Online Learning Support: Blackboard Best Practices
Browser and Internet Settings
Controlling Temporary Internet Files:
From the Start Menu, go to Control Panel and select Internet Options (Some items may differ in location based on what version you are running)
On the General tab, under Browsing History, click Settings
Select Every time I visit the webpage for the first option to check for newer versions, click OK
Click the Delete button, select to delete your Temporary Internet Files, click OK
Adding Blackboard to Trusted Sites:
From the Start Menu, go to Control Panel and select Internet Options (Some items may differ in location based on what version you are running)
On the Security tab, click the Green Trusted Sites icon, then click the Sites button.
If there is a check in the Require server verification, remove it
Type https://courses.ccac.edu and http://courses.ccac.edu in the box, then click Add, then click OK
Emptying Java Cache:
From the Start Menu, go to Control Panel and select Java (Some items may differ in location based on what version you are running)
Under Temporary Internet Files, click Settings
Click Delete Files, then OK
File Naming Conventions
When attaching files in Blackboard for Assignments, Emails, Discussion Threads, it is important to name the files properly.
- Do not include spaces in the file name
- Do not include special characters in the file name
- Do not use file names longer than 32 characters
Below are examples of correct and incorrect naming conventions:
Correct:
- Dog.doc
- theDogRan.doc
- thedogran.doc
- Dog1.doc
- Dog_1.doc
Incorrect:
- dog ran.doc
- dog-ran.doc
- dog&ran.doc
- Dog#1.doc
- dog/ran.doc
- dog.ran.doc
- the dog ran over the fence and across the yard.doc
Uploading/Downloading Executable Files
Files that are uploaded into Blackboard containing source code (such as: .java, .htm, .c, .h, .cpp, ...) cannot be downloaded from Blackboard due to a security feature.
Work-around Solution
- Place the files in a compressed (zipped) folder.
- Upload the compressed folder into Blackboard.
Once the folder has been created and uploaded it can be downloaded and unpackaged (extracted) to provide access to the file containing the source code.
For instructions to compress and uncompress files,
visit: windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Compress-and-uncompress-files-zip-files