Faculty Blackboard support
Blackboard is Georgian College’s online Learning Management System (LMS). It can be used to communicate with students, post links to important information, post course content such as lecture materials, and facilitate student collaboration by means of blogs, discussion boards and wikis. There is also a grade centre in which marks can be entered and made visible to students at any point in the semester. If you are new to Blackboard, try our self-paced online module found below.
Blackboard Ultra Base Navigation is here!
In January 2022, Blackboard Ultra Base Navigation (UBN) was enabled at Georgian. This update provides a fresh new layout that is designed to improve the teaching and learning experience for the entire Georgian community.
Why did we make this change?
Here are three reasons:
- Intuitive design: Blackboard Ultra is intuitive and fluid in design, making it easy to find and access what you’re looking for.
- Improved student experience: This new design also means a better experience for students, simplifying how they find and access course content.
- Activity stream: Quickly see assignments that need grading and discussions that are happening in your courses. The activity stream brings all these updates together on one screen.
Resources
If you are still getting acquainted with the new Blackboard UBN layout, we encourage you to explore the resources listed below to learn more:
If you have any questions about this announcement, please email your friendly Faculty Blackboard Support Team.
Release notes
- The current student and instructor Blackboard apps (iOS and Android) will end Sept. 30. We encourage faculty to download the NEW Blackboard unified app to replace the older versions.
- Rubrics can now be copied between courses. (Original and Ultra)
- Question banks can now be sorted in Ultra. (Ultra only)
- Discussion replies are available on individual discussion grading pages. (Ultra only)
- Summary list of annotations for inline grading now available. (Original and Ultra)
- Easier access for students to assignment and assessment feedback. (Original and Ultra)
- Microsoft Immersive Reader now added to Ally. (Original and Ultra)
- Display name choice added including preferred name and pronouns. (Original and Ultra)
- Question bank updates! Instructors can now create new, empty question banks in their Ultra courses, view, and search for questions within a question bank, and add, edit, and delete all aspects of a question within new and existing question banks. (Original and Ultra)
- Due date exceptions. Now instructors may accommodate special circumstances by also allowing due date exceptions (Original and Ultra)
- Auto save enhancements for students. There work is auto saved every two seconds when using a content editor tool (Original and Ultra)
- Better cloud integration added for Microsoft. (Original and Ultra)
- Changes to Delete Student Preview mode data. Deletion now includes data removal from the roster, gradebook, gradebook filter, messages, messages recipient, discussions, journals, and conversations. (Original and Ultra)
- Microsoft Teams integration added to Ultra. (Ultra only)
- New unified Blackboard app – replacing the individual student and faculty apps. (Original and Ultra)
- File upload indicator added. An upload animation added when files are uploaded through assignment submission, as a content item, a discussion board posting and a SCORM package.
- Undo and redo in Bb Annotate added. (Original and Ultra)
- New Test Question filtering added! “The question filter supports common test taking strategies. For example, students may complete questions they know first and skip harder ones. The filter enables students to quickly return to skipped questions. Students may also use the filter to find essay questions. If a student submits a test with unanswered questions, a warning will alert the student. The alert shows the number of unanswered questions. The student may choose to submit the test or keep working. If the student chooses to keep working, the unanswered questions filter auto applies. The unanswered questions display automatically. In response to student feedback, students may now choose to hide the timer in timed tests. This may help to reduce pressure and anxiety during assessments. When students hide the timer, the timer icon stays visible. Students may view the remaining time as needed”. (Original and Ultra)
- Session time-out warning added which appears after a period of three hours. This is tool dependent. (Original and Ultra)
- The Content Editor in Original courses allows users to add image attributes, but now it also supports adding the “title” attribute. (Original and Ultra)
Should I contact CTL or IT Support?
Blackboard support important update
The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) faculty Blackboard support team now supports technical error messages, course restores, developmental shell requests (former IT responsibilities) along with much more in addition to the existing how-to questions, faculty training/workshops and assisting with content creation and development.The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) has been focused on providing relevant and timely support to faculty as we develop courses for remote delivery. With the high number of individual requests for help with Blackboard and related educational technologies, we’ve simplified our contact process.
Please contact facultybbsupport@georgiancollege.ca to receive the fastest, most direct service. We’re committed to replying as quickly and thoroughly as possible.
As always, this Faculty Blackboard support page is available to you 24/7 with support articles, screencasts and tip sheets.
CTL
- Faculty how-to questions
- Faculty training
- Documentation and support resources
- Assist with content creation and development
- Functionality and troubleshooting
- Developmental course creation
- Technical error messages
- Course restores
- Section merge tool
- Course export or archive requests
- Blackboard reporting
IT Support
- Password or login issues (all users)
- Organization creation and enrolments
Blackboard Original resources
When you visit the links below, you will be taken to the support pages for the Blackboard Ultra interface.
To view Blackboard Original Course View content, please click the Go to Original Course View page hyperlink at the top of each resource once selected.
Click to expand the accordions for more information.