Top 5 support guide

Top 5 How-To Guide:
Blackboard Support
ITS Run
help@case.edu
(216) 368-HELP (4357)

Support Overview
This guide contains information on five of the top issues I see when
supporting Blackboard:
- Accessing Documents
- Guest Access
- Course Copy
- Discussion Board Settings
- Weighted Grades

The instructions provided here assume that you have a basic grasp
on how to manipulate and maneuver a Blackboard site.

#1: Unable to Access Documents
There are many reasons why Documents cannot be accessed in
Blackboard. I’ve presented some of the more common causes here.

Applies To: Students/Instructors
Difficulty To Learn: Moderate
Difficulty To Troubleshoot: Moderate
Time To Troubleshoot: Varies

Browser

 The first thing to check is the internet browser
the user is using to access Blackboard.
 Make sure that any pop-up blockers are disabled.
 Suggest Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to see if
this resolves the issue.
 Attempt to save the file to their computer.
 Right click on the file name in Blackboard, then select
“Save File As…” or “Save Linked Content As…”

Check Settings

 Have the Instructor double check the
availability settings of the document. It’s
possible they accidentally limited the range of
users that can access it.
 Also check the Adaptive Release Settings:
 From the item’s Edit Arrow, select “Adaptive Release”
 You might also want to check “Adaptive Release:
Advanced” for anything unusual

Course-Wide Issue
 If the entire class is unable to open a specific file:
 It may be corrupted. Ask the Instructor to re-upload it to
Blackboard.
 It may be password protected. Ask the Instructor to check the
document and unprotect it before re-uploading.
 It may be generating an error in Blackboard. Sometimes if the file
name contains extra spaces at the beginning of the file name or
unusual characters it does not upload correctly. Suggest that the
Instructor changes the name of the file locally before re-uploading.
 It may be an incompatible file extension. Make sure that it is a
normal document format that most users can open.

#2: Guest Access
Occasionally an Instructor has added guests into their site. Settings
need to be adjusted to ensure that guests can see the content.

Applies To: Instructors
Difficulty To Learn: Low
Difficulty To Troubleshoot: Low
Time To Troubleshoot: Low (5 Minutes)

If Guests Are Unable To See Content

 First, check that guest access is enabled:
 From the Control Panel, select “Customization” then
“Guest and Observer Access”
 Make sure that “Allow Guests” is set to “Yes”
 Next, check that Content Areas in the Course
Menu are set to allow guests.
 Click on the drop-down arrow next to a menu item,
then make sure that you click on “Permit Guests.” If
the option says “Deny Guests,” it is set up correctly.

If Guests Are Unable To See Content

 The final step is to make sure that the course
tools are set to allow guests access.
 From the Control Panel, select “Customization” then
select “Tool Availability”
 Check that the checkboxes in the “Visible to Guests”
column are selected

#3: Copying Content

Time To Troubleshoot: Low (5 Minutes)

Course Copy

 During the beginning of the semester, we get a
lot of requests asking for instructions regarding
copying content from one site to another.
 The Course Copy feature in Blackboard allows
Instructors to copy information from one of their
sites and move it into another site.

Before the Course Copy

 Before the Instructor copies their
content, ensure the following:
 The new site where they will be copying content is
set-up.
 They know which areas of the old site they want to
copy into the new site.
 They understand that all of the material (such as in a
Content Area) will be transferred, but it can be
removed once the process is complete.

Start the Copy Process
 To access Course Copy:
 Enter into the old Blackboard site
 From the Control Panel, select “Packages and
Utilities”
 Select “Course Copy”
 Click “Browse” and select the new site
 Select the checkboxes next to the areas that need to
be copied
Note: Do NOT select “Include Enrollments in the Copy”

Completing the Process

 The copy process may take several minutes to
a few hours, depending on the amount of
content being copied. The Instructor will receive
an e-mail when the process is complete.
 Once complete, they can enter into the new
Blackboard site and remove or edit any of the
copied content.

#4: Discussion Board Settings
Many Instructors are unaware what choices to make when it comes
to setting-up their new discussion board forums.

Time To Troubleshoot: Moderate (10 Minutes)

A Quick Discussion Board Overview
 Think of a discussion board
like a set of nesting dolls:
– The largest doll is a
discussion board.
Each site gets one main discussion board

– Next comes a forum.
– Then a thread.
– Finally, there are replies.
Replies are where the bulk of
conversations take place

Forum Settings Overview
When creating a new forum, these are the settings that Instructors are given.

Forum Settings

 It is important to remember that each course’s
needs are different.
 The following slides make recommendations
based on the typical set-ups that most
Instructors use for their forums.

Forum Settings, Part 1

• Allow Anonymous Posts
• Allows students to post anonymously
• Allow Author to Delete Own Posts
• Allows students to delete their published posts
• Allow Author to Edit Own Published Posts
• Allows students to make edits to their published posts
Recommendation for Instructors:
Enable editing of published posts but leave
other options blank.

