Frequently Asked Questions

First, make sure that you have not hidden your courses from the Course List display in Blackboard Learn. Once you have logged in to your Blackboard Learn environment, click the gear icon at the top right of the course list. Uncheck the box to ‘Unselect All’. That will hide/show the course from your course list view. If the courses not hidden from your course list, then continue below steps.

Blackboard Learn is tightly integrated with the institution’s enterprise Student Information System (Banner). Course enrolments are handled through Banner at HCT. Students enrolled in Banner section/s will automatically get enrolled into their equivalent Blackboard course. If any of your sections are missing from your Blackboard Learn course list, please ensure you are enrolled in the appropriate Banner sections.

If your enrolment is correct in Banner and incorrect in Blackboard, contact your course instructor who may be able to assist you in this regard by coordinating with your campus Edtech Helpdesk. 

If your enrolments are incorrect in Banner then you need to enrol yourself in the respective Banner sections, contact your course instructor who may be able to assist you in this regard by coordinating with your campus Academic Services.

Review Blackboard’s On-Demand Tutorials:

• Information for Students

Upon accessing Mylearn’s login page, you will see any possible system-wide announcements below the username and password fields.

This announcement is to inform all Mylearn users in advance about the downtime for the server, important updates, enhancements, tips, etc.

After you log into MyLearn, you can find the courses listed under “My Courses” module under “My Institution” page.

Or you can click on “Courses” tab on the top, and view your courses under “My Courses” Module.

You can customize the courses that are viewed in this list by clicking on the gear icon that will appear once you hover the mouse over the title.

Remember to submit changes once you’re done.

Blackboard includes spell check in the Content Editor.

There is a Blackboard Help for Students website. Also, refer students to On Demand Learning Center: For Students.

Pop-up blockers are used to prevent annoying advertising that “pops up” on a computer screen when using the Internet. However, if pop-up blocking is enabled for Blackboard, you may be unable to view discussion postings, take exams, and/or download files.

• Mozilla Firefox Pop-up Blocker Information – See instructions for disabling Pop-up Blocker
  • If you block pop-ups, be sure to add http://mylearn.hct.ac.ae as an “allowed site.”
• Internet Explorer Pop-up Blocker information – See instructions for allowing pop-ups from specific websites
  • If you block pop-ups, be sure to add http://mylearn.hct.ac.ae as an “website to allow.”

Additionally, if you are using anti-virus, internet security, or personal firewall software to control or eliminate pop-up windows, those applications can interfere with Blackboard.

First, make sure that you have not hidden your courses from the Course List display in Blackboard Learn. Once you have logged in to your Blackboard Learn environment, click the gear icon at the top right of the course list. Uncheck the box to ‘Unselect All’. That will hide/show the course from your course list view. If the courses not hidden from your course list, then continue below steps.

Blackboard Learn is tightly integrated with the institution’s enterprise Student Information System (Banner). Course enrolments are handled through Banner at HCT. Instructors  enrolled in the Banner section will automatically get enrolled into the equivalent Blackboard course. If any of your section/s are missing from your Blackboard Learn course list, please ensure you are enrolled in the appropriate Banner sections.

If your enrolments are correct in Banner and incorrect in Blackboard, contact your your campus Edtech Helpdesk.

If your enrolments are incorrect in Banner then you need to enrol yourself in the respective Banner sections, contact your campus Academic Services.

Yes, Blackboard is committed to ensuring that the platform is usable and accessible. The code and user interface design techniques are continually audited to ensure that the application is usable by everyone, to the greatest extent possible, regardless of age, ability, or situation. For more information, see: Accessibility Improvements.

The Blackboard Learning Management System is accessible to users with disabilities when used with the appropriate assistive technology. Blackboard’s statement on Accessibility can be reviewed on their website.

The instructor also has responsibilities in ensuring that their course materials can be accessed by users with disabilities. If you would like guidance in building courses that are accessible or learning more about technology and accessibility, you may request enrolment in Blackboard’s free self-paced course Universal Design and Accessibility for Online Learning available through CourseSites. Click on the course name and request enrolment.

Though some of the material is dated, other considerations for developing course materials can be found at the University of North Carolina’s website: Tips for Using Blackboard with JAWS

Upon accessing MyLearn’s login page, you will see any possible system-wide announcements below the username and password fields.

