Bb Content

9th July 2021

Adding past exam papers to your Blackboard course menu

Kim Lipscombe Bb Content, Bb Course Design, Blackboard

Edit Mode

Check that Edit Mode is turned ON. This can be switched by clicking ON or OFF

Course Menu

Select the + (plus) button in the top left of the course menu

In this drop down menu, select “Tool Link”

Name your menu item and select the tool link type “Past Exam Papers”
Leave the box “Available to Users” if you wish for the link to be hidden from students, or check the box to make the link immediately available. You can always edit link availability using these instructions.
Select “Submit” to create your Past Exam Papers link

More Information

Link to the past exam papers database: https://pastexampapers.soton.ac.uk/

If you discover a problem with any of the associated papers, for example a wrong module/paper code, send an email to the Hartley Library team stating the module, paper code and year: digitalscholarship@soton.ac.uk

10th December 2020

Using TeX in Blackboard

Matthew Deeprose Bb Content, Bb Tests and Surveys, Blackboard

There are a number of ways to use mathematical notation in Blackboard. In this page I share a technique to use the Display mathematic mode of TeX within Blackboard.

This guide refers to typing and displaying mathematical notation. This method is not suitable for building formulas for use in Calculated Formula question types.

For more information refer to:

LaTeX support in Mathtype.
LaTeX on the web: basic examples. Note that the examples should have $$ added at the beginning and end, as shown below.

Contents of this page

Basic operation
Issues to be aware of
1. If you go back to edit, be careful that your TeX is not adjusted.
2. Adding text before and after the notation may not end up how you intend.
Alternative approaches
1. Use the Mathtype interface within Blackboard.
2. Create your notation in a different application, take a screenshot of it, and add it within Blackboard.

Basic operation

When using the Blackboard text editor, for example when creating a content item, or a test question, you can use the $$..$$ TeX primitive syntax.

Superscript example

$$e^{e^{e^{e^{x}}}}$$

in Blackboard:

$Blackboard text box. Entered is: $$e^{e^{e^{e^{x}}}}$$$

Results in:

e to the power of e to the power of e to the power of e to the power of x end exponent end exponent end exponent

In the Blackboard App it looks like this:

$Example in the Blackboard app$

Accessibility

The notation is rendered as a graphic. Importantly users with a screen reader will see accurate alternate text, which in this example is:

“e to the power of e to the power of e to the power of e to the power of x end exponent end exponent end exponent”.

Arithmetic example

$$\sqrt[3]{8}=8^{\frac{1}{3}}=2$$

in Blackboard:

Results in:

In the Blackboard App it looks like this:

$Example from the Blackboard app$

Accessibility

The notation is rendered as a graphic. Importantly users with a screen reader will see accurate alternate text, which in this example is:

“cube root of 8 equals 8 to the power of 1 third end exponent equals 2”.

Fractions

$$\left.\frac{1}{1+x^2}\right|_0^\infty$$

in Blackboard:

Results in:

In the Blackboard App it looks like this:

$Example from the bb app$

Accessibility

The notation is rendered as a graphic. Importantly users with a screen reader will see accurate alternate text, which in this example is:

“open fraction numerator 1 over denominator 1 plus x squared end fraction close vertical bar subscript 0 superscript infinity”.

Integrals

$$\int_0^2x^2dx$$

in Blackboard:

$$$\int_0^2x^2dx$$ is shown in the Blackboard text editor$

Results in:

Blackboard screenshot, shows "integral subscript 0 superscript 2 x squared d x"

In the Blackboard App it looks like this:

Accessibility

The notation is rendered as a graphic. Importantly users with a screen reader will see accurate alternate text, which in this example is:

“integral subscript 0 superscript 2 x squared d x”.

Matrix

$$\begin{bmatrix}a & b\\c & d\end{bmatrix}$$

in Blackboard:

Results in:

In the Blackboard App it looks like this:

$Example from the blackboard app$

Accessibility

The notation is rendered as a graphic. Importantly users with a screen reader will see accurate alternate text, which in this example is:

“open square brackets table row a b row c d end table close square brackets”.

Issues to be aware of

When you go back to edit, be careful that your TeX is not adjusted.

For example

$$\begin{bmatrix}a & b\\c & d\end{bmatrix}$$

may be changed to

$$\begin{bmatrix}a §amp; b\\c §amp; d\end{bmatrix}$$.

