This page provides the solutions to some frequently asked questions by staff through the IT Online ServiceDesk system. Enquiries made were collected, analysed and finally presented as follows.
Course Creation
Please note that registered students will be enrolled into Blackboard course at the beginning of each semester.
For courses not included in AS records, you can make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk with detail course information as below:
1. Course/Subject Code
2. Course Title
3. Availability time range (i.e. semester 1, semester 2, all semesters)
4. NetID of Instructor(s)
5. NetID of Teaching Assistant(s)
6. *Student Group Code
7. Blackboard Course ID (for course copy from existed one, i.e. ‘ABC000_20151_A’)
* For courses without Student Group Code provided by AS, i.e. 132 or 51S012-LEC002; please enclose a list of Students’ ID.
Or, you can complete the Blackboard Course Creation Form and submit to IT Online ServiceDesk.
Note: Please use semicolons to delimit NetID/Student Group Code.
For courses not included in AS records, you can make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk with detail course information as below:
1. Course/Subject Code
2. Course Title
3. Availability time range (i.e. semester 1, semester 2, all semesters)
4. NetID of Instructor(s)
5. NetID of Teaching Assistant(s)
6. *Student Group Code
7. Blackboard Course ID (for course copy from existed one, i.e. ‘ABC000_20151_A’)
* For courses without Student Group Code provided by AS, i.e. 132 or 51S012-LEC002; please enclose a list of Students’ ID.
Or, you can complete the Blackboard Course Creation Form and submit to IT Online ServiceDesk.
Note: Please use semicolons to delimit NetID/Student Group Code.
Sandbox (blank) course is a test environment for personal use, i.e. Blackboard functions testing, plagiarism checking through Turnitin, etc.
You can make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk with sandbox course information as below:
1. NetID of the course owner
2. NetID of other users and their course roles (optional)
You can make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk with sandbox course information as below:
1. NetID of the course owner
2. NetID of other users and their course roles (optional)
Course Access Right
In general, students are added to their enrolled courses according to the AS records. The students list will be synchronized with AS record every day. Teachers can also add additional students by following these steps:
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Navigate to Users and Groups under the Control Panel and click on Users
3. Click Find Users to Enroll button on the top left corner
4. Browse users by searching NetID
5. Select appropriate role from the drop-down menu
6. Select Yes for Enrollment Availability
7. Click Submit button
Note: Please use commas to delimit NetID when searching users.
To remove a student from the course, please follow these steps:
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Navigate to Users and Groups under the Control Panel and click on Users
3. Select a student and click Remove Users from Course button
4. A pop-up message will appear, advising "This action is final and cannot be undone. Delete users?”
5. Click OK button to process
To add a TA or an instructor to the course, please follow these steps:
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Navigate to Users and Groups under the Control Panel and click on Users
3. Click Find Users to Enroll button on the top left corner
4. Click Browse to search users by NetID (use commas to separate several users)
5. Select appropriate role from the drop-down menu
6. Click Submit button
Please complete the application form and submit it to IT Online ServiceDesk. Guest account will be created for temporary access to LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard).
Note: If you couldn’t remember the Course ID, please enclose the Course Code, Availability time range (i.e. year, semester, etc.) in the form.
Note: If you couldn’t remember the Course ID, please enclose the Course Code, Availability time range (i.e. year, semester, etc.) in the form.
Generally, course(s) will be created before the new semester starts. Teachers could contact departmental Blackboard Coordinator about updating the Blackboard Course(s) status.
If teachers make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk, teachers will receive an email within three days once the course is created on LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard).
Please note that student enrolment will start after subject add/drop period.
If teachers make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk, teachers will receive an email within three days once the course is created on LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard).
Please note that student enrolment will start after subject add/drop period.
The latest student list will be synchronized with the Blackboard system at 09:00, 13:00 and 18:00 every day. If students cannot view their courses on Blackboard 24 hours after the completion of the add/drop process, please make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk.
If you notice that one of your courses is not shown in My Course area, it may be hidden.
For users who have less than 400 courses, please follow these steps:
1. Hovering over the My Courses tab, you will notice a ‘gear’ icon on the top right corner named Manage My Course Module Setting.
2. Click on the ‘gear’ icon to go to the “Personalize: My Courses” page
3. Select the attributes to be displayed for each course. For information you do not wish to view, un-check the boxes accordingly.
For users who have more than 400 courses, please follow these steps:
1. Find More course button at the end of My Course Module
2. Click the button and it will direct you to Browse Course Catalog page
3. Search your course by Course Code/Role/Term/Date
Other reason you may not see your Blackboard course:
Your course has not yet been created in Blackboard. Please provide us the Course Code through IT Online ServiceDesk. We will further check with your departmental Blackboard Course Coordinator. It is recommended that instructors hide the old courses if necessary.
