The sad news about Bb package file order

Got lotza files to upload to Blackboard and want them available in a single item (with multiple links)?

Well, you can, but you can't control the order ... easily.

When you make a zip file of the documents, they will be in alphabetical order.

When you upackage the zip file in a Blackboard sites files, they will also display in alphabetical order.

When you bulk add them into an item using "Browse Course" they will go in a weird order.

The only way to put them into an alphabetical order is to add them ONE-AT-A-TIME! Thus defeating the whole reason you ziped them together in the first place!

Make PowerPoint show in a smaller window for hangouts

If you're presenting PowerPoint in a Google hangout and want to see the participants. The show your PowerPoint in a window rather than full screen by:

Then present as normal. I like hitting F5.

I had to click multiple times to "windowize" mine in PowerPoint 2015. 

But it eventually worked.

Why sometimes a student can't see their feedback with multiple attempts

When a student checks their grade on an assignment where there has been more than one attempt. The grade will show, but instead of feedback they will see which attempt they are currently seeing the results of. They should choose the one that has the grade.

Usually the one with the grade is the most current attempt, and will be the one that will load by default, making this a non-issue. But when the first one is graded and the second one is not, then they must change it to the first in order to see the results

Linking to sharestream library video

The library website now has links to sharestream videos. Here's how to link them to Blackboard:

1. At the library website, click the traditional library catalogue search
   
   
2. Type "sharestream" and whatever you want to search for and click search
   
   



3. Click on the result you want
   
   
4. Click the Persistent Link (at the bottom)
   
   
5. You can either copy the URL if you want to link to the details and let the students launch the video from this details page, or click the video, log in, and copy the video url
   
   
6. Either one can be used as a weblink in Blackboard

New way to use drive in Google hangout (and hangout lite)

There's a new way to use drive in Google hangout and hangout lite (available through Gmail).

1. In a hangout, click chat
2. drive (and choose a document that is already shared to those you're hanging out with)
3. right click on its link and open in a new tab (or window)

Lost special phone ring?

Sometimes the phone ring file gets corrupted, and you only get the default ring.

Here's how to reset it.

1. Click the settings button



2. Choose 4 Security Configuration
3. Choose 5 Trust List
4. Choose 2 ITL File
5. Hit the **# keys
6. Choose unlock
7. Choose erase
8. Wait for reboot
9. Use phone same as before

Mystery: why Google classroom sometimes claims you don't have permission to share a file in About Materials

Google classroom has an "About" section that you can post administrative materials in.

Typically it works just fine, but today I saw on a Mac that with both a Word doc, as well as a Google doc, it gave the following error message when we tried to post it:

Oops! There was a problem attaching a file. Make sure you have permissions to share this file and try again.

There's a Google group forum where people are complaining about this, but so far no solutions. 

By the way, we did try to clear the cache, and no luck, as others who posted after that suggestion also found.

I have not bee able to reproduce this on my Mac.