Student Overview/Orientation

Carefully plan out the placement and organization of your course site before you begin building the Blackboard documents.

· Changes in meeting locations

· Modification of office hours

· Revised homework assignments

When Adding Content

· Give your students a clear explanation of the document

· Let them know what program they will need to view the document

· Describe to them how you see the document fulfilling the overall goals of the course

Evaluate Your Course's Effectiveness

· Use Surveys to get feedback from students throughout the semester

· Check Course Statistics to evaluate how your course is being accessed by students

Course Efficiency

· Disable the button areas you are not using so students do not have to wonder if you "forgot" to add something to the course

· Make sure the areas you choose to be guest accessible are not areas that should be secure (such as Library Resources)

Promote Interactivity

· Use Assessments

· Tests

· Inform students of format, content, rules (length of test, time limitations, etc.) and university honor codes prior to the assessment to discourage cheating

· Build question pools so that a different set of questions is pulled randomly from the pool for each student (but with the same number of questions)

· Proctor the test in a campus computer lab

· Create a backup plan in case of technical problems

· Surveys

· Help with determining what your students expect from your class

· Assess your students skill level at the beginning and end of the semester

· Evaluate the effectiveness of the course

· Tests or Surveys

· Interactive study guides

· Flashcards

· Use the Discussion Board as part of the student's participation grade

· List explicit instructions in the description box to let your students know what your expectations are for the discussion

· All postings are date and time stamped

· Postings are viewed as threaded discussions so you can see how the discussion progressed

· Use the Digital Drop Box as a tool for handing in assignments

· Have students work collaboratively using Groups

· Enables students to work together on projects or papers

· Gives groups their own private digital drop box, discussion board and chat room

· Provides an alternative to meeting in person when schedules are hectic

· Facilitates peer review of papers before final submission to instructor

· Have "on-line" office hours in which you are in the chat room for questions, suggestions or just to chat

· Practice before going live with class members

· Limit sizes

Common Mistakes

· Not having students login prior to making an assignment - make sure your students have logged into Blackboard before the first day of class

· Not allowing for student's to adjust to the new learning environment - online learning is different than traditional learning

· Unclear expectations on the part of the instructor and the student

· Confusing organization of course materials

· Assuming time frames are the same as traditional education

· Static content - if the student is not engaged in the learning environment, he/she may lack motivation to do well

· Too much "one-way" communication - promote interaction by using the different tools available in Blackboard

· Posting too much extra stuff that is not related to your course objectives