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prytania3
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« on: January 26, 2009, 08:05:13 PM » |
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I am taking an accounting software course online, and I'm supposed to drop a blank excel page for practice.
Well, I have no clue how to move the excel page over to blackboard.
Should I drop the course now?
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Clowns, I tell you. Clowns.
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egilson
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« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2009, 08:29:08 PM » |
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I am taking an accounting software course online, and I'm supposed to drop a blank excel page for practice.
Well, I have no clue how to move the excel page over to blackboard.
Should I drop the course now?
If you are in the course in a student role and are supposed to upload a page as an assignment (yeah, that seems a little odd to me as I type it), there should be a link on the assignment itself to upload a file. If you are in the course as an instructor or designer, when you go to the page in the course where you want to put the blank Excel page there should be a link in the top right (below the browser toolbar) that says Edit View. Click on that, and there will be a toolbar on the page itself that says Add item. Clicking that will take you to the place where you can upload files. |
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To anyone who is not a blockhead, all the sciences are interesting. - Marc Bloch
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prytania3
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« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2009, 09:12:42 PM » |
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Thanks. I figured it out. I'm just not that handy wiith Blackboard. I had to click on the little computer icon to do an attachment.
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Clowns, I tell you. Clowns.
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svenc
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« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2009, 09:19:31 PM » |
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It is amazing how something as s***ty as Blackboard can have become the industry standard for course management software.
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In foris veritas.
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prytania3
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« Reply #4 on: January 26, 2009, 09:34:10 PM » |
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It is amazing how something as s***ty as Blackboard can have become the industry standard for course management software.
I know, and I pressed the little question mark and got nothing of value, and the tutorial sucks. But hey, my mother, who is 76 has taken two online courses, and dagnabbit, if she can do it, I can. I think. |
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Clowns, I tell you. Clowns.
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conjugate
Compulsive punster and insatiable reader, and
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 17,026
Tends to have warped sense of humor
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« Reply #5 on: January 26, 2009, 09:52:00 PM » |
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Yeah, the "support" for Blackboard leaves much to be desired. It helps if you have a local friend who can show you the ropes.
I can upload to Blackboard or WebCT as instructor, but I don't think I've ever been enrolled as a student and tried (or been asked) to upload.
Don't drop; stick in there, and let us know how it goes. If you get a really good, high-paying job, let me know and I'll be right behind you! :-)
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Unfortunately, I think conjugate gives good advice.
∀ε>0∃δ>0∋|x–a|<δ⇒|ƒ(x)-ƒ(a)|<ε |
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prytania3
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« Reply #6 on: January 26, 2009, 09:56:01 PM » |
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Yeah, the "support" for Blackboard leaves much to be desired. It helps if you have a local friend who can show you the ropes.
I can upload to Blackboard or WebCT as instructor, but I don't think I've ever been enrolled as a student and tried (or been asked) to upload.
Don't drop; stick in there, and let us know how it goes. If you get a really good, high-paying job, let me know and I'll be right behind you! :-)
It actually wan't uploading. It was attaching, but I couldn't figure out how to attach, so I thought I had to upload something first (a la instructor style), but then I found the little computer icon. This accounting is killing me. What am I thinking? |
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Clowns, I tell you. Clowns.
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concordancia
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« Reply #7 on: January 26, 2009, 10:00:43 PM » |
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I hate most icons. Our CMS system just added icons to the tabs. I just hope they never eliminate the words that go with them: the only difference between the blog icon and the assignment icon is the shade of blue that they use. The assessment icon has the same pencil like image as those two, but no blue paper background. Am I an old fogey to like words?
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I like money. I like to buy stuff and experiences with money.
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jackalope
Improbable
Senior member
Posts: 995
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« Reply #8 on: January 26, 2009, 11:05:00 PM » |
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It is amazing how something as s***ty as Blackboard can have become the industry standard for course management software.
Say it brother! Speak Truth to Power! |
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egilson
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« Reply #9 on: January 27, 2009, 09:38:44 AM » |
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Honestly? Unless your school's implementation of Blackboard is severely broken, Blackboard is not that bad. Part of the problem is that some, out of discomfort, frustration, or even fear, approach working in the CMS like trying to communicate in a barely understood foreign language and start shouting words like "attach" and "drop" at it as if volume will make it understand.