Adding text before and after the notation may not end up how you intend

For example

$$e^{e^{e^{e^{x}}}}$$ and then $$\sqrt[3]{8}=8^{\frac{1}{3}}=2$$

Results in:

Alternative approaches

Use the Mathtype interface within Blackboard

Select the Mathtype option from the text editor:

and refer to the Blackboard guide on using MathType.

Create your notation in a different application, take a screenshot of it, and add it within Blackboard

1. Crop and save your screenshot to a png file on your computer.

2. Use the Plus icon to add it within your text editor:

3. Select Insert Local File.

4. Right click on the image and open the Image… menu.

5. Enter and submit an alternative description that explains your notation in written terms, to make it accessible to those using screen readers.

21st September 2020

How to add a link to your Reading List in Blackboard

Matthew Deeprose Bb Content, Bb Content tools, Blackboard

After your reading list is created, follow these steps to add a link to your Reading List from within your Blackboard course. For more information about Reading Lists creation check our online resources or contact Library Enquiries @ Southampton.

Below you can find a tutorial video, and a step by step guide.

Video

Step by Step

1. Check that Edit Mode is turned ON. This can be switched by clicking ON or OFF.

2. Look at your Blackboard course menu. Hover your mouse over the + (plus) icon.

3. A menu appears, select to add a Tool Link.

4. In the Name box, enter Reading List.

5. For type, select Reading List from the dropdown menu.

6. Select Available to Users so that students will be able to access the link.

7. Select Submit.

8. Your Reading List link will be created. You can re-position it within the course menu by clicking and dragging the up and down arrow icon beside it.

9. When you or you students select that menu item, you will be redirected to the Reading Lists page for that course.

1st April 2020

Using the whiteboard during a Blackboard Collaborate Session

Matthew Deeprose Bb Content, Blackboard, Blackboard Collaborate, Collaborate

Return to Blackboard Collaborate Main Page ↵

Note
A much improved whiteboard feature is on its way to collaborate, expected within the next six months.

The Whiteboard allows users to draw on the board individually or collaboratively.

Whiteboard Orientation

The Whiteboard is used for collaboration between session attendees, who can interact with the content using the Content Editing Tools. The “Draw on whiteboard and files” permission must be enabled in order for participants to see these tools. As a moderator or presenter, you can use all the available Content Editing Tools even if the permission has been disabled for the participant role.

Content Editing Tools

The Content Editing Tools appear in the upper left corner of the Media Space. It takes practice in order to become proficient at using the Content Editing Tools. Initially, you may find you have added content in the wrong place, or in the wrong proportion to other related content. However, this is easily corrected by using the Selection tool to choose the object, and then dragging it to its new location or resizing it using the handles on the bounding box.

A: Use the Select tool pick a whiteboard annotation in order to move or resize it.

B: Use the Pointer tool to call attention to a specific area of the screen.

C: Use the Pencil tool to draw using a freehand style.

D: Add empty Rectangle, Ellipse, or Straight Line shapes using the Shape tool. When using the rectangle or ellipse shapes, hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and drag your mouse to maintain proportion.

E: Use the Text tool to create text as an object directly on the whiteboard. Use the select tool to select the text and it can be resized, or rotated by using the handles that appear once selected.

F: The Clear tool removes all annotations and text from the whiteboard but does not clear uploaded files.

G: The Colour tool appears only when the Pencil, Shapes, or Text tool is selected, allowing the user to choose a colour.

Using the Whiteboard

Multiple whiteboard pages are not yet a function of Collaborate. In order to create a blank canvas for additional work, use the Clear Tool available in the Content Editing Tools.

Participants will not have this tool. In order for a participant to erase their own annotations they will need to select the object using the selection tool and then tap the delete key on their keyboard.

Saving Whiteboard Content

Whiteboard content does not persist if a moderator or presenter navigates away from the board. In order to preserve whiteboard content, save the Whiteboard page by taking a screenshot of it.

13th November 2019

Create a link to a video with the Panopto insert video tool

Dean Wall Bb Content, Blackboard, Panopto

Go to the location within Blackboard where you would like to link to your Panopto video.
Click on the “Tools” menu and select “Panopto Video Link”.

