What we will cover: Blackboard 8 to Blackboard 9 New Features in Blackboard Changes to the Interface Getting your Content into Blackboard 9 o Download and Save From Blackboard 8 o Course Copy from 9 to a new semester on 9 o Customizing your course Teaching Style o Setting Availability - Control Panel >> Customization >> Properties What's New Inline Assignment Grading Inline Assignment Grading enhances the grading experience for faculty and teachers in Blackboard Learn. Instead of requiring instructors to download student-submitted files to view or edit those submissions, instructors can now see those files "inline," i.e. in the web browser. Annotation tools also enable instructors to provide feedback -- comments, highlights, and even drawing -- directly on the inline view of the document. Watch a quick video to learn more now or signup to attend a webinar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x9rerz0vx0&elq=b75490f75bad4d1697bb0d615f845d3b&elqcampaignid=5344 Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 1
Comparing Blackboard 8 to Blackboard 9: Blackboard 8 has the Display View/Edit View in the upper right hand corner and the tool bar just below. Blackboard 9 has pretty much the same structure; it just looks a little different. And they call it Edit Mode with and Off and On toggle. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 2
The Control Panel is still with us, but with easier access. In Blackboard 8 the Control Panel is located on its own page. In Blackboard 9 the Control Panel is located below the course menu. All the control panel functions are always present below the course menu. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 3
The drop-down arrows are everywhere. Use them to manage all your content. Whenever you see a drop down arrow, roll over and /or click on it to see what functions it contains. Below are some examples of the hidden menus under the drop down arrows. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 4
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Blackboard 9 Schedule: Blackboard 8 and 9 are both currently running in parallel. Courses have been created for the Fall 2013 semester in both platforms and students will be loaded in both 8 & 9. Faculty can choose to use 8 or 9 for the Fall, but must use 9 in the Spring of 2013. Courses in Blackboard 8 are set by default to be unavailable to students. Courses in Blackboard 9 are set by default to be available to students. If you do not want your students to have access to the course before the start of the semester you need to set the course to unavailable. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 7
To set the availability for your Blackboard 9 course: It would be helpful if you contacted your students and let them know which platform you will be using for fall. At this time, students have no other way of knowing unless you tell them. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 8
Move your course from Blackboard 8 to Blackboard 9 Save and download a course backup file from Blackboard 1. Go to the Control Panel 2. Select either Export Course or Archive Course. The main difference between these two choices is that the Archive function will create a backup file that gives you the option of saving all student data and the Export option does not. Export will also let you choose to save just some of the content. For example if you just want to move all your test and questions pools, or your assignments. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 9
3. We want everything in the course, so we will click the Archive option. 4. If you need to include student data and assignments, check the include Grade Center History check box. (You would do this for an end of semester backup.) To just archive the course to copy for a new semester, you would not check this box. 5. Click the Submit button. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 10
6. You will see a confirmation message. It will take a few minutes before the file appears. An email will be sent to your Sul Ross email account telling you when the process is complete. 7. Refresh this page by going back to the control panel and clicking the archive link again. You should see your file now. Click on the file to download it to your computer. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 11
8. The download box will appear. Make sure Save File is selected, and then click the OK button. The file will be saved to your computer. The location of the downloaded file depends on which Browser you are using. You can set that location in Firefox by going to Options > Options again and then select the General tab. Use the Browse button to set a new location if you want to change the default. Internet Explorer asks you where you want to save the file to on your computer each time you download a file. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 12
This is a Blackboard zip file. You can t open it on your computer; you have to import it back into a blank Blackboard course shell to see any of the materials. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 13
Import the course from Blackboard 8 to 9: 1. Go to the course in Blackboard 9 where you want the content from Blackboard 8. 2. The first thing I do is delete the links that are there by default. My content will be added to the course and these links will be redundant and confused with my content. Delete everything except Help. Any of these links can be added back later if you decide you need them. 3. To delete the links, Roll over the link and look for the drop down arrow on the right. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 14
4. Click on the down arrow to reveal the options menu. Select Delete. Do this for each link. Here is how my menu looks just before I import my content. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 15
Now you are ready to bring in your content from Blackboard 8. 5. Click on Packages and Utilities. 6. Then select the last option Import Package/View Logs. 7. Click on Import Package. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 16
8. Select Browse My Computer 9. Navigate to where your archived file is, select it and click the Open button. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 17
Under Section 3, choose Select All. Then click the Submit button. It may take several minutes, anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes for the course to copy. You have to be patient because Blackboard 9 doesn t give a lot of reassuring feedback during the copy process. The only way I know it accepted my submit is to look on the bottom left of my screen and see this message. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 18
After a couple of minutes the screen will refresh and I will see this message: Followed by this message: And finally this message: Don t worry too much about the errors. You will have to carefully check through your course because sometimes things don t copy over. Most things will, but you will end up going back into Blackboard 8 and retrieving documents that did not make it over. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 19
Copying Previous Course Information to Your New Courses 1. Log into the Blackboard 9 server and click on the course with the information you d like to move to another course. 2. Navigate to the Control Panel in the bottom left of your course screen. 3. Click on Packages and Utilities, then Course Copy. 4. In the Select Copy Type use the drop-down menu to choose Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 20
