Thursday, April 21, 2016

Language Improvements On the Way in May

Language changes to update and improve user experience in BOLT are coming our way May 20, 2016. Please note this is a display change only- the functionality of the tools will remain the same!




Based on the results of usability testing conducted by Brightspace, the terms changing in BOLT are:

  • News to Announcements
  • Dropbox to Assignments
  • New to Upload / Create
  • Add Existing Activities to Existing Activities
a composite screenshot showing the language changes in BOLT, including Announcements and Assignments on the course homepage, and the Upload/Create and Existing Activities buttons in Content
Again, please note these are language term changes and that functionality will remain the same. 

For more information on the changes and for ways we plan to support your transition, follow the jump cut...

BOLT Support Hours

The IMDC provides BOLT Support. We are located in Andruss Library 206.


Semester Hours: Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm.


Summer Hours:  Monday through Friday, 8am to 4pm.


After hours, holiday, and weekend support is available by calling 1-866-921-0473.


24 hour Blackboard Collaborate support is available by calling 1-877-382-2293.

Did you know you can restore grade items you accidentally deleted?

If you accidentally delete a grade item, you can use the Event Log feature in Manage Grades to restore it.


Go to Coursework > Grades > Manage Grades.


1. Click the More Actions button.


2. Select Event Log.






3. On the Event Log page, look for the name of your deleted grade item.


4. Click the Restore link beside the grade item ID number.




The grade item and its student and grades data will be restored.

2016Fall Course Combine Deadline

If you would like to combine courses for the 2016 Fall semester, please complete the BOLT Combine Course Request Form via the Faculty Center in MyHusky (PeopleSoft). Once you access the Faculty Center, you will find a tab titled 'BOLT Combined Request'.

For directions on how to do this, you can watch the Course Combine Request Video Tutorial or view the Course Combine Request Documentation PDF.



Deadline: June 1st, 2016


NOTE: Requests must still be completed by the given deadline. Requests after the deadline will only be accepted if there is a schedule change or new instructor hire.



Lecture/Lab Sections Reminder: If you teach a lecture course with multiple labs but do not have access to all lab sections, submit a request to Chaya Merrell by email. For more information, please see the Semester Start Information module in the BOLT Help Course.




What is a combined course?
A combined course combines several sections into one course offering in BOLT.


What are the benefits of combining my course sections?
If you are teaching several sections of the same course, you may want to combine the sections into one larger course offering in BOLT. BOLT allows instructors to filter views and tools by section and release content to specific sections, so you can manage all your sections in one course offering rather than maintaining three or four different courses in BOLT. This can save you time and make managing your sections easier.


If I don’t combine my courses can I request to combine them later?
No. We only combine courses instructors have requested combined by the deadline. The only late requests we accommodate are late assignments or contracts and schedule changes. We do not combine active courses after the semester starts unless there are special circumstances.


If I combine my course sections, can I split them later?
No. We do not separate combined courses once the semester begins unless there is an assignment change from the department or other special circumstances.

2016Summer Courses

Teaching this summer?



2016Summer courses are available in BOLT.


Students will load into classes on or around May 5th.


Remember, students will not see courses in BOLT until professors activate them!


For help with starting the semester in BOLT, check out our Semester Start Information and other modules in the BOLT Help course in BOLT.


If you need assistance setting up anything in your BOLT courses, contact BOLT Support.





BOLT Best Practice: Grades

Best Practices for Working with Grades


Use simple names.
Use simple names for grade items in BOLT. Avoid using special characters and punctuation in grade item names. If you have an assignment you want to call Research Paper - 3, call it Research Paper 3 instead.

Backup your gradebook.
You should back up your gradebook each time you make changes. Do this in BOLT via the Export feature in Grades. If you need to revert to the gradebook prior to changes, you can import your backup.

Save each page view and save frequently.
If you have multiple pages of students in your gradebook, you need to save changes on each page before navigating to the next page. Save your changes frequently to avoid losing any grading work.

Release final grades.
Students will not see their final grades until you release them. You can release a final calculated or final adjusted grade in BOLT. You can release final grades at the end of the semester, or release at the beginning and opt to automatically update final grades as items are graded.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

BOLT Will Be Unavailable April 10, 2016 from 1:00AM to 7:00AM

Every month, BOLT undergoes a maintenance window. This month’s maintenance window is on Sunday, April 10, 2016 from 1:00am to 7:00am ET. BOLT will be unavailable during this time. Please plan accordingly.

Maintenance Window FAQ
Q: Where are the maintenance dates announced?
A: Maintenance dates are announced here on our BOLT Students blog, our BOLT Blog for faculty, and in the News items on your My Home page in BOLT.

Q: What will happen if I try to log in during a maintenance period?
A: A page will load that says Desire2Learn is unavailable due to scheduled maintenance.

Q: Why am I still seeing a page that tells me D2L is unavailable after the maintenance window?
A: If you tried to login to BOLT during the maintenance window, your browser may be loading the scheduled maintenance page from its cache memory. If you encounter this page outside of the maintenance window, please clear your browser cache before trying to login to BOLT again.
Q: This is a bad time for BOLT to be unavailable. Can maintenance be rescheduled?
A: We understand frustration when BOLT downtime occurs during busy times of the academic year. Unfortunately, we cannot reschedule the maintenance windows. The IMDC has no control over the regularly scheduled maintenance windows. They are scheduled by our vendor and are necessary to keep BOLT working optimally.