Blackboard Learn 9.1 SP 13 There s More To Learn. New Features and the Basics Faculty Guide

Transcription

1 Blackboard Learn 9.1 SP 13 There s More To Learn New Features and the Basics

2 Blackboard 9.1 Basics Contents Logging In 5 Getting Started 5 Course Creation 5 Course Enrollment 5 Accessing Courses 5 Modifying the My Courses Module 5 Course Shell 6 Introductory Splash Screen 6 NEW Global Navigation Menu 7 My Bb Tools 7 My Bb Profile 8 My Bb People 9 My Bb Posts 9 My Bb Updates 10 Text to Text to Voice Notifications 11 New Content Editor 11 Assessment Item Analysis 12 Video Everywhere 14 Calendar Redesigned 15 Discussion Board Re-Designed 17 Enhanced: Fill - in - the - Blank Questions 18 Test Access Log 19 Inline Assignment Grading 20 Retention Center 20 Page 2

3 Blackboard 9.1 Basics Contents Test Availability Exceptions & Exporting Test Questions 21 Show Test Results and Feedback to Students 21 Achievements Tool 22 Align Rubric Row Criteria to Goals 25 Manage Course Menu 26 Control Panel 26 Announcements 27 Add a New Announcement 27 Instructor Information/Office Hours 27 Adding Course Content 27 Assignments & Assessments 28 Assignments 28 Download Student Assignment Submissions & Clear Attempt 29 Assessments 30 Add Test 30 Edit Test Options 30 Grading Student Submissions 31 Clear Student Assignment Attempt 31 Discussion Board 31 The Grade Center 32 Create a Grade Center Column 32 Manually Enter a Grade 33 Grade Center Icons 33 Page 3

4 Blackboard 9.1 Basics Contents Send 33 Send from Control Panel 33 Send from Grade Center 33 Course Availability 34 Make Your Course Available 34 Course Style Settings 34 Customize the Color and Style of Course Menu 34 Course Copy 35 Export & Import 35 Exporting Your Course 35 Import Course Package to a New Course 35 Bb Collaborate Session Blackboard Assistance Contact Information Functional Assistance - The Office of Instructional Design & Delivery ACIT@frostburg.edu Anita McGregor - Administrative Assistant at: Rita Thomas - Instructional Technologist at: Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Technical Assistance - FSU Help Desk helpdesk@frostburg.edu Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Page 4

5 Blackboard 9.1 SP 13 - Basics This guide will give you instruction on the basic features of Blackboard 9.1 and the NEW features of Service Pack (SP) 13. For more information on advanced features, please visit FSU s Blackboard support site at Logging In To login to Blackboard go to Your login credentials are the same as your FSU /paws information. If you do not know this information, please contact the University's Help Desk at or helpdesk@frostburg.edu Getting Started Course Creation - All courses that are officially created in PAWS will automatically have a Blackboard course component created to correspond with them (please note - each section of each course will have its own Blackboard course component). Course Enrollment - When an instructor is assigned to a specific course or a student enrolls for that course, those enrollments are automatically reflected in Blackboard. You do not need to request student enrollments. The only exception would be if you would like to request a teaching assistant or an additional instructor to be given access to your course. In this circumstance, the Office of Academic Computing & Instructional Technologies (ACIT) at ACIT@frostburg.edu and the request will be processed for you. Accessing Courses - Once you are logged into Blackboard, under the tab Blackboard@FSU you will see the My Courses panel. Courses that you are either teaching or enrolled in will be listed in this panel. Click on the course name to enter the course. Modifying the My Courses Panel - Courses appear within the My Courses Panel. After some time has passed, the courses listed in your My Courses panel may be overwhelming. You can edit which courses are listed in the panel by following these steps: 1. From the My Courses panel, hover over My Courses and click the cog icon located in the upper right corner. 2. Uncheck the courses you do not wish to be displayed and Click Submit. Page 5

6 Course Shell Each Blackboard course shell is the same by default. The Blackboard environment includes: A. Open Quick Links E. Add Content or Tool Links B. Task-Based Navigation - allows you to jump from one course to another allowing you to perform the same task across multiple courses. C. Global Navigation Menu - one-click entry access to My Blackboard and Log out button. D. Menu Area (Tabs) F. Course Menu - modify as you like G. Control Panel H. Course Theme - Select from drop-down menu I. Edit Mode Button - Leaving Edit Mode On allows you to edit content within the window. A B E H I c D F This image is an example of a course shell. G Introduction- Splash Screen The first time you log onto the new version of Blackboard 9.1 SP 13, a splash screen appears. The screen welcomes you to the new version and asks if you would like to see the new features that were added. Page 6

