Students Not Sorted Alphabetically in the Gradebook

Issue:

This bug is known as AS-157208 and is going to be fixed in 9.1 SP6.

Workaround:

For now you will need to download your gradebook and sort by both last name and first name in Excel.  Then use this Excel spreadsheet to enter grades.  This Excel file can then be used to upload grades into Blackboard.  Otherwise if you enter grades manually into the gradebook, you will need to verify that you are entering the grades into the correct user.

Drop-Down Menu Disappears

Issue:

Instructors may lose the ability to access the drop down menu located next to the title of Content Items.

Workaround:

In order to be able to access the items on the drop down menu located next to the title of Content Items, click on the small white box to the far right of the screen.

Repositionable Bar in Announcements (Permanent Announcements) Does Not Work Properly

Issue:

The Repositionable bar in the Announcements page is one of new features of Blackboard 9.1 Service Pack 3. Any announcements above the bar will always appear first in the list. [Students do not see the bar.] This also means new announcements appear directly below a repositionable bar, and thus also appear below the priority announcements.

• Announcements do not stay in the order as they suppose to be.
• After removing announcements, the line disappears and the menu items in the Course Menu and Control Panel do not work.

Workaround:

To avoid these issues it is suggested to:

• Drag and drop the repositionable bar instead of dragging each announcement item to reposition it around the bar.
• When the menu items in the Course Menu and Control Panel do not work, create a new announcement. Then you will be able to click on the menu items.

Announcements Override User Notifications Settings

Issue:

The option to send an email of an Announcement by selecting the Override User Notifications Settings should not be used at this time.

Workaround:

We are in the process of evaluating the new Bb 9.1 Notification system. Most of the functions have been verified and made available to users. The automatic Emails and Override User Notification Settings are currently being tested and will be available as soon as they are tested and ready.

Journal Index Panel

Issue:

Index Panel on Student Journals is missing preventing students from viewing their older posts. This does not occur for instructors or for group journals.

Workaround for Instructors:

This is a known Blackboard issue.  create a Group for each student OR select the "Permit Course Users to View Journal" option. Please be aware that all students will be able to view all journals if this is selected.

Deleted Assignments or Discussion Forums Cannot Be Removed from Grade Center

Issue:

 Some instructors may experience that they cannot remove/delete grade columns from the Grade Center after they remove associated assignments or discussion forums.

Workaround for Instructors:

The good news is that you can still make certain grade columns not to be included in the calculation and hide them from the Grade Center.

* Blackboard is aware of the problem and working on the issue.

Journal Index Panel

Issue:

Index Panel on Student Journals is missing preventing students from viewing their older posts. This does not occur for instructors or for group journals.

Workaround for Instructors:

This is a known Blackboard issue.  create a Group for each student OR select the "Permit Course Users to View Journal" option. Please be aware that all students will be able to view all journals if this is selected.

Deleted Assignments or Discussion Forums Cannot Be Removed from Grade Center

Issue:   

Some instructors may experience that they cannot remove/delete grade columns from the Grade Center after they remove associated assignments or discussion forums.

Workaround for Instructors:

The good news is that you can still make certain grade columns not to be included in the calculation and hide them from the Grade Center.

* Blackboard is aware of the problem and working on the issue.

Scroll bar is missing the in Blackboard Grade Center

Issue:    

If you are using Firefox on a PC, you may not see the scroll bars in the Blackboard Grade Center. This issue is related to the scroll bar settings in Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Workaround for Instructors:

To be able to view the scroll bars, you will need to change the scroll bar settings.

Windows XP

1. Go to the Control Panel.

2. Click on Display Properties.

3. Click on the Appearance tab.

4. Select the Advanced button.

5. Select the Scroll Bar from the item drop down list.

6. Change the setting to 19.

7. Submit.

Windows Vista

1. Go to the Control Panel.

2. Click on Personalization.

3. Select the Window Color and Appearance option.

4. Click on the Advanced button.

5. Select the Scroll Bar from the item drop down list.

6. Change the setting to 19.

7. Submit.

Kicked Out of Blackboard When Changing grades through the Grade Details page

Issue: 

When submitting a grade through the Grade Details page using Internet 7 or 8, an instructor will get the ‘Access Denied’ message. Clicking will take him/her back to the previous page. Clicking will take him/her to the Log In page.

