Author Archives: Russell Davidson

Tool Availability

The University of Detroit Mercy’s Blackboard course management system include a number of tools that may not be initially available inside a course site. If you are interested in using a Blackboard tool that is not available in your course, check to see if the tool is installed and just needs to be made available to use.

To make a tool available to use, go to CUSTOMIZATION under the Course Management heading.

customization

Then click TOOL AVAILABILITY.

tool-availabilityScroll down the list of installed tools. To make a tool available, check the box in the AVAILABLE column. If a tool may be added through a menu in a content area (similar to how discussion boards or journals may be added to a content area), you will be able to check a box in the AVAILABLE IN CONTENT AREA column as well. Note that “Guest” and “Observer” roles are disabled in UDM’s Blackboard, so checking these columns will have no effect on actual availability.

available

Course Tools, Customization Updated: January 19, 2016

Recording a Lecture with Office Mix

Office Mix is a free plug-in for PowerPoint that makes it easy for faculty or students to record narrated presentations and post them to Blackboard. The below video walk you through the process of recording, publishing, and posting a lecture to Knowledge.

 

 

Want more help? Microsoft has developed a series of detailed tutorials on using Mix that can be found on the Office Mix web site.

Note: Mix is only available for the Office 2013 version of PowerPoint for Windows. Faculty who wish to install Office Mix on their UDM computer will need to contact ITS for assistance.

Build / Add Content Updated: August 19, 2015

Introducing Blackboard Collaborate with “the Ultra Experience”

UDM now has access to “Blackboard Collaborate with the Ultra Experience.” This version of Blackboard Collaborate has a more modern, user-friendly feel, but lacks some of the power-user features found in the current Collaborate. Want to learn more about Collaborate with the Ultra Experience? Check out this video:

Some notable features missing from the Blackboard Collaborate with the Ultra Experience include:

  • Ability to schedule sessions
  • Ability to share a single room between multiple course sites
  • Break-out rooms
  • Polling

Blackboard Collaborate with the Ultra Experience works best in the Google Chrome browser [ download here ], but is compatible with Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The Microsoft Edge browser is not compatible with Collaborate Ultra at this time. While Java is not required to run Collaborate Ultra, Flash is required in browsers other than Google Chrome.

If you’d like to use Collaborate with the Ultra Experience, please contact the Instructional Design Studio.

Note: While you can use the traditional Collaborate in one course and the new Collaborate in another course, you cannot use both versions of Collaborate in the same course.

 

Bb Collaborate, Bb Collaborate Updated: August 14, 2015
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