TLU Presentation

1. Blackboard Overview

2. Blackboard Features
• Each course receives its own online space within
Blackboard and only enrolled students have
access to the course content.
• You can communicate online with your students
via discussion board, real-time chat and email as
well as upload learning and teaching materials.
• Tools can be customised and as many or as few
can be used according to your preference.

3. Assessments
• This tool enables students to self-assess their
learning and monitor their progress
• Allows for formative and summative assessment
with immediate feedback.
• Questions can be drawn randomly from pools to
present each student with a different set of
questions.
• Tests are graded automatically by the system and
students can receive their scores immediately.

4. Assignments
• An Assignment Dropbox allows students to
securely submit assignments.
• A time stamp acts as proof of sending and
receiving the files, using the Blackboard server
time, not the sender or recipient's own PC clock.

5. Email & Chat
• Individual recipients may be chosen or a mail sent
to all participants in the Blackboard course.
• The real-time chat allows staff and students to
conduct synchronous communication online.

6. Discussions
• The Discussion Board (also called a forum,
threaded discussion, bulletin board or message
board) is a form of asynchronous
communication.
• It allows a group of users (students and
instructors) to exchange views while being in
different places at different times.
• A person posts a message that is then available
for others to read and post their own comments.

7. Group Features
• Students on a Blackboard course can be separated
into different groups.
• Each group has its own Discussion Board, online File
Exchange and Email function.
• Groups can be used for student team projects.

8. Documents and Files
• You do not need to have technical web-editing
skills to use Blackboard.
• Content is added through the use of simple
online forms.
• Files created in Word, PowerPoint, Excel,Video
and Audio can be added directly into Blackboard
by pressing a 'browse' button.
• This uploads the document from your PC
to Blackboard.

9. eLearning site
http://elearning.cit.ie

10. Same as Web for Faculty
Main Screen

11. Featured Screencast
News Section

12. Tutorials
Lecturer Resources

13. Requires Acrobat Reader
Text Based Tutorials

14. Six video tutorials currently available
Video Tutorials

15. Student Focused Tutorials
Student Resources

16. Click on the question to
display the answer
FAQ

17. External Resources
Useful Links

18. Complete all elds and
click the submit buon
Contact

19. • My Blackboard: This is the default page when you first log into Blackboard
• Content Manager: This is for your own personal use and files uploaded here
will not be seen by anyone else.
Channels
My Blackboard

20. • The My Blackboard screen is divided
into three areas.
• The central column lists all your
courses.
• The left-hand side lists Calendar
Day, To Do List as well as My Grades
for students to access their grades.
• The right-hand side lists Campus
Announcements, Personal
Bookmarks and Who’s Online.
• Whenever you are lost in CE 8 click
My Blackboard.
My Blackboard

21. • Links for you to change your settings, check your browser or seek help.
My Settings - Check Browser

22. • The Check Browser link is used to see if the browser
(FireFox, IE Explorer, Safari) is supported by Blackboard.
• Some of the newer browsers (IE 8.0) may give false
warnings.
• Cookies are enabled - A cookie is used to keep track
of your current session.
• JavaScript - Every area of Blackboard relies on
Javascript to create the interactive web pages.
• Pop-up windows are enabled
• Java is enabled in your browser
• The Java virtual machine version is supported
Check Browser

23. • Open a new Internet Explorer window and go to Tools > Internet Options
• Click on Privacy tab at the top of the Internet Options dialog box.
• At the bottom of the Privacy tab, click the checkmark box next to Block
Pop-ups and then click Settings
• In the Pop-up Blocker Settings dialog box, click in the box under Address
of Web site to allow and type in the URL for CIT's Blackboard.
• Click Add and then click Close to close the Pop-up Blocker Settings box.
• Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box.
IE Popup Blocker

24. • Open a new browser window and go to Tools > Options
• Click the Content at the top of Options dialog box.
• Click Allowed Sites
• In the Allowed Sites dialog box, click in the box under Address of
Web site: and type the URL for CIT's Blackboard.
• Click Allow and then Close.
• Click OK.
Firefox Popup Blocker

25. • You can add or remove Channels, change course Colour or Layout.
Channels - Colour - Layout

26. Select Channels

27. • You can access Mail for all of the courses in which you are enrolled.
• You can use Mail to send and receive messages from other Blackboard users.
Mail

28. • The Calendar Tool allows you to view and create dated reminders about
events. Entries can be viewed for a day, week or month.
Calendar

29. Click to
select
My Blackboard

30. Course Home

31. • Once you are in course home you will
have three roles to choose from and
the screen view looks different
under each role.
• The three roles are:
• Designer (Build tab)
• Instructor (Teach tab)
• Student (Student View tab)
• All instructors are set up as both
course designer and instructor
• A course designer has all the tools
and features to build a course
Build - Teach - Student View

32. • Build - This tab allows you to add, edit or delete content.
• Teach - This tab allows you to view the content created in the Build tab and
to view the material from an instructor’s viewpoint. (grading etc.)
• Student View - This tab allows you to view the content from the
perspective of a student. This eliminates the need for having a student account
to view the course material.
Build - Teach - Student View

33. • A course designer has all the tools
and features to build a course.
• This is the CIT course template.
Build - Designer Tools