These announcements are posted to inform all MyLearn users in advance about any possible downtimes for the server, important updates, enhancements, or important tips, etc.

After you log into MyLearn, you can find the courses listed under “My Courses” module on the homepage.

Or you can click on “My Courses” tab on top, and view your courses in a separate page.

You can customize the courses that are viewed in this list by clicking on the gear icon that will appear once you hover the mouse over the title.

Remember to submit changes once you’re done.

Review Blackboard’s On-Demand Tutorials:

• Understanding and Building Your Course
• Communicating and Collaborating
• Assessing Learners
• Information for Students

Blackboard includes spell check in the Content Editor.

It’s a great idea to store course files such as syllabi, PowerPoint presentations and course handouts in Blackboard. The big advantage is that students enrolled in your course can access the files from any internet connected computer. Follow the instructions in this video, Adding Files to Course Files, to upload files to Blackboard. Then watch Attach Files from Course Files to see how the files can be made available to students.

If you have HTML files in a folder and want to keep the file structure intact, please view this video, Add File to Deploy HTML Package

All students are automatically enrolled from our student system.

Students use the Course Menu to navigate to course content, tools, and external links.

To Customize the Course Menu:

1. Turn Edit Mode – On
2. Click the Add icon (+) above the Course Menu.
3. Select the item from the list.
4. Type the Name of the content item in the Name field.
5. Click Submit.

For more details, review this information:

• Your Course Environment (includes course menu)
• Creating a Tool Link
• Creating a Blank Page

First, make sure that the student has not hidden his/her course from the Course List display in Blackboard Learn. Once they have logged in to their Blackboard Learn environment, click the gear icon at the top right of the course list. Uncheck the box to ‘Unselect All’. That will hide/show the course from their course list view. If the courses are not hidden from their course list, then follow the steps below:

Blackboard Learn is tightly integrated with the institution’s enterprise Student Information System (Banner). Course enrolments are handled through Banner at HCT. Students enrolled in Banner section/s will automatically get enrolled into their equivalent Blackboard course. If any of your sections are missing from your Blackboard Learn course list, please ensure you are enrolled in the appropriate Banner sections.

If your student’s enrolment is correct in Banner and incorrect in Blackboard, contact your campus Edtech Helpdesk.

If your student’s enrolment is incorrect in Banner then they need to be enrolled in the respective Banner section.  In this case, you will need to contact your campus Academic Services.

The student’s view of the course is essentially same as yours when the Edit Mode is Off, except that you have access to theControl Panel on the bottom left (below the Course Menu). Students can view My Grades; instructors have no personal grades to view.

The Retention Center provides an easy way for instructors to discover which students in their courses are at risk. Instructors can communicate with struggling students and help them take immediate action for improvement.

Instructors can also see the date of last access in the Grade Center and can also view student activity using Course Statistics. Instructors can also use the Performance Dashboard (video). Instructors can not only see the date of last access, but also view information about the student’s Discussion posts and Review status.

You can run several types of Course Reports to view information about course usage and activity. You can view summaries of course usage including which course areas are used most frequently and course access patterns for specific students. Watch how to run one of the reports, Overall Summary of User Activity Report.

There are assessment features that allows creation of …

1. Assignments

• Regular assignments
• SafeAssign
• Self & Peer Assessment
• Assignments through 3rd part publisher sites

2. Surveys

• Anonymous and non-graded (great for a weekly check-up, polling, or evaluation)

3. Quizzes/Tests

• True/False Questions
• Multiple Choice Questions
• Fill in the Blank Questions
• Multiple Answer Questions
• Matching Questions
• Ordering Questions
• Essay Questions
• Calculated Formula Questions
• Calculated Numeric Response Questions
• File Response Questions
• Hot Spot Questions
• Fill in Multiple Blanks Questions
• Jumbled Sentence Questions
• Opinion Scale/Likert Questions
• Short Answer Questions
• Either/Or Questions
• Quiz Bowl Questions

See Tests, Pools, and Surveys for more information.

• Step 1: Go to “Course Tools” on the left sidebar on your course page.

• Step 2: Click on “Respondus Lockdown Browser” – This will list all the quizzes deployed in your course.

