Virtual Classroom - Status

We are still working with the folks from Blackboard support to resolve our virtual classroom issues. We will continue to work with them in order to get this part of Blackboard working as normal.

We will keep you appraised of the Virtual Classroom's status.

Thanks,
The Blackboard Team

Blackboard Courseload Snafu

At approximately 7:37pm this evening the files that Blackboard uses to generate the courses and users listed in Blackboard hit a snag. When users logged into Blackboard it seemed that all of their courses disappeared. At 8:30pm we were able to regenerate the file successfully and users have access to their courses again.

Many thanks go to our server and programming teams for getting this resolved so quickly!

Thanks
The Blackboard Team

Virtual Classroom Issues

We have placed a support ticket with Blackboard to fix our Virtual Classroom issues. Currently the window will open when you use the Collaboration link, but the Java applet won't intialize. Blackboard knows and we hope to have a solution from them today.

Thanks,
The Blackboard Team

Practice Makes Perfect - Bb Best Practices for Spring 2008

Start your Spring 2008 semester out on the right foot with a set of Blackboard Best Practices that will keep you in the Black(board).

• Post a new announcement every week: This lets your students know that you are still there and with the e-mail announcement function you can direct them to access the course.
  
  
• Give your navigation a KISS: How many navigation links does it take to run a Blackboard course? Sorry, no punch line, but a best practice is to Keep It Simple Stupid. By limiting the amount of navigation choices your students see you also cut down on the confusion of where to go to find the stuff they need.
  
  
• Make a regular backup of your Blackboard Gradebook: This way you not only establish a good habit if there is ever a question about course grades, a technology snafu or 3 semesters from now when the course is no longer in Blackboard, you still have the needed info. A good rule of thumb for gradebook backups is to do them weekly.
  
  
• Utilize the Discussion board to promote student/teacher & student/student interaction: Leverage your discussion forums to be more than just a way for students to answer your discussion questions. Have your them reply to each other's postings. Give students a Q&A board where they can ask general questions as well as a Social board where they can interact with each other.

These are just a few Best Practices that will make your Spring 2008 successful.