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Blackboard and SoftChalk™ Cloud Integration Guide Updated November 20, 2019

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Contents
Introduction
Links to SoftChalk FAQs, System Specs and Guides
SoftChalk Cloud
Volume Purchase or Purchase Order
Enterprise SoftChalk Cloud
Individual Purchase on the SoftChalk Cloud Website
Trial SoftChalk Cloud Account
SoftChalk Lessons in Blackboard
SoftChalk Cloud Users
Scored Lessons
ScoreCenter Overview
Basic Procedures
Copy the LTI Link for a Lesson in SoftChalk Cloud
Paste the LTI Link into Blackboard
Set the Grading Method and Maximum Attempts
Preview the Lesson
View or Change Scores
Complete All Attempts for All Students for a Lesson
Essays
View Grades from LTI Lessons in the Blackboard Gradebook
Print or Email Scores
Non Scored Lessons
View the Non-Scored Lesson
Edit a SoftChalk Cloud Lesson
Collaborate with Other Instructors on SoftChalk Lessons
Link to a Discussion Forum within a Lesson
In Blackboard: LTI Links and Course Copy
Blackboard Administrator
Help
Copyright Information

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Introduction

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For your instructors, you may want to post the URLs for our guides (see below). As we update the guides, the URLs will remain the same.

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SoftChalk Cloud

As mentioned in the previous table, SoftChal

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loud is an award-winning, multi-function platform that combines a learning object repository, content authoring and hosting and management features.
With a SoftCh

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alk

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loud account, you can:

• Create and update your content in one place by logging into your SoftChalk Cloud account whether you are at work or at home. (SoftChal

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  k Create is part of your Cloud account.)
• Link to your content in many places.
• Search for content in SoftChalk Share (SoftChalk Cloud's public content repository) and add it directly to your lessons. You can modify the content you find with a SoftChalk Cloud account.
• Collaborate with other instructors on SoftChalk lessons. For more details, see the section Collaborate with Other Instructors on SoftChalk Lessons in the SoftChalk

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  Cloud

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  Guide.
• Collect scores using the SoftChalk ScoreCenter Feature. Grades from your SoftChalk lessons can appear within the gradebook of your learning management system.

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If you are a SoftChalk Cloud user, please see the section SoftChalk Cloud Users.
(If you only have the desktop version of SoftChalk Create, please see our Blackboard and SoftChalk Desktop Integration Guide.)
If you are a Blackboard administrator, see the section Blackboard Administrator for instructions on enabling your LTI feature to work with SoftChalk Cloud. (The LTI feature allows an instructor to copy and paste an LTI link for his/her SoftChalk Cloud lesson and have the student scores for that lesson go directly into the Blackboard gradebook.)

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Use a SoftChalk C

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loud account to save your lesson in the Cloud (see the section SoftChalk Cloud). Then you will paste a link to this lesson in Blackboard. You can update your content in SoftChalk Cloud and all your link(s) will reflect your changes. (You can link to the same lesson in multiple sections or courses.)
Before pasting a link to your lesson into Blackboard, you will want to decide if you want to collect scores from your students or if you want your lessons to be "practice" lessons and you don't need to collect scores. (For each lesson you can decide whether or not to collect scores. Many instructors use both "scored" and "practice" lessons within a course.) For details on:

• Scored lessons, see the section Scored Lessons. (While your preferred method would probably be to collect student scores in the Blackboard gradebook, you can also collect emails from students and have students print certificates. See the section Print or Email Scores.)
• If you plan to copy a course with LTI links, see the section In Blackboard: LTI Links and Course Copy.
• Non scored lessons, see the section Non Scored Lessons.

