Blackboard 3.0

IMPORTANT NOTES:
  • Troubleshooting? Check out our guide here.

In this article

There are a few simple steps to integrate PlayPosit with your Blackboard course.

  1. Launch PlayPosit in Blackboard
  2. Assign a bulb to learners (course content)
  3. Assign a bulb to learners (deep-linking)
  4. Assign a bulb to learners (web link)
  5. Assign content with the rich text editor
  6. Monitor learner responses
  7. Sync scores to Blackboard Gradebook
  8. Course copy
    1. Blackboard version 3300 or greater
    2. Blackboard version 3200 or below
  9. Embedding a bulb

Why use PlayPosit in Blackboard?

  1. Single Sign-on: Instructors and learners are never prompted to enter a separate email, username or password to create or view content.
  2. Auto-sync course data: PlayPosit manages learner-course relationships, eliminating the need to manually create courses or upload rosters.
  3. Auto-sync grades: Learner grades are synced immediately with the Blackboard Gradebook at the end of a bulb. As well, instructors can access the rich analytics from any PlayPosit link within Blackboard. 
  4. Course copy: Instructors can save time by seamlessly translating PlayPosit links to recurring courses. The new course and learner roster is automatically synced and previous data is cleared. 

Video Tutorial

Launch PlayPosit in Blackboard

1. Log into Blackboard and select a course.

2. Navigate to an existing content area, or create a new content area.

3. In the content area, click Build Content or Tools and select PlayPosit from the drop-down menu. 

4. You can name your assignment "launch" since you are only creating the assignment to launch into Playposit then click Submit

5. Select the assignment you just created in Blackboard to launch the PlayPosit Setup page. Click  Enter PlayPosit to access your bulb library and start building content. 

Assign a bulb to learners

Note: This method of linking a bulb in Blackboard does not support course copy.

  1. Log into Blackboard and navigate to the course you would like to connect to PlayPosit.
  2. Navigate to an existing content area, or create a new content area.
  3. In the content area, click Build Content or Tools and select PlayPosit Interactive Video from the drop-down.
  4. Name your first bulb link and click Submit.
    1. (Optional, but recommended) Set Enable Evaluation to Yes if you want scores to auto-export into the gradebook.
    2. (Optional, but recommended) Enter the Points Possible.
    3. (Optional, but recommended) Set a Due Date.
  5. Click the link you just created in Blackboard to launch PlayPosit Setup page. Click Set Bulb Link to access your bulb library.

  6. Find the bulb you want to link to this assignment and click the Blackboard icon.


  7. Select the learner experience and click Set Bulb Link
    1. Self-Paced - Choose this option if you want students to take the bulb individually, on their own device, at their own time (most commonly used).
    2. Live Broadcast - Choose this option if you want students to take this bulb in a live synchronous session. Click here to learn more.
  8. Assign a bulb to learners (deep-linking)

    1. Log in to Blackboard and navigate to the course you would like to connect to PlayPosit.
    2. Navigate to an existing content area, or create a new content area.
    3. In the content area, click Build Content or Tools and select PlayPosit from the drop-down.
    4. This will redirect you to the PlayPosit setup page. Click Set Bulb Link to access your bulb library.
    5. Find the bulb you want to link to this assignment and click the Blackboard icon.
    6. Select the learner experience and click Set Bulb Link.
      1. Self-Paced - Choose this option if you want students to take the bulb individually, on their own device, at their own time (most commonly used).
      2. Live Broadcast - Choose this option if you want students to take this bulb in a live synchronous session. Click here to learn more.
    7. This will create an assignment in your Blackboard content area. Click the arrow next to your assignment title and select Edit to manage other properties of your Blackboard assignment like Points Possible 
    8. That's it! Your bulb has been successfully assigned to learners.

    Note: This method of linking a bulb in Blackboard does not support course copy.

    1. Log in to Blackboard and navigate to the course you would like to connect to PlayPosit.
    2. Navigate to an existing content area, or create a new content area.
    3. In the content area, click Build Content or Tools and select Web Link from the drop-down.
    4. Title the assignment, enter "https://www.playposit.com/LTI/launch" for the URL, and check the box labeled "This link is to a Tool Provider."
      • (Optional, but recommended) Set Enable Evaluation to Yes if you want scores to auto-export into the gradebook.
      • (Optional, but recommended) Enter the Points Possible.
      • (Optional, but recommended) Set a Due Date.
    5. Click Submit.
    6. Click the link you just created in Blackboard to launch PlayPosit Setup page. Click Set Bulb Link to access your bulb library.