• Step 3: Click on the arrow at the beginning of each quiz title and click “Modify Settings”

• Step 4: “LockDown Browser Settings” page will be displayed. Select “Require Respondus LockDown Browser for this exam” and click “Save and Close.”

To preserve the settings used by LockDown Browser, do NOT modify these settings in Test Options: Eg: 1) Name 2) Open Test in a New Window, 3) Require a password, 4) Password.

If you still need to modify the settings, the test status will appear as an “Error” under the respective quiz displayed under Course Tools -> Respondus Lockdown Browser. Click “Fix it” to fix the error.

• Use pools and random blocks to ensure that no two students get the same exam.
  • See Building a Pool
  • See Create a Random Block
• Don’t use the same exact questions year after year.
• Use timed tests (but not Force Completion).
• Set a reasonable time limit so students understand they’re not supposed to be looking up the answers.
• Set a password or start/end dates on the exam. This prevents the student from getting in early to copy the test. If you use a password, give it to students only when they are ready for the test.
• Suggest that lengthy answers to essay questions be first written in Notepad, saved locally, then pasted into the exam (lockdown browsers don’t permit this, of course).
• Separate lengthy essay exam questions from multiple choice questions (that is, create two separate exams).
• Very long exams (>2 hrs) should be broken into sections to avoid ISP timeouts.
• Use assessment methods other than exams.
• Blackboard Feedback Options: Use two rules for feedback. 1) Students may see a score immediately after a test. 2) Release additional feedback on a specific date, after attempts are graded, or after the due date.
• Design the exam to be timed and open book. Set up the time limit so a student who knows the material can successfully complete the exam in the time allowed. If the student has to look up a lot of information in the book then time will run out. Since the exam is designed to be open book it removes some of the impetus for cheating.
• Re-write the exam for every class. The changes do not have to be major, but just enough to make a different exam for every class. For example, adding a “not” to a question stem will make the answer different. For a math test adding a “minus” sign somewhere, is enough of a change to make copying the exam unprofitable. In fact, using this approach will also provide the professor “sample” exams that can be freely distributed from semester to semester.
• Use essay exams. These are much harder for students to copy since identical responses from two or more students are clearly evident. The questions can also be easily altered for each class so they are still similar but would require very different answers. For example, in one class ask some question about ancient Rome and in another use the same question but for ancient Greece.
• Provide two different tests. Give students the option to take the test twice and throw out the lowest score. This will require a one time setup in the Grade Center, but isn’t a difficult procedure. If there is a problem with the first test, then the student may take the second test, and that is the test that will count. No retakes.
• For timed tests, use Auto-Submit option so that students won’t exceed the time limit. If any students need more time, use the Test Availability Exceptions option. This allows you to choose a specific student and give him/her additional time and/or additional attempts. (Note: don’t use Force Completion.)If you do not use Auto-Submit with timed tests, you will see the time spent on the exam as recorded in the Grade Center. If the student exceeds the time limit, the instructor will see an exclamation mark in the test column instead of the score. This means “Needs Grading.” Click on the chevron in the cell with the exclamation mark. Then click the Attempt. Click the Test Information link (just above the first question) to see more information. The Time Elapsed section provides the time the student spent. (The time is recorded for all exams — not just ones that exceeded the time limit.) At least one COD instructor gives students zero points if the time limit is exceeded. This may not be appropriate for all instructors. However, a plainly stated and costly penalty should discourage most students from exceeding the time limit.
• Make sure that Exam information is provided to the student providing guidance on how to avoid problems during the exam. For example, only one browser window opened, all other applications are closed, popups allowed, no ad-ware applications, turn off chat/instant messaging, etc.
  

You can use the assignment tool to send and receive documents. You can also use blogs, journals, wikis, and the discussion board to collect homework assignments.

• Getting Started with Assignments
• Downloading Assignments
• Communication Tools
• Using the Journal Tool (for iPad users)

SafeAssign compares submitted assignments against a set of academic papers to identify areas of overlap between the submitted assignment and existing works. Safe Assign is used to prevent plagiarism and to create opportunities to help students identify how to properly attribute sources rather than paraphrase. SafeAssign is effective as both a deterrent and an educational tool.

