Thursday, March 15, 2018

The Edit Mode and Missing Content

The Case of the Missing Content

You logged in this morning and you are missing content in your online course!

This is why you hate Blackboard - you spent most of last night developing a large portion of your course including tests for the students, and now it vanished.



Don’t panic.  If you did not actually delete the files, the chances are you may be viewing the course with the EDIT MODE off.
In the top corner of a course in Blackboard you can access the Edit Mode
Button. You can toggle it to turn the Edit Mode on and off.

When ON, you will see all the course content and the editing controls.  You should note that students will not see this.  The Edit Mode function appears to users with a role of instructor, teaching assistant, course builder, and administrator only.

When Edit Mode is ON, all the instructor functions appear, such as Build Content or the appearance of instructor tools on the menu, like the Control Panel.

When Edit Mode is OFF, all instructor functions, such as the editing controls, are hidden. You will see the content as if you were a student. If a page is hidden from a student, even through adaptive release, you will not be able to see this.

This is sometimes handy, as it gives you a quick way to view the course as a student.  However, this can catch you by surprise and make you think your content is not there.

Now, check your course.  Is the edit mode off?  This is probably why you do not see the content you made earlier.

 Below are some cribnotes to help you.


Student Preview

There are a few items students will have access to that you will not when the Edit Mode is off. These include:
  • Submitting assignments and take tests
  • Creating blog and discussion posts
  • Creating journal and wiki entries
  • Viewing student tools, such as My Grades 
If you Enter Student Preview, you can view these features as it will create a mock student and ‘see the course with its permissions.  The Student Preview is located next to edit mode button. If you exit this mode, you can even save it and view it in your gradebook.

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