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.

After Service Pack 3

Official issues fixed with Service Pack 3 (SP3) include:

• Installation issues to adopt Application Pack 2 have been resolved
• Garbage collection has become more robust
• Known issues in cross-listing have been eliminated
• Assessment and question component have been stabilized
• Installer related issues have been resolved
• Safari 3.0 compatibility issue has been fixed
• Issue with "new" messages feature of Discussion Board have been resolved
• An important security issue has been fixed

In bold are the issues that directly affect students and instructors. We installed Service Pack 3 on the JCCC Blackboard production server on Monday, March 15.

Keep in mind that one bug still persists and may be important as you copy course content from Spring 2008 to Summer or Fall 2008 course shells. Courses with group sign-up sheets on the homepage cause the copy process to abort. After looking at this issue in detail it appears the only workaround is to delete all group sign-up sheets before copying course content (the problem persists even if you place the sign-up sheet in a folder ). After copying the course content, then go back and add the group sign-up sheets back into the course.

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.

How To Cross-Listed Course Shells

Blackboard CE includes a cross-listing feature where content and student activity from two or more course shells can be combined. Once a course is cross-listed, for all practical purposes, the individual course shells are not used and in essence cease to exist for the student and instructor. You should only cross-list courses when you want them to be treated as a single section.

Cautions
Just a few cautions about cross-listing courses:

• You cannot cross-list a course once student activity has occurred in the course shell.
• You cannot un-cross-list a course once it has been cross-listed without serious problems as far as content and student activity.
• You’ll want to add content to a cross-listed course after it is cross-listed. The “parent” course shell (created when two or more courses are cross-listed) is different from any of the “child” course shells that are cross-listed, e.g. it is a “new” course shell, and it will not include content from any of the “child” courses. Note: since the “parent” course shell is new, you can copy content into it from any other existing course shell.

How To Cross-List
Typically, only credit course sections are cross-listed but you can cross-list credit and non-credit courses together. Here’s the process for cross-listing two or more courses.

1. Course shells in Blackboard are based on courses entered in Banner so that’s the first step. An Integration Partner value must exist on the course sections (SSASECT form) in Banner for Blackboard course shells to get created.
2. All course shells to be cross-listed (for non-credit and credit semester in which the cross-listing will occur) need to be created before the cross-listing can occur. This is handled by Information Services using an XML Course and Faculty Assignment Extract from Banner and faculty are alerted when the course shells for a new semester are created using the jccconline.jccc.edu list.
3. If two credit courses are to be cross-listed, no further action is required. If one or more credit and non-credit courses are to be cross-listed together, the instructor of the courses to be cross-listed (or the appropriate administrative assistant for the program area) must email the Help Desk with the complete name (including CRN, course number and title) of each course that is to be cross-listed. Be sure to indicate that this request needs to go to the attention of Jeff Morgan and/or Philip Mein (in Academic Computing Services), not the Ed Tech Center staff.
   
   It is important that it be very clear which courses are to be cross-listed together because if course ABC and DEF and HIJ are listed together, then students in any one of those courses will have access to all course materials in the “parent” course that is created by the cross-listing.
4. Once Academic Computing Services staff cross-list the course, they will notify the instructor.
5. Once notification is received by the instructor, course content may be added to the parent course shell. The instructor’s Ed Tech Center Designer can assist with the process as needed.

What Students and Instructors See
If cross-listing operates as “designed,” students will see only the name of the course in which they are enrolled but upon entering the course, they may see a non-descript title such as “Cross Listed - Group 555 – Cross Listed.” That is what the instructor will see on her My Blackboard screen, e.g. the non-descript title.