There is no location restriction of LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard). Some special Internet Service Provider may limit internet access to users. If you cannot access LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard), please contact your network administrator for help.
Course Content
When a content item is created, it will be located in the selected course content page. You are reminded to check if the Edit mode is ON.
*To copy course content from one course to another, please follow these steps:
1. Hovering over the target content and click on the 
button
button2. Select Copy
3. Select destination course and folder
4. Click Submit button
*Please note that user should be the instructor of both courses.
Note: The files and menu items will be duplicated if the content names are the same in two courses.
Note: The course content mentioned here does not include Assessments. For Assessments duplication, please refer to Q: How do I copy the test from Blackboard? for reference.
Contents linking from another course may not be accessible after some housekeeping operations (e.g. archive/removal). Invalid link problem can be solved by re-linking the contents with the content collection in the current course. If you still cannot view the content, please make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk.
To upload file to Blackboard, please follow these steps:
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant(TA) and select a course
2. Navigate to content area accordingly
3. Click Build Content button
4. Select Item to attach a file OR select File to upload a file
5. Click Submit button
The default size limit for uploading files to Blackboard is 2GB. Big size video file is suggested to use Panopto application in PolyU.
The below file types are acceptable on Blackboard:
i.e. PDF, .PPTX/PPT, .DOCX/DOC, .XLSX/XLS, .WMV, .JPG, etc.
i.e. PDF, .PPTX/PPT, .DOCX/DOC, .XLSX/XLS, .WMV, .JPG, etc.
There are several ways to embed audio/video file to Blackboard course:
Method A: To embed audio/video with Panopto:
You can manage the videos in Blackboard with Panopto application. For details, please refer to How to provision your Blackboard course with VCMS.
Method B: To embed audio/video with instruction, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to content page you wish to affect
2. Click Build Content button and select Item
3. In the Text Editor, click on Insert/Edit Embed Media to embed audio/video file from your computer or the URL of the video. Video format is suggested to be MP4.
4. Click Insert and Submit button
Method C: To search and insert YouTube video on Blackboard, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to content page you wish to affect
2. Click Build Content button and select YouTube Video
3. Search a YouTube video by keyboard and language, then click Go
4. Click Select and Submit button
Method D: To upload audio/video file, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to content page you wish to affect
2. Click Build Content button and select Audio / Video
3. Input file name and select the source of the video (My computer, Content Collection or Mashups). Video format is suggested to be MP4.
4. Click Submit button
It depends on your Blackboard Course quota. Each Blackboard Course quota is 2GB by default. If you would like to upgrade your course quota, please make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk with your Course ID enclosed.
Note: You can change your video resolution and format to control the video size.
Note: You can change your video resolution and format to control the video size.
To release/hide materials, please follow these steps:
Course link on the left menu
1. Hovering over the target link you wish to affect
2. Click on the button
button
3.* Select Hide Link/Show Link from the drop-down menu
* A white box will appear if the link is hidden from students
Folders & Items in the content area
1. Hovering over the target folder/item
2. Click on the button, select Edit from the drop-down menu
button, select Edit from the drop-down menu
3. Find Standard Options, select Yes to permit users to view the content OR select No to hide the content
Assessments
1. Hovering over the target test/survey/assignment
2. Click on the button, select Edit/Edit the Test Options/Edit the Survey Options
button, select Edit/Edit the Test Options/Edit the Survey Options
3. Find Availability/Test Availability/Survey Availability to make the link available or unavailable
To reuse course materials for new course:
Please contact your departmental Blackboard Coordinator and provide information about which content to be reused.
*To reuse course materials for your existing course, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to “Packages and Utilities” under the Control Panel and click on Course Copy
2. Click Browse to search a course or input a Course ID (i.e. ABC001_20151_A) which contents will be copied to
3. Select type/name of your course materials
4. Click Submit button
5. You will receive an email when the copy is finished
*Please note that user should be the instructor of both courses.
Please contact your departmental Blackboard Coordinator and provide information about which content to be reused.
*To reuse course materials for your existing course, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to “Packages and Utilities” under the Control Panel and click on Course Copy
2. Click Browse to search a course or input a Course ID (i.e. ABC001_20151_A) which contents will be copied to
3. Select type/name of your course materials
4. Click Submit button
5. You will receive an email when the copy is finished
*Please note that user should be the instructor of both courses.
Course Management
Please contact your departmental Blackboard Coordinator and provide them with student groups and course code(s) accordingly before new semester begins.
Please contact your departmental Blackboard Coordinator and provide them with student groups and course code(s) accordingly before new semester begins.
Please make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk with a list of ALL Course ID and your Net ID enclosed. Afterwards, an email will be sent to you for confirmation.
