BLACKBOARD TIPS FOR FACULTY

  1. Blackboard Sign-up
  2. Posting a Syllabus
  3. Posting Announcements
  4. Customizing your Menu
  5. Posting Grades/Assignments
  6. Creating Discussion Boards

Step One: Blackboard Sign-Up

Have you been meaning to look into using Blackboard as a supplement to your class?

Find the Blackboard Request Form on the Information Technology page and submit it so that we can create the course shell for you. After you receive an email from us, you are on your way. You can do everything from your office computer or even when you’re at home.

Read the following pages to get started!

Here’s the Blackboard Request Form link so that you can fill it out when you’re done reading.

Step Two: Posting Your Syllabus

Students find it convenient to have your handouts posted in Blackboard. You can post your syllabus in your course using this procedure. And since you post all documents in the same way, you can use this procedure to post any other handout or assignment you’d like.

  1. Log on to Blackboard and access your course:
  • Type: http://blackboard.caldwell.edu into your browser or click on the link. Make this screen a favorite so you can easily find it again.
  • Click the Login button.
  • On the next screen, type your user id and password. If this is the first time you logged on to Blackboard your user ID is your network id. Generally it is either your first initial + lastname@caldwell.edu. Enter your password in the password field. Click Login.
  • The next screen is the MY Bb@Caldwell tab of Blackboard and lists the name of the courses you are teaching. Click the name of your course. You will go to the opening page of the course which will look roughly like this:

  1. Go to the Control Panel in the course.

The Control Panel is where you do all adding, removing and editing of material. It’s command central for Instructors. Students do not have a Control Panel.

To get to the Control Panel click on the text Control Panel which displays at the bottom of the menu picks on the left margin of your course. It is circled in red on the graphic above.

Your Control Panel will look like this:

  1. Post Your Syllabus.

In the Control Panel, each menu item on Blackboard’s main page has a corresponding link. You can put your syllabus in any folder. Course Documents or Course Information seem to be the most logical.

Introduction
Having a syllabus available online is a real convenience to students and faculty alike. Instructors often make the syllabus available under the Course Information menu button. That is where we will place it in the example below.

Directions
From the Course Tools menu in the Control Panel:

  • Click on Course Information in the Content Areas sub-menu.
  • Click Add Item.
  • On the Add Content screen, choose Syllabus from the drop down menu of standard names

  • In the text field, type any note that you want to appear under the link to the syllabus. For example: Read this carefully. You may want to print a paper copy of the syllabus.
  • In the Content Attachments section of the screen, click the Browse button to search for the file that contains your syllabus. When you find it, click the files name and click the Open button.
  • If you want the name of the link to be something other than the name of your file, type that name into the Name of Link to File field.
  • To make the syllabus immediately available, leave the rest of the fields as they are. To delay when the syllabus will be available, click Display After and choose a date.
  • Click Submit.

Step Three: Post an Announcement

Some Ideas for Using Announcements in a Face to Face Class

  • Reminder of upcoming quiz or test
  • Reminder of paper deadline
  • Reminder to check grades in Blackboard, if you enter them there.
  • Word of the day/week defined
  • Link to website of the day/week. A site that expands on one aspect of what you are learning that week.
  • Offer a paragraph or two summary on a topic that the class was discussing when time ran out

Announcements display on the first page of a Blackboard course, right under the banner, if there is one. Here is an example:

Announcements also display in a separate column on the My Bb@Caldwell screen when you first log in:

Adding an announcement is a pretty straightforward procedure. Like other things it is added from the Control Panel.

Introduction
When you add something new to your course or wish to draw students attention to something you add an announcement. Announcements are displayed on the My Bb@Caldwell screen and on the screen you see when you enter the course.

How Announcements Work
There are 4 tabs at the top of the announcements:

  • View Today
  • View Last 7 Days (the default)
  • View Last 30 Days
  • View All.

When you click a tab, announcements which fit into that category are displayed. After the announcement has been up 7 days it moves to the View Last 30 Days listing. Those announcements you check as always display do not move but remain on the Last 7 Day list indefinitely.