    7. Find the bulb you want to link to this assignment and click the Blackboard icon.

    8. Select the learner experience and click Set Bulb Link to finish linking the bulb

    Assign content with the rich text editor

    Note: Grade sync is not supported with this workflow. Linking multiple Bulbs or Playlists within a course is not supported with this workflow. Blackboard recognizes this is a bug and has documented it in their backlog without a timeline to remedy the issue. Course copy is supported.

    1. Navigate to an existing content area or create a new content area.

    2. In the content area, click Build Content and select Item, Content Folder, Module Page, Blank Page, or anywhere the RTE is available. 

    3. Enter the name of the assignment in the name field. Click the Add Content button. Select PlayPosit from the options. 

    4. Click Set Link to access your PlayPosit account. 

    5. Find the Bulb or Playlist to link and click on the Blackboard icon. 

    6. Select the learner experience: 

    1. Self-paced - Choose this option if you want learners to take the Bulb individually, on their own device, at their own time (most commonly used).
    2. Broadcast - Choose this option if you want learners to complete the Bulb synchronously in class. Click here to learn more.

    7. The Bulb or Playlist will appear as a link with the name next to it inside the rich text editor. 

    8. Click Submit to create the assignment. 

    9. To access the PlayPosit monitor page, click on the LTI link in the assignment. 

    10. Select Monitor from the manage link screen. 

    Monitor learner responses

    Monitor to view analytics, discussion posts, and learner notes. To learn more about monitoring discussion posts, click here. To learn more about viewing learner notes, click here.

    1. From Blackboard, click on the assignment for which you want to view data. This will open  Manage Bulb Link, with the bulb you have attached. 

    2. Click  Monitor to view learner analytics. Click here to learn more about PlayPosit Bulb analytics. Click here to learn more about PlayPosit Playlist analytics.  Sync grades to Blackboard Gradebook

    If your bulb only includes auto-graded questions (multiple choice, check-all-that-apply, fill-in-the-blank), then grades will be automatically exported into the Blackboard Gradebook. For more information on automated grading, please view this help article.

    If you have graded free response questions or edited grades for auto-graded questions, you will need to sync changes with the Blackboard Gradebook. To do this:

    1. From Blackboard, navigate to the Monitor page of the assignment you want to grade.

    2. Here you'll be able to view and score learner data and track progress. 

    3. When you are ready to send updated scores to the Blackboard gradebook, click Sync Grades

    4. Optionally, click  Check Sync Status to check the status of grade sync, but note that it may take a few minutes to push all updated scores to the Blackboard Gradebook. 

    Course copy

    Course copy with LTI tools like PlayPosit works differently depending on your institution's version of Blackboard. Click here to determine which version of Blackboard you are using. 

    Blackboard version 3300 to 3500 
    Contact help@playposit.org to enable course copy.
    Blackboard version 3500 or greater

    Blackboard version 3300 or greater supports course copy with all PlayPosit links. This means:

    • All PlayPosit bulbs and links will transfer to the new course.
    • If any learners are retaking the course, previous scores will be reset automatically.

    To learn more about how to copy a course in Blackboard, click here.

IMPORTANT information when using course copy:

  • All master and child courses are linked to the same bulb, but when a course is copied, learner attempts will be saved in individual sections within PlayPosit and Blackboard.
  • Anyone launching a bulb linked in a copied course will be given facilitator access to all the bulbs linked in that course. For more information on the roles and permissions of a facilitator, click here.
  • Learners or instructors are able to launch a copied assignment first to trigger the copy process.
  • Learners launching a PlayPosit bulb from a copied Blackboard course for the first time will see a blue screen asking them to refresh the page. Refreshing the page will correctly launch the copied assignment. 
  • Instructors will not see bulbs in the Classes tab of their PlayPosit dashboard for copied courses until someone launches the bulb from the copied course in Blackboard.
  • Assignments linked through rich text will not be synced to the gradebook. They will copy over as expected.
  • If a linked bulb is changed or deleted in the Master course, those changes are also made to bulbs linked in the child copied courses for that assignment, since all courses are linked to the same bulb.
    Blackboard version 3200 and below

    Blackboard version 3200 and below does not currently support course copy for LTI tools like PlayPosit. Once an instructor copies a course, all PlayPosit bulbs must be re-linked:

    1. Navigate to a content page and click on a bulb link.

    2. This will launch the PlayPosit Setup page. Click Set Bulb Link to access your bulb library. 

    3. Find the bulb you want to link to this assignment and click the Blackboard icon.

    4. Select the learner experience and Save. 

    Embedding a bulb

    PlayPosit/Blackboard LTI integration does not support embedding bulbs using an embed code.

    If instructors choose to use the embed code:

    • Students will be prompted to sign into PlayPosit with a username/password
    • Grades will not auto-sync from PlayPosit to Blackboard

Still need help? Contact Us Contact Us