Ares is designed to work smoothly with the Blackboard Course Management System, allowing library staff, course instructors and students quick and easy access to course reserves information. By linking Blackboard with Ares, library staff, instructors and their designated proxies can connect with Ares and add courses and their related course reserves items directly from within Blackboard. Students, in turn, can access their courses and the course reserves requirements from within Blackboard. The Blackboard Course Reserves tool is linked to the Ares web interface, so instructors and students using Blackboard for course management see the same web pages they see when accessing Ares course reserves outside of Blackboard.
Installation
Install the Ares Building Block in Blackboard as you would any other Blackboard building block. Contact Atlas Systems at service@atlas-sys.com or at 757-467-7872 or (800) 567-7401 for questions and support for the Ares Building Block.
Download the Ares Blackboard Building Block at Ares Downloads.
Blackboard Authentication
When the Blackboard building block is installed on Ares, both authentication and course creation is turned over to Blackboard. Courses are generally set up by the staff administrator before the start of each semester, freeing instructors from this task. Instructors and students log in using their Blackboard username and password and access their Ares course reserves pages directly from within the Blackboard interface.
Configuring Ares Course Reserves in Blackboard
There are several basic course reserves settings that must be configured in the System Admin section of Blackboard. These configurations include setting the Web Login and Web Service URLs and customizing the Blackboard Ares web pages, specifically the Blackboard settings that instructors and students will use to link to their courses and course reserves items in Ares. To access the Ares Course Reserves Configuration form:
- Click the System Admin tab.
- Under the Building Blocks section choose Building Blocks.
- Click Installed Tools and you will see Ares Course Reserves listed.
- Click the arrow next to the title, then click Settings.
- The Ares Course Reserves Configuration view opens.
- Configure the Ares Server Information and the Blackboard Ares Web Page Customizations as outlined below.
- Click Submit to save your configurations.
Ares Server Information
| Web Login URL |
The URL to authenticate the Blackboard web login with the Ares.dll. Example: http://yourserver.edu/ares/ares.dll. |
|---|---|
| Web Service URL |
The URL to link the Blackboard web interface with the Ares Web Service Example: http://yourserver.edu/ares/webservice/areswebservice.asmx |
| Verbose Errors (for Debugging) |
This feature should be set to No Logging, as this is the only option that will work with the Class Link option that you must select for Instructor Display Options and Student Display Options in the Blackboard Ares Web Page Customizations section. |
If you are using an SSL Certificate you must use DNS in the above URLs, for example, https://123.123.123.123. The ares.dll IP address will not work.
Blackboard Ares Web Page Customizations
| Instructor Display Options |
Class Link: Choosing this option conveniently sets the landing Be sure to select the Class Link option for Instructor Display |
|---|---|
| Student Display Options |
Class Link: Choosing this option conveniently sets the landing Be sure to select the Class Link option for Instructor Display |
| Instructor Page Header |
The header here is for the text that displays when the Instructor |
| Instructor Add Items Link |
The text entered here displays on the link instructors would click |
| Student Page Header |
The header here is for the text that displays when the Student |
| Student View Course Link |
The text entered here displays on the link students would click |
| Ares Course Semester |
Blackboard Course Dates/Current Ares Semester: Blackboard Instructor Chooses Semester: This option lets the instructor |
Blackboard and the Web Service Agent
When you click Submit to set the configuration settings under System Admin, Blackboard will announce on the next screen that it has connected to the Ares Web Service successfully and will tell you what Agent was used to connecting.
The Agent information needs to be entered in the WebServiceAgents table in the Ares Customization Manager.
By default, the Ares installer/updater will add Axis/1.4.
