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New Mexico State University
Learning Technologies
Instructional Innovation & Quality

Blackboard Tools

My grade book has disappeared.

This is a caching issue with the browsers and Blackboard:

There are two solutions:
1. Change browsers. This seems to be a problem with Internet Explorer.

Or

2. Clear the java cache and then the browser cache.

To clear the Java cache:

Start > Control Panel > Java > Temporary Internet Files > Settings > Delete Files.

To clear the Browser cache (this may be different depending on your browser):

  1. In Internet Explorer, from the Tools menu, select Delete Browsing History…
  2. Click the checkbox for Temporary Internet Files and uncheck all others.
  3. Click Delete.
  4. Restart your browser.

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My students are attaching files with a .lnk extension. What is this?

The .lnk extension indicates that the file that has been attached is a shortcut to the actual file on the student’s computer. This happens when the student tries to attach a .docx or .doc (Word Document) when the file is still open. If the student closes the document before attaching it, the .lnk file does not get attached.

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I am using a Mac with Snow Leopard and the HTML editor is not working. Why?

  1. Clear the Java cache under Finder->Applications->Utilities->Java Preferences->Network->Delete Files… to force a fresh download of the applets from the server.
  2. In Java Preferences->General, move the the Java SE 32-bit runtime so it’s first in order above the 64-bit version.

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I am receiving a java security message or I am having problems uploading files with the My Computer icon. What do I do?

Java update 19 came out in late March 2010 to address a possible security issue in the java program. This update is for Windows XP, Vista and 7. Unfortunately this update causes some problems with Blackboard. The work around is:

  1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Java.
  2. Select the Advanced tab.
  3. Click on the plus (+) sign next to Security.
  4. Click on the plus (+) sign next to Mixed Content.
  5. Select the option Enable – hide warning and run with protection
  6. Click OK.
  7. Close the Control Panel and log back into Blackboard.

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How do I change the order of the course in my Course List?

  1. From the My Blackboard screen, locate the Course List channel and click its Edit Course List icon course list icon.
  2. Locate the links that you want to move and select their check boxes.
  3. Do one of the following to order the links:
    • Locate the row above or below which you want to move the links and, under Move, click the icon and select Move Selected Above or Move Selected Below.
    • If you want to order the links in alphabetical order by course title, click Restore Default.
      Clicking Restore Default will also show any course links that you had hidden.
  4. Click the My Blackboard tab.

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How do I hide or un-hide a course on my Course List?

  1. From the My Blackboard screen, locate the Course List channel and click its Edit Course List icon course list licon.
  2. Under Visibility, do one of the following:
    • To hide a link, click Hide Link.
    • To show a link, click Show Link.
      To show or hide multiple links, select the check box next to each link and click Show or Hide.

The Course List channel, as well as the Who’s Online channel, are updated to display the selected links.

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When I click on the Syllabus from the Student View tab I receive the following message: “The Syllabus has not been selectively released to you.” What do I do?

  1. From the Build tab, create a syllabus content link on the course Home page- Add Content Link > Syllabus > Select file (choose the pdf from course files).
  2. Go to Build > Page options > Power View and unhide the content link.
  3. Go to the Student tab and open the Syllabus from the Content (Home) page link.
  4. Log out and log back in to the course.
  5. From Student tab, open the Syllabus from Course Tools as before the problem.
  6. Remove the Content page link.

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