Blackboard Calendar Basics

Seriously, I can barely tell the difference, but then again, I'm new

At SU, we are all considered to be pretty lucky.  We have world class professors, a campus that looks a tad like Rivendell (home of the house of Elrond and the High-Elves of Middle-Earth in Lord of the Rings for you non-nerds out there), plenty of delicious food in the cafeteria, and an Institutional Computing department that pulls out all the stops when it comes to the success of this university's students.

In order for you to become a hyper-successful student at SU, you are going to need to do a bunch of stuff. Most of that stuff, the IC department cannot help you with, but when it comes to interfacing with the university through technology, that is where we come in.  One of our most important tasks is making the ins-and-outs of Blackboard easy to understand and accessible for all of you.

Today we will take a look at one of the more important features for your success: the Blackboard calendar. 

The Blackboard calendar will most likely become an integral part of your day-to-day academics.  Luckily, it is a high quality tool that is pretty easy to use and navigate effectively.  

Some of the most handy features about the Blackboard Calendar are as follows:

As your professor makes changes, your calendar will change. That's right; when your professor changes an assignment, due date, or adds and removes events so will your course's calendar reflect that information.  The calendar will populate in this way automatically for any courses you are enrolled in.

Hiding unwanted calendars is a breeze.  Too much visual clutter in your Blackboard calendar?  I can sympathize with you.  At any given time, it seems like I have eight calendars overlapping making sure that I know that I have way more to accomplish in a day than there are hours.  But no matter, I will simply hide a calendar or two that are not too important to reduce the visual clutter.

(For some of the more simple features, if I do not include written step-by-step instructions, check the links provided in the text, and it will direct you to an online photo, photo album, or video with relevant information that should show you exactly how to do what I am writing about. Go ahead, check it out!)

Adding events to your Blackboard calendar is quick and painless. To add an event, all you need to do is click on the calendar itself where you would like the event to be scheduled.  A window will appear that wants a little more detail about the event. Fill out the information, and presto-chango, you have yourself a completely detailed event.

Exporting your Blackboard calendar is easier than getting knocked out by Mike Tyson in his prime. Also, it is easier than crashing your car while texting. Seriously, don't text and drive. To export your calendar you want to go to your Blackboard calendar and hit the "Get External Calendar Link" button at the bottom left portion of your Blackboard calendar page.

• Once you have the External Calendar Link paste that information into your Browser's URL bar
• You will then be prompted to download the calendar.  Download it and then place it on your desktop
• Go to your Google calendar, find the "other calendars" drop down menu in the bottom left corner of the calendar, and hit the "import calendar" button.
• Hit the upload button and you're done!

Student Tech Buzz By Tristan Plummer

This will be the last blog post by Tristan at SU. He has decided to take a position at another institution. We wish Tristan the best in his new position.  Sign Up For Emergency Alerts SU offers an incredibly simple and effective way for all students, staff, and faculty to stay informed in the event of an emergency. If an emergency occurs, and you have signed up, you will receive a text message notifying you of the situation. Sounds great, right? Yup. It is. Sign up. Today.   Signing up is simple, and important. Log into Blackboard and click the "Emergency" tab at the top of your browser. Fill out the "SU Alert System Sign-up" module at the center of the screen. At the bottom read and agree to the terms of service and click "Create Account."

Blackboard Calendar   Did you know that any assignments or exams that your professor creates and deploys within Blackboard automatically populate into your Blackboard Calendar (providing that your professors have due dates associated with their assignments)? How do you locate the Bb Calendar? No sweat, it's really easy.  Left-click your name in the top right corner of your screen. On the drop-down menu that appears click the 5th icon on the left-side of the drop-down. It looks like a small calendar.  Once you're in the Bb calendar, you will notice that each course and organizations have their own independent calendars and colors associated with them so that assignments from different courses are easily distinguishable.  Feel free to add your own personal calendar so that you can keep track of your own events. If you'd like this information outside of Bb, export your Bb Calendars to an outside calendaring program by clicking the  "Get External Calendar Link."

