Blackboard 7.1 Tips & Tricks

Some times you will notice that students come up with odd problems or quirks that your not sure why they happen. Below we have comprised a list of common oddities that CTELT and the HelpDesk have run across. For more support feel free to contact the HelpDesk at 628-FHSU or CTELT at 628-4194.

Padlock Test After Submitting :

Students are likely to have problems if they double click to take a test, or when they double click the "Submit" or "Save" button. This may result in error messages which lock the student out of the assessment, or cause the test not to be saved. Please inform your students about this issue before assigning a Blackboard test.

Students should be told NOT to click on the Submit or Save button more than once.

The Save button is a new Bb feature. It allows a student to save answered questions when the test is presented all-at-once. Presumably, if a student clicks Save but then experiences a problem that causes the test to become "locked" the answered questions will be saved. The instructor can view the answered questions even though the test was not completed.

Test Timer Doesn't Appear:

Internet Explorer version 7 (IE7)

1. Tools > Internet Options > Security tab > Internet > Custom Levels
2. Scroll down (near the bottom) and enable "Allow status bar updates via script."
3. You may need to restart your browser

Firefox 2.x

1. Tools > Options > Content
2. Check "enable Java"
3. Check "enable JavaScript"
4. Click Advanced...
5. Check "Change status bar text"
6. You may need to restart your browse

Discussion Board & Essay Question “Message” box in IE7:

If you try to start a new thread or reply to one in the discussion board, and the “Message” box is grayed out or won’t let you type in it:

1. Look near the top of your screen, near the “Murray State E-Study Center” logo. Likely, there is a yellow bar that says “This web site wants to run the following add-on: ‘Microsoft ® Dynamic HTML Editing Control’ from ‘Microsoft Corporation’. If you trust the web site and the add-on and want to allow it to run, click here…”
2. Click on the bar (line of text), and select “Run ActiveX Control.”

Office 2007 Documents & Office 2003

If you are running Microsoft Office 2007, please be aware that the default file formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .accdb) are incompatible with Microsoft Office 2003 and earlier versions. (This is not a problem with Blackboard, but will make it difficult for anyone opening files retrieved out of Blackboard who do not have Office 2007.)

To set your Office 2007 programs to default to a compatible format, please review the instructions at Office 2007 - Saving documents for earlier versions of Office.

• Frequently Asked Questions

Students: 1-800-628-FHSU or support@fhsu.edu

Faculty: 1-785-628-4194