BCC is in the process of migrating from the Angel Learning Management System to the Blackboard Learn system.
The tutorials that are provided here are for the Angel 8.0 system and are for archival purposes only.
- 1 Managing Your Files
- 2 Customize Your Course Space
- 3 Apply Themes
- 4 How to Copy and Paste Text from Microsoft Word
- 5 How to Use Letter Grades in the Gradebook
- 6 Name Your Files for Accessibility
- 7 Cascading Settings
- 8 Gradebook Benefits and Basics
- 9 Exporting the Gradebook
- 10 How to Organize Courses by Semester
- 11 Copy a Course in eLearning to a new Semester
- 12 Other Instructor Resources
Managing Your Files
There are a few ways you can upload files into eLearning. One is to go into the Lessons tab and Add Content. Select File and you'll be able to browse and upload your files. Easy right? It is but uploading your files this way gives the eLearning system control over how and where the file is physically stored. If you want to control your own file and folder organization learn how to use the Course File Manager.
Customize Your Course Space
Learn how to customize and organize your course, limit the tabs that show at the top, and open your course directly to the Lessons tab.
The eLearning system makes it very easy to customize the look and feel of your course space by applying different themes. However, it is important to consider the type of content you have in your space prior to selecting a theme. The background images of many themes can make text on the page very hard to read. If you have a lot of text try a simpler theme with no images. It may not look as “pretty” but it will be readable which is much more important!
How to Copy and Paste Text from Microsoft Word
Many of you have noticed that when you copy and paste from Microsoft Word into eLearning strange code appears on the page. You may have also found it difficult to edit text once you paste it from Word. That’s because Microsoft has its own special way of handling HTML code (the language of the web) and adds a lot of extra stuff that you really don’t need. This “extra stuff” causes problems with the way browsers understand and interpret the code and that’s why things don’t look or act the way you expect them to.
How to Use Letter Grades in the Gradebook
Many faculty members use letters to indicate item completion and you can input these letters in to the eLearning gradebook through the use of a Label Mask.
- Go to the Manage tab
- Click on Gradebook
- Under Gradebook Management select Assignments
- Select the Assignment you want to edit (if already created) or Add New assignment
- Click on the Advanced radio button to show additional options
- Click in the Label Mask box and type in the following expression:
Replace the SUI text with the letters you want (for example, PF would be pass/fail, CI would be complete/incomplete, etc… If you left it the way it is right now the SUI could stand S (Satisfactory), U (Unsatisfactory), or I (Needs Improvement).
Click Save and enter away!
- NOTE: You will need to enter these types of grades directly in the gradebook. Attempting to enter in a letter grade at the point of submission (for example, right in the drop-box) will result in an error.
Name Your Files for Accessibility
Renaming files is important due to the need of accessibility for disabled students. Students who are visually impaired, for example, use eLearning by use of a screen reader; this piece of software reads the contents of the screen to the student. Sometimes this includes hidden code that the normal visual viewer can not see. If this file name isn’t changed it will be read as a jumble of text which when read to the student my sound like code or jumbled text, instead rename the file using a descriptive title using words instead of abbreviations.
For examples of a screen reader reading file names please use the following links:
For more information on how to add content and modify file name please view the following document. Learn how to add content.
When applying settings to a folder, it is convenient to control whether the items within the folder are affected or not. The Cascade feature in Angel allows you to either change all of the settings of the objects within to whatever the settings of the folder is, or preserve the settings when the folder’s options are changed. This feature gives a functionality that allows professors to quickly and easily monitor files that are accessible to their students.
For more information on how to cascade settings withing a folder please view the following document. How to Cascade Settings.
Gradebook Benefits and Basics
The gradebook on eLearning is extremely useful for both online and face-to-face professors. Using the gradebook simplifies the traditional grade book for professors, no more Excel spreadsheet or cumbersome formulas! The grade book will automatically calculate averages for categories, each student, the class as a total, and the final grades. The gradebook also will make it easier for your students to see their grades, never again will you be asked by a student, “What’s my grade?”
The Gradebook is intuitive and easy to use whether you use the eLearning system as an online professor or one that is using it for supplemental material and collecting homework
For more information on Gradebook Basics please view the following document. Gradebook Basics.
Exporting the Gradebook
As the semester comes to an end it is a good idea to back up your gradebook for future reference.
While your course space will stay open for your access after the semester is over, it is a good idea to back up your gradebook into a spreadsheet format so you can save it on your own computer. The Gradebook feature allows you to export and import to and from csv (comma separated values) or tsv (tab separated values).
To start the export process log into your course and continue to the manage tab Under the Course Management nugget click on Gradebook
In the left hand column of options there is the “Export Grades” option. Click on this option
On this screen you have the ability to choose between “Comma Separated” or “Tab Separated” formats. We suggest using “Comma Separated”
You can choose to include averages or the Course ID at your own discretion
Output Format is also your own discretion, chose which ever makes more sense to your grading style.
You may now open the file in your favorite spreadsheet program of choice.
How to Organize Courses by Semester
In order to keep your courses organized on your home page, you can edit how your courses are displayed. By organizing by semester, filtering out which courses you are taking now, versus which courses you’ve taken in the past becomes much easier. First, log into Angel Learning.
For further instructions please view the following document. How to Organize Courses by Semester
Copy a Course in eLearning to a new Semester
Most of the time if you are teaching a course over and over again you want to just copy your content from one semester to another follow the direction in the following document to achieve this and make the beginning of your semester easier!
For instructions please view the following document. How to Copy a course to a new Semester
Other Instructor Resources
Because of the recent decision to no longer use Wimba for eLearning, we did research on various different conference programs, and decided on the free-to-use DimDim.
Using Jing for a Discussion
Jing is an application similar to Camtasia, except it is free. You can use Jing to take a screenshot, and post it in a discussion to explain a specific feature. You can learn how to do this here.
Organize Your Courses
In order to keep your courses organized on your home page, you can edit how your courses are displayed. By organizing by semester, filtering out which courses you are taking now, versus which courses you’ve taken in the past becomes much easier.
You can learn how to do so here.
Create an Assessment
To best utilize Angel's resources, you can create an Assessment right inside of your course. An assessment is essentially a test taken in your course, and is graded immediately (in most cases), and is saved for future reference.
You can learn how to create one here.
Create a Drop Box
When creating as assignment that requires a file to be submitted, or even an area for students to post the answers to specific questions, utilizing the Drop Box may be a good idea.
You can learn how to create one here.
Compatibility is always a huge issue, especially when teaching an online course. Ensuring compatibility through some minor changes can help avoid moments when students can't open uploaded assignments, and you can learn how to do so here.
How to use Cascade
Cascading is a feature in eLearning which allows settings applied to a folder to either be passed along to all items in a folder, or none. You can learn how to use it here.
When referencing Youtube in a course space, some of their recent changes made it simpler to embed their content. You can learn how to utilize this here.
When copying over course content from one course to another using the "Copy Course" feature, some files may not be copied over due to a bug. If this happens to you, or you want to copy over a specific set of content, you can use another utility right in Angel. You can learn how to use this here.