CENGAGENOW SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

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2 CENGAGENOW SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS To run CengageNOW, please make sure your computer and browser settings meet or surpass the requirements on this page. Use the enclosed links to download and install any of the browser or plug-in software you need. For more information, see the CengageNOW online Help section on Setup and Troubleshooting. Windows Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista Intel or AMD CPU, 266MHz or better 128 MB RAM or more Web browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer ; Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or higher Java JRE 1.5/5.0 or higher recommended ( Macintosh Mac OS X Power Mac G3 G5 or better 128 MB of RAM or more Web browser: Safari 2.0 or higher; Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or higher Linux Current Linux distribution (Fedora, SuSE, etc.) Intel or AMD CPU at 266MHz or better 128MB RAM or more Web browser: Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or higher Java JRE 1.5/5.0 or higher recommended ( Additional Requirements (All Systems) Adobe Flash Player (download from flashplayer/) Adobe Reader (download from readstep2.html) Screen resolution of 800 x 600 or higher, and color quality of 16-bit or higher Internet connection speed of 56k or higher Popup-blocking software configured to allow to display popup windows Browser set to check for newer versions of cached pages and refresh automatically Apple QuickTime player, RealPlayer, and Macromedia Shockwave player (These free browser plug-ins are used to display multimedia components that appear in some products.) Sound card for audio content CNOWMF PDF Rev. 12/18/08 ii CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

3 CONTENTS CENGAGENOW SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS II INTRODUCTION NEW FEATURES IN CENGAGENOW 6.X Enhanced Assignment Creation Wizard Improved Assignment Take Improved Browser Support Streamlined System Check GETTING STARTED: CENGAGENOW SETUP ACCESSING CENGAGENOW INSTRUCTOR PAGES OVERVIEW CREATING ASSIGNMENTS IN CENGAGENOW Beginning the Process Homework and Test Assignments Creating a Reading Assignment Assignments from Study Tools As a live, Web-based program, CengageNOW is regularly updated with new features and improvements. Please refer to the CengageNOW online Help for the most current information. Instructor Guide iii

4 Contents MANAGING YOUR CENGAGENOW GRADEBOOK Using the Student Grade Details and Assignment Details Pages Creating and Editing Assignment Categories Customizing Assignment Options for Specific Students Using Grade Reports ORGANIZING YOUR COURSE Linking to CengageNOW Assignments Managing Assignment Links Re-using Course Assignments STUDENT PAGES OVERVIEW TECHNICAL SUPPORT iv CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

5 CENGAGENOW INSTRUCTOR GUIDE FOR BLACKBOARD This guide helps instructors get started with CengageNOW 6.x as accessed through the Blackboard Learning System - Enterprise License Release. The CengageNOW 6.x integration is new for 2009: see the section New Features in CengageNOW 6.x for an overview. CengageNOW s Instructor View For detailed information on working with your CengageNOW gradebook and assignments, please refer to the online Help available within CengageNOW. For additional information on working with Blackboard s features, please refer to the Blackboard online Manual, available as a link from the Help section of the Instructor s course Control Panel. Instructor Guide 1

6 Introduction Introduction Using the CengageNOW Building Block integration agent and Course Cartridges, instructors can access CengageNOW s premium online content and superior assessment and gradebook tools within their familiar Blackboard platform for any course they teach. The Building Block enables the Blackboard server at your school to link to CengageNOW, and is installed by your school s Blackboard system administrator. Note: CengageNOW is integrated with the Blackboard s Enterprise License version only, not the Basic License. The Course Cartridge enables your students in a particular course to register for access to the online assignments and CengageNOW content for that course s textbook. You will need to have a specific Course Cartridge installed for each course you teach using CengageNOW. The Cartridge can be installed by the Blackboard system administrator or the instructor. Once it is installed, you can access the CengageNOW tools and start creating your assignments. Your students receive their access code with the Cengage textbook or textbook bundle they purchase for the course. Student users are prompted to enter the code the first time they access any of the CengageNOW content. Once the code is entered, students can thereafter access the book s online course content, and their assignments and grades for your course. Students do not need a separate ID or password to enter CengageNOW; they simply click the CengageNOW Assignments and Grades link on their Course Documents page in Blackboard. Similarly, instructors access CengageNOW through links in the Blackboard Control Panel. Within CengageNOW, instructors can assign content, create tests, and track detailed assignment progress for each student. Assignment results and gradebook changes in CengageNOW are synchronized and updated in Blackboard automatically, providing integrated and ready access to class grades in both applications. Note: CengageNOW was formerly known as ilrn, and most recently as ThomsonNOW. You may still see these earlier names on some program files, folders, links, or buttons. 2 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

