Tip #57: End of Semester Checklist

Tip: At the end of each semester, you should

1. Export the final course Gradebook
2. Archive your Blackboard course
3. Make the course unavailable

Export the final course Gradebook:

1. Access the course that contains the Gradebook you want to export
2. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on Gradebook
3. Click the Download Grades button
4. Select Comma or Tab as the Delimiter Type (both file types can be opened in MS Excel)
5. Click the Submit button then click the Download button
6. Save the file to your Desktop (or anywhere on your computer that is appropriate)
7. Click OK

Archive your Blackboard course:

1. Access the course you want to archive
2. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on Archive Course (located in the Course Options category)
3. Click the Archive button
4. Click Submit
5. After you receive the archive completion email, navigate to the Archive Course page again.
6. Right-click the zipped course file and click Save Target As… to save the file to your computer
   
• NOTE: If you are using Firefox, you will use the Save Link As… option instead
7. Click OK

Make the course unavailable:

1. Access the course you want to make unavailable
2. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on Settings (located in the Course Options category)
3. Click Course Availability
4. Select No, and click Submit
   

Tip #56: Creating an Anonymous Survey

Tip: You can create an anonymous survey in Blackboard.

Here’s how to create the survey:

1. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on Survey Manager


2. Click the + Add Survey button


3. Type a name for the survey as well as any description or instructions you want to provide then click Submit


4. Add questions to the survey
   
   
   
   1. Click on the drop-down menu next to the words Add Calculated Formula
   
   
   2. Select the type of question you would like to add then click the Go button
      
      • For open-ended questions, select the Short Answer or Essay question types
        

Here’s how to launch the survey in your course:

1. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on the Content Area where you would like to place the survey


2. Click the Edit View link at the upper right corner of the page


3. Click the drop-down menu next to the words + Select: Learning Unit


4. Select the Survey option then click the Go button


5. Select the survey you created then click Submit
   
   • To change the survey availability and settings, click the Modify the Survey options link on the following page

Survey anonymity in Blackboard:
Surveys in Blackboard are anonymous, so you will not be able to discern individuals’ survey answers. To view the full survey results,

1. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on Gradebook


2. Locate the survey Gradebook item, and click on the name of the survey


3. Click the Download Results link, and select your download options
   
   • NOTE: Microsoft Excel will open a .csv file or a tab-delimited file

Tip #55: Weight Gradebook Items by Category or by Item

Tip: You can weight Gradebook items by category or by item.

NOTE: After you assign weight to Gradebook items or categories, you cannot remove the weighting option from the Gradebook. Therefore, add weighting to the Gradebook only if you are certain that you will continue to use weighting the entire semester.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on Gradebook


2. Click the Weight Grades button


3. Select the option to Weight by Category* or to Weight by Item


4. Assign weight percentages to the desired categories or items
   
• Percentages must add up to 100%


5. Click Submit to save the new settings

*Weight by Category:
Weighting by category allows you to assign a weight percentage to a particular type of Gradebook item rather than to each Gradebook item. For example, you can weight all course quizzes at 30% of the students’ total grades. Each time you add a quiz, the weight percentage for each quiz will adjust so that their sum total can only affect up to 30% of the students’ grades. Remember, the total percentages across all categories must add up to 100%.

To use this feature correctly, it is important that you assign Gradebook items to appropriate categories. Here’s how to change a Gradebook item’s category:

1. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on Gradebook


2. Click the Manage Items button


3. Click the Modify button next to the Gradebook item you want to change


4. Select a new category for the item, and click Submit

Tip #54: Add/Remove users to the Instructor role

You can add users to the instructor role in your course as well as remove users from the instructor role from your course.

Here’s how to add users to the instructor role:
1. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on Enroll User
2. Search for the instructor’s username by typing their last name and clicking on the Search button
3. Place a checkmark next to the appropriate username then click Submit
4. Return to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on List/Modify Users
5. Click the Search button then click the Properties button next to the appropriate username
6. Under Role and Availability, select the Instructor role then click Submit

Here’s how to remove users from the instructor role:
1. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on List/Modify Users
2. Click the Search button then click the Properties button next to the appropriate username
3. Under Role and Availability, select the Student role then click Submit
4. Return to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on Remove Users from Course
5. Search for the instructor’s username by typing their last name and clicking on the Search button
6. Place a checkmark next to the appropriate username
7. Type Yes in the confirmation box then click Submit

• NOTE: You must type Yes, with a capital

Using the Add Users by Role feature: If you know the Blackboard username of the instructor you want to add, you can use the Add Users by Role feature.
1. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on Add Users by Role
2. Select the appropriate user role from the drop-down box
3. Type the Blackboard username(s) in the username box

• NOTE: You can add multiple users at once by separating each username with a comma

4. Click Submit to add the user(s)

Tip #53: Grading Discussion Board forums or threads

You can grade Discussion Board forums or threads.

Here’s how to enable grading:
1. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on Discussion Board
2. Choose the specific Discussion Board containing the Forum you would like to grade
3. Click the Modify button for the Forum you would like to grade
4. Under Forum Settings, select Grade Forum or Grade Threads
· Grade Forum will allow you to assign grades for students’ posts to that forum
· Grade Threads will allow you to assign grades for students’ replies to each thread in a forum

Here’s how to grade:
1. Click the Grade icon next to the forum or thread you would like to grade
2. Click the Grade button next to a student’s name
· The student’s posts to the forum or thread will display
· You can filter, sort, and print the student’s posts
3. Type a grade in the Grade box and click the Submit button

Discussion grading and the gradebook:
It is important to note that when you enable grading for a forum or thread, columns for those forums or threads are automatically generated in the gradebook.
· When you enable grading by forum, a column for that forum is created in the gradebook
· When you enable grading by thread, a column for each thread in a forum is created in the gradebook
Keep this in mind when choosing whether to grade by forum or thread. Gradebook management can become cumbersome if you choose to grade a large number of threads.

Tip #52: Embedding YouTube videos

You can embed YouTube videos in your Blackboard course.

Recommended use:
Due to copyright terms and YouTube’s Terms of Service requirements, we strongly recommend you only embed videos that you have created and uploaded to YouTube.

Here’s how to do it:
1. Open the YouTube page containing the video you would like to use, and copy the Embed code

• This is located in the video information to the right of the video
• If you click in the Embed field, it will highlight all of the code for you to copy

2. Go to the Blackboard Control Panel, and click on the Content Area where you would like to place the video

3. Click the Add Item button

4. Click the Toggle HTML Source Mode button on the WYSIWIG text editor

5. Paste the Embed code into the Blackboard text editor

• If you toggle your view back to normal mode, the content area will appear to be blank but the video will appear when you look at it in the Content Area

6. Fill in any other information as you normally would then click on Submit

Tip #51: Copy/Paste content without including MS tags and formatting

You can copy and paste content from Microsoft Word documents into Blackboard without accidentally including Microsoft tags and formatting.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Open your Microsoft Word source document as well as the editing location in Blackboard where you plan to paste it
2. Open a new blank Notepad document in Windows
   • Press the Windows Start button and then go to Programs > Accessories > Notepad
3. In Microsoft Word, highlight the text you want to paste and copy as you normally would
4. Paste the highlighted text into the blank Notepad document
5. In Notepad, use Ctrl-A and then Ctrl-C to copy the now formatting-free version of your text
6. Paste this text into the Blackboard editor as you normally would