An assignment in Blackboard is a content type that allows students to submit work online. Submitting an Assignment automatically creates an entry for that project in the course gradebook. After a student submits an Assignment, the instructor retrieves it from the Gradebook, provides feedback, and assigns a score. If you do not submit your project in BB using the Assignment feature, you will have a score of zero (0) for the project in the gradebook, you will not receive feedback from your grader, and it will cause delays in the grading.
VLT Project Teams are OK
You may work solo on the projects, or together with your VLT.
If you work as a team each team member must submit the project separately in Blackboard in order to create an entry in the Blackboard gradebook. Also, each team member must have a copy of the project files in her/his /382/ directory on the remote server, shell.uoregon.edu.
The Assignment dialog includes a Comments section. In this Comments section, you must state the name(s) of your team partner(s). You will also enter your project URL in the comments section. The project URL will permit the grader to access your copy of the project files on the server.
Each team member should be sure to learn all the concepts necessary to solve a project, as these concepts will be tested on the exam. Furthermore, VLT wiki pages have a history mechanism that clearly shows individual contributions. If the record shows that a team member is not contributing to a project, this will be calculated in that team member's project grade.
How to Submit Projects in Blackboard
On or before the project due-date, use SSH (XP) or Fugu (OS X) to upload all project files and images used on your web pages to the required folders in /382/ on the remote host, shell.uoregon.edu.
After uploading, be sure to test your .html files on the server. View all .html files on the server in a browser to make sure everything works correctly-- the .html files you upload to the server are the ones that will be graded.
Don't change the time-stamp after the due-date. When your files are uploaded, they are time-stamped. After the due-date, do not upload them again or change them in any way, as this will change the time-stamp and make your project Late. See Policy on Due-Dates.
Login to Blackboard and submit your project. Each project this term will have a Submit Project link in the Projects folder. This link is connected to a Blackboard Assignment item; when clicked, a dialog opens which contains a Comments section and a Attach Local File.. option.
You do not have to use the "
Since all your project files are on the remote server you do not have to upload them in Blackboard.
Hit the Submit button. If you hit Cancel or Save, your project will not be submitted and will not be graded, resulting in a score of zero (0).
Project Grading Procedures. After you submit your project, your lab instructor retrieves it from the Gradebook, provides feedback, and assigns a score. This will be done within one week of the project due-date.
A (!) in the gradebook means your project has been submitted but needs to be graded. A (-) in the gradebook means your project has not been submitted. (-) are replaced by scores of zero (0) after the project due-date. A score in the gradebook means your project has been graded. Click on the score, then hit the View button to read the Feedback to User. This is your Project Grade Report (PGR) where all deductions, etc., will be explained in full.
If your project has not been graded within one week of the due-date, please notify your instructor by email.
Student Responsibilities for the Gradebook.
Submit all projects on time. You can not pass the course without completing the projects.
Monitor your scores in the Gradebook. Remember that (-) are replaced by zeros (0) automatically. Notify your instructor of problems in real-time. Delaying until late in the term to correct Gradebook errors will negatively impact your final grade for the course. If your instructor does not hear from you until Final's week, it is too late to help you.
What is a Project URL?
Your project URL is the web address of your site root folder (/382/) on shell.uoregon.edu.
Example: This is what Susan Q would enter into the BB Assignment in the Comments section. Notice that it is an absolute URL and that it ends with the site root folder:
Name. Susan Q
Project URL. http://www.uoregon.edu/~susanQ/382/ Programming Partners. Eddie Front and Bonzo Whalen.
Never use spaces or special characters (!, @, #, $, %, &, etc.) in file and folder names. Windows operating systems allow spaces and even seem to encourage you to use them, but UNIX operating systems (which run most servers) have problems with them.
Consider how different operating systems handle this URL:
http://www.MarsupialWorld.com/kangaroos/movies with kangaroos.html
A Windows system displays the file named "movies with kangaroos.html" with no trouble. You won't have any problem when you test your page on your own Windows or Macintosh operating system, but problems may arise when you place the page on a Web server running UNIX or Linux (the most common OS for web servers).
The Web server interprets the space as a "%20" character and looks for a file named:
Will your visitors see the kangaroo movies page - or get the "page cannot be found" error message?
Spaces in file names just aren't worth the risk because they greatly increase the chance of errors:
Site visitors get broken links with error messages instead of your content.
You may inadvertently create broken links yourself when you try to change or correct your file names. Each time you change a file name you have to update the link on every page that links to the file you changed.
Be safe and avoid errors by never using spaces in your file names!