Errors

My scroll bar is missing in the Grade Center?

If you are using Firefox on a PC, you may not see the scroll bars in the Blackboard Grade Center.

Zoom out on a browser by pressing CRTL + 0 on a PC and Command + 0 on a Mac.

Windows 7   (see below for screenshots) The first step would be to right-click on your desktop and select the ‘Personalize’ option.

My students are getting strange errors when they try to take an online quiz.

If students report that they are getting errors on their online quiz, it may be because you created the questions by copying and pasting from Microsoft Word.  That copying also copies bogus HTML code into your questions, and the bogus code causes some browsers to fail.  If you must copy text from Word, copy it first into an editor that doesn't understand formatting, e.g. NOTEPAD (on a PC), then copy it from there into Blackboard.

Why can't students view my PDFs?

If you post PDF files as Blackboard "File" items, beware:  as of summer 2011 there is a bug in both Safari and Firefox for Mac that will prevent your students from viewing the files.  This is a browser bug, not a Blackboard bug, but there's a simple blackboard fix.

How do I help students who have been kicked out of a Blackboard quiz?

If you have not selected “Force Completion” while creating the test, students should be able to resume the test as long as they have been saving their answers. For these reasons it is important to not select “Force Completion” when creating the test, and to encourage students to frequently save their answers. If a student can’t resume the test and you have limited the number of attempts that they have to take the test, then you made need to clear the attempt in the grade center.

I've found a blackboard bug. How do I report it?

We wish programs were bug free, but we live in the real world where bugs are all too common.  We want to hear about problems.  Sometimes we can help you deal with them, and sometimes they are bugs that we can fix, or can report to Blackboard, Inc.

File a blackboard trouble ticket.  See "submitting a Bb problem report " for instructions.

tags: bug, glitch, error, report, ticket, broken, problem, blackboard inc

Why can't students print my handouts?

If students are complaining about problems printing files that are attached to Blackboard items, there could be lots of causes.

Format

First, what format are your attachments? If you upload an unusual file format, e.g. a set of images in TIFF format, it is likely that many of your students won't be able to display or print the attachments.

I get errors uploading grades from Excel or iClicker/iGrader.

How do I clear my browser cache?

Here is our recommendation on supported browsers.

Before clearing your browser cache be sure to log out of Blackboard and any other sites and then close and restart your browser after clearing the cache. Then, instructions depend on the particular browser:

For Firefox:

On both Mac and PC look under tools and select "Clears Recent History"

Error trying to make the course available to students: "internet explorer cannot display web page"

There's a bug in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 for the PC.  The best fix is to switch to Firefox.  Please visit CMET Consulting if you need assisattance with installing or upgrading the version you have on your system.

Blackboard down?  What to do

Blackboard at the UO has scheduled maintenance, but is very seldom down except as scheduled. Our target is 99.9% scheduled uptime! Still, it's possible that when you try to connect to Blackboard you may be unsuccessful. Here's what to do next.

Is it actually a Blackboard problem?

First, wait a few minutes and try again.