Mastering Blackboard Fundamentals at McDaniel College: A Comprehensive Training Workshop

1. Welcome to Blackboard Blackboard Fundamentals McDaniel College July 23-24, 2002

2. Introductions Meaghan N. Duff, Ph.D. • Senior Learning Solutions Consultant, Blackboard, Inc. • Professional Experience • End User Trainer, Prometheus/The George Washington University • Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt University • Assistant Professor, Western Kentucky University • Ph.D., American History, The College of William and Mary

3. Introductions Please introduce yourself… • Name • Position/Title • Course(s) you teach • Experience with Bb software • How you plan to use Bb • Supplement existing course • Teach entirely online • Mixed format

4. Agenda • Demonstration • Navigation in a course, Student View, Instructor Control Panel • Content Areas • Announcements, Staff information, External links, Course Information/Documents • User Management • Registration/Enrollment, Create/Modify users, Create/Modify groups • Assessment Manager • Assessment options, Question types, Add questions, Preview and modify, Availability, Setting properties, Online Grade Book • Course Management & Security • Area Availability, Course Availability, Enabling/Disabling course functions, Securing the course, Customization • Resources and Materials • Blackboard Instructor Center – Training Center • Useful Blackboard Links Document

5. Resources and Materials http://trainingcenter.blackboard.com • Online Training • Tip Sheets • Tutorials • Manuals

6. What is Blackboard? • Computer software that runs on a server • Available anywhere via the Internet • Accessed with a web browser • Flexible • Customizable • User Friendly • Many tools, many options

7. Many Tools, Many Options • File storage and retrieval • Asynchronous Discussion Board • Synchronous chat and whiteboard • Group Areas • “Digital Dropbox” for sending and receiving assignments • Assessments and Surveys • Online Gradebook

8. It’s sort of like . . . Tupperware! • Bring existing materials into Blackboard • Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF files, etc. • Integrate text, graphics, audio/video, multimedia into your course • Include CD-ROM material • No need to learn HTML code • What does it look like?

9. The Course • The main Bb system component • Course roles in Blackboard • Student, Instructor, Teaching Assistant, Grader, Course Builder. • Each role corresponds with specific privileges • Courses can be copied and recycled at end of semester

10. Navigation in Blackboard • Use the “built-in” navigation buttons • Course navigation buttons • Course navigation menu (“Breadcrumb Trail”) • As much as possible, avoid using the Back/Forward buttons in your browser. • Bb stores course content in database • Need to move forward, requesting new data

11. Control Panel – Instructor’s View • Navigation Button Bar • Left Frame • Students cannot see the control panel! • Course controls enable customization of individual courses. • Instructors post content • students view content

12. Login Information http://learning.blackboard.com USERNAME: train35 train36 train37 PASSWORD: train35 train36 train37 lowercase lowercase

13. Who does what? • Administrators • Create course shells and or course templates • Create and remove user accounts on the system • Enroll students in course(s) • Instructors (and TAs) • Customize course display • Add, modify, and remove course content • Create and manage Groups • Create Discussion forums

15. Text Options

16. Blackboard Text Options • HTML • Renders all HTML tags – Primarily used if copying and pasting HTML from another source. • Plain Text • Allows instructors to insert HTML tags without being rendered • Smart Text • Renders HTML but does not require tags for line or paragraph breaks • Web addresses entered in the URL format

17. Online Course Policies

18. Course Policies and Procedures • Attendance • Decide how you will determine attendance. • Require participation in threaded discussions, virtual classroom chats, etc. • Assign due dates and times for assignments. • Academic Dishonesty • Exams/Quizzes • Papers • Assignments

19. Course Policies and Procedures • Courtesy Code • Create standards for conduct and address etiquette issues in writing emails, posting and responding to threaded discussions, and using the chat areas. • Email and Drop Box Procedures • General email guidelines • Naming convention for submitting assignments • Use of electronic attachments • common technology formats (.rtf, .pdf, .html)

20. Course Policies and Procedures • Technical Assistance • Who? Where? When? How? • Instructor Responsibility • State what students can expect from you • Consider how often you will respond to email and discussion board postings • Set day/time for office hours • Virtual classroom (online) • Office meeting (traditional)

21. User Management

22. Removing students from courses When a student is removed from a course the following information . . . • Is removed automatically: • Name from the student roster • Student Homepage • Student Drop Box/Drop Box Files • Grades/Assessments • Group File Exchange- any files added by the student • Is not removed: • Student Input to Virtual Chat Archives • Student Messages posted to the Discussion Board • Student files in the Instructor's Drop Box (NOTE: there is not a username associated with the file, only the file name and file content.) • Student Data in Course Statistics

24. Workshop Feedback

25. Workshop Feedback http://www.formsite.com/blackboard/BlackboardWorkshop Note: ("BlackboardWorkshop") is case sensitive -- you need the capital 'B' and capital 'W'