MODULARITY
 
 

This module is designed to assist faculty in determining what course contents go where. 
It provides a quick overview of the organization of the Blackboard learning environment. 
It also provides a rudimentary guide to the 6 basic steps involved in building a Bb course.

Blackboard, WebCT, Lotus-Learning Space, and other course management tools can be used to add Web enhancements to traditional courses or to structure an electronic correspondence course. 

The screen shot below shows what information would be displayed if you clicked on the course documents button in Blackboard.  Most of the content of a Bb course can be found in this section.  In that sense it is the most important section.  The exceptions are announcements,  descriptive information about the course and the instructor, assignments, communication, and external links.

The Blackboard interface has 8 large buttons, but only 6 of them bring up course content.
Within each course content section there may be three kinds of entries in addition to plain text:
folders containing documents or  documents or links to documents and images. 

Although Bb is somewhat graphically challenged, one image can easily be associated with each document and a folder can contain 20 or more documents.  Complex images that cannot be easily displayed within blackboard can be easily linked.  Graphically complex HTML documents can be pasted in Bb when the image sources are external or have absolute links.

When the course documents button is "clicked" the course content section is displayed.
The kinds of content found in the course documents section are listed below:

Course Documents

Click on the teal button to go to the next slide << <   > >>
The Course Documents button is the most popular button within the Bb platform.  The Course Documents section holds the content of the course. For example, in this orientation course there are two folders posted in Course Documents: Steps & Strategies. Other possible contents include:
Course Documents Modules, Chapters, Units Course Packets Power Point Presentations Student Resources Student Notes Practice Tests Exercises Virtual Field Trips Instructor Resources Teacher Tips	Handouts Resources - strategies Supplemental Materials Lecture Materials Lecture Notes Lecture Supplements Presentations Animation Library Image Library Exercises Additional Materials
Assessment Options:  There is more than one way to guage performance   Concept test Concept map Conceptual diagnostic tests Interviews and discussions Performance assessments Portfolios Weekly reports Demonstrates basic knowledge of facts and terms Demonstrates synthesis and integration of  concepts and ideas Demonstrates ability to locate and tap  multiple sources of information Learns to evaluate methods and materials Learns to appreciate the importance of subject More on evaluation   << <  > >> Contents can be posted as a  document  folder containing documents  link Blackboard automatically provides an icon for the first two types of contents.  Each Bb document can contain one image or image link.  Contents can be either plain text or HTML. << <  > >> The buttons on the Blackboard interface are arranged in the same order that students would explore a new on-line course.  They are arranged in the presumed order of importance to the student. When you log in to a Blackboard course, you automatically go to the announcement section. This makes sense because when starting a new course, the first thing you would want to check would be any last minute announcements posted by the instructor.  When you enter the Bb course management shell, you will be in the Announcements. section.  The button is there in case you want to get back to this section.  Next you would probably want to review the course description and outline. To do this,you would click on the 2nd button: Course Information.  Clicking on the button would display the contents of that section on the screen.  Next you might want to know something about your instructor so you would click on Staff Information, the third button in the list.  This section includes the that part of a typical syllabus providing information on how to contact the instructor, office hours, etc.  As shown above, the buttons are organized into a standard sequence.  Clicking on one of the buttons displays the contents of that section in the frame on the right.  The buttons below are not active as in Blackboard, to make them work you have to click on the red triangle. CLICK ON RED TRIANGLE Announcements Course Information Staff Information Course Documents Assignments Communications External Links Student Tools 8 buttons, 6 with course content -   Quiz 1* not automated, use paper & pencil   << <  > >> 1.  The Blackboard learning environment suggests sorting the       contents of your course into how many boxes or sections?      a. 4    b. 5    c.  6    d. 8 2.  The contents of each section are displayed when the      corresponding  _________  is clicked. 3.  The buttons are arrange a. alphabetically b. randomly c. in the order or sequence that a student would      usually access them 4.  The  information in a traditional syllabus can be found in       what two sections?  ________   __________ *Blackboard provides a sophisticated test construction utility that will automatically  grade quizzes.  If this module were inside of Blackboard, it would have been used to automate this practice quiz.  Answers: 1 showcase.blackboard.com/courses/5_steps/index.html

When student's log into their online course they can't help but see the announcements you post. Use the Announcements section of Blackboard to notify them of changes to the content, timelines, deadlines, and any item that was mentioned in class.

 

Encourage meta-communication about the process of online discussions and offer suggestions for improving the experience for all the participants.

