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ODU > Blackboard > News > What's
New
Blackboard 8 Sneak Preview: NEW GRADE CENTER!
Blackboard 8 is coming for Spring. The upgrade is scheduled for the weekend of December 19-20.
In addition to resolving some technical issues we’ve experienced lately, Blackboard 8 is providing a more flexible Grade Center.
Some of the new features are listed below:
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Stationary Student Names - They don’t scroll out of view
- Calculated Columns - Weighted, Total, Average, Minimum/Maximum
- Ability to Drop the Lowest Grade in a Category
- Management Features - Upload/Download, Categories, Smart Views, Grading Periods, and Schemas, Organization, Show/Hide Users
- Tools - Email, Reports, and Grade History
Join us for a Sneak Preview seminar in Gornto 411 in November or December - Dates and times are available on the attached calendar. Full workshops will begin in January. Online resources will be available at http://clt.odu.edu.
Please register to save your seat now! http://clt.odu.edu/facdev.
If the sneak preview schedule is not convenient for you, please let us know what works best for you at clt@odu.edu so that we can consider additional sessions.
Blackboard Spring 2010 Course Sites are Available
Spring 2010 Course IDs begin with "200920_SPRING_" and are followed by the course number and lowest course reference number (CRN) . If you do not see a Spring 2010 course that you expect to see on your list of courses, contact your department office to see if you are listed as instructor in Banner before contacting the OCCS Technical Support Center.
Purging Summer 2008 Blackboard Courses
Courses taught during Summer 2008 (Blackboard course IDs begin with 200730_SUMMER) will be purged on November 11. Please export the data you wish to keep from these courses before November 11 after this date these courses will no longer appear on your course list and they cannot be restored. Please see http://clt.odu.edu/bb/tutorials/blackboard_export/index.php?page=1 for help with exporting courses.
H1N1 Readiness: Faculty Bb Training
In the event of a pandemic (or catastrophic weather) emergency, instructors will need to use alternate methods of communication (and instruction), such as Blackboard, to reach their students.
Those currently using Blackboard are encouraged to continue to use it both to communicate and to share course content with their students.
Those who have never used Blackboard to communicate with their students are urged to attend a 45-minute-long hands-on Blackboard training session to be held in the Center for Learning Technologies’ Faculty Development Lab, Gornto 411. Please choose a time from the October and November dates listed as H1N1 Readiness: Faculty Bb Training at http://clt.odu.edu/facdev.
Internet Explorer 8 Problems in Blackboard
Internet Explorer version 8 (IE8) is not compatible with Blackboard. It has not been certified by Blackboard (the company). There are several known issues with this browser including problems submitting assignments/tests, timer covering the submit button in timed tests, and browser warning about non-secure content on web pages. Please advise your students to avoid using IE8 especially when taking exams/tests. On Windows platforms, you can use IE7 or Firefox 2.x. And on Mac, please use Safari 2.0, Firefox 2.0 (Mac 10.4 and Higher).
April 1- Blackboard 2009 Summer and Fall Courses Available
Courses for summer and fall are now available in Blackboard . Summer courses will begin with the prefix 200830_SUMMER and fall courses will begin with the prefix 200910_FALL. Faculty must be assigned to teach the course in Banner for the course to appear in your Blackboard course listing. If you do not see a course listed please first contact scheduling to ensure you are “on record” if you still experience issues please contact OCCS.
Please remember to make your courses available once you are ready for students to view them. Courses can be made available by going to the control panel>settings>course availability and set to "yes".
Summer 2007 Courses to be Purged from Blackboard 03/17/09
Summer 2007 course sites which begin with 200630_SUMMER will be purged from Blackboard on March 17, 2009. Please save an export of the courses you wish to keep on file for future semesters before March17. After March 17, these courses will no longer be in the system to view or use. View the Export Course Tutorial if you need help exporting your course.
Blackboard and Questionmark will be unavailable Sun Jan 18 6am-12noon
Blackboard and Questionmark will be unavailable Sun Jan 18 6am-12noon for maintenance. You might be able to log in, but service will be intermittent during that time. Please plan your work accordingly. For additional details, please check the News link at http://occs.odu.edu.
Blackboard will be unavailable Fri Dec 19 at 5:00 pm to Sun Dec 21 at noon
Blackboard will be unavailable Fri Dec 19 at 5:00 pm to Sun Dec 21 at noon for maintenance.