7 My Blackboard: It consolidates critical information from all of your Courses and Organizations. New Global Navigation Menu: Always present in the top right corner, the new navigation menu is the entry point to My Blackboard. Also, it provides one-click access to your Courses, Organizations, Settings, and Help. Click on the drop down arrow to the right of your name in the upper right corner. Notifications - the numbers in red tell you if there s something that s new or needs your attention. The five new tools that make up My Blackboard are: Profile, Posts, Updates, My Grades, and People. My Blackboard Tools Profile - Enhanced Cloud Profile. Bb Home - gives you an overview of the items that are due & have been recently graded. Students - Move your cursor over View to reveal your grade. Posts - This page displays the latest posts in the courses and organizations you are enrolled in and follow. Updates - Review a list of notifications alerting you to important events and information. For example: you can see when an assignment has been graded. My Grades - View your grades for each assignment, test, or activity in all of your courses. Sort the grades by date or course. Retention Center - is an instructor-only tool that enables you to give focused attention to students who need it. My Calendar - Review everything you have due and be reminded of when you need to complete it. People - Find and interact with peers, classmates and instructors. Messages - Message users outside of the course environment. Spaces - Work and communicate collaboratively with others in your academic network. Page 7

8 My Blackboard: Profile & Profile Card Access Your Profile Click the arrow next to your name in the page header to access the global navigation menu. Click the empty profile image or your existing image to access your profile. You can upload a profile image that is used to represent you throughout the system and within the greater Blackboard academic network. Your personal image appears in the page header, people tool, blogs, journals, discussions, wikis, and roster. Your profile avatar also appears in the notifications modules What's New, Needs Attention, and To Do which may appear on the My Institution tab or on a course's home page. The image you upload to your profile page overwrites any other avatar images you have with your user account. Setting Up Your Profile Add a profile avatar - you can upload an image of yourself to your profile or change your existing profile image. Images must be les than 5 megabytes in size and at least 50 x 50 pixels in dimension. Acceptable file formats include GIF, PNG, JPG, and JPEG. Follow the steps on the page you see: 1. Click the arrow next to your name in the page header to access the global navigation menu. 2. Click the empty profile image or your existing images to access your profile. 3. On the profiles page, click the Settings & Privacy link. 4. The Settings & Privacy section appears in the right panel. Click Change Picture to upload an image from your computer. 5. Click Save. Find, View, and Follow Other Users You can find and interact with anyone with a user profile. From your course - visit your class roster and class contributions to blogs, journals, discussions, and wikis. From the people page in My Blackboard and from the Spaces page in My Blackboard. The preview will include your name, avatar, institution name, graduation date and top eight tiles. Click View Profile to see the full profile and interact with the owner. You can click the flag icon to report inappropriate content in the profile. Page 8

9 Learn Profiles are now connected to profiles on MyEdu - a site dedicated to helping students achieve their goals and position them for career success. This is a robust educational profile. Emphasis on the students outcomes and job-ready skills have become a prime metric in gauging success. Follow Other Users You can follow or message users from their profile cards. If you select the Follow button on users profiles, their posts and comments from their profiles are aggregated on your posts page in My Blackboard. The People page in My Blackboard provides access to requests to follow you, who is currently following you, and who you are following. My Blackboard: Peoples Tool The People tool enables you to discover others in your academic network. You can see who is in each of your Courses and Organizations, as well as, everyone across your entire school that has made their profile visible school - wide. 1. Click on the Open Global Navigation Menu 2. Click on the Peoples Tool (Smiley face icon) My Blackboard: Posts Tool 3. The Edit My Blackboard Profile page populates Each new post is shown on the right with a preview of the content, location and author. Click the post to expand the content on the left. Click Reply or Quote to continue the conversation. 1. Click on the Open Global Navigation Menu 2. Click on the Posts Tool (Postcard icon) The Posts tool in My Blackboard displays the latest posts in the courses and organizations you are enrolled in and follow. The Posts tool consolidates posts from all of your courses and organizations: Posts from Discussion Boards Journals Wikis Blogs Page 9

10 My Blackboard: Posts Continued: Journal, Wiki, and Blog posts, you can comment right from within the Posts interface or you can click to see the full context of the post in the course environment. Discussion Board posts, you can click right into the interface in the course environment where you can type your reply. So it s simple to both stay up -to -date and involved in the conversation. My Blackboard: Updates Tool Updates Tool - The updates tool consolidates all of your Notifications from across all your Courses and Organizations. Notifications remain in My Blackboard for a month. 1. Click on the Open Global Navigation Menu 2. Click on the Updates Tool (Clock icon) When an assignment or assessment is due When assignments and assessments need grading Notification Preferences - allows you to choose exactly what you want to show up in this tool. Click on the cog in the upper right corner. The filters are: Look at all notifications at once The tool updates you on: Course Announcements When new content or assignments are added to a course Look at only those notifications from one particular Course or Organization All Course Announcements Page 10

11 Text and Text - to -Voice Notifications Enhancement for all users Now, you can opt in to receive automated course notifications and system wide announcements through texts and/or text-to-voice calls. Stay updated anytime and/or anywhere from your mobile device. Click on Open Global Navigation Menu, Scroll down to Settings and Click on Settings, Click on Edit Notification Settings. Choose a course on the left located under Edit Individual Course settings or Courses I am teaching located on the right side & look for Bulk Edit Notification Settings. Scroll down to 3. Settings. The middle column is for mobile devices. New Content Editor Enhancement for all users The new and improved Content Editor enables simple content creation through an easy to use interface. The editor reads, writes and renders modern HTML. Content you created in Microsoft Word will copy with a degree of exactness. Easily add rich content, such as, Mashups Expand the Content Editor for full-frame editing Resize images Find/replace Simple icons in the toolbar for everyday use New Math Editor in Bb Learn that simplifies creation and delivery of equations by enabling editing directly from the Content Editor. The new math editor supports saving and copy/paste of equations using mathml. Page 11