You can make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk with Course ID and new course title enclosed.
To increase the course storage size, please make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk with your Course ID enclosed.
To manage the courses, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the “gear” icon (Manage My Courses Module Settings) on the top right corner of the course list
2. Click on the “gear” icon and a page called Personalize: My Courses will be directed
3. Users can group the courses by term or select the attributes to be displayed for each course
Asynchronous/Synchronous Communication
Please refer to the "conducting synchronous online sessions" in the Quickstart Guide for more information.
You can find the session attendance report by following these steps:
1. Choose a scheduled session and click on Sessions Options button
2. Select View reports from the list
3. Click on View report to have an overview of when attendee joined and left the session
4. You can also export the report to your own device
If you are the session owner or course instructor, you can always download recordings by following these steps:
1. Go to Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
2. Click on the 
button to open the Menu
button to open the Menu3. Select Recordings
4. Click on the Recording Options button
5. Select Download from the list
If you are the session owner or course instructor and you would like the attendees download the recordings, you can edit this option by following these steps:
1. Select the scheduled session and click on Session Options button
2. Select Edit settings from the list
3. Select the tab Session Settings and select the option Allow recording downloads
If you are session participant or student, you can download the recordings only if the moderator of the synchronous session has enabled the option Allow recording downloads.
You can change students’ role in the synchronous session by following these steps:
1. Select the Tab Attendees
2. Click on Attendee Controls button
3. Select Make presenter from the list
4. Students will be able to upload, share, edit and stop sharing content
To share video in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, please follow these steps:
1. Open a video file from your device in a new Chrome tab or open a YouTube video
2. Go to the Collaborate panel and select tab Share Content
3. Select Share Application/Screen
4. Click on Chrome Tab and select a webpage you would like to share (Note: Please remember to check Share audio button)
In case you cannot share the video via Chrome Tab, you can open the video and share it by selecting the tab Your Entire Screen
uRewind (Powered by Panopto)
Please refer to How to Download Video or Audio Streams as MP4s to download your recordings from Panopto.
Please refer to How to share your videos to share your recordings.
Please refer to Using uRewind (Powered by Panopto) to Support Video Assignments to have an overview about creating video assignment. To set up a video assignments submissions folder in uRewind, please refer to How to Allow Viewers to Record Videos Using Assignment Folders for the instructions. A student cannot view others’ video assignments in the folder.
Discussion Board
To create a forum, please follow these steps:
1. *Click Discussion on the left menu
2. Click Create Forum button
3. Input forum information accordingly
4. Click Submit button
*If you cannot find it on the menu, please add a new menu item. Select tool link, name the menu item, and choose Discussion Board from the drop-down menu of type.
Please also view the User Guide here and video tutorial here.
1. *Click Discussion on the left menu
2. Click Create Forum button
3. Input forum information accordingly
4. Click Submit button
*If you cannot find it on the menu, please add a new menu item. Select tool link, name the menu item, and choose Discussion Board from the drop-down menu of type.
Please also view the User Guide here and video tutorial here.
To create threads in a discussion forum, please follow these steps:
1. *Click Discussion on the left menu
2. Select a target forum
3. Click Create Thread button
4. Input thread information accordingly
5. Click Submit button
*If you cannot find it on the menu, please add a new menu item. Select tool link, name the menu item, and choose Discussion Board from the drop-down menu of type.
Please also view the User Guide here.
1. *Click Discussion on the left menu
2. Select a target forum
3. Click Create Thread button
4. Input thread information accordingly
5. Click Submit button
*If you cannot find it on the menu, please add a new menu item. Select tool link, name the menu item, and choose Discussion Board from the drop-down menu of type.
Please also view the User Guide here.
To send an email to the whole class from Blackboard, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Course Tools under the Control Panel and click on Send Email
2. Select All Users
3. Input the subject and message accordingly, you could add attachment as well
4. Click Submit button
Please also view the User Guide here.
1. Navigate to Course Tools under the Control Panel and click on Send Email
2. Select All Users
3. Input the subject and message accordingly, you could add attachment as well
4. Click Submit button
Please also view the User Guide here.
Please remind the students to switch on the function of receiving announcement email. Students may check their junk mail folder as well in case emails from Blackboard would be categorized as junk mail.
To disable the notification, please follow these steps:
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Click your name on the top right corner
3. Select Settings then Edit Notification Settings from the drop-down menu
4. Navigate to a target course OR click Course I am teaching
5. Uncheck the boxes under Email accordingly to switch off the notification
Please also view the User Guide here.
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Click your name on the top right corner
3. Select Settings then Edit Notification Settings from the drop-down menu
4. Navigate to a target course OR click Course I am teaching
5. Uncheck the boxes under Email accordingly to switch off the notification
Please also view the User Guide here.
