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.

Editing Questions: What You Can and Cannot Do

In order to avoid confusion when using an assessment (e.g. to not change the question or possible answers):

• You can edit and alter answers to a question in an assessment prior to any student activity (e.g. before any student has taken the test, survey or quiz).
• You cannot change a question or it’s list of possible answers after students begin taking the assessment because the change may potentially cause answers that were correct before the change to become incorrect.
• You can alter the score for a question if it is found to be partially or totally incorrect.

For instance, if a question is worded incorrectly or the answers are listed incorrectly you can throw it out (make the score/points zero). If the question has already been made available to students and they have taken it; to change the wording or correct an answer would not be fair. Blackboard CE prevents these changes by only granting a "Save as new" (question) option so you can use the corrected question in future assessments.

Note: If you have a question that is used in an assessment and that question has been taken and saved by any student, you can no longer edit the question. You can edit and save it using a new name, but you cannot edit and replace the existing question. This applies even if the question is used in multiple assessments and it has been taken by any student in any one of those assessments.