The purpose of this page is to:
Some quiz settings from WebCT CE4 are not compatible with the new version, and quizzes and questions may not migrate properly. Prior to releasing quizzes to students, we strongly encourage you to review the settings for each migrated quiz and each quiz question to verify they function as intended.
The tables below show key items regarding migration and course maintenance in Webcourses@UCF, and known issues that Blackboard is working to resolve. If you need help implementing the listed workarounds or have any questions, please contact the Instructional Technology Group at itg@mail.ucf.edu or (407) 823-0407.
If you encounter an issue not listed here or on the Helpful Tips page, please send it to us using the Report an Issue Form.
Some browsers may not work with various aspects of Webcourses@UCF. Run Check Browser before trying to troubleshoot anything else.
Migration Notes | Things to Know | Known Issues
Every Sunday morning from 7am to 12 noon Webcourses@UCF will be down for a routine maintenance. There may be times during the semester when we do not use this window and you may be able to access the system. However, we ask faculty to not schedule due dates or exams during these maintenance windows.
For the full downtime calendar, please visit: http://teach.ucf.edu/status
Some faculty have reported these issues after they migrated their course content from WebCT CE4 to Webcourses@UCF.
| Issue Description | Status, Solution or Workaround |
|---|---|
| Learning Modules may not appear in the same order as they were in CE4 | Solution: Reorder the modules as desired and save. |
| Quiz answers that score partial points (i.e. 2.5 points) will be rounded down when imported into Webcourses@UCF | Solution: Review Quizzes imported from WebCT CE4 to ensure that scoring is accurate. |
| If a short-answer question in WebCT CE4 has multiple correct answers to include case-sensitive variations, students may be awarded more than 100% for an answer in Webcourses@UCF. | Solution: WebCT CE4 did not allow more than 100% for a correct answer, which Webcourses@UCF does. Short-answer questions must be checked for case-sensitive answers when imported into Webcourses@UCF and updated. |
| Short answers in WebCT CE4 that are over 200 characters are truncated to only 200 characters when migrated to Webcourses@UCF. | Solution: If a correct answer requires more than 200 characters, use a Paragraph field for the answer instead. |
| No content, or incorrect content, appears in the production sections. | Solution: The section was "Set up as a blank course" or the wrong development section was selected. E-mail itg@mail.ucf.edu with the production section (including the course and section number) and the development section where the content is. |
| Icons and buttons appear as broken links. | Solution: Buttons do not migrate from WebCT CE4. All courses use "Text Only" by default. You may select a built-in icon set from Manage Course and Customize Page Display from Page Options. |
| Some quizzes may not migrate from WebCT CE4. | Solution: Check the Question Database and if the questions exist, recreate the quiz. If the questions are missing, then Export the quiz from WebCT CE4 and Import into Webcourses@UCF. |
Key issues that can effect course content in Webcourses@UCF.
| Issue Description | Solution or Workaround |
|---|---|
| When exporting the Grade Book to a spreadsheet, columns sometimes appear in a different order than they appear in the Grade Book. | The "Display all columns" option exports Grade Book columns in the order they were created, regardless of the order shown in the Grade Book. |
| Banners do not display properly in IE8 | This is caused by a security setting in IE8. Solution: Follow the directions on http://teach.ucf.edu/webcourses/faq under "Browser" for "Enable Banners in Internet Explorer 8", or contact ITG at itg@mail.ucf.edu or (407) 823-0407 |
| Users cannot click on the name of a Chat room to open it on a Mac. | This is a known issue that affects both FireFox 3.5 and Safari 4. Users may click on the icon to the right of the chat room name and select "Go to chat room". |
| Mail tool does not display all members of a group. | The Mail tool only displays the first five members of a group. However, a message sent to the group will go to all members, regardless of whether their name is displayed or not. This issue will be resolved in the next service pack release, due to be installed during the fall 2009 semester. |
| Slow load times connecting to Webcourses@UCF sections | Some users experience increased load time when connecting to Webcourses@UCF if they have many course sections visible. Solution: Hide inactive and development sections in My Webcourses (this effect both My Webcourses and myUCF). Full directions are available online: http://teach.ucf.edu/file_download/47/hidedev.pdf |
| Some faculty report that quizzes uploaded to Webcourses@UCF via Respondus are immediately available to students. | This occurs when faculty have not selected a Start Date and End Date for their quiz- this Respondus feature is fucntioning as designed. Solution: Set a Start Date and End Date before uploading, or immediately Hide the quiz from students once it is uploaded into Webcourses@UCF. |
