Category:Blackboard - Faculty

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Standard Practices

The Basics!

Standard practices are the conventions followed by faculty and the Blackboard support staff in order to guarantee that the semester, in this case, starts smoothly. Adhering standard practices guarantee a common experience: students are added to the courses on the same day. It also helps guarantee clear, commonly understood communication between instructors and Teaching with Technology staff.

  1. Students are added to course shells two days prior to the start of the semester.
  2. Instructors can communicate with students before they are added to shells
  3. Instructors are responsible for activating their course shells; students will not be able to participate in, or even see, course shells until they're activated. The exception are courses taught completely online.
  4. Course shells are identified by the year/semester - department and course number - course section Example: 201740-hist1010-80 Semester designations: Spring: 10 - Summer: 25 - Fall: 40 - Winter: 50


Transfer course content

Until recently there have been two two means for requesting a transfer, an online form and the Help Desk (HD). Recently these options have been narrowed to the Help Desk alone. The form was a legacy tool we'd used prior to the advent of the Help Desk. After the HD came into being we kept the form until people became accustomed to the Help Desk. Four years on the HD is an established feature of the technology environment at William Paterson and the form has been terminated.

To request a transfer please access the Help Desk:
http://www.wpunj.edu/helpdesk
and select the request types Blackboard and Course Transfer Request.

Enter the department, semester, the four-digit course number and two digit course section for both the origin and destination courses. Enter special directions in the Request Detail interface.

Do it Yourself Option Use the Control Panel Packages and Utilities tab to save a copy of an existing course and upload it into a new shell: Export, Archive, and Restore Courses


Create course shells from sections which are associated by cross-listing or multi-sections

The form to request merging course shells: https://libservices.wpunj.edu/irt/bb/combine/default.cfm

Note: Until very recently solution available to us was the Merge (Combine). The availability of the Master option gives faculty more choices, so please consult this link to decide which solution is best for you.

http://bit.ly/wpunj-bb-mergemaster

Merge 1. Students from the child sections -02, -03 and -60 are diverted to the parent section -01. 2. Child sections are inactive and are unavailable to students. All course activity takes place in the parent shell. 3. Merge is a good option for cross-listed course in which a course has two designations but takes place in one classroom. Another example is the case of multi-section courses taught by the same instructor.


Master 1. Students from client shells are added to a master section. The master section exists apart from the shells from which the students are drawn. 2. The client course shells are autonomous and can be used to host content and interaction apart from that which takes place in the master shell. 3. Master is a good option for lecture/lab courses in which separate course shells are needed for the differing needs of course content and delivery.

Cross-listed and multi-section courses can be combined into one shell in order to reduce duplicated posting. An instructor or team of instructors teaching multiple sections of one course might find it to their advantage to put all the content into a single shell rather than replicating it across three shells, for example. Please follow the instructions below to request merging a course shell. Requests should be made before the beginning of the semester; waiting until the first week of classes to ask for a merge could result in delayed fulfillment of the request!

  • Point your web browser to https://libservices.wpunj.edu/irt/bb/combine/default.cfm
  • In the first section fill out the department, course number and section of both the parent course (the one that will be used) and the children. In the example below the parent course is History 1050-01 and the children are History 1050 sections -02 and -60.
    Merge 1 650.png
  • Include any special comments or questions in the next section of the interface
    Merge 2 600.png
  • Finally please tell us your name and email address. If more than one instructor is involved only one member of the team needs to be listed.
    Merge 3 625.jpg

NOTE:

A Combine request can also be made through the Web Help Desk: http://www.wpunj.edu

But for the best service please include the department designations (e.g Hist, Bio) the course number (1010, 1300, etc.) and the section number (-01, -60, -80, etc.) for all the courses involved.


Activate course shell

There are two ways to one might activate a course shell. Remember that students will not see course content, or even a link to the course, until it has been activated.


The new way: Qwickly

  • On the My Blackboard page select Faculty: Set Course Availability in the Tools menu (upper left):
    New-qwickly1-0813-325.png
  • Click ON to activate a course and OFF to deactivate (at the end of the semester, for example)
    Q course activate 2 230.jpg


The old way: Course properties

  • In the Control Panel (bottom left corner of the course shell) select Customization, then Properties
    Course activate 1 210.png
  • In area number three select availability to Yes
    Course activate 2 360.png
  • Finish by clicking the Submit button
    Course activate 3 400.png


Communicate with students before they've been added to course shells


View Student Roster

After students have been added to course shells (see the first unit of the Standard Practices module) start by selecting Users in the Control Panel:

