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How-To Series - 1 - How To Use Blackboard with PRS

How To Use Blackboard with PRS

The Blackboard PRS Building Block was developed as a bridge between PRS andBlackboard. It ensures that the data that is moved back and forth between the twoapplications, PRS and Blackboard, is structured in a way that each application candirectly import the data without having to manipulate it. You can download a classroster from Blackboard and merge it directly into a PRS Class Roster. You can exportthe contents of a PRS Gradebook and the results of Marked Sessions for use in Black-board grade books. The combination of PRS and Blackboard affords the best of bothworlds when it comes to managing your courses.

Merging Blackboard Class Rosterswith PRS Class RostersIn the How To Create and Manage a PRS Roster tutorial, you learned how a basic RF ClassRoster can be created on-the-fly during a PRS Session. The on-the-fly Roster will resemblethe example shown here.

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The Blackboard PRS Building Block makes it possible to merge the more complete studentprofiles in the Blackboard class roster with the bare bones, on-the-fly Roster createdduring a PRS Session to produce the following Class Roster in PRS.

Here’s how it is done.

1 In order to get to the PRS Download page and access the Blackboard grade book, youhave to get into the Control Panel for the specific course.


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2 Go to the Course Tools section of this page. Click on the View / Download PRS Roster(All Students) link to display the PRS Roster File page.

Download the Blackboard PRS Roster on Internet ExplorerAll of the students enrolled in the class will be displayed on this page. The students who haveregistered their PRS Clickers – optional for those students with RF Clickers, required forthose with IR Clickers – will have included the Clicker ID in their student profiles.

If you were to left-click on the Download button when using the Internet Explorer browser,the .csv file would be automatically opened and displayed on the Web page. However, theintention here is to download the file, not open it.

3 Right-click on the Download button.

4 Select the Save Target As... menuoption.

A Save As dialog will display. We recom-mend saving the file in the C:\MyDocuments\PRS\Roster directory.


Download the Blackboard PRS Roster on FirefoxAll of the students enrolled in the class will be displayed on this page. The students who haveregistered their PRS Clickers – optional for those students with RF Clickers, required forthose with IR Clickers – will have included the Clicker ID in their student profiles.

When you click on the Download button, Firefox gives you the choice of opening the .csvfile or saving it. The intention here is to download the file, not open it, so you want to clickon the Save to Disk radio button.

3 Click on the Download button.

4 Select the Save to Disk radiobutton and click on the OKbutton.

Depending on how you have Firefoxset up, either the file will be down-loaded automatically to a predeter-mined location, or you will beprompted to select the location wherethe file is to be saved. We recom-mend saving the file to the C:\MyDocuments\PRS\Roster directory.

Merge the Downloaded Roster into PRSThe downloaded Blackboard class roster will contain the First Name, Last Name and Net IDinformation that is currently missing from the existing on-the-fly Roster created during thePRS Session. The goal is to merge the information from the Blackboard class roster into thePRS Roster.

1 Click on the Classes tab in PRS.

2 In the Classes List Window, clickon the name of the Class withwhich you want to merge thedownloaded Blackboard roster.

3 Click on the Import/MergeRoster Function Button.


The Import or Merge a Roster dialog will display. You have the choice of overwriting theexisting Roster with the downloaded Blackboard roster or merging the Blackboard rosterwith the existing Class Roster. The merge operation allows to you combine the informationin the two rosters, rather than replacing the information in the PRS Roster with the informa-tion in the Blackboard roster.

1 Click on the Merge with current Rosterradio button.

2 Click on the OK button.

The downloaded Blackboard roster willhave the proper file format and file struc-ture for import into PRS. It is not necessaryto use the Non-PRS Roster Importer torestructure the Blackboard roster file forimport.

3 Navigate, if necessary, to thedownloaded Blackboard class roster.

4 Select the file and click on the Openbutton.

PRS will merge the downloaded Blackboard class roster with the existing PRS to create acomplete Roster, as shown below.


Export a PRS GradebookPRS Gradebooks contain the results of Marked Sessions. The process begins when you run aSession for the Class. Responses to the Questions posed during the Session are saved in aSession file. The Session results are marked, and the Mark is added to a Gradebook. TheMarks in a PRS Gradebook can be exported for use in a Blackboard grade book. If you havequestions about the PRS Gradebook, please refer to the How To Use the PRS Gradebooktutorial. The following instructions describe how to export Gradebook Marks from PRS toBlackboard.