7 New Features in CengageNOW 6.x New Features in CengageNOW 6.x Beginning in 2009, Cengage Learning offers CengageNOW 6.x integrated with Blackboard, WebCT, and ecollege. Instructors who have previously used the earlier CengageNOW integration (version 5.x) will find several new and redesigned features, summarized below. Enhanced Assignment Creation Wizard The assignment creation wizard has been refined to do a better job of accommodating an instructor s typical workflow. Assignment types are now clearly categorized as homework, tests, reading, or assignable study tools. Similarly, assignment due dates are now entered up front, rather than entered as one of many assignment options at the end. Content selection now defaults to the designated course textbook, making the process more straightforward, and question filtering and selection all takes place on the same page. Instructors now select specific questions to include in their assignment using an enhanced version of the current List View page. This enhanced page features integrated links for editing or re-scoring questions, and eliminates the need for the separate By Preview and Format and Preview pages. The Assignment Options have been enhanced with easier-to-use Option Sets and clearer instructions and page design. Finally, a new Assignment Summary page puts all of the likely next actions in an accessible and standardized layout. Improved Assignment Take The assignment-taking experience for students has received several upgrades. The enhanced auto-save feature, for example, saves the student s assignment in progress every minute. Now the student will have a backup of the assignment even if it closes unexpectedly due to a computer problem. As a related benefit, the Save & Exit button is now separated into distinct Save and Exit buttons. The Save button is always available, while the Exit button is active only for assignments that can be left and resumed later. These new controls encourage students to save their progress more often, adding to the security provided by auto-save. Instructor Guide 3

8 New Features in CengageNOW 6.x Redesigned Elements of the Assignment Take Page The new Check My Work link for practice assignments helps students access all opportunities for feedback on a question, and can provide distinct hints and related material for each attempt. Additional navigational upgrades include Previous/Next links, improved question Status markers, and pop-up tool-tip information for each question. Improved Browser Support More question types can now be authored for use with the widely available and robust Adobe Flash browser plug-in, allowing a broader range of student browsers to be able to take the assignment without delay. Additionally, the Flash view of a question will be the one displayed when the student has the capability for more than one view. Streamlined System Check Due to the improved Flash and browser support, the system check has been made optional and streamlined to run more quickly. Users can still run the system check from a link in the global header at any time, but no longer need to wait through it at sign-in or assignment-start. 4 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

9 Getting Started: CengageNOW Setup Getting Started: CengageNOW Setup This section describes how to download and install your CengageNOW Course Cartridge if your system administrator has not done it for you already. (Your system administrator must have already installed the CengageNOW Building Block and set up a course shell for you.) Caution: Until your Course Cartridge is installed, do not set up any custom links for your course. The installation will overwrite them. To download and import your CengageNOW Course Cartridge 1. Log in to Blackboard and click the Courses tab. 2. Click on the course name. From the Course Menu on the left, click Control Panel. 3. Under Course Options, click Import Course Cartridge. 4. On the Import Course Cartridge page, enter the Course Cartridge Download Key provided by Cengage, and click Submit. This download/install process may take less than two minutes or more than two hours, depending on the current number of requests on the Blackboard server queue. When the download/ install is complete, you will be sent an automated confirmation e- mail from Blackboard. To set up CengageNOW Caution: Do not use any of the CengageNOW links on the Course Documents page before you have followed the steps below and activated your account. 1. Log in to Blackboard and click the Courses tab. 2. On the Course List column, click the course name. 3. From the menu on the left, click Control Panel. Instructor Guide 5

10 Accessing CengageNOW Note: If you do not see the CengageNOW links in your Control Panel, the course cartridge may not have been installed correctly. If you see the links but they don t work, there may be a problem with the Building Block configuration. Contact your Blackboard system administrator. 4. Under Course Tools, click the CengageNOW Instructor Tools link. CengageNOW will open in a new browser window. Note: You need to accept the license agreement to use CengageNOW. You also need to set your browser to allow popup windows, if it doesn t already. (See your browser Help for more information about popups). After the Course Cartridge has been installed, the Cengage content will be available in the Course Documents folder. Students will need to enter their book s access code the first time they access this folder or its Cengage content. Accessing CengageNOW Your Blackboard course provides three main links to CengageNOW. Your two Instructor links are in your course s Control Panel: CengageNOW Instructor Tools and CengageNOW Gradebook. Blackboard s Instructor Links to CengageNOW 6 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

11 Instructor Pages Overview Your student view link is in your course s Control Panel under Content Areas> Course Documents: Assignments and Grades. See Student Pages Overview on page 34 for details. The student view may feature additional links to ungraded self-study content, depending on your course cartridge or textbook bundle. Blackboard s Link to CengageNOW s Student View for Instructors WARNING: Do not copy links to Assignments and Grades or create new ones outside of Course Documents. Additional links are not supported and may corrupt your student or course data. Instructor Pages Overview The CengageNOW Instructor view provides three main tabs: Gradebook, Assignment/Tests, and Study Tools. To go to a different page, just click on the appropriate tab for that page. CengageNOW Navigation Tabs Instructor Guide 7

12 Instructor Pages Overview Most CengageNOW pages feature + Show all options links that reveal currently hidden options, and - Hide these options links that conceal options you don t currently need. Using the Preferences link at the top of the page, you can choose default settings for your Show/Hide options, table lengths, and other display options. At the very top of most pages in CengageNOW you will see a header section with links to useful tools for both instructors and students: The Preferences link (available to instructors only) allows you to choose default settings for your Show/Hide options, table lengths, and other display options. The Upload Files link (available to instructors only) lets you upload images, text, ZIP, or other files from your local computer to CengageNOW to use in your assignments. The Help link provides detailed information on using CengageNOW features and settings. You can also click the inline help icons for feature-specific instructions. (Instructor and student accounts have their own separate Help systems.) The CengageNOW Tools link (available to both instructors and students) provides access to several specialized utilities, calculators, simulations, and glossaries. The Run System Check link allows you to check your computer for needed updates while you are logged into CengageNOW. Assignments/Tests Page Use this page to create and manage your CengageNOW assignments. You can create assignments and tests from your CengageNOW content, from ready-made courseware assignments, or from questions you author yourself. You can also select from a wide range of grading and feedback options for each assignment. With your assignments set up, you can copy them to new courses and archive them for later reference or use. 8 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