If an instructor clicks any navigation menu item (Course Menus, Control Panel Menus) on the left while they are making changes in the Grade Details page, he/she will get a message, “There is an uncommitted data change. Save this change?.” Clicking 'OK' will save the grade.

Workaround:

To avoid these issues it is suggested to use Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ie.html).

Invalid HTML Errors When Using the Visual Text Box Editor

Issue: 

Some instructors may notice Invalid HTML error messages. This error may prevent users from viewing content as expected. The reason for this error is most likely due to copying and pasting from Word which usually has hidden code that can cause problems.

Workaround:

The good news is that the content is probably there and can be restored.

HOW CAN I PREVENT THIS: It is always preferable to type directly in the text editor in Blackboard since copying and pasting from Word causes issues. If you are going to copy and paste make sure and do so from a Plain Text File.

Problem When Copying and Pasting Text From Word Into a Text Box

Issue:

When copying and pasting text from Word into a Blackboard text box (such as in the Announcements area) the formatting changes.

Workaround:

Text pasted directly from Word contains hidden formatting code that may not be compatible with web viewing. This also may cause issues with the Blackboard course environment.

The text that you paste into the text editor should be as clean as possible. If you want to copy and paste from Word you need to paste the text into Notepad first to get rid of the hidden formatting, and then copy and paste from Notepad into Blackboard. You will then do any formatting within the Blackboard editor.

Assessment - Student is Kicked Out of an Assessment (Quiz or Exam)

Issue:

The student is kicked out of an assessment (quiz or exam).

Workaround:

There are several things you can do to combat this issue.

1. Give the assessment one question at a time. This ensures that the user's java session is continuously updated and the likelihood of the user getting kicked out is reduced.

1. Do not select the "force complete" option. Without this option selected, users are able to re-enter the exam from the last point that they saved an answer if they should get kicked out.

Assessment Problem Submission When Using Internet Explorer

Issue:

If students are taking a test using Internet Explorer they may not be able to save answers or receive an error message upon submission.

Workaround:

To avoid these issues it is suggested to use Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ie.html).

Linking to External Websites - Error Message Appears

Issue:

When a user clicks on a link to a webpage to be displayed in Blackboard, the user sees a frame with a message above it stating 'The content below is outside the Blackboard Learn environment'. The color of the formatting of this message may be alarming to some users.

Workaround:

To avoid this message, it is recommended that you set external links to 'Open in a New Window' in the 'Options' area when creating or editing the links.

Assessment/Online Test

Issue:

For one reason or another, sometimes there are issues during exam taking. Often times, this involves students getting kicked out of course exams, or even midterms and finals, creating a bad situation for both the student and the professor. The symptom is the student is kicked out of an assessment when the submit button is pressed. The cause is the java session has been terminated due to inactivity, and so the submission is unsuccessful. Almost always this issue occurs with randomized tests, or where certain questions are randomized.

Workaround:

Instructors are recommended to try the following methods:

(1) Give the exam one question at a time
This ensures that the user's java session is continuously updated, and the likelihood of a user not hitting the system to persist his/her session is reduced. Then, please don't forget to try the test by answering one question at a time using both Internet Explorer and Firefox. This will help you catch any error before you release the test to your students. If there is any error, you may want to modify the question in a html mode and make sure there is no any extra html codes within the question.

(2) Turning off the "force completion" option
Doing this allows the user to persist his/her answers. In case of any issues with the session timing out, the user will be able to re-enter the exam from the last point he/she saved, allowing them to submit the exam with minimal data loss. In addition, the save button will also function the same as the solution above, allowing the java session to persist for a longer period of time.

(3) Not using randomized tests (*ONLY FOR USE IF THE PREVIOUS TWO WORKAROUNDS ARE UNUSABLE)
While this is most likely an unusable workaround, the reason randomization is a problem is that each version of the exam in a randomized test is created in java memory only. So, a randomized test, should the java session for the user die, will not persist anywhere, and will be unrecoverable. Removing randomization will use a version of the test from the database, so at least the user would get the same test with the same order the next time he/she took the test.