What’s New in Blackboard 9.1 SP 11

 Blackboard 9.1 SP11 takes Blackboard closer to the cloud and introduces a modernized user interface more in line with most common websites and apps as well as numerous functional refinements. Blackboard 9.1 SP 11

Here’s a video run through of new features:

Feature Updates New Global Navigation & My Blackboard: Global Navigation refers to the set of links that appears at the top right of the Blackboard Learn window, streamlined to become the entry point to My Blackboard. Links to all your classes or organizations are organized in one place to provide a consistent, quick, and easy way to find information. My Blackboard aggregates information from across the Blackboard Learn system for users. Users access My Blackboard by clicking their names at the top of the screen. My Blackboard has a navigation panel that quickly connects to different tools in the system.

New Calendar – This is one of the most redesigned parts of Service Pack 11. Now it looks much more like your standard Outlook or Google Calendar. Available both in courses and through the My Blackboard interface Group ALL your course events together Have your own private entries. Due Dates on an assignments automatically show on the calendar and can be changed by drag & drop Students and faculty can see ALL their due dates in one central location across classes. Export to Google!

Here’s a quick video about the Calendar: For more information, check out your handout about the Calendar!

New Content Editor: The newly designed Content Editor vastly improves the user experience for adding text and other forms of digital content to Blackboard Learn. Based on an industry standard editor – handles the HTML of the web much better that previously. Simpler to copy/paste from Word and more predictable too. New tool bars for formatting text – even for inserting tables You can even embed video direct from a web camera if you so choose (see Video Everywhere below). This will be a great tool for students and faculty alike. Check your handout comparing the new Editor to the old!

New Video Everywhere – a feature of the Content (text) editor. This is the new icon in your text editor that will access your webcam. It will allow you to record a video on the fly and have it embedded in your course materials, interactions or even assessment feedback. You can even reuse previously recorded videos from your own “library” in the course. What better way to learn about Video Everywhere than through a video: v=glYGzdxw-mM

The video itself is NOT stored in your Blackboard Class – this actually ties into a You Tube account – which you will need to establish to use this feature. The VCCS has decided to roll out the enhanced Google Apps for Education suite, which includes You Tube to all VCCS users. The date for this has been set to be coincident with the Blackboard update. Recommendations are to use a You Tube account created under your VCCS (MyDCC) account for all VCCS work. See your Video Anywhere handout for instructions to set up your Youtube account.

Updated Discussion Board – Redesigned to be more useful and user friendly than ever before. Assessment Item Analysis: Item Analysis provides statistics on overall test performance and on individual test questions to help instructors improve questions for future tests or to adjust credit on current attempts. Ineffective or misleading questions are identified easily, corrected in the Test Canvas, and are re-graded automatically.

File Picker: This feature revolutionizes how you load your files into your class: Use the class My Files and upload entire folders at once. Link to your files in your class by using the Browse from Content Collection button. This allows you to drag and drop files to your Blackboard class from your local computer.

Here’s a video tutorial:

Retention Center The Retention Center is an instructor-only tool that enables you to give focused attention to students who need it. It replaces the Early Warning System feature with easy workflows, while retaining all existing Early Warning System data and rules. From the Retention Center, you can communicate with struggling students and help them take immediate action for improvement. You can begin using the Retention Center features immediately—no setup required.

Inline Grading For Assignments (Better than Sliced Bread!) Inline Assignment Grading is a revision to the workflow for grading Assignments in Blackboard Learn. Instead of requiring Instructors to download student- submitted files to view or edit those submissions, Instructors will now be able to view student-submitted files “inline,” i.e. in the web browser, without requiring any plug-ins, applets, or client-side applications. Additionally, annotations tools will be made available as part of the inline viewer, enabling Instructors to provide feedback – comments, highlights, and even drawing/annotation – directly on the inline view of the document.