13 Instructor Pages Overview Instructor s Assignments Page Gradebook Page The Gradebook overview page shows all of the students enrolled in your course and assignment scores. The student names are automatically populated from your Blackboard course roster. From this page you can view student progress, review assignment answers, edit assignment categories, modify scores, and create many types of grade reports in several formats. You can customize the grade display from the Change the appearance of this page link. For example, you can organize assignments by due date or by assignment category, display scores by points or percentage, and so forth. Instructor Guide 9

14 Instructor Pages Overview Instructor s Gradebook Page Gradebook Synchronization to Blackboard The grade synchronization flows from CengageNOW to Blackboard. Please keep the following in mind: Make all of your grade changes in the CengageNOW Gradebook. The Blackboard Gradebook ( Grade Center in Blackboard 8) will update from CengageNOW automatically. New assignments do not appear in the CengageNOW Gradebook until one or more students has taken the assignment and submitted their answers for grading. The Blackboard Gradebook provides only basic score information. For the most detailed grade information and all grade editing, use the CengageNOW Gradebook. Note: In the unlikely event there is downtime between CengageNOW and Blackboard, you may need to manually update and save grades in CengageNOW to synchronize Blackboard s Gradebook. 10 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

15 Instructor Pages Overview Study Tools Page This page provides access to the self-study content included with your Course Cartridge, such as ebooks and Personalized Study. Instructor s Study Tools Page Students should use the Study Tools page for ungraded reading and self-study only. You can use much of this courseware content to create ready-made course assignments and tests, but remember the key differences: Work students take from the Assignments/Tests page is graded CengageNOW coursework. Work students complete in the Study Tools page is typically ungraded practice or self-study. Note: When creating or modifying Personalized Study assignments, you can hide the Pre- and Post-Tests for that assignment from the student s self-study view. Detailed instructions on assigning content can be found in Creating Assignments in CengageNOW on page 12. Instructor Guide 11

16 Creating Assignments in CengageNOW Creating Assignments in CengageNOW CengageNOW allows you to create several types of custom-built assignments. Depending on your Course Cartridge, you may be able to create homework, tests, reading, and study tools assignments. Each type of assignment offers a distinct set of options you can use to specify what content is presented to your students, how it is presented, when it is available, how it is graded, and so forth. You can save your preferred assignment options as a set, and apply them to new assignments with a single menu selection. You can also use assignment templates to create new assignments quickly. Once your assignments are set up for one course, you can re-use them in another section or term. See Re-using Course Assignments on page 30 for details. Note: For more detailed information on these procedures, please refer to the CengageNOW online help system. Click the icon for pagespecific information or use the Help link at the top of the page. Beginning the Process The first tasks in creating any assignment are to choose the type of assignment, name it, and set its availability dates. The steps and options available after that depend on the assignment type you are creating. To begin creating an assignment 1. Click the Assignments/Tests tab to open the Assignments page. 2. Click the Create assignment button. The Choose Type page opens. 3. Choose an Assignment Type from the available options: 12 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

17 Beginning the Process Homework. This option appears if you have one or more available homework question banks or self-authored questions. The default settings for homework include unlimited takes, unlimited time per take, save and resume, and a score progress display. You can also allow students to print the assignment and view question feedback and hints a specified number of times. Test. This option appears if you have one or more available test question banks or self-authored questions. The default settings for tests include one allowed take, no score progress display, and no question feedback or hints. You can change the number of takes, the time allowed per take, and restrict access with a password, among other options. Reading. This option appears if you have ebook resources available with your textbook. You can assign one or more sections to read, choose to assign a grade or not, and set the number of takes and due date. Assignable Study Tool. This option is available if your textbook features Personalized Study assets. Each Personalized Study learning module provides a diagnostic Pre-Test, Personalized Study Plan, and Post-Test. These Study Tools allow you to set up anything from a single assignment to a complete series of assignments that you then can edit for content or options. 4. With your assignment type selected, click Continue. The Assignment Information page opens. To enter Assignment Information The Assignment Information is similar for all types. 1. Enter the assignment name you want to use. The assignment name can include special characters, but must be unique and contain no more than 120 characters. If you are creating a number of assignments, planning the naming scheme in advance can save you some time renaming them later. 2. Enter the Assignment Available On: date. This is the date/time on which students can start taking the assignment. The calendar tool next to the date field makes it easier to enter these dates in the correct format. Instructor Guide 13