Tech Support @ SU At Shenandoah University, the Institutional Computing department tries incredibly hard to make sure that everybody receives the best tech support available at the exact moment it is needed the most. Keep the following resources handy so that when you need help, you will know exactly where to go: The IC Help Desk General purpose tech support. If you need help, this is a great place to start. Phones are answered 24/7! Howe Hall 112 540.665.5555 IC Web Help Desk Often called "Work Orders" this is the formal ticketing system that times, tracks, and monitors the help you receive. Have a difficult problem. Fill out a work order, and it will get taken care of! SU Blackboard Support Site SU Specific Blackboard information. Regardless of your role as a Blackboard user, you can find great information here. SU Bb "Tech Support" tab When you click the "Tech Support" tab you will land on the Help Desk page, and next to that is a link to the IC Web Help Desk but that's not all that is available here. Make sure to check out the Library Passwords, Media Services, and Tech Blog sub-tabs for helpful information.

Blackboard Calendar Tool

Who said the New Year is the only opportunity available to pledge improvement?  I am going to pledge improvement in September.  This month I vow to be more organized.  Thus, the blog this week will be dedicated to exploring various technology tools available that will assist in getting and staying organized.

Today's Tool --

Blackboard Calendar

Note: Your instructor controls which tools are available. If this tool is not available, your instructor may have disabled it.

The Bb Calendar tool allows you to view events by day, week, month, or year. You can view and organize upcoming and past events into categories. Personal Information should be placed on your Google Calendar located within your SU email environment not Bb.

You will see different options in the calendar depending on where you access it. When you access the calendar through a course only those calendar items that relate to your course appear.

Course Calendar events appear to all members of the course. Common entries include upcoming tests, due dates for assignments, or special lectures. If you access the calendar while in your course, you will only see the entries you have added.

How to Open the Calendar 
 
1. On the Course Menu, click Tools.

2. On the Tools page, click Calendar.

 

 

**Remember to visit the Blackboard Support page for other helpful tutorials and instruction sheets.

Student Tech Buzz 1/27-1/31

Student Tech Buzz 1/27-1/31

This Semester, Pay Attention to your Blackboard Calendar As we ease our way into this semester, the first rounds of tests and assignments are beginning to come due. Courses that utilize Blackboard heavily will most likely have due dates associated with their assignments and examinations.  What this means for you as a student user is that your Blackboard Calendar will automatically populate with your course's due dates so you never get caught unaware. Keep in mind that if your professor does not utilize Blackboard enough to create and deploy assignments within Blackboard your course's calendar will not automatically populate with this information. For more information about Blackboard Calendars read this IC Tech Blog entry Expanding the Content Editor Get ready to revisit the fundamentals, as we take a look at one of the most basic tasks that can dramatically increase your overall Blackboard experience. In the top right corner of the Content Editor (The text editor that appears anytime you are filling out information within Blackboard) there is a double chevron that you can click that gives you two additional rows of formatting options. Once you have expanded the Content Editor for the first time, make sure to spend a few moments exploring to see exactly what you have been missing all of this time. Take a look at the left side image to see exactly where to expand the Content Editor! Line Spacing in the Content Editor Getting the exact Line spacing in the Blackboard Content Editor that you desire is incredible easy and intuitive.  In fact, it is much easier than most SU Bb users imagine. When you hit a hard return (hitting "Enter") Blackboard's Content Editor defaults by double spacing.  If you desire a single space between your lines just hit Shift+Enter and your text will be separated by a single space.

Su.edu/Bb, Your Shenandoah University Blackboard Information Site

There are many resources available to SU users for Blackboard support here at Shenandoah University. For Example:

• We send out our Technology Liaison, Tristan Plummer, to provide immediate Bb support for all Blackboard users on daily visits around campus called Traveling Blackboard Support. 
• We write a daily tech blog, a Doah column, and a weekly tech buzz that often times contain useful Blackboard information.  
• We encourage our workorder system to be used as much as possible so that users can get quality assistance incredibly quickly. 
• We also have such a close relationship with Blackboard that when SU makes suggestions, Blackboard will consider our ideas and even change the entire Blackboard system (Have you noticed that the Journal instructions are back to the top of the Journal's main screen?  Yes, all Blackboard users see that now, and yes, it was a suggestion that came from SU).
• Blackboard has made available a phenomenal website for all users called help.blackboard.com (This website does not contain information about SU's specific Blackboard environment)
• We have created Blackboard courses for Organization Leaders and Students to participate in to acclimate them to SU's Blackboard environment

Despite all of the above support, perhaps the best Blackboard resource available to all of our users is Shenandoah University's Blackboard website.  