 

 

For the discussion forum component of the course, send email messages to those who are falling behind, or who are reading but not writing. 
link to a screen shot of an announcement page

Items in this section may include:

Syllabus Course Description Course Outline Overview Objectives Frequently Asked Questions Meeting Times Textbook

Course Goals Materials needed for the course Course Projects Quiz and Test Information Evaluation standards Grading Policies Attendance Policies Plagiarism and Cheating Policies

For this small course, there is only the quick look at Blackboard functionalities and a brief overview of the course.
 

Staff Information

<< <  > >>

This section contains that part of a traditional syllabus listing the name of the instructor, a brief biography, office location and hours, contact information, how to contact tutors and other providing assistance with the course, help desk, etc.  Sample

Six Basic Steps  Building an On Line Course   << <  > >> Use the back button on your browser to return to this page Prepare Yourself Find out where to go for help. Attend training sessions. Determine the capabilities of various course tools to enhance aspects of your course.  Review teaching strategies. Gather your materials - convert paper materials and other hard copy to a digital form* Review or determine your objectives and assignments - including student discussion requirements Develop objectives, assignments and assessment into each course module. Build an outline, plan Your Delivery, and plan how you will get Feedback to evaluate relative success Move your content to the course management shell [Bb- the Blackboard Course Management Shell] Field Test your course - have someone unfamiliar with the course go through it.  Observe where they get stuck. Strategies for on-line teaching a short auto-tutorial from Bb When you link to a remote server, use the back button on your browser to return to this page on the NSU server.  Do not use the BACK button on remote server.   Course Objectives   << <  > >> Identify Course Objectives         Objectives are the skills, attitudes, or information that the students are expected to         possess after instruction. Sometimes course objectives are mixed up with course          activities.  Activities are the learning experiences in which the students will         participate as part of the instruction. Activities, projects, and assignments are used to         assess how the students are meeting the course objectives. There should be objectives for each course module and they should be written in such a way that they can be used to evaluate the performance or adequacy of the module and indicate how the instruction should be revised.         Create a list of desired learning outcomes in relation to some of the content topics          of your course. By creating a list, you will be able to shape instructional objectives from it.         For example: Course Topic: America's Involvement in WWII Desired Outcomes from this Topic: Name the Dates of America's involvement in the WWII, Name the countries who were considered Allies Learning Objective: By the end of this course, students will identify the dates of WWII and the countries involved in WWII.         The identification of objectives will help you determine which materials will be beneficial         to your students. They will also aid you and your students in clarifying the focus of the         course. Course objectives are commonly placed in the course information section. Bloom's Taxonomy  Tutorial on writing course objectives. Tutorial on setting up assignments Course outline  (sample)   Course Outline   << <  > >> You have already begun developing the organization and plan for your course. Shape these ideas and thoughts into an outline. Questions to consider in your outline include: How many weeks do you have in the semester, term, year? From your list of topics that you made during, "Prepare Your Materials", how many topics do you intend to cover? What is a feasible amount of topics to cover in your time frame? What will you include with each topic? Examples of suptopics are: introduction, objectives of unit or chapter, lecture notes, handouts, exercises, related readings, practice tests. The process of making a course outline will facilitate the transition online delivery. The outline normally goes in the course information section.  Alternatively, it could be placed in the course documents section.    Course Materials   << <  > >> Next, what materials do you have or need to develop to enable or assist students to meet your instructional objectives?   Gather all materials that you have developed for your course.  Find a way to have them digitized if not already in a digital format.       Materials might include: handouts slide shows syllabus overheads lecture notes past projects assessments (tests, quizzes, surveys) discussion topics Take note of items already in electronic format such as word documents, spreadsheets, or PowerPoint slides. These formats could easily be made available online.    Course Materials and Learning Styles         Next, Do your materials appeal to different types of learners and learning styles?         Different learning styles include: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.       Auditory learners prefer verbal instructions, discussions, dialogues. Audio clips              with instructions for activities or projects would be helpful to this type of student.       Visual learners prefer demostrations or active descriptions. Video clips and              supplemental images with lecture notes would be helpful to this type of student.       Kinesthetic learners learn best by doing. Assignments, projects, or labs are              helpful for this type of student to learn. Textual descriptions in the online course              would give constant guidance to the learner is there were a question or inquiry.         In looking at the materials you have or will need to develop, are there areas where the         text could be enhanced by images or audio files? Could certain word documents         warrant an update or rewrite? Are instructions to assignments written clearly? Could         these instructions be more useful in a video format.   