18 Creating Assignments in CengageNOW 3. Enter the Assignment Due On: date. This is the date/time by which students must have submitted the completed assignment to avoid any late penalties. 4. The Assignment Unavailable On: date is the date/time on which the assignment is no longer available to take, resume, or complete. Assignments still in progress at the Unavailable date/ time are stopped and scored on progress to that point. The default Unavailable setting is Same as Due Date. To allow for late assignments (perhaps with a late penalty), clear the Same as Due Date checkbox and enter an Unavailable date that is after the Due date. 5. When you have entered all of the appropriate assignment information, click Continue. The Content Selection screen for your selected assignment type opens. To continue the process for your selected assignment type, see the following sections: Homework and Test Assignments on page 14 Creating a Reading Assignment on page 17 Assignments from Study Tools on page 18 Homework and Test Assignments Homework and Test assignments can use much of the same content and are created much the same way. Once you have selected a Homework or Test assignment type and entered its Assignment Information--name and availability dates--you select and filter the content. To choose content 1. After entering the Assignment Information for your Homework or Test, click the Continue button. The Available Questions page opens. 2. Select the test banks, homework banks, and self-authored questions from which you want to draw questions or other items for your assignment. 14 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

19 Homework and Test Assignments Note: Click the + button next to books, chapters, and sections to reveal additional content you can select. Click the - button to hide the additional items. 3. When you are finished selecting content sources, click the Continue button. The area Select Number of Available Questions from Each Type opens below. To apply item filters This section lets you filter the questions in the content you have already selected by the types of available questions and their authored characteristics. 1. Make your selections on any filters you wish to apply. 2. To see the result of your current filter settings, click the Filter button. 3. After filtering, you can adjust how many of each question type will be selected. 4. When you are satisfied with the filtering and size of your set of questions, click the Continue button. The Included Questions page opens. To preview and select questions The Included Questions page lists your filtered questions by their file names in the source book or folder. You select questions by moving them from the Available Questions list to the Included Questions list. To see how a question will appear online, click on its name to see it the Question Preview window at the bottom of the page. 1. Select questions using one of the following methods: To move a specific question from the Available Questions list to the Included Questions list, select it and then click the >Include Selected> button. To move a specific question back, click <Exclude Selected <. You can select multiple questions using Shift-click or Ctrl-click. Instructor Guide 15

20 Creating Assignments in CengageNOW To move all questions from one list to the other, click >Include All > or <Exclude All <. To get more questions from which to choose, click the Add More Questions button at the bottom of the page. You can then select and filter additional questions from your registered content to add to your current Available Questions list, while retaining those already selected. To author a brand new question, click the Create a Question link to open the self-authored question editor. The question you create will be inserted into the current assignment only. 2. You can rearrange questions on the Included Questions list by dragging and dropping them into the new location. 3. When all of the items you want to include are selected and arranged as you want them, you have two choices: If you are not yet ready to print your test or to set assignment options, click the Save, without Assigning button. The assignment will be saved as an Assignment Template. You will be able to access the assignment template later and use it to create specific assignments. To complete the assignment options now and put the assignment on-line for your class, click the Continue button. The Assignment Options page opens. 4. Set the assignment options you want to use, such as number of Assignment Takes, Late Penalty, Grading, Not graded, and so forth. (For detailed information on Assignment Options and saving Option Sets, please refer to the online Help.) 5. Once you set the particular options you want to use, click Create Assignment to schedule the assignment for the current course. The Assignment Created page opens, allowing you to print, edit, or exit the assignment as you choose. You can also access this page later as the Assignment Summary page by clicking an assignment s name on the Assignments List. 16 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

21 Creating a Reading Assignment Assignment Options Page Creating a Reading Assignment You can create Reading assignments to track your student s progress through course e-book chapters. Although most course reading tends to be treated as ungraded self-study, you may wish to set up reading assignments to verify students have looked at the material, assign credit for each section, and specify a number of takes, among other options. You create Reading assignment on the Assignments/Tests page. When you have finished creating the assignment, you can edit its contents, student access, and other options. To create a Reading assignment 1. After choosing the Reading assignment type and entering the Assignment Information, click the Continue button. The Choose ebook page opens. Instructor Guide 17

22 Creating Assignments in CengageNOW 2. Find the appropriate chapter or chapters for your assignment(s). (Click on the + or - icons next to an item to view or hide its contents.) Select the chapter or chapters you want to use, and then click Continue. If you selected multiple chapters, you will be reminded that you are creating multiple assignments with the same Available On date, Due date, Unavailable date, and the same initial options. You can customize the assignments later if you wish. Click OK to go to the Assignment Options page. Note: Be careful not to choose content from any book that you do not expect your students to buy. Students must have current access rights to all book content in an assignment to take that assignment. 3. On the Assignment Options page, set the options for the assignment or assignments. Note that reading assignments offer far fewer options than standard homework or test assignments. 4. When you are done setting the assignment options, click the Create Assignment button. The Assignment Created page opens. At this point, your assignment or set of assignments is complete and assigned to the current course. However, you still have the ability to work with and modify an assignment using the links on the Assignment Created page. You can also access this page later as the Assignment Summary page by clicking an assignment s name on the Assignments List. If you are finished for now, click Return to the Assignments List. Assignments from Study Tools This section describes the steps necessary to create graded assignments from CengageNOW Personalized Study products. You can create a single assignment or a whole series of assignments at once. These assignments can include the same diagnostic Pre-Tests, interactive content, and Post-Tests (chapter quizzes) that the student can access for self-study from their Study Tools page. By making assignments of them, however, you are able to track and grade each student s work. 18 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