12 New Content Editor Continued Two Views of the Content Editor - Simple Mode and Advanced Mode. Change the view in the upperright corner of the content editor. Simple Mode - The simple mode contains a minimal set of the most used text formatting functions. Click the show more function - represented by two down pointing arrows - to access more editor functions. Advanced Mode - The advanced mode includes every available formatting and object attachment function. Click the show less function - represented by two up pointing arrows to view only one row of functions. Expanding content editor window; Find/Replace; New Math Editor; and Word Count are new features. Assessment Item Analysis Assessment Item Analysis provides statistics on overall test performance and individual test questions. You can use this information to improve questions for future test administrations or to adjust credit on current attempts. There are 3 locations to access item analysis within the assessment workflow. It is available in the contextual menu for a: Test deployed in a content area Deployed test listed on the Tests page Grade Center column Page 12

13 Assessment Item Analysis Continued At-a-glance summary - provides insight into student performance on that assessment and how the question items performed. From this summary page, when you scroll down, you can see a list of questions sorted in order of discrimination - with the most ineffective listed on top. A simple red dot next to a question tells you if the question requires review. How to Run an Item Analysis on a Test You can run it on tests that include single or multiple attempts, question sets, random blocks, autograded question types, and questions that need manual grading. For tests with manually graded questions that have not yet been assigned scores, statistics are generated only for the scored questions. After you manually grade questions, run the item analysis again. Statistics for the manually graded questions are generated and the test summary statistics are updated. 1. Go to one of the following locations to access item analysis: A test deployed in a content area. A deployed test listed on the Tests page. A Grade Center column for a test. 2. Access the test s contextual menu 3. Select Item Analysis 4. In the Select Test drop-down list, select a test. Only deployed tests are listed. 5. Click Run. 6. View the item analysis by clicking the new report's link under the Available Analysis heading or by clicking View Analysis in the status receipt at the top of the page. The new Item Analysis feature helps you easily refine your tests by evaluating the quality and validity of each question. Ineffective questions can be easily identified and then you can quickly correct them with the Automatic Regrade feature. In the Grade Center, click on the column heading of a test, select Item Analysis. Select Test and click on the Run button. The green status bar appears. Click on View Analysis. Page 13

14 After examining the question, you can see whether it was poor wording, vague answer choices or some other factor. If you decide to change or update that question, you can immediately take action right from this page by clicking the Edit Test button located in the upper right corner of the summary page. You will be taken directly to the assessment where you can use the automatic regrading feature to either update or delete the question and regrade it - even if students have already completed the assessment. Video Everywhere Video Everywhere is a feature of the content editor. The icon is located as the first item on the third row. The feature provides the ability for instructors and students to: Record a video on the fly using a webcam and have it seamlessly embedded in course materials, interactions, and feedback through the content editor. Reuse previously recorded videos by choosing from one s own library of videos on YouTube. Log into your YouTube account and click on Dashboard to see your recorded video(s). Click on the Record from Webcam button. Click on the Sign in to YouTube button & sign in. Click on the Grant Access button. Click on Record from Webcam button. Click the Start Recording button & Click OK. Playback your video and when satisfied, click on the Upload button. Page 14

15 Calendar Redesigned The Calendar in Blackboard Learn has been significantly enhanced: When accessed from My Blackboard or the Tools menu on the tab, the calendar displays a consolidated view of all institution, course, organization, and personal calendar events for a user. Calendar events are color coded by course. How to Access the Calendar 1. On the course menu, click Tools. 2. On the Tools page, select Calendar. OR 1. On the Blackboard@FSU tab, select Calendar in the Tools panel. OR 1. From the global navigation menu, select Calendar. 2. How to Create an Event 1. On the calendar, click the plus (+) to create a new event. You can also click inside a date to create an event. 2. Type the New Event Name. Select a Calendar to associate the event to, such as your personal calendar. Only instructors and administrators can add events to the course and institution calendars. 3. Select the Start and End times. 4. Type the Event Description. There is a 4,000-character limit for event descriptions. Click Save. How to Edit or Delete an Event On the Calendar, navigate to the date of the event in the main view. From the event you can: Click the event to edit or delete it. Drag an event to another date in the main view to change the date of the event. The time of the event and calendar it is associated with remain the same. See the picture on the top of the next page. Page 15

