Introduction to Blackboard

Angelina CollegeDistance Education

Dr. Tom McKinney, Ph. D., MLS

Part One: Overview of the Course Environment

By clicking on the “+” you can any and all of the following:•Content areas •The Blank Page tool•Tool link•Course link•Web link•Module page•Subheader•Divider

The Control Panel• Students do not see this

set of controls.• These controls allow the

instructor to develop and deploy course content, as well as manage the course once it is up and running.

Files or Content Collection • With Course Files, you have

access to all files from a central location inside the course.

• Course Files is relative to the course, so only content for the course is stored there.

• Content is not shared across courses taught by the same instructor.

Course Tools Contains all the available tools that are added to your course.

Once added, these tools are administered from the Control Panel.

Evaluation Provides links to course reports, the Early Warning System/Retention Center, and the Performance Dashboard, which are used to view information about student activity and content usage, and to be notified about performance based on criteria created by instructors.

The Grade Center is your “one stop shopping” spot for everything related to grades and materials which need grading.

Be careful when exploring the Packages and Utilities controls, as one false step can erase your entire course!

Believe it or not, these links are actually useful. I am a big fan of the video tutorials.

Part Two: Creating Course Content

The first step to creating a new course is not creating content. The first step is to think about what you plan to teach and how to logically present that material to your students.

SLOW DOWN AND

DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME

Organization is one of the keys of successful online education as students need clear sense of where course materials are and need to stay away from things they do not need.

Part Three: The Grade Book

Accessing the Grade Book is as simple as clicking on the GRADE CENTER portion of the Control Panel.

Clicking on the arrow to the left opens the GRADE CENTER section, which provides additional options.

Clicking on the right arrow will take to directly to the Grade Book.

Concluding Thoughts