On the page that appears, use the drop-down menu to select the folder where your session is stored (usually this will be the course name).
Use the next drop-down menu to select the video.
The name field will complete automatically, you are able to change this now.
You can add a description in the description box, but you can leave it blank.

When you are happy click submit and then press OK on the confirmation screen. Your link will now be available.

12th November 2019

Embedded Panopto Video as a Content Item

Dean Wall Bb Content, Blackboard, embedding in Bb, Panopto

Go to your Blackboard course and navigate to the content area you wish to embed the video. Then under ‘Build Content’ select ‘Panopto Video Embed’.

It will open a new page that will show you previews of the videos in the courses Panopto folder.

Find the video you wish to embed and click on it so it becomes highlighted.

Once happy with the video select click on ‘Insert Video’.

It will then take you back to your Blackboard page and show the video embedded into your course and ready to playback.

From the same interface it is also possible to embed videos from other Panopto folders. Please make sure that you check the sharing permissions of the videos so that your students on your course are able to play them back.

To do this click on the drop down menu under ‘Select Panopto Videos’.

From here you can either type in the search box for the name of the folder that has the recording stored in, or click through folder structure to locate the folder.

Once you have located the correct folder you can add the desired recording as shown in the first set of steps.

2nd October 2019

What to do if only the first page of a PDF is shown in Chrome or you are asked for a username and password

Matthew Deeprose Bb Content, Blackboard

An occasional issue with the Chrome browser can result in only the first page of a PDF displayed, alternately it may demand a username and password and then forbid you from getting access.

This is not specific to Blackboard but we have produced this workaround to assist anyone who experiences this issue.

This video shows the whole process in 35 seconds.

Below is a step by step guide.

1. Select the three-dot Menu button and choose Settings.

2. Type the word PDF into the search box.

3. Scroll down the page and you will see that Site Settings is tagged as holding a PDF setting. Select Site Settings.

4. Here, scroll until you find PDF documents and open it.

5. You’ll see an option titled Download PDF files instead of automatically opening them in Chrome. Toggle this on.

6. You may now leave the settings page.

7. Now when you open a PDF for the first time after making this change you will see it appear along the bottom of the browser

8. click on the upward pointing arrow to the right of the downloaded file and choose Always Open With System Viewer.

9. Then open the PDF in Blackboard once more – it should open in Adobe Acrobat Viewer instead of the built into Chrome PDF viewer. From now on the files will always open this way.

Further alternatives to try are:
- make sure that Chrome is up to date (see https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95414?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en )
- try using Firefox
- try using the Southamtpon Virtual Environment https://www.southampton.ac.uk/isolutions/students/southampton-virtual-environment.page

5th August 2019

Enabling resources from Cengage within your Blackboard course

Matthew Deeprose Bb Content, Blackboard

If you have an arrangement to use materials from cengage follow these instructions to set up your Blackboard course.

1. From your course Control Panel, expand the Customisation section and click on Tool Availability.

2. Find Cengage Learning MindLinks and Cengage Learning MindLinks Tools as shown below and tick the boxes beside them.

3. Click on Submit.

4. Enter the content area within which you wish to hold your cengage materials.
5. Hover over the Tools menu, choose More Tools, and click on Cengage Learning MindLinks.

6. You may receive a notice that you are being transferred to Cengage. Click on launch to continue.

7. Choose the relevant content source:

8. Your cengage representative will guide you through any remaining steps.

For help and support with the cengage materials and integration with Blackboard, contact your cengage representative.

3rd April 2019

How to Embed Material from Facebook into Blackboard

Matthew Deeprose Bb Content, Blackboard, embedding in Bb blackboard, embed, facebook

It is possible to embed materials from Facebook into a content item or announcement that you add to your Blackboard course. Note that this method may stop working if Facebook change the way their service works. Facebook is a third party web site and iSolutions cannot be held responsible for the content held on it. iSolutions does not support Facebook. Users should read the Facebook terms and conditions.

Access Facebook

1. Go to https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins

2. Choose the type of plugin you wish to use, for this example we will use the page plugin.

3. Click on the Web button

4. Enter the URL of the Facebook page you wish to embed and set the other options according to your preference.

5. There is an explanation of the settings and what the default, minimum and maximum values are on the same page, a screenshot of which is below.

