Welcome Im Connie Weber

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Welcome Im Connie Weber
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• Connie Weber
• Senior Manager, Blackboard Training (4 years)
• Education
• Florida State University, B.A. English,
  Psychology
• University of Kentucky, M.A. English
• Additional Blackboard Experience
• Distance Learning Coordinator Guilford
  Technical Community
• College (Greensboro, NC) 5 years
• Online English Instructor Introduction to
  Literature, Professional Writing, Expository
  Writing, Argument-based Research
• Online Course Developer North Carolina
  Community College System

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Whats New in Release 9
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Whats New Highlights in Release 9.0

• Engagement
• New Communication and Social Networking Tools
• Scholar Social Bookmarking
• Peer Review
• Blogs
• Journals
• Virtual Classroom

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Whats New Highlights in Release 9.0

• Assessment
• New Assessment Tools
• Additional Question Types (18 total)
• SafeAssign Plagiarism Detection
• Early Warning System
• Performance Dashboard
• Course Dashboard
• Groups Dashboard

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Whats New Highlights in Release 9.0

• Openness
• Flexibility to add to Blackboard
• Building Blocks to add functionality
• Links with other 3rd Party Tools (e.g. Wimba)
• Integration with Facebook Platform
• New Language Packs

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Engage Web 2.0 Interface

• Challenge
• Solution
• Increase student engagement and access to
  information
• Simplify and organize your learning environment
• Provides access to it from anywhere

I need to make sure my students stay engaged. If
they get frustrated and fall behind ... my
institution risks losing them.
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Engage - Web 2.0 Interface
Enriches Educational Experiences.
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Engage - Enhanced Accessibility

• Challenge
• Solution
• Supports students with special accessibility
  needs
• Enables quick organization of information
• Allows tailoring styles based on individual needs

I cant buy technology thats not accessible.
Online learning has to provide an open door for
all of our users.
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Engage Enhanced Accessibility
Content Re-Ordering
Opens Up the Campus Environment.
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Engage - Blogs and Journals
Drive Active and Collaborative Learning.
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Engage Improved Group Tools

• Challenge
• Solution
• Drive interactive and social learning
• Enable collaboration in the course environment
• Save time and enhance experiences by managing all
  group activities in one place

My students need to develop 21st century skills
including problem solving and critical thinking.
Group work is one of the best ways to enable
this. - Geography
Teacher
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Engage Improved Group Tools
Saves Time and Enriches Educational Experiences.
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Engage - Community Engagement and Academic
Collaboration

• Challenge
• Solution
• Promotes formal and informal learning outside the
  classroom
• Supports campus wide communities and groups
• Creates efficient workspace for groups to share
  and communicate

Engagement at my institution also takes place
outside of online classes. It takes place in
communities, committees and research groups.
Director Academic
Technologies
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Engage - Community Engagement and Academic
Collaboration
Enable a World of Engaging Experiences.
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Assess SafeAssign and Grade Center

• Challenge
• Solution
• Focus on teaching with less time spent checking
  for plagiarism

My classes are big and I need to evaluate my
students without taking a lot of time.
- Math Teacher
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Assess SafeAssign and Grade Center
Improve Educator Efficiency.
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Assess - Expanded Quizzing

• Challenge
• Solution
• Greatly expand the available quiz questions to
  enable richer assessment

I have many different ways that I need to
challenge my students on quizzes. I dont want
multiple choice I want multiple questions to
choose from! -
Engineering Professor
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Assess - Expanded Quizzing
Enables Richer Assessment Creation.
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Assess Teacher and Student Dashboards

• Challenge
• Solution
• Informs educators of student activities
• Ensures timely feedback on assignments
• Delivers student information on whats new and due

I have a lot of students online doing a lot of
great things across all of our courses. My fear
is not being able to support their activities.
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Assess Teacher and Student Dashboards
Increase Visibility and Support.
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Assess - Self and Peer Assessment

• Challenge
• Solution
• Provide students with a means to review their
  progress and the progress of their peers

I want my students to be able to work with one
another to improve the quality of their
experiences. That is what constructivist learning
is all about. - Computer Science Teacher
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Assess - Peer and Self Assessment
Improves the Quality of Learning.
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Openness New Language Capability

• Challenge
• Solution
• Learn in multiple languages at personal, course
  and system level
• Easily develop and share custom languages for
  your institution

Invariably our students need to work in multiple
languages within a course, across the
institution, and with peers globally
- Dir Student Services
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Openness Blackboard Learns Languages

• Arabic (Right to Left)
• Brazilian Portuguese
• Chinese (simplified)
• Chinese (traditional)

• Swedish
• English (US)
• K12 (US)
• Professional
• Education (US)

• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Russian
• Spanish

• Dutch
• English (UK)
• Finnish
• French

denotes Blackboard Learn for Outcomes
Assessment also translated
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Openness - EduGarage and Community Development

• Challenge
• Solution
• Supports customers with open architecture, tools
  and a development community
• Support needs for open source development and
  customization
• Strong Partnerships

My users are into everything! I need to
integrate the tools they use. Give me a framework
to work with. - CIO
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Openness - EduGarage and Community Development
Expand Your Learning Ecosystem.
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Openness - Scholar

• Challenge
• Solution
• Leverages communities outside your institution
• Share access based on areas of interest
• Utilizes open learning to expand resources

My students and I need to connect with
colleagues from around the world to engage in
research and communities of practice.
Professor, Medicine
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Openness - Scholar
Connects Communities of Practice.
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Openness Integration with the Facebook Platform

• Challenge
• Solution
• Brings the learning to where students are on
  Facebook
• Opens up learning to meet student expectations
• Pushes Blackboard course updates

Whenever Im online, Im on Facebook. I need
Blackboard to come to me not the other way
around. Student
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Openness Integration with the Facebook Platform
Provides Access from Anywhere.
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Possible Learning Outcomes (UNSW WikiSpaces)

• Information Literacy
• Global Practice
• Digital Literacy
• Selfdirected Learning
• Giving and Receiving Feedback
• Working in Teams
• Critical Reviewing
• Written Communication
• Oral Communication
• Presentation Skills

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Relevant Activities

• Sharing and reviewing online resources
• Connecting with outside experts
• Problem/case-based learning
• Project planning and management
• Self-tests
• Collaborative writing
• Group negotiation and planning
• Publishing
• Reflections
• Debating

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• Plan your instruction first,
• Choose the technology to support it.

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Case Study

• Introduction to Literature
• Students usually unprepared for discussion
• Some students dominate discussion
• Others never participate
• Difficult to assess participation
• Some students lack analytical skills
• I dont get it
• Some students lack vocabulary for discussion
• Some students plagiarize sources in their papers
• Difficult to monitor group projects
• Student writing lacks authenticity

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Strategies

• Self-testing to direct reading
• Online discussion to encourage critical thinking
• Additional resources to support remedial students
• SafeAssign to identify plagiarism
• Peer review to encourage sense of audience
• Social Bookmarking to share resources
• Group discussions/blogs to monitor participation
• Journals to reflect on learning
• Assignment drafts to provide feedback

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Sample Lesson

• Pre-Class Assignment
• Reading Assignment
• Background Notes
• Self-test to assess understanding
• Journal to reflect on 1st impressions
• Discussion Question online to prepare thoughts
• Post-class Assignment
• Journal to reflect on changed thoughts
• Shared online resource discussion
• Written assignment

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Sample Course

• http//b2training.blackboard.com
• User name unsw
• Password unsw