5. Click on the Browse button. A small browser window will pop up that lists your other course. Note: If you choose the wrong course and click submit on the next page, any data in that course may be overwritten. Please double-check that you re moving files to your intended course. 6. Once you ve checked the circle on the left of the intended course, click Submit and you ll return to the previous setup page. Here you have the option to move over tests, assignments, calendar events, journals, announcements, Discussion Boards, and more. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 21
You will also have option to pull in student/grade data from your old course and into your new course. Choose any of the options, but do not choose Adaptive Release Rules for Content and Include Enrollments in the Copy. These options will pull in your previous rosters and roster settings, so make sure they are unchecked. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 22
Customize Your Course Menu To change your course menu colors and text use the Teaching Style link on the Control Panel under Customization. Options are also available under this link to change the overall look and feel of the course. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 23
Blackboard 9 Resources Tarleton website - lots of links to videos http://online.tarleton.edu/fac_dev/applications/blackboard9/blackboard9.htm A couple of good overviews: http://www.princeton.edu/bb/upgrade-to-bb9/new-features/ https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/bbsupport/bb+new+features#bbnewfeatures-top University of Oregon (contains "gotchas") http://library.uoregon.edu/scis/blackboard/help/bb9-instructor.html Comprehensive information on the Grade Center: http://www.princeton.edu/bb/faq/grade-center/ New Inline Assignment tool grading video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x9rerz0vx0&elq=b75490f75bad4d1697bb0d615f845d3b&elqcam paignid=5344 http://www2.palomar.edu/pages/atrc/2013/03/18/blackboard-inline-assignment-grading/ (Detailed eight minute video that also shows the student perspective.) Social media: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cmatbakj4e&elq=b75490f75bad4d1697bb0d615f845d3b&elqca mpaignid=5344 Blackboard TV http://www.youtube.com/user/blackboardtv?feature=watch Videos created by Blackboard: http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r9/understand.htm Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 24
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Appendix A: New features in Blackboard 9 Quick list of new features 1. New visual appearance. 2. Many miscellaneous bug fixes. 3. Much easier course site creation (new control panel, drag and drop, etc.). 4. Course homepage (alternative course entry point usable instead of Announcements page) 5. Blogs (individual, class-wide, and group). 6. Journals. 7. Improved group features (multiple group creation, student-created groups, group sets, group assignments, self-created discussion boards). 8. Assignments: allow multiple attempts. 9. My Places" allows student photos that appear in blog posts and could be used for facebook. 10. Removed features: electric blackboard (use Journals), student homepages (use Blogs), digital dropbox (use Assignments), power user enrollment (use newly enhanced Users & Groups/Users). Assignment Tool Previously, Academic Suite users would simply submit their assignment and then wait for their feedback and grade from their instructor. Now students can submit their assignments multiple times or receive an additional attempt to submit before receiving their final grade. Likewise, instructors can provide a grade and feedback for each attempt of a single assignment, rather than simply grading the individual submission for an assignment. Group Assignments also provide a new workflow. Only one student within the group has to submit the assignment for the whole group and similarly the instructor has to submit only one grade for the group, which is given automatically to all of the members in the group. The instructor does have the option to override individual grades. Blogs and Journals Blogs and Journals provide students and instructors with a social learning tool for expressing their thoughts and reflecting on their learning, either privately (with the instructor) or publicly (with others in the course). These tools empower all course users to create and share ideas, while instructors maintain the ability to edit or remove any inappropriate material. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 26
Difference between Blogs and Journals A Journal is an on-going reflection or record of events by an individual or set of individuals. A Blog is a commentary by an individual or set of individuals that is for public consumption and comment. Groups Instructors can create any number of groups at once and provide default settings and description for each group. Students can then be automatically enrolled in those groups, manually enrolled at a later date, or asked to sign-up up for a group themselves. These groups then can be managed collectively or individually. Group members can create their own Discussion Board forums that allow them to conduct ongoing conversations. Group members are able to Blog thoughts and ideas for the rest of the course to comment on or add Journal entries for private reflection within the group. Group members can create Tasks to track the progress of their deliverables. These tasks can be conducted and completed by any of the members in the group. Students can create their own groups in the absence of instructor participation to take advantage of the robust group communication and collaboration tools provided. Students can provide a description of the group and limit the number of students able to enroll in the group. Instructors always have the option of modifying or restricting access to student-created groups. Course Customization Menus in Release 9 will support dividers and subheadings. Existing course menus will not be changed on upgrade and all color and styles choices will be maintained. The course control panel is now available to instructors and other privileged course users on any course page, as a menu below the navigation area, rather than as a standalone page. My Places My Places provides the user with quick and easy navigation to a variety of places within Blackboard Learn. It is always one click away in the top frame, and contains a customizable set of links to frequently accessed information as well as tools to personalize a user's own experience. Users can define which links are displayed in My Places. These may include: Courses, Organizations, Bookmarks, and Outcomes Places. The types of links available depend on the institution's Blackboard licenses. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 27
Notifications Blackboard Learn provides timely and actionable Notifications of student's course information, including when new content becomes available and Due Dates of assignments and tests. Notifications are displayed in modules within Bb Learn. There are three Notifications modules available to users: To Do List shows future due dates as well as any due dates they may have missed. What's New shows all course content as it becomes available and any unread posts to Discussion Boards, Blogs and Journals. Needs Attention shows Student submissions that are ready for grading. This is an excellent place for Instructors to get a sense of what needs to be done today. Edit Notifications Settings allows students to personalize which Notifications they receive and how they receive them. Grade Center The Grade Center structures itself automatically to the available browser space but the user can define a minimum number of rows to display regardless of browser size or screen resolution. Rubrics A rubrics template is provided to create gradable rubrics and attach them to assignments. Blackboard 8 to 9 Page 28