Email and mobile notifications are turned off by default. Users can turn on the notification by following these steps:
1. Navigate to your name tab and click on the button Open Global Navigation Menu
2. Select Settings then Edit Notification Settings
3. Select Edit individual Course Settings or Bulk Edit Notification Settings accordingly
4. Users can turn on or turn off the notification via dashboard, email and mobile
Test/Survey
To change the answers of questions in a marked test, please follow these steps:
1. Hovering over the target test and click on the button
button2. Click Edit the Test
3. Change the answers accordingly
4. Click Submit and Update Attempts button
5. A pop-up message will appear, advising “This will require regarding X attempts for this question. Continue?”
6. Click OK button
To hide the test result from students after they finish the test, please follow these steps:
1. Hovering over the target test and click on the button
button2. Click Edit the Test Option
3. Navigate to Show Test Results and Feedback to Students, uncheck the boxes accordingly
4. Click Submit button
5. Navigate to Grade Centre under the Control Panel and click on Full Grade Centre
6. Find the test column, click on the button
button7. Select Hide from Students(on/off) from the drop-down list, a red icon will be shown if the column is hidden from students
Students will be unable to start a test if instructors check the option Do not allow students to start the Test if the due date has passed.
To extend the test display date, please follow these steps:
1. Hovering over the target test and click the button
button2. Select Edit the Test Options from the drop-down menu
3. Find Due Date option and modify the due date accordingly
4. Click Submit button
If you would like to know which user could view the test, click the button next to target test and select User Progress.
button next to target test and select User Progress.
To make a copy of the test for backup in the same course
1. Navigate to Course Tools under the Control Panel and click on Tests, Surveys, and Pools
2. Click Tests
3. Hovering over a test and click on the button
button4. Select Copy
To copy the test from Blackboard, please follows these steps
A. Export a test from a course
1. Navigate to Course Tools under Control Panel and click on Tests, Surveys, and Pools
2. Click Tests
3. Hovering over a test and click the button
button4. Select Export to Local Computer or Export to Content Collection from the drop-down menu
B. Import the test to another course
1. Navigate to Course Tools” under Control Panel and click on Tests, Surveys, and Pools
2. Click Tests
3. Click Import Test button
4. Click Browse My Computer or Browse Content Collection button to import a file
5. Click Submit button
To copy all tests and quizzes from one course to another, please follow these steps:
1. *Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor
2. Navigate to Packages and Utilities on the left panel
3. Click on Course Copy
4. Select a destination course and check the box Tests, Surveys, and Pools under Select Course Materials
5. Click Submit button
*Please note that users should be the instructor of both courses.
Note: The files and menu items will be duplicated if the content names are the same in two courses.
1. *Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor
2. Navigate to Packages and Utilities on the left panel
3. Click on Course Copy
4. Select a destination course and check the box Tests, Surveys, and Pools under Select Course Materials
5. Click Submit button
*Please note that users should be the instructor of both courses.
Note: The files and menu items will be duplicated if the content names are the same in two courses.
To create/edit multiple answer questions, please follow these steps:
Create a new test/survey
1. Navigate to the content page you wish to affect
2. Hovering over Assessments button on the top menu and select Test or Survey from the drop-down menu
3. Click Create button
4. Input test/survey information accordingly
5. Click Submit
Create multiple answer question
1. Hovering over Create Question on the top menu and select Multiple Answer from the drop-down menu
2. Input question information accordingly (i.e. question text, answers, answer numbering, number of answers, etc.)
3. Select correct answers
4. Click Submit and Create Another button or Submit button
Publish the test/survey
1. Navigate to the content page you wish to affect
2. Hovering over “Assessments” on the top menu and select “Test” or “Survey” from the drop-down menu
3. Select the name of target test/survey and click “Submit” button
4. Modify the test/survey option accordingly (i.e. availability, due date, results and feedback, etc.)
5. Click Submit button
Note: For the existed test/survey (not yet been deployed or without submitted answers), user can create/edit questions by clicking the button and select “Edit the Test” from the drop-down menu.
button and select “Edit the Test” from the drop-down menu.As the default setting of survey on Blackboard is “anonymous”, instructors and TA(s) will not be able to view any individual answers of students.
Turnitin
As for the file types of Turnitin Assignment, there are two options available: Allow only file types that Turnitin can check for originality and Allow any file type.
If the assignment is set to Allow only file types that Turnitin can check for originality, Turnitin will only accept files that can generate Originality Reports.