• Allow Post Tagging
• Enables students to tag posts with words; similar to a blog where
posts are tagged with keywords
• Allow Users to Reply with Quote
• Allows students to quote others’ posts within threads
• Allow File Attachments
• Allows students to upload files with posts
• Allow Members to Create new Threads
• Allows students to create threads within each forum; this impacts
the organization of the forum and how Instructors/students interact
Recommendations for Instructors:
Allow users to reply with quote and create new
threads.

• Subscribe
• This function does not work in our system
• Allow Members to Rate Posts
• This provides students a star-based system for rating everyone’s
posts; think of this as similar to rating movies out of five stars
• Force Moderation of Posts
• This requires that all posts are approved by the Instructor before
posting; this creates a lot of work for Instructors
• Grade
• Adds a column in the Grade Center for student participation
within the discussion board; this needs to be manually graded
Recommendations for Instructors:
Add grades if necessary, but ignore other
options.

#5: Weighted Grades
Weighting grades in the Grade Center can be difficult to get sorted
out, but once the columns are set-up the process is relatively easy.

Difficulty To Learn: Moderate
Difficulty To Troubleshoot: Moderate to High
Time To Troubleshoot: Long (15+ Minutes)

Weighted Column vs. Total Column

 When first setting-up the Grade Center, it’s important to
decide if a weighted column is necessary.
 Total columns simply add up the points in a course,
whereas weighted columns allow for more
customization to calculate a grade.
 Familiarize yourself with the Instructor’s grading
scheme for the course to make this decision.
 If grades are on a point-based system, you should use a total
column (the points act as weighting already).
 Most other schema should use a weighted column.

Default Columns in the Grade Center

 Please be aware that Blackboard automatically places both a total
column and a weighted column in every Grade Center.
 These columns can be edited to display the final grade; new columns
do not need to be added into the Grade Center.
 Once you have decided which column to use, I would delete the
other to avoid confusion.
 By default, the total column is set to display as an external grade (the
one that will be sent to SIS), so you cannot delete it.
 To delete the total column, set the weighted column as the external
grade column:
Select the Edit Arrow at the top of the weighted column
Select “Set as External Grade,” then delete the total column

Initial Set-up of Weighted Columns
 When initially setting-up a weighted column, it is
easier to have the other Grade Center columns
already set-up.
 This will allow Instructors to go in once to edit the
weighted column at the beginning of the
semester so that it accurately displays the grade
throughout the semester.
 This will also help avoid errors, such as
forgetting to add in items created at a later date.

Resolving Calculation Errors in a
Weighted Column
1. Take a look at the components of the weighted
column
2. Check points possible values
3. Make sure that there are no accidentally hidden
columns
4. Ensure that items are properly placed in
categories
5. Check running total option

1. The Weighted Column
 The first thing to check is how the weighted
column is set-up to represent the grading
scheme for the course.
 Ask the Instructor how they are structuring their
assignments, tests, etc. for their class.
 Decide if single columns or entire categories should
be used in the weighted column.
For example, if an instructor has 6 quizzes that should be worth 10%
of the overall grade, each individual quiz column would need to be
added to the weighted column as 1.66%. A category can contain all 6
quizzes and be set to represent a simple 10% of the overall grade.

2. Points Possible

 Next, check is to make sure that the Instructor
has entered realistic grades that correspond to
the column’s points possible value.
 For example, make sure that nothing higher than a
100 is entered for a column with points possible of
100. Similarly, make sure that the maximum grade
entered is not a 5 for a column with points possible of
100.
 From the Grade Center, hover over the gray column
header to see the points possible value.

3. Check for Hidden Columns
 Sometimes Instructors accidentally hide
columns that could be calculating in the
weighted column. To check for hidden columns:
 Enter into the Grade Center
 From the “Manage” button, select “Column Organization”
 Search for any hidden columns and change them to be shown
 As a general rule of thumb, it’s best to avoid
hiding columns; either delete them or
consolidate.

4. Categories
 Ensure that if a category is being used in the
weighted column that it contains all of the
relevant columns.
 To easily view which columns are in which
category:
 Enter into the Grade Center
 From the “Manage” button, select “Categories”
 If a column is missing from a category, edit the
column and assign the correct category.

5. Running Total
 Running total is an option that instructors can
disable that will include zero-point grades in the
weighted grade, even if there has been no
attempt (this will skew grades negatively if
there are blank columns).
 To check that running total is enabled:
 Enter into the Grade Center and edit the weighted
column
 Ensure that “Calculate as a Running Total” is set to
“Yes”

If All Else Fails…
 Manually calculate a student’s grade (I prefer to
do this in Excel) to see how different the two
grades are.
 Make sure that, if you’ve added a category to
the weighted column, that the items are graded
equally (all the same weight) or proportionally
(based off the difference in point values).
 Ensure that grades for external items have
been entered accurately by the Instructor.

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