energy shots

When's the last time you felt a shot of energy after learning something new - one of those "Ah Ha" moments? Maybe it was because it was going to save you time, put a spark into what you're doing, or provided a solution to a problem.

The "Energy Shots" initiative from Instructional Services of ITS will give you more of these moments, delivered directly via email. Just like the energy shot drinks, these offerings are short timely tutorials that teach you technology tips that will energize your teaching and the administration of your courses.

Updated: 08/04/2015


Hide Unwanted Courses from Your Blackboard Course Lists - Reviewed August 4, 2015

To help reduce the number of courses visible in your Blackboard Course Lists we recommend you hide them from your view. This process can be used by both students and faculty and is easy to do. Visit these links (FLASH, MP4) to learn how to hide your unwanted courses!

A Pre-semester Checklist - Reviewed August 4, 2015

Our next "Energy Shot" is a pre-semester checklist of some things you may want to do in your Blackboard course before the semester starts. The tutorial is a 'little long' at seven minutes but there is a menu structure in the Windows version if you'd like to skip around to different parts. Hope this gets you off to a great start this semester. Visit these links (FLASH, MP4) to the Pre-Semester Checklist audio-video tutorial.

Copy/Paste from Word to Blackboard Without Problems! - Reviewed August 4, 2015

There has just never been an easy way to copy and paste text from Microsoft Word into any of Blackboard's text boxes (content items, test questions, discussion board posts, etc.). This has caused many 'strange' problems and headaches for both instructors and students. While many of those issues have been resolved in recent Blackboard versions, the potential for problems with copy/paste still exists. (Word Document)

Manually Enroll Users in a Course - Reviewed August 4, 2015

Student enrollments are normally captured automatically from Campus Connection into your Blackboard course shell each semester, but there are times when you'll need to manually enroll people into the course (i.e. students, teaching assistants, other instructors, etc.) The process isn't difficult, but it does involve some additional steps that aren't always immediately apparent.

Follow the simple steps in this video to manually enroll users when necessary (MP4).

Import OMR Scanned Test Scores Into Blackboard - Reviewed August 4, 2015

The OMR (Optical Mark Reader) Test Scoring System at NDSU offers computerized scoring of quizzes and tests for classes of any size and is particularly useful for testing in large classes. This system has been in existence for several years, but now there's also an efficient, easy way to upload the OMR scored test results directly into the Blackboard Grade Center. You'll no longer need to enter those scores by hand! Watch the video for more information. (FLASH, MP4)