Summer Session Reminders

I hope everyone is ready to roll for the start of the summer session.   Here are a few reminders as you put the finishing touches on your courses.

1. Course Availability:  Don't forget to make course areas available to students by 8:00 AM at the start of your session.  (For example, if you have a 10 week session online or hybrid course, your course area should be made available no later than 8:00 AM on May 23rd.)    Modifying Course Availability Video 


2. Upgrade Checklist:  If you had content set-up before the upgrade or you ran any sort of course copy or export/import to reuse content from previous semesters, you should go through your courses very carefully to look for areas that may need to be fixed.  Use this course checklist as a guideline. 
   
   
3. Copy and Paste from Word:  As you continue to work on your courses or add content throughout the semester, remember that we have a new Copy and Paste from Word tool  If you are copying content form Microsoft Word to then paste into Blackboard, you need to utilize this tool.   In the past, instructors have been encouraged to not copy and paste from Word into Blackboard because of the number of issues that could result…text formatting problems, students unable to see text at all, corruption of tests, discussion board errors, and the list goes on….  This is due to hidden formatting code that is included when copying and pasting from Word.   We now have a tool in Blackboard that can remove that code which should address these issues and allow you to copy text from Word and paste directly into Blackboard.  It will preserve your tables and formatting from Word, but will remove any problematic coding.    Copy and Paste from Word Mash-Up
    
4. Instructor Student Accounts:  Do not forget that you will no longer have the capability to enroll or remove students within your course areas.  In the past, you had to enroll your own student account in your course(s), but you will not need to do this now.  I do encourage you to utilize your student account when checking your courses before the start of the semester and during the semester.  (Using Instructor Student Accounts)


5. The Blackboard Upgrade:   Blackboard 9.1 Information  (This is a link to the last blog post concerning the Blackboard upgrade.)


6. Tools:  If you utilize a link to "Tools" on your course menu, do not "Hide Links" to any tools that you utilize in your course from that screen.  You can make this button unavailable and make direct links to tools either on your course menu or within content areas of your course.  In Blackboard 9.1, if you hide the links on this "Tools" page, it hides those areas from students EVERYWHERE in your course.  This is not how Blackboard functioned in the previous versions.  


7. Web Browsers and Blackboard:  There continues to be issues with using Internet Explorer and Blackboard.  In the past, if you or a student HAD to use Internet Explorer, we recommended that you utilize Internet Explorer in Compatibility Mode.  We are beginning to now find issues with compatibility mode.  We recommend that you use either Firefox or Google Chrome when accessing Blackboard.  We are still testing Google Chrome, but it is now identified as a supported browser, and so far it looks positive.


8. Duplicate Menu Buttons:  When you copied over course content into your new course, you may have copied buttons that you didn't need. You need to either delete or hide those to clean up your course menu. For example: You should have a "Student Help" button, not "Help?".  Delete "Help?" if you see this in your course menu. Click here for Organizing the Course Menu Instructions (Warning if you course copied Instructor Resources or Student Help, you probably duplicated the content within those areas. Those areas are automatically created for all courses in the template. You don't need to include them in the course copy. Check the Student help button. You should see 4 folders. If you see duplicate folders, please get rid of them.) If your course is either an online or hybrid course, DO NOT remove the course evaluation button on the course menu.


9. Technology Training Site (This link will take you directly to BB handouts and tutorials.)    We will continue to update this with new Blackboard 9.1 Tutorials.  Also remember that you have access to software tutorials through Atomic Learning.  You can utilize these tutorials with students and/or view them yourself.  There are tutorials for Blackboard 9.1 (and many, many other software programs and tools) through this site, and several of those Blackboard tutorials are linked in the Student Help section of each summer and fall course shell.    There is information on Atomic Learning, including a link to the site, within Blackboard on the SVCC tab.
   
   
10. SVCC Distance Ed Page (Go to this website and scroll down to "Important Links". There you will find links to a Blackboard FAQ page, BB test taking tips page, Computer Maintenance Tips, etc. You might find useful information here that you direct your students to, such as how to submit an assignment into Blackboard or how to post to the discussion board.)