Remarks_about_Blackboard

Some basic hints for using the Blackboard VLE
Blackboard is a 'Virtual Learning Environment' in which each module has assigned an area for lecturers to post learning resources.

Use in the School of Maths	Availability	TurnItIn (plagiarism check)
Access	Entry Point	Rolling content to next academic year
Editing	Grade Centre	Help
LaTeX on the VLE

Use in the School of Maths.

All online information for modules taught in the School of Maths should be accessible via Blackboard. Details about the minium requirements for a module webpage in the School of Maths can be found here.

All lecturers should use the Blackboard VLE to post module information. But if you need to use your own module webpage, please post a link on the Blackboard VLE to your module web page, for example by posting a permanent announcement. Don't forget to make the VLE module page "available" (see below). If you have any problems with this, please contact Charlotte in the Maths Taught Student Office.

NOTE. The MODULE INFORMATION area for each module will be set by office staff to link to the Module Catalogue entry. Please do not edit or use this menu item.

Access

There are different levels of access rights to the module pages. Under MY MODULES, you will see three columns referring to
modules you are teaching, building, and grading. If any of the modules you are teaching do not appear in the correct place, or if you would like to arrange for a postgrad or member of staff to get grading access to your module, please contact the Maths Taught Student Office. Staff in the Maths Taught Student Office will arrange for all tutors to have grading access to the module area.

GUEST ACCESS is enabled on all Maths modules (done by Charlotte in the Maths Taught Student Office) at the start of the academic year.

Editing

In order to edit any page in the VLE make sure that the switch on the top right is set to EDIT ON

Availability

After logging in, every lecturer should find on the bottom right side of the page a list of all modules he/she is teaching, building or grading. If this is not the case, please contact the Maths Taught Student Office. Initially all modules are listed as

="unavailable". This refers to the page not being available to students. When the page is ready for students to see, you need to make the page available to users by going to CONTROL PANEL > CUSTOMISATION > PROPERTIES on the left-hand margin.

Entry Point

The default entry page for all module areas is the Announcement Page. You can change this by going to CONTROL PANEL > CUSTOMISATION > STYLE on the left-hand margin.

Grade Centre

You can access the Grade Centre on the left-hand margin under Control Panel -> Full Grade Centre. It should be used to enter marks for coursework, practicals, quizzes, etc.
You can add items (columns) to the Grade Centre by clicking ADD COLUMN. You can change the order of the columns by going to MANAGE -> COLUMN ORGANISATION.
If you would like the office staff to customise the Grade Centre, please send the details to Charlotte.

Data Entry
Marks can be entered directly on the page by clicking on the grade, typing the grade, and then pressing <enter> on the keyboard.
For all level 1 modules with several tutor groups, the office staff will set up the Grade Centre so that each tutor can access his/her tutor group directly from the left-hand margin.

IMPORTANT! If you do enter exam marks or final module marks into the Grade Centre, please do NOT make them visible to students.

Making Marks visible to students
Lecturers should use this feature to allow students to check their coursework marks online. In order to make the marks from the Gradebook visible to students you need to add My Grades to the Module menu. In order to do this
click on + in the module menu, select ADD TOOL LINK, enter a name (for example "My Grades"), choose MY GRADES for the type, and tick the "Available to users" box.

The My Grades menu item should now appear in the module menu on the left-had margin. In order for students to see their marks, they need to click on this item. Students will only be able to see their own marks.

Using LaTeX on the VLE

You can of course upload pdf-files which have been created using LaTeX.

But you can also write or copy LaTeX code directly into VLE areas and have the typeset text displayed.
Thanks to Philip Walker for finding this solution!
It comes from a video tutorial on using MathJax in Blackboard. MathJax is a JavaScript application which interprets standard LaTeX mark-up and displays it in the major web browsers across all operating systems.

Add an item to a VLE page and give it a name. Go to the text box and make sure that the Text Editor switch just above the text box is set to OFF.
Select “HTML” input mode (rather than “Smart Text” or “Plain Text”) from the list of input options right underneath the editor’s input text field.
Copy and paste the following MathJax into the Blackboard editor:

<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://cdn.mathjax.org/mathjax/latest/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML">
</script>
Include your mathematics in standard LaTeX notation, using the \( … \) delimiters for inline expressions and \[ … \] for paragraph equations.
Click Submit.

You should now see the typeset mathematics.

Rolling content to the next academic year

All "static" content (e.g. uploaded files, links) will be automatically copied to the module area for the next academic year. Non-static content such as entries in Discussions Boards or the Grade Centre will not be rolled forward.

Help

Charlotte Walker in the Maths Taught Student Office provides assistance with setting up your VLE areas.
VLE support for the MaPS Faculty is provided by Samantha Pugh - vle-maps@leeds.ac.uk