Spring 2009 Courses are Available in Blackboard (200820_SPRING)
Courses for Spring 2009 are now available in Blackboard. Spring courses will begin with the prefix 200820_SPRING. Faculty must be assigned to teach the course in Banner for the course to appear in your Blackboard course listing. If you do not see a course listed please first contact your department chair to ensure you are “on record” for teaching the course. If you are "on record" and still experience issues locating your course please contact OCCS at occshelp@odu.edu
Spring 2007 Courses to be Purged from Blackboard 10/20/08
Spring 2007 course sites which begin with 200620_SPRING will be purged from Blackboard on October 20, 2008. Please save an export of the courses you wish to keep on file for future semesters before October 20. After October 20, these courses will no longer be in the system to view or use. View the Export Course Tutorial if you need help exporting your course.
Blackboard and Questionmark Maintenance Sunday August 17
OCCS will conduct maintenance on the Blackboard database and Questionmark systems on Sunday August 17 during the normal Sunday maintenance window of 6am-12noon.
ATTENTION: Course Availability Issues
Students are reporting to Faculty and Technical Support that they are no longer able to see some of their courses in Blackboard.
What can you do if students cannot see YOUR course?
First, make sure your course is still "Available" - Control Panel > Settings > Course Availability = Yes.
Second, make sure the course duration is "Continuous."
Remember, to make your courses available or unavailable use Availability Settings, not Duration.
Blackboard Summer and Fall Courses Available
Courses for summer and fall are now available in Blackboard . Summer courses will begin with the prefix 200730_SUMMER and fall courses will begin with the prefix 200810_FALL. Faculty must be assigned to teach the course in Banner for this course to appear in your Blackboard course listing. If you do not see a course listed please first contact scheduling to ensure you are “on record” if you still experience issues please contact OCCS.
Blackboard Unavailable Sunday 2/24 6am-8am
Blackboard will be unavailable on Sunday, February 24, from 6am-8am.
Fall 2006 Courses Removed from Blackboard on March 19
Fall 2006 course sites which begin with 200610_FALL will be purged from Blackboard on March 19, 2008. Please save an export of the courses you wish to keep on file for future semesters before March 19. After March 19, these courses will no longer be in the system for you to view or use. View the Export Course Tutorial if you need help exporting your course.
Blackboard Unavailable - Sunday 2/10 6am-8am
Blackboard will be unavailable Sunday, February 10, from 6am-8am.
SafeAssign Scheduled Maintenance 1/30/2008
Blackboard (the company) will start a brief maintenance period on SafeAssign at 5pm on Wednesday, January 30. The outage is expected to last only a few minutes. Users will not be able to submit to SafeAssign during the brief time that SafeAssign central service is unavailable.
Video Streaming Orientation
Effective Spring 2008, Video Streaming has a new face. Students who are enrolled in a Video Streaming section need to complete the Distance Learning VS Interface Orientation to verify they are prepared with the requirements for the new interface. Faculty may complete the orientation as well.
Official Bb URL is https://www.blackboard.odu.edu
As of Wednesday, Jan 9, the official and correct URL for the university's Blackboard learning management system is https://www.blackboard.odu.edu. Please make sure that you are using the correct URL (including the https and www). Please update any bookmarks you might already have.
If you log in to Blackboard through the portal at my.odu.edu, this issue does NOT apply to you as the link to Blackboard from the portal is automatically correct.
If you otherwise experience trouble logging in to Blackboard, please email occshelp@odu.edu and describe the trouble and resulting error messages in detail.
Blackboard Unavailable 6:00am-12:00pm (noon), Sunday 12/16
Blackboard will be unavailable from 6:00am to 12:00pm (noon) on Sunday 12/16 due to server maintenance. You might be able to log in, but service will be intermittent during that time. Please plan your work accordingly.
SafeAssign - Faculty Cannot use PaperClip to View/Download in Internet Explorer 6
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Faculty: Blackboard (the company) is aware of the problem downloading files in SafeAssign using Internet Explorer and is working on a fix. In the interim, go to SafeAssign from the Control Panel and use the Download button.
Blackboard Unavailable Sunday 11/18/2007 6am-12pm
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Blackboard will be unavailable on Sunday, November 18 from 6am-12pm for maintenance.
Spring 2008 Courses in Blackboard
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FACULTY: Courses for Spring 2008 are in your Blackboard list of courses. These courses will appear as 200720_SPRING followed by Course Number and lowest CRN.
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STUDENTS: Courses for which you are registered in Spring 2008 will display in your course list in Blackboard as faculty make them available.
Summer 2006 Course Purge Scheduled for Oct 16
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Summer 2006 course sites which begin with 200530_Summer will be purged from Blackboard on or around October 16, 2007. Please save an export of the courses you wish to keep on file for future semesters before October 16. After October 16, these courses will no longer be in the system for you to view or use. View the Export Course Tutorial if you need help exporting your course.