| Students see multiple Graded Group Dicsussions in the My Grades view, even though they are not a member of the other Groups. | An enhancement request has been submitted to Blackboard. Workaround: Hide the Graded Discussion Group columns from students and create a Calculated Column in the Grade Book adding the columns that students can see. Customizing one of View tabs in the Grade Book or hiding the columns in the Grade Book will make Grade Book management easier for faculty as well. |
| An Assignment shows a "Submitted" time of "NULL". | This is functioning as designed- it means that the student never submitted the assignment. An enhancement request has been submitted for clearer reporting language. |
| Students who check all answers to a multiple choice questions receive full score without penalty for the incorrect answers. | This is functioning as designed: if you wish students to be penalized for selecting an incorrect answer, you must set a negative value for the incorrect answers. If you have any questions, please cotnact ITG at itg@mail.ucf.edu or (407) 823-0407. |
| Year shows as "9" instead of "2009" when you enter a two-digit year (09) in a date field. | This is a known issue in Webcourses@UCF that will be resolved in a future update. In the meantime, be sure to enter a four-digit year or use the calendar icon when selecting a date. |
| Student Sends Incorrect Assignment Attachment | Workaround: The Instructor must return the Assignment for further editing. Then the student can delete the incorrect attachment and add the correct one. This also applies to an incorrect Instructor attachment. |
| Grade Book does not always load. | This is a known caching issue that will be resolved in a future software update. Workaround: Clear your browser's cache and cookies and reload the page. |
| HTML Creator does not load. | You may not have the correct version of Java. Solution: run Check Browser and update your computer. Another possible cause is invalid code in your HTML pages. Solution: cleaning the code manually will should allow you to run the HTML Creator. |
| There is no Search feature in the Mail tool. | Solution: The Search tool includes Mail messages. |
| When creating a new Mail message in Firefox 1.0.5, while browsing for recipients the email window pops to the front. | Solution: Firefox 1.0.5 is an outdated browser and no longer supported. Upgrade to a more recent version of Firefox. |
| Some students cannot enter Chat rooms. | Students may not have the correct version of Java. Solution: Students should run Check Browser and update as needed. |
| "My Computer" icon does not appear. | This may occur if you do not have the correct JAVA version. Solution: run Check Browser and update as needed. If the JAVA version is correct, then contact the computer support staff for your department or college. |
| When students enter more than 1,333 characters into a short answer field in an Assessment, the text is cut off or a System Exception Error occurs. | Solution: For longer answer fields, use a Paragraph instead of Short Answer field. |
| Webcourses@UCF may award more than 100% to a short answer question if a student enters more than one of the possible answers. | The double points issue arises because the settings for that question are set to allow more than 100% value (i.e. a multiple choice question with two or more correct answers). Solution: Modify the settings for the question to not allow more than 100% value. |
| Some students reappear in the Grade Book even after they have been denied access. | The Faculty Webcourse Manager overwrites Grade Book settings, so if you have denied a student access they will be released the next time FWM updates (a process that currently runs three times a day while faculty are creating their course sections). Solution: wait until after the add/drop period ends in case students re-register to your course- if the student still appears then contact the registrar to confirm student enrollment status. Alternate solution: If you want to keep all students from accessing your online course, you can log into the FWM in myUCF and change the date the course is released to students. |
| When trying to grant access to a Teaching Assistant, the following error appears: "User name not found". | The TA's NID may have changed because they were recently hired by the University. Solution: If you have confirmed with the TA that you have the correct NID, then please e-mail itg@mail.ucf.edu with the TA's name, NID and date of birth, and the course where s/he needs to be added. |
| Students are appearing in my course even though they are not registered. | Some students who register for a course and then drop it sometimes still appear in Webcourses@UCF sections. Solution: Check the Faculty Webcourse Manager in myUCF to confirm that the course is still selected- if the course is not selected you will not receive enrollment updates to your course. If the students still appear after 24 hours then contact the Instructional Technology Group (itg@mail.ucf.edu, (407) 823-0407). |
Issues we are working with Blackboard to resolve.