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Scored Lessons

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When you view your SoftChalk lesson scores within the Blackboard gradebook, you are using a SoftChalk feature called the ScoreCenter. In other words, you click on the name for your lesson in the assignments area of Blackboard and you see the SoftChalk ScoreCenter interface but all the scores are also "plugged into" the Blackboard gradebook. (In Blackboard, students will also see their grades from SoftChalk lessons as well.)
IMPORTANT: To use the ScoreCenter feature, your Blackboard administrator needs to configure your system to use this feature. See the section Blackboard Administrator.
With the ScoreCenter feature, you can:

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Basic Procedures

IMPORTANT: Within your lesson in SoftChalk Create, be sure to assign points to each QuizPopper and Activity. (In the main editing window of your SoftChalk lesson, right-click on the QuizPopper or Activity and choose Modify QuizPopper or Modify Activity. Go to the Options tab and use the Points dropdown menu to assign points.)
To have your student scores appear within the Blackboard gradebook area (i.e. ScoreCenter interface), you need to:

• Save your lesson into your SoftChalk Cloud account (see the section Save a Lesson or Course to the Cloud in the SoftChalk Cloud Guide).
• Copy the LTI Link for this lesson (see the section Copy the LTI Link for Your Lesson in the SoftChalk Cloud Guide). IMPORTANT: Be sure to copy the LTI Link and NOT the Hyperlink for the lesson.
• Paste this LTI Link into the Lessons area in Blackboard (see the section Paste the LTI Link into Blackboard).
• Set the Grading Method and Maximum Attempts for each lesson (see the section Set the Grading Method and Maximum Attempts).
• View or change your students' scores (see the section View or Change Scores).
• If you plan to collect and/or score essays, see the section Essays.

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Copy the LTI Link for a Lesson in SoftChalk Cloud

See the section Copy the LTI Link for Your Lesson in the SoftChalk Clo

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uide. IMPORTANT: As mentioned previously, be sure to copy the LTI Link and NOT the Hyperlink for the lesson.

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(If the screens below don't match for your Blackboard, you may be using Blackboard Service Pack 7, 8 or 9. In that case, please contact help@softchalk.com and we can send you information on using LTI with those service packs.)

1. After copying the LTI Link for your lesson (see the section Copy the LTI Link for Your Lesson in the SoftChalk Cloud Guide.), log into your Blackboard account. At the top of your screen, click the Courses tab.
2. Within the Course List, click on your course to select it.
3. At the top left, select Content (see below). In case you don't see the left panel below, click the expand arrow or at the left of the screen to see the panel.

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1. Enter a name for your lesson and for the URL paste the LTI hyperlink (see below). (Notice that lti is included in the path that you pasted.)

IMPORTANT: Be sure to select This link is to a Tool Provider. Leave the Tool Provider XML field blank.

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1. Under Description, you can enter a description if you like. You can ignore the Attachments area.

IMPORTANT: We have identified a few Blackboard errors that occur with certain formatting in the description area. Please click on a link below to see the FAQ explaining the error:

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1. Scroll to the bottom and click Submit (see below).

IMPORTANT: Be sure to see the next section Set the Grading Method and Maximum Attempts.

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Set the Grading Method and Maximum Attempts

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To test out the lesson, you need to be logged into your course as a student.
IMPORTANT: Be sure to LOG OUT of your SoftCh

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alk Cloud account when you are taking your lesson as a student to test out the ScoreCenter feature. (If you are logged into your SoftChalk

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Cloud account while logged into Blackboard and taking a lesson, then the scores won't be recorded.)

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1. The SoftChalk ScoreCenter screen appears. In the Learner area, click the dropdown menu for the attempts for a specific student. Click on an attempt (see below).

IMPORTANT: As mentioned previously, be sure to LOG OUT of your Soft

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Chalk Cloud account when you are taking your lesson as a student to test out the ScoreCenter feature. (If you are logged into your SoftChalk

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Cloud account while logged into Blackboard and taking a lesson, then the scores won't be recorded.)

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1. If you need to change the Score for the Attempt, click Change Score for Attempt. Enter a new score and click Submit (see below). IMPORTANT: An attempt has to be complete before you can change the score.

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You have the option to complete all attempts for all students for a lesson. You may find that your students have neglected to complete their attempts (i.e. they have neglected to click Finish on the last page of the lesson – clicking Finish sends a completion status to the gradebook).
IMPORTANT: You may want to do this procedure after the availability of your lesson has expired. After you do this procedure, future attempts can be incomplete.
IMPORTANT: This procedure cannot be undone. (You can change individual scores or re-open individual attempts if you need to.)

