Blackboard for Composition: Getting started with Blackboard at UO

1
Blackboard for CompositionGetting started with
Blackboard at UO

• JQ JohnsonDirector, Center for Educational
  Technologies
• jqj_at_uoregon.edu
• Ulrick Casimir
• Graduate Teaching Fellow, English
• ucasimir_at_uoregon.edu
• 20 September 2006

2
This presentation

• Blackboard at the University of Oregon an
  introduction for Composition Program instructors
  with minimal previous blackboard experience
• (JQ) Overview and context what is Bb?
• (UC) A sample blackboard site
• (all) Discussion how can Bb be used most
  effectively?
• (JQ, time permitting) How to use blackboard
• Organizing a site, adding course content, making
  your site available
• Using the Gradebook and Discussion Board
• Note Part 4 will be covered in greater
  depthBlackboard for Instructors IFriday, 22
  Sept, 10am-noon, Knight 267B

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What is Blackboard?

• A commercial, web-based Course Management
  System
• An integrated, easy to use environment offering
  wide variety of features for teaching
• access control only enrolled students
  participate in course
• easy web publishing of syllabus, lecture notes,
  etc.
• asynchronous communication announcements,
  threaded discussion, surveys
• synchronous communication chat room, virtual
  whiteboard
• online quizzes, homework submission, and
  gradebook
• collaborative workgroups
• A UO Library service

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Blackboard usage consistent growth since 1999

• Statistics as of 18 Nov 2005
• 18,029 student users (85 of all students)
• 1172 active fall-term or fall-sem Banner (CRN)
  coursesites
• 1138 faculty, GTFs, and staff teaching using
  Blackboard
• Approx. 49,900 fall coursesite enrollments (more
  than half of all UO student credit hours have a
  Blackboard component)
• Approximately 1,500,000 web server hits/day,
  20,000 logins/day

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The UO Blackboard home page --
https//blackboard.uoregon.edu
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Typical UO Blackboard courses

• Courses in almost every discipline
• Large lecture, small seminar, and everything in
  between, plus non-course uses
• Some use for true distance ed and hybrid
  courses, but most supplements face to face
• Different instructors use different features
• Different instructors have different pedagogical
  goals
• Most instructors start slow first term teaching
  with Blackboard use only a few features

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Blackboard users

• All instructors and students have accounts. Log
  in as you would to wireless or to modem pool,
  e.g.
• Username jqj_at_uoregon.edu
• Password my darkwing/ gladstone password(dont
  know your password? https//password.uoregon.edu)
  
• Data in Blackboard is loaded from banner twice a
  day

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Blackboard coursesites

• Coursesites are created automatically for
  (almost) all UO CRN courses each term.
• Instructors can request a merged site combining
  CRNs
• UO instructor of record is Blackboard
  instructor
• Default to unavailable to students instructor
  must activate before use
• Sites created starting beginning of registration
  period for term, then twice a day
• Also sites for department (staff) major
  (undergrad) by request to courseinfo_at_blackboard

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Blackboard features in widespread use at UO

• Fill in the blanks easy web page creation
  (e.g., announcements, annotations)
• Posting syllabus and course assignments
• Posting lecture materials (html, MS Powerpoint,
  PDF, etc.)
• Gradebook (if only for securely distributing
  grades to students)
• Threaded discussion forum

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Features in moderate use

• Next steps after the basics
• E-mail interface
• Online quizzes (usually low-stakes e.g.,
  self-assessment, with feedback
• Group communication features, e.g., group
  collaborative writing projects
• Assignment manager (for student-submitted
  assignments)
• Surveys
• Student web pages

• Less widely used (so far)
• Chat tools
• Integrated calendar, to-do lists
• Programmed instruction (learning units, SCORM
  learning object content, etc.)
• Course cartridges (publisher-provided content)
• Rich (locally developed) multimedia content
  video, animation, simulation, etc.

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Getting started

• Instructors edit coursesite via Control Panel
• Add material by filling out forms in web browser
  or uploading files
• Reuse material by copying a previous version of
  the course
• Change settings for appearance, functionality
• Invoke instructor tools (email, gradebook, etc.)
• or via EDIT VIEW

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Exercise getting started

• Log in and visit your coursesite control panel
• Create a staff information entry for yourself
• (do other exercises on your own after this
  workshop)

13
Common Blackboard tasks (that almost every
instructor needs to do)

• Organizing your site
• Adding content
• Posting announcements
• Adding support staff
• Making coursesite available to students (and/or
  guests)
• Copying material from previous terms

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Common tasks organizing your site

• Site is divided into
• Content areas, which contain folders, subfolders,
  items, etc. Each has a button (edit using
  Manage Course Menu)
• Special areas, e.g. Announcements, Tools
• Divide the site into natural pieces, e.g.,
• Chronologically
• Functionally
• Into content modules

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Organizing your site (continued)

• Think about organization in advance
• Imagine navigation from students viewpoint
• Use folders
• Include pointers
• New material in announcements
• Cross references via course links
• Links to tools (e.g., discussion forums) in
  content
• Disable features you definitely wont use

