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Tip: You can add a course tool link to a content area in your course.
Here’s how to do it:
Enter your course and click the course menu link for the content area to which you would like to add a tool. For example, if you want to add a tool link to your Course Documents content area, click on Course Documents.
Click the Edit View link on the top right corner of the page. Click the drop-down menu next to the Select icon and select the Tool option. Click Go.
Select the tool link you want to add and click the Next button.Using tool links:
Consider adding tools to content areas to facilitate students’ navigation of the course. For example, if the students’ first task in the course is to create a Blackboard homepage, consider adding a homepage tool link to your First Tasks, Syllabus, or Assignments content area.
Want more information?
Step-by-step tutorials are available at: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard/Bb72Tutorials.aspVisit our website: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard,
or call: (940) 898-3706
Tip: You can add a glossary to your Blackboard course.
Here’s how to do it:
Navigate to your course Control Panel and click Glossary Manager. Click the +Add Term button to add a new term and its definition. Click Submit to save the term and definition. Follow the same steps to add more terms to the glossary.
You can create your glossary in Excel or in Notepad and upload it into your Blackboard shell. Click the Upload Glossary button and Browse for the glossary file you created. Click Submit to upload the glossary.
Creating a glossary in Excel or Notepad:
Create your glossary in Excel by creating a column for the terms and a column for the definitions. Save the Excel glossary as a tab-delimited file or .csv file.
To create your glossary in Notepad, type the term and definition in quotation marks and separate the term and definition with a comma: “term”,“definition” (do not type any spaces between the characters). Save the Notepad file as a .txt file or .csv file.
Want more information?
Step-by-step tutorials are available at: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard/Bb72Tutorials.aspVisit our website: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard,
or call: (940) 898-3706
Tip: Download students’ Assignments to your computer all at once through the Gradebook.
Here’s how to do it:
The Blackboard Assignments feature gives instructors several options for viewing students’ work. Create an Assignment to which students can submit their work. When you are ready to download students’ work, navigate to your course Gradebook.
Click the name of the Assignment in the Gradebook and click Item Download. To download all the students’ Assignments, click the Select All link at the top of the page and click Submit. The students’ assignments will be packaged as a .zip file that can be downloaded to your computer. Right-click the link provided, select “Save Target As…” and save the file to your computer.
Errors when downloading students’ assignment files:
Some instructors may receive an error when attempting to download students’ Assignments all at once. To reduce the incidence of this error, recommend to students that they follow Blackboard-appropriate naming conventions (see Tip # 19). If you still encounter the problem, download the students’ Assignments individually.
Want more information?
Step-by-step tutorials are available at: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard/Bb72Tutorials.aspVisit our website: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard,
or call: (940) 898-3706
Tip: Reduce the number of error messages you and students receive when opening files by appropriately naming files uploaded to Blackboard.
Here’s how to do it:
There are several file name characters that may lead to error messages when instructors or students upload or download files. To reduce the occurrence of those errors, follow these naming conventions:
• Use only letters, numbers, underscores, and hyphens in file names
• Use hyphens or underscores in place of spaces in file names
• Do not use periods in a file name, except before the file extension (e.g. “Name_test1.doc”)
• Do not use spaces, commas, pound signs (#), question marks, equal signs, ampersands (&), asterisks (*), or any other special characters in file names
• Keep file names under 60 characters in length
You may recommend to students that they follow these same naming conventions. This is helpful when you are downloading multiple students’ files all at once (e.g. downloading students’ completed assignments)
Uploading multiple files into Blackboard:
When you upload multiple files into Blackboard, they are automatically organized numerically then alphabetically by the name of the file. If you want a specific order in which your files will appear, name the files accordingly. For example, you may name a file 1_Hill_article and another file 2_McCubbins_article so that they appear in numerical order.
Want more information?
Step-by-step tutorials are available at: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard/Bb72Tutorials.asp
Visit our website: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard,
or call: (940) 898-3706
Tip: You can download your Gradebook into Microsoft Excel and upload your Gradebook into Blackboard from Excel.
Here’s how to do it:
To download your Blackboard Gradebook to Excel, navigate to your course Gradebook. Click the Download Grades button. Select the Tab filter type and click Submit. Right-click the Download button and select Save Target As… Name the file and select the location on your computer to which you want to save the file. Click the Save button. Locate the file you saved, double-click the file, and it will open in Microsoft Excel.
NOTE: We recommend that instructors periodically download their Gradebooks to an external drive for record-keeping purposes.
