Opening documents and links in Internet Explorer 7 or 8

When attempting to download documents, users will see a message above the Blackboard frameset stating:

To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has blocked this site
from downloading files to your computer. Click here for options.”

Click the link “Click here for options.” Choose “Download file…” You will then get the standard Windows file download dialog box You can also add Blackboard to your trusted sites and set the trusted sites zone security setting to medium low, as per instructions below.

1. Select Tools, then Internet Options
2. Select the Security tab, then Trusted Sites and then select the Sites
   button
3. Type https://courses.smu.edu in the add this website to the
   zone field and select Add
4. Select Close
5. Under the Security level for this zone field, drag the
   bar until it shows as medium – low.

If after doing the above you are still having problems, you can try changing the Custom Level for Trusted Sites as follows:

1. Select the Custom Level button
2. Scroll down to Downloads and select the radio button next to Enable
   for Automatic prompting for file downloads
3. Select the OK button.

Results have started to come in from our recent faculty Blackboard survey. The following postings are answers to your comments and questions.

Comment: I would like a sign-up feature where students can sign up for topics or projects on a first come first served basis.

Response: We are testing a sign-up sheet plug-in.

Comment: I need more flexibility in the “Send e-mail” feature of Bb, for example, to include non-SMU email address recipients, to save composed mail as a draft.

Response: University policy is that the SMU e-mail account is the primary way information is sent. Access.SMU populates the Bb each day. Currently that will update your record each day. If you were to change your e-mail address it would swap back the next day.

We will take into consideration allowing the e-mail address field to be changed by the user.

Comment: In the latest release of Blackboard there does not seem to provide for automatic e-mail notification of announcements.

Response: Blackboard has bundled e-mail announcements into a notification system that incorporates information from most aspects of a course. It is not yet possible to choose specific notifications a la carte. In testing we have found when we turn the notification on deluged of message all students using Bb. When we find a way around this we will turn the feature on.

The notification feature is a large part of the Bb Sync plug-in that allows information to be sent to iPhones and Facebook. Soon it will also integrate SMU’s Bb with a far more extensive application for mobile devices. OIT is working to make this a part of the Bb service.

Comment: My only reservation is that students do not like Blackboard; I would address improvements and innovation with students in mind. I will adapt.

Response: We understand that most students would like much more information and materials available through Bb. When used well it can enhance your class. We are happy to meet with you individually to help you determine if Blackboard could be a useful addition to your courses.

Comment: Multi-person video-conferencing, i.e., online learning would be very useful. Is there a way?

Response: The Lyle School is running a pilot program with Wimba. Wimba is a real-time collaboration tool that allows groups to meet online for lectures, virtual office hours, review sessions, meetings, interviews, and more. All students and instructors need are speakers, a microphone and a solid Internet connection to communicate as if they were face to face. The audio is nearly instantaneous, regardless of location.

If there is enough interest we would consider making this available to the whole campus. There is also a Blackboard plug-in that integrates Wimba components.

Comment: I don’t know if this is possible, but I would be interested in having audio and video tools to create content.

Response: It’s easy to add audio and video through any visual text editor box. You can also add media in an “item.”

OIT’s Academic Technology Services has a facility in Fondern library West devoted to faculty. We have all you’ll need to edit audio and video from many different sources. The SMU STAR program can also help with projects.

Comment: Students need to be able to publish their work. Students should to be able to cancel their submissions. I’d like a better blog. A web-conferencing tool with desktop sharing and integrated webcams would be fantastic.

Response: Students can publish their work through the blog or journal tool. The blog can be more than just text postings. You can embed pictures, audio/video (from outside sources such as YouTube or their own). Students in the class can make comments on postings.

The SMU blog is also available. You can link to it or other outside blogs.

See Wimba information above for desktop sharing.

Question: Could you teach faculty how to setup or design the course on Bb, not just a general but a seminar on course design ideas?

Answer: That is a great suggestion. We’ll try to schedule such a class soon. We can also set up a one-on-one session with you to help you customize the order of your content to better fit your course.

Until then know that you can put anything anywhere in Bb. You are not locked into the course content, assignment, etc. course menu options. Also you can rename any item in the course menu. One suggestion would be to break the content into modules that mimic you syllabus schedule.

Question: More knowledge of how to: better organize content and use tools for grades, copy courses, etc.

Answer: We’ll keep this in mind for our next training sessions. You can also find many helpful YouTube videos on most tools. We have linked some off the help pages and will be adding more links.

Comment: My experience with Bb is largely very negative. It has many quirks, does not easily and reliably copy material from one place to another.

Response: The interface has actually been made to be more intuitive and quicker to access functions such as the Control Panel being visible in the lower left at all times. You can also now use drag and drop to reorder of items. The key is to understand the double chevron pull-down menus allow edits and the big blue buttons add items.

Comment: Maintenance has more than once been scheduled at a critical and very inconvenient time for my courses (e.g., 1-2 days before the MBA module starts).

