Faculty Blackboard FAQ's
- Where can I find Blackboard tutorials?
- How can I hide classes on the My Courses list?
- How do I restrict who students can access through Blackboard email?
- How can I add an image to a test question?
- How do I save a copy of my Grade Center to my computer?
- How do I print discussions from the Discussion Board?
- Why does the instructor receive an error when opening some student files?
- How do I resolve text display and html error messages?
- Why are some students getting kicked out of tests (access denied errors)?
- How do I weight grades?
- How do I view assignments or quizzes that have been submitted?
- How do I use a quiz/test from one course in another?
- How do I copy a course or a part of a course to another section?
- How can I conduct office hours online?
How can I hide classes on the My Courses list?
If you do not wish to view all of the courses listed for you in Blackboard, you can hide these and you can hide their corresponding announcements.
- Click the wheel icon in the appropriate module (My Announcements, My Courses, etc.).
- Uncheck the Course Name box next the course to hide the course ID.
- Uncheck the Announcements box next to the course ID.
- Click the Submit button to apply the changes.
Where can I find Blackboard Tutorials?
- NC Community Colleges Help Site (select Course Delivery: Instructors)
- Blackboard On Demand Learning Center (short movie tutorials, some pdf)
- CFCC Teaching with Blackboard (additional tutorials, including for errors and text display problems)
NEW! How do I restrict who students can access through Blackboard email?
The email tool in Blackboard offers you and students a variety of user options for sending email (All Users, All Groups, Single/Select Users, etc.). If students or instructors send to "All Users", this includes everyone who is a user in the course (instructors, students, department chairs, etc.). You can restrict the selections for sending email by going to Control Panel > Customization > Tool Availability and click on the double down arrows next to Email and select Email Settings. Uncheck any box that you do not want to appear as a selection and click Submit.
How can I add an Image to a Test Question?
Instructors can add images (and files and external links) to Blackboard test, survey, and pool questions. However, a setting must be changed to allow this. For instructions, see the Add Graphics, Links and Files to Test, Survey and Pool Questions tutorial.
How do I save a copy of my Grade Center to my computer?
You can save a copy of your entire Grade Center as a spreadsheet by clicking the Work Offline button at the top right of the Grade Center. Select Download and you will be prompted to select the format in which you would like to save your Grade Center information.
How do I print discussions from the Discussion Board?
You can use the "collect" feature to display all posts and print from here (select the Print Preview button first). Please view Printing Discussion Forums (pdf) for complete instructions.
Why does the instructor receive an error when opening some student files?
If students submit assignments when submitting assignments, attaching to the discussion board, etc. and the instructor receives an error when trying to view them, it is usually a problem with either the file type or how the student named the file.
If the student submits a file with an extension that the instructor's computer does not understand, the file cannot be opened. More often, the student has improperly named a file. The student tutorial in Blackboard reviews proper ways to name files. Please refer to the Filenaming and File Types document (html) for information on how to name a file and on file type issues.
How do I resolve text display and html error messages?
These items are generally related to bad code carried over from the old Blackboard. The new Blackboard is stricter, which alerts people to some underlying problems. While pesky, these problems can generally be resolved. Refer to two documents on the Teaching with Blackboard 9 page:
Why are some students getting kicked out of tests (access denied errors)?
There have been reports of this happening to some students due to 1) unknown problems with the quiz or Blackboard or 2) issues with the way students are navigating the quiz or other programs running while taking test.
While we do not have a solution for problems with Blackboard itself, we are working with Bb to resolve problems. There are a few things that you can do to help students:
- Avoid copying and pasting from Word since this tends to carry a lot of underlying code that can cause problems.
- At this time, the DL Department recommends that students use the latest version of Firefox Browser (free) rather than Internet Explorer, Safari, or other browsers since there seem to be fewer issues with Firefox.
- Refer students to the following document, which is included in the Blackboard student tutorial: Best Practices for taking Quizzes and Tests in Blackboard 9.1 (html)
How do I weight grades?
You can set up weighted grades in two ways, individual columns or by assigning categories (most common).
See the tutorial on our Teaching with Blackboard 9 page: Grade Center: Weighting Grades (movie cc) or the text tutorial on Weighting Grades by Category (pdf)
How do I view assignments or quizzes that have been submitted?
You will go to the Grade Center in the Control Panel. Select “Full Grade Center”, where you will see rows with students’ names and columns with items and graded activities. The NC Community Colleges help site has tutorials for viewing and grading submissions (Course Delivery > INSTRUCTORS > Grade Center ) .
How do I use a quiz/test from one course in another?
The easiest way to reuse tests and quizzes is when an entire course is copied. This will retain the course structure and any assessments.
Move just one or some tests, surveys, or pools
This is a three step process:
- Export the test from the old course.
Go to Control Panel > Course Tools > Test Manager >Tests > Click chevron arrows next to quiz > Select Export. This will download a zip file to your computer. Make note of where the file downloaded. - Import the test to the new course.
Go to Control Panel > Course Tools > Test Manager > Tests > Select the Import Test button > Browse for the file you downloaded and select it.
- Deploy the test in the new course.
The NC Community College Online Support Center provides tutorials for exporting, importing, and deploying quizzes/tests (select Course Delivery > INSTRUCTORS > Tests, Surveys, Pools).
Refer to the tutorial for doing the same with Pools if you are using test pools.
How do I copy a course or a part of a course to another section?
Information about copying course content can be found on the Adding Content to Your New Course page.
How can I conduct office hours online?
There are a few tools built into Blackboard that you might consider for conducting office hours or study sessions, including Chat, and Virtual Classroom. There are also some external applications that you might consider. Refer to the Office Hours document (pdf) document for a description of available tools.