6. When you are happy with the settings, click on Get Code.

7. Two code snippets are shown you will need both.

7. Open a new tab and go to Blackboard https://blackboard.soton.ac.uk

8. Identify where in your Blackboard course you would like to place the feed, add the item, announcement etc. Add the item desired.

9. Set a Name, and any relevant text in the text box.

Add Item

10. Click on the HTML button within the text box to open HTML mode. This will allow you to enter the HTML code required to embed the Facebook feed.

HTML Button

11. Paste both code snippets from Facebook into the HTML text box. One way to do this is to right click within the text box and choose paste or press CTRL + V. Click on Update to finish.

12. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Submit button.

Submit

13. The Facebook widget you have chosen will now be embedded. Here are two examples:

This example uses most of the default settings.

This example has the timeline, events, and messages for tabs, a width of 450, a height of 600, uses the Small Header, hides the Cover Photo, and does not show friend’s faces.

20th June 2018

Using the Blackboard Date Management Tool

Matthew Deeprose Bb Content, Blackboard

When a Blackboard course is copied any existing date restrictions on content will also be copied over. Usually those date restrictions will have become anachronistic. It can be an onerous process to adjust the dates manually. The data management tool allows you to adjust date restrictions en masse.

What types of content the date management tool works with.

Blackboard Native Content (items, files, folders, etc.)
Blackboard Native Assessments (tests, surveys, assignments)
Blackboard communication tools (discussions, blogs, journals, announcements, etc.)
Manually created grade columns
Blackboard tasks

The date management tool does not work with content which was not natively created by Blackboard, e.g. Turnitin assignments, Panopto videos, or other “third party” content.

Accessing the Date Management Tool
Adjusting dates based on the course start date
Adjusting dates by a set number of days
Reviewing all dates and adjusting them according to preference
Starting Over / Refreshing the date management tool

Accessing the Date Management Tool

Instructors may access the date management tool by

1. Accessing the course Control Panel

2. Expanding the Course Tools section

3. Clicking on Date Management

4. You are then presented with three options which are described below.

Adjusting dates based on the course start date

If you know the start date of the original course and the start date of the copied course you can select those two dates and Blackboard will then move the date ranges by the number of days between those dates. This will not account for weekends, leap years etc. so if you choose to use this option you may wish to manually review the dates afterwards to make any small adjustments.

1. Select Course Start Date

2. Choose the original course start date from when the date restrictions had originally been set.

3. Choose the new start date for this new course.

4. Click on Start

5. You will be shown a progress indicator. Once it completes you will be sent an email. Usually the process will complete within a minute. Click Next.

6. You will be shown a list of affected date restricted content. You can review any dates and update them if appropriate.

Adjusting dates by a set number of days

If you know exactly how many days you wish the dates for date restricted material to be moved by select this option.

1. Choose the option Adjust by Number of Days and enter a number of days between -999 and 999.

2. Click on Start.

3. You will be shown a progress indicator. Once it completes you will be sent an email. Usually the process will complete within a minute. Click Next.

4. You will be shown a list of affected date restricted content. You can review any dates and update them if appropriate.

Reviewing all dates and adjusting them according to preference

If you wish to review all materials and make changes here and there use this option.

1. Choose the option List All Dates for Review.

2. Click on Start.

3. You will be shown a progress indicator. Once it completes you will be sent an email. Usually the process will complete within a minute. Click Next.

4. You will be shown content which has date restrictions.

5. You can filter the content by content type (e.g. content items, announcements) and by date restriction type (e.g. adaptive release rules, availability dates).

6. You can tick the boxes beside items you wish to adjust and a box will appear allowing you to adjust the dates by a certain number of days.

7. You may also adjust dates for an individual item by clicking on the pencil icon to the right of it.

8. Then you may adjust the relevant dates and click on the green tick icon to save your changes.

Starting Over / Refreshing the date management tool

To start over from the beginning again click on Run Date Management Again which appears on the top left. This will not undo any changes made but allows you to see the first three options again.

To refresh the information shown click on the Refresh button which appears on the top right.

Be aware

The options to adjust dates based on the course start date, or by a certain number of days will not consider the day of the week that an original date was set. So an original date of a Monday will not necessarily mean that the new date also falls on a Monday.
Announcements that were originally created without a date restriction will have a date setting of the date they were originally created. The date management tool will not change this. This is a known issue expected to be fixed in a future upgrade.

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