Blackboard 6 for Instructors: Getting started with Blackboard at UO

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Blackboard 6 for InstructorsGetting started
with Blackboard at UO

• JQ JohnsonAcademic Education CoordinatorUniversi
  ty of Oregonjqj_at_darkwing.uoregon.edu
• Nichole Johnson
• ndenison_at_gladstone.uoregon.edu

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This presentation

• Blackboard at the University of Oregon
• an introduction for instructors with minimal
  previous blackboard experience
• The institutional context
• A students view of a typical course
• How does an instructor use Blackboard?
• Discussion whats in it for me?

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This series
Mon, Apr 5 Blackboard for InstructorsThe UO's
Blackboard course information system is used by
many instructors to provide an online component
for their courses. If you're thinking of
incorporating Blackboard in your course for this
term, here's a chance to see some of the things
you can use it for and learn how to get started.
No prerequisites. Mon, Apr 12 Blackboard for
Instructors IIIf you've taught using the
Blackboard system but want to explore some of its
additional features, here's the workshop for you.
Depending on participant interest, we'll look at
links to full text course readings, the
Blackboard discussion board, gradebook, online
quizzes, and assessment manager for online
homework submission. Prerequisites Blackboard
for Instructors, or experience teaching with the
Blackboard system. Mon, Apr 19 Blackboard for
Instructors IIIBuilding on the materials covered
in Blackboard for Instructors II, this workshop
will focus on additional features of the
blackboard system, including more advanced
gradebook usage, building online lessons as
"learning units" and SCORM-compatible learning
objects, using course cartridges, and locating
learning objects for use in your coursesite.
Additional topics based on participant interest.
Prerequisites Blackboard for Instructors II.
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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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Timeline of UO Blackboard project

• Need assessment (1996-1999) evaluated a variety
  of course management systems
• Evaluation (spring 1999) trial courses using
  WebCT and Blackboard
• Implementation (summer 1999-spring 2000)
  licensed Blackboard for pilot project
• Production (summer 2000) Blackboard becomes
  standard library service
• Upgrade (fall 2003) to Blackboard 6 Learning
  System (aka Enterprise Edition)
• Upgrade (Apr 2004) to Blackboard 6.1 LS

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Results to date consistent growth in usage

• Statistics as of Mar 2004
• 15,471 student users (2/3 of university
  population)
• 698 active winter-term Banner (CRN) coursesites
• 801 faculty, GTFs, and staff teaching using
  Blackboard winter 2003
• Approximately 1,000,000 web server hits/day
• Approximately 12,000 logins/day

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The UO Blackboard home page

• http//blackboard.uoregon.edu

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Field trip
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A Blackboard CourseSite
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Course Documents
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Lecture Notes
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Integrated discussion forum
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Online quizzes
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Typical UO Blackboard users

• Courses in almost every discipline
• Some use for true distance ed, but most is for
  hybrid courses, supplementing face to face
• Different instructors use different features
• Different instructors have different pedagogical
  goals

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Example Intro to Business (200302.20694 and
.20695)

• Large lecture course (600 students/term) with
  minimal staff support
• Pedagogical goal Blackboard primarily used to
  improve/streamline course administration
• Course announcements
• Just in time lecture notes
• FAQ (reduce demand for office hours)
• Posting grades securely
• Active learning through on-line self-assessments
  (quizzes with immediate feedback), demos,
  external links, real-world examples

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Example Psychology of Gender (200302.24206)

• Discussion/lecture course (70 students)
• Blackboard used for
• Course management (e.g. grade distribution)
• Copies of all announcements, handouts, and
  lecture notes online for student convenience
  (just in case publishing)
• Collaborative learning through online discussion
  
• Extends in-class discussion beyond normal class
  time
• Creates sense of community despite lecture format
• Different students perform well on-line (e.g.
  non-native English speakers)
• Students generally more thoughtful when posting
  than speaking
• Access to readings (all course readings are on
  line)

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Getting started

• All instructors and students have accounts. Log
  in as you would to modem pool, e.g.
• Username jqj_at_darkwing
• Password my darkwing password
• Coursesites are created automatically for all UO
  CRN courses each term.
• (except individualized study)
• 4xx/5xx -- instructor chooses separate or merged
• Instructors can request a merged site combining
  CRNs
• UO instructor of record is Blackboard
  instructor
• Default to unavailable to students you must
  activate before use (after adding some course
  content)

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Getting started (continued)

• 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
• Most instructors start slow first term teaching
  with Blackboard use only a few features

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Exercise
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Developing course materials

• Faculty develop their own materials
• Faculty Instructional Training Center provides
  guidance and resources, but not labor
• Library and Teaching Effectiveness Program
  provide additional training
• 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

• Students get accounts and coursesite membership
  automatically based on CRN enrollment
• Most students need minimal or no help using
  system
• Refer student questions
• Login refer to Computing Center if cant log in
  to gladstone
• Knight Library ITC (only common problem is
  first-time login)
• http//blackboard.uoregon.edu/local/help.html
• Typical text for a syllabus
• The web site for this course uses "Blackboard."
  On the web site, 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 to the course web
  site by going to http//blackboard.uoregon.edu.
  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, you should post contributions
  to the online discussion list at least 4 times
  during the term (and no more than twice a week).