  • Control Panel => Users and Groups => Users
    Roster-1-0813-225.png
  • The Roster:
    Roster-2-0813-500.png


 

Beginning of the semester

Which Blackboard tasks are most useful in the period leading up to the start of the semester? Content can be moved from previous semesters to coming semester, old course shells can be hidden and new shells can be activated for student use, Many of the items below are covered above in the Standard Practices area. Do you have questions or need support? Please file a ticket with the Online Help Desk: http://www.wpunj.edu/helpdesk/


Transfer: Course Content Request: Merge Course Shells Export/Archive Courses Edit Blackboard Profile
Activate: Course Shells Generate: the Course Roster Change: Course Entry Point Email Students Before the Semester
Change: Language Pack Import a course package Hide course shells Move the ad module

 

Blackboard: Getting Started

This area covers basic information including a tour of the Blackboard interface, using course-to-course navigation and learning the importance of Action Link.

A catalog of close to 60 short videos on every aspect of Blackboard!

Introducing Bb 9.1 Your Course Environment Using the Course Shell Interface Tour
Blackboard Action Link! Faculty Handbook The New 2012 Theme Course-to-course Navigation
Bb On Demand Learning Building your Course Communication/Collaboration Assessing Learners
Java Troubleshooting Adding unregistered students Sys Requirements/Downloads Edit Mode

 

Course Building

Instructor Features Edit Course Menu Add: a Course Banner Change Course Entry Point
Upload a file [PDF] Student Preview Add an External Link Use: the Text Editor
Create: A Learning Module Create: A Lesson Plan Add video to an Announcement Embed an NJVid Video

 

Collaboration

Blackboard provides a number of tools for interacting with students, including discussion boards, journals, blogs and wikis. Do you have questions or need support? Please file a ticket with the Online Help Desk: http://www.wpunj.edu/helpdesk/


General
Post an Announcement Send an Email
       
Discussion Board      
Create a Forum Create a Thread Reply to a thread Grading Threads
Search/Collect Posts Create/Edit Settings Moderating Insert an in-line image
Discussion Board Fix 01.17      
       
Journal      
A Journal is a tool used for ongoing communication between student & instructor
Create a Journal Create and Edit Entries Comment on an Entry Bb Corp Journal Site
       
Blog      
A Blog is a tool used for ongoing communication between student & the class
Create a Blog Create/Edit Entries Comments  
       
Wiki      
Create a Wiki Add rich content Edit a Wiki Linking Pages
View Page History Grading a Wiki    
       
Google Docs, Sharing      
Share Google Docs within Bb  
       
Groups      
Create, Add students Basics, PDF    
       
Blackboard Collaborate      
A tool for synchronous video chat, office hours, & lecture capture
Collaborate Support documents, videos and links the IT Wiki
Collaborate Help Desk, provided by Blackboard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year!

 

Content Collection

The content collection is one of the most underutilized tools in in the Blackboard suite. In this section learn to transfer content across courses within and between semesters. Why upload ten documents one at a time when you can upload them all in one package and then create links to that content in several courses this semester and throughout course shells semesters to come!


Content Collection Manual Create: Folder Add: Files Link: Files to Multiple Courses
Add: Zipped Files Download a package Email a file  

 

Grade Center

Grade Center 9.1 Create: Smart View View: Grade Details Customize: Grade Center View
Create: Grade Center Report Grading With Rubrics Create: Grading Rubric Associate: Rubric with an Item
Create: A Grading Rule View: Grade History Download: Grade Center Learn: Needs Grading Page
Create: A Weighted Column

 

Assessments

Assignments Create an Assignment Inline Assignment Grading Best Practices
Tests, Surveys, Pools Tests: Import/Deploy/Options Test Options (video) Test Availability Exceptions
Working with Pools Surveys: Create, Deploy, Review Export: Test or Survey Clear Test Attempt
Instructors guide / Turn-it-in Tii Instructors manual Use: The Negative Points Tool Clearing Assessments
Survey Results Working with Grade Data Multiple Assignment Submissions  

 

Course Reports & Retention Center

This tool provides an easy way for you to discover which students in your course are at risk.

Retention Center, PDF Quick Hit video: 1:43 min. On Demand video: 4:30 min. Retention Center in Action
Reports: Course Reports Observe Student Activity Discern Usage of Course Tools
  Detailed Course Reports Evaluation Module  

 

Portfolios

Introduction: Access Portfolio About Portfolios Create Portfolio Portfolio Artifacts
Share Portfolio

 

End of the Semester

Export course Archive a course (machine readable) Restore/Import Archive/Export/Restore [Doc]

 

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