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If you use essays in your lesson, you can view the essays within the ScoreCenter area (see the previous section View or Change Scores). Please note the following important information.

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If you go to the Gradebook area in Blackboard, you can see that the scores from your lessons (using the LTI Link and external tool – see the previous sections Paste the LTI Link into Blackboard and Set the Grading Method and Maximum Attempts) appear in your Blackboard Gradebook. (If you want to view or change scores for individual student attempts, see the section View or Change Scores.)
IMPORTANT: As previously mentioned, be sure to LOG OUT of your Soft

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halk Cloud account when you are taking your lesson as a student to test out the ScoreCenter feature. (If you are logged into your SoftCha

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Cloud account while logged into Blackboard and taking a lesson, then the scores won't be recorded.)

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1. View your students' results (see below). IMPORTANT: If you want to change the grade or change your grading method (most recent score, first score, etc.), please see the section Set the Grading Method and Maximum Number of Attempts.

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Print or Email Scores

We recommend the use of the ScoreCenter feature mentioned previously (see the section ScoreCenter Overview) to collect scores but if you want to have students print certificates or email you their scores, please see the basic steps below:

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This section explains how to have your students access "practice" SoftChalk lessons. In other words, you don't plan to collect student scores from these lessons. [You can have items that have points assigned to them within your lesson, but if you want to collect the scores, see the section Scored Lessons (Cloud Users).]

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   Save your SoftChalk lesson to your SoftChalk Cloud account. See the section Save a Lesson or Course to the Cloud in the SoftChalk

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   Cloud Guide.
2. Copy the Hyperlink (NOT the LTI Link) for your lesson. See the section Copy the Hyperlink for Your Lesson in the SoftChalk Clou

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   d Guide.
3. Log into your Blackboard account.
4. At the top of your screen, click the Courses tab.
5. Within the Course List, click on your course to select it.
6. At the top left, select Content (see below). In case you don't see the left panel below, click the expand arrow or at the left of the screen to see the panel.

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If you used the LTI Link or Hyperlink to your SoftChalk Cloud lesson, then you can easily edit your lesson within your SoftChalk Cloud account. (You don't have to paste in a new LTI Link or Hyperlink; simply edit your current lesson in SoftChalk Cloud and the LTI Link or Hyperlink for this lesson will still work.)
IMPORTANT: If you edit a lesson that has scored items and you have pasted an LTI Link for this lesson into Blackboard, we recommend the scoring for your lesson remain the same if students have started taking this lesson.

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You can collaborate with other instructors to create your SoftChalk lessons using a SoftChalk Cloud account (or a trial SoftChalk Cloud account). Within SoftChalk Create, you can publish your lesson to your SoftChalk Cloud account. Another instructor [also using SoftChalk Create and a SoftChalk Cloud account (or a trial SoftChalk Cloud account)] can access and edit the lesson you published.
IMPORTANT: Simultaneous work in the same lesson is not supported. In other words, one person should be working on the lesson at a time. (If two or more people are making changes to the same lesson at the same time and saving the lesson to the Cloud, they may end up overwriting each other's changes.)
For more details, see the section Collaborate with Other Instructors on SoftChalk Lessons in the SoftChalk Cloud

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Guide.

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(The following instructions assume you already have a forum set up under the Discussion Board.)

1. IMPORTANT: Log into your Blackboard account as a student (rather than as the instructor).
2. At the top of your screen, click the Courses tab.
3. Within the Course List, click on your course to select it.
4. On the left sidebar, select Tools.

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1. Within the Tools area, select Discussion Board (see below).

1. Right-click on the name of your forum and choose Copy Link Location (Firefox) or Copy shortcut (Internet Explorer) (see below).

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1. Start SoftChalk and open your lesson.
2. Select some text in your lesson.
3. Choose Insert/Hyperlink.
4. In the URL or Selected file area, use Ctrl+V to paste the link (or right-click and choose Paste.)
5. Click OK.
6. Save your lesson.