| Issue Description | Status, Solution or Workaround | Date Updated |
|---|---|---|
| Students who receive a "0" are blocked from advancing if Selective Release is set to "Not Blank". | Blackboard has acknowledged this issue and it will be addressed in a future update. Workaround: Set Selective release to "Geater than or equal to" zero. | 6.23.2009 |
| In Student Tracking, sessions are not numbered by date order and cannot be sorted by date. | This issue has been reported to Blackboard and will be addressed in a future update. Workaround: Export the Student Tracking report to Excel and sort by the First Access Column. | 6.4.2009 |
| Some students taking an online quiz see the error message "Page not found" in the right sidebar. | This is a known issue that will be resolved in the next service pack. Workaround: To prevent this error message, set up the quiz so that all questions show at once, rather than one at a time. For all quizzes, students should remember to save each question separately as they progress to avoid possible loss of answers in case of an issue. | 3.30.2009 |
| Previewing a Mail message with an attachment causes the attachment to not send. | This issue has been reported to Blackboard. Workaround: Preview the message text before adding the attachment and then send. | 3.3.2009 |
| A quiz exported from one Webcourses@UCF section and imported into another does not include the original images. | Blackboard is currently determining the cause of this issue. | 2.3.2009 |
| Strange characters appear when editing/uploading content. | This is a known issue and Blackboard is working on a solution. Please contact the Instructional Technology Group at itg@mail.ucf.edu or (407) 823-0407 for the workaround for this issue. | 1.29.2009 |
| Items on the Course Content Home Page and/or Learning Modules are left-justified and cannot be changed. | This is a known issue and Blackboard is working on a solution. | 1.13.2009 |
| Some faculty report the inability to rename the link to a file or rename a folder on the Course Content Home Page. | Blackboard has identified this as a known issue will be resolved in a future release. Workaround for files: In the Build tab, click the ActionLink icon next to the file or folder and select "Customize Link". Enter the new title in the "Custom Title for this Link" field, and click "Save" at the bottom of the page. | 6.8.2009 |
| Some faculty and students report slow response attempting to connect to Webcourses@UCF. | If you experience this issue, please contact the ITG at (407) 823-0407 or itg@mail.ucf.edu , or if your students experience this issue please have them contact the Techrangers at (407) 823-3808 so that we can collect the necessary information. Thank you. | 1.13.2009 |
| Some faculty report this error message when assigning something to more than one group: *There are new group conflicts. Please choose 'Select Groups' and resolve them. | Groups are still assigned correctly, despite the error message. This is a known issue and will be resolved in Service Pack 3. Workaround: create a new group to replace one of the groups generating the error. | 1.13.2009 |
| Changing the default setting for Who's Online availability does not change the active setting. | Blackboard has been notified of this issue and we are waiting on a response. Workaround: go into one of your courses and change your availability to the desired setting. | 1.13.2009 |
| Changes made by sorting do not always save on logout. | This is a known issue and Blackboard is working on it. | 1.13.2009 |
| The Discussion notification icon appears in My Webcourses whether there is new content present or not. | This is a known issue it is scheduled to be fixed in Service Pack 3 | 1.13.2009 |
| Individual Mail messages cannot be marked as Unread in the Inbox. | This is a known issue it is scheduled to be fixed in a future update. Workaround: create an "Unread" folder and move messages you wish to mark as Unread to this folder. Change all folder contents to Unread, and then move back into the Inbox. | 1.13.2009 |
| After clicking on "View Attachments" in a mail message, you cannot save to the "My Computer" icon after selecting "Save to Folder..." | Blackboard is aware of the issue and it will be addressed in a future update. Workaround: To save an attachment to your computer, either click on attachment name in the save window and save it from the program that it is opened with or save it to your My Files area and then download it to your local computer. | 1.13.2009 |
| The Grade Book rows may become out of line with larger fonts. | This is a known issue that has been reported to Blackboard. Workaround: Select "Unfreeze Columns" under the "Grade Book Options" button. | 1.13.2009 |
| HTML Creator button does not appear on a Mac in FireFox. | Blackboard is working on this issue for a future release. Workaround: Use Safari or download HTML files and use an HTML editor such as Dreamweaver. | 6.15.2009 |
| Even if Who's Online is turned off for a section, students can receive a chat invitation. | Blackboard is aware of the issue and it will be addressed in a future update. Workaround: to prevent students from receiving Who's Online invitations during an exam, the student should change their Status to Visible/Unavailable or Invisible. | 1.13.2009 |