16 Drag an event from the main view to another date on the smaller monthly view to change the date. Course Items With Due Dates: When you create items with due dates, such as tests or assignments, the calendar event automatically appears on the course calendar for that day. For calendar events associated to content items, all adaptive release and availability rules are handled, ensuring that the release of an item is in synch with the calendar. How to Add a Calendar Link to the Course Menu If you want students to access the course calendar from your course, you can add a link to the course menu for one-click access to the tool. You can also customize the name of the link. 1. Change Edit Mode to ON and point to the plus sign above the course menu. The Add Menu Item drop -down list appears. 2. Select Tool Link. 3. Type a Name for the link. 4. From the Type drop-down list, select Calendar. 5. Select the Available to Users check box. 6. Click Submit. Page 16

17 Discussion Board Redesigned The Thread Detail page is thoroughly redesigned, yet, maintains all of its existing functions. Highlights include: All posts on one page - all of the posts in a thread are now visible at the same time on one page. Role highlighting - posts made by forum managers and moderators now contain the user s course role and forum role. Inline replies - when replying to a post, the content editor window appears on the same page, in the context of the discussion. Post First Setting - instructors can use a new forum setting to require students to post to a forum before they can see other students posts. Page 17

18 Discussion Board Redesigned Continued The Thread Detail Page maintains all of its existing functions. All of a thread s posts are now visible at the same time on one page. Larger avatars help you easily identify the author. A. Expand All and Collapse All manage the visibility of posts on the page. All of the batch actions are still available. B. Functions appear when you point to the page - point your mouse anywhere on the Thread Detail page, and action bar functions such as Search and Refresh appear at the top. When you point to a post, the Reply, Quote, and Expand or Collapse functions appear. This increases the vertical screen space available for viewing posts. C. Click the number of unread posts to see a collection of only the unread posts in the thread. D. Inline replies provide the content editor on the same page, within the context of the discussion. You are not taken to a new page to post a reply. E. Posts made by forum managers and moderators highlight the user s course role and forum role. If your school has custom roles, they are displayed. Role highlighting is available only in the discussion board; highlighting of discussion board posts within the Bb Stream will be available in a future Learn release. F. New Mark as Read indicator. The icon is blue when the post is unread and white when it has been read. Posts are marked as read as you scroll down the page, after a slight delay. Only posts that are viewed on-screen and expanded are marked as read, so posts are not automatically marked read by quickly scrolling down the page. You can manually change the status of a message by clicking the Mark as Read icon. G. Post dates are displayed as relative dates such as "7 days ago." When you point to the relative date, the absolute date of creation or editing and the number of views displays. H. Overall Rating shows the average rating for a post, if the Rate Posts feature is turned on. When you point to the rating area, it changes to show Your Rating. Fill in the Blank Questions - Enhanced When creating a fill in the blank question, you can choose three different options for the correct answer: Contains, Exact Match, Pattern Match. By selecting Contains from the drop down list, it will allow for abbreviations or partial answers. Also, you have the option to select Case Sensitive. Page 18

19 Fill in the Blank Questions - Enhanced Continued When grading Fill in the Blank questions, you can use contains and pattern match. For example, instead of trying to enter all possible correct answers to the question: Who was the first president of the United States? You can select contains and type Washington instead of typing George Washington, Washington, President Washington, President George Washington, etc.) Test Access Log Test Access Log provides detailed information on student test attempt interactions. When a student ran into problems during a test, the log will show the time a test was started. Also, if a network or Internet disruption occurred during the test the log would show an unusual gap in time. 1. In your course, click on Full Grade Center in the Control Panel. 2. Find the test column and locate the individual. 3. Click on Grade Details in the cell of the individual, click on View Grade Details,; Click on View Attempts; Click on the Test Information Drop Down. 4. Click on the Access Log button on the Attempts page of the test. Page 19

20 Inline Assignment Grading Inline Assignment Grading is a revision to the workflow for grading Assignments in Blackboard Learn. Instead of requiring Instructors to download student-submitted files to view or edit those submissions, Instructors will now be able to view student-submitted files inline, i.e. in the web browser, without requiring any plugins, applets, or client-side applications. Additionally, annotation tools will be made available as part of the inline viewer, enabling Instructors to provide feedback including comments, highlights, and even drawings/annotations directly on the inline view of the document. Retention Center The Retention Center provides an easy-to-use data visualization and pre-configured rules for identifying at-risk students in a course. Because it requires no set up on the part of the instructor or administrator, it automatically calls out students who may need the instructor s attention, making it easy for instructors to catch and respond to risk factors quickly, while there is time to help the at-risk students succeed in the course. Page 20