Course Assignments   << <  > >> screen capture of a sample Bb Assignment section The Assignments section holds assessment materials and everyday homework items. For this course, two sample assignment folders are displayed. Other assignment are listed below: How to write assignments is almost a course in itself.  It is easy to assign an essay or some other task. It is difficult to make your instructions clear to all readers.  It is often difficult to explain exactly how to complete an assignment.  Some assignments seem relevant and authentic, others appear to be make work. Some effort should be made to explain the presumed relvance of an assigned activity, it may not be as obvious to your student as it is to you.  It is quite difficult to maximize the educational value or educational benefits of an assignment. "Great ideas" do not always work in practice. Clarifying assignments is a principle conversation before and after traditional classes.  When students are separated by time and distance, this becomes more difficult - particularly for those who are reluctant to write email.  In a distance education course, it is important to make writing and participation an assignment.  Don't presume that every student will be active with email when it is not specifically assigned.  Email, particularly email to the instructor, will be outside the comfort zone of some students. Examples of assignments  [screen capture of an assignment page] Essays Papers Presentations Homework Assignments Group Assignments Reading Assignments Writing Assignments Help and Tips Discussion on-line  [an essential assignment, it cannot be a request or preference] screen capture of the Bb communication section The Communication Center offers six opportunities to collaborate with your students.  For this course, these functionalities will not be used.  Note that the opportunities are not limited to on-line courses.  They can be supplements to tradtional courses. Send E-Mail: Notify students of changes in the schedule or other topics by sending an email.  For practice, you may send an email to Dr. Bett at sbett@lycos.com Discussion Board: Continue your class online by extending class discussions to the discussion board. This is an excellent tool to activate learning and maximize student participation.  External web boards are also available.  Check out www.egroups.com/group/telelearning  Student Roster: Keep records and information available to the class.  Blackboard provides a self registration option allowing students to place themselves on the roster. Virtual Chat: This Java-based communication tool is a "program-within-a-program". You will need a Java-enabled browser for this tool. This tool creates real-time discussions as opposed to the discussion board.  Traditionally, chat has been live or synchronous e-mail but it can be extended [when the appropriate equipment is added] to include internet phone and internet based conference calls. Student Pages: Students are able to create web pages within the course. This tool is an effective way for students to get to know each other and for class projects.  Student pages can also be created outside of Blackboard using one of the free Web hosts such as geocities, angelfire, or fortunecity.  Pages created outside of Blackboard will contain banner ads. Group Pages: Group pages function the same way as student pages, except that they focus on group projects and assignments.  Web documents can be created collaboratively by sharing passwords. Note: More detailed explanations and tutorials about the Communication Center are available from the Learning Services Division of Blackboard. screen capture of a Bb page with external links External Links provide your students with a list of web sites and destinations that are applicable to the course. For this course, it could include any external link pertaining to online learning and course content.  The task of expanding the number of external links could be a student assignment.     Educational Web Sites         There are millions of links that provide educational resources. The only problem is that         there is not enough time in the day to reach all of these resources. To start out, look at         the following two links to see examples of what the Internet has to offer in terms of         educational links.         There are more links provided in the External Link section of this course. Correlates of on line success   TechLEARNING.COM: An online magazine for educators provides articles, software/hardware reviews, and professional development ideas.   http://www.techlearning.com   Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators: An excellent web site that is now part of the Discovery Channel School Site.   http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/edproj.html http://www.wested.org/hyper-discussions/ *Module:  A learning module will essentially consist of a collection of educational materials, mechanisms for communication and interaction, and an assignment or evaluation component. Module design will consist of two major tasks: the selection of module components, and the ordering of module components. In the information age, a course will no longer be seen as a single unit, but rather, as a collection of component parts, each of which may be replaced or upgraded as the need arises. [more] CLICK ON RED TRIANGLE Announcements Course Information Staff Information Course Documents Assignments Communications External Links Student Tools 8 buttons, 6 with course content  Quiz 2* What button [on the left] would you click to locate that part of the syllabus dealing with the instructor and how to contact him or her.   How does the course document section differ from the course information section?   What kinds of things can be placed in the course document section?  Name 3.   What section would a link to a PowerPoint slide show be located? Where would you go to participate in a discussion group?   What section would a notification of a change in a test date be placed?  Where would a student be directed to find a practcie test? |  Bb-orientation.html  |  bloom.html  |  self-assessment.htm  |  boring-on-line.htm  |  fair use  |   Behav-obj.  |