Page 18

Java Error messages in Windows Browsers

On April 13, 2012

Java error messages may begin appearing in three different places within Blackboard on this Sunday, April 15, 8:00PM. The instructions for Windows users for accepting them are given below for each of the supported web browsers. Please see the end of this document for assistance if you have already declined the Java messages.

Message on IE 8

At this point, check “Always trust content from this publisher.” and then click “Yes”

Message on Firefox 3.6

At this point, check “Always trust content from this publisher.” and then click “Run”

Google Chrome

The warning will appear in a yellow bar below the web address bar. Select “Run this time” to continue.

Safari

If you have declined the Java message, you will be unable to use that feature of Blackboard unless you reset the error message and then accept it. Please follow these instructions.

Potential Blackboard Issue on April 15

On April 13, 2012

In Warnings

The University has received word from Blackboard that a security certificate within the application will expire on Sunday, April 15. At this time we are waiting for a patch from Blackboard. Once the patch has been received we will test it, and if there are no additional problems, we will apply the patch to Blackboard. Since we have not yet received the patch from Blackboard, we cannot guarantee that the issue will be resolved by Monday. If the patch does not arrive in time to be tested and installed, we will provide additional guidance on how to work around the problem.

Updates on this issue will be posted as System Alerts in Blackboard and on this Blackboard blog.

UPDATE: UR Blackboard Maintenance COMPLETED

By Jon

On March 10, 2012

In Information, Warnings

Update – the patching has been completed ahead of schedule, and UR Blackboard is again available.

In order to install patches and maintenance software on the UR Blackboard servers yet minimize impact on usage, the system will be unavailable during an early morning upgrade on Friday, March 9, 10 pm – 6 am. The user interface will not change and all course content will still be available after the work. Please schedule your UR Blackboard usage accordingly and contact us at blackboard@richmond.edu with any questions or concerns. Continue to check this Blackboard News site for additional information concerning this outage.

MS Office prompts for authentication

By Jon

On January 12, 2012

In Information, Warnings

Issue

When you try to open a Microsoft (MS) Office 2007/8 document in Blackboard while using MS Internet Explorer 8 browser, you may be prompted for authentication although you have a valid session in Blackboard. UPDATE: This remains to be an issue with Office 2010/11 documents as well.

Solution

UPDATE: The best solution is to hit the Escape key from the window that asks for your credentials.

Another solution is to use a different web browser such as Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com) or Safari which are not affected by this particular issue.

In IE 8 and 9: instead of clicking the link to the file and opening it directly into the web browser, you can right-click on the document link and “Save Target As…” to download the document to your computer. Then you can open the document from the download folder without issue.

Originally published September 3, 2011, 14:35

Finalizing Fall Teaching

By Jon

On December 13, 2011

In Information, Tips

It’s been a great semester! Your students were at the top of their game, and you were at the top of yours. Now for the winter break.

Now is the perfect time to consider the role of technology in your courses. The first question you might consider is how are you using technology currently? Do you use Blackboard, email, netfiles or PowerPoint? If so, how are you using those technologies?
<!–more–>
Blackboard is a great space to consolidate class handouts, syllabi and other files that need to be distributed to your students. BUT did you know it can do so much more? Blackboard allows the instructor to create assignments that students upload directly into Blackboard Grade Center, where the instructor can download all the files at one time. You also can use multiple choice, true/false, and multiple answer quizzes and test as an assessment of student knowledge which can be graded by the system. The instant feedback provided to the student increases student knowledge and provides a foundation for future learning.

There is another feature in Blackboard that as faculty, you will want to know about. The feature displays student photographs for the students in your course. This is a great way to associate a face with a name and can really speed up the first day of class.

Blackboard also has features that you might want to explore for the fall such as discussion board, groups, wikis, and blogs. These technologies allow you to introduce outside classroom discussion to the course, collaboration and reflection to generate higher order cognitive skills. If you would like to know about these technologies within Blackboard, please contact your liaison.

As you prepare for the spring semester, contact your liaison to discuss how technology can support your class objectives. The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology is here to help you consider the best technological tool to support your pedagogical needs.

A few tips: consider archiving your course as soon as possible. If you are not sure how, read click here.

This is a great time to download your Grade Center so that you can have an easy-to-get-to record of student work in your course. Remember, all students are removed from your course 60 days from the end of the semester. Also, if you are using the discussion board, consider making an archive of those responses as well.

We hope you had a wonderful semester and we look forward to working with you in the spring!