The Roster in the PRS Gradebook must be up-to-date and mirror the Blackboard classThe Roster in the PRS Gradebook must be up-to-date and mirror the Blackboard classThe Roster in the PRS Gradebook must be up-to-date and mirror the Blackboard classThe Roster in the PRS Gradebook must be up-to-date and mirror the Blackboard classThe Roster in the PRS Gradebook must be up-to-date and mirror the Blackboard classr o s t e r .r o s t e r .r o s t e r .r o s t e r .r o s t e r .

1 Click on the Export Gradebook Function Button to display the following dialog.

2 Select the Blackboard LearningSystem as the Export Formatand click on the OK button todisplay the Choose DestinationDirectory and File Name dialog.

3 Specify a name for the file that will contain theGradebook data. We recommend the name bedescriptive of the Class and the Marks you areexporting.

4 Click on the Select button.

A prompt will appear confirming the name of theexported file and its directory path.


Export a PRS SessionMarks can be exported from a PRS Session as well from a PRS Gradebook. The Session filemust be marked before the Session can be exported for use in Blackboard. Each Sessionthat has been marked displays a green check in the Marked column in the Sessions ListWindow.

Blackboard uses the Net ID to index the data imported from a PRS Session. There are twoways to get the Net ID into the PRS Roster:

• Students are instructed (RF Clicker User’s Guide and How To Use Your RF Clickertutorial) to enter their Student ID into their RF Clicker’s ID field. When the Clicker isused during a Session, the value in the ID field accompanies each transmission. Thisvalue becomes part of the Class Roster and PRS automatically uses the value topopulate both the Student ID and the Net ID fields in the student’s roster profile.Under this circumstance, the value in the Net ID field of the student’s PRS profile is notthe value required by Blackboard. However, this situation is corrected when theBlackboard class roster is merged with the PRS Roster (described on page 2 of thistutorial). The Net ID is overwritten with the correct value required by Blackboard. Youcannot import Marks from Sessions until the Blackboard class roster has been mergedwith the PRS Roster.

• Students can be instructed to enter their Blackboard Net ID, rather than their StudentID, into their RF Clicker’s ID field. PRS will automatically populate both the Student IDand the Net ID fields in the PRS Roster with this value.

1 Select the Session in the Sessions List Window you want to export.

2 Click on the Export Session Function Button.

3 Select the Blackboard Learning System CSV file option from the list of Export Formats.

4 Click on the OK button to display the Choose Destination Directory and File Namedialog.


5 Specify a name for the file that will contain theexported Session data. We recommendchoosing a name that is descriptive of the Classand the Marks you are exporting.

6 Click on the Select button.

A prompt will appear confirming the name of theexported file and its directory path.

Import PRS Marks into BlackboardThe exported files described in the previous section prepare the PRS Session and Gradebookdata for import directly into Blackboard.

1 Log into Blackboard using your Faculty account.

2 From the My Courses section, select the course for which the PRS files will beimported.

3 From the home page for the selected course, click on the Control Panel option.

4 In the Assessment section of the Control Panel, click on the Gradebook link.


The sample screen shot below shows the Blackboard Grade Book for the selected coursewith the class list and no grades.

5 Click on Upload Grades todisplay the Upload Gradebookpanel.

6 Click on the Browse button andnavigate to the location of the PRSGradebook file you exported.

7 Select the file and click on theSubmit button to complete the fileimport.

8 In the Choose Uploaded Itemsection, click on the radio buttonfor the column that has the wordPossible in its name. This is thecolumn that contains the studentmarks.

9 In the Choose Existing Itemsection, click on the Create NewGradebook Item radio button.

10 In the Submit section, click on theSubmit button to complete theColumn Upload.


The Add/Modify Gradebook Item panel will display.

1 Specify the Item Name. Theexisting column name will displayin the field. You can edit it if youchoose.

2 Select a Category from the drop-down list.

3 Enter an optional Description inthe text box.

4 Enter a value in the PointsPossible field that matches thevalue in parentheses following theword Possible in the Item Name. Itis vitally important that the valueyou enter in the Points Possiblefield exactly matches the PossiblePoints value for the uploadedcolumn from the exported PRSGradebook.

5 Keep all other default values andclick on the Submit button.

You will receive confirmation that theGradebook Item successfully updated.

6 Click on the OK button to acceptit.

1 In the Choose Rows to Uploadpanel, click on the Select All link.

This will select the marks for all thestudents in the list.

2 Click on the Submit button.

You will receive confirmation that theGradebook Item was successfullyupdated.


The sample screen shot below shows the Blackboard Gradebook with the class roster andthe PRS marks for each student in the roster.