Monday, December 10, 2007

Where did it go?

Vanishing (and re-appearing) Tools

We've been seeing where tools are getting turned on and off in course shells. Although we haven't figured out what is causing it, we do know how to correct it. You can actually correct it yourself.

All tools are controlled through the control panel under Manage Tools in the Course Options area.


Click on Manage Tools.

You now have three areas of tools; Tool Availability, Building Block Tool Availability and Content Tool Availability.

You should check each of these areas to make sure you have the tools you want to use turned on and the tools you aren't using for class turned off.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Is that what it means?

Check that wording

In Blackboard, you'll occasionally see text around an option or item that isn't necessarily clear. One of the best examples of this is the text surrounding an option for giving a test. In step 3, Self-Assessments, of modifying options for the test you have an option to Hide from the grade book. Upon first glance of this option, it seems like the option to select if you want to hide the grade from the students' grade book.

Stop right there! Notice this is under the sub-heading of Self-Assessments. So really what this option does is hide the grade from the instructor's grade book. Then when the instructor realizes their mistake and goes to remove this option they are faced with the dilemma of removing all submitted tests. If you do this, you've deleted all the submitted tests for that assessment and they can't be retrieved for you.

Can it be clarified? Yes, and we are asking for your help. We can edit any of the preset text in Blackboard. KCTCS has now edited the option mentioned above to make it more clear. Here is how it reads now:


If that image is too hard to read, here is the new text;
Hide the score of this test from the Instructor Gradebook.
If this item is checked, then the scores will not be included in the instructors Gradebook nor can they be retrieved by System Administrators. (This is used for self-assessment.) To hide this item from the student's gradebook, this must be done in the gradebook area. --Now doesn't that make more sense?

You can help! Here's where you can help and give us your suggestions. Let us know any area of Blackboard where the wording is confusing and/or unclear. We will then take a look at it and try to make it better. You can send suggested text too. Just email elearningsupport@kctcs.edu with the subject line of check that wording. Then let us know where in Blackboard the change needs to be made, what it says now and what you suggest. We'll let you know if the change will be made and when.

Thanks for helping out!