Essential Skills: More Blackboard

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Essential Skills More Blackboard

• JQ JohnsonDirector, Center for Educational
  Technologies
• University of Oregonjqj_at_darkwing.uoregon.edu
• 14 June 2005

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This session

• Agenda
• Adding course content (techniques for posting
  materials to blackboard)
• Other common Blackboard tasks
• Whats next? More advanced blackboard features
  not covered today
• Some sources of help
• Questions, additional topics

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Adding course content

• Visit a content area in control panel
• Add appropriate content, e.g.
• Item (may include title, explanatory text, and
  attachments)
• Folder
• Test (link to online quiz)
• Assignment (student submission form), on pulldown
  menu

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More content item characteristics

• All items and folders (and many other objects)
  include
• Name (and font color)
• Text (usually optional)
• Smart text (auto processing of URLs, line breaks)
• Can also be plain text or html
• Can also include WebEQ or MathML equations
• Attachments (optional normally shown as a link)
• Options
• Available?
• Date range restrictions

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Attachments

• Any item or folder may have associated files
• Attachments are copied from your hard disk to the
  blackboard server

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Choosing file formats for attachments

• HTML is universally readable, and can be created
• Using MS Words save as web page (dont create
  HTML from PPT)
• By hand or using custom tools, e.g. Dreamweaver
• .DOC, .XLS, and .PPT can be posted directly
• No additional work for you
• Require students to have appropriate reader
  software
• Preserve original with full fidelity (a plus and
  a minus)
• PDF also universally readable
• Create on PC using Acrobat or PDFCreator
• MacOS X has built-in PDF support
• Think carefully before posting specialized
  formats
• Consider download time (10MB maximum?)

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Images, audio, video

• Use add item with an attachment
• Files may be images (.gif or .jpg), audio (.wav,
  .mov, .mp3 are good choices)
• Optional
• Choose Special Action Display media file within
  the page
• System will prompt for additional information

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Audio and video (continued)

• Posting short clips works well
• Only students with the appropriate player (WMP,
  QT, RealPlayer) can download and view or listen
• Most generic format for audio is .wav
• Most generic format for video is .avi
• .mp3 popular for audio
• .mov (quicktime) popular especially on Macs
• For longer materials, use a streaming server, and
  post only a link to the materials on your
  blackboard site

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Packaged attachments

• ZIP files allow upload of a whole directory at a
  time (as a single attachment)
• Choose Add Item, then Special Action Unpackage
  this (ZIP) file. Typical uses
• HTML file plus supporting files (relative links)
• A set of related HTML files (a whole site)
• A learning object
• Or choose Add Document Package.
• Upload a set of files and directories that become
  Bb folders and items/attachments
• E.g., a collection of photos or audio clips

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Creating/finding ZIP files

• Create ZIP files using
• Windows XP send to compressed (zipped) folder
• MacOS X File-gtcreate archive
• ZIP Central, StuffIt, WinZip (PC)
• MacZip (Mac)
• etc.
• Many learning objects are distributed as ZIP
  files, e.g. from
• Merlot, http//www.merlot.org
• SMETE, http//www.smete.org
• Maricopa LX, http//www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx
  /
• etc.

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Course cartridges

• Many publishers distribute extensive materials
  for upload into coursesite
• Usually course cartridges with download key,
  and requiring students to purchase textbook and
  license key in order to access
• Cartridges vary, but often include
• Copies of figures from text (and sometimes full
  text)
• Quiz test banks
• Sample powerpoint lectures
• Online exercises and simulations
• Glossaries, web links, etc.

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More content links

• Use Add URL (or external link) to create a
  link to a site outside of blackboard (or just use
  Add Item and type the URL in the text of the
  link)
• Use Add course link to create a link to another
  part of your coursesite. If you copy your
  coursesite, the copied link is updated to point
  to the corresponding point in the new site.

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Other common Blackboard tasks

• Some common tasks almost every instructor will
  need to do
• Posting announcements
• Adding support staff
• Making your coursesite available to students
  and/or guests
• Copying material from previous terms

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Adding course support staff

• We create blackboard accounts for all students,
  instructors, and most staff, so a GTF already has
  account. We enroll all instructors and students
  in the right coursesites, but don't have info on
  support staff, so instructors must enroll them
• Use Control Panel ? Enroll User add your GTF to
  site
• Use List/Modify Users change role to teachers
  assistant
• Optional Control Panel ? Staff Information

• In most cases a GTF should be a "teacher's
  assistant". Other roles
• guest -- can only access Course Information, etc.
  
• student -- just the basics (note UO discourages
  unofficial auditors only add a student if there
  is a legitimate educational reason)
• grader -- access to gradebook, but can't add
  course documents
• course builder -- can add documents, but no
  gradebook access (particularly good for an
  undergrad helper who must not be able to see
  other students' grades)
• N.B. You can't create accounts for non-UO
  people.

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Activating your site

• Your site starts out listed as (unavailable)
  you can see it, but your students can not
• To activate a coursesite, set it to available
  (Control Panel ? Settings ? Course Availability)
• Until you do this, site is invisible to students!

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Copying a coursesite (from a previous term)

• Use Copy button in content areas to copy single
  items
• Use Course Copy to copy a whole coursesite
• You must be instructor or TA in both old and new
  sites
• Visit the OLD course control panel
• Click Course Copy, then Copy into an Existing
  Course
• Browse for the destination course
• Select materials to copy (do not copy enrollment
  information)

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More advanced topics

• Blackboard features to consider using after you
  are comfortable with the basics
• Using the discussion board
• Using the gradebook
• Online quizzes
• Using the assignment manager to accept online
  assignments (homework)
• Blackboard groups
• Synchronous communication tools (chat)

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Some additional information resources

• UO Blackboard News blog, http//libweb.uoregon.edu
  /cet/blackboard/news
• Instructor reference manual (in control panel)
• Tutorial coursesite (from U Kansas)
• Log in to blackboard.uoregon.edu
• Click the Courses tab
• Search for "blackboard"
• Click link to "Blackboard TOOLS and STRATEGIES"
• Blackboard, Inc. Instructor Training Center,
  http//behind.blackboard.com/
• Click Help icon at top of window for links to
  more resources

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Some additional training opportunities

• Additional Essential Skills sessions this week
• CET Consulting (Knight 19 summer hrs 11-6 M-F)
• IT Curriculum workshops, http//libweb.uoregon.edu
  /it/

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For more information

• This presentationhttp//darkwing.uoregon.edu/jq
  j/presentations/es-more-bb.ppt
• University of Oregon Blackboard site
  http//blackboard.uoregon.edu
• UO Center for Educational Technologies
  http//libweb.uoregon.edu/cet/
• JQ Johnson jqj_at_darkwing.uoregon.edu