16
Common tasks adding course content

• Visit a content area in control panel
• Add appropriate content, e.g.
• Item (may include title, explanatory text, and
  attachments)
• Folder
• etc.
• Once created, content can be modified, removed,
  or moved

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Example adding your syllabus as an item with
attachment

• Usually placed in Course Information
• Usually uploaded as an attached copy of the Word
  document you hand out, either as .doc or more
  often converted to .html

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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

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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
• By hand or using custom tools, e.g. Dreamweaver
• .DOC, .XLS, and .PPT can be posted directly, but
• 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

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More content links

• Use Add 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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More content editing

• After creating an item you can
• Change order of items in a folder
• Modify change name and text, add more
  attachments, etc.
• Manage control adaptive release, review status,
  statistics tracking
• Copy move to a different location or site
• Remove delete the item

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More content uploading sets of files

• You can upload a complete set of files and
  directories from your hard disk
• Create a zip archive
• Windows XP, right click and send to compressed
  (zipped) folder
• MacOS X Finder, File?create archive
• In a content area, Add a Document Package (on
  pulldown menu)

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Aside Visual Textbox Editor

• Adds advanced editing to all text boxes
• Announcements
• Items
• Discussion board
• Etc.
• Has some limitations and bugs, especially in
  Safari

• Requires opt in by user (faculty or student)
• Enable or disable using My UO?Personal Info? Set
  Visual Text Box Editor Options
• Changes your login only all courses, all PCs

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DEMO adding some coursesite content

• First, lets add some content
• Create and post syllabus.htm
• Link to an external page
• Create folders in Course Documents
• Upload powerpoint lecture notes
• Some other key tasks
• Add a teachers assistant
• Set coursesite to available

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Basic gradebook instructor view

• Edit gradebook through Gradebook table (Control
  Panel-gtGradebook)
• Can enter grades and notes
• Other parts of blackboard that create gradebook
  columns
• Creating an online assignment
• Creating an online quiz
• Can upload and download grades to excel

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Gradebook student view

• Student sees his/her own grades only Course
  Tools-gt View Grades
• Also viewable on My UO-gtView Grades

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Add Gradebook items (Assessments)

• Click Add Item
• Type Item Name
• Select Category (no appropriate category? Create
  your own in Gradebook Settings-gtManage Gradebook
  Categories)
• Enter nominal Points Possible
• Select Display As for grades (Score is often
  best)
• Set available, include in calculation as
  appropriate
• Click Submit, then OK

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Assessment columns

• All columns have attributes
• How displayed (if at all)
• Included in calculation of totals?
• Points possible (nominal max possible not 0)
• Weight (if weighted)
• Detailed statistics
• Access column attributes via column header in
  gradebook

• All cells store either a number (score) or a
  string. Display As
• Score
• Complete/incomplete
• Percentage
• Letter grade
• Text
• etc.
• Display As controls both input and output

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Entering grades

• Access cells
• By clicking on them individually
• Via column header
• Click the name of item on the top of the column
• Click 'Item Grade List
• Type each students score into corresponding box
  (Use Tab key to move from cell to cell)
• Enter scores
• As numbers (raw scores)
• As percentages (of pts possible) if output set to
  percentage
• As letters (translated to score using pts
  possible)

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Notes columns

• Columns can also hold text. Useful for
• Notes to instructor and GTFs(set column to
  invisible)
• Notes to student
• Setup
• Include in score calculations No
• Display as Text
• Make item available to users No
• Beware is B a letter grade or a text note
  (with score of 0)? It all depends.

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Online quizzes

• Quizzes consist of
• A set of questions
• A link to the questions in a content area
• A gradebook column that holds all answers and
  computes overall score
• Create link (and maybe questions) with Add Test
• Many options for question type and mode of
  presentation
• When student takes quiz, multiple choice
  questions are automatically scored and grades
  entered
• Surveys are similar, but record only aggregate
  data and whether student completed it

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Assignments

• Create a homework assignment in a content area
  using Add Assignment (pulldown list)
• Student accesses this link and uploads Word
  document (or whatever) as attachment
• Instructor views uploaded document in gradebook,
  assigns grade, maybe adds comments
• Student sees comments in View Grades or by
  returning to the assignment link
• N.B. use this tool instead of digital dropbox

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Grading rubrics

• Simplest is to sum raw scores into Total
• All columns have a score, e.g. percent converted
  back to score complete/incomplete unchecked if
  score is blank
• Only include in calculation columns are
  included
• Points Possible also summed
• Weighted columns
• By item
• By category
• Use Points Possible to indicate full credit for
  assessment.
• Assign percentage weight for item or category in
  total
• Special challenges
• drop the lowest score
• Extra credit

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Example rubric and gradebook 1

• SyllabusYour grade will be computed by combining
  scores in the following overall categories for a
  total of 200 points

• Gradebook
• 4 columns in gradebook, all included in totals
• No weighting
• Points possible set to 60, 20, 120, 0
• Hide Weighted Total column
• Set display of columns to score. Maybe set
  Total to letter or add a separate Final Grade
  column not included in calculation

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Example rubric and gradebook 2

