assignment 2: wku blackboard readiness/practice activities

WKU Online Faculty Training 1

Assignment 2: WKU Blackboard Readiness/Practice Activities

These activities take place in your practice shell (KOFT_WKU_ITS_username)

Log into Blackboard

Look under My Courses (right side of the screen).

Find the course above where username is your kean.edu username.

Once you enter you will be on the announcement page

1. Post faculty info (50 pts)

On the announcement page you will see 3 announcements:

Welcome/Getting Started, Faculty Information and Live Sessions.

Click the gray circle with the down arrow for the Faculty

Information announcement

Select edit

In the message box:

o Insert your name after “Instructor Name:”

o Insert some office hours after “Virtual Office Hours:”.

At this point select any day and time, you will choose your

virtual office hours for your courses later.

o Insert some biographic information about yourself after “About the

Instructor:” This information includes some of your academic and

personal background.

o Select “Submit” after entering all of the information.


2. Post a welcome message (50 pts)

Select the Announcement link on the left side toolbar

Click the link near the top of the page for Create Announcement

Add a title in the subject line

Click in the message box to enter text

o This is a friendly post from you to students helping them know about

the course.

Select “Submit” after entering all of the information.

3. Respond to a Discussion post (100 pts)

Go to the Discussion Board

o Select Course Content

o Select Unit 1

o Select Unit 1 DQ: Two Technologies (Graded)

o Select “Two Technologies”

Respond to the Discussion Board Post

o Select “Reply” on the specific the student post

o Using the Message box, reply to the student using the ABC method.

If you are unsure about the ABC method please return to the

KOFT site for details.

o Click Submit after you have inserted your text.

4. Grade a Discussion Question post (150 pts)

Look on the bottom left hand side of the page for the Grade Center link.

Select Needs Grading

o You will see any assignments ready to be graded.

Open the grading window for the Discussion Board

o Select the student name (blue text, in this course the student is

named: Kean Online AD2_PreviewUser), it is the third column titled

User Attempt

Grade the Discussion Forum

o On the right side of the screen you will see the grading area.

o Click the hyperlink for the Discussion Rubric

o Select the “Show Descriptions” button


o Being careful to use the description information to select the

appropriate level of for each category:

Quality of Initial Student Response to the Discussion Question

Student Responses to Other Student/Faculty Posts

Frequency of Student Posts

Timeliness of initial Post


o There is only one post from this student and it should be graded

accordingly.

The rubric will automatically populate the points.

Add some feedback to the student in the feedback box.

Click Save Rubric

Click Submit

5. Grade a Student Assignment (150 pts)

Look on the bottom left hand side of the page for the Grade Center link.

Select Full Grade Center

Open the assignment

o Across the top you will see many columns. The columns closer to the

right side are the assignments

o A yellow circle with an exclamation point means an assignment

needs to be graded.

o Place your mouse over the yellow circle with an exclamation point

for the reflective essay. You will see a gray circle with an arrow.

Select the specific student attempt, the bottom choice.

Use the Rubric

o Select the blue arrow to open the rubric box.

o Click the Assignment rubric link

o Select Descriptions


o Using the rubric

There are 5 levels in each rubric:

Unacceptable

Minimal

Competent

Effective


Master

o As with the previous rubric, use the rubric descriptions to assess the

student submission, selecting the appropriate level for each

category.

o The rubric will automatically populate the points.

o Add some feedback to the student in the feedback box.

o Click Save Rubric

Click Submit

6. Record a 5-minute long Welcome Video (150 pts)

Two notes:

o The “Faculty Instructions for Live Lectures” are located at the end of

this document.

o You will need a document or a PPT to share. Make sure the word

document, PDF or PPT is saved to your desktop ready to share. Make

sure this item is available before continuing.

Go to the Live Session tool – also known as Collaborate

o Select the Live Sessions link in the left side toolbar.

Create a session

o Click the Create Session button

o Name the session “Welcome”

o Click Join Session

Set up your session

o Select the Collaboration Panel it is the purple icon with 2 arrows.

o Select the gear icon

o Select the Set up your camera and microphone link

Follow the directions to verify your audio and video

Share a document

o Select the file share icon, it is next to the gear icon.

o Select the Share Files option

o Drag your file from the desktop to the “Add Files” box, you can also

click inside the box and select the file, then click open.

o Your file will be converted.

Turn on your audio and video.

o The buttons at the center bottom of the screen

look like this.


o Click each of them. They should look like this. Follow

the menu to share your camera and microphone.

