Wednesday, August 16, 2006

[BB] Blackboard setup help

Blackboard users,
 
The clock is ticketing and the campus is about to burst into life again.  If you are setting up your course sites for the fall, here are some reminders.
 
1. Remember that new UM students are not enrolled in Blackboard until courses begin.  Students new to UM should appear in your course web site sometime Wednesday morning. (To see who is in your course web site, go to Control Panel > List / Modify Users > Submit button.)
 
2. If you need multiple sites combined into one site (what we refer to as a Course Merge) fill out the "Course Merge" form at http://snipurl.com/bbforms
 
3. If you want to copy an old site into your new site, you can do it yourself.  The video "How do I copy an old site into a new site?", which can be found at http://snipurl.com/bbinstructors, shows you how to do it. (Be sure to enter the course number when searching for the destination site.)
 
4. You can copy individual folders or items from one course site to another.  If you have seen the Modify and Remove buttons for items, note that there is a Copy item there, as well.  It allows you to copy the item either within the course or to another course.
 
5. If you use the Digital Dropbox, please contact us.  This feature is being phased out in favor of the Assignment feature.  We recommend that you switch, since Assignments is much more powerful and easier to use.  Dropbox will continue to be available until we upgrade to Blackboard version 7, and we will certainly not do that during this semester.
 
6. We are using a new ticketing system.  If you need help you can create a ticket by clicking on the Help button on Blackboard or going to http://umblackboardhelp.helpdeskconnect.com and click on the "Contact customer service" link.  We will handle messages sent to blackboard@miami.edu by manually entering them into the ticketing system.
 
Bill Vilberg
Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement