Hi Mark,
A few random suggestions (if we sit down to do a proper list, we would
probably be here all weekend :-))
Synchronous chat: They've changed it (they said following feedback) so that
the student name appears when a student logs in to a chatroom rather than
his or hers ID which used to be the case. The instructor should be given an
option to toggle between names and IDs, as some students are intimidated by
having their name appearing when joining a live seminar.
Tests & Surveys:
1. It would be extremely helpful, particularly for summative tests, if an
instructor has an option to disable (and enable again for 'open book' exams)
web access (or other software) while students are taking the test.
2. Now that the WYSIWYG editor is integrated in BB6, when you go to create a
question, type the question text in and then decide to remove one of the
answers (say, in a multiple choise type of question), the question text gets
deleted and instructors have to add it in again. A small glitch, but one
that can be quite annoying.
3. It would be a good idea to have a feature in the test manager for a
static text from administrators so that students taking a test can be given
some generic guidelines (e.g. save your work frequently if all the questions
appear on a page, etc).
4. When the test pops up in an external window the height does vary and a
lot of scrolling and adjusting the size of the window is normally required
(I've tried this with several settings and adjustments needed to be made
each time). This can be quite confusing for students less experienced with
using a computer and pop-up windows, particularly since the submit button is
usually 'hidden' at the bottom.
Many thanks,
Lia
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Arts [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 25 May 2004 08:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Suggestions for small changes in Bb
Hi,
Being responsible for a small team that provides first line support and
training to staff members, I often get questions about small details that
seem very simple to change in the Bb software. These small irritations can
be fixed without much effort, but they will make the life of thousands of
end users a bit more pleasant.
I don't mean things like feature requests, migration projects or overall
product strategy :)
A small example: If you access the List/Modify users page, the cursor does
not blink in the text box. Each and every user has to click in the box
before they can type a name. One line of code will change this.
Another one: When you want to add an instructor to a course. You first need
to add a user to the course and then modify this user to change the role
from student to instructor. It would be good if this could be done in one
step.
I would like to collect any suggestions you may have and then submit them as
one list to Blackboard.
If you have any suggestions please email them to me.
Kind Regards,
Mark Arts
Project Manager ICT
Universiteit Maastricht
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
T: 043-3883659
F: 043-3884918
E: [log in to unmask]
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