If you're having a problem with a CMS (or with most similar things), stop and say in simple words where you are and what you want to do. Are you working in an assignment, in a discussion board, or directly on one of the pages? Do you want a file that is on your computer to appear as a link on a particular page so that someone can click the link and download or view the file? Do you want just the text or image from that file to appear on the page? Don't worry about figuring out if you're attaching or dropping or uploading - just define the task, and then look in the CMS for the tools that enable you to complete that task.
It may be that you don't find it and need to call for help. If so, I can tell you as someone who has received those calls that it is much easier to help you quickly when you say, "I am completing an assignment and I need to add an Excel spreadsheet to it" than if you say "I can't attach!" In the first instance, I know exactly where to lead and how to lead you through the task, and since I know how it should work, I can spot where something goes wrong that might be a problem with your Web browser or with the CMS. In the second case, I have to try to figure out exactly what you mean - are you sending an e-mail? uploading a file? typing a reply to a discussion board posting? - by what you say.
Again, this stuff really isn't that hard. I'm not too bright (as I just proved - see thread in Grad School Life on how I just botched my first day of comps), and I have not only used but also supported Blackboard and WebCT without much training and with only slightly more poking about. You're smarter than the computer, so relax.
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To anyone who is not a blockhead, all the sciences are interesting. - Marc Bloch
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high_energy_photons
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« Reply #10 on: January 28, 2009, 11:35:42 AM » |
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Blackboard is pretty good, but it is limited by the abilities of the instructor who built the course. For example, I am taking two classes in Blackboard. Both require uploading files. In one, the course is well organized, logical, with quick instructor responses, and it includes basic instructions for students who are new to the format. No one in the large class is complaining about it at all.
The other course is a disaster. It is poorly organized, illogical, the instructors are slow to respond, and I struggled to get anything to upload at all (mind you, I have more years experience with Blackboard than I care to admit). If someone as tech savvy as I am got confused, then I know less experienced students are overwhelmed. There are tons of complaints on the discussion boards.
If a Blackboard course has no tech experience prerequisites, it should address the expectations in a simple manner. In your case, your instructor should have posted instructions saying to click on the appropriate icon. You should not be expected to be an expert in the software. That is the instructor's job. It's like telling students to turn in a paper, but refusing to tell them the classroom or office number. It's ridiculous.
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prytania3
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« Reply #11 on: January 28, 2009, 12:05:33 PM » |
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I've got the Blackboard issue figured out. Now I'm just struggling with the course. I am probably going to take 2 accounting software courses. This one is Excel.
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Clowns, I tell you. Clowns.
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jonesey
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« Reply #12 on: January 28, 2009, 12:24:35 PM » |
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This accounting is killing me. What am I thinking?
Hey, if you're going to be in a job you hate, at least be in a job you hate that pays big bucks. : ) |
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Jonesey, I know you're a being of sensitivity and refinement. |
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new_bus_prof
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« Reply #13 on: February 14, 2009, 01:26:50 PM » |
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If a Blackboard course has no tech experience prerequisites, it should address the expectations in a simple manner. In your case, your instructor should have posted instructions saying to click on the appropriate icon. You should not be expected to be an expert in the software. That is the instructor's job. It's like telling students to turn in a paper, but refusing to tell them the classroom or office number. It's ridiculous.
Okay, this is where we disagree. I do NOT believe it is my job as the instructor to walk students know the technology, the university is requiring I use in online teaching. As an instructor, I am hired for my expertise in my subject (which is not CMS). I will gladly point students to university-wide tutorials on the CMS, but if there are no university-wide tutorials, then the students will need to figure this out themselves. But then, I also don't need to tell students the classroom name and number of my course either. It appears on their course registration and its their job to find the classroom by the first day of class. |
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prytania3
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« Reply #14 on: February 14, 2009, 04:01:41 PM » |
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For what it's worth, after the first initial glitch and panic, I settled into both Blackboard and Excel.
Want to see my functions?
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Clowns, I tell you. Clowns.
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