SU.EDU/Bb

If you have not been to Su.edu/Bb, you're missing out on a knowledge-treat.  Here you will find:

• System Announcements, a simple way to be in the know about SU's Blackboard system
• Browser Compatibility Information
• Forms for achieving your specific Blackboard goals
• Faculty information (If you're curious as a student to see how the Faculty side works, this is an awesome resource)
• Student information (Includes how to take tests, turn in assignments, use the calendar tool and much more)
• Organization Leader information
• Integration Tools (Awesome tools that can make your Blackboard experience way more interesting, interactive, and personalized)

Keep in mind, where help.blackboard.com is a website created by Bb Inc. Su.edu/bb is a website created here at SU.  The information contained within this website is relevant to our specific Blackboard environment, making it your go to location for SU Blackboard instant knowledge gratification!

Student Tech Buzz 11/4-11/8 Blackboard Heads to Northern Virginia Campus   NVC, get ready to have a day of Blackboard support, Usability Labs, and a Blackboard Roadmap presentation in your computer lab starting at 9:00AM on 11/7!    Blackboard will be the focus all day so start creating notes, Evernotes, Rolodex entries, and Sticky-notes with all the Blackboard related questions that you can possibly think of! Don't be shy!   We will be there to serve you, and to make sure that all NVC Bb users are 100% up to date with all current Blackboard knowledge. No user turned away, and no questions are too difficult!

Try Blackboard Spaces   Blackboard Spaces is one more fantastic feature that is offered by Blackboard.  To get to the Spaces page, navigate from the "My Bb" page, down the left side to the Spaces Link.  Spaces will provide all SU users with a place to gather, post, and organize themselves to plan meetings, events, study-groups, clubs, and special-interest groups in a user friendly and safe environment. If you have a reason to meet with multiple SU students, staff or faculty, then you should create an online environment where everybody can be organized in a system that all SU user already user.   Once created, make sure to set the privacy level of your Spaces by setting your Space's visibility (Public, Protected, Private), and then invite the users that are going to participate. For additional information on Spaces please visit the following link from Help.Blackboard.Com. Google Tasks: Time Management Made Simple Within your Gmail and Google Calendar, there is a built in feature that many of you may not know about, Google Tasks.  If you have struggled to find a task management system that fits your busy lifestyle, this Google feature could be the best bit of simple technology you have ever used. To Access Google Tasks: Gmail go to the top left corner and expand the button that says "Mail" then drop down to "Tasks."  Google Calendar under the "My Calendars" area on the left, click on "Tasks." The big advantage of Google Tasks are: Free Simple to use Easily Accessible Tasks with due dates populate automatically into the Google Calendar that you already use You can, with one mouse click, add emails to tasks through Gmail Create multiple lists so that you can separate business tasks from grocery lists If you would like to learn more about Google Tasks, read this awesome article by CNET about Google Tasks.

Blackboard Calendar Tool Survey Opportunity for Students

Please give 20 minutes to let Blackboard, Inc. know your feelings on the calendar tool within Blackboard. 

The Blackboard (Bb) Inc. Product Development team is currently investigating ways to improve the Calendar tool within Bb for instructors and students. Please set aside approximately 20 minutes to tell us about yourself and answer 28 question pairs (students) so they can better understand your motivations.  

Questions are delivered in pairs to ask you how you would feel if a feature WAS included and if the feature WAS NOT included in Blackboard Learn.

Survey link for students: https://bbuxresearch.wufoo.com/forms/calendar-student-perspective/

Thanks for making Blackboard the product YOU want it to be!!!!!

Blackboard Won't Be The Same System On May 20

Blackboard Maintenance Friday, May 17 – Sunday, May 19, 2013

Blackboard (Bb) will be unavailable on Friday, May 17, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. until Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. due to maintenance to the system. This will include the upgrade to the latest version.

