Blackboard Video Tutorials

Jim Janossy has created a series of 15 video tutorials for Blackboard. Each video is accompanied by a study-guide in PDF format. Topics include: Getting started quick! Basic web site organization and cleanups Logging in, labeling courses with academic year and term in your MyCourses box Announcements page banner, course and menu button organization Announcements pro and con, and how to post Announcements The course roster, and how to add students to your Blackboard course Menu button readability and how to maximize it Changing menu button names, hiding menu buttons, and removing menu buttons Adding Content Area (folder) menu buttons Adding Tool Link and External Link (web link) menu buttons Graphic Page Banners and how to use them to improve visual interest Embedding video segments into Announcements and content pages Installing CutePDF and posting .pdf documents Content and External Link (web link) changes Using folders in content menu buttons, changing item sequence E-mailing students using Blackboard Making courses available to students, copying a course to a new term You can view the videos on Jim’s website at DePaul.

Blackboard Blackberry App

I mentioned D2L last week, so it is only fair to talk about Blackboard this week. Blackboard just released the Blackberry Blackboard App, which provides similar functionality to the iPhone app that was released earlier in the year.

Technology Tuesday: Blackboard Makeover

On Tuesday I gave a short presentation on how to spruce up your Blackboard site with a simple makeover. A video and PDF handout is now available. You can watch the video in a streaming format, or download to iPods, iPhones and iTunes and watch at your leisure. The video is about 25 minutes long. The PDF handout has some quick Blackboard tips and suggestions. Feel free to share with your colleagues.

Using Blackboard in a Management Course

Patrick J. Murphy has created an excellent video in which he explains how he uses our Blackboard Learning Management system to move learning beyond the classroom. The video is about eight minutes in length. Well worth watching. You can also download the video from DePaul's iTunes U site.

LMS Show and Tell

Today has been a highly-productive day, in which we have looked at the new features of Blackboard (9) and Desire2Learn. Tomorrow we get to look at Moodle and Angel.

Blackboard 9

The University of Southern California has posted a fantastic video that outlines the new features of Blackboard 9 (they are upgrading from 7 to 9). Thanks to Jason Rhode for sharing this. Quick takeaways: Grade Center loads faster (allegedly) Grade Center records history of changed grades Peer Assessment Dropbox is dead Groups are improved (random enrollment, create multiple groups at one time) Blogs and journal tools

Learning Management Systems

My colleagues here at DePaul circulated this rather interesting article from the Chronicle of Higher Education. This comes as we are looking at the future of Blackboard, and alternatives to Blackboard.   On  April 17th we will hold a “Kick The Tires” event in which there will be the opportunity to look at the major learning management systems.   A week later there will be a two-day event in which vendors from Desire2Learn, Blackboard, Angel and Moodle will demonstrate the features and functionality of their systems – focusing on Learning Management, Content Management and ePorfolio solutions.   If you work at DePaul please sign up for these great events!

Blackboard 8 Grade Center

Jeanne Kim from IDD has pointed out two excellent resources for those a little frustrated with extra credit on Blackboard 8's Grade Center. They are: Polyhedral Sysadmin and http://www.luc.edu/its/pdfs/bb_Extra_Credit.pdf

More Blackboard Resources

ITD's Jim Janossy is creating an online repository of Blackboard support documents. The site can be found here: http://www.blackboardhelp.org

Blackboard 8 Upgrade

A week ago DePaul upgraded our Blackboard Learning Management System to version 8. Much hard work in the background resulted in a largely uneventful migration – thanks go out to ITD and IS here. Jeanne Kim of IDD has assembled a list of resources for staff and faculty who are interested in digging into the capabilities of the new system: Internal DePaul ITD (Instructional Technology Development) - A comprehensive series of FAQs and worksheets to download. External ASU Blackboard Listserv Archive NIU's Teaching With Blackboard Kentucky Community and Technical College System Interactive Tutorials Discussion Board Grade Center Brigham Young University Video Tutorials University of Illinois at Chicago Video Tutorials Southwestern College Support Documents Hudson Valley Community College Tutorials Hamilton College Tutorials San Houston State University Tutorials Pepperdine University Video Tutorials Managing Assignments in Blackboard Students Review and Submit Assignment Instructor Tracks Student Submissions and Downloads for Review

Blackboard 8 Upgrade

DePaul’s Learning Management System (Blackboard) will be upgraded to version 8 on the weekend of November 29/30. The new version of Blackboard has significant improvements. The notable features are: Wimba integration. Each Blackboard course has a corresponding Wimba room. Improved discussion board Enhanced Gradebook New quiz and assessment methods SafeAssign integration (plagiarism prevention tool – similar to Turn-it-In)  ITD is providing training for all these new features. I highly recommend that you sign up.