Upload your Gradebook from Excel into Blackboard:
Navigate to your Gradebook and click the Upload Grades button. Click the Browse button to locate the Excel file on your computer hard drive. Click Submit. Select the Excel column you want to import. Select the column to which you will import the Excel information or select the option to create a new Gradebook column. NOTE: You can import only one column at a time. Click Submit.
On the next page, select which students’ grades you want to upload or click the Select All button to upload all students’ grades. Click Submit.
Want more information?
Step-by-step tutorials are available at: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard/Bb72Tutorials.aspVisit our website: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard,
or call: (940) 898-3706
Tip: Beginning of semester tasks
Beginning of semester tasks:
1. Enhance course design and menu options.
2. Combine multiple course sections into one shell (if applicable).
3. Make the course available.
Completing the beginning of semester tasks:
Enhancing the course design and menu options
1) Access your course
2) Click the Control Panel link
3) Click Course Design
In the Course Design area, you can choose a course menu design, manage how the menu is displayed, manage the tool panel, and add/change the course banner.
4) Return to the Control Panel and click Manage Course Menu
5) To re-arrange the order of menu items, click the number next to an item and select a new number order for the item
6) To modify or remove a menu item, click the Modify or Remove button next to an item
7) To add a content area, link to a course tool, a link to a course area, or an external link to the course menu, click the appropriate button at the top of the page8) Click OK
Combining multiple course sections into one shell (if applicable)
1) Access the course from which you want to move users
2) Click the Control Panel link
3) Under the Course Options category, click Course Copy
4) Click Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course
5) Type or Search for the Destination Course ID (the Destination Course is the course to which to enrollments will be copied)
6) Place a checkmark next to Tasks and next to Enrollments
7) Click Submit; you will receive an email notification when the enrollments copy is complete
Making the course available
1) Access the course you want to make available
2) Click the Control Panel link
3) Under the Course Options category, click Settings
4) Click Course Availability
5) Select Yes
6) Click Submit
Want more information?
Step-by-step tutorials are available at: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard/Bb72Tutorials.aspVisit our website: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard,
or call: (940) 898-3706
Tip: End of Semester Checklist
End-of-semester checklist:
1. Export the final course gradebook.
2. Archive your Blackboard course.
3. Make the course unavailable.
Completing the end-of-semester tasks:
Exporting the Blackboard Gradebook
1) Access the course that contains the Gradebook you want to export
2) Click the Control Panel link
3) Click Gradebook
4) Click the Download Grades button
5) Select Comma or Tab as the Delimiter Type (both file types can be opened in MS Excel)
6) Click the Submit button and then click the Download button
7) Save the file to your Desktop (or anywhere on your computer that is appropriate)
8) Click OK
Archiving a Blackboard Course
1) Access the course you want to archive
2) Click the Control Panel link
3) Under the Course Options category, click Archive Course
4) Click the Archive button
5) Click Submit
6) After you receive the archive completion email, navigate to the Archive Course page again. Right-click the zipped course file and click Save Target As… to save the file to your computer
7) Click OK
Making a Course Unavailable
1) Access the course you want to make unavailable
2) Click the Control Panel link
3) Under the Course Options category, click Settings
4) Click Course Availability
5) Select No
6) Click Submit
Want more information?
Step-by-step tutorials are available at: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard/Bb72Tutorials.aspVisit our website: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard,
or call: (940) 898-3706
Tip: You can sort and filter items in your Gradebook.
Here’s how to do it:
Navigate to your course Gradebook. You can sort Gradebook items by Position, Category, Date Added, Date, Points Possible, Title, and Weight. Select your sort criteria and click the Go button. Sorting is useful to locate specific columns in the Gradebook and to minimize scrolling to find these columns.
Filtering your Gradebook allows you to view only the items you specify. You can filter your Gradebook by Category or by users’ last names.
Filtering Items by Category:
Categories are created automatically for all Gradebook items. To manually categorize items or change categories in the Gradebook, click the Manage Items button and click the Modify button next to an item for which you would like to change the category. Select a category from the drop-down list and click Submit.
After categorizing the Gradebook items, select the category by which you would like to filter the items and click the Go button. To view all Gradebook items again, select All as the filter category and click the Go button.
Want more information?
Step-by-step tutorials are available at: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard/Bb72Tutorials.aspVisit our website: http://www.twu.edu/blackboard,
or call: (940) 898-3706
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