21 Test Availability Exceptions & Exporting Test Questions To edit options for a deployed test or survey, access a test or survey s contextual menu and select, Edit the Test Options or Edit the Survey Options. New settings have been added to Test and Survey Options pages, available only after the test is added to a content area, called Test Availability Exceptions. The new settings allow you to select one or more groups of students and make a number of exceptions to the already established availability settings. You can use exceptions to provide an accommodation to a disabled student or provide accommodations for technology and language differences. You can change these settings at any time, even after the test has been attempted by some students. If conflicts in rules occur, the most permissive settings for that user or groups of users is granted. For example, students would receive the greatest number of attempts, longest availability time, and so on. You can create exceptions for: Time of test Auto submit on or off Availability of test using start and end dates Force completion on or off Exporting Test Questions All questions are now retained in exported and imported tests, including questions that originate outside the exported test, such as Question Sets, Random Blocks, and Question Links. When the user exports a test and imports it back into a different course, all questions are now present irrespective of their origin. Questions that are in question sets and random blocks in the originating test are imported into the new course in question pools. Single questions that were linked in the originating test are imported as native (non-linked) questions. Number of attempts Show Test Results & Feedback to Students Due Date and Late Submissions A new setting allows instructors to decide whether to allow a student to take a test after the due date has passed. If students are not allowed to take a test after the due date has passed, they will receive a message telling them the test cannot be completed because the due date has passed. When you allow late submissions, they are clearly marked on the Needs Grading page - the View All Attempts. By setting up rules, you can set the release of progressive feedback to keep test results secure and prevent cheating. Feedback Mode When Description Sets the time when test results and feedback are show to students: After Submission One-time View On Specific Date After Due Date After Availability and End Date After Attempts are Graded Page 21

22 Achievements Tool The Achievements tool allows instructors to issue rewards to students in the form of badges and certificates. You designate criteria for issuing rewards to students. The students can see which rewards they have earned and what is required of them to receive additional rewards. This will provided insight into learning progression toward defined competencies. You can easily see which students have reached learning milestones. Students are able to publish badges to Mozilla Open Backpack, transporting evidence of their learning outside of Blackboard Learn. Creating & Issuing Achievements - 1. From the Control Panel, click on Course Tools and select Achievements. 2. Click on Create Achievement. 3. Select the type of achievement. Course Completion: The certificate reward is required; an additional badge is optional. Milestone: The reward can only be a badge. Custom: The reward can be a badge, certificate, or both. 4. Type in a title for the Achievement you are creating. 5. Select a presentation location (a place in the course where students are likely to earn the badge or certificate). 6. Determine if students can see the existence of the achievement before earning it. Choose Yes, if the reward is meant to motivate all students. Choose No, if there are special rewards that will only be granted to specific students that should not be seen by everyone. 4. Optionally, type a description. Clearly define what you expect students to complete to earn the associated reward. 7. Click Define Triggers to continue. ** IMPORTANT: An achievement will not be presented to students in the student view of the achievements tool until a trigger rule is defined and a reward is selected. Page 22

23 Achievements Tool Continued Defining Criteria Triggers for Achievements - You can define one or more rules that will trigger the release of the reward. Note: You must define at least one rule. The achievements tool is built upon the content adaptive release technology of Blackboard Learn. This currently includes the following: Attempts on test, surveys or assignments Grades on tests, surveys, assignments, graded discussion boards, graded wikis, graded blogs, graded journals Manual Grade Center columns Marked Reviewed statuses on course content Group membership or specific users Starting date for earning an achievement Note: Setting a Display After date means that students cannot earn the reward before that date, even if they have already met the criteria. It is not the same as an end date and is not a deadline. To create a rule, name it, and set each criterion necessary for fulfilling the requirements of the achievement. You can create additional criteria for grade and review status by clicking the add functions. Example: If students must complete four exams in your course and have a final grade of 70%, there would be five criteria: Attempt on Exam A, Attempt on Exam B, Attempt on Exam C, Attempt on Exam D, and Grade for the running total column of at least 70%. Page 23

24 Achievements Tool Continued In circumstances where different criteria are possible, click Add Another Rule to create another rule. For example, if a learner needs an accommodation and has a different performance requirement to receive the reward. To manually award an Achievement, use the membership criteria options to select the recipient(s). For example - giving a mayor badge for being a discussion leader. Click Select Reward to continue. Choosing the Reward - on the final page, choose the reward. Depending on the achievement type, different options are presented. Course Completion: The certificate reward is required; an additional badge is optional. Milestone: The reward can only be a badge. Custom: The reward can be a badge, certificate, or both. You can preview how a certificate will appear to students. It includes the issuing institution as specified by the administrator, the user s name, the course name, and the date the criteria of the achievement were met. For badges, you can select an image from the catalog or upload a custom image. An uploaded badge image is available for reuse within your course. If you uploaded an image and need to remove it, you can delete the file from the Course Files in the Achievements directory. Uploaded images are automatically resized. The issuer name is pre-populated based on the administrator s settings. If appropriate, and allowed by the administrator, you can modify the issuer name. An expiry date can be specified for the badge and, if allowed by the administrator, the badge can optionally be available for publishing to recipients Mozilla Badge Backpacks. Select Submit to issue the achievement. Page 24

