Category Archives: Tips and Tricks

Why You Should Have Multiple Web Browsers On Your Computer

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The main reason why it is a good idea to have more than one web browser installed on a computer is that it provides a back-up or alternate way to connect to the Internet when a favorite web browser suddenly stops working or denies access to a particular website. Technology is not perfect, as much as we expect it to be. Programs, software, and websites change, get updated and, sometimes, break for unknown reasons.

If you’re still not convinced your browser might be displaying certain webpages differently or not as effectively than another browser, then consider these situations:

1. Versatility

Having multiple web browsers installed on the computer provides you with different interfaces to connect to the Internet. The page loading speed of Google Chrome might be more attractive than using a web browser such as Mozilla Firefox that provides the user with a wide variety of tools and gadgets, or vice-versa.

Try out a variety of web browsers to see what they do and how they display the Internet content on your computer. You may discover that you like one of the newer ones more than your current browser. A list of popular and acceptable web browsers for the Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems is provided at the end of this article.

2. Compatibility and Security

Some websites might not open properly after awhile with the default web browser. Try another web browser to access the website.

3. Reparability/Reliability

Web browsers wear out, become corrupt, out dated and break, just like other computer programs. Upgrading the web browser version or completely re-installing the browser program usually corrects the glitch. But, this isn’t effective when time is not on your side. Using a backup web browser to access information on the Internet will save time and headaches until the problem can be fixed.

Here is a list of some of the more popular and SEU compatible web browsers:

Windows computers:

Mac and Linux computers:

Want to Get Text Messages Whenever Announcements or Grades Are Posted in Blackboard?

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Students can sign up via Rave Alerts to receive text or email messages from their Blackboard classes whenever a new announcement, grade or assignment is posted. It’s simple and faculty don’t need to do anything to enable this feature. By default all text and email alerts from Blackboard are turned off so students must opt in.

Rave Alerts are scheduled for delivery every 10 minutes, so if an instructor posts an announcement at 10:30 that class is cancelled for today, students who have signed up for text alerts should receive that message by 10:40.

How to Sign Up?

  1. Log into Blackboard

  2. Click on the Rave link in the Tools menu

  3. You will be automatically logged into Rave.  If you have previously configured your Rave account with a cell phone number you can go ahead and select the classes and alerts you wish to receive.  If you need to add your cell phone number to Rave see the instructions at Signing Up for Topper Text.  If  you have configured your Rave account you can go ahead and select the classes and areas from which to receive texts or emails.

  4. By default all text and email alerts are turned off.    You can choose Default Settings that will automatically be applied to all Blackboard classes. Remember that every announcement, grade, assignment or calendar entry will automatically generate a text message.  You may not want to get that many text messages for every Blackboard class.

  5. You can also choose to only get text or email from specific classes and specific areas.  Click in the boxes in the column under Announcements, Calendar items, Assignments or Grades to enable text messages.

Course Availability in Blackboard

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As a new semester begins I wanted to remind students and faculty about the availability of Blackboard classes.  All classes from the official course catalog  are automatically loaded into Blackboard with a status of unavailable. Those courses are immediately available to faculty; however, students will not see those courses in Blackboard until faculty make their courses available.

Steps for faculty to use to make a course available to students:

  1. Go to the Control Panel for the Class
  2. Click on Customization
  3. Click on Properties
  4. Select Yes in the Set Availability section
  5. Click on Submit

You will receive an onscreen receipt confirmation. Now your course is accessible to your students.

Note that classes in Blackboard will automatically be made unavailable to students on the 12th class day of the next semester.

Blackboard Tips

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Blackboard Tips: Grade Center

A Calculated Column gathers data from multiple Grade Center columns and performs a calculation such as an average grade for a set of assignments. New courses and restored courses contain two Calculated columns by default: a Total Points column and a Weighted Grade column. To create a new calculated column, select a type such as “average column” from the “Create Calculated Column” list. On the following page enter a column name and set other options, such as whether to display the column to students. Click submit when you are finished.

Blackboard Tips: Make Your Course Available

To make a course available in Blackboard, go into your course’s homepage on Blackboard. On the Control Panel on the left side of the screen, click ‘Customization,’ and then under ‘Customization,’ select ‘Properties.’ This will take you to the Properties window. Under ‘Set Availability’ check ‘Yes’ to make the course available, then click ‘Submit’ at the bottom of the page.

Blackboard Tips: Edit Mode in Blackboard

When you are in Blackboard, if you find that you cannot edit your content, look at the edit mode button in the top right corner of the page. If the edit button is switched to the off position then click it and it will switch on. You should now be able to edit your content. The purpose of having the edit mode button is to allow you to see your Blackboard course from a student perspective. It can be useful to check your edits with the edit mode off when you are done.