Response: This was regrettable and we have put in place guidelines to keep this from occurring again. We schedule outages early on Sunday mornings. Most outages are an hour or less. We post notices on the Bb login page. The notices also appear on the My Blackboard page as an announcement. If the outage is not planned or going to be long we will send a message to the faculty by e-mail.

Comment: Stability. Every time Bb is upgraded, there are problems… some are new, others are issues not resolved from prior release. Steve Snider is aware of the problems with using Bb for administering exams real time and the contents of the exam being erased during the taking of the exam.

Response: Blackboard Release 9 was fraught with far more bugs and problems that we expected even after testing. Since the upgrade we have installed numerous patches, service packs, and hot fixes to eliminate as many as possible. A new service pack is now available. We will be installing it just after the Spring term ends. Its list of fixes addresses almost all of the outstanding issues.

Question: Is it possible to download class rosters to spreadsheet?

Answer: Yes! You will need to do this through the Grade Center. On the far right of the grade center screen you will find Work Offline. There you can download a roster by asking for only the user information. For details see the More Help link at the top of that page.

It is possible to view all users in your class in the Users area of the Control Panel. Don’t be confused by the Enroll User button in the upper part of the page. Choose Not Blank in the search criteria.

Question: I need easier access for non-SMU users so that guest teachers from other locations with no SMU affiliation can view and participate

Answer: You will need to contact the Help Desk through the form at the top of the help pages. You can also send an e-mail message to help@smu.edu of call 8-4357.

There are privacy concerns that you should be aware of. Review SMU’s FERPA information. The Course Builder role in Blackboard will allow most instructor privileges without compromising student privacy. When you add a user you will be able to designate that role.

Comment: Better interface for online test taking – students have many problems with losing data and being locked out of tests.

Answer: The online test and surveys display in two different ways. They can be presented in a list form, as it would be on paper, or one question at a time.

We have had little failure with online test if the student has the latest Java installed on their computer. If a student doesn’t have the latest Java the Bb may shut down its tab or window when it encounters a visual text editor box. These text boxes are found through out Bb with the exception of the e-mail and messaging tools.

Another cause of failure is randomizing questions. This is a known issue and Bb is addressing the problem.

Question: Is there a way I can assign grades to group assignments to user created groups? How will these appear in each member’s grades in Grade Center?

Answer: In the new group tool you can create a group assignment. One student will upload the completed document. When you grade it all students in that group are given the same grade and it appears in the My Grades area for each student.

Comment: I’d like a better way to turn in assignments. I have given up on this feature, every time I do it there are major problems with students not being able to attach the document or thinking they have attached it. It would be great if they would be notified that they were successful.

Answer: The new assignment tool has been changed so that students can upload more than one file. This change made it necessary to have the second button click to attach a file.

The best solution for this is to allow a student more than one attempt. If the student is not sure if the file was attached he/she can look in the My Grades area to verify if the file was sent. If not they can resubmit.

I have read that the next update to Bb will have this problem resolved allowing a one-click upload.

Comment: I need more control over student test access than possible/not possible and general password protection. This would be an individual student control over a specific test for access.

Answer: A password can be set for test. Adding adaptive release rules can allow an greater variety of access privileges such as time, user/groups, or based on grade. You can create multiple rules for more complex situations.

Question: Is there a simple way to upload grades?

Answer: Yes! On the far right of the grade center screen you will find Work Offline. There you can download and upload grades. For details see the More Help link at the top of that page.

Question: Can the Grade Center tie in to Access.SMU for final grades?

Answer: This may be possible in the future. We have been looking at the possibilities.

Comment: I would like to see a more intuitive grade-weighting interface.

Answer: The interface could be more intuitive. One of our staff would be happy to sit with you one-on-one to get you acclimated to the Grade Center.

Question: Is there a way to simplified ability to upload multiple files?

Answer: The Add Document Package tool allows you to upload a zip package containing documents. It creates course content items within the content area for each file. The directory structures in the zip file are also translated into folders within the system. This tool is not for uploading html packages.

Comment: The real problem with Bb, as opposed to other online content management systems, is that all information on those pages is password protected. I want a course page that is openly accessible to the public, but that I can also control access to certain key portions (e.g. grades).

Answer: Guest access to your course will provide this. A guest is limited to seeing only content. They cannot see test, assignments, groups, or grades. Be sure to check the Guest Access page in the Control Panel. Guest access must be turned on.

Guest can find our course through the Courses tab. They can more easily find your course if you send them the course ID or name.

Comment: I feel Bb has become less easy to use. I cannot upload things without first putting them in the content folder. 20 MB is simply unworkable. I don’t always succeed at doing the same thing twice.

Response: It is easiest to simply add a content item and upload a file directly to the course. The Content Collection can be useful if you are sharing files with others in your department. True your personal folder is only 20 MB, however, each school and department has 500 MB of space allotted to each folder. We can give more space if necessary. You will find those folders in the SMU Content area just below My Content.

A better answer may be to store your files in SMU’s Locker.SMU web based file storage. Files stored there can also be linked to your Bb pages. See: locker.smu.edu