25 Achievements Tool Continued Copy/Import/Export/Archive/Restore Behavior - Achievements are dependent on both content and adaptive release rules. If only content is copied between courses, the trigger rules will be lost. If content is not included in a copy or export/import, achievements are not captured. As long as both content and adaptive release rules are selected in the process, Achievements will be handled properly. Viewing Achievements and Recipients - In the Achievements tool under Course Tools in the Control Panel, instructors can see all of the Achievements defined in the course, as well as, a count of recipients for each of the Achievements. Clicking the Recipients link shows details about those students who have earned each of the Achievements. Clicking a student's name will present that student s view of the My Achievements page. The Date Received shown in the screenshot lets the instructor know when the students saw the notification of their earning of the Achievement; typically this is immediately upon earning. But, in cases where instructor grading or manual awarding was involved, the date received is when the student was shown their Achievement reward. Align Rubric Row Criteria to Goals Instructors can now align individual criteria listed in the row of a rubric to course goals, providing a level of aligning a specific criterion to course goals using a rubric. 1. From any row in a rubric, select Add Alignments from the contextual menu. 2. Click Add Alignment to search for course goals. 3. Select goals and Submit. Page 25

26 Manage Course Menu - New Items can be created and current items deleted/modified. Select Add Menu Item button (the plus sign) and add one of the following: 1. Content Area - Place where course content will exist (e.g., Assignments, Exams, Lessons, Course Material, etc.) 2. Module Page - 3. Blank Page - Direct link to a content item (e.g. PowerPoint, Journal Article, etc.) 4. Tool Link - Link to any tool within the Blackboard course (e.g. Discussion Board, Announcements, Calendar, My Grades, Roster, Wikis, etc.) 5. Web - Link to any website outside of Blackboard. 6. Course Link - Direct link to content previously existing in the course (e.g. an exam that is currently available under the Exam button). 7. External Link - Link to any website outside of Blackboard. 8. Subheader - An inactive link that will allow you to divide your content areas into sections. 9. Divider - A line that divides menu buttons into groups. Remove Menu Item - Reorder Menu Item - To reorder the course menu items, hover over the item; then click and hold the up/down arrow to the left of the menu item name and drag/drop the item to its new position. Control Panel To remove an existing course menu item, click the action menu button to the right of the menu item name and select Delete. You will then be prompted to confirm your request by clicking OK. You have the option to Rename Link or Hide Link. Selecting Hide Link will hide the link from users instead of removing it completely. In Blackboard 9.1 the control Panel tools and functions are located within a subpanel that can be accessed by clicking the corresponding action menu button. Page 26

27 Announcements The Announcements page is the default Entry Point into the course. Add a New Announcement - From the Control Panel, click the action menu button for Course Tools, then select Announcements. From the Announcements page you will then click Create Announcement and complete the following: 1. Announcement Information - Give the announcement a subject, then type the message of the announcement in the appropriate field. 2. Web Announcement Options - Choose the announcement to be Not Date Restricted or Date Restricted (choosing this option will allow you to enter Display After and Display Until options). 3. Course Link - Provide a direct link to an item currently existing in the course. 4. Click Submit. Instructor Information/Office Hours Instructor information can be posted in the appropriate course menu item. 1. From the Course Menu, click Instructor Info (if you do not have an Instructor Info menu button, add a new Tool Link menu item, and label it Instructor Info. From the dropdown menu, select Contacts - be sure to select Available to Users. 2. Click the Create Contact button in the upper right corner of the Contacts window, fill out the form, and click Submit. Adding Course Content Adding content to your Blackboard course can be accomplished in any Content Area (e.g. Assignments, Course Materials, Lessons, etc.). From any Content Area in the Course menu, select the action menu in the Build Content button. Page 27

28 Adding Course Content Continued Select from one of the following options: Create: New Page: Item Content Folder File Module Page McGraw-Hill Content Blank Page Pearson s MyLab/Mastering Mashups: Audio Flickr Photo Image SlideShare Presentation Video YouTube Video Web Link Learning Module *Note on Mashups: This feature allows instructors to add multimedia content to a course from an external website. This content is used in a variety of ways within a course: a standalone piece of course content, part of a test question, a topic on a discussion board, or part of an assignment. If you are using Mashups, please be sure that the Mashup is public and not private. When using third party Mashups, be sure to verify that the Mashup is allowed under copyright. Lesson Plan Assignments & Assessments Test, Survey, Assignment, Self and Peer Assessments, McGraw - Hill Assignment, Mobile Compatible Test, and Turnitin Direct Assignment can be added to your course through the Create Assessment button within any Content Area. If for some reason you do not see these options, re-enable them through the following steps: 1. From the Control Panel, click Customization, then Tool Availability. 2. Put a check beside all the tools you wish to be made available in that specific course and click Submit. Assignments - When an Assignment is created, a Grade Center item corresponding to that Assignment will automatically be created. Instructors now have the ability to allow either a limited or unlimited number of submission attempts. To create an Assignment: 1. From a Content Area from within a course select Create Assessment, then select Assignment. 2. Give the Assignment a name and type any instructions or description in the Instructions field. 3. Attach a file (optional). Page 28