IMPORTANT: The link will only work when you're in Blackboard (not if you preview your lesson on your local computer). If you get an Access Denied Error, then you may have neglected to log in as a student. See step #1 above.

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The steps below are for your Blackboard administrator to enable the LTI/ScoreCenter feature for your Blackboard server. For details on the LTI/ScoreCenter feature, see the section Scored Lessons (Cloud Users).
(If you already have a SoftChalk Publish with ScoreCenter building block installed in your Blackboard server, you can still configure your system to use the LTI feature as well. You may have some instructors who use the File/Save to LMS (or File/Publish Lesson to Blackboard) feature within SoftChalk while other instructors update their content once in SoftChalk Cloud and link to it in many places. The latter instructors may want to use the LTI feature for grading.)
As a Blackboard administrator to use the ScoreCenter feature, you need to register with SoftChalk and configure the ScoreCenter for your system.
If you have a test server that is a different physical server from your production server, you'll need to register each server separately.

1. If you have already registered with SoftChalk for a consumer key and secret for your SoftChalk Publish with ScoreCenter building block, you may use the same key and secret for your LTI configuration and skip step 2 below.
2. If you have not registered with SoftChalk for a consumer key and secret (or you cannot find your previous key and secret), please contact help@softchalk.com and provide the following information to register with SoftChalk and receive authentication credentials (i.e. an OAuth Consumer Key and an OAuth Consumer Secret).If you have a test server and a production server, you may send us two LMS URLs and we will register both of them. (You will receive a separate email with a unique key and secret for each registered URL.)
   1. Your institution name
   2. LMS URL
   3. First Name (optional) of the person registering with us
   4. Last Name (optional) of the person registering with us
   5. Email for this registration (the email can be a specific person's email or a generic email such as lmsadmin@myinstitution.edu)
3. It is okay to use a different key and secret for your LTI configuration from your SoftChalk Publish with ScoreCenter building block. IMPORTANT: Please keep the SAME key and secret once you have started collecting scores for your LTI configuration or SoftChalk Publish with ScoreCenter building block.
4. After registering, you will receive an email from SoftChalk with information to enter into your Blackboard system (see the steps below).
5. Log into Blackboard. Click System Admin tab. Under the Building Blocks area, click Building Blocks.
6. Click LTI Tool Providers.
7. Click Register Provider Domain (see below).

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1. For Feature Availability, make the following selections including Allow configured tool providers to post grade (see below).

1. Click Submit (see below). IMPORTANT: Be sure to see the next steps on setting the LTI tool to Always On.

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1. Test out the LTI integration by uploading a lesson and taking it as a student. See the section Scored Lessons.

IMPORTANT: If you get the error message Error Submitting to ScoreCenter and your test server is NOT available to the public, then you probably have a firewall issue. Please see our FAQ I think my institution has a firewall that is preventing me from saving content to SoftChalk Cloud. What should I do?
IMPORTANT: If multiple students will be using the same computer, please ask students to close their browser before logging into Blackboard. Otherwise, a score may be recorded to the wrong student. Make sure if you have the Firefox browser that you have set the cookies to be deleted when existing the browser (In Firefox, choose Tools/Options/Privacy tab/. For the drop-down menu Keep until: select I close Firefox.)

1. If individual students report that they do not see the Finish button at the end of their lesson or the Finish button is disabled, see the Troubleshooting section of the Student Guide to SoftChalk

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   Lessons. Test an LTI Link to see that grades go into the Blackboard gradebook by following the steps in the section Scored Lessons (Cloud Users). IMPORTANT: As previously mentioned, be sure to LOG OUT of your SoftCha

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   lk Cloud account when you are taking your lesson as a student to test out the ScoreCenter feature. (If you are logged into your SoftCh

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   alk Cloud account while logged into Blackboard and taking a lesson, then the scores won't be recorded.)
2. If you plan to copy courses that have LTI links, be sure to see the section In Blackboard: LTI Links and Course Copy.

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