34. • After clicking Course Content you can use the
Page Options to change the appearance of your
homepage.
• You can also create or edit a Header or Footer for
your course content homepage.
Teach - Instructor Tools

35. • The Course Content button allows for an expanded view.
Course Content

36. • You can use the Assessments tool to create the following
types of assessments:
• Quizzes: A quiz is an online test that Students
complete and submit for marks. The marks are
recorded in Grade Book.
• Surveys: A survey is an online questionnaire that
Students complete and submit anonymously. A survey
is not worth marks but will be recorded as Complete
in the Grade Book after it is submitted.
• Self tests: A self test is an online test that Students
complete and submit for marks so they can assess
their understanding of course material. The marks are
not recorded in Grade Book.
Assessments

37. • There are two types of assignments:
• Text - A Text assignment requires Students to submit
their assignment by entering text in the Assignments
tool and attaching their own files.
• Web Site - A Web site assignment requires Students
to submit a ZIP file containing linked HTML files that
create a Web site.
• After Students complete and submit their assignments, you
use the Assignment Dropbox tool to view, manage and
evaluate submissions.
• On the Teach tab, a link to the Assignment Dropbox tool
appears under Instructor Tools.
• You can grade submissions or mark them as complete if
the assignments do not require grades.
Assignments

38. • Calendar allows you to view and create dated reminders
about events.
• Entries can be viewed for a day, week or month.
• All users can create personal entries that are not related
to any course but are for personal reminders. These types
of entries are private.
• You can access Calendar from the My Blackboard screen
or from Course Tools in a course.
Calendar

39. • There are three types of discussion topics:
• Threaded - Create a threaded topic for a more
traditional online discussion.
• Participants post and reply to messages.
• Replies that are associated with the same post are
grouped together, creating message threads that can
be expanded and collapsed.
• Class blog - Create a collaborative blog (weblog) space
by allowing participants to post a chronological series of
entries on a particular topic. Participants can then add
comments to any blog entry.
• Journal - Create a journal topic to give Students a place
for their own writing. The journals can be kept private
between the Student and you or shared with the class.
Discussions

40. • Mail allows you to communicate with other users through
written correspondence, in text or HTML format and file
attachments.
• You can send mail to other users in the selected course or
section.
• Mail can be used to exchange messages with other users,
but it cannot be used to exchange messages over the
Internet.
Mail

41. • The Profile tool allows you to view the profiles for course
members.
• To see the profiles for Students enrolled in the course,
click Students.
• To see the profiles for course members according to the
groups they are members of click Groups.
Profile

42. • The Search tool allows you to conduct a search for data
within a course.
• For example, if you remember sending a discussion
message regarding Assignment Five, but you can't recall in
which discussion topic you posted the message, you can do
a keyword search to retrieve the message.
Search

43. • Using the Syllabus tool, you can make a syllabus (module
description) available to Students to provide them with
course information.
• There are two ways to add a syllabus to your course.
• You can use the built-in syllabus feature to create a
syllabus or
• You can import a file that has been created outside of
the Blackboard.
• A .pdf copy of the Module could be uploaded here.
Syllabus

44. • You can use the Web Links tool to compile a list of
Internet addresses.
• These Internet addresses can then be added to folders to
reference web pages outside of your course.
• You can set the web page to open in a new browser
window and you can also set release criteria.
Web Links

45. • You can use the Who's Online tool to chat in real time
with users who are enrolled in any of your courses and
logged in to the Blackboard at the same time you are
logged in.
• You can access the Who's Online tool from My Blackboard.
• The Who's Online tool is similar to the Chat tool except
that you use the Who's Online tool to chat with users
without first entering a course.
• You use the Chat tool to chat with users only while you
are in a particular course
Who’s Online

46. • The Manage Course area is a central place containing
features that you use to customize a course.
Manage Course

47. • You can use File Manager to create and store files used in a
course.You can use these files for course design activities.
Each course has a File Manager tool.
• You can perform the following tasks with this tool:
• Locating and Viewing Files and Folders
• Creating and Editing Files and Folders
• Managing Files and Folders
• Creating WebDAV Folders
File Manager

48. • The Grading Forms tool provides a more granular way of
grading Students' work by identifying specific criteria and
levels of performance against the criteria.
• You can create multiple grading forms for a course.
• You can then choose to use one of the grading forms from
the Discussions and Assignments tools to grade discussion
topics and assignments.
• You can also create columns in the Grade Book that are
associated with grading forms.
Grading Forms

49. • You can control whether items in the Course Content tool
are visible to Students by using the Selective Release tool
to show or hide the items.
Example: If an assignment is added to the Course Content
tool but you do not want Students to see it yet, you can
hide the item temporarily.
• When you hide an item, all instances of the item in the
course are hidden; when you show an item, all instances of
the item in the course are shown.
Selective Release

50. • The Teach tab takes you to the instructor interface and
tools that allow you to interact with you students,
monitor their progress and assess their work.
• In the instructor role you can:
• Add and remove course tools
• Change course colors and icons
• Communicate with students
• Guide and grade discussions
• Administer assessments (assignments, tests, surveys)
• Manage student groups
• Tracking - View reports on various student activities
• Selectively release content to students
Teach - Instructor Tools

51. • This tab allows you to view the content from the perspective of the student.
Student View