29 4. Enter number of points possible. 5. Select Availability, Number of Attempts, Date Restrictions, and Track Number of Views option. 6. Enter Due Date. 7. Select Recipients. (If you select Groups of Students, you must have groups created already.) 8. Click Submit. Download Student Assignment Submissions - When a student has submitted a file for an Assignment, a green circle with a white exclamation mark will appear in the associated Grade Center column indicating the item is ready for grading. Please note that files uploaded to an Assignment or submitted as an Assignment should have short file names with no spaces or special characters in the name (numbers and letters only). Submission attempts can be viewed one at a time or all submission can be downloaded into a.zip file. To view submission attempts one at a time: 1. From the Control Panel, click Grade Center, then either Full Grade Center or Assignments (both will let you view the Assignment). 2. Hover the cursor over the area with the green box with the white exclamation point, click the action menu button, and select View Grade Details. 3. From this window you will select View Attempt, then click the file name to download. To download multiple submission attempts at once: 1. From the Control Panel, click Grade Center, then either Full Grade Center or Assignments (both will let you view the Assignment). 2. Click the action menu button in the Assignment column and select Assignment File Download. 3. Select all users you wish to download and click Submit. You will then be prompted to download the.sip file containing all Assignment submissions. Clear Student Assignment Attempt - 1. Click Grade Center in the Control Panel, then choose either Full Grade Center or Assignments. 2. Click on the cell of the Needs Graded icon and click the action menu button, then select View Grade Details. 3. From this window, select Clear Attempt, then click on OK to confirm your request. Page 29

30 Assessments - Tests, Surveys, and Self and Peer Assessments are all created in the same manner within Blackboard. Create a Test - 1. From a Content Area within a course, click Create Assessment, followed by Test, then Create. 2. Give the test a Name, Description and Instructions (optional), then click Submit. 3. Add questions to the test by using the Create Question, Reuse Question, and/or Upload questions options on the Test Canvas page. For more information on specific test question types, please visit the blackboard Support Site at Add a Test to a Content Area - Once the test has successfully been created, you must manually add the test to any Content Area within the specific Blackboard course. 1. From a Content Area within a course, click Create Assessment, then Test. 2. Tests that have been created and are not currently deployed in another Content Area will appear within the heading Add Test. Select the test you wish to deploy and click Submit. Edit Test Options - Once you click Submit, the Test Options page will appear. Or, next to the test name, click on the action menu button (Drop down arrow) and select Edit Test Options. From this page you have the ability to edit the following: 1. Test Information 2. Test Availability 3. Due Date 4. Self Assessment Options 5. Test Feedback 6. Test Presentation After you have edited the Test Options, click Submit. Page 30

31 Grading Student Submissions - Blackboard has the ability to automatically grade tests that contain certain types of test questions (e.g. multiple choice, true/false, etc.). When these types of questions are used, you do not need to manually enter a grade. However, if you choose to utilize question types such as short answer, essay, or file response, you will need to manually enter a grade. 1. From the Control Panel click Grade Center, then either Full Grade Center or Tests (both will let you view the Test). 2. Hover the cursor over the area with the exclamation point in the green box, click the action menu button, and select View Grade Details. 3. From this window click View Attempts. The student s test submission will appear and show each test answer. You can then assign the allotted points and click Save and Exit. Clear Student Test Attempt - 1. From the Control Panel click Grade Center, then either Full Grade Center or Tests (both will let you view the Test). 2. Hover the cursor over the area with the exclamation point in the green box, click the action menu button, and select View Grade Details. 3. From this window select Clear Attempt, then OK to confirm your request. At some point in time, you may need to clear a student s test attempt so they may resubmit. IMPORTANT: Please note that when any attempt is cleared, it is removed from the entire system. We cannot retrieve that attempt. Discussion Board The Discussion Board is an interactive tool made up of forums that can be organized around a particular subject. Create a Forum - 1. From the Course Menu, click Discussions (if you do not have a Discussions menu item, add a new Tool Link menu item and label it Discussions, from the dropdown menu select Discussion Board - be sure to select Available to Users). Once in the Discussions area, click the Create Forum button. Page 31

32 Create a Forum cont d - 2. Complete the following information: A. Name & Description B. Set Forum Availability Options C. Establish Forum Settings and Grading Options 3. Click Submit. The Grade Center The Grade Center is an effective record-keeping tool to support student learning. The Grade Center opens into a spreadsheet view listing student users in rows and graded items in columns. All features of the Grade Center can be accessed through the spreadsheet and grades are recorded automatically for assignments, assessments, and surveys. Course work managed outside of the Blackboard system will need to be managed manually. Create a Grade Center Column - 1. From the Control Panel click Grade Center, then Full Grade Center. 2. From the toolbar above the students name, click Create Column. 3. Complete the following fields: A. Column Name B. Grade Center Display Name (optional) C. Descriptions (optional) D. Choose a Primary Display Option E. Secondary Display Option (optional) F. Select a Category (optional - however, if you choose to weight your grades by category you will need to select the appropriate choice.) G. Points Possible H. Add Rubric 4. Choose a due date or leave none selected. 5. Select from the following options: A. Include Column in Grade Center Calculations - the column is included in the possible selections of items when creating Calculated Columns such as Weighted Grade Columns or Total Point Columns. B. Show this Column in My Grades - Grades will appear in My Grades (the student view), View Grades, and the Report Card module (when available). C. Show Statistics (average and mean) for this column to Students in My Grades - Includes statistical information with the grade value when shown to students. 6. Click Submit. Page 32

