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Bb 9.1 April 2014<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Here is a Bb <\/em>tip that will help to ensure <\/strong><\/span>that your students have a stress-free experience when they gain access to Blackboard <\/em>tomorrow (Jan. 20) and begin to navigate through the Blackboard <\/em>courses in which they are enrolled.<\/p>\n Simply put, <\/strong><\/span>whether you adjust dates manually in your Blackboard <\/em>course(s) or use the new Date Management tool to do so (Using Date Management<\/em><\/strong><\/a>), you will want to make sure that:\u00a0 1) Any due dates that you have in your Spring course(s) are updated for the new semester; and 2) You have due dates set for any item in your course(s) (tests, assignments, discussion forums, etc.) for which you have the option to set due dates (How do I set Due Dates?<\/em><\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n The reason for this is simple.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/strong>In versions of Blackboard <\/em>prior to Bb 9.1 Learn<\/em>, the due-dates that you set in a course were only visible to users while they were in\u00a0your course, and those due-dates did not carry over when you did an export\/import from that course into a new course shell.\u00a0 By contrast, in our most recent versions of Blackboard<\/em>, including the version that we currently use (Bb 9.1 April 2014<\/em>), course due-dates are inextricably tied to Global Navigation <\/strong>(we will be looking at Global Navigation more closely in next week\u2019s Blackboard <\/em>tip), a tool based on the model of social media such as Facebook<\/em>.\u00a0 Through Global Navigation, you and your students automatically receive notifications about a wide range of \u201cevents\u201d (for example, a newly posted announcement or discussion board thread, a newly graded assessment, etc.), including upcoming or expired due dates, for any <\/em><\/strong>Blackboard <\/em>course in which you or they are enrolled.\u00a0 Moreover, your course due dates will <\/em><\/strong>now carry over when you do an export\/import into a new course shell!<\/p>\n What does this mean for your students<\/strong>?<\/span>\u00a0 If the due dates for items in your course are not updated, or if due-dates are not assigned to items for which the due-date option is available, Blackboard <\/em>will identify those items as being past their due dates, and via Global Navigation, will send \u201cfalse alarm\u201d alerts to your students.\u00a0 Such alerts are inaccurate and cause unnecessary concern\u00a0for students, an outcome that faculty can easily prevent\u00a0by making sure that they have due-dates set for all eligible items in their courses, and that those due dates are, well, up to date!<\/p>\n Use the following link<\/strong><\/span> to download a printable version of this Bb tip of the week:\u00a0Download the Tip<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Use the following link<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0to view previous\u00a0Bb\u00a0<\/em>tips of the week:\u00a0BBTOTW-Archive<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n