Blackboard “Alignments”

The latest version of Blackboard has a new feature that allows staff to set “Goals” for their Courses, and then add “Alignments” between items in the Courses and these Goals. Unfortunately, references to Alignments appear in various places even when Goals have not been set – notably, on students’ My Grades pages, and at the top of any Content page created as a “Blank Page”. We have requested that Blackboard issue a patch that will enable us to remove these; until this time, please just ignore them – they have no effect when not associated with Goals.

Upgrading your materials from Campus Pack 3 to 4

 

If your courses contain materials created in Campus Pack (wikis, blogs and podcasts) the first time the link is clicked following the upgrade on the 17th August it will automatically update from the old version of the tool to the new.

To do this the following steps are requried –

Click View

 The upgrade process will start – this may take some time but it will not stop you using  another browser tab.

You will receive a message when complete and the materials will open

 

How to record a podcast directly to your Personal Learning Space

To complete this you will need a microphone to record the podcast and sound to listen back.
  • Click on the Personal Learning Space
  • Click Add Content
  • Click Podcast
  • Give the Podcast a name and add a description (if you want to)
  • Click  Add New Episode
  • Add a title for your podcast and Continue
  • Select Record Media
  • Click Record when you are ready to start
  • Click Finish when you are ready
  • Use the onscreen buttons to review
  • Click Save & Exit

How do I update my profile

Campus Pack 4 – Personal Learning Space –

  • Select the Personal Learning Space tab in Blackboard
  • Select your name
  • Select Settings

You can now manage your profile by adding an image and set your visibility in the public directory.

How to send a message

  • Go to your Messages tab and
  • click Compose Message.
  • Click in the To field
  • find the person’s name in the Directory; then click OK.
  • Type your subject and message and click Send.

How to set up a group and invite people

  • Go to the Groups tab
  • Click Create New Group.
  • Enter the name and a description of the group
  • Select Member, or Select Manager to invite people
  • Search for the relevant names in the directory
  • Repeat the two steps above until invites complete and Submit

 

Controlling display of course listings in “My Courses”

Since 2012 previous year’s versions of SITS unit courses have been automatically retained on Blackboard, so staff and students can have easy access to these where appropriate.

Following the annual course roll-over at the start of August, you will be able to see previous as well as current versions of unit courses, clearly identified by a year suffix in the course ID and name, eg:

Course ID                           Course name
BIOL11000                          Biology 1A Diversity of Life 11_12
BIOL11000_2012_13          Biology 1A: Diversity of Life 12_13
BIOL11000_2013                Biology 1A: Diversity of Life 2013
BIOL11000_2014                Biology 1A: Diversity of Life 2014

BIOL11000_2015                Biology 1A: Diversity of Life 2015

 

This year all 2014 courses will by default remain available to students – in previous years staff could make the courses available to students if they wished. 

Staff can easily make multiple courses unavailable to students, if required, using the Qwickly tool on their Blackboard home page.

Staff and students can choose to group each year’s courses under separate headings in the “My Courses” box on your Blackboard Home tab. To do this, please follow the instructions below:

  1. Move your mouse to the top right of the My Courses box on your Blackboard home page and click on the small cog wheel icon.
  2. On the page that opens, under “1. Terms”, tick “Group by Term”
  3. Note that you can also choose which courses and terms you want displayed, and whether you want to see course names, course IDs, or both.
  4. When you have finished click “Submit”
  5. Here is a 25-second video on how to use group courses using terms.