IMPORTANT NOTICE: Starting this fall the Blackboard Learning Management System will no longer be used for Tufts University academic classes or for oganizational collaboration sites. It is being replaced by a new system called Trunk ( http://trunk.tufts.edu ) Trunk is Tufts’ new online environment designed to facilitate teaching, learning, and assessment at Tufts.

If you are planning to use a course site to teach this fall, you will need to develop your course site in Trunk.  Here are some steps for you to follow in order to be ready to teach with Trunk this fall.

1.     Register for a workshop
Trunk workshops are being offered throughout the summer. You can Register for a workshop here:
http://sites.tufts.edu/trunksupport/training-and-support-2/sign-up-for-a-workshop

2.     Review your existing course content and clean house
Developing a new course site in Trunk is an opportunity to revisit your existing course content and leave behind outdated materials.

3.     Move your course content from Blackboard to Trunk
For fall courses, you can either move course content from Blackboard to Trunk yourself or request the Trunk Support team to do it for you. Complete information and instructions are available here: http://sites.tufts.edu/trunksupport/migration-and-training/migration-options/

If you want help with moving your course content from Blackboard to Trunk, please submit a request form by August 1st to ensure that your content is moved over in time for you to teach in September.

For more information on Trunk go to: http://sites.tufts.edu/trunksupport
Questions? Contact the Trunk Support Team at trunk@tufts.edu.

Blackboard Version 8 is compatible with the following Internet Browsers:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 7 or 8 for Windows
- Firefox Version 3 for Windows or MAC
- Safari Version 3 for MAC

Note: Make sure your browser accepts cookies and that it is not behind a firewall.

• Click on the "User Login" button above to access the login dialogue box.
• Your Blackboard login (username) is your last name plus the last 4 digits of your Student ID# with NO SPACES OR DASHES. (Example: soprano3217)
• If you have two last names or a hyphenated last name your username is BOTH last names plus the last 4 digits of your Student ID# with NO DASHES OR SPACES. (Example: garciavasquez3177)
• Your password is your Student ID# with NO SPACES OR DASHES. (Example: 991363217)

Note: Blackboard DOES NOT use any part of your Social Security Number for either your username or password.

• After login your Blackboard Home page will be displayed on your screen. Links to all of your Blackboard course sites are located under "My Courses".

Note: Not all instructors use Blackboard course sites.

Some instructors have made their Blackboard course sites available to guests. For Guest Access:

• Click on the "Course Catalog" button on the left. This will display the Blackboard Course Catalog.
• Click on any of the Course Catalog Area buttons, then locate the Department and Instructor for the course. If the site is guest accessible, the course ID will be an underlined link to the course site.
• As an alternative, you can use the search function to locate a particular course.

Note: Guests are not able to view the Communications, Discussion Board or Tools areas of any course site.

09/11/09 - Bug Report - The "e-mail this announcement to all course users" tool (located under control panel / announcements / add new announcement) is not working. Announcements can not be directly e-mailed to a class. The regular e-mail tool (control panel / e-mail) does work.

09/09/09 - Bug report - Depending on your browser, Blackboard will either not upload or download a PDF file that has certain non-alphanumeric characters in the file name or contains a leading "space" in the file name. It is good practice to avoid any non-alphanumeric characters (!@#$%&*+?) except an underscore _ in any file name. (Example: MyFile_Fall_2009.pdf)

09/08/09 - Bug Report - There have been some reports that users are not able to log into Blackboard while using Firefox version 3.5.2 on a MacBook with OS X 10.5.7. Safari version 3 does work with this configuration

09/03/09 - Instructor Tip - It is possible to copy content from one of your Blackboard course sites to another of your Blackboard course sites.

• Go to the course site that contains the content you want to copy.
• Click on control panel / course copy / copy course materials to an existing course.
• Click on "Browse" and select the course site you want to copy TO.
• Checkmark the areas you want to copy and click on "Submit".
  

08/27/09 - Bug Report - The Blackboard Assignment Tool (control panel / content area / add assignment) will not work when students attempt to upload an assignment using Firefox version 3 browser on a PC. Internet Explorer Version 7 or 8 works on a PC. Both Firefox version 3 and Safari version 3 work on a MAC.

08/25/09 - Bug Report - Some users have reported display problems while using Safari Version 4 browser. Blackboard does not support the new Safari version 4 browser

08/22/09 - ITS will add the accounts of new Fall 2009 students to the Blackboard user database on Monday August 31, 2009.

ITS will add the pre-registered student accounts to the Blackboard course sites on Monday August 31, 2009. They will continue to add registered student accounts to the course sites daily (Mon-Fri) throughout the first 5 weeks of the semester. Click Here to view the Blackboard course sites (Site ID's) that are currently scheduled to have registered student accounts added to them.

08/18/09 - ITS will remove the accounts of registered students from the Summer 2009 academic course sites on Friday August 21, 2009. Removing these accounts will delete all gradebook information. Make sure you download a copy of your Blackboard gradebook (control panel / gradebook / download gradebook) before the accounts are removed.

08/17/09 - ITS has upgraded our Blackboard Basic server to version 8.0. This version corrects some bugs found in earlier versions and contains a more advanced gradebook system. If you discover any problems with the new version click here to contact the Tufts University Blackboard Administrator. We will keep this space updated regularly to inform instructors and students of any version 8 problems.