IT Services

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In addition to the Quick Start Guides below, there are many online training resources about using Blackboard at Ondemand.Blackboard.com.

Bb_Quick Start Guide_Organizing_Your_Course.pdf (793.88 kb)

Bb_Quick Start Guide_Creating_Course_Content.pdf (868.87 kb)

Bb_Quick Start Guide_Presenting_Content.pdf (829.24 kb)

Bb_Quick Start Guide_Collaboration.pdf (830.77 kb)

Bb_Quick Start Guide_Keeping_Students_Informed.pdf (943.77 kb)

Bb_Quick Start Guide_Measuring Student_Performance.pdf (769.12 kb)

Bb_Quick Start Guide_EWS_Observers.pdf (827.28 kb)

Blackboard, Tips blackboard, tips, how to

What is social media? Are you LinkedIn? Have you been tweeted? Wiki who?

Do you want simple answers to these questions and explanations about Web 2.0 technologies? Lee and Sachi LeFever of www.commoncraft.com explain Social Media & Web 2.0 technologies in plain English. Just click the links below to learn more about these topics.

Social Media in Plain English

Social Networking in Plain English

Twitter in Plain English

What is LinkedIn?

Web 2.0 Technologies

Many of these Web 2.0 technologies are available within LVC’s Blackboard system. For assistance in using these tools, please feel free to contact the IT Services Help Desk at helpdesk@lvc.edu or 717.867.6072.

Blogs in Plain English

Podcasting in Plain English

Wikis in Plain English

Blackboard, Tips, Training blackboard, tips, internet

With the recent upgrade to Blackboard 9.1, we have noticed an increase in a problem with downloading files from Blackboard. Please see the information below and feel free to share with your students.

Symptom

In Blackboard, when clicking on a file to download, a new, blank “Starting Download” Internet Explorer (IE) page with a spinning icon pops ups but you do not see the file download begin and it appears the file download has failed.

Problem

A window requesting your credentials (username and password) is hidden by the blank “Starting Download” IE page. (This is referred to as a “pop under” window.)

Solution/Work Around (there are 2 options)

1. Minimize (do not cancel or close the “Starting Download” page;) enter your credentials in the “Windows Security” dialog box and click OK. Your File Download should begin.

2. Download the file by Right-clicking on the file link in Blackboard; choose “Save Target As…” from the pull-down menu; save to your local computer; and open the file.

Please feel free to share this information with your students and contact the Help Desk if you have any questions. (helpdesk@lvc.edu; 717.867.6072)

Blackboard, Support and Training, Tips blackboard, support

In the near future, the College will be upgrading to the latest release of Blackboard learning management system, (LMS) 9.1 with many new features and capabilities. If you would like to preview the changes and enhancements, you can get a free preview account by following this link: Blackboard - Upgrade Center: Get Familiar | Preview & Play.

Please feel free to contact me via email, zeigler@lvc.edu, or phone, 717.867.6072, if you have any questions. I would also be interested in your feedback.

Blackboard, Support and Training, Training blackboard, how to, tips

Blackboard archives are for backup and transfer to other Blackboard servers. Archives cannot be used for retrieving documents, tests, etc. since they are compressed database files. If you want to transfer an exam from an old course, go into the course, export the test and then import to the new course following the steps below.

• In Old course, under Course Tools in the Course Management panel, select Test, Surveys, and Pools
  • Click on Tests or Pools depending on what you would like to export.
  • Click on the down arrow icon next to the item you would like to export and click Export. Save to local computer.
• In the New course, under Course Tools in the Course Management panel, select Test, Surveys, and Pools
  • Click the Import Test or Import Pool; navigate to where the item is stored on the local computer and import.

Blackboard

The policy adopted by the faculty is that Blackboard courses should be available to students for 1 ½ years after the conclusion of the course in case students want to refer back to the material in the course. Based on this policy, instructors can change the availability of "completed" courses.

To set the availability of a course:

- Login to Blackboard

- Go into your course

- In Course Management Section, Click on Customization, Properties

- On the Properties page, scroll down to the Set Availability section and set Make Course Available to No

- Click Submit

Blackboard

Each July, IT Services archives and deletes from the Blackboard server courses that were completed by June 30 of the previous year. (For example, in July of 2009, IT Services will archive all courses completed by June 30, 2008.) An instructor can create a personal archive of his or her course by following the steps in the Blackboard Archive Procedures.pdf (49.76 kb) link.

Please contact the IT Services Help Desk at 717.867.6060 or helpdesk@lvc.edu if you need additional assistance.

Blackboard

There has been a slight change in accessing files in Blackboard. When clicking on a link to open a file, e.g., Word document, Excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint presentation, etc., you may be presented with the follwing downoad alert in Internet Explorer (IE).

Click on the alert and choose Download file... from the menu. Unfortunately, this will return you to the homepage for the course and you will need to complete the steps to access the file again.

A new window will open and ask if you want to Open or Save the file. Choose according to your needs and you will then be presented with the file download progress window.

These settings will hold for the current Internet Explorer session, but will have to be completed each time a new Internet Explorer session is started.

Blackboard

If you are using Internet Explorer (IE) 7 and the Grade Center will not load, please use the following steps to clear the Temporary Internet Files from your computer.

In Internet Explorer from the Tools menu select Internet Options.

In the Browsing History section click on Delete… 

In the Delete Browsing History dialog box click on Delete under the Temporary Internet files heading.

After the files have been deleted, click Close  and OK to return to Internet Explorer.

Reload the Grade Book.

Blackboard