Directions
From the Course Tools menu in the Control Panel:

  • Click on Announcements.
  • Click Add Announcement.
  • Type a subject and your message.
  • If you wish this announcement to display permanently on the first screen click Yes next to: Always show this announcement on the course's main page.
  • To have the announcement display immediately, leave all the date fields as they are.
  • To include a link to a place within the course click the Browse button next to Link Location. In the map that appears, click the button next to the screen that you want the link to go to. Click Submit.
  • Click Submit on the Add Announcement screen.
Tidbits for those who want to know more:

Putting up one announcement is a piece of cake. The tricky part about announcements is getting them to display in the correct order. In the Content areas of Blackboard there is a drop down box where you can specify the order of items easily:

However, there is no such feature in Announcements. Announcements are displayed using the following criteria:

  • All “permanent” announcements are displayed first. Permanent announcements stay on the first Announcements tab (called View Last 7 Days) forever. To make an announcement Permanent click Yes after Always show this announcement on the course's main page.
  • All other Announcements are displayed in the order posted with the most recent Announcements appearing first. You can manipulate where an announcement shows up in the list by changing the Display Date shown when you edit the announcement.

Another tricky thing about announcements is that they move from tab to tab, from the last 7 days which is the default to the last 30 days to View All based on the amount of time between today and when you entered the announcement.

Even if you didn’t ask for the announcement to be Permanent, it doesn’t go away. It just fades to the background. You will forget about it. (Trust me on this. I have done it many times.) The result is that if you use the same course template in building a course the second time you may have announcements appear that are a year old!

Solutions:

  1. Fix the date on the Modify Announcement screen so that the announcement won’t display for a year (or two).

or

  1. Remove old announcements from Blackboard. Keep them in a file on your computer until needed.

Step Four: Customize Your Menus

Do you think it’s redundant and confusing to have a Course Information menu tab and a Course Documents menu tab? Would you like a menu option specialized to YOUR needs like Due This Week or Equations You Need to Know or Rules for Commas? It’s easy to change the name of existing menus and add new menus.

Here is an example of a “Due This Week” menu choice and the item that appears when you click it.

Why edit menu buttons?

The buttons on your menu should reflect the structure of your course and work for you. You can change the name of existing menu options, add menu options for new areas and hide them if you do not want to use those functions.

Consider adding a menu option like Due This Week that contains a list of deliverables for the week. You could also add a menu option/folder for a specific part of your course, for example, Recent Research or Leaders in Psychology or Website of the Week.

Change the name of a Menu Option

  • From the Control Panel, go to Manage Course Menu on the Course Options menu.
  • Click Modify next to the menu option whose name you want to change
  • Type a new name for the menu in the box under the drop down menu and click Submit..

Add a New Menu Option

  • From the Control Panel, go to Manage Course Menu on the Course Options menu.
  • Add a Content Area, Tool Area, Course Link or External Link menu button by clicking on the appropriate icon at the top of the screen.
  • Give the button a name by choosing one from the drop down list or typing your own.
  • Click Submit.

Hide a Menu Option

When you have no content that fits under one of the default buttons, hide it from sight. When students click on a button and get an "Empty Folder" message it looks like the course is uncared for.

Warning: If you delete a button it is gone forever. There is no way of getting it back. Therefore, if you don’t want a menu option, it is better to make it invisible than to delete it.

To hide a menu button:
  • From the Control Panel, go to Manage Course Menu on the Course Options menu.
  • Click Modify next to the menu option.
  • Click the checkmark next to Make available for Student/Participant users So that the box is not checked.
  • Click Submit.

Extra Added Attraction: Change colors and look of your menus.

You can set up your course design so that it uses either Text links or buttons on the left side of the screen:

The buttons take up more space but make it more obvious that they are links to folder of information.

If you choose Text menus, you can also choose the color of the background and text:

If you choose buttons you can choose from a wide variety of colors and patterns.

Whatever you choose, make sure the text is still legible.

I change the background or the buttons each time I teach the same course. It helps remind me what course I am in. I imagine that is also be a help to students.

Here’s where to make these changes:

  • On the Control Panel, click Settings in the Course Options Menu section.
  • On the Settings menu, click Course Design.
  • On the Course Design menu, click Course Design.
  • When you click Buttons or Text the options below that change.

  • To see many designs at once, choose a type from the drop down menu and click Gallery of Buttons.

  • Choose your button or text color and click Submit. You can combine the text colors with a banner to create a unique look for your course: (The black banner on top is not editable.)

Step Five: Post Grades

Posting grades in Blackboard is a great way to keep students informed about how they are doing in the course. It’s not hard to do. The Gradebook supplied by Blackboard is for your reference only; it will not automatically post grades to the Course Registration (Web Module) Module.

