This session will help you go from start to finish in building an efficient, effective, and engaging course using BlackBoard Learn. This includes learning all about the new features available in BlackBoard starting this May!

1. Office of Learning &Technology
Purdue University North Central

2.  We will cover:
 What makes a “great” BlackBoard course
 How to use available tools to create a consistent
and student-friendly course experience
 How to generate more student engagement
through course design strategies

3. • The first step in many
instructional models is
gaining students’
attention and orienting
them to learning
• What are your usual
approaches/strategies
for introducing a lesson
in the face-to-face
classroom?
• How can you adapt
these strategies for the
online environment?

4.  At any level, students
work best when they
know where they are
heading, and have the
support they need to get
there
 A syllabus or
introduction to the
learning activity helps,
especially online
 It doesn’t have to be
long and complicated,
just clear and complete

5.  Description of the
course
 Objectives
 Orientation to
technical elements
 Explanation of
grading and
assessment
 Description of
communication
expectations

6.  You will be enrolled in a BlackBoard course
for faculty that leads you through almost
every tool and technology possible
 This is available at all times
 Students are enrolled in a similar course just
for them
 New updates for the recent SP14 version
upgrade are available
 You may also view videos and other tutorials
anytime at
http://www.pnc.edu/distance/learn-tutorials/

7.  Alignment
 Structure
 Interaction
 Assessment

8. Learning Objectives
Resources, Materials &Technology
Assessment and Measurement
Learner Interactions & Activities
http://www.qualitymatters.org/

9.  Orient students to the course
 Use headings and descriptions to aid
organization
 Name files (or label) so they have meaning to
the learner
 Be consistent in the organization of lessons
 Bundle activities, assignments, interaction,
assessment in the same place
A

10. A

11. A

12. S

13. S

14. S

15. S

16. • Center learning on broad, related topics
• Or, separate the course into weeks
• Allows you to sequence access to content and
tools
• Limit access to the relevant tools/content only
• Integrate processes/activities with concepts
• Ideally, limit extra clicks
S

17. S

18.  Advance organizers
and case studies
 Similarities and
differences
 Essays and mini-
essays
 Summarizing and
note-taking
 Debates and
collaboration
I

19.  Focus on what’s important, not unusual
 Higher level organizers and prompts will
produce deeper learning
 Most useful with information that is not well
organized and problems that are not easy to
solve
 Collaborative and group activities can ask
students to learn from each other and teach
one another
 Be sure to participate yourself!
I

20.  Asynchronous
 Threaded discussions-text-based and multimedia
 Blogs - online diaries, reflection
 Wikis - collaborative writing
 File sharing
 Synchronous
 Instant messaging and video chat (Skype, Adobe
Connect, etc)
 Telephone
 F2F meetings
I

21.  Assignments: Use the Assignment, Wiki,
Discussion, Journal, or Blog tools to allow
students to send work files and projects
 Word, Excel, PowerPoint, other types of files
 Links to Google Docs, Prezis, etc.
 Don’t be afraid to encourage students to use a variety
of technologies to construct projects
 Assessments: Essay questions and File
Response (sending in a file) questions are
available options in making a test/quiz
I

22. • Students should be assessed formatively,
serving to inform future learning experiences.
• Summative assessment comes after
opportunities for practice and feedback
• Teachers serve primarily as guides and
facilitators of learning, not “sage on the stage”
and “knower of all”
• Students are then encouraged to become more
self-regulatory, self-mediated, self-motivated,
and self-aware.

23.  Timed/untimed examinations
 Surveys - developmental/summary
 Assignments and discussion with rubrics
 Projects that build up toward a final goal over
time, with checkpoints throughout
A
Clear expectations, criteria
and alignment

24.  Take home exams
 Laboratory case
study analysis
 Discussion
assessment
 Activity
assessment

25. Reach us at:
 pncolt@pnc.edu
 Twitter and Facebook: @PNCOLT
 http://www.pnc.edu/distance for all
workshop notes, links, and training needs