Accessible course content may benefit everyone regardless of age, ability, or situation.
Awareness of some of the potential barriers and challenges students face can help you create an online learning environment that accommodates individuals with disabilities, adult learners, novice technology users and others in ways that benefit all users. The Creating Accessible Course Content document identifies some of the challenges students face and how you can use specific Blackboard tools and universal design techniques to help all learners master your course objectives.
Instructors and students can now submit any file type to Turnitin for checking originality, grading online or distributing work for peer review. Submission file types may include PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, images, html code—whatever file type your students use for their assignments, Turnitin will accept it.
Traditionally, English instructors have used Turnitin to evaluate papers and essays for plagiarism, grammar/mechanics and other writing skills. Now, with Grade Anything, Turnitin has opened up the door for instructors in other disciplines to provide feedback and evaluate other assignment types--not just papers. This exciting new capability allows Turnitin to be used by a broader range of instructors: those who evaluate presentations or teach in disciplines such as science, math, economics, and visual arts.
No submission? No problem! Instructors can provide students with feedback using Turnitin even if there is no file submitted for the assignment, such as with a musical recital or dance performance.
Instructors in every discipline can now evaluate student learning and give rich, timely feedback regardless of the nature of the assignment.
Mia MacMeekin, who is an educator and lawyer, developed an Infographic with tips and best practices to facilitate online discussions. She writes:
The online discussion board has received differing reviews. Many believe it is a place that students simply write mini-papers, with little to no feedback. Others believe that it is a true learning tool for online courses.
A weighted grade column is a calculated column that displays the calculated result of component parts (columns and/or categories); each part is worth some percentage of the total. You can create a weighted grade based on any column and/or category in the Grade Center. For example, you can create a weighted grade column that calculates the final grade for the course. Categories such as Test, Discussion, and Assignment would be given a certain percentage of the final grade along with the percentage for other grade columns (e.g. Mid-term, Final Exam).
Follow these steps to do it.
To add a weighted column to the Grade Center:
Go to the [Control Panel] of the course you want to add a weighted column. Click on the [Grade Center] link to expand it.
Click on [Full Grade Center].
Move the mouse over the [Add Calculated Column] button and select [Weighted] from the drop down menu.
Enter a name that describes what the weighted grade column is in the Name field. Grade Center display name and description are optional.
Select how you would like the results of the weighted grade to be shown by clicking on the pull down arrow and selecting primary display from the list. Secondary display is optional and will only be shown in the Grade Center.
In the select columns section, choose which grade columns and/or categories will be used in the calculation of the weighted grade by clicking on the grade column or category and then clicking on the respective arrow to move the column/category over to the selected columns area.
Enter the weight percentage to be applied to each column/category you selected. The total weight must equal 100%.
When selecting a category you can choose to weigh columns equally or proportionally and whether to drop grades in the category or to use the highest or lowest grade in the category.
Choose whether to calculate the weighted grade as a running total which would include only the columns that have been graded in the calculation.
In the options section you should indicate whether you want to include this weighted grade column in grade center calculations, show the weighted grade column in My Grades, and show statistics for the weighted grade column in My Grades. My Grades is what is shown to your students when they go into your course.
Click [Submit] when you are finished entering all your information and selecting the options. The weighted grade column will be added as the last column in the Grade Center.
The Blackboard Learn SP13 upgrade gave us a number of exciting new features, including enhancements to Test and Surveys. The Test and Surveys enhancement gives you more control over the design and gives you flexibility over the delivery of assessments.
The enhancements to Test and Surveys are:
Adding questions to a test/survey – When creating/editing a test/survey you can add new questions exactly where you want them on the canvas by clicking the plus sign before or after another question and then choose a question type.
Test/survey availability exceptions – New settings have been added to Test and Survey Options pages to allow you to select one or more groups of students and make a number of exceptions to the already established availability settings. For example if you have a student with a disability that needs additional time to take a test, you can set an exception to give that student extra time to complete the test. You can change these settings at any time, even after the test/survey has been attempted by some students.
Due date and late submissions – This new enhancement allows instructors to decide whether to allow students to take a test/survey after the due date has passed.
Test/survey results and feedback – After students complete a test/survey, results and feedback are available to them. By setting up rules, you can set the release of progressive feedback to keep test results secure and prevent cheating.
