Blackboard Support @ UEA » frequently asked questions

Copying Package Files Between Courses

Andy — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:57:30 +0000

Question: How do I copy a Package File from one Course to another Course?

Answer: There are two ways of doing this.

Method 1

i) Go to the first Course and navigate to the page with the Package File,

ii) enter edit mode by clicking Edit View (near the top-right of the screen),

iii) click the Modify button next to the Package File to open it,

iv) right-click on the zip file and select Save target as,

v) save the zip file on your computer,

vi) now go to the second Course and upload the zip file where you want it and select Unpackage this file.

Method 2

i) Go to the first Course and navigate to the page with the Package File,

ii) enter edit mode by clicking Edit View (near the top-right of the screen),

iii) click the Copy button next to the Package File,

iv) select the second Course (called the destination course) and the destination folder in that course. Please note however that the second Course needs to already exist to use this method.

v) click on submit to perform the copy action.

Digital Dropbox – Action Unsuccessful Message

Andy — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:07:25 +0000

Question: I’ve added a link to the Digital Dropbox on the Course/Organisation menu and in a Content Area but, when I click the link, I get the message “Action Unsuccessful”. Why is this?

Answer: Only Students/Participants can access the Digital Dropbox from the Course/Organisation menu and Content Areas. Course Instructors and Organisation Leaders need to access the Digital Dropbox through the Control Panel. There is a link in the Course/Organisation Tools section on the Control Panel to the Digital Dropbox.

Reusing a Survey

Andy — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:23:11 +0000

Question: I would like users to take the same survey each week for the duration of my course. What is the best way of doing this?

Answer: There are three options:

i) A survey could be set-up to allow multiple attempts and to record results from the last attempt made. Please note, however, this would be the last attempt made even if that last attempt was several weeks ago.

ii) A survey could be manually recycled each week. This would involve the Instructor or Leader downloading the results and clearing the attempts each week.

ii) A seperate survey could be made for each week. Surveys can be recreated quite quickly when done from a Question Pool. This is probably the better option.

Responding to Emails

Andy — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:44:43 +0000

Question: I can use the email tool to send messages to groups of students but, when they hit “reply”, their messages can’t be delivered. Why is this?

Answer: The email tool sends messages from Blackboard to a student’s normal UEA email address. For privacy reasons, Blackboard does not display the individual email addresses of everyone in the group on each email sent to the group. Blackboard also isn’t a mailing list server, so it doesn’t provide a single mailing address to send mail out to the whole group. That would be necessary for students to send email to the whole group from their normal UEA email by just hitting “reply”.

Using the Roster Tool

Andy — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:53:15 +0000

Question: How can Students or Participants see who else is enrolled on a Blackboard Course or Organisation?

Answer: Course Intructors and Organisation Leaders can allow Students or Particpants to see who else is enrolled on a Course or Organisation by adding the Roster tool to it. This short movie shows you how to add the Roster tool. Students or Participants will be able to search for the names, usernames and email addresses of others.

Making courses available

Jane — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:21:07 +0000

In order for students to be able to access courses on Blackboard, they need to be ‘available’.

Instructors can make their courses available via the Control Panel of the course. Select Settings, then Course Availability, select the Yes radio button and Submit.

Assignment Tool vs. Digital Dropbox Tool

Andy — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:45:40 +0000

Question: How can students or participants submit work electronically in Blackboard Courses or Organisations?

Answer: There are two main methods (three if you count Email attachments) of submitting work electronically – the Digital Dropbox tool and the Assignment tool. You should use the tool which best suits your needs but, as the following quick comparison chart shows, the Assignment tool is often the better option.

Feature	Dropbox	Assignment	Notes
Work is organised by assignment and student/participant	no	yes
Submissions are date and time stamped	yes	yes
Submissions are integrated with the Gradebook tool	no	yes
Instructors/Leaders can easily tell who has and hasn’t submitted work	no	yes
Instructors/Leaders can download multiple files at the same time	no	yes	All files can be downloaded from a single assignment at the same time using the Assignment tool. Files are compressed into a single ZIP file.
Students/Participants can resubmit assignments	yes	yes	Although Instructors/Leaders must clear the previous assessment attempt for the Assignment tool
Students/Participants can submit multiple files for a single assignment	yes	yes
Instructors/Participants can return a single file to multiple students	yes	no

Submitting Assignments

Andy — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:51:22 +0000

Question: How do my students submit their work to a Course Assignment?

Answer: This movie shows how students submit their work to a Course Assignment.

Downloading Submitted Assignments

Andy — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:44:55 +0000

Question: How do I download submitted Assignments from my Blackboard Course or Organisation?

Answer: Course Instructors or Organisation Leaders can download all files submitted to an Assignment using the Control Panel. This movie shows you how for a Blackboard Course.

Creating Assignments in Blackboard

Andy — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:37:54 +0000

Question: How do I create an assignment in a Blackboard Course or Organisation?

Answer: The assignment tool allows students or participants to electronically submit coursework and other files to Course Instructors or Organisation Leaders. This movie shows you how to create an assignment in a Blackboard Course.