Full Customization of Course Menus (New!)

Instructors now have complete control over the Blackboard navigation buttons. You can choose the names of the buttons (e.g. creating a new button for "Bibliography" instead of having to use "Course Documents"), and can link directly to any course content or tool area(e.g. Discussion Forum) .  You can also create a menu item to link directly to an external web site. 

• instructors can now create and remove menu items or rename course elements
• instructors can link from Menu items to any content item, URL, Discussion or other Blackboard tool, for greater transparency.
• Course menu items that connect directly to content or tools
• More flexible placement of URL's assessments and assignments, allows instrustors to organize items more logically.

Math and Science Equation Editor (New!)

A math and science equation editor that is similar to the one included in Microsoft Word is now available in Blackboard. Mathematical and scientific notation can now be included in any text boxes of the content areas, or quizzes.

Creating Online Tests and Surveys (Improved! )

The Test Canvas now provides a central area for creating assessments and anonymous surveys. Instructors can assign points to test questions, and can attach images, files or URL's to questions. Instructors now have more flexibility in deploying quizzes, thanks to options for changing properties for specific assessments.

Course Map now a Useful Navigation Tool (New!)

Each Course has a site map designed to provide a quick way of navigating and more functionality. The new map has direct links to folders, tools and content in any area of the course.

Adaptive Release of Content (New!)

Instructional Designers have long demanded "adaptive release" of information and Blackboard's latest upgrade provides this capability. Instructors can use "adaptive release" to create customized learning paths through course content and activities. Adaptive release enables the course content, assessments, assignments, and other activities to become available to individual students based on a variety of criteria including: date and time, group membership, course or test grades, or conditions such as the successful completion of a previous activity. Instructors can use the new Manage button associated with all content to set up rules for Adaptive Release.

Take Advantage of Electronic Reserves (New!)

Articles, chapters or books and other material can now be scanned and made available to students though the Blackboard's electronic reserve capability. Access is limited to students enrolled in specific courses each semester. The Library will handle the scanning and publishing of items for the instructors. Photocopied or reproduced material must be provided by the faculty member for scanning. All copyright laws apply. Please allow extra time at the beginning of each semester for processing. For additional information contact Lisa Karle or check the online Library information.
http://www.saintmarys.edu/~library/Course Reserve/cr30_faq.htm

Reviewing Student Progress (New!)

Previously, instructors had no way of knowing whether students had completed online content or activities. Now there are additional ways of tracking student progress.

1. The simplest technique requires the instructor to turn on a "Mark Reviewed" button associated with each content item. Then, after students have completed their review of each item, and are willing to be held accountable for this material, they click the Mark Reviewed button. This serves as a flag that their review of the material is complete, and that they are prepared to be held accountable for this material. Instructors can use the new Performance Dashboard in the Control Panel, to monitor student's "Marks Reviewed" progress.
   
2. The Performance Dashboard also allows the instructor to see key information and outcomes for all students (e.g. Instructors can determine the last time the student used the class web site, and what content has been reviewed).
3. Instructors who use the online discussion tool will find a new "Discussion Grader" tool among Course Tools in the Control Panel. It simplifies the instructor's evaluation of a student's participation in online discussion forums by allowing the instructor to display all of a particular student's contributions on a single page, with the number of words per message, and the number of original messages and replies. After evaluating this information, the instructors can then more easily enter a grade for the student which will be stored in the Blackboard grade book for the course.
4. Finally, the Course Statistics tool has been improved to help instructors monitor the use students have made of the various online resources.
   

Additional Question Types in Assessments and Surveys (New!)

Instructors can now choose from ten additional question types, including Hot Spot Questions, Multiple Fill-in-the-Blank Questions, Opinion Scale, Questions, Short Response Questions, Either / Or Questions, and Quiz Bowl Questions.
Instructors also have the ability to randomize the answers in multiple choice questions as well as the order of the questions.