• SyllabusAll grades will be given as letters
  (A-F). Your final grade will be based on the
  following

• Gradebook
• 3 columns in gradebook, all included in totals
• Points possible for each set to 100
• Weight by item, with weights set to 30, 20, 50
• Hide Total column
• Set display of columns to letter
• Enter grades as letters
• Extra credit, if any, as part of participation

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Grading gotchas

• Instead of displaying as percentage, consider
  points possible 100 then display as score
• Enter letters only in columns set to display as
  letter (new version of Bb enforces this)
• Always set a non-zero points possible if
• Using weighting
• Entering or displaying grades as anything except
  score
• Beware rounding. Score of 89.5 displays as
  89.5, 90, or B

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More gotchas weighted grades

• Once you enable weighted grades, you cant
  disable
• Weights must always sum to 100
• No obvious way to do extra credit
• If weighting by category, then all items in a
  category have same weight the specified weight
  is for category as a whole

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More gotchas management

• No way to freeze the first column, so confusing
  if you have many columns
• If you accidentally click the triangle at top of
  a column gradebook will be sorted by that
• Be especially careful if multiple people (GTFs)
  will be entering grades

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Uploading and downloading gradebooks

• Download from blackboard to .csv file
• View result using Excel
• Useful for
• Complex grade manipulations
• Backup
• Upload of final grades to Banner

• Upload from Excel file (saved as .csv)
• Must use blackboard format edited copy of
  downloaded file!
• Blackboard prompts for which column and rows to
  import, and where to put them in gradebook

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The discussion board

• A general-purpose tool for student participation
• Asynchronous (like email)
• Threaded
• Hierarchical structure
• Discussion board
• Forum
• Thread
• Message

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Setting up a discussion board

• Create forum (or link to existing one) in any
  content area using Add Discussion Board
  (pulldown list)
• Choose appropriate forum settings
• Can control who posts, who manages, what sorts of
  posts are allowed, etc.
• Admin can remove posts
• Freeze a forum by blocking all users from posting
• Post a message to start a new thread

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Typical uses of discussion board

• Post a question and solicit answers/comments
• Forum for unstructured discussion
• Allow students to post assignments/website
  critiques/projects for peer review
• Mid-term course evaluation
• Signup sheets
• Brainstorming, test review, Dumb Questions,
  FAQ,

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Some further discussion board reading

• UO Teaching Effectiveness web pages
  http//tep.uoregon.edu/technology/communication/
  communication.html
• Ko, Susan Rossen, S. (2001). Teaching online a
  practical guide. Boston Houghton Mifflin.
• Lynch, Marguerita (2002). The online educator A
  guide to creating the virtual classroom.
  Routledge/Farmer.
• Palloff, R. M. Pratt, K. (1999). Building
  Learning Communities in Cyberspace Effective
  Strategies for the Online Classroom. Jossey-Bass.
• Southworth, Howie, et al. (2006). Blackboard for
  Dummies. Wiley.

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Common tasks adding course support staff

• We create blackboard accounts for all students,
  instructors, and most staff, so your GTF will
  already have a blackboard account. We enroll all
  instructors and students in the right
  coursesites, but don't have information on GTFs,
  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
• N.B. You can't create accounts for non-UO
  people.

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

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Common tasks activating your site making it
available to students

• 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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Common tasks 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
• Visit the OLD course control panel
• Click Course Copy, then Copy Course Materials
  into an Existing Course
• Browse for the destination course
• Select materials to copy (do not copy enrollment
  information)

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Developing course materials

• Faculty develop their own materials
• Center for Educational Technologies (Room 19
  Knight Library) provides training and resources,
  and limited production assistance
• Library and Teaching Effectiveness Program
  provide additional guidance, especially in how to
  use tools effectively for teaching
• Some departments assign GTFs or clerical staff to
  Blackboard support and development
• Library can provide assistance in locating
  materials (reference material for students and
  learning objects for instructors)

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Helping students use Blackboard

• Most students need no help using basic features
  of system
• Refer student questions
• Login refer to Computing Center if cant log in
  to email
• Knight Library ITC (only common problems are
  first-time login and realizing that not all
  courses use blackboard)
• http//blackboard.uoregon.edu/local/help.html
• For distance ed, department must provide
  additional tech support
• Typical text for a syllabus
• This course uses "Blackboard,"
  http//blackboard.uoregon.edu. On the coursesite,
  you will find general announcements for the
  class, all documents for the course (including
  this syllabus), lecture notes, on-line
  discussions, links to relevant web sites, and
  more. You can get help starting by going to the
  Knight Library Information Technology Center
  (ITC).
• Plan to check the course site at least twice a
  week. In addition,

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For more information

• This presentationhttp//darkwing.uoregon.edu/jq
  j/presentations/bb-1.ppt
• University of Oregon Blackboard site
  http//blackboard.uoregon.edu
• UO Blackboard help filehttp//libweb.uoregon.edu
  /cet/blackboard/help/
• UO Center for Educational Technologies
  http//libweb.uoregon.edu/cet/
• JQ Johnson jqj_at_uoregon.edu