23 Assignments from Study Tools Once you have selected your assignments, you can set assignment options such as due dates for the whole series, or customize content by excluding particular sections. Note: Students need to be aware that assignments from Study Tools content are graded only when accessed through the Assignments page. When students access content available through the Study Tools page, any work they do is for self-study and will not be graded. To create an assignment from Study Tools content 1. After choosing the Assignable Study Tool assignment type and entering the Assignment Information, click the Continue button. The Choose/Customize AST page opens. 2. Find the appropriate chapter or chapters for your assignment(s). (Click on the + or - icons next to an item to view or hide its contents.) Select the chapter or chapters you want to use, and then click Continue. Note: Be careful not to choose content from any book that you do not expect your students to buy. Students must have current access rights to all book content in an assignment to take that assignment. 3. At this point, you will take one of two paths: If you selected multiple chapters, you will be reminded that you are creating multiple assignments with the same Available, Due, and Unavailable dates, and the same initial options. You can customize the assignments later if you wish. Click Continue to go to the Assignment Options page. If you selected just one chapter, you will see the Customize Assignable Study Tools Options pane. You can include or exclude specific chapter sections, including the diagnostic Pre-Test and Post-Test, depending on the chapter content. Once you have customized the diagnostics and chapters for your assignment, click Continue. The Assignment Options page opens. Instructor Guide 19

24 Managing Your CengageNOW Gradebook 4. On the Assignment Options page, set the options for the assignment or series of assignments. 5. When you are done setting the assignment options, click the Create Assignment button. The Assignment Created page opens. If you created multiple assignments, you will see them listed on the dropdown menu at the top. At this point, your assignment or set of assignments is complete and assigned to the current course. However, you still have the ability to work with and modify an assignment using the links on the Assignment Created page. You can also access this page as the Assignment Summary page by clicking an assignment s name on the Assignments list. Managing Your CengageNOW Gradebook The CengageNOW Gradebook provides a high degree of organization and control over your students grades and assignment scores. It is synchronized with Blackboard to automatically populate with student data from your Blackboard course roster, and to automatically send scores to the Blackboard Gradebook. As your students complete assignments, CengageNOW automatically grades everything it can grade electronically, marks items that must be manually graded, and calculates a student s final grade or grade to date. You can use the Gradebook tools to review the answers, score any items requiring manual grading, create a report, and, if necessary, adjust scoring for any item, student, or assignment. The Gradebook overview page provides the following basic options: Report Creator Select a report type from the drop-down menu, and click Go. The Report Creator opens in a new window. See Using Grade Reports on page 25 for more. Edit categories for this course Edit current assignment categories and create new ones. For details, see Creating and Editing Assignment Categories on page CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

25 Using the Student Grade Details and Assignment Details Pages Find Student To search for a specific student s information, enter the student s name, and click Find Student. Click + Show all options for these advanced tools: Customize assignment options for specific students This feature lets you modify assignment availability, dates, and other options for individual students. For details, see Customizing Assignment Options for Specific Students on page 23. Adjust multiple scores Use this feature to adjust students scores for multiple assignments. You can adjust scores up or down by a designated amount (percent or points) or reset scores to a specific value. Query Student Data Opens the Gradebook Search page, where you can use various criteria to find student grades for a course or assignment. Change the appearance of this page Opens the Gradebook display preferences page, where you can modify the way information is displayed on the overview page. Using the Student Grade Details and Assignment Details Pages From the Gradebook overview page you can click any student name to open the Student Grade Details page. Click on any assignment name to see the Assignment Details page. The Student Grade Details page This page displays all assignment grades for an individual student. Assignments are listed by category, if any. In addition to the standard options available from the Gradebook overview page, these options are always available on the Student Grade Details page: View the grades for a different student Select a name from this drop-down menu, which contains all students enrolled in the course, and click Go. Instructor Guide 21

26 Managing Your CengageNOW Gradebook Edit categories for this course Opens the Edit Course Categories page (see Creating and Editing Assignment Categories on page 23 for details). Sort the assignment list Click any column head to sort the assignment list by the information in that column. Click the column head again to reverse the order. Return to the Gradebook page by clicking Go back to the Gradebook. The Assignment Details page To go to the Assignment Details page from the Gradebook overview page, click on the assignment name at the top of the table column. Note: Your CengageNOW assignment will not appear in your Blackboard Gradebook until at least one student completes it and the assignment score is sent to Blackboard. In addition to the standard options available from the Gradebook overview page, these options are always available on the Assignment Details page: View a different assignment Select a different assignment to view, and click Go. Change Category Click Change Category to go to the Edit Assignment Categories page, where you can place assignments in custom categories and link to the Edit Course Categories page. Sort the assignment list Click any column head to sort the assignment list by the information in that column. Click the column head again to reverse the order. Return to the Gradebook page by clicking Go back to the Gradebook. 22 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