Blackboard Tips: How to ensure that your students can reply to your Blackboard announcement e-mails

When you create an announcement in Blackboard, you will be presented with the option “E-mail Announcement” to send the announcement to your students via email. If you want your students to be able to respond to you directly, be sure that you check the “Send a copy of this announcement immediately” box. Otherwise, Blackboard will send the email from a generic IT address and any responses from your students will be directed to IT rather than back to you. To ensure that the email is sent from your address, make sure to check the box to the right of “E-mail Announcement.”

Blackboard Tips: Creating a Turnitin Assignment

The process for creating an assignment in Turnitin is different than creating a normal assignment. To do this go to your blackboard homepage click the “Assignments” link in the course menu. Mouse over “create assessment” and select “Turnitin Assignment” form the drop down menu. Select the type of assignment you wish to create from the three options presented. Enter an assignment title, a point value, and the start, due and post dates. Once you are finished click “submit”. Your Turnitin assignment will appear under Assignments.

Blackboard Tips: Course Reports

Faculty can use the Course Reports area to generate reports on course usage and activity. Faculty can view a specific student’s usage to determine if students are actively using course materials. The report appears in the form of graphical charts. Course reports provide different ways to view information about student activity and content usage. To run a new report, select a course you are teaching and open the course Control Panel, click on Evaluation and then Course Reports. Choose your desired options and run the report.

Blackboard Tips: Clearing Attempts in Turnitin

If you need to clear a student’s attempt in Turnitin, go to the Full Grade Center and find the cell that corresponds to the student’s attempt that you would like to clear. Then click the double arrow box to the right of the cell and select the third option “Attempt” from the menu. In the Modify Grade window, select the “Clear attempt” button. Click submit to save changes.

Blackboard Tips: Course Reports

Faculty can use the Course Reports area to generate reports on course usage and activity. Faculty can view a specific student’s usage to determine if students are actively using course materials. The report appears in the form of graphical charts. Course reports provide different ways to view information about student activity and content usage. To run a new report, select a course you are teaching and open the course Control Panel, click on Evaluation and then Course Reports. Choose your desired options and run the report.

Blackboard Tips: Reordering Items in a Content Area or Menu Bar

In order to move items in a content area, mouse over the top right corner of the item box (or the double pronged arrow to the right of the box in the case of the menu bar items) until the cursor changes into the four pronged arrow. Now simply click and drag the item to where you want it to be.

Blackboard Tips: Downloading Assignments from Grade Center

To download assignment files that students have submitted, go to Grade Center and click on the double arrow to the right of the assignment that you would like to download. Select “Assignment File Download” from the drop-down list. On the next page you can choose to download all files or just the files from selected students. Click “submit” once you have selected which files to download, and then click the “Download Assignments Now” link. Save the .zip file to your drive and open it to view the files.

Blackboard Tips: Copying Files from One Course to Another

If there is a file that already exists in one course that you wish to make available in another course you must first locate the file and click the double down arrow on the right side of the file’s name. From the drop down menu, select the “Copy” option. Then select the course and folder in which you wish the file to appear. Finally, click “Submit.” Your file should now be available in both courses. To move a file from one course to another, simply follow the same procedure as above but instead of selecting the “Copy” option from the drop-down menu, you will select the “Move” option.

Maintenance Tip: Storing and Backing Up your Files and Documents

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Storing and Organizing Files

Properly storing and organizing your digital documents will go a long way towards making your files easy to find and reference later. However, often the biggest issue is creating and maintaining a consistent system that will not leave you wondering where you saved a crucial document.

Both PCs and Mac computers feature a “Documents” folder for containing your documents and files you create or download from the web. Typically, Microsoft Office applications will want to save documents in this folder by default. In this “Documents” folder, you may create additional folders for categorizing the types of files you collect. Should your computer need repair in the future, the St. Edward’s Computer HelpDesk or an outside company will assume that the majority of the files you want saved will be located in this folder.

Creating File Folders on a PC and Mac

On a Mac, double click on the “Macintosh HD” icon on the desktop and click on “Documents,” listed on the left navigation bar. The top of the window will now say “Documents” with a folder icon next to it. This is where you can create folders and save documents. To create a new folder, right-click on your mouse or control-click and choose “New Folder”. Name the untitled folder and press the Return key.

Give your folders descriptive names, such as “Cyber Security Awareness Month,” which is better than an acronym like “CSAM” because over time you may not remember all of the acronyms you created. You may also create folders within folders for ones that contain several sub-groups of documents, such as folders for different years or versions of files. Most people develop their own unique file system method that depends on the types of files they have.

Reserve your desktop for short-term storage of files you are currently working on. Once you no longer need immediate access to that document, put it in the appropriate folder you created in “Documents”.

Backing up Files

Now with a file system in place within your “Documents” folder, it is time to create a backup of your files. IT recommends backing your files in multiple places in the event of a virus infection or computer crash. Should your hard drive fail, your files may not be recoverable.

We recommend backing up your files by making copies and saving them on an external hard drive (available in any electronics department or store), USB drives or your EdShare account. You may also want to burn your files to writable CDs and store them in a safe place.