News
Attend an Upcoming Webinar: Prevent Cheating During Online Exams!
Jun. 23, 2017—Instructor Training for LockDown Browser & Respondus Monitor Respondus LockDown Browser™ is a customized browser that increases the security of test delivery in course management systems. When students use Respondus LockDown Browser to access an exam, they are unable to print, copy, go to another URL, or access other applications. Respondus Monitor is a companion...
Brightspace Launched as Vanderbilt’s New Course Management System
Apr. 17, 2017—The Center for Teaching is excited to announce that Brightspace is now available for instructors planning their summer and fall courses. Brightspace will replace Blackboard as Vanderbilt’s course management system starting this summer. The new platform has a modern, responsive design and a number of features that faculty and students will find useful, including drag-and-drop...
Brightspace Selected as Vanderbilt’s New Course Management System
Jan. 9, 2017—The Center for Teaching is glad to announce that Brightspace will be replacing Blackboard as the campus-wide course management system beginning Summer 2017. This transition will bring change for students, faculty, and staff. As Brightspace’s administrative home, we at the Center for Teaching want to reassure you that we are doing all that we can to...
Holiday Hours — Winter Break 2016
Dec. 15, 2016—With the fall 2016 semester winding down, the Blackboard support team at the Center for Teaching has already begun working with many instructors around campus to ready spring courses. If you plan to work on your Blackboard courses over the winter holiday, we will be available to help via email at blackboard@vanderbilt.edu. Please note that...
Grading Center Feature: Returning Assignments to Students
Oct. 5, 2016—The Grade Center provides useful features to keep track of student grades, customize the Grade Center to your course, and provide students feedback on their work. Recently, Blackboard support has fielded several questions from instructors about how to upload graded documents for students to view feedback within the Grade Center — even when the document...
SIPX: A Blackboard-Integrated Tool for Copyright Compliance in Course Readings
Sep. 16, 2016—You may have heard about SIPX, a tool recently acquired by the Vanderbilt Library to streamline the copyright compliance process for course readings. With the addition of SIPX to the Blackboard tool set, instructors now have the ability to find course readings themselves from the library holdings (or from other sources) and place the links...
Is Blackboard FERPA compliant?
Aug. 18, 2016—Here at Blackboard support, we often get questions from faculty and teaching assistants about Blackboard’s compliance with the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the federal law that governs the privacy of student educational records. The good news is that the guidelines that protect student privacy in your physical classroom work in much the same way...
Blackboard Support Summer Hours
May. 25, 2016—This summer the Blackboard support team will focus their support efforts from 7am to 4pm Monday through Friday. You can expect a fast and thorough response from our team whether you contact us by email or phone during those hours. We will continue providing support via email 4-11pm Sunday through Thursday, with an expected response...
Blackboard Upgrade Underway!
May. 21, 2016—You should have received emails alerting you to Blackboard’s upgrade this weekend, or you may have seen the announcement on the Blackboard log in page. That upgrade period is now underway. We expect Blackboard to be available to users again no later than 8pm on Sunday May 22. Updates about the upgrade status can be...
Campus Invited to Course Management System Vendor Demos in April
Apr. 11, 2016—The Center for Teaching invites Vanderbilt faculty, staff, and students to a series of product demonstrations by the three vendors under consideration for Vanderbilt’s next course management system (CMS). The demonstrations, along with feedback from those who attend them, will inform Vanderbilt’s decision to renew its contract with Blackboard, set to expire in 2017, or...