27 Creating and Editing Assignment Categories Adding and Deleting Students The CengageNOW Gradebook is synchronized with Blackboard to automatically populate with student data from your Blackboard course roster. In other words, any adding or deleting or modifying of students is done in Blackboard, not CengageNOW. The change will appear shortly thereafter in the CengageNOW Gradebook. Caution: When you delete a student from a course, all of the student s grades for that course will be permanently deleted in CengageNOW. Creating and Editing Assignment Categories Assignment categories let you group assignments by type so they can be weighted collectively in final grade calculations. For example, you can create a category containing homework assignments and weight it to 30 percent of the course grade. This weighting will apply whether the category has five homework assignments or fifty. From the Edit Course Categories page you can create various categories and set their weight towards the final grade. Then you add individual assignments to them by using the Category option on the Edit Assignment Categories page. Note: Using assignment categories is optional. If you do not create any categories, all assignments remain in the default category. For detailed information on creating and editing assignment categories, please refer to the CengageNOW online Help. Customizing Assignment Options for Specific Students You can customize the assignment dates, times, number of takes, and time allowed for particular students. This feature helps you make exceptions and accommodate the special circumstances of certain students without affecting the assignment for the rest of the class. Instructor Guide 23

28 Managing Your CengageNOW Gradebook To customize assignment options for specific students 1. Open the Gradebook page and if necessary click the + Show all options option. 2. Click Customize assignment options for specific students. This opens the Select Assignment and Students for Custom Options and Dates page. Note: You can modify student details for another assignment by selecting it from the drop-down menu. 3. Select one or more students for whom you wish to customize the assignment settings. To select all of the students, choose the check box at the top of the list. If you have a long list of students, you can use the search fields to locate a specific student quickly by name, ID, or address. 4. Once you have the correct assignment and students selected, click Continue. 5. The Customize Assignment Options for Specific Students page lists your selected students. If you need to change your selection, click the Change selected students link to return to the previous page. Each student s initial settings match the settings for the assignment. You can make the following changes to the assignment s settings for the selected students: For the Status, select whether the assignment is Assigned or Not assigned to the selected students. For the Available date and time when the students can begin the assignment, select Use default to use the assignment s settings, select Any time to allow the students to begin the assignment whenever they like, or set a specific date and time when the students can begin the assignment. For the Due date and time, select Use default to use the assignment s settings, select Not specified to remove the deadline for the students, or enter a different date and time by which the students must complete the assignment. 24 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

29 Using Grade Reports For the date and time when the assignment becomes Unavailable to the students, select Use default to use the assignment s settings, select Not specified to make the assignment always available to the students, or enter a different date and time when the assignment will become unavailable to the students. For Maximum Takes Allowed, select Use default to use the assignment s settings, select Unlimited to let the students take the assignment up to twenty times, or enter a specific number of takes that the selected students may have. 6. When you are done customizing assignment options for the students, click Save dates. Using Grade Reports CengageNOW Grade Reports give you a quick way to view overall or cumulative course grades, grades for particular assignments, or individual student responses. These reports are generated in file formats that can be printed out or viewed on-screen. The Export Gradebook to CSV file feature lets you created comma-separated value files that you can open in your preferred spreadsheet application. Each of the main pages of the Gradebook tab includes a link to the Report Creator. Grade Report Types: Student Scores - for each student, this report displays details for all assignments, including assignment name, due date, date taken with penalty (if any), percent of total, score, possible score, percentage of correct answers, category totals, and overall grade. Course Scores - displays a table listing all assignment grades for all the students enrolled. Student Cumulative Grades - displays the cumulative score, possible score, and percentage correct by category and overall for each student. TLE Scores per Student - displays scores for each student s TLE assignment and includes assignment name, due date, date completed, student grade, possible grade, and time spent on each task. Instructor Guide 25

30 Organizing Your Course Properties of Assigned Problems - lists the assignment s problems by number, name, possible score, type, topic, and difficulty rating. Student Responses - displays the questions and answers for one or more students on a particular assignment. Student Response Statistics - provides response statistics for each problem in the assignment, including percentage of students who answered, possible score, percentage correct, average, and standard deviation. Assignment Statistics - shows student performance and range of scores on the assignment in histogram format. College Success Factor Index - provides a CSFI report which is an assessment of a student s probability of collegiate success based on responses to a questionnaire. Concept Report - provides student performance results based on key concepts critical for accreditation (for college-level business schools). Organizing Your Course On Blackboard s Course Documents page, you can create and control the links to CengageNOW assignments you create or the self-study materials you assign. Students start with one or more default links to CengageNOW and their book s self-study content on the Course Documents page. You can customize these links to support the course organization you prefer. For example, you can remove these default links and provide custom links so that students can access only specific CengageNOW assignments and content. Note: You may want to temporarily hide existing links if you decide to use practice Study Tools content as a means of tracking student progress. See To hide student content links on page 29 for details. You also have options to hide specific sections of Study Tools content when creating or modifying assignments in CengageNOW. 26 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

31 Linking to CengageNOW Assignments Linking to CengageNOW Assignments You can create custom links to specific CengageNOW assignments and tests or to Study Tools content you wish to reserve for grading. These links will appear on the Blackboard Course Documents page along with the default links to CengageNOW and course book content. WARNING: Do not copy links to CengageNOW Assignments and Grades or create new ones outside of Course Documents. Additional links are not supported and may corrupt your student or course data. To create custom links to CengageNOW 1. Log in to Blackboard and click the Courses tab. 2. Select the course Control Panel. 3. From the Content Areas column, select Course Documents. Blackboard s Course Documents Editor 4. From the Select: drop-down list, choose the appropriate category for the type of link, and then click Go. CengageNOW Assignment links to a CengageNOW assignment you have created. CengageNOW Content links to a chapter in the book s online course content. Assignments and Grades links to the general CengageNOW student view, if there isn t a link already or it was removed. Instructor Guide 27