To learn more about SafeAssign, go to:

Using SafeAssign (video)

SafeAssign Instructor Guide

SafeAssign Student Guide

No, Blackboard will not allow submitting more than one assignment in the same Draft-SafeAssign. If you want to allow students to submit multiple uploads, you should go to the grade center and remove any previously uploaded documents for that student.

Occasionally, with a course copy or import, some of the content tools get turned off. Follow the instructions below to restore them to the tool menu.

1. On the Control Panel, click Customization.
2. Click Tool Availability.
3. Tools can be made available by selecting the check box in the appropriate column and made unavailable by clearing the check box. Check the boxes next to the desired tools.
4. Click the Submit button and look for the tool.

This process is also shown in this video: Turning Tool Availability On and Off.

It is recommended that instructors download grades periodically during the course. It’s also a good idea to download the grade center at the end of the term so you can keep a permanent copy of the grades for your records. Some divisions require instructors to send a copy of the Grade Center.

See this video for step-by-step instructions: Download Grades

To download the Grade Center:

1. Open a course in Blackboard and navigate to the Control Panel.
2. In the Grade Center section, open the Full Grade Center.
3. After the Grade Center opens, click Work Offline (far right) and select Download.
4. The “Download Grades” screen will appear. In Section 1, under Select Data to Download, click the radio button, Full Grade Center.
5. In Section 2, be sure Tab is selected.
6. Click the Submit button.
7. On the next screen, click the Download button. A dialog box asks if you want to open or save the file.
8. Click Open. Excel will open with the class roster and grades.

Providing the class average for each column in the Grade Center can be misleading to students especially in an online course when students complete work at different times.

To remove the class average from the display:

1. Start by turning Edit Mode – On in the upper right corner of the screen.
2. On the left menu, find Control Panel. Open the Grade Center menu and select Full Grade Center.
3. Click on the arrows to the right of the column name display the options in the submenu.
4. Click Edit Column Information.
5. In Section 3, choose “No” for Show Statistics.
6. Click Submit to apply the change.

This process will remove the statistical information in My Grades.

When using Blackboard, teachers have files in two places, the Content System and their desktop, which could cause confusion. Through Bb Drive, teachers can quickly make changes and see those changes in their courses immediately. You can find more information here: http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Learn/Products/Blackboard-Learn/Teaching-and-Learning/Expanding-Learn/Content-Management/Blackboard-Drive.aspx

• Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) & Mac OS 10.7 (Lion):
  https://files.blackboard.com/users/jporter/Blackboard_Drive_1.5.14490_mac.zip
• Windows 7 & Windows Vista 64-bit:
  https://files.blackboard.com/users/jporter/BlackboardDrive-x64_1.5.14491.zip
• Windows 7 & Windows Vista 32-bit:
  https://files.blackboard.com/users/jporter/BlackboardDrive-x86_1.5.14491.zip

Almost any type of file can be uploaded to Blackboard including Word, PowerPoint, html, PDF, plain text, rtf, audio and video files. If large audio or video files (longer than 3 minutes) are being used, please contact the computing help desk at your HCT College Campus who will assist in this matter.

Also, consider using the Mashup tool: Creating a Mashup.

File names can NOT contain any special characters including (but not limited to): # $ & % ! { } [ ] ( ) /

Acceptable file names include upper and lower case letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores only (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, -, _ ). Due to current Blackboard functionality, the file name must be under 72 characters long. File names that are over that length will be accepted by Blackboard, but errors will be encountered when the instructor attempts to download them for grading. For best results, please do not use spaces in your file names.

Yes, you can upload these files into content areas that you might create such as Course Information, Assignments or Course Documents. See Tour the Course Files Feature.

Watch Attaching a Syllabus to learn how to post your syllabus as an attachment in your Blackboard course.

An advanced feature in Blackboard is the ability to establish either a Graded Discussion Forum or a Graded Discussion Thread. This allows instructors to review student responses within the forum and to also assign a grade. The grade is then automatically transferred to a corresponding column within the Grade Center.

Copying or Exporting/Importing Course Materials Containing Graded Discussion Forums/Threads

When course materials containing discussion materials are copied (or exported/imported) to another course, the Forums and any threads in the forum threads are copied to the new course. The author information for the threads is not copied over, so Blackboard assigns “Anonymous” as the author to each thread. In most cases, the instructor plans to remove the threads in the new course anyway, so this designation of “Anonymous” is not a problem. However, some discussion boards are setup with an initial “starter” thread to direct the discussion. The instructor may wish to retain this starter thread for the new course but prefers that the author be displayed as their own posting and not from “Anonymous.”

