Is It On the Test? Blackboard Assessment Strategies November 8, 2016 3:15 pm – 4:15pm Room 415 – Fourth Level

Montgomery County Community College Contact Information Montgomery County Community College Blue Bell, PA Marie Hartlein Associate Professor, Computer Science mhartlein@mc3.edu

Today’s Topics: Common Assessment Problems Assessment Techniques and Ideas How to Streamline Assessment Feedback A few tips every student and instructor should know Open Discussion

Problem 1 - Is It On the Test?

Problem 2 – The Solutions are Available

Problem 3 – The Balancing Act

Solutions Assignments are a significant portion of the grade 60-65% Show the current grade to students at all times Use the features of your LMS to streamline grading Assign a wide variety of assignments Design assignments with more critical thinking Design assignments where solutions cannot be copied or downloaded Design good discussion questions Use tools provided by your textbook publishers

Blackboard Grade Center Weighted Grade

Blackboard Grade Weighted Grade Create a calculated column Select Weighted Edit the column Set weights

Blackboard Grade Weighted Grade

Blackboard Grade Center Student Notification

Creating Blackboard Assignments To create, open the folder to contain the assignment, select Assessments, Assignment. Use SafeAssign to review assignment submissions for plagiarism potential and create opportunities to help students identify how to properly attribute sources rather than paraphrase. SafeAssign is effective as both a deterrent and an educational tool. SafeAssign compares submitted assignments against a set of academic papers to identify areas of overlap between the submitted assignment and existing works. Each group submits one collaborative assignment and all members receive the same grade. You can create a single assignment and assign it to all groups, or create several unique assignments and assign them to individual groups The Self and Peer Assessment Building Block is a tool designed to give students the opportunity to review the assignment and work of their peers against a set of defined criteria. Self and Peer Assessments can help distribute the workload and ensure that students receive feedback from several individuals.

Blackboard Assignments Student View Use SafeAssign to review assignment submissions for plagiarism potential and create opportunities to help students identify how to properly attribute sources rather than paraphrase. SafeAssign is effective as both a deterrent and an educational tool. SafeAssign compares submitted assignments against a set of academic papers to identify areas of overlap between the submitted assignment and existing works. Each group submits one collaborative assignment and all members receive the same grade. You can create a single assignment and assign it to all groups, or create several unique assignments and assign them to individual groups The Self and Peer Assessment Building Block is a tool designed to give students the opportunity to review the assignment and work of their peers against a set of defined criteria. Self and Peer Assessments can help distribute the workload and ensure that students receive feedback from several individuals.

Blackboard Assignments Overview Assignments can incorporate… Instructions to the student The ability for a student to submit a file(s) with comments. Display and Due Dates (you can decide if they will be different). Integration of the assignment with the calendar and the gradebook. The ability to use grading rubrics. SafeAssign (now integrated into assignments and you can use it to review submissions for plagiarism potential). Grading Anonymously (an option for the instructor to grade without seeing student names) and delegated Grading (if you have TA’s).

Assignment Ideas Create an annual newsletter Create a budget Create their address book Create an invitation to an event of their choice Create a flyer Research a car they would like to purchase and analyze financial details

Assignment Ideas Design a database which is useful to you Analyze, select and justify a computer system Research a future technology trend and create a presentation. My Final Project – Starting a Business

Grading Blackboard Assignments

Safe Assign Report Use SafeAssign to review assignment submissions for plagiarism potential and create opportunities to help students identify how to properly attribute sources rather than paraphrase. SafeAssign is effective as both a deterrent and an educational tool. SafeAssign compares submitted assignments against a set of academic papers to identify areas of overlap between the submitted assignment and existing works. Each group submits one collaborative assignment and all members receive the same grade. You can create a single assignment and assign it to all groups, or create several unique assignments and assign them to individual groups The Self and Peer Assessment Building Block is a tool designed to give students the opportunity to review the assignment and work of their peers against a set of defined criteria. Self and Peer Assessments can help distribute the workload and ensure that students receive feedback from several individuals.

Grading Rubrics Grading Rubrics help in both grade calculation and consistent feedback. Course Tools >>> Rubrics – Create or modify the rubric Modify the Item in the Gradebook so it is linked to the rubric. Show some rubrics

Grading Rubrics

Grading Rubrics – Student Feedback

Other Time Saving Hints

Graded Discussions Discussions can be graded very quickly Some of my favorite questions Pick an end of chapter question Have students explain how they will apply the material learned After reviewing the videos posted for this week, find one additional video or resource that you found helpful in mastering this material. All discussions require a reply to other students with specific requirements

Graded Discussions

Blackboard Discussions

Have Students Research Resources I use the following videos in my e-mail lecture now… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-Mmp_hGVRY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGIe4WA13aw

Data Anyone? WolframAlpha.com http://www.wolframalpha.com/ Examples: http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/WebAndComputerSystems.html http://Informationisbeautiful.net Try ‘Worlds Biggest Data Breaches’

Publisher Tools

Course Overview Quiz

Do You See What I See? (Tried & True) Snipping Tool I show this tool to students Week 1 Built into Windows 7 and Windows 8 Capture, annotate, save your entire screen or potions of the screen. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/snipping-tool Keyboard Shortcuts (Mac) Capture screen (Shift-Command-3) Capture selection (Shift-Command-4) Grab (.tiff format) Snipping Tool—link to one-minute video Jing—free version from the makers of Camtasia, $14.95 for Jing Pro, excellent product, lots of excellent tutorials Katie’s suggestion: you can edit the keyboard shortcut to include just one key on the keyboard instead of 3. To do this: Click the Apple in the top left hand corner of the Mac screen. Click System Preferences... Click Keyboard Click the tab for Keyboard Shortcuts On the left, click Screen Shots Click on the shortcut you want to change. Tap the tab key so that the shortcut sequence is editable Tap the shortcut key you want (Ex. press F15 which is in a similar position to the PrtScr button an a Windows Machine) Close the window and try it out.

Locating Files + E

Course Setup – Date Management Date Management is used to change display and due dates for your course. Packages and Utilities >>> Course Copy Tools >>> Date Management – select the best date adjustment option.

Course Setup – Date Management

Blackboard Student Preview Enter Student Preview is a new button in the top right corner. View the course from the student perspective. Can review postings, take quizzes and view the gradebook as a student. Very helpful in confirming content visibility!

Blackboard Student Preview Exiting Student Preview gives you the option to keep or delete the preview user and all the user data. In Student View you can do the following student activities: View the course from the student perspective Submit assignments and take tests Create discussion posts View student tools, such as My Grades Blackboard captures all data associated with your activities, such as submitted assignments and discussion posts.

Blackboard Version and Features Enter your Course and select the Announcements tab. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on Installation Details.

Discussion