Using the Roster Tool

Question: How can Students or Participants see who else is enrolled on a Blackboard Course or Organisation?

Answer: Course Intructors and Organisation Leaders can allow Students or Particpants to see who else is enrolled on a Course or Organisation by adding the Roster tool to it. This short movie shows you how to add the Roster tool. Students or Participants will be able to search for the names, usernames and email addresses of others.

Using Tools in Blackboard

Places are still available on the Using Tools in Blackboard training session on Wednesday 6th February from 09.30 – 12.30.

The session introduces the communication, collaboration, and course management tools in Blackboard Courses and Organisations. The tools covered include email, group management, discussion boards, blogs and wikis amongst others. The session will take place in the CSED IT Training Room in the Learning and Resources Centre.

Please contact Jude Smith in CSED to book on the course.

Making courses available

In order for students to be able to access courses on Blackboard, they need to be ‘available’.

Instructors can make their courses available via the Control Panel of the course. Select Settings, then Course Availability, select the Yes radio button and Submit.

Blackboard Conferences 2008

The locations and dates for the various Blackboard conferences this year are as follows.

Blackboard Europe Conference
12th – 14th May 2008
The Palace Hotel, Manchester

BbWorld
15th-18th July 2008
Venetian Resort Hotel, Las Vegas

Durham Blackboard Users Conference
18th-19th December 2008
Durham University

Assignment Tool vs. Digital Dropbox Tool

Question: How can students or participants submit work electronically in Blackboard Courses or Organisations?

Answer: There are two main methods (three if you count Email attachments) of submitting work electronically – the Digital Dropbox tool and the Assignment tool. You should use the tool which best suits your needs but, as the following quick comparison chart shows, the Assignment tool is often the better option.

Feature	Dropbox	Assignment	Notes
Work is organised by assignment and student/participant	no	yes
Submissions are date and time stamped	yes	yes
Submissions are integrated with the Gradebook tool	no	yes
Instructors/Leaders can easily tell who has and hasn’t submitted work	no	yes
Instructors/Leaders can download multiple files at the same time	no	yes	All files can be downloaded from a single assignment at the same time using the Assignment tool. Files are compressed into a single ZIP file.
Students/Participants can resubmit assignments	yes	yes	Although Instructors/Leaders must clear the previous assessment attempt for the Assignment tool
Students/Participants can submit multiple files for a single assignment	yes	yes
Instructors/Participants can return a single file to multiple students	yes	no

Submitting Assignments

Question: How do my students submit their work to a Course Assignment?

Answer: This movie shows how students submit their work to a Course Assignment.

Downloading Submitted Assignments

Question: How do I download submitted Assignments from my Blackboard Course or Organisation?

Answer: Course Instructors or Organisation Leaders can download all files submitted to an Assignment using the Control Panel. This movie shows you how for a Blackboard Course.

Creating Assignments in Blackboard

Question: How do I create an assignment in a Blackboard Course or Organisation?

Answer: The assignment tool allows students or participants to electronically submit coursework and other files to Course Instructors or Organisation Leaders. This movie shows you how to create an assignment in a Blackboard Course.

Linking to External Websites

Question: How do I link to external websites from my Blackboard Course or Organisation?

Answer: Links can be made to external websites from either the Course/Organisation Menu or from a Content Area. This movie shows you how.

Adding YouTube Content to Courses or Organisations

Question: How do I add YouTube content to my Blackboard Course or Organisation?

Answer: There are two ways of adding YouTube content to your Blackboard Course or Organisation:

i) Add an External Link to the Course/Organisation Menu or to a Content Area. This movie shows you how.

ii) Add an Item and cut and paste the ‘embed’ html from the YouTube movie into it. This movie shows you how.