Blackboard Hands-On Lab Session Karl R. Wurst Computer Science Department Daron Barnard Biology Department Center for Teaching and Learning Worcester State College

Our plan for this session We are not going to lecture or present (much) We are assuming that you already use Blackboard (at least in a basic way). If you have a particular Blackboard feature that you want to learn to use, well get you started and help you when you get stuck. If you dont have a particular Blackboard feature in mind Well give a brief overview of features you might want to try Well help you create an online exam if you dont see anything that strikes your fancy.

FacStaff Central: My Courses You can hide courses (and show them again) You can change what you see for each course Course name Course ID (e.g. CS401_E1_SP_2007) Instructors Announcements Tasks Calendar Events Click on the Pencil icon in the upper right-hand corner Students can do this too

A Quick Tour of the Control Panel The Control Panel is where you will do most of the set-up and organization of your course. Well go through each area briefly

Control Panel: Content Areas Your content areas appear here You can add, remove and organize content in these areas If you want more or fewer content areas, you need to go to Course Options (well get there…)

Control Panel: Course Tools Announcements Course Calendar Staff Information (list contact information) Tasks Send ( outside Blackboard) Discussion Board Digital Dropbox Glossary Manager Messages (internal to Blackboard)

Control Panel: Course Options Manage Course Menu (the items down the left of the screen) Adding and removing items Content Area (assignments, labs, documents, …) Tool Link (announcements, grades, , …) Course Link (to particular area, assignment, …) External Link (to documents on the web, on SharePoint, …)

Control Panel: Course Options Course Design (the way your course looks) Course Menu Design (menu style and colors) Menu Display Options (detail or quick view) Manage Tool Panel Course Banner (image at the top of the announcements page)

Control Panel: Course Options Manage Tools ( , groups, announcements, …) Tool availability (turn individual tools on and off) Building Block Tool Availability (not used here) Content Type Availability (turn content areas on and off)

Control Panel: Course Options Course Copy (copy materials from one current course to another current course) Import Course Cartridge (from an outside vendor) Import Package (one of your previous courses or from an outside vendor) Archive Course (save your course for another semester)

Control Panel: User Management List/Modify Users (see who is in the class) Manage Groups Create groups for students with File area (shared by and limited to group) Discussion board (shared by and limited to group) Virtual Classroom (like chat) (send to everyone in the group)

Control Panel: Assessment Test Manager (add, import, modify, export and remove tests) Survey Manager (add, import, modify, export and remove surveys) Pool Manager (add and import pools of questions to use in tests) Course Statistics (see who is accessing what)

Control Panel: Assessment Gradebook (keep grades where students can access them) Gradebook Views (view grades by item or user) Performance Dashboard (check student performance, accesses, grades, discussion board participation)

Control Panel: Help Support (takes you to the Blackboard support site) Manual Contact System Administrator Quick Tutorials (from Blackboard)