33 Manually Enter a Grade - To manually enter a grade into the Grade Center, click into the box associated with the student and grade center column. The text field to enter the grade will turn yellow. Enter the grade and hit return on your keyboard. Grade Center Icons - User Unavailable - User no longer has access to the course. Column Not Visible to Users - Column is not visible to students. Completed - Item has been completed by student. This icon will be seen on grading columns that are Surveys or if the grading column has had the Complete/Incomplete associated with it. Needs Grading - Student has submitted an assignment that needs to be graded. This icon will appear on Assignment columns and Test columns containing essay or short answer questions. Override - The instructor has manually changed a student s grade on an Assessment or Assignment. Attempt in Progress - A student is currently using this Assessment or Assignment. External Grade - Should be set to the grade the instructor wants to be known as the final grade for the course. Grade Exempted for this User - The student has been allowed to skip this grading column without penalty by the instructor. Error - Grade Center Error. For more information on specific Grade Center functionalities, please visit the Blackboard Support Site at Send There are numerous ways to send s to users enrolled in your Blackboard course. All user s are associated with FSU accounts. When an is initiated from within Blackboard, it is automatically sent to the recipient's FSU . This process cannot be changed. Send from Control Panel - To send an from the Control Panel click Course Tools, then Send . You will be prompted to choose a group of users or select individual users. Fill in the associated fields and click Submit. Send from Grade Center - 1. From the Control Panel click Grade Center, then Full Grade Center. 2. Put a check in the box beside all recipients names. Click above the user names, then Selected Users. 3. Fill in applicable fields and click Submit. Page 33

34 Course Availability When a course is created in Blackboard, it is automatically set to not currently available. Upon login, all unavailable courses are denoted with an not currently available statement to the right of the course name in the My Courses Module under the Blackboard@FSU tab. You must manually make your courses available for students to have access. Course Style Settings Make Your Course Available - 1. From the Control Panel click Customization, then Properties. 2. Under number 3, Set Availability, select Yes. The Course Style settings control how the course appears to users. By selecting colors, buttons, and text, you can individualize the appearance of the menu. In addition, a course banner may be added to the top of the course entry page. There are two ways to customize style settings. Change Course Themes Icon 1. Click on the Change Course Theme Icon and select a color theme. Scroll down the list for different color options. Customize the Color and Style of Course Menu - From the Control Panel click Customization, then Teaching Style. 1. Select Course Structure, a preview of the course menu is displays. Select a Focus on the left side panel, then click on the Use This Structure button. 2. Select Course Entry Point. Announcements is set as the default setting. 3. Select Course Theme (Over 50 professionally designed themes available.) 4. Select Menu Style - by selecting Text or Buttons, then choosing a color or button style, the preview image will reflect those changes. 5. Course Menu Display - Permit Both Views is the default setting. 6. Default Content View - Icon and Text is the default setting. 7. Select Banner - Click on Browse My Computer button to navigate to the picture of your choice. Banners should be saved as.jpg or.gif files. The suggested size of a course banner is 600 pixels (wide) X 100 pixels (long). 8. Submit - Click on Submit button. A pop-up window displays stating that you chose to change the structure, Click OK. The Course Style will be updated. Page 34

35 Instructors who teach the same course from semester to semester may wish to reuse the content posted in their original Blackboard course. This can be accomplished by using Course Copy or Exporting the course material then Importing that material into the new course. Course Copy From the Control Panel click Packages and Utilities, then Course Copy. Course Type - it is set to a default setting. Under number 2 - Copy Option, click on the Browse button to choose the Course Destination. Select Course Materials: Click the Select All button to copy over all materials or click next to each individual item that you want copied over. A checkmark will appear next to the item enabling those items to be copied. Click Submit. Export and Import Exporting Your Course - 1. From the Control Panel click Packages and Utilities, then Export/ Archive Course. 2. Click the Export Package button in the upper left corner of the Export Course page (clicking Archive will make an exact copy of your course including enrollments and user information. You do not want this option if you are going to use the course content in a different semester). 3. Under number 3, Select Course Materials, select all the materials to include in the Export Package, then click Submit. 4. A green banner will appear at the top of the page. An will be sent to your FSU account when the Export Package is ready for download (packages are downloaded into a.zip file). 5. Once you have received the confirmation , return to the Export/Archive Course page of the course you exported from. 6. Click on the underlined file name that ends with.zip. You will then be prompted to save the.zip file to your local computer. It is important to remember where you save this.zip file. You will need the file to import to the new course (DO NOT open the.zip file once downloaded. If opened, the package cannot be Imported). Import Course Package to a New Course - 1. From the Control Panel click Packages and Utilities, then Import Package/View Logs. 2. Click the Import Package button in the upper left corner of the Import Package/View Logs page. 3. Under number 2, Select a Package, click Browse to select the.zip file on your local computer that was downloaded from the previous Export. 4. Under number 3, Select Course Materials, choose the course materials from the package you wish to import to the new course, then click Submit. 5. A green banner will appear at the top of the page. An will be sent to your FSU account when the Import Package process is complete. Page 35