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Bb Collaborate not working properly

May 15, 2012

in Blackboard 9

5/15/2012
The Bb chat tool is not working normally right now. We are looking into this and it’s a top priority:

  • Chat/Collaboration Tools in Blackboard are not working properly: We are working with advanced support/Blackboard in D.C. This tool has been down since mid-March and we apologize for the delay and inconvenience. Please consider using another web conferencing tool as an alternative, such as Centra.

Planned Downtime, May 10-11, 2012

May 9, 2012

in Bb Maintenance,Blackboard 9

5/9/12

Hello -
You have been redirected to this page because Blackboard is down for planned maintenance.

Blackboard will be down from  from Thursday, May 10th at 8:00am until Friday, May 11th at 11:59pm .

- Blackboard Support Team

Notice: Purging Old Courses | How to Archive Your Course(s)

May 8, 2012

in Blackboard 9

Every year we purge old Blackboard courses. We do so to stay within our storage goals and business policy of keeping only two years of Blackboard sites in our production system.  In a few short weeks, we will be purging Summer 2009 and Spring 2010. The deadline to save your past courses is June 22nd, 2012.

To save any courses from Summer 2009 or Spring 2010, please fill out the following survey:

https://ecu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_bdSRsefePVe5YzO

If you’d like to export or archive your own courses, it is easy.

Export: Only course content
Archive: All course content, student interactions and gradebook data

In both an export or an archive you will be saving a .zip offline for your records. Please save these files in a secure location like Piratedrive.

  1. Go to the Control Panel in your Blackboard course, click Properties and Utilities.
  2. Click Archive course.
  3. Include Grade Center History if you want to save student work.
  4. Click Submit.
  5. Wait for an email confirming the archive process.
  6. Once you receive the email, go back to Export/Archive Course under the Control Panel. Click to download to a secure location (e.g., Pirate Drive).

Please download the one-page PDF, How to Archive Your Course for further details, including FERPA and HIPAA regulations regarding privacy. Note: The .zip file is only useful once uploaded to the Blackboard environment.

Questions? Contact Matt, Cindy, or Allen

longm@ecu.edu or bowersc@ecu.edu or dennisa@ecu.edu

Blackboard Support Email: ecublackboard@ecu.edu

Planned Downtime 5/10 – 5/11

May 1, 2012

in Bb Maintenance

5/2/12

Hello -
You have been re-directed to this page because Bb is down for planned maintenance.

Blackboard will be down from  from May 10th at 8:00am until may 11th at 11:59pm .

- Blackboard Support Team

Browser Compatibility

April 9, 2012

in Announcements,Blackboard 9

Compatible Browsers (as of 4/9/2012): Blackboard 9 (service pack 7) is best viewed in Mozilla Firefox. Firefox is recommended for the Mac as well. Also, Google Chrome is now a certified browser. Reported and frequent problems with the use of IE: Students may not be able to download Word documents, view images, and they may experience issues with test taking and submission of tests. Instructors may have issues with the interface or functionality of tools and features (including the Grade Center) with Internet Explorer.

Click HERE to see a list of officially supported browser. This page is maintained by Blackboard.

Known Issues

April 9, 2012

in Announcements,Blackboard 9

See below for some known errors and work-arounds, which may affect your Blackboard course(s):

  • Chat/Collaboration Tools in Blackboard are not working properly: We are working with advanced support/Blackboard in D.C.  This tool has been down since mid-March and we apologize for the delay and inconvenience. Please consider using another web conferencing tool as an alternative, such as Centra.
  • Error messages when grading through the Blackboard Grade Center: If you are getting error messages when grading assessments through the Grade Center, it likely a browser issue. This behavior is consistent with Internet Explorer. Please switch to Firefox as your browser (the latest version is fine). Send an email to Blackboard Support with any questions at all.
  • See the blog post about browser compatibility.
  • Grade Center Scroll Bar is Missing in Firefox:  See the PDF for simple instructions.

 

FERPA – Student Records > Blackboard Gradebook > Downloading to Spreadsheet

April 9, 2012

in Announcements,Blackboard 9

From the Office of East Carolina University’s IT Security, please read the following scenario and solution(s):

  • Activity: Download Gradebook from Blackboard to a spreadsheet
  • Issue: Student (Course) Gradebook is downloaded from Blackboard onto desktops, laptops, personal home computers, and other unencrypted devices. A lost or compromised device could result in unauthorized release of student records.
  • Solution: Users should change the default location when downloading the gradebook to Excel or other formats. Select Save Target As or Save As and change the location to your personal or departmental Pirate Drive. To further minimize the threat of release of student records, delete downloaded course gradebook once the information is no longer needed.

Blackboard And HIPAA Information

April 3, 2012

in Announcements

The upload of protected health information (PHI) into BB is prohibited and is a violation of HIPAA Privacy and Security. Penalties for HIPAA violation may be significant. This is inclusive of any patient data e.g. MRI’s, X-rays, Videos of patients , research data containing PHI or any other data containing any identifiable patient  information.

If you have any doubt, stop and contact the HIPAA Privacy Officer @ 252-744-5200. Visit the HIPAA website http://www.ecu.edu/hipaa/ for additional information.

- ITCS

4/1/2012 – Blackboard Planned downtime

April 2, 2012

in Bb Maintenance,Blackboard 9

Scheduled Maintenance

Blackboard will be unavailable on Sunday morning for maintenance. This is a planned downtime for Sunday, April 1, 2012, from 7 a.m. until noon.

New Tool – Auto Submit Helper

March 20, 2012

in Announcements,Blackboard 9

During our most recent maintenance upgrade, a new feature was added to assist faculty in submitting abandoned test attempts. This new feature works behind the scenes and is called the “Auto Submit Helper”. You are receiving this email because one or more test attempts by your students have been submitted by this tool, per our queries.

 So, what is the “Auto Submit Helper?”
The Auto Submit Helper finds abandoned test attempts and automatically submits them to your grade center, but ONLY if the following Test settings are in place.

  1. The test has the Timer feature engaged.
  2. The test has the Auto Submit feature engaged.

 What is an “abandoned test attempt”?
These are test attempts that are in progress but have exceeded the allotted time limit.

So, if you are giving your students 1 hr to finish an exam during the timeframe of 10-11am the only “auto submits“ would be exams that the student or the auto submit feature failed to “submit” by 11:01am .  These are considered abandoned attempts.

How will you know if Auto Submit Helper found abandoned attempts to submit?

  1. If you review your grade center history (Grade Center/Reports/View Grade History) you will see attempts/submissions with the words “ Null, Null” next to the user name.  This will be an indication that the auto submit helper indeed submitted the test attempt.
  2. You will likely get a call from your student since the grade will normally be lower than expected.

Please keep in mind that in all cases the attempts were failed attempts. Prior to this new feature, you would have had to manually submit the attempt and/or clear the attempt. You still have the choice to clear the attempt to allow the student to retake the test.

If you have any questions at all, please contact Matt Long longm@ecu.edu, Cindy Bowers bowersc@ecu.edu, or Allen Dennis dennisa@ecu.edu

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