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During the break between summer and fall semesters Blackboard will be upgraded to version 9.1 Q4 2015. This upgrade will also include several service pack upgrades to take us from our current Blackboard Learn 9.1 SP 13 version. Upgrading to the Blackboard Learn 9.1 Q4 2015 release gives us a number of exciting new features as well as a few bug fixes. New features include:

1) Student Preview: With the new Student Preview, instructors can navigate their courses just as their students would. The Student Preview feature provides a new button that appears in the breadcrumb bar next to the course Themes and Edit Mode buttons and is shaped like an eye.

View short video: Student Preview [2:23]
View more information about Student Preview

Note: With the new Student Preview feature available, test students are no longer needed. The "Add Test Student" course tool will be removed and all test student accounts will be removed from Blackboard after the upgrade.

2) Date Management: Once a course has been copied, professors can update the dates of items in the course from one location.

View short video: Date Management [3:12]
View more information about Date Management

3) Groups Management: Now, you can easily see which students are in a group, which groups have been active, modify group membership and export group memberships among classes.

View short video: Groups Management [2:44]
View more information about Groups Management

4) Grade Center Improvements: There are a few new improvements to the Grade Center:

  • Grade Schemas allow an A+ to be more than 100%.
  • The "Options" page allows you to set the "Score Attempts Using" option. This is a workflow improvement that ensures you can easily find this setting for all tools that support multiple attempts.
  • Test total points adjustment: This enhancement address several related needs, all revolving around the total points possible for tests, and needing to adjust the total points possible.
View more information about Grade Center Improvements

5) My Grades: My Grades has an ordering and design update. The My Grades page provides students with a new default option for the order their grades are displayed in.

View more information about My Grades

6) Inline Grading: Inline Grading has been updated to include discussion boards, journals, wikis, and blogs.

View short video: Improved Inline Grading [2:02]
View more information about Inline Grading

7) Anonymous Grading: You can add another layer of fairness and impartiality to your grading by using the anonymous grading feature. The anonymous grading feature allows you to hide student's names while grading.

View more information about Anonymous Grading

8) Delegated Grading: When there are multiple instructors assigned to a course, you can delegate who grades which assignments, or delegate a specific person to grade everything for a specific set of students.

View more information about Delegated Grading

9) Significant Figures in Calculated Formula Test Questions: You can now select the number of decimal places or significant figures for generated correct answers.

View more information about Significant Figures in Calculated Formula Test Questions

10) SafeAssign Integration: SafeAssign is now integrated with the Assignment tool. SafeAssign originality reports are viewed in the Grade Center where you also have access to the Inline Grading feature.

View short video: Deeper SafeAssign Integration [3:44]
View more information about Deeper SafeAssign Integration

11) SafeAssign Originality Reports: SafeAssign reports have a redesigned format.

View more information about SafeAssign Originality Reports

12) Course Message Notifications: You can now be notified of new messages in the My Blackboard Updates area, the What's New Module, and in your email.

View more information about Course Message Notifications

13) Thread-to-Thread Navigation in Discussion Boards: Users are able to navigate to the next or previous thread in a discussion from the Thread Detail page without having to navigate back up to the Discussion Forum page.

14) Special Characters in Assignment Titles: When a user uploads a file and the filename contains special characters (such as / \ : ? * " < > |), the system will replace the special character with an underscore (_).

15) Microsoft Edge Browser Support: The Microsoft Edge (Windows 10) browser is now supported.

Want more information?

Get more information about the new features of Blackboard Learn 9.1 Service Pack 14 and April 2014 Release.
Sign up for a Blackboard workshop or stop by one of the drop-in sessions for one-on-one help.
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Check out help for instructors at help.blackboard.com.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

4

by Janice Florent

game board

Gamification is making a boring process interesting by using fun elements from games. Gamification is not the same as playing a game. Educators have been using gamification even before there was an official term for it.

Yu-kai Chou (2015) defines gamification as:

The craft of deriving fun and engaging elements found typically in games and thoughtfully applying them to real-world or productive activities.

Why Use Gamification?

Clearly gamification is a motivation tool. So why would you take the time to set-up a gamification component to your courses? In an LearnDash blog post Justin Ferriman lists some benefits of gamification to consider. Those benefits are:

  • Provides Instant Feedback – learners instantly receive feedback on their understanding of the course content which in turn highlights what they need to spend more time reviewing.
  • Prompts Change in Behavior – Certain behaviors are reinforced by granting learners the ability to earn points and badges. This is even more true if these points and badges can be “cashed in” for something tangible or real.
  • Better Learning Experience – Gamification offers the opportunity for learners to engage with the content in various ways.
  • Safe To Fail – Gamification isn’t always about rewards but can also incorporate the “loss” of a reward. This makes it safe for people to fail and to learn from those mistakes.

What is considered as fun in games?