Removing “Anonymous” as the Author

If the starter thread is needed, and the author is “Anonymous,” the instructor can easily change the author. Make sure to view the forum in “List view” (option right below the Edit Mode). Mouse over the chevron next to the thread title and choose Change Author. The thread will immediately change to the instructor’s name.

Remove Old Messages

Be sure to remove any old posts that are not needed. Don’t leave them for your students to click through. Even though the student’s names have been changed to “Anonymous,” the posts themselves may contain names or other personal information.

After copying or importing a course, Delete Old Discussion Posts:

1. Enter Blackboard and open the course.
2. Edit Mode – On.
3. Go to Discussion Board.
4. Open a forum with posts.
5. Click the top left checkbox to select all threads.
6. Optional: Uncheck any posts you want to keep.
7. Click Delete.
8. Click OK to confirm deletion.

On the next screen, a confirmation message appears in the green bar at the top of the page.

Return to the main page of the Discussion Board. Repeat for every discussion forum.

• Wikis. The course copy/export process will remove all wiki content. If you want to re-use wiki instructions or wiki pages, you will need to manually copy and paste into the new wiki.
• Blogs will retain the Blog instructions when copying. Student submissions will not copy.
• Journals will retain the Journal instructions when copying. Student submissions will not copy.

Yes, it is highly recommended that you regularly create a backup of your entire course using the “Export Course” function. The Export function creates a zip file that you should save to your hard drive for safe-keeping. Don’t try to edit the zip file.

By making regular back-ups after editing your course, you will always have a current copy of your course. If needed, you can then use the “Import Package” option to bring the course content back into Blackboard.

The Archive Course option creates a zip file that can be used as a back-up file. It contains all the content and user interactions including course work submissions, discussion messages and scores in the Grade Center. When an archived course is restored, a complete course as of the time the archive was made will be created. The Restore operation can only be done by a Blackboard administrator. Please contact the Helpdesk for assistance if you need to restore an archived course.

How to Archive a Course

Pop-up blockers are used to prevent annoying advertising that “pops up” on a computer screen when using the Internet. However, if pop-up blocking is enabled for Blackboard, you may be unable to view discussion postings, take exams, and/or download files.

• Mozilla Firefox Pop-up Blocker Information – See instructions for disabling Pop-up Blocker
  • If you block pop-ups, be sure to add http://bb.cod.edu as an “allowed site.”
• Internet Explorer Pop-up Blocker information – See instructions for allowing pop-ups from specific websites
  • If you block pop-ups, be sure to add http://bb.cod.edu as an “website to allow.”

Additionally, if you are using anti-virus, internet security, or personal firewall software to control or eliminate pop-up windows, those applications can interfere with Blackboard.

Pre-Foundations 1 and Levels 1, 2 and 3 will have their VGR tests delivered on the iPad, in BBLearn, using the HCT Assess app, with Guided Access enabled.  You can find the setup instructions on our Sharepoint site.

They should be ON, since the Writing is not being done on the iPad this semester.

No, there is no longer an option to disable all hardware buttons, and the motion bug that affected Guided Access in iOS 6 has been fixed in iOS 7.

You might not see the setup screen if you have previously used Guided Access with a given app.  Instead Guided Access just starts without giving you any message.  Tap the Home button once to confirm that Guided Access is enabled.

Yes, a few seconds after a student selects a response, or types their answer, their response will be automatically saved.  If a student is disconnected from the test and logs back in, they will be able to resume where they left off.

Open Safari browser and type in http://appstore.hct.ac.ae and click on the HCT logo icon and then Install (do NOT go to the App Store app).

Delete the app completely from the device by holding down on the HCT Assess icon until it shakes and the red cross appears and then click the red cross. Reinstall by following above instructions.

This is caused by inadvertently drawing a circle on the screen when setting up GA. Go back into Guided Access and click on the small cross that appears on the edge of the greyed out area.

Just click Resume instead of Start in the top right corner.

Check that student has selected the right course (Final Assessment Course FWA) NOT the regular English course.