Upgrading to Blackboard Learn 9.1

As spring semester comes to an end, we are in preparation to upgrade to the latest service pack for Blackboard Learn. On May 17, 2013 there will be a maintenance window to upgrade Shenandoah University to Blackboard Learn 9.1 SP11/12.  The majority of the functions will remain the same as our current version (SP9), however, there are several new features that are noted below.

Blackboard's new release:

• Builds on the student engagement tools in earlier releases.
• Improves the performance of the software.
• Enhances the entire user interface to make it easier to use, more intuitive, and extends drag and drop simplicity along with context sensitive menus.
• Brings new features for faculty and student to improve teaching and learning.

As Blackboard continuously improves the system, the following features are included within this service pack:

• My Blackboard and Global Navigation – An overlay when you first login to Bb will provide awareness of new features.  There will be a new profile tool that includes avatar support for blogs, journals, wikis, and the discussion board. (VIDEO)
• New Content Editor with advance features for editing HTML and style. (VIDEO) Compare New versus Legacy Textbox Editor (READ). SU has been running a pre-release of the new Content Editor over the last year. Bb has used the feedback from the early adopters to produce an advanced Content Editor.

  

• New Discussion Board with increased accessibility for screen readers. (VIDEO)
• Expanded Social Learning Tools for students to better communicate.(VIDEO)
• New Calendar will allow for iCal support and drag-n-drop functionality aligned with due dates entered. (VIDEO)

• Video Everywhere tool enables personalized and just in time feedback for students utilizing YouTube accounts. (READ)

• Enhanced Assignment Grading features (to be able to grade and annotate online). (VIDEO)

• Retention Center to better monitor student performance. (VIDEO)
• Enhanced Item Analysis – Provides additional statistics on test performance and individual test questions. (VIDEO)
• Pattern Matching Fill-in-the-Blank – Fill in the blank questions can be automatically scored using a pattern matching feature. (VIDEO)
• Expanded Accessibility – New accessibility improvements include the ability to skip links, ARIA Markup, Forms Markup, My Blackboard, My Grades, and enhancements in the accessibility of tests.


Improved Help Site: Blackboard Help

New Features Information Sessions

As we embark on teaching & learning with the improved Bb version this summer, we recommend that you take the time to explorer Bb after the upgrade and before your first class. The Center For Teaching & Learning (CTL), along with Institutional Computing will be holding overviews sessions and demos to help users get comfortable with the latest changes. Watch the Sun-e and your email & the Bb System News for details about these advents. These session are opportunities to (1) learn about specific changes and (2) get general questions on Blackboard answered. You can also learn about these new features by watching the videos on SU's Atomic Learning site by clicking here (login with your SUNet user/password).

We anticipate this should be a fairly smooth transition.  We appreciate any feedback or concerns as we move forward. Please email bbsupport@su.edu.

Blackboard Tasks and Google Tasks

Getting organized is often initiated by the always reliable and almost always accomplished to-do list. 

 

With Blackboard Tasks and Google Tasks you will stay organized and mark off completed tasks in no time. 

Blackboard Tasks --  

The Blackboard Tasks tool organizes various tasks such as activities and projects and prioritizes these tasks.  Below is a link to a video explaining how to stay organized by managing your Blackboard tasks.

http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r91/movies/bb91_student_managing_tasks.htm

*Note--tasks may not be available depending on instructor.  

**Clicking on the above video link will take you to content provided on the Blackboard Learn, Release 9.1 On Demand Student Learning Center site @
http://ondemand.blackboard.com/students.htm -- Blackboard Inc. 1997-2011



Google Tasks --

Google Tasks allows you to create custom To-Do lists and add task items to your Google Calendar.

The following link provides information on creating Google Tasks from emails as well as creating tasks through your Calendar or on your mobile device.  Simply click on the Learn More link located below each item (Gmail, Mobile or Calendar) to access further information on adding and customizing task items.  


http://mail.google.com/mail/help/tasks/

**The content in the above link directed to Google Tasks Help is owned and provided by Google -- Google, 2012. 

About the "My Bb" page

The "My Bb" page is the first page that  SU students come to when they log onto Blackboard, and some people have voiced that the page is a little confusing for them.  So let's take a moment and debunk some of this confusion.

What is the goal of this page?

