{"id":5724,"date":"2014-09-15T12:10:45","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T16:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/blackboard-tip-of-the-week-88\/"},"modified":"2014-09-15T12:10:45","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T16:10:45","slug":"blackboard-tip-of-the-week-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/blackboard-tip-of-the-week-88\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackboard Tip of the Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Bb 9.1 April 2014<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Having looked last week<\/strong><\/span> at a glitch in the new version of Blackboard <\/em>(Bb 9.1 April 2014<\/em>), let\u2019s turn to another one of Blackboard\u2019s <\/em>many new and\/or improved features. The new feature in this case takes the form of Crocodoc<\/em>, a Blackboard <\/em>plugin that allows instructors to insert inline comments into any MS Office <\/em>or PDF document that their students have submitted using the Blackboard <\/em>assignment tool.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how it works.<\/strong><\/span> When you go in through your Grade Center to grade an assignment submission (How do I do that?<\/em><\/strong><\/a>), and the student has made more than one assignment submission, you will see an interface much like the one in the following screenshot:<\/p>\n

\"\"At this point, you select the link for the student\u2019s submitted file \u2014 when you do this, it will activate Crocodoc <\/em>and display the submitted file like this:<\/p>\n

\"\"If the student has made only one assignment submission, Crocodoc <\/em>will display the student\u2019s document without your having to select the link for it.<\/p>\n

When the document displays in Crocodoc<\/em>,<\/strong><\/span> you can use the Draw<\/strong>, Highlight<\/strong>, Text<\/strong>, and Strikeout <\/strong>tools on the Crocodoc <\/em>toolbar to visually \u201cmarkup\u201d the document. For example, you can draw a circle around a portion of text that you want to draw a student\u2019s attention to; highlight that text \u201cmagic marker-style,\u201d insert a textbox with text next to that text, or strike through that text.<\/p>\n

To insert inline comments, you select one of the options from the Comment <\/strong>drop-down menu:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After using Crocodoc\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span>to comment on your student\u2019s submitted document, you can then use the normal Blackboard <\/em>tools to assign a grade to that submission, and write feedback to your students. You can also use the Crocodoc <\/em>download tool to download the file that you\u2019ve commented on (you can download it either as a PDF, or in the file format of the program that you created it in), so that you can then attach it to your student feedback:<\/p>\n

\"\"As well, you still have the option of using Blackboard <\/em>to download assignment files to your computer, and attach graded files to your student feedback.<\/p>\n

When your students<\/strong><\/span> go in to view their grades for the assignment, they will see their grades and your comments. If they\u2019ve made one assignment submission, their document will display automatically in Crocodoc. If they\u2019ve made more than one submission, they simply need to select the link for their submitted document in order to view the document with all of your markups and comments:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There are, however,<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>some caveats to using Crocodoc<\/em>:<\/p>\n