No odd symbols

Submitted assignments should not have odd characters in the file name

Some of you tried the tip from last week and then ran into a snag. Here's what is going on and how to avoid it.

If an assignment submission has an odd character like the slash (/), pound sign (#), etc. and you attempt to download multiple submissions in a zip file, Blackboard will give an error message.

Tell your students not to use these characters in the file name when they upload and submit assignments. Blackboard advises to only use alpha, numeric and underscores in any file name uploaded to the course. This will ensure success when you download them all at once.

If students have already submitted, the workaround is to rename the assignment submission (not the grade book item), removing that character, then try again. Or you can download that student's submission individually.

Happy Downloading!

Do it all at once!

Did you know you can download submitted assignments all at once?

For each assignment you have in Blackboard, you can download all student submissions simultaneously.

How To:

From your course go into the Control Panel and into your Grade Book
Click on the Title of the Assignment
Click on Item Download

Student names have been hidden on this screenshot.

Click on Select Ungraded
Click Submit
When the page refreshes, there will be a link to Download assignments now

Click the link
Click Save
Navigate to where you want to save the file
Click Save
This is a zip file. You'll now need to unzip the file to access each student's assignment.

To unzip folders:

Double click the zip folder to open it
On the left side, click extract files

Click Next 2 or 3 times from the wizard
Click finish
Your folder will open up with the unzipped files.
The unzipped folder is in the same location as the zip folder so you can find it later.

You can now open and grade the assignments individually and submit the grades to the grade book in Blackboard.

Have it delivered!

Discussions delivered to your inbox

Do you use the discussion board in your Blackboard online courses? Wouldn't it be nice to know when someone makes a post to it? Well, now you can! Think subscription.

We are now on version 7.3 of Blackboard. In this version you have the option of allowing users subscribe to an entire forum. When they subscribe to the forum, a notification is sent to their KCTCS Outlook inbox. You can't reply to the discussion from the inbox, but it does let you know that things are going on.

Setting it up

When creating your forum you'll see these options:

Allow members to subscribe to threads - If you choose this option, users must subscribe to every thread in a forum to get email notification.

Allow members to subscribe to forum - This option will send an email notification for every thread in the forum. If you choose this option, you then have the option of what is sent in the email; the body of the post or a link to the post.

Subscribe

Now that you have added the option for subscription, here's how it will work from a users perspective:

When the user enters the discussion they will have a Subscribe button on the action bar. (NOTE: It will be on the main forum page if you let them subscribe to the forum. If you set it to subscribe to the thread, then it is on the action bar for the thread.)


Just click on the Subscribe button. Discussion postings will now be delivered to your inbox.

Unsubscribe: if you want to unsubscribe, just go back to where you subscribed and click the unsubscribe button.

Please release me

Release content to students based on performance

Did you know that you can release additional content to students based on their performance in the course? Well, you can. This option is called Adaptive Release.

Adaptive Release can be used in a variety of ways. Let's look at a few examples of when you might choose to use it.

Examples

1.) You want students to pass a syllabus quiz before access any course content.
2.) You don't want to overwhelm students by presenting them all the course content at once at the beginning of the semester.
3.) Students must achieve a passing grade on a test before moving on to the next unit of content.
4.) You give a test on, let's say, fractions. You have a couple students who didn't do so well on the exam but they need to grasp fractions before they move on to the next unit.

These are all examples of when you may want to use the Adaptive Release feature. Now we'll take a look at how Adaptive Release would work for each of these examples.

Results

1.) You can set up a quiz on the syllabus and once they achieve a certain grade (set by the instructor) then the course content opens up.
2.) When students login to the course, they only see the first unit/module/chapter. Then after they complete a quiz on the unit, the next unit opens.
3.) You allow students to take a quiz multiple times until they've mastered the content and achieve a passing grade. Once they get the passing grade, the next unit of content opens.
4.) When a student doesn't pass the test on fractions, then supplemental content is opened up for them to brush up on fractions.

These are only a few examples of when you may want or need to use adaptive release. There are plenty more reasons you may decide to use it.

So, what do you think? Would you like to know how to adaptively release items in Blackboard?

It is pretty easy. You do need to have your content uploaded into Blackboard before you add the Adaptive Release.

1. Click the Manage button to the right of the item that you want to hide until criteria is met to release it.
2. Click Adaptive Release
3. You have 4 options for releasing content. You can release by date, membership, gradebook item, or review status. The examples mentioned above were all examples of the gradebook item.
4. If you are using a gradebook item, click the dropdown list to select the gradebook item that they need to complete. The number in the bracket at the end of the title is the number of points that item has.
5. When setting the score make sure to use points and not percents.
6. Click submit

Now when students meet the criteria you set, the new item will be opened for students.

Where's my delete button?

How do I get rid of this content?

You may have noticed that you no longer have a delete or remove button in your eContent area. So, how do you remove old content if you don't have a delete button? Well, Blackboard has a new feature in the content area called "recycle bin". When you want to delete things, put the checkmark in front of the item then click "recycle".

This will move your content to the recycle bin. Like the recycle bin on your computer, this will let you restore something if you get rid of it by accident.


You have to be looking at your navigation bar with the folder view before you'll be able to see the recycle bin. If you need to retreive something from the recycle bin, click on it and you'll see the files you recycled. You then have a button to restore if you need to put it back.

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.

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!