Introduction
Consider posting grades for class work and assignments for your classroom course in Blackboard. That way, students will know exactly where they stand for all work. Posting grades is a two step process:

1. Set up the Assignment in the Gradebook.
2. Enter the grades.
(See the Note below for tests developed and implemented in Blackboard.)

Set Up Assignments in Blackboard

  1. From the Control Panel, click Gradebook in the Assessment Panel

  1. Click Add Item
  2. Type the name of the item in the Item Name field, for example, Essay #1.
  3. Assign the maximum number of points in the Points Possible field.
  4. Choose from the drop down menu whether to display the grade as a letter, a percentage, a number score or text. Check Yes in both “Make item visible to students” and “Include item in gradebook score calculation.”
  5. Click Submit.

Enter Grade for Assignments

To put all grades for one assignment in at the same time:

  1. In the Control Panel, click Gradebook
  2. On the View Spreadsheet page, click the name of the assignment, for example, Essay #1

  3. Click Item Grade List
  4. Type the grade for each student in the box labeled “Grade” next to their name. This grade will be immediately available to students

To insert just one grade for one assignment, click the hyphen in the box at the intersection of the student name and the name of the assignment. Then type the score and click Submit.

Note: Tests created within Blackboard are automatically entered into the gradebook when deployed. Grades for tests are entered automatically as soon as the student completes the test

The Gradebook in Blackboard is not as sophisticated as an Excel spreadsheet. It is difficult, if not impossible, to get it to do things like average two test scores or drop the lowest test score from a series. Think of it more as a place to display discrete grades than as a place to do calculations.

Extra Added Attraction: Assignments in Blackboard

If you liked the Gradebook, you’ll love ASSIGNMENTS

Assignments are activities that are connected to the Gradebook. It is a specific type of item that includes some communication options built right into it. You add an assignment by choosing it from the dropdown menu on the Add menu option bar.

An Assignment is a cross between an text item and a test. You can name the assignment and add points. You can describe the assignment in the Instructions box or attach a document describing it.

When you have completed the description of the assignment it looks like this:

Students complete the assignment by clicking on the View/Complete link and either entering information or attaching a file. When they click Submit, their assignment goes directly to your Gradebook.

In your Gradebook, the assignment has been entered automatically and the student’s response looks like this:

Click the exclamation point to see, correct and grade the student’s response.

You can assign a grade and return the paper with comments, all from within the Gradebook.

What’s the big deal? You can already collect and send back assignment using the Digital Drop Box. Yes, you can, but there are some advantages to the Assignment item type.

With Assignments:

  • the student’s work stays attached to the student’s name and her grade in the gradebook.
  • You don’t have to sort out the papers for one assignment from the Digital Drop box.
  • You don’t have to set up the assignment in the gradebook. It’s done for you as you create the assignment.

Step Six: Create Discussion Board Forums

Introduction
The Blackboard discussion board allows for threaded discussions to take place over a period of time (asynchronously.) The instructor can split the board into Forums, or separate discussions on different topics. Within each forum users may post threads which are the conversations themselves.

More forums are better than less forums. Do not try to pack too many questions or activities into one forum.

Adding a Forum
  1. Click on the Control Panel button
  2. Select Discussion Board
  3. Click on the Add Forum button
  4. Enter title for forum This should quickly convey what topic the forum will be used to discuss.
  5. Enter a description for the forum. Explain how the forum should be used, how regularly you yourself will check it, what you want students to do in the forum. Be specific.
  6. Choose desired options.

Allow anonymous posts

Not Recommended Ticking this box will allow your students to choose to post anonymously if they wish
Allow author to edit message after posting

Recommended This allows the author of a message to go back and edit it later
Allow author to remove own messages

Not Recommended This allows the author to remove his or her message late. It is not recommended because if a post is removed the flow of the thread will be disturbed. If a user deletes her message any messages which were in reply to the deleted message will also be deleted.
Allow file attachments

Recommended Setting this option allows students to add attachments to their messages.
Allow new threads

Recommended Turning on this setting allows students to start new threads (i.e. start new topics of conversation. If this option is not checked your students will only be able to reply to threads that you create.

7. Click on the Submit button.

Adding a Thread

The instructor may want to add a thread, or you may have adequately described the interaction you are looking for in the forum description. One disadvantage of adding a thread is that student responses are indented one further amount when they begin by responding to a thread.

  • Click on the title of the forum
  • Click on the Add New Thread button
  • Enter a title for the thread
  • Type a message
  • Click the Submit button