save to, and indicate a filename.
6. From the “Save as type” drop-down list select "Web Page, HTML Only."
7. You now have an editable text/html document that can be edited and then posted.

Using Internet Explorer:

1. On the Teach tab, select the Chat tool.
2. Click the ActionLink next to the desired room and select "View log."
3. Right-click anywhere on the log itself.
4. Choose “Select All” and then Edit --> Copy from the Browser menu bar (or Ctrl+C).
5. Open Notepad, select the Edit --> Paste command (Ctrl+P) to add the text to the new Notepad document.
6. Save the document using a filename you select (e.g. chatlog2-13-2007.txt).
7. You now have an editable text/html document that can be edited and then posted.

With the new document open you can use Notepad or an HTML editor to clean it up. When done, you can:

• Upload the file to the course and attach it to a Discussions posting or a Mail message.
• Upload the file and link to it from within the course, e.g. learning module, folder, or home page.

For details on how to turn on Chat room logging, check out yesterday’s tip at http://ce-annotations.blogspot.com/search/label/chat%20log.

Logging Chat Sessions

You may or may not want all Chat room sessions logged in your course. If you have a session that is basically Q&A and not all students can participate because of the synchronous nature of a chat session, you can log the session. Those students who missed it can read the transcript at their leisure. On the other hand, if you set up a Chat room for students to casually chat (as a Student Lounge or whatever) you may not want to log that room.

If you click on the Chat link in the Build tab, you should see the current logging status for your chat rooms in the last column. If Logging is off and you want it logged,

1. On the Build tab select the Chat tool.
2. Select the ActionLink following the Chat room name you want logged and select the Edit Properties option.
3. At the bottom of the options, select the More Options link to expand the options displayed.
4. Under Enable logging, select the Maintain chat room log check box.
5. Click the Save button to save your changes!

When the Chat room page reappears, the final column (Logging) should now be set to "on."

If you want all new Chat rooms to be automatically logged, from the Build or Teach tab, select Manage Course --> Settings --> Chat. Simply set the “Logging is on by default in newly created chat rooms” option to True.

If you want all Chat room logs to automatically be viewable by students you will need to also set the “Allow Students to view chat logs” option to True (also found under Manage Course --> Settings --> Chat). However, you may want to clean up the Chat room logs before posting. Tomorrow’s tip will cover how to edit the log before posting for students to view.