The goal of the "My Bb" page is to provide you with a smooth overview of all of your Blackboard information.  This page is designed to be a one stop shop for all of your quick reference needs.  Want to see your recently graded assignments, posts, messages, and calendar due dates?  This is where you want to be.

What are the icons on the left side of the screen?

On the left side of the page is a vertical set of icons that take you to individual locations within the "My Bb" page.  From top to bottom the links are explained below:

• Profile:  When you click the avatar icon you are going to be able to see and edit your Blackboard profile.  We have been pushing for Blackboard profiles to be used more frequently for a lot of different reasons, probably the most of which is that when you are reading your follow classmates blogs, and discussion board posts, you get a better sense of who they are and where they are coming from.
•  My Bb: Home screen and landing page for all SU students.  
•  Posts:  The posts page will take you to all of your recent posts, and the responses of other users to your posts.
•  Updates:  The Updates page can get a little rowdy.  Anytime an update occurs in one of your courses, you are notified.  You can click on individual courses, organizations, and type of updates to view those specific updates (example: Only want to see the updates for Criminal Justice 101?  Click the class name under "Courses With Updates" and all available updates for this course will show up on the right side of the screen.)
•  My Grades: The my grades area is going to be one of the most valuable resources that a student has available to them within Blackboard. As you would suspect, this is the location you want to be at to view your grades.
•  Calendar:  The calendar is going to serve as a fantastic reminder for specific due dates and events within classes.  When a professor creates an assignment with a due date it automatically populates into that course's calendar so you are never left wondering when an assignment is due.
• People:  Here you will be able to see people with your learning network.  On the left side of the screen you will have the courses and organizations you are enrolled in and you will be able to see your fellow classmates.  From here you can view their profiles, send messages, follow or unfollow, and block users when you click on their avatar.
•  Messages: This is where you will want to be if you want to view messages send to you from various Blackboard users.
• Spaces:  Spaces is an online location where people of similar interest can gather to share, create, and participate in special interest groups that are a little less formal.   You might find a chess club, workout groups, religious groups, or any number of specific spaces that users may want to join in.

Overall, the My Bb page is packed with information that is tailored for your specific user account.  If you learn how to use this page effectively, you'll be right at the top of your academic game by being incredibly well informed about your grades, due dates, posts and comments, updates to courses, and lots of other academic related items!

Student Tech Buzz 10/7-10/11

Not seeing scroll bars within websites? If you are not getting scroll bars within websites, and you are being forced to begin scrolling by using finger motions on your track pad, there is a simple solution to the problem.   Go to the Apple icon in the top left corner of the screen. Click "System preferences" In the new window navigate to the "General" button in the top left corner Here you will see the "Show scroll bars" options. Click "Always." Problem solved!   Want to make a difference with Blackboard Calendar? If you've got a second, take the time and fill out this survey to help Blackboard know how you feel about the Calendars feature. When you fill out the following survey, your responses will  be analyzed and tallied to help Blackboard figure out how they will modify Blackboard Calendars to continue to improve the feature. https://bbuxresearch.wufoo.com/forms/calendar-survey/Your text caption goes here via Information Technology Blog Author: Tristan Plummer

Do you suspect there to be a Blackboard outage? First, before reporting a suspected Blackboard outage, make sure it isn't just your computer. Check your internet connection.  See if you are on your desired network and properly connected to the internet.  If you are not on the internet properly, select your desired network and wait for it to connect. If you are having further issues, try turning your wireless card off and then on after waiting 15 seconds. Take note that every week the Bb servers at Shenandoah University come down on Sundays between 4:00am-6:00am for maintenance. During this time, you will not be able to access Blackboard at all. If you can connect to the internet, and are able to visit other websites and cannot access the gateway page where you input your Bb log in credentials, fill out a worker order at the following URL: workorder.su.edu Or speak with after hours support.  Directions to access after hours support are at the following URL: bbstudentinfo.blogspot.com/2013/08/ic-help-desk-after-hours-support.html

Blackboard Service Pack 14 (SP14)

Blackboard Service Pack 14 (SP14)

Update:  Having trouble seeing the tabs in Blackboard since the upgrade? Make sure "Compatibility View" in Internet Explorer is turned OFF.

