Announcement emails do not work when a course has : in the name.

Posted on by Tel Team

If you receive a message stating that emails have not been sent when posting an announcement, please check your course name. If the name has a colon (:) in the title the email tool in Blackboard will not work. This is a known issue with the software and is due to be fixed in an upcoming Service Pack.

Workaround.

  • Create the announcement as normal
  • Copy the message text
  • Post the announcement
  • Go to course tools and click send email
  • Select the group of users you wish to send the email to e.g. All student users
  • Paste the text from the announcement in to the message box
  • Click Submit

 

Setting up Forum subscription so users can choose to receive email notifications

Posted on by Roger Gardner

You can allow subscription to a discussion forum or thread. This means that users can choose to subscribe. If they subscribe they will receive emails when new posts are added.

To allow subscription in an existing forum:
1. Go into the relevant Blackboard course
2. Click on Course tools in the Control Panel, then click on Discussion Board
3. Click on the link to the Discussion Board and find the relevant forum
4. Next to the forum name click on the dropdown arrow, and choose Edit
5. In section 3 “Forum settings” select either Allow members to subscribe to threads or Allow members to subscribe to forum, as appropriate, then click Submit.
6. Users will then see a subscribe button in the forum or in each thread, which they should click on if they wish to receive emails.

You will have the same option to allow subscription if setting up a new forum.

Access Denied or prompted to re-enter username and password – full fix

Posted on by hilary

If the quick LOGOUT fix to resolve Access Denied or the prompt to re-login has not worked you should clear out your cookies and browser history.

In Firefox: Tools/Options/ Privacy/Clear recent history & remove individual cookies (remove all or just the Blackboard ones.)

In Internet Explorer: Tools/ Delete Browsing History. Ensure you delete History, Cookie and Favorites information (if Blackboard is one of your favorites.)

In Chrome: Options(Spanner Icon top right)/Under the Bonnet/Clear Browsing Data/Change timescale to ‘Beginning of Time’/Click Clear Browsing Data

Figure 1: removing browser history and cookies in Internet Explorer.

With Firefox, Safari and Chrome you should then have no further problems. Internet Explorer may continue to ask for your username and password when you open Microsoft documents, simply click Cancel and the documents will still open.

The TEL Support team in the ESU are investigating whether there is a fix we can apply to resolve this browser issue, however the simple steps outlined above should solve the problem. N.B. as this is an issue with browsers you may need to do it on any PC you use.

Blackboard Mobile Learn

Posted on by hilary

We have recently purchased the Blackboard Mobile Learn building block. Blackboard Mobile Learn makes the VLE accessible on mobile devices, without the need for interface or course redesign by staff.  Students can browse Blackboard in an interface designed to be used on mobile devices and participate in activities, add multimedia to blogs and discussion boards, view grades and check for alerts and updates to indicate recently marked work or activity in a group project.  Students will be able to browse reading lists and other information posted in Blackboard while in the library, prepare for seminars and group tutorials while on the bus or train and download and listen to podcasts and audio feedback on their way home.[1]  The additional functionality of Blackboard Mobile Learn could support off campus activities such as field trips.

For a sneak preview of how Blackboard Mobile Learn looks see: http://tinyurl.com/3ecq5ta

Future updates on Blackboard Mobile Learn will be circulated to subscribers to our “BB Mobile” Category.

[1] A full specification of Blackboard Mobile Learn is available from: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7911022/ML_Generally%20Available2_0.pdf

How to switch on course tools

Posted on by Roger Gardner

If as an Instructor you cannot see a particular tool in the Course tools menu in the Control Panel, you may need to switch it on. An example might be the Self and peer assessment tool.

This can be done as follows:

  • In the Control Panel click on Customization
  • Click on Tool availability
  • Ensure that the relevant tool is ticked as both Available and Available in Content area (if an option), then click Submit

Course statistics and tracking disabled

Posted on by hilary

We have currently disabled course statistics while we continue to investigate the problems with this functionality. Disabling tracking and statistics within courses will impact on instructor’s ability to generate course and item statistics and tracking data for individual or groups of users. We apologise for any disruption this may cause.

At present Blackboard course instructors still have the ability to enable tracking on individual items within a course but please be aware that the reports generated may not contain any data, or the data may not be accurate.