Frequently Asked Questions: Instructor Questions
How do I enroll a user in my course?
In the Control Panel click Enroll User. Search for the user by either last name, user name, or email address (choose the appropriate radio button below the field). Click the checkbox beside the user’s name and click Submit. Caution: DO NOT use the “Create a User” function to enroll a user in your course! If the user cannot be found via a search, please ask the user to contact Keisha Z. Houston at bb@utmem.edu or 8-1927 to request an account. Tell the user to include her/his NetID in any email requests.
How do I change a user’s role (to instructor, teacher’s assistant, etc.)?
If the user is not enrolled in the course: Enroll the user (See "How do I enroll a user in my course?") and then follow the steps below.
If the user is already enrolled in the course: Click List/Modify Users in the Control Panel. Search for the user by either last name,user name, or email address (choose the appropriate radio button below the field). Then click the Properties box for the user, scroll down to the “Role and Availability” section and change the user’s role, and click Submit. This changes the user’s role for that course only. (This is how you would make someone an instructor in your course.)
Why are my students unable to see a document or assessment that I’ve posted?
Make sure the content is set to be visible (available) to students and, if you used specific dates of availability, that they comprise the correct days. This is especially important with assessments, which are set to be invisible by default.
What is the best way to handle streaming media content in Blackboard?
Upload it to the library’s streaming server and link to it in your Blackboard course. Please see the library medialab web page or contact the Library's media specialist Robert St. Clair (8-6817) in the UTHSC library’s multimedia lab to learn more about digitizing content and placing it on the server.
Why do my students keep timing out when they take an assessment?
This may happen with a long assessment, as it could be a while between when students open the test and click Submit. This gap may cause the browser to “time out”. A simple solution to this is to use the question-by-question presentation mode to deliver long assessments, where students submit each question one at a time. This prevents long idle periods. Presentation mode is set in the assessment options.
What is the difference between Smart Text, Plain Text, and HTML?
Smart Text automatically recognizes a link entered in the text box. Smart text recognizes the ENTER key as a paragraph tag and accepts HTML tags as well. Smart Text will also prompt to load images if an image source tag appears. Web addresses entered as URLs are converted to links. The URL must begin with "http://" and there must be a space before the "http://" to distinguish it from the previous word. If an image tag, <IMG>, is entered in Smart Text, Blackboard will automatically prompt you to upload the image.
Plain Text displays text as it is written in the text area. It shows no formatting (bold, italics, etc.). Plain text also does not render HTML code. HTML code will appear as text. It does not even recognize paragraph breaks.
HTML displays text as coded by the user using Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) tags.
How do I change an incorrect Course ID? (The course ID is the short abbreviation+number identifer. ex. ANAT000)
(Note: You cannot change the ID; you'll have to copy the course's content into a new course that has the correct Course ID.)
- Go into the control panel of the course whose ID you want to change and choose Course Copy.
- Choose Copy Course with Users (Exact Copy).
- Type in the correct Course ID into the destination field and click Submit.
- You will receive an email letting you know when the copy has completed successfully. (If the copy is not successful, repeat steps 1-3.)
- Once the copy is complete, go into the new course and check to make sure your content, students, and grades (if there were any) are there.
- Send an email to bb@utmem.edu requesting that the old course be removed.
How do I remove a course?
Only a system administrator can remove a course from the Blackboard server. If you are COMPLETELY done with a course and want it remove, first follow the end-of-course checklist and then send an email to bb@utmem.edu requesting that the course be removed. Please include the course name AND course ID (ex. ANAT000) in the email.
