Planning Ahea

1
Planning Ahea
d

• Organizing for Usability
• in your Bb course site

2
Where does it all go?
Lectures
Checklists
Simulations
Video clips
Audio samples
quizzes
Activities
Web links
Project descriptions
Reading Assignments
3
Information Architecture
Visual Design
ACCESSIBILITY
4
Information Architecture

• Site structure
• Labels / titles

5
Blackboard Main Menu
Course Menu Worksheet
6
Blackboard Main Menu

• Fantasy Course Menu
• How many is too many menu items?
• What are the different ways items are arranged?
• Are some labels vague and fuzzy? Will this
  confuse students?

7
Blackboard Main Menu
Activity Edit your course menu Control panel gt
manage course menu
8
Second-level architecture

• How are materials arranged below main menu
  buttons?

9
Whats my course structure?
Topical Wk 1 Respiration Wk 2 Phonation Wk 3
Articulation Wk 4
Chronological Wk 1 1895-1920 Wk 2 1920-1945 Wk
3
Spatial Wk 1 Europe Wk 2 Latin America Wk 3
Australasia Wk 4 Antarctica Wk 5
10
Structural continuity
Bb folder structure
Local file structure
Course structure (instructional design)
11
Structure in Blackboard

• Activity
• Create folders.
• Customize them.
• Upload content.

12
Your Local Archive
Activity Create a starting point or root
folder for each course/term
Terms sorted by course, or courses sorted by term
your choice.
13
Your Local Archive

• Activity (continued)
• Test your file-management skills
• Create test.doc in Word, save in Term folder.
• Launch Windows Explorer (note not Internet
  Explorer or My Computer).
• Move test.doc to a different folder.
• Find a lost file whose name starts with win.

14
Your Local Archive
Activity File Management Structure Worksheet
Tip Keep everything that goes with a week/unit
inside one folder. Dont make students hunt
around for powerpoints, docs, links.
15
Your Local Archive
Activity (continued) Build the folders from your
worksheet.
16
Other Usability Factors
Visual Design Accessibility