Service Pack 14 includes the features in Service Packs 12-14.  The key features include:

Achievements

The achievements tool allows instructors to designate criteria for issuing rewards to students in the form of both badges and certificates. Students can see which rewards they’ve earned and what is required of them to receive additional rewards, providing insight into learning progression toward defined competencies.  More Information | Video

Accessibility Improvements

This Service Pack introduces an innovation that improves Learn’s navigation experience for all users, but especially sighted keyboard-only users, through page header and landmark aggregation. There are also enhancements to Test Availability Exceptions and Content Editor Math Formulas which are helpful for accessibility. More Information | Video

Calendar

New calendar replaces the old calendar tool. Faculty and students can view institution level, course and personal events in a single calendar view.  More Information | Video

Content Editor Math Formulas

This Service Pack brings a new editor that is based on JavaScript. This removes dependence on Java, enabling full math-editing capabilities on platforms that cannot run java in browsers including iOS. The new math editor also supports the editing and display of LaTeX formulas.  More Information | Picture

Course Menu Enhancement

Viewing the folder structure of the course now always opens in a new window, to ensure users have the space needed to read the expanded contents. More Information | Picture

Grade Center Improvements

Blackboard has made several improvements to grading and Grade Center.  (1) My Grades Ordering & Design Update, (2) Define “Score Attempts Using” setting from the “Options” page, (3) Test total points adjustment, (4) Grading Schemas greater than 100%. More Information | Picture

Groups Management

The Groups Management Building Block provides the ability to (1) Easily see which students are in which groups (2) Easily see and modify group memberships (3) Avatars are now available to distinguish among users (4) Choose and manage membership for groups sets with an improved workflow (5) Import and export groups and group memberships (6) Sort columns, perform bulk actions for deleting groups, and create Grade Center smart views for one or more groups on the All Groups page (7) Optionally, manage tool availability for all groups on the All Groups page.  More Information | Video

Inline Grading

For interactive tools and assignments, you can view, provide comments, and grade student-submitted items without leaving the tool page.  More Information | Video

Restrict Tests by Location

Restricts a test so it can only be taken from a set range of machines (by IP addresses).  This feature will require setting up the IP address ranges with the Blackboard Administrators group before the test.  More Information

Retention Center

The Retention Center is an instructor-only tool that enables teachers to give focused attention to students who need it. It replaces the Early Warning System feature with easy workflows, while retaining all existing Early Warning System data and rules. From the Retention Center, you can communicate with struggling students and help them take immediate action for improvement.  More Information | Video

Test and Survey Options

(1) Test Availability Exceptions:  new settings have been added to the Test/Survey Options page, available after the test or survey is added to a content area.  The new settings allow instructors to select one or more groups of students and make a number of exceptions to the already established availability settings. Instructors can use exceptions to provide an accommodation to a disabled student, or provide accommodations for technology and language differences.  (2) Show Test Results and Feedback to Students:  after they complete a test, results and feedback are available to students. By setting up rules, instructors can set the release of progressive feedback to keep test results secure and prevent cheating.  More Information

Date Management

After you have copied a course, speed up the transition of old dates to new one relevant for the new course using Date Management. From Date Management you can adjust availability dates, due dates, and adaptive release dates within a course. You can choose to update the dates automatically or manually from one convenient location.  More Information | Video

Course Message Notifications

Course messages are private and secure text-based communication that occurs within a course and among course members. Although similar to email, you must be logged into a course to read and send course messages.  Before Service Pack (SP14), the only way to know if you had any new course messages was to constantly log in to your course and check. In SP14, course messages are part of the notifications framework. Anyone enrolled in a course can receive notification that they have new messages from the Updates area in My Blackboard.  More Information | Video

Discussions

The Discussions building block that was incorporated into this Service Pack changes the discussion board user interface in two primary ways:  (1) The thread detail page has been thoroughly redesigned while maintaining all of its current functionality.(2) Instructors now can require students to first post to a forum before they can see other students’ posts.  More Information | Picture

 

If you have additional questions or need further assistance with Bb, please complete an  SU online help ticket at http://workorder.su.edu/ or check out our Bb Support Site at su.edu/bb.