System-wide Change to Guest Access on Oct 2
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Effective October 2, guest access will be reset to "No" for all courses. If you had already allowed guest access or you wish to open your course for guest access, please note that you will have to set this option for the course level from the control panel of your course. [Control Panel > Settings > Guest Access]
Change to Summer 2007 Course Availability Settings Scheduled for Oct 2
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Effective October 2, 200630_SUMMER course availability will be reset to "No" for the entire system. If you wish to have these courses open again for your students, you will have to set this option from the control panel of your course. [Control Panel > Settings > Course Availability]
New Tool in Blackboard for Plagiarism Detection
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Safe Assignment (SafeAssign) is a plagiarism prevention service offered by Blackboard. This tool is designed to assist in the detection of plagiarism in students’ papers. Refer to the Resources tab in Blackboard or link directly to the Step by Step Instructions in CLT's How do I? Knowledge Base.
Bb has a new look!
Accessing Blackboard:
- You can still access Blackboard from the Current Students, Faculty and Staff, and Blackboard help pages or from the university portal, myODU. If you are requested to login after leaving the portal, use your MIDAS ID and password.
- If you prefer to access Blackboard directly, please use the full URL: https://www.blackboard.odu.edu in your browser address or favorites.
When you log into Blackboard you will notice some changes to the tabs and modules.
- My Blackboard & Courses combined. Use the edit tool to customize your view of courses. Simply click the pencil icon in the upper right corner of the My Courses module and click the display options you prefer. Your first option is to display courses or hide them. If you want to hide them, uncheck all display boxes. This action does not remove them permanently; you can return to display them again in the future, if needed. Then, you can select the level of information to be displayed on the courses you do not hide. For example, for a short, clean list check Course ID only. For a more detailed display, check any of the other display options: course name, instructors, announcements, tasks, and calendar events.
- New Tabs. Two new tabs, Resources and Help, provide information and links to helpful information.
- Faculty and Student Information Modules: These information modules will provide important notices about features in Blackboard, when courses will be added or purged, and other Blackboard related news. Be sure to read the information modules regularly.
- Course Catalog. If you use guest access in your course, your guests can search the course catalog from the front page of Blackboard.
Inside the course sites:
- You will be happy to see that the course ID displays in the frame navigation (breadcrumb trail).
- The control panel has a few new features.
- The chat application has been updated. If you have problems using Chat or Virtual Classroom you may need to download the Java plugin from the Blackboard collaboration launch page.
Workshops are available at http://clt.odu.edu/facdev.
Faculty Only: Quick Reference files for Blackboard and Faculty accounts have been updated
Blackboard unavailable Aug 14 (5pm) - Aug 17 (5pm)
Blackboard will be unavailable from 5:00pm Tuesday, August 14, through 5:00pm Friday, August 17, for an upgrade. Please note that Blackboard may be available before 5:00pm on Friday, but will be in testing mode, and you may be disconnected and may lose any work you are completing at that time. A message will be posted when Blackboard is available again. To check the status, visit http://occs.odu.edu.
Purge Spring 2006 Course Sites on June 6
Spring 2006 course sites will be purged from Blackboard on or around June 6, 2007. These are courses whose Blackboard course IDs begin with 200520_SPRING. Please export the data you wish to keep from these courses before June 6; after this date these courses will no longer appear on your course list.
View the Export Course tutorial if you need help exporting your course.
Spring 2007 Courses "Unavailable" as of May 29
On May 29, ALL Spring 2007 (200620_SPRING) courses will be set to unavailable. If you need your Spring courses to be available to students after May 29, please reset the availability.
IMPORTANT: Summer Course Availability and Duration:
Please remember after setting up your summer courses in Blackboard to make them available for students. At the end of the semester, remember to make them unavailable. Otherwise, do not change the duration of any of the courses.
Summer and Fall 2007 Blackboard Courses Available Early April
New Courses Available: Courses for Summer and Fall 2007 will become available on or near April 9. These courses will be available on your Blackboard list of courses provided you are listed as an instructor in LEO.
Fall 2005 Blackboard Courses to be Purged on Monday March 26
Old Courses Purged: On Monday, March 26, Fall 2005 courses will be purged from Blackboard. These are courses whose Blackboard course IDs begin with 200510_FALL. Only contents
available for exporting. Please save the data you wish to keep from these courses before March 26; after this date these courses will no longer be available, and Fall 2005 courses will no longer appear on your course lists.
To export course content from these courses, follow these simple steps:
1. Open the control panel of the course to be exported
2. Click Export Course under Course Options
3. Click the Export button to open the Export Course window
4. In Step 2, click all the items you want to include in the export.; then in Step 3, click Submit
5. Wait for an email from bbadmin indicating your export process is complete. This may take a few minutes to a few hours.
6. Return to the Control Panel and click Export Course again.
7. Right-click and download the new export file to your local computer.
When you need to use that content again in another course or another semester, you can use the Import Package option on the control panel in the destination course.
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