Blackboard for Instructors:Getting started with Blackboard at UO
JQ JohnsonAcademic Education Coordinator
University of [email protected]
This presentation
Blackboard at The University of Oregon How can Blackboard improve teaching?
(a student’s view of a typical course) How does an instructor use blackboard? Discussion: what’s in it for me?
Timeline of UO Blackboard project
Need assessment (1996-1999): evaluated a variety of course management systems
Evaluation (spring 1999): trial courses using WebCT and Blackboard
Implementation (summer 1999-spring 2000): licensed Blackboard for pilot project
Production (summer 2000): Blackboard becomes standard library service
Planned upgrade (fall 2003): to Blackboard 6 Enterprise Edition
Results to date: consistent growth in usage
Blackboard Usage at UO
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Results to date: a very popular tool
“I think it's a real tribute to the design of Blackboard that I was up and running after a four hour workshop. I've been impressed from the get-go.”
Elizabeth Hoffman Instructor
Arts & Administration2000
Statistics as of Nov 2002: 12,215 student users (2/3 of
university population) 305 active coursesites 415 instructors teaching using
Blackboard during fall 2002 19,435 student-course
enrollments Approximately 400,000 web
server hits/day Approximately 10000
sessions/day
What is Blackboard?
A commercial, web-based “Course Management System”
Integrated environment offering wide variety of features for teaching
access control: only enrolled students may view course
easy web publishing of syllabus, lecture notes, etc. asynchronous communication: announcements,
threaded discussion, surveys synchronous communication: chat room, virtual
whiteboard online quizzes and gradebook collaborative workgroups
The UO Blackboard home page: http://blackboard.uoregon.edu
A Blackboard CourseSitehttp://blackboard.uoregon.edu/courses/PSY201JJF
Course Documents
Lecture Notes
Integrated discussion forum
Online quizzes
Typical UO Blackboard users
Courses in a wide range of disciplines: Art and Gender Intro to Business Introduction to Native American Literature Introductory Psychology Architecture Organic Chemistry etc.
Adopters tend to cluster in particular departments Different instructors use different features Different instructors have different pedagogical
goals
Getting started
First step for an instructor is to get an account. Second, is to request a CourseSite for a particular course and term
Most instructors start slow – first term teaching with Blackboard uses only a few features
Example: Intro to Business (BA101W02)
Large lecture course (~1200 students/term) with minimal staff support
Pedagogical goal: Blackboard primarily used to improve/streamline course administration Course announcements “Just in time” lecture notes On-line self-assessments (quiizzes) FAQ (reduce demand for office hours) Posting marks securely
Example: Finance: Value thru Capital (BA318W02)
Mid-sized lecture course (~125 students) Pedagogical goal: to “create the optimum
learning community” thru wide variety of approaches. Blackboard used for Course announcements (more current than in-class) Copies of all handouts and lecture notes online for
student convenience (“just in case” publishing) Online quizzes (avoids using valuable lecture time)
Example: Introductory Psychology (PSY201JJFw01)
Lecture+section. Pedagogical goal: replace existing web site (used only for course documents), with support for:
Active learning: Online practice quizzes (with answers, immediate feedback) Online demos, links to web resources, real-world applications
Collaborative learning: discussion forum as supplement to tutorial (f2f discussion) sections
Creates sense of community despite lecture format Different students perform well on-line (e.g. non-native English
speakers) Students generally more thoughtful when posting than
speaking Allows interaction among students outside of normal class
times
Example: Arch 282/682, “Harbor Hills Village” (Village)
Architecture course designing a new housing complex
Pedagogical problem: how to conduct a meaningful (ecologically valid) review of student designs taking advantage of outside experts
Used chat tool and electronic whiteboard to implement virtual design reviews
“I have 7-8 professionals around the country and in different parts of the world lined up to act as remote critics for my studio project. In order for them to interact with the students, … these professionals can log on to blackboard in order to use the chat feature.”
Features in widespread use at UO
“Fill in the blanks” easy web page creation (e.g., announcements, annotations)
Posting syllabus and course assignments Posting lecture materials (html, MS
Powerpoint, PDF, etc.) Threaded discussion forum Gradebook
Features in moderate use
Online quizzes (usually low-stakes; e.g., self-assessment)
Surveys Group communication features Student web pages Digital dropbox Integrated calendar, todo lists E-mail interface
Developing course materials
Faculty develop their own materials Faculty Instructional Training Center provides
guidance and resources, but not labor Library and Teaching Effectiveness Program
provide additional training Some departments assign graduate student
teaching assistants or clerical staff to Blackboard support and development
Library can provide assistance in locating materials (reference material for students and learning objects for instructors)
Helping students use Blackboard
Students get accounts and coursesite membership automatically based on CRN enrollment
Most students need minimal or no help using system Refer student questions:
Knight Library ITC (only common problem is first-time login) http://blackboard.uoregon.edu/local/help.html
Typical text for a syllabus:The web site for this course uses "Blackboard." On the web site, you will find general
announcements for the class, all documents for the course (including this syllabus), lecture notes, on-line discussions, links to relevant web sites, and more. You can get to the course web site by going to http://blackboard.uoregon.edu. You can get help starting by going to the Knight Library Information Technology Center (ITC).
Plan to check the course site at least twice a week. In addition, you should post contributions to the online discussion list at least 4 times during the term (and no more than twice a week).
For more information
This presentation:http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj/ presentations/bbintro.ppt
University of Oregon Blackboard site: http://blackboard.uoregon.edu
UO Blackboard help file:http://blackboard.uoregon.edu/local/help.html
UO Faculty Instructional Technology Training Center: http://libweb.uoregon.edu/fittc/
JQ Johnson: [email protected]