This includes: Microsoft Word® (.doc/.docx) (Note1)
OpenOffice Text (.odt)
WordPerfect® (.wpd)
PostScript (.ps/.eps)
HTML
Hangul Word Processor file (.hwp)
Rich text format (.rtf
Plain text (.txt)
Google Docs via Google Drive™ (Note2)
Adobe® PDF (Note3)
Microsoft PowerPoint® (.pptx, .ppt, .ppsx, and .pps)
Microsoft Excel® (.xls and .xlsx
If the assignment is set to Allow any file types, Turnitin will accept any file with below requirement:
1. maximum file size: 40MB
2. minimum number of words: 25
3. maximum number of pages: 400
Note1: If you are using an unsupported word processor, you may need to save your plain text file as .txt or .rtf in order to upload to Turnitin.
Note2: If assignment is submitted with Google Drive™, please ensure the third party cookies is allowed in your browser. Otherwise, users will fail to sign in Google to upload file from Google Drive. Google Drive functionality is not supported by IE8 or below. Please do not update Google Doc (.gdoc) files directly to Turnitin. A .gdoc file does not store the document, it will redirect to online document in Google Docs.
Note3: Turnitin will not accept PDF image files, forms, or portfolios, files that do not contain highlightable text (e.g. a scanned file - usually an image), documents containing multiple files or files created with software other than Adobe Acrobat®.
If the assignment is set to Allow only file types that Turnitin can check for originality, Turnitin will only accept files that can generate Originality Reports.
This includes: Microsoft Word® (.doc/.docx) (Note1)
OpenOffice Text (.odt)
WordPerfect® (.wpd)
PostScript (.ps/.eps)
HTML
Hangul Word Processor file (.hwp)
Rich text format (.rtf
Plain text (.txt)
Google Docs via Google Drive™ (Note2)
Adobe® PDF (Note3)
Microsoft PowerPoint® (.pptx, .ppt, .ppsx, and .pps)
Microsoft Excel® (.xls and .xlsx
If the assignment is set to Allow any file types, Turnitin will accept any file with below requirement:
1. maximum file size: 40MB
2. minimum number of words: 25
3. maximum number of pages: 400
Note1: If you are using an unsupported word processor, you may need to save your plain text file as .txt or .rtf in order to upload to Turnitin.
Note2: If assignment is submitted with Google Drive™, please ensure the third party cookies is allowed in your browser. Otherwise, users will fail to sign in Google to upload file from Google Drive. Google Drive functionality is not supported by IE8 or below. Please do not update Google Doc (.gdoc) files directly to Turnitin. A .gdoc file does not store the document, it will redirect to online document in Google Docs.
Note3: Turnitin will not accept PDF image files, forms, or portfolios, files that do not contain highlightable text (e.g. a scanned file - usually an image), documents containing multiple files or files created with software other than Adobe Acrobat®.
Note: The version of the file that can be viewed in the Document Viewer will look the same as it would if the Excel file had been saved as a PDF and submitted to Turnitin. We highly recommend that users pay attention to the image preview provided in the single file submission to verify that the file is presented in an acceptable manner. Users can adjust the way the file looks by editing the page setup and print area settings for the file prior to saving it and submitting it to Turnitin.
Turnitin will not accept the following to generate Originality Reports:
Password protected files
Microsoft® Works (.wps) files
Microsoft Word 2007 macros-enabled .docm files
OpenOffice Text (.odt) files created and downloaded from Google Docs online
Document (.doc) files created using OpenOffice, as they are not 100% Microsoft Word equivalent
Apple Pages
Spreadsheets created outside of Microsoft Excel (i.e. .ods)
Text with visual effects
Tip: When converting a file to a new file format, users should rename their file with a name other than that of the original file. This is suggested to prevent permanent loss of the original formatting or image content of a file due to it being overwritten.
Click here for more details on Turnitin website.
Turnitin has been integrated into LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard). You don’t have to register a Turnitin account via www.turnitin.com or ITS. You could submit a request about Blackboard sandbox course creation through IT Online ServiceDesk for Turnitin plagiarism checking.
To conduct plagiarism checking, please follow these steps:
Create Turnitin Assignment:
1. Go to your sandbox course first (Please ensure the Edit Mode is ON)
2. Navigate to content page you wish to affect
3. Hovering over Assessments button on the top menu and select Turnitin Assignment from the drop-down menu
4. Input the assignment information accordingly
5. Expand Optional Settings for advanced setting
6. Click Submit button
Note: Please select no repository from the drop-down menu of Submit paper to, if you don’t like to save the paper in Turnitin database. You may select Institution paper repository to submit paper to Turnitin Database.
Create Turnitin Assignment:
1. Go to your sandbox course first (Please ensure the Edit Mode is ON)
2. Navigate to content page you wish to affect
3. Hovering over Assessments button on the top menu and select Turnitin Assignment from the drop-down menu
4. Input the assignment information accordingly
5. Expand Optional Settings for advanced setting
6. Click Submit button
Note: Please select no repository from the drop-down menu of Submit paper to, if you don’t like to save the paper in Turnitin database. You may select Institution paper repository to submit paper to Turnitin Database.
