Blackboard

Blackboard

Media Vision

New Features of Case Blackboard 6.3

Search LX

The Search LX function is a powerful search tool available to all users of Blackboard. Users may search for key words within a specific course site, within all of their course sites, within any of their organizations, on the Case website or on the World Wide Web. the Search LX tool is available on your My Institution page, as well as through Course Tools in any course site.

Course/Group Journal

The Course Journal is a new feature available by default in every course site. Users may access the journal from the Course Tools area of a course site. The Course Journal and Group Journals may be entered as gradebook items; however, the instructor must give students access to post entries and add comments. To modify the settings of the Course Journal, instructors must go to their course Control Panel and choose Configure Journal from the Course Tools area. Group Journals are created within any content area and are modified just like any other content item. Instructors must choose which groups, if any, and which individual users to add to each instance of a Group Journal.

Teams Site

A Course Teams Site is similar to the Course Journal in that it is a place for the class as a whole to collaborate on an evolving project. The Teams Site is a place for a website that can be made accesssible to any or all members of the Blackboard community. Instructors have options to track changes to the site, as well as who posted them. They may also view previous drafts of pages on this site after alterations have been made by students or other users. Configuration for the Course Teams Site can be changed in the Control Panel under Course Tools. Instructors may also create a Group Teams Site in which the may enroll any Groups or individual users within the course.

Adaptive Release

Adaptive Release is a set of rules that instructors may use to stipulate when course content becomes available; this set of features augments the ability to set time and date restrictions. For example, the new rules allow an instructor to stipulate that students must review certain course documents before they may access a test or homework assignment. Instructors may also mandate that a certain score within the gradebook or a particular item is achieved before unlocking new content. Additionally, an instructor may restrict content access to a particular group or list of individuals.

Language Locales

The concept of the Language Locale is to enable users to stipulate the language in which their course sites will be. Instructors have the option of enforcing a particular locale, which would override any locale chosen by the students. Spell check has been augmented to correctly check American English, Great Britain English, French and Spanish. It will not work with other locales.

Performance Dashboard

The addition of the Performance Dashboard gives an instructor greater ability to oversee the progress of their students. Through the Performance Dashboard, an instructor may monitor the number of days since the last login of each user, as well as each users grades.

Content Review Status

Blackboard now permits users to track their progress through a course site by marking read materials as 'Reviewed'. This data is collected and made available to the instructor, giving them insight into the number of views for each particular course item, as well as who has reviewed it.

Gradebook Null

'Whats New?' Module

The Whats New? module is available through the My Institution page. You can add this task pane by clicking Modify Content at the top right of your My Institution page. This module automatically refreshes every 7 days to show users what content has been added to each of their Blackboard course sites. Users may choose to refresh their Whats New? module manually by clicking Refresh at the bottom of this task area.

Quick Link to Communication Tools

Instructors now have the ability to link communication tools to course site content areas. These tools include Chat, Discussion Board, Groups and the Virtual Classroom. It is now possible to quickly and neatly link to the main pages of the communication areas, or to individual groups, discussion forums, and virtual classroom/chat sessions. To use this new feature, use the drop-down menu at the right of the toolbar on any content page in your Blackboard site. (Content pages by default include Course Information, Course Documents, Assignments, and External Links.)

Warning! Blackboard Email Issue:

If you send an email through Blackboard, it MUST have a subject entered into the Subject area. If you leave the subject blank, the email will not be sent. Please be sure to include a subject on every message you send through Blackboard.

Introduced in Blackboard 6.1

WYSIWYG HTML Editor

This editor feature is only available on Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows. Netscape users and/or Macintosh users currently cannot take advantage of the new editor.

The new built-in WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) HTML Editor allows Instructors to create HTML content (including web links) using familiar formatting tools and options. The editor also allows Instructors to upload documents and media files to the text box, and to cut and paste in formatted content. Access to Math EQ (an equation editor) is also available through the editor.

This new WYSIWYG editor is available to Instructors in all of the content areas, when adding items, posting announcements, or using the discussion board. Students enrolled in courses will also have access to the WYSIWYG editor in the Discussion Board.

Note: Users may see a certificate error appear when loading the WebEQ math editor. Accept the certificate and continue.

Spell Check

The new Spell Check, part of the WYSIWYG editor, feature enables Instructors to check the spelling of their content before submitting it. The spell check feature is supported by a full English dictionary and allows Instructors to create and store custom word lists.

Quick Edit

The Quick Edit option is a shortcut to the editing screen that offers an Instructor quick access from the Student View. This enables Instructors to edit course content without having to navigate the Control Panel. This option is available from any content page in the course site; this includes Course Informtion, Assignments, Course Documents, External Links, and Staff Information.

Assessment Improvements

A number of changes have been made to improve the workflow of Assessments including the following:

A new Force Completion option will be available to Instructors. If the option is selected, Students will be compelled to complete the Assessment on their first attempt. Students will not be allowed to exit the Assessment and continue working on it at a later date. If the Force Completion option is selected, a notice is displayed to Students as they take the Assessment.
The status of multiple attempts (if they are or are not allowed) is displayed to the Student at the top of the Assessment.
Submit and Save buttons will be displayed for both Assessments that display all questions at once and Assessments that display one question at a time.
If the Submit button is selected and a Student has left any questions unanswered, a warning message will appear alerting the Student to which questions have not been answered.
In Assessments set to display questions one at a time, navigation arrows appear unless backtracking is prohibited.
The assessment feature of Blackboard has been further enhanced with new question types. For more information, go to the Assessment Questions Page.