Important: When setting an availability end date for a test, instructors should be aware that students will not be able to view their exam results and feedback in the content area where the test was deployed because after the availability end date, the exam is no longer available to them in that content area. After the availability end date, students can view their test results and feedback using the "My Grades" Tool.
You can create rules to apply color to the cells in the Grade Center. Creating color rules in the Grade Center provides visual indicators to help you interpret information quickly. For example, you can use yellow to highlight graded items with failing scores so students and columns that require attention are prominent. Also, you can assign colors to the following grading statuses: In Progress, Needs Grading, or Exempt.
By default, color coding is not enabled in the Grade Center, and to use color coding you need to enable it. After you define and save the color rules, the color coding applies to all Grade Center views.
Follow these steps to do it.
To add color coding to the Grade Center:
Go to the [Control Panel] of the course you want to add color coding to. Click on the [Grade Center] link to expand it.
Click on [Full Grade Center].
On the action bar, point to [Manage] menu, and then select [Grading Color Codes].
On the Grading Color Codes page, select the check box for Enable Grading Color Codes.
In the Color Coding Options section: For each Grading Status, click the down pointing arrows icon in the Background Color column to access the Swatch Color box.
In the Swatch Color box, select a color and click [Apply] to save it.
In the Grade Ranges section: Click [Add Criteria] to create a color rule.
In the Criteria drop-down, select Between, More Than, or Less Than.
Type a percentage in the box or boxes.
For Background Color and Text, click the down pointing arrows icon to access the Swatch Color box. Select a color and click [Apply] to save it.
Click [Add Criteria] to create an additional Grade Ranges field.
In the Grade Center, an Instructor can calculate grades by combining multiple Grade Center columns to get performance results. Calculated columns can be used to:
Calculate total points
Calculate grade based on weight
Calculate an average grade
Calculate a minimum or maximum grade
Set criteria when creating Adaptive Release and Retention Center rules
You can include a calculated column when creating another calculated column. For example, if you created a calculated column that weighs quiz grades, you can include the column when creating a final grade column.
A Total and Weighted Total column are automatically created in the Grade Center when new courses are created. You can rename, change the settings, determine which columns are included, or delete these default columns.
Follow these steps to do it.
To add a calculated column:
Go to the [Control Panel] of the course you want to add a calculated column. Click on the [Grade Center] link to expand it.
Click on [Full Grade Center].
Roll your mouse over [Create Calculated Column] and click on the type of calculated column you want to create.
Enter a name for the Calculated Column and then choose the appropriate options for the calculated column.
Creating and maintaining a repository of materials is an important part of developing Blackboard courses. With Course Files, instructors have access to their files from a central location inside their course. They can view, organize, and manage those files to suit their needs.
Files are uploaded into the Course Files storage area in one of two ways:
Upload files when creating content in the course. The files are automatically saved in Course Files.
Upload files directly into Course Files. When you create content in your course, you can link to the files.
Course Files
Large amounts of content can be moved quickly from a local drive to the Course Files storage area in your course. Once content is in the Course Files storage area, it can be organized using folders and sub-folders. The organization of content in Course Files is separate from the organization of content presented in a course.
Course files are not shared across courses taught by the same instructor. However, content in the Course Files storage area can be used in multiple places within the same course just by linking to it. Students do not have access to store or share files in the Course Files storage area. Students will have access to files once the instructor provides a link to them.
Content linked in a course from Course Files is not deleted when the link in the course is deleted. The file remains in Course Files and can be used again. Links to course content are not broken when files are modified or moved to another Course Files folder. You can permanently remove a file from a course by deleting it in the Course Files storage area.
The Global Navigation Menu is a new feature in Blackboard Learn SP 12. The Global Navigation Menu is the entry point to My Blackboard and also provides one-click access to your courses, organizations, settings and help. You no longer have to navigate to the Xavier University home page or courses tab to access your courses and organizations. Additionally, you will see an alert next to your name on the Global Navigation Menu when there are changes, notifications, or updates to your courses or organizations since your last login.
Global Navigation Menu
Follow these steps to do it.
To expand the Global Navigation Panel, click the arrow on the right of your name. A drop-down window will appear showing the My Blackboard Menu on the left and the User Menu on the right.
