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 For this demonstration, be sure you are using Internet Explorer and that you have the latest version of Windows Media Player. You will need a sound card on your computer to hear what Linda has to say. |
Computer Studies (School of Advanced Technologies) has
been developing streaming media lectures that can be incorporated into
their online courses in Blackboard ...Click
here for a sample presentation developed by Linda Crane.
(Note...as you are listening to the presentation, if you right click on the
presentation screen, you will have a menu of options for repeating parts,
skipping ahead, etc.).
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Search the web for "free banners", such as http://www.animationonline.com to create a free animated banner, such as this:
Use Control Panel --> Course Properties -->Course Images to upload the banner to your Blackboard course.
Instructors can view a "Detailed Analysis" of
a quiz to determine which concepts are/are not understood by students (% of
respondents for each answer). To see these results, go to Control Panel,
Online Grade Book, Report by Item, Grades, and finally, Detailed Analysis
However, if the marks are entered in manually (i.e. not generated from an
online quiz), then the "Detailed Analysis" feature is not available)
I'm teaching two online hybrids both dealing with different aspects of the same topic. The students in general appear to deal with the content quicker and in more depth than those who have been taught in a more traditional manner.
This increased interaction with the content is accomplished through the use of the virtual classroom and the discussion boards. Exercises are assigned each week. Students are placed into groups. Each group has its own discussion board and virtual classroom. A virtual classroom for the whole class is scheduled at a set time each week for those students with questions. Participation in the virtual classroom is not obligatory. This session helps set up the group work. The weekly exercise is discussed within each group and a collective response is posted to the general discussion board. These collective responses form the basis for the face-to-face laboratory session held each week. Students are encouraged to participate by using a grading incentive. Ten percent of the overall grade of the course is assigned to participation.
Using Blackboard as a Teaching Tool -- from Lee Farnworth
I have found Blackboard to be a useful tool for me in my courses. I tend to use it for “practical” purposes and have, so far, not had the time to do anything “fancy”.
The most obvious use has been in posting supplementary course notes under Course Documents. Although we use a textbook for each of my courses, I have found that either the students try to get by without it, or I simply am not satisfied with all the material provided. I have over 300 students so printing in a timely fashion, especially when some of the material is based on current news and information, and getting the material to all students would be a huge task. For each lesson I provide an outline with objectives, points to focus on, and additional facts or references (usually links to websites) for students. Everyone knows the notes are there and there can be no excuse that they arrived late or missed that class!
I use Announcements, Course Information, Assignments and Projects in a similar fashion.
The information is usually provided as an attachment (rtf format to make it most accessible for all students), although, if it is a brief message I may just type it in and copy/paste for other classes (usually 7 altogether). The disadvantage to this is that you lose your enhanced format (bold, italics, underline) if you are using only smart text.
I use Gradebook to keep students apprised of their marks as well as what they appear to have not handed in. This is a good check for both students and teacher as I have found sometimes I have mis-recorded or simply forgotten to enter a mark. Students are given the responsibility of keeping up to date on their marks. The email tool makes it easy for me to do a mass “emergency” contact with all students or individuals when needed. It is important to remind students that they should keep their email address current.
Finally, I have just started to make use of the tracking mechanism on Blackboard. I am using it as an indicator of whether students are actually using this tool.
Course Workload at a Glance -- from Ian McVitty
One of the first that students see in Blackboard is the banner and the announcements. I thought of a way to give students a quick overview of the course workload, by incorporating a graphic showing the workload into a course banner.
Steps to create a workload banner:
Create an Excel spreadsheet with the 16 weeks similar to the one above. I used different colours to highlight the different type of evaluations.
Put a plain border around the data area and add a shadow to highlight it.
You can save a spreadsheet as a spreadsheet or as a web page, but not as a graphic, so all I did was to highlight the area I wanted, right click and copy.
Open Windows Paint (or any graphic program), click file new and paste the selected window into the new graphic.
Now save it as a graphic with in a GIF format.
Upload the banner to Blackboard, by going to Control Panel, Course Images and Course Banner. Click New Banner and then select the file you saved in step 5.
I think the students find it useful to know exactly where they are in an online or hybrid course and this approach will help. It might even help the teacher.
Using the Virtual Classroom with your own Web site -- from Dave Tilson
I have found it useful to
use my Algonquin website as the URL in the Virtual Classroom as it enables me to
post a “group visible” item which the group members can write on. Delegating
specific tasks for a group exercise can waste valuable class time; this system
makes it possible to use hybrid online time or non-class time to accomplish
this task.
Steps:
Example:
I recently used this system to have students select
a chapter to summarize for a collaborative writing project. I posted this table
on my Index page:
|
Student |
Chapter |
Outline
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Draft |
Proof |
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name |
3 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
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name |
4 |
3 |
7 |
6 |
|
name |
6 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
|
name |
7 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
I then instructed the four students in the group
Chat session to click the “T” (add text) tool on the left-hand side of the
virtual whiteboard—one at a time. This tool enabled them to put their initials
next to the “name” for the chapter each wanted. The other students could then
see their groupmates’ choices, as could I. I found it an efficient way to run a
group meeting.
I am sure there are many other ways to use this Bb function, but this is a practical, easy way to get started with the whiteboard and save valuable “live” class time.
How I Use Blackboard -- from Jennifer Daly-Cyr
My Blackboard story begins in week 5 of the winter semester of 2000. Having received excellent guidance and training, the objective was to begin with providing some fundamental information to the students via Blackboard: announcements, staff contact information, course outline and supplementary course notes.
From Fall 2000 through Winter 2001, while teaching in the Business Marketing laptop program, my use of Blackboard evolved to providing all course documents and information on Blackboard…no more printing or photocopying!
In Fall 2001, I developed and delivered a hybrid course. This translated into two (2) hours in class and two (2) hours online teaching. This also meant an even higher utilization of Blackboard. In addition to providing course information and documents, students were regularly engaging in Discussion Board and reporting on their research. They were also completing online quizzes and submitting assignments via Digital Dropbox.
Having been through a very gradual learning curve, it is now difficult to imagine not using Blackboard as a classroom management tool in a hybrid or traditional environment.
One of the most valuable lessons I have learned in using Blackboard is the importance of carefully planning the layout of your Blackboard contents early on in the process. You and the students will more easily navigate through the many files and folders.
Enjoy!