Start the recording

o Open the Session menu (located on the top left of the

screen with 3 horizontal lines.

o Select start Recording

Present

o Start talking

o Tell your students about yourself and the class, imagine this is the

first day of class. Tell them what you want them to know.

Share your document (when appropriate)

o On the right side of the screen you will see the share file option.

o Select your document

o Click the Share Now button on the bottom right of the screen.

o Select the page or slide number.

o When you are done sharing your file select the stop sharing

button on the top right of the screen.

Stop the recording

o Open the Session Menu

o Select Stop Recording

Exit the room

o Open the Session Menu

o Select Leave

Session, located on

the bottom left of

the screen

o You can now close this browser window.

7. Post Announcement with video (50 pts)

Find the video recording

o It will take some time for the video to process usually 5 to 10

minutes.

o Select the Live Sessions link in the left side toolbar


o Click the menu button (it is the 3 horizontal lines on the top left of

the window.

o Select Recordings

o Identify the Welcome recording.

o Click the recording options button

on the right side of the screen. It

looks like a circle with 3 dots

inside.

o Select Copy Link, your link to the video has

been copied.

Post an announcement. You should post an

announcement whenever you complete a live session.

o Click Announcements

o Click the link near the top of the page for Create Announcement

o Add a title in the subject line

o Click in the message box to enter text

o Tell the class that you have a new recording.

o Paste a link to the video

Make sure your cursor is in the Message box

Click ctrl + V (this will paste the link from the video inside the

box).

If this did not work you will need go back to the

recording to recopy the link.

o Select “Submit” after entering all of the information.


Collaborate (“Web Conferencing”) - Faculty Instructions for Live Lectures

Collaborate

Collaborate is the software built into Blackboard that allows live interactions. Some of you may have already

used it while conducting your virtual office hours to communicate with your online students.

Familiarize yourselves with its functionality by accessing Blackboard’s Collaborate Ultra Help for Moderators.

This site contains extensive and detailed instructions and videos on its setup and use.

Following are some of those important steps and instructions:

Creating your Collaborate live lecture sessions

1. In your Blackboard course, locate the “Web Conferencing” link on the left menu. Click the link:

2. Click the “Create Session” button:

https://help.blackboard.com/Collaborate/Ultra/Moderator


3. When you click “Create Session” a split screen will open up on the right side - this is known as the “Collaborate Panel”.

4. Insert a Title in the “New Session” field eg “Unit 1 Live Lecture”:

5. Expand “Event Details” (if collapsed) and note that the default start time for the session is the current date/time. In the “Start” fields, enter the date/time that your Live Lecture will begin and end (be sure to add some extra time to your end time in case you go over). Also, note that the “Anonymous dial in” information (yellow circle in image below) is now displayed for this session – this is the phone number


and pin that students can use to dial in to listen to the live session if they won’t have internet access/have internet issues at the time:

6. Collapse “Event Details” and Expand “Session Settings” on the Collaborate Panel. Ensure that all the settings look as follows:


7. Click “Save” at the bottom right and the Collaborate Panel will close, and your newly created session will appear on the Collaborate home screen.

8. Following these steps 1-7 above, create a new session for every Live Lecture that you will host for the course.

9. When it is time for each session, all you (and the students) need to do is click on the relevant session, and then click on “Join session” (or dial in via phone as detailed above if no internet access).

Preparing your live lecture session

Now that you have created all of your lecture sessions, it is advisable to prepare them way in advance and to

upload any files (eg PowerPoint etc) that you plan on using.

1. Click on the session you want to prepare:


2. If it’s not available yet for you to actually “Join session”, then go to the “Event Details” as earlier, and change the Start date/time to the current day/time, so that you can “Join session” (Just remember to go back and re-insert the correct Start date/time once you’ve finished all your preparations).

3. Once the session is “available”, you can click on it, and then “Join session”.

4. Once inside the “Room”, note the following 3 important areas – the Collaborate Panel (that you’re already familiar with, bottom right), the Session Menu (top left) and the Control Panel (bottom center), as indicated in this screenshot:


5. In the Control Panel, you can click on the “Share Audio” and “Share Video” icons to toggle them on and off. Obviously, you will have them both on once your lecture session begins (Tip: during your actual live lectures, tell all your students to turn their “Share Audio” off to prevent noise interference). The last icon on the right of the Control Panel is what the students click to “Raise hand” to alert you that they have a question.