Winning or beating an opponent is an obvious answer. However, pleasure is also derived from activities such as:

  • problem-solving
  • exploring
  • creating
  • imagining
  • collecting
  • role-playing
  • collaborating
  • simply chilling out

What gaming elements can be used in the learning process?

Gamification strategies include elements such as gamifying grading, incentivizing students with rewards and adding competitive elements such as leaderboards. From the non-exhaustive list of gaming components and mechanics, here are a few from a Bright Classroom Ideas blog post by Savas Savides, which can be particularly useful to educators:

  • Narrative - Nothing can beat a well-told captivating story, whether you are a child or an adult. Text, audio, video, cartoon, they all have the same denominator: a storyline.
  • Progression - Learners need to know they are acquiring skills and getting better. Student portfolios and ‘can-do’ statements help them reflect on their own learning.
  • Challenges - Tasks should be easy enough to tackle, but hard enough to challenge and motivate. And, following the previous point on progression, they should have a gradually rising level of difficulty.
  • Competition - Motivates students to perform better. Through competition, students not only do what is required to accomplish the required goals, but also do the best they can do. Competition allows the students to come forward with better ideas and clearly highlight their skills in front of their teacher and classmates. Competition is closely linked to rewards.
  • Cooperation - Apart from competing against each other, students also like working together. Never miss an opportunity to form pairs or groups to work on a project. It is more fun than working alone.
  • Rewards - With tangible rewards there is always the danger that they may substitute for the intrinsic motivation. It is better to use intangible rewards (e.g. points). Remember that the game is ultimately its own reward.
  • Win States - When the outcome is a winner.
  • Achievements - Create tangible things that serve as proof of student achievement. They can be certificates, posters, photos, videos etc.
  • Badges - Another tangible proof of individual achievement. They can be stickers, stamps, even your own drawings on the board.
  • Leaderboards - A classification of all learners-participants according to their performance. A really powerful motivational tool.
  • Points - Instant intangible rewards that help create leaderboards.
  • Teams - Either working with each other in a team or cooperating to beat another team, students can overcome shyness and benefit immensely.

A well-designed gamified course can grab and keep students’ attention, improve students’ knowledge retention, and improve students’ overall success in the course. Gamification may not suit everyone. But for those who use it, the benefits of gamification can be substantial.

Image credit: image by Skitterphoto from Pixabay

by Janice Florent

A few years ago we offered an iPads: Possibilities for Teaching and Learning workshop. Since then I have answered a number of questions from faculty about the iPad. I came across Mark Anderson’s Ten Things Every Educator Should Know about Their iPad blog post. I’m sharing the link to his blog post with you as I believe some of these tips may be things you did not know about the iPad and hopefully will help you to get the most out of your iPad.

Additionally, here are 20 iPad Tips and Tricks from the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Research at Western Illinois University that you may find helpful as well.

by Janice Florent

hourglass in the foreground and a clock in the background

Managing your time when teaching an online class can be a bit of a challenge. How do you manage time when there are no set course hours and when the classroom is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week? Online instructors need to develop effective time management behaviors to be efficient and not just busy.

In a Faculty Focus article, Dr. Deborah A. Raines shared ten strategies she uses to manage her time. Those strategies are:

  1. Roll call – Take attendance on the first day. A simple discussion board with a response of “I’m here” alerts you to who has not found the classroom site.
  2. Syllabus quiz – Give a syllabus quiz during the first week. This quiz provides an opportunity for students to experience the online testing environment and provides an incentive for students to read the syllabus and other important information.
  3. Ask the class – Create an “ask the class” discussion area where students can ask general questions and encourages students to respond to each other.
  4. To-do list – Create a to-do list as the first item in each module. This item provides an introduction to and guidelines on how to approach the material in the module.
  5. Establish rules and expectations – Disseminate clear and consistent rules and expectations such as when to turn in assignments, the beginning and ending date of units, turn-around time for responses to questions or feedback on assignments.
  6. Private office – Create a dropbox or private journal function for students to communicate with you on confidential matters.
  7. Roadmap to success – Write a clear and concise document of student expectations, responsibilities and accountability for learning.
  8. Take advantage of tools and technology – Use online tools within the learning management system such as student tracking, testing automation, self-grading or rubrics added to assignment dropboxes, to increase your efficiency. In general, handle each item only once—if you open an item, do something with it, don’t just peek and plan to come back later.
  9. Establish a routine – Set your schedule. Get in the habit of going to your online courses at consistent times and know what you are going to do while at the course site.
  10. Don’t re-invent – Use existing resources. There are a number of quality learning activities available on the web. Using existing resources can reduce the time needed to develop similar materials.

For more information you can read Dr. Raines’ blog post Be Efficient, Not Busy: Time Management Strategies for Online Teaching.

Photo credit: time is money by ewvasquez2001 | CC BY 2.0