1. School of Education
Blackboard Workshop
Summer 2012
Amy Ginsberg
With thanks to Andrew Livanis, Monique Howard
and Norm Sutaria

2. Today’s Topics
O Organization of your course Bb site
O Home Page
O Course Overview / Syllabus / Calendar
O Discussion Forum
O Blogs
O Assignments
O Rubrics
O Grade Center
O Tracking Student Activity

3. Organization of your course
Bb site
O Key Elements:
O Simplicity
O Redundancy
O Structure (by topic, date, or content/tool)
O Q&A
O Campus Resources
O Professional Resources
O Feedback
O Individual Appointments

4. Simplicity, Redundancy & Structure

5. Miscellaneous (Useful) Elements
O Q & A (for questions that pertain to many/all)
O Tools: Discussion Board
O Campus Resources (for this class)
O Build Content: Create Web Link
O Professional Resources (for this class)
O Build Content: Create Web Link or Item
O Feedback (per your needs)
O Build Content: Create Web Link to Survey
Monkey Anonymous Student Feedback
Survey
O Individual Appointments
O Build Content: Create Web Link to Doodle
Summer 2012 Individual Appointments

6. Home Page
O Do not delete! (I learned this the hard
way.)
O Maximize its usefulness for students by
removing what you don’t need and adding
content to the most helpful tools.
O I use My Announcements, What’s New,
and My Calendar.
O Other modules you might like are Alerts,
Dictionary, and Library Resources.

7. Course Overview / Syllabus / Calendar
O Course Overview is the instructor’s
introduction to the most important elements in
orienting students to the course.
O Syllabus houses NYSED required
components.
O Some syllabus components may also have
their own content link for easy access.
O Calendar
O Grading Scheme
O Readings / Bibliography
O Rubrics

8. Discussion Boards, Forums & Threads
O Blackboard Learn 9.0 On Demand Learning
Center: Discussion Board Tour
O Tools -> Discussion Board -> Create New Forum
O Incentive = Participation
O Evaluation = Incentive
O Make instructions and evaluation criteria explicit.
O Some examples…

9. Blogs
O Blackboard Learn 9.0 On Demand
Learning Center: Creating a Blog
O Course Tools -> Blogs -> Create Blog
O Incentive = Participation
O Evaluation = Incentive
O Make instructions and evaluation criteria
explicit.
O An example…

10. Assignments
O Blackboard Learn 9.0 On Demand
Learning Center: Creating Assignments
O Add menu item -> content area (name it) -
> Assessments -> Assignment
O Some examples…

11. Rubrics
O Blackboard Learn 9.1 On Demand
Learning Center: Creating a Rubric
O Rubrics are easy to create in Bb and can
be as simple or complex as you want
them to be.
O Rubrics can be used for assignments,
discussions, and blogs, and linked to the
grade center.
O Some examples…

12. Grade Center
O www.xavier.edu/ds/blackboard9/pdf/GradeC
enter.pdf
O Grades can appear in grade center
automatically or can be entered/changed
manually.
O Needs Grading link shows just what you need
to grade, and can be separated by category.
O Columns can be altered as needed.
O Grade center can be downloaded to your
computer, worked on offline, uploaded, and
printed.

13. Tracking Student Activity
O It is possible for you to keep track of what
students are accessing and when.
O This is helpful for a variety of reasons:
O Capturing students who are having
difficulty at the beginning of the semester
O Getting a sense of how much time and
effort students are putting into the course
O Identifying students who are disappearing
and falling behind