Submit your Turnitin paper:
1. Find the Turnitin assignment you created
2. Click View/Complete button
3. Click Submit to upload a file for plagiarism checking
Note: Your first Originality Report will be generated within 15 minutes.The generation time of originality report may vary, which due to the file size and system intensive processing during certain periods of the academic year.
Note: If you overwrite/resubmit a paper, it may take more than 24h to generate a new Originality Report. This kind of delay is to avoid wrong content matching/checking with previous submission.
Note: For advance setting, the Search Options setting allows the instructor to select which Turnitin reposities students’ submissions will be checked against when processing Originality Reports for papers. The similarity index percentage may decrease if a repository option is de-selected.
• student paper repository:
Works previously submitted in classes and assignments on Turnitin
• institution paper repository:
A repository of student papers for the institution
• current and archived internet:
A repository of archived and live publicly available internet pages containing billions of pages of existing content and tens of thousands of new pages added daily
• periodicals, journals, & publications:
Third party periodical, journal, and publication content including many major professional journals, periodicals, and business publications
Click here for more details on Turnitin website.
The Originality Report provides a summary of matching or similar areas of text found in a submitted paper.
To generate originality report, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Course Tools under the Control Panel and click on Turnitin Assignment
2. Navigate to the Turnitin Assignment which you submit paper for plagiarism checking
3. Find column named Similarity to view the percentage of similarity
4. Click ‘printer’ icon to download the report
Note: Your first Originality Report will be generated within 15 minutes.The generation time of originality report may vary, which due to the file size and system intensive processing during certain periods of the academic year.
Click here for more details on Turnitin website.
To generate originality report, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Course Tools under the Control Panel and click on Turnitin Assignment
2. Navigate to the Turnitin Assignment which you submit paper for plagiarism checking
3. Find column named Similarity to view the percentage of similarity
4. Click ‘printer’ icon to download the report
Note: Your first Originality Report will be generated within 15 minutes.The generation time of originality report may vary, which due to the file size and system intensive processing during certain periods of the academic year.
Click here for more details on Turnitin website.
Your first Originality Report will be generated within 15 minutes after the first submission. Please note that if you overwrite/resubmit a paper, it may take more than 24 hours to generate a new Originality Report.
To view and grade Turnitin Assignment, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Course Tools under the Control Panel and click on Turnitin Assignment
2. Navigate to the target Turnitin Assignment
3. Under the column of Similarity, click the percentage of similarity to view the detail in a popup window called Turnitin Document Viewer
4. You could refer to Match Overview for more details
5. On the top right corner, you could grade the assignment
Click here for more details on Turnitin website.
1. Navigate to Course Tools under the Control Panel and click on Turnitin Assignment
2. Navigate to the target Turnitin Assignment
3. Under the column of Similarity, click the percentage of similarity to view the detail in a popup window called Turnitin Document Viewer
4. You could refer to Match Overview for more details
5. On the top right corner, you could grade the assignment
Click here for more details on Turnitin website.
Please make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk to create your own sandbox course in Blackboard.
You can refer to Q: How do I conduct plagiarism checking? for detail instruction about Turnitin.
You can refer to Q: How do I conduct plagiarism checking? for detail instruction about Turnitin.
It may due to the IOS system. Users are recommended to edit assignment by using Microsoft Office with general font style.
Please also view the Q: How do I set file size and file format for Turnitin assignment?
Please also view the Q: How do I set file size and file format for Turnitin assignment?
To exclude reference page links from originality report, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Course Tools under the “Control Panel” and click on Turnitin Assignment
2. Click on the target assignment
3. Under the column of Similarity, click the percentage of similarity to view the detail in a popup window called Turnitin Document Viewer
4. Click on the Originality button, details will be list out on the right panel called Match Overview
5. Hovering over any of the matches, and click button
6. You can find a Exclude Sources button at the bottom right corner
Click here for more details on Turnitin website.
1. Navigate to Course Tools under the “Control Panel” and click on Turnitin Assignment
2. Click on the target assignment
3. Under the column of Similarity, click the percentage of similarity to view the detail in a popup window called Turnitin Document Viewer
4. Click on the Originality button, details will be list out on the right panel called Match Overview
5. Hovering over any of the matches, and click
button6. You can find a Exclude Sources button at the bottom right corner
Click here for more details on Turnitin website.
To create Turnitin Assignment, please follows these steps:
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Make sure the Edit Mode is ON
3. Navigate to content page you wish to affect
4. Click Assessment and select Turnitin Assignment from the drop-down menu
5. Input assignment information accordingly
6. Expand Optional Settings for advanced setting
Note: Please select no repository from the drop-down menu of Submit paper to, if you don’t like to save the paper in Turnitin database.