6. Open the Collaborate Panel (click bottom right), and note the buttons on the bottom, from left to right – Chat, Attendees, Share Content, My Settings:


The “Chat” button is where participants can type in text at any time (good idea to keep an eye on this

during your lecture for any typed questions from your students). The “Attendees” button will show the

list of everyone currently in the session. The “Share Content” button is where you can add files now, and

then during the lectures, share those files, use a whiteboard etc, and the “My Settings” allows you to

modify the settings.

7. If it hasn’t automatically prompted you to do so, set up and test your camera and audio - click on the “My Settings” cogwheel, and then click “Set up your camera and microphone”:

8. The “Share Content” button is important, and this is where you should pre-load any PowerPoints, documents etc that you plan on using during the lecture. Once you’ve clicked it, click on “Share Files”, then “Add Files” to upload any files. Any files you add will remain there. Then at any time during the live lecture, all you have to do is go to this area and you will see the list of files you have previously added,


and you click on the relevant one to open it and it be visible to the students. Note – it is strongly recommended that you do this step and add all the files you intend on using well BEFORE the lecture session date/time, as it can take some time for them to be added, and in the event you have technical difficulties, and also so that you are familiar with how to properly use the “Share Content” feature.

9. In this “Share Content” area, you will also find the “Share Blank Whiteboard” feature if you wish to use a virtual whiteboard during your lecture. As before, take some time and familiarize yourself with its functionality if you intend on using this during your live lectures.

Remind students about upcoming live lecture sessions

It is advisable that you make reminder Announcements about upcoming live lecture sessions, and also

include the link to the live lecture in that Announcement for their added convenience. To find the link,

click on the relevant lecture session, find the “Guest link” address, copy it and paste it into your

Announcement/s:

Starting and recording your live lecture session

When the start day/time has arrived for your particular live lecture, click on it, then “Join Session”. You

(and your students) can join a session before the actual start time, from 15 mins prior up to 1 hr prior.

The default is set to 15 mins before start time, but you can change this in the Event Details area, in the

“Early Entry” field.


Once you want to begin the lecture, you MUST start the recording, for those students who are not able

to join – open the Session Menu (top left) and click “Start Recording”:

Moderating your live lecture session

There are many features and functions available to you while using Collaborate during the live lectures. Please

familiarize yourself with them here. As mentioned earlier, please ensure that you have practiced and are familiar

with any features you will be using, well in advance of your actual live lectures.

Two useful tips:

1. If, during the live lectures, students have not all turned off their Audio and there is noise interference, you can “Mute all attendees” – in the Collaborate Panel, click on Attendees, then click on the small circle with the three dots on the upper right, then click “Mute all”:

https://help.blackboard.com/Collaborate/Ultra/Moderator/Moderate_Sessions


2. You should nominate a student/s to provide closed captioning during the actual lecture. In the Attendee list, click on the small circle with three dots next to their name, and select “Make captioner”. The student will then be led through the steps required, and their task will be to type everything being said by you in real time during the lecture, that will appear in a caption at the bottom of the screen. More details can be found here.

Ending your live lecture session

1. When you have finished your live lecture, open up the Session Menu (top left), and in the same place where you had clicked “Start Recording” earlier, you now click “Stop Recording”.

2. To exit the session, open up the Session menu, and click on “Leave Session” on the bottom left:

https://help.blackboard.com/Collaborate/Ultra/Moderator/Moderate_Sessions/Live_Closed_Captioning


Accessing recordings of completed sessions

1. Once the session has ended, the recording of it will be available shortly afterwards. To access it, return to the home page of Collaborate, and click on its menu, as shown here:


2. Select “Recordings”, and the list of recordings will be visible. (Note: if, during a live lecture, you had

stopped recording for some reason, and then re-started recording, then they will be saved in this area as separate recording entries – labeled with the same session title, but with a forward slash followed by “recording 1”, “recording 2” etc).

3. Click on the Recording Options (the small circle with three dots) to the right of the relevant recording, and you will see options such as “Watch now”, “Download” (if this option had been enabled under “Session Settings” in the Collaborate Panel) and “Copy link”:


4. As with the Guest Link that we advised you should include in an Announcement/s before the lecture, we likewise advise to copy the recording link (by clicking on “Copy link” as shown in the image above) and include it in an Announcement that you create to your class after the conclusion of the lecture, so the students (particularly those who couldn’t participate in the live lecture) can easily find the recording.

assignment 2: wku blackboard readiness/practice activities

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