Step-By-Step
Instructor Digital Drop Box
(Text version)

1. Each Blackboard course site contains a digital drop box for instructors or Teaching Assistants as well as a digital drop box for each student account. These digital drop boxes allows students to send digital files to the instructor or TA and allows instructors and TAs to send digital files to students. Students cannot send digital files to other students using this feature.

2. To send a file to a student:

• Log into the Blackboard course site as usual.
• Go to Control Panel / Digital Drop Box. This displays the Drop Box page.
• Instructors or TAs have a choice of either adding a file to the dropbox or sending a file to a student. Adding a file to the Drop Box uploads the file to the Drop Box for later use. Sending a file both adds the file to the Drop Box and sends a copy of the file to one or more students.
  
• To add a file to the Drop Box click on the "Add File" button located at the top of the page. This displays the Digital Drop Box form. Type in a title for the file in the "Title" box. Click on the "Browse" button. This will display your computer's file locater dialogue box. Using the dropdown box on the top of the file locator, locate the directory and folder that contains the file you want to attach. Click on the name of the file then click on the "Open" button on the file locator. The locator dialogue box will disappear and the path to the file will be located in the box next to the "Browse" button. Add any comments regarding the file in the "Comments" box. Click on the "Submit" button. A warning will be displayed telling you that the file will be added to the Drop Box but not sent to any student. Click "OK". A receipt will be displayed telling you that the file has been added to the Drop Box. Clicking on "OK" will display the Drop Box page with the uploaded file listed.
  
• Adding a file to the Drop Box is sometimes used (by both instructors and students) as a means of "porting" a file. For instance, a file can be added to the Drop Box from your home computer and downloaded from the Drop Box at the office. To download the file simply click on the file's title. If your computer has the software to open the file, it will open in the Blackboard window. As an alternative, you can right click the title and choose "Save Target As" and save the file to your local computer.
  
• To send a file to a student click on the "Send File" button located at the top of the page. Under Section #1, select the student or students you want to send the file to. You can select more than one student by holding down the "Control" key and clicking on additional names. You can select all of the students by selecting the first student name in the list, holding the "Shift" key select the last name in the list.
• Under section #2, either select a file that you previously uploaded using the "Add File" function or Browse for a different file. To send a file you have previously uploaded using the "Add File function, select the file from the dropdown menu by clicking on the file's title. If you have never "added" a file this option will not be present.
• To Browse for a new file, first type in a title for the file in the "Title" box. Click on the "Browse" button. This will display your computer's file locater dialogue box. Using the dropdown box on the top of the file locator, locate the directory and folder that contains the file you want to attach. Click on the name of the file then click on the "Open" button on the file locator. The locator dialogue box will disappear and the path to the file will be located in the box next to the "Browse" button. Add any comments regarding the file in the "Comments" box.
• Finally, click on the "Submit" button. A receipt will be displayed telling you that the file has been sent to the student's Drop Box. Clicking on "OK" will display the Drop Box page with the sent (and now added) file listed.
  
• Students send files to their instructors and TAs and receive files from their instructors and TA through their personal Drop Boxes accessed via Tools / Digital Drop Box. Instructors and TAs cannot access a student's Drop Box directly. When a student sends and instructor a file via their Digital Drop Box, the file appears in the Instructor's Digital Drop box under Control Panel Digital drop Box.
• If you require students to send you files va the Drop Box it is important to have your students name their files with some unique file name. For instance a student named Neal Hirsig might save a MS Word file as "nhirsig_paper01_draft.doc". Using such a file naming convention avoids the problem of downloading 20 files all having the same file name "paper1.doc".
• Unfortunately, there is no mechanism in Blackboard which allows instructors and TAs to download more than one file at a time.
  
• To remove a file from your Digital Drop Box go to Control Panel / Digital Drop Box. This will display all of the files in your Drop Box. Click on the "Remove" button to the right of the file. A warning will be displayed. Click on "OK". The file will then be removed from the Drop Box and a receipt will be displayed telling you that the file was successfully deleted.
• Files in your Digital Drop Box will remain there unless you remove them even after the course is finished and the student accounts have been removed. You can delete all of the files in your Digital drop Box in one action. Go to Control Panel / Recycle Course. Under Section #2, checkmark the "Dropbox" item. Type in the word Remove in the box at the bottom of the page and click on the "Submit" button. A receipt will be displayed telling you that all of the files in your Dropbox have been deleted.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this Step-By-Step procedure contact the Tufts Blackboard Administrator at: nhirsig@tufts.edu