32 Organizing Your Course 5. Enter the requested information for your link: CengageNOW Assignment. For Title, enter the exact assignment title. (You can copy and paste the title from your Assignments page). No selection is needed for Use Content Title, as your assignment may draw from multiple sources. CengageNOW Content. For Title, enter the chapter number or exact chapter title. (You can copy and paste the title from your Assignments page). For Use Content Title, select the book in which the content resides. Assignments and Grades. This link requires no additional information. 6. Use the Text field to enter instructions or comments that will appear under the link on the Course Documents page. Use the Available setting to determine if the link will be available on the student Course Documents page. Default setting is Yes. 7. When your link settings are complete, click Submit. The new link will be displayed on your Course Documents page for you to use or edit. Any links set to Available: Yes will be available on the student Course Documents page. Managing Assignment Links After you have created a CengageNOW assignment or content link, you can modify it to change its availability, title, and other properties. For example, you can change the link Title to be different from the assignment s name in CengageNOW. On the other hand, the link s CengageNOW Assignment Name must match the actual assignment name in CengageNOW for the link to work. To modify a link 1. From the course Control Panel page, click Course Documents. (You can also open Course Documents directly and click the Edit View link.) 2. Find the link you want to modify and click its Modify button. 3. On the Modify page, you can change any of the available settings. 28 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

33 Managing Assignment Links Blackboard s Modify Content Link page 4. Click Submit when you are done. To hide student content links You can prevent students from accessing the course s content on their own by simply making any self-study links to the book unavailable. Some instructors who have created CengageNOW assignments from the Study Tools chapters remove the self-study links. This ensures that all student progress through the material is tracked in the gradebook. 1. From the course Control Panel page, click Course Documents. (You can also open Course Documents directly and click the Edit View link.) 2. Find the link you want to modify and click its Modify button. 3. Set Available to No to hide the link from students. 4. Click Submit when you are done. To change the Course Documents title You can change the name of the Course Documents area if you wish. 1. From the course Control Panel, go to Course Options > Manage Course Menu. 2. Find Course Documents and click its Modify button. Instructor Guide 29

34 Organizing Your Course 3. Enter your new title for this section, and click Submit when done. The new title will take the place of Course Documents both in your instructor Control Panel and in the students Course Documents links and page. The name change will not affect your existing assignment links. Re-using Course Assignments CengageNOW makes it easy to re-use your course assignments and content in a new course. You may have more than one way to do this, depending on your needs and the BlackBoard setup at your school. Re-use the same course. If you do NOT need to retain your student grades online, you can simply delete all of the students from the completed course and enroll new ones. Copy and paste assignments in new course/section shell. For re-using only the assignments. Requires a new course shell and cartridge to be installed first. Copy entire course. Lets you re-use more than just the assignments. Requires a new course shell and cartridge to be installed first. To re-use the same course If your school does not require you to retain student grades online for a certain interval after your course ends, you can re-use your current course in a subsequent term by simply deleting the current students. This option lets you teach the same course with the same Course Cartridge, content, and assignments. Note: Be sure to Archive your current course in Blackboard before reusing it. Archiving provides a full course backup that you can restore if necessary. 1. In Blackboard, go to your course Control Panel. 2. Under User Management, click Remove Users from Course. 3. For Search, click List All. 30 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

35 Re-using Course Assignments 4. Select all students on the list. (You can leave the instructor, if appropriate.) 5. Type Yes in the confirmation box and click Submit. When asked to confirm, click Continue. 6. You can now enroll new users in the course using your school s preferred enrollment process. BlackBoard will update CengageNOW automatically. 7. In the CengageNOW Assignment Options, you can now modify your course assignments Available, Due, and Unavailable dates as needed for the new term, as well as any other settings you need to change. To copy assignments to a new course/section shell You can re-use some or all of your course assignments in a new course shell by copying and pasting them in CengageNOW. Use this method to set up multiple sections with the same assignments at the same time. You first will need to have the new course shell set up by your system administrator. You may need to have your Cengage sales representative update or re-adopt your course cartridge as well. Find your school s representative at With the destination course shell/cartridge set up, you can copy your assignments over as follows: 1. Log in to Blackboard and click the Courses tab. 2. From the Course List, click the name of the course containing the assignments you want to copy. 3. Click the Control Panel link in the navigation menu on the left. 4. In the Course Tools section of the Control Panel, click CengageNOW Instructor Tools. The selected course s Assignments page will open in a new browser window. 5. Select the assignments you wish to reuse. (To select all the assignments in the course, select the check box at the top left of the Assignments table.) 6. Under Choose assignments, then select a command: click Copy to copy the selected assignments to the CengageNOW Clipboard. (You may need to click + Show all options to display the Copy command.) Instructor Guide 31