Note: Paper will be submitted to Turnitin Database if option of “submit paper to” is not set to “no repository”. Instructor can remove submitted papers from their inbox but cannot remove them from Turnitin Database. For deleting papers from Turnitin Database, please make a request via IT Online ServiceDesk.
Assignment
To download students’ assignments, please follow these steps:
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Navigate to Grade Centre under Control Panel
3. Click on Full Grade Centre
4. Hovering over the target assignment you want to download and click the button near the column name
5. Select Assignment File Download from the drop-down button
6. Click Submit button
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Navigate to Grade Centre under Control Panel
3. Click on Full Grade Centre
4. Hovering over the target assignment you want to download and click the
button near the column name5. Select Assignment File Download from the drop-down button
6. Click Submit button
Please note that if there is any attempt of the assignment, Group Submission cannot be changed to Individual Submission. Please clear the attempt first and ask the students to re-submit the assignment after you amend the setting.
To change a Group Submission to Individual Submission, please follow the steps below:
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Make sure the Edit Mode is ON
3. Navigate to the content page and find the target assignment
4. Hovering over the assignment accordingly and click on button
button5. Select Edit from the drop-down menu
6. Find the option Submission Details, change assignment type to Individual Submission
7. Click Submit button
Data import/export
To download assignments from Grade Centre, please refer to Q: How do I download students’ submitted assignments from Blackboard? for reference.
Please contact IT Online ServiceDesk if you still cannot download the assignments.
Please contact IT Online ServiceDesk if you still cannot download the assignments.
Please note that the report of wiki activities cannot be generated as CSV file. Blackboard does not support this function.
Note: The latest student list will be synchronized with the Blackboard system at 9:00, 13:00 and 18:00 every day. However, for students who unenrolled the course, the student information record will be updated weekly on every Friday.
To download the user information, please follow these steps:
To download the user information, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the Grade Centre under Control Panel and click on Full Grade Centre
2. Hovering over Work Offline button and click Download
3. Select User Information Only, use Tab as delimiter and select a save location accordingly
4. Click on download to get the *.csv file
To filter out the students who unenrolled the course, please follow these steps:
1. Open the downloaded *.csv file
2. Click on Data and select Filter
3. Click the 
icon of Availability and uncheck No from the drop down menu
icon of Availability and uncheck No from the drop down menu
Grade Centre
To download students’ grades from Grade Centre, please follow these steps:
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Navigate to Grade Centre under Control Panel and click on Full Grade Centre
3. Click Work Offline button and select Download
4. Select data to download accordingly
5. Select delimiter type and hidden information accordingly
6. Select save location
7. Click Submit button
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Navigate to Grade Centre under Control Panel and click on Full Grade Centre
3. Click Work Offline button and select Download
4. Select data to download accordingly
5. Select delimiter type and hidden information accordingly
6. Select save location
7. Click Submit button
To import students’ grades into Grade Centre, please follow these steps:
1. Login Learn@PolyU as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Navigate to Grade Centre under Control Panel and click on Full Grade Centre
3. *Click Work Offline button and select Upload
4. Choose file to upload (please follow the instruction on Blackboard to ensure the file is formatted correctly)
5. Click Submit button
*Instructor/teaching assistant(TA) can manually input students’ grades to target columns.
You can delete the grades by removing students’ attempt. Please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Grade Centre under the Control Panel and click on “Full Grade Centre”
2. Find the target user, hovering over the grade and click on the button
button3. Click View Grade Details
4. Select an attempt and click Clear Attempt button
To change passing percentage, please follow these steps:
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Navigate to Grade Centre under Control Panel and click Full Grade Centre
3. Click Manage button and select Grading Schemas from the drop-down list
4. You can edit the default ‘Letter’ Grading Schema or create a new one
To edit the default ‘Letter’ grading schema:
1. Hovering over ‘Letter’ and click the button
button2. Select Edit from the drop-down list
3. Amend Schema Mapping accordingly
To create a new grading schema:
1. Click Create Grading Schema button
2. Amend schema information and schema mapping accordingly
3. Click Submit button
Groups
To import students into Blackboard Group(s), please follow these steps:
1. Login LEARN@PolyU (Blackboard) as instructor/teaching assistant (TA)
2. Navigate to Users and Groups under the Control Panel and click on Groups
3. Hovering over the target Group/Group Set and click on the button
button4. For Group, click Edit Group from the drop-down menu; for Group Set, click Edit Group Set Membership
5. Click Add Users button under MEMBERSHIP. You could view all the users by setting the filter to Not Blank or search users by their NetID
6. Click Submit button
To add a tool link, please follow these steps:
1. Hovering over “+” button on the left panel
2. Select Tool Link from the drop down menu
3. Input the item name, i.e. My Groups
4. Select type Groups from the drop down menu
5. Check the box Available to Users
6. Click Submit button
Statistic Tracking
To generate a report of user activity, please follow theses steps:
1. Navigate to the Evaluation tab under control panel and select Course Reports from the drop down menu
2. Select a type of report accordingly, click button and select Run to generate a report
button and select Run to generate a report
3. Check the report format, date and users accordingly and click Submit
4. Save the report
Type of Course Report:
• All User Activity inside Content Areas displays a summary of all user activity inside content areas for a course. Use this report to determine which students are active in your course and which content areas they use.
