Another approach to the dropbox issue is to try using the the Archive
Course Tool which is potentially available to all instructors.  If this is
used with the Users and Groups setting then the drop box items are
exported as part of the zip file.  If the students have used an
identifying naming convention  in the document title the Zip software
can then be used to remove the sub-directories.


Tim Linsey


Date sent:              Tue, 12 Feb 2002 16:57:03 -0000
Send reply to:          Paul Chin <[log in to unmask]>
From:                   Paul Chin <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:                Re: Groups and the Digital Drop Box
To:                     [log in to unmask]

> Kate,
> this sounds useful but if I dare to be Devil's advocate here, aren't
> we just making more work for ourselves? I am currently trying to make
> things easier for staff and if we set this up we would then have to
> deal with an endless list (well, a few at least!) of staff asking us
> to download their drop boxes. The real solution is for Bb to sort this
> issue in their new, all singing all dancing version 6? Am I being too
> optimistic.... :-)
>
> Paul
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: A list to promote discussion amongst MLE Blackboard/Courseinfo
> users in UK [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
> Kate Boardman Sent: 12 February 2002 15:17 To:
> [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Groups and the
> Digital Drop Box
>
>
> Ben,
> yeessssss, um - how did I do it? Unfortunately its was me that did it,
> with a couple of staff members who needed all the ddb taking off, so
> not really accessible to staff on their own. Previously unnoticed
> changes in 5.5 reveal better naming conventions in that last year when
> we tried it it was impossible to find, where as now -on the staff
> members machine- I opened an ftp (thereby keeping my package ID and
> password to the Bb server secure) window and found remarkably quickly
> folders for the course (if I remember rightly by its course ID rather
> than by the _1717_3 type reference you see in the links which is what
> it used to be) and within that a folder called uploads. then I just
> ported the lot to wherever the staff member requested on their hard
> drive. Worked a dream, though clearly isn't preferable to a useful
> ddb, but at least gets the stuff off for you. Again, naming convention
> crucial. We had to print a copy of the ddb listing where username/name
> of submitter is recorded. And obviously I could spend weeks doing this
> at the end of a year if everyone wanted to download all docs together,
> as noone else has that authority, but it was worth it for the couple
> we've done - each had files in the hundreds in the ddb.
>
> So in brief, no, you won't be able to put a link in a staff area to
> it, but you may want to offer it as part of hte service you provide to
> staff. (but at the expense of them doing other things themselves!).
> Copied to all group as we may all have a need to use it at some point.
> I haven't tried, but if the naming/filing of content is equally good
> for other content areas, then it may also prove useful when wanting to
> export whole folders of stuff.
>
> Kate
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Kate Boardman
> Learning Technologies Team
> IT Service
> University of Durham
> South Road
> Durham DH1 3LE
>
> Tel.: 0191 374 1502
> Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Web: http://www.dur.ac.uk/k.l.boardman
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ben hyde [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 12 February 2002 13:16 PM
> To: Kate Boardman
> Cc: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Groups and the Digital Drop Box
>
>
> Kate
>
> Can you then add a link (for example within a staff group space) to
> this - for the staff to use? How are you authenticating the ftp
> access? And is it restricted to the appropriate folder on the Bb
> machine?
>
> cheers,
> ben
>
>
> Kate Boardman wrote:
>
> > Sorry Sophie - folders (sub-divided / however you want to call it)
> > isn't possible in the DDB - its something we've all wanted for a
> > while. There is no easy way out - although if it helps I've worked
> > out how to open an ftp client, go to find the course folder and the
> > ddb within it, and then be
> able
> > to save out all the added documents at the same time rather than
> > have to save each one individually.
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Kate Boardman
> > Learning Technologies Team
> > IT Service
> > University of Durham
> > South Road
> > Durham DH1 3LE
> >
> > Tel.: 0191 374 1502
> > Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > Web: http://www.dur.ac.uk/k.l.boardman
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: A list to promote discussion amongst MLE Blackboard/Courseinfo
> > users in UK [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
> > Sophie Brettell Sent: 12 February 2002 12:11 PM To:
> > [log in to unmask] Subject: Groups and the Digital
> > Drop Box
> >
> > Does anyone know if it is possible to create sub-divisions within
> > the digital dropbox?  I've been asked to find a way to sort student
> > submissions into three categories for a number of modules with large
> > numbers of students and more than one marker so that each marker can
> > download their workload only.  Each module has nine assignments
> > associated with it, seven of which are being marked by a single
> > member of staff and don't cause a problem, however, the marking for
> > the other two assignments is being split between two staff.  My
> > initial thought was to create two groups and ask each group to
> > submit the latter assignments into a sub-divided dropbox, but I
> > haven't been able to find a way of doing it.
> >
> > I'm not happy with the idea of using the file exchange facility
> > within groups to do this as it would mean that students would be
> > able to access each others' work before it had been assessed.
> >
> > I've been asked to come up with a solution to this problem by the
> > end of the day - help!
> >
> > ------------------------------
> > Sophie Brettell
> > Blackboard Support Officer
> > LTSU, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
> >
> > t: +44 (0) 191 222 5565
> > f: +44 (0) 191 222 3406
> > e: [log in to unmask]
> > -----------------------------
>
> --
>
> IT Research and Development Unit
>      THE LONDON INSTITUTE
> 65 Davies Street London W1K 5DA
>
> phone: +44 (0)20 7514 8107
> fax:   +44 (0)20 7514 8050
> email: [log in to unmask]
> web:   http://www.seeingdrawing.com
>
> --
>
> BlackBoard / LInst Xnline (staff support)
> http://online.linst.ac.uk
>
> --


Educational Technology Unit
Kingston University