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Demo adding some coursesite content
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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
• Test (link to online quiz)
• Assignment (student submission form), on pulldown
  menu

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Common tasks adding your syllabus

• 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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Common tasks 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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Common tasks adding course support staff

• We create blackboard accounts for all students,
  instructors, and most staff, so the 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

• 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 appropriate for
  an undergraduate assistant who should not be able
  to see other students' grades)
• N.B. You can't create accounts for non-UO
  people.

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Common tasks 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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Common tasks changing guest access

• Guests (including strangers logged in as
  preview) can view portions of your site
• No guest access ever to private student
  information (roster, discussion board, gradebook)
• Change access if you wish
• Settings ? Guest Access sets overall access
• Manage Course Menu ? "Modify" allows you to set
  guest access for particular areas.

Default allow guest access to course
information, external links, maybe announcements
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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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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.)
• Threaded discussion forum
• Gradebook (if only for securely distributing
  grades to students)

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Features in moderate use

• Online quizzes (usually low-stakes e.g.,
  self-assessment), usually built using Respondus
• Surveys
• Group communication features
• Assignment manager (for student-submitted
  assignments)
• E-mail interface

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Features not widely used (yet)

• Chat tools
• Student web pages
• Integrated calendar, todo lists
• Programmed instruction (learning units, SCORM
  content, etc.)
• Course cartridges (publisher-provided content)

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Changes in Blackboard 6

• Overview
• Upgrade from Blackboard Basic v 5.5 to Blackboard
  Learning System v 6.0 completed September 2003
• Old Blackboard available until Jan 2004
• Changes behind the scenes to support more users
• New features for instructors
• New authentication system
• New mechanisms for creating coursesites
• Future more changes coming

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Changes Behind the scenes

• Scaling for use potentially by every course on
  campus
• Have been running Basic Edition, designed for
  departments and small (lt3000 student) schools
• Multiple servers replace single server
• Database server (quad processor)
• File server
• Application servers (1 now more as needed)
• Oracle database rather than mysql
• Tighter integration with Banner system (joint
  Library/Computing Center/Registrar project)
• Integration with RADIUS for authentication
• Better administrative tools

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Changes Many new features for instructors

• customizable course menu
• easy copying of material between or within
  blackboard sites
• linking between parts of your coursesite
• assignment manager (mostly replaces digital
  dropbox)
• completely reworked gradebook, quiz package, and
  chat tools
• built-in wysiwyg HTML editor
• See http//blackboard.uoregon.edu/local/whatsnew_i
  nstructors.pdf

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Changes New authentication system and course
creation

• To log in, you need
• A Computing Center (oregon/darkwing/gladstone) ID
• A Blackboard account (created automatically for
  all UO students and faculty)
• Log in as you would to modem pool, e.g.
• Username jqj_at_darkwing
• Password my darkwing password
• To change personal information
• password -- use http//password.uoregon.edu
• email, lastname, etc. -- use DuckWeb, not
  Blackboard
• No need for faculty to request coursesites, since
  they are now created automatically

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Changes Future Plans

• Default coursesite template
• New mechanisms for special cases
• More use of blackboard for non-CRN activities
• On-request coursesites for research groups,
  discussion groups, faculty organizations, etc.
  instructor must be UO faculty or staff
• Possibly automatically created sites for
  departments
• More use of blackboard by non-students?
• Non-credit courses, e.g. continuing ed, AEI
• More integration with library services, e.g.
  eReserve

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For more information

• This presentationhttp//darkwing.uoregon.edu/jq
  j/ presentations/bb6intro.ppt
• University of Oregon Blackboard site
  http//blackboard.uoregon.edu
• Frequently Asked Questions (and
  answers)http//libweb.uoregon.edu/aec/bb/faq/
• UO Blackboard 6 help filehttp//blackboard.uoreg
  on.edu/local/
• UO Faculty Instructional Technology Training
  Center http//libweb.uoregon.edu/fittc/
• JQ Johnson jqj_at_darkwing.uoregon.edu