Resources

If you teach courses that utilize Brightspace Quizzes, you probably have thought about the best way to create a smooth, equitable, and fair testing environment for students. The Respondus LockDown Browser can help ensure that students are focused on their quiz or exam without unnecessary distractions or unapproved extra resources. The LockDown Browser is a downloadable software application that students install on their computer, iPad, or Chromebook that “locks down” their device for the duration of their testing time. This makes sure that students are focused on their assessment and are not distracted by other things on their device. Read More

This time of year, many people on campus are counting down the days to the end of the semester. Before we get to that end point, however, there are plenty of things instructors have to do. One of the most popular topics of questions we get this time of year… Read More

Over the last few months, Brightspace has updated and expanded options that impact timing for quizzes. While we have outlined each of these in our regular release notes, we wanted to also have a summary post to show all the changes made to quiz timing settings and how they work. Read More

Effective August 16, 2023, Vanderbilt has disabled Turnitin’s AI detection tool. To read more about why this decision was made, refer to this newer blog post.   Beginning on 4/4/2023, faculty who use Turnitin now have access to an additional tool – Artificial Intelligence… Read More

Up until now, documents in Brightspace could only be annotated by utilizing the GradeMark function of the TurnItIn tool.  Brightspace has now rolled out a new optional annotation tool that is built directly into the Assignment tool. For an overview of the tool and how it can be utilized, refer… Read More

Want to know how to back up your Blackboard courses on your own computer or other device? The Blackboard support team at the CFT has resources that can help. There are two primary ways to back up course content. The first way is to back up a course in its entirety, including… Read More

With the integration of the Kaltura media tool within Blackboard, users of the CMS now have the ability to easily implement streaming video into their course or organization.  If users are attempting to create their own educational videos for use in their course, CFT Assistant Director Cynthia… Read More

The Vanderbilt academic community has access to a useful online testing tool for the 2015-2016 academic year. The Respondus LockDown Browser is a custom browser that locks down the testing environment within Blackboard during online quizzes and tests. When students use Respondus LockDown Browser they are unable to print, copy, go… Read More

During the recent migration from OAK to Blackboard managed hosting, we very intentionally maintained the version of Blackboard we were using. This summer, we’ll upgrade to a newer version, but over winter break, our goal was improved performance, not new features. However, we did add one new tool to… Read More

by Derek Bruff, Director, Center for Teaching, cross-posted from the CFT blog As Vanderbilt faculty, staff, and students have learned this fall, Vanderbilt’s course management system, OAK (powered by Blackboard), is currently experiencing significant delays. While the OAK team at VUIT continues working to fix these… Read More