Previously the grade book Total and Weighted Total calculations included items in calculations that have not been completed and which contributed a "0" to the total. Instructors can now exclude optional items or items not completed (e.g. "extra credit" assignments) when calculating totals.

Several Grade book Enhancements! (Improved!)

The enhancements include:

• additional options for displaying grades. Instructors have an option of displaying grades as raw scores, letter grades, and percentages.
• instructors have a choice of weighting grades either by category or by item.
• Grade book information can now be downloaded and the data can be manipulated in Excel and then uploaded back into the Grade book.
• Using the new Grade book Settings page, Instructors can now:
  • change the way grade data and student information displays on the spreadsheet
  • create new categories and change existing categories for grouping grade book items

Glossary Tool (new!)

Each course now has its own glossary tool, that can be used by an instructor to generate a glossary of terms unique to that course. Each entry consists of a term and an accompanying definition. The Glossary is easily built from the Control Panel, using Glossary Manager.

Blackboard Message System (New!)

In addition to supporting conventional email and online discussion forums, Blackboard also offers an independant Messaging system that is similar to normal email except that these messages are internal to Blackboard and never "exist" outside the Blackboard system. Students and instructors must log in to Blackboard to send and receive these "messages". There aren't many situations where this Message system would seem to be justified, but there are some unique advantages to Messages. It is faster than conventional email, and, for good or for ill, aren't governed by any limitations that apply to email. Attachments don't pass through virus filters, and there are no rules about not including special characters in the attached filename.

External Link Checker (New!)

A Link Checker has recently been added that permits an instructor to automatically check a course's external links for validity. It will identify links (regardless of whether located in the "External Links" section or elsewhere) that are no longer valid or active, offering the option of making broken links unavailable.(This Building Block is new and needs futher testing!)

Digital Drop Box (Unchanged!)

The Digital Drop Box is another tool for exchange files with students. The Digital Drop Box works by uploading a file from the student's disk or computer to the Blackboard server. Files can be sent back and forth from the Instructor’s Drop Box to the Drop Box of students in the course.

Individual Student access to their own individual Drop Box is available from the Digital Drop Box area located from the student's Tools menu. Groups of students who will need to share files can be given an Digital Drop Box for use by their own group as one of the group tools for collaboration.

Adding Useful Learning Objects to Your Course (New!)

Most major publishers create digital content and supplementary course materials to accompany their textbooks. These materials are distributed in something called a Blackboard Course Cartridge format. Many of these are available at no cost as an incentive to the users of their textbooks. These "learning objects" may contain rich media content, assessments, pools of questions suitable for use with Blackboard quizzes, and links to rich additional resources that supplement or reinforce the information in the textbook. In addition to these Course Cartridges, some enhancements are made available to Blackboard schools by developers to offer value to all classes. Several of these add-ons have been added to our system.

In addition to Course Cartridges, instructors may be able to find useful "learning objects" in the Merlot repository. Instructors can search the Merlot collection from within a Blackboard Course using the Select pull down menu in the EDIT VIEW. The Merlot Content tool allows instructors to search a data base of peer-reviewed Learning Objects created by other faculty or instructional designers, that can easily be incorporated in your Blackboard course. The "Books and Materials" tool allows instructors to add a picture of a recommended book cover, complete with prices and links to Amazon and used books web sites.

Adding New Book Titles (New!)

Instructors may find it convenient to supplement the conventional list of books with pictures of thebook cover, current prices for new and used books (based on an ISBN lookup on Amazon and Powell's online bookstores. All the instructor needs is the book's ISBN.

Quick Edit

I hope most people are using the Quick Edit feature that allows Instructors to make changes to content from within the course view instead of navigating through the Control Panel to edit content.

Organizing and Managing Students

Normally, when Blackboard courses are created, we add currently enrolled students.  However, if this list changes, Instructors have the ability to print their list of students, enroll registered students into a course, remove students from the course, set up groups of students.