• Course Activity Overview displays overall activity within your course, sorted by student and date. Data includes the total and average time spent per user and the total amount of activity a user had in your course. You can also select an individual student's name to access the Student Overview for Single Course report. Use this report to determine which days of the week students are active in your course and see how much time students spend overall.
• Course Coverage Report displays data on course items that have been aligned to goals.
• Course Performance displays how a single course performs against a selected set of goals.
• Overall Summary of User Activity displays user activity for all areas of your course, as well as activity dates, times, and days of the week. Use this report to view student access as well as how often course tools are used.
• Single Course User Participation Report displays the number of user submissions in your course for assignments, tests, discussions, blogs, and journals within the chosen time frame. You don't need to grade an item for data to be included in the report. The data is provided in a Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet (XLS).(If no activity exists for an item type, no column appears. If no students submitted an assignment in the chosen time frame, no assignment column appears in the spreadsheet.)
• Student Overview for Single Course displays an individual student's activity within your course, sorted by date. Data includes the total overall time a student spent in your course. You can view detailed information about a student's activity, such as which items and content areas a student accessed and the time spent on each. Use this report to check a certain student's course activity.
• User Activity in Forums displays a summary of user activity in discussion forums in your course.
• User Activity in Groups displays a summary of user activity in groups for your course.
To enable the review function of user progress, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the target item and click on button and select Statistics Tracking(On/Off) from the drop down menu
button and select Statistics Tracking(On/Off) from the drop down menu
2. Turn on the Statistic Tracking
3. Once the tracking starts, you can select “View Statistics Report” to check the status
4. Run a “Content Usage Statistics” report
To check students’ course access history, please follow these steps:
For Last access:
1. Navigate to Grade Centre under the Control Panel and click on Full Grade Centre
2. Find the column Last Access to view the date of students&rsquo last access
For detail access history
1. Navigate to Evaluation under the Control Panel and click on Course Reports
2. Find Overall Summary of User Activity and click Run
3. Select format/user/date accordingly under Report Specification and click Submit button
4. The Overall Summary of User Activity can be downloaded or saved to Content Collection
Bb performance
The slow response of Blackboard may due to various factors.
To fix the problem, please follow these steps:
1. Check the performance of your network by accessing other web resources. It’s likely a network problem if you cannot access other web resources as well.
2. Check the performance of your device (PC/Mac/Tablet/Mobile). Sometimes the device would perform very slowly if too many applications are open at the same time.
3. If it is likely to be the problem of the blackboard system, please contact us through IT Online ServiceDesk.
To fix the problem, please follow these steps:
1. Check the performance of your network by accessing other web resources. It’s likely a network problem if you cannot access other web resources as well.
2. Check the performance of your device (PC/Mac/Tablet/Mobile). Sometimes the device would perform very slowly if too many applications are open at the same time.
3. If it is likely to be the problem of the blackboard system, please contact us through IT Online ServiceDesk.
Please check whether you can login PUsecure Identity Portal or not. If you cannot login, please reset your password at https://idportal.polyu.edu.hk/ForgotNetPassword/. Should you have any further login problems, please contact us through IT Online ServiceDesk.
Others
To post an announcement on Blackboard, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Course Tool under Control Panel
2. Click on Announcements
3. Click Create Announcement button
4. Input the announcement information and display date accordingly
5. Click Submit button
Note: If you check the box Send a copy of this announcement immediately, students will be notified by email.
Please also view the User Guide here.
1. Navigate to Course Tool under Control Panel
2. Click on Announcements
3. Click Create Announcement button
4. Input the announcement information and display date accordingly
5. Click Submit button
Note: If you check the box Send a copy of this announcement immediately, students will be notified by email.
Please also view the User Guide here.
You can update your personal information by following these steps:
1. Navigate to the top right corner of the page, click the button beside your name
button beside your name2. Click Settings button under the drop down menu
3. Click Personal Information button to update your information accordingly
Note: Please make a request through IT Online ServiceDesk if you would like to change your Chinese name or English name.
Please refer to How do I enable Java in my web browser? for reference.
