Blackboard Server Downtime

On August 12th and 13th, the UF Online Blackboard server will be upgraded from version 7.1 to version 8.  This means that between August 11th at 10pm and August 13th at 11:59pm  Blackboard will be inaccessible.
During this time no Blackboard data or features will be available for use. As you begin to prepare your Fall '08 course sites, please take this downtime into account.

This upgrade is being applied to our current Blackboard server so all courses and materials that are present on the Blackboard server on August 11th will be available after the upgrade.  The current server will be backed up immediately prior to the upgrade; however, if you wish you may choose to create an archive of any course you are currently preparing or teaching.  Information about how to create an archive is available here.

Changes to Existing Features

Some of the current features will change; most notably the Blackboard Gradebook is now called Grade Center and has undergone several improvements:

• A redesigned tool bar, titled the Action Bar, through which multiple functions are possible
• The ability to create and print Reports, such as final grades, to hand out to students or other interested parties
• Inline editing: the ability to enter grades directly through the Grade Center spreadsheet
• New grade calculations, Average grade and Minimum/Maximum grade, and improvements to the creation of Weighted grades and Total points grade
• Smart Views -- the ability to categorize students into groupings based on selected criteria. These views can be displayed in the Grade Center.
• A multitude of ways to customize the display of the Grade Center

Grade Center Main Page

The Action Bar on the Grade Center main page contains multiple functions, including the following:

• Adding columns
• Managing Grading Periods
• Smart Views
• Emailing Students
• Creating Reports
• Viewing Grade History

Within the Grade Center spreadsheet, it is possible to enter results, such as scores, percentages, or other forms of grading, into the spreadsheet itself.

In the various columns, cells, and rows, the Instructor can quickly perform multiple functions that formerly required multiple clicks and subsequent navigation to other pages.

Reports

Through the Grade Center, an Instructor may create a Report that displays various grade and Student information. A Report could be used, for example, as a final grade Report or a mid-term progress report. The Instructor can control what grades are displayed in the Report as well as what student information appears. A signature line and any comments can be added. Reports can then be printed from the screen and distributed.

Grade Calculations

In the Grade Center, an Instructor can calculate grades by combining multiple columns to attain performance results, such as class averages, final grades that are based on a weighted scale, or total points, and so on. These include Weighted grade, Total points grade, Average grade, and Minimum/Maximum grade. Each of these functions allows the Instructor to choose the columns included, such as all columns from a Grading Period, all columns or selected columns.

Smart Views

Instructors have the ability to customize the Grade Center to display a subset of Students based on selected criteria. Called Smart Views these customized displays can be saved and used again. Students can be sorted based on course, group, performance measurements or other criteria. Once built and saved, Smart Views become a selectable list item on the Current View drop-down menu of the Grade Center page, enabling easy navigation from one view to another.


New Features introduced in Blackboard 8

Blackboard 8 introduces several new features: SafeAssign and Educational Uses of Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts.

SafeAssign

Release 8 features the new SafeAssign, a tool that compares submitted Assignments against a set of academic essays to identify areas of overlap. SafeAssign can be used to prevent plagiarism and to create opportunities to help students identify how to properly attribute sources rather than paraphrase. 

SafeAssign draws from several different databases: the Internet, ProQuest, ABI/Inform database, institutional document archives, and the Global Reference Database, which includes content submitted into SafeAssign from Blackboard-powered institutions. 

Please note that SafeAssign content must be created itself, and that previously created Assignments cannot be integrated with SafeAssign. 

SafeAssign is integrated with the Grade Center. 


Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts
For more information about using Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts within Blackboard please signup for the Educational Uses for Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts workshop or request one-on-one training by calling x4538.

(Information above is taken from the Blackboard Academic Suite Faculty Release Notes for 8.0)

Please be assured that ATS has workshops planned to provide instruction to faculty/staff regarding changes to the existing features in Bb, as well as new features introduced in Blackboard 8.