36 Organizing Your Course 7. In the Blackboard window, click the Courses tab. 8. From the Course List, click the title of the new course shell. 9. Click the Control Panel link in the navigation menu on the left. 10. In the Course Tools section of the Control Panel, click CengageNOW Instructor Tools. The course s Assignments page will open in a new browser window. 11. Under Choose assignments, then select a command: click Paste to paste the selected assignments into the new course. (You may need to click + Show all options to display the Paste command.) The CengageNOW Clipboard window opens, displaying the copied assignments. 12. Make sure that all assignments you want to use in the new course are selected, and click Paste selected items. The selected items will be pasted into the new course. If you have more courses to set up at this time, you can leave the copied items in the clipboard and proceed to the next course shell to paste them again. Note: For details on using the Clipboard or Assignment Options, see the CengageNOW online Help. 13. You can now modify your course assignment s Available, Due, and Unavailable dates as needed for the new term, as well as any other settings you need to change. To copy an entire course The best way to move the entire contents of a course (except students) to a new course shell is with the BlackBoard Export Course and Import Course features. 32 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

37 Re-using Course Assignments WARNING: Do NOT use the BlackBoard Copy Course function to copy a CengageNOW course in Blackboard. Your students will not be able to access the course. 1. From the BlackBoard Control Panel, go to Course Options: Export Course. 2. On the Export/Archive Manager page, click the Export button. 3. Select all of the Study Tools you want to include in the new course, including all content and any other information, and then click Submit. 4. The course request will be sent to the BlackBoard server for processing. Click OK. When the action is completed, the exported package ZIP file will appear on the Export/Archive Manager page. Example export package file name: ExportFile_CourseName_YearMonthDayTime.ZIP Note: To import the course package later, you will need to have a copy of it on your own computer. If you have sufficient system privileges, you can click the package link and save it on your local system yourself. Alternatively, you can have your system administrator provide it for you. 5. Once you have your new course shell set up, you can use the Blackboard Import Package feature to import the packaged content into your new course. From the BlackBoard Control Panel, go to Course Options: Import Package. 6. Use the Browse button to find and select the appropriate package ZIP file. 7. With the ZIP file selected, select all of the content and other items you want to import, and then click Submit. 8. With the course content imported, you can open it in CengageNOW and modify its assignment dates and any other settings as needed for the new term. Instructor Guide 33

38 Student Pages Overview Student Pages Overview To access CengageNOW assignments and course content through Blackboard, each student must have a Blackboard account, be enrolled in your Blackboard course, and have entered the access code provided with their new Cengage book or courseware. Student accounts are typically created by your Blackboard administrator, but you also can create them from your course Control Panel. When students log in to their Blackboard accounts and try to open their Course Documents folder containing CengageNOW content for the first time, they will be prompted to enter their access code. (Some students may need to be reminded that this access code is provided with the course book or textbook bundle. Students with a used book will need to buy a new access code for it; typically, the new textbook bundle is a better value.) Students open CengageNOW from their Blackboard Course Menu by clicking the Course Documents link, and then CengageNOW Assignments and Grades. Your instructor path to the CengageNOW student view is somewhat different. From your course s Control Panel, under Content Areas, click Course Documents, and then CengageNOW Assignments and Grades. Instructor s Course Documents Page 34 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

39 Student Pages Overview Most course cartridges provide a direct link to the book s online content and ungraded self-study materials on the student s Course Documents page. Any custom links you create for individual assignments or Study Tools content will appear on this page as well. WARNING: Do not copy or create links to CengageNOW Assignments and Grades outside of Course Documents. Additional links are not supported and may corrupt your student or course data. The Assignments and Grades link opens the student view in a new browser window. The three student tabs are Assignments/Tests, Grades, and Study Tools. Assignments Page This page provides links to all assignments or content that you have assigned through CengageNOW using Instructor Tools. Assignments that the student can take now display a Take button. Partially completed assignments saved in progress (if you set up the assignment to allow it) display a Resume button. Assignments that provide more than one Take (if you allow it) display a Retake button after the first Take is completed. Student s Assignments Page Note: For each assignment you create, you can specify the Assignment Options such as number of Takes allowed, save and resume ability, grading mode, late penalties, and more. Instructor Guide 35

40 Student Pages Overview Grades Page This page lists the student s assignments by name and score. Assignments yet to be started are marked not taken. The amount of grade detail and feedback that students can see will depend on your assignment options settings. Student s Grades Page Grade details can range from a single assignment grade to personal feedback and correct answers for each question. Detailed grade information for an assignment, if you allow it, will be available on the Assignments page from the assignment s Details link. Note: Your CengageNOW assignment will not appear in your Blackboard Gradebook until at least one student completes it and the assignment score is sent to Blackboard. Study Tools Page This page provides students with direct links to their book s selfstudy content, such as Personalized Study products, TLE, and Tutorials. Work that students access and complete in the Study Tools page is for ungraded self-study only and is separate from their graded course assignments. 36 CengageNOW/Blackboard Enterprise

41 Student Pages Overview Study Tools Page Note: When creating Personalized Study assignments, you have the option to hide the Pre- and Post-Tests for that assignment from the student s self-study view. This will prevent students from reviewing an assignment before taking it for a grade. Instructor Guide 37