What's new Learning System 7.1 revised May 30, 2006

2 Instructors and Students Visual Text Box Editor and Spell Check Discussion Board Assessments Language Packs

3 Visual Text Box Editor Additional formatting choices Wider availability Opt-in feature Cross-browser support Enhanced math formatting features

4 Visual Text Box Editor Enhancements Clear Formatting Strikethrough, Subscript, Superscript HTML Toggle, Preview Button HTML Path for ease of editing

5 Visual Text Box Editor Enhancements Cross-Browser, Cross-Platform –Windows Internet Explorer Netscape Firefox –Macintosh Firefox Safari Visual Text Box Editor: Supported browsers WindowsMacintosh Internet Explorer 6.0 n/a Mozilla Firefox 1.0 Netscape 8.0 n/a Safari 2.0n/a (Lite VTBE)

6 Visual Text Box Editor Enhancements Opt-In Setting on Personal Information page –System Administrator enables Opt-in –Older browsers Minimize support issues for browsers that do not fully the Visual Text Box Editor –Novice users May prefer a simpler editor May opt-in when they are ready to use the full features of the Visual Text Box Editor

7 Visual Text Box Editor: WebEQ and MathML The equation will render in Display View Equations may be modified by selecting the place holder and clicking the WebEQ icon. Equations that include the left angel bracket (<) will render properly MathML may now include whitespace in the editor without affecting the equation

8 Spell Check Now available in –All forms –Glossary –Assignment Comments

9 Discussion Board Enhancements The Discussion Board user interface is far more intuitive than before Instructors now can designate Discussion Boards as moderated, allowing for posts to be checked before being published. The role of moderator can be delegated to other users as needed Forums and threads can now be selectively released

10 Discussion Board: Comprehensive Assessment The Performance Dashboard has been enhanced to give instructors a view of Discussion Board statistics for each user. Each user has a page that displays details of all forums in which the user has participated. The instructor can also the user or grade the user from this page.

11 Discussion Board: Feedback with Grading and Peer Rating Faculty who wish to evaluate student participation in e- Learning now have the ability to create graded forums and threads, as well as peer- reviewed (rated) threads. Graded threads have a column in the Gradebook, and can also be viewed in the Performance Dashboard On rated threads, users can use a star system to indicate their support for a particular posting – they can rate a posting only once.

12 Discussion Board: New Forum Settings Thread Subscription Peer rating of posts Force Moderation of posts –Allows instructors/moderators to provide feedback with posts –Allows instructors/moderators to control what posts are published Grading –By Forum –By Thread –Gradebook column

13 Discussion Board: User Management Forum RolePrivileges BlockedUser has no privileges within the forum ReadRead Only ParticipantRead, Create Threads GraderAll Participant Privileges plus the ability to Grade ModeratorAll Participant Privileges plus the ability to Approve, Return, Modify, or Delete All Posts, and the ability to lock a thread ManagerFull control of the Discussion Board

14 Discussion Board: Additional Features Discussion Board displays with Threads collapsed Forum Availability –When Adaptive Release is set on a Discussion Board Link in a courses, the Discussion Board link in the menu will respect the rule(s). –The Discussion Board, however, remains available through the Tool Panel. Improved Search –Search can now be expanded to include all forums in all discussions within the course. –Date Criteria can also be added. –Note that while the search is a fuzzy search it is case sensitive Thread Collection –Collected Threads and Replies now appear in threaded order. –Collection Page allows for sorting and filtering. –A Print Button has been included. Archive has been replaced with “Hidden Threads.”

15 Discussion Board : Show/Hide Parent Post

16 Discussion Board : Using Drafts Blackboard DB defaults to display only Published Threads within a Forum. If a student Saves a post as a draft s/he must select Show All to see his/her draft.

17 Assessment Updates Overview New features include: –Handling multiple attempts of quizzes, tests and surveys –Support for extra credit questions –More granular feedback options –Export, Store, Import Students will benefit from: –A true self-assessment option –Enhanced submission reports

18 Assessment: Multiple Attempts Unlimited or a specific number of attempts Grading Options: –Grade of last Attempt (default) –Grade of first Attempt –Highest grade –Lowest grade –Average of grades Set Grading Options from – Gradebook Item Options – Item Information Modify Test, Test Options

19 Assessment: Clear Attempts One or all Users for a particular gradebook item –Last Attempt –First Attempt –Highest Attempt –Lowest Attempt –Attempts within a specific date range –All Attempts Override Grade of last attempt

20 Test Deployment: Self-Assessment Two self-assessment options: –Allow instructor and student to see grade –Only allow student to see the grade In both cases, grade is not included in final calculation Modify Test, Test Options

21 Test Deployment: Customized Feedback Previously instructor had to choose one of 4 options –Score Only –Detailed Results –Show Correct Answers –Detailed Results, Correct Answers and Feedback Now instructor can choose any or all of the following options. –Score –Submitted Answers –Correct Answers –Feedback

22 Test Creation: Extra Credit If an extra credit item is answered correctly, points are added to the points correct. If an extra credit item is answered incorrectly, there is no penalty.

23 Assessment: Submission Report Now includes Username, Course ID, Name of Assessment, and Date of Submission Can be printed and used by student for Verification of Submission

24 Assessment: Share and Reuse The new test export feature allows you to download and share tests and quizzes with other faculty members –Package.zip file –Store on shared network drive –Store on local drive and share by attachment Export your test directly to your Content Collection for even more power* *with the Blackboard Content System™

25 Language Packs Arabic Traditional Chinese

Administration Updates in 7.1

27 Administrators and Developers Administration Tab Enhancements Visual Text Box Editor Settings and API Language Packs Flexible definition of Administration roles and privileges

28 Administration Tab Module Tab Minimize Modules Improved search Reorganized Users and Courses menus

29 Administration: Module Tab

30 Administration: Improved Search Courses Users

31 Administration: Reorganized Menus Courses Users

32 Visual Text Box Editor Settings Select Require Users to opt- in and users must individually turn on the Visual Text Box Editor to use it. This option is useful if some users are using older Web browsers that do not support the Visual Text Box Editor. The Visual Text Box Editor will only display to those users that turn it on under Personal Information.

33 Visual Text Box Editor API New APIs available to Building Block Developers (Enables Visual Text Box Editor to be included on pages created by Building Blocks Developers) – –Wysiwyg Text –FileLocation (interface) –FileLocationImpl –Several FileLocation implementations (i.e. ContentFileLocation and TempFileLocation)

34 Administration: Language Packs Manage button launches the Language Pack editor introduced in 7.0 –Copy a standard language pack –Edit the copy Two new languages supported in 7.1 –Traditional Chinese –Arabic Windows Display Fonts –Control Panel Regional and Language Options –Languages Tab, Supplemental Language support

35 Administration: Roles and Privileges System Administrator now may: –Modify existing System Roles –Create new customizable System Roles –Copy existing System Roles –Allow users to have more than one System Role (Blackboard Community System™ required)

36 Administration: System Roles Add Roles Rename Roles

37 Administration: Multiple System Roles User Properties:

38 Administration: Privileges Availability

39 Administration: Manage Privileges