Blackboard for Instructors: Getting started with Blackboard at UO JQ Johnson Academic Education Coordinator University of Oregon

This presentation Blackboard at The University of Oregon How can Blackboard improve teaching? (a student’s view of a typical course) How does an instructor use blackboard? Discussion: what’s in it for me?

Timeline of UO Blackboard project Need assessment ( ): evaluated a variety of course management systems Evaluation (spring 1999): trial courses using WebCT and Blackboard Implementation (summer 1999-spring 2000): licensed Blackboard for pilot project Production (summer 2000): Blackboard becomes standard library service Planned upgrade (fall 2003): to Blackboard 6 Enterprise Edition

Results to date: consistent growth in usage

Results to date: a very popular tool “I think it's a real tribute to the design of Blackboard that I was up and running after a four hour workshop. I've been impressed from the get-go.” Elizabeth Hoffman Instructor Arts & Administration 2000 Statistics as of Nov 2002: 12,215 student users (2/3 of university population) 305 active coursesites 415 instructors teaching using Blackboard during fall ,435 student-course enrollments Approximately 400,000 web server hits/day Approximately sessions/day

What is Blackboard? A commercial, web-based “Course Management System” Integrated environment offering wide variety of features for teaching access control: only enrolled students may view course easy web publishing of syllabus, lecture notes, etc. asynchronous communication: announcements, threaded discussion, surveys synchronous communication: chat room, virtual whiteboard online quizzes and gradebook collaborative workgroups

The UO Blackboard home page:

A Blackboard CourseSite

Course Documents

Lecture Notes

Integrated discussion forum

Online quizzes

Typical UO Blackboard users Courses in a wide range of disciplines: Art and Gender Intro to Business Introduction to Native American Literature Introductory Psychology Architecture Organic Chemistry etc. Adopters tend to cluster in particular departments Different instructors use different features Different instructors have different pedagogical goals

Getting started First step for an instructor is to get an account. Second, is to request a CourseSite for a particular course and term Most instructors start slow – first term teaching with Blackboard uses only a few features

Example: Intro to Business (BA101W02)BA101W02 Large lecture course (~1200 students/term) with minimal staff support Pedagogical goal: Blackboard primarily used to improve/streamline course administration Course announcements “Just in time” lecture notes On-line self-assessments (quiizzes) FAQ (reduce demand for office hours) Posting marks securely

Example: Finance: Value thru Capital (BA318W02)BA318W02 Mid-sized lecture course (~125 students) Pedagogical goal: to “create the optimum learning community” thru wide variety of approaches. Blackboard used for Course announcements (more current than in- class) Copies of all handouts and lecture notes online for student convenience (“just in case” publishing) Online quizzes (avoids using valuable lecture time)

Example: Introductory Psychology (PSY201JJFw01)PSY201JJFw01 Lecture+section. Pedagogical goal: replace existing web site (used only for course documents), with support for: Active learning: Online practice quizzes (with answers, immediate feedback) Online demos, links to web resources, real-world applications Collaborative learning: discussion forum as supplement to tutorial (f2f discussion) sections Creates sense of community despite lecture format Different students perform well on-line (e.g. non-native English speakers) Students generally more thoughtful when posting than speaking Allows interaction among students outside of normal class times

Example: Arch 282/682, “Harbor Hills Village” (Village)Village Architecture course designing a new housing complex Pedagogical problem: how to conduct a meaningful (ecologically valid) review of student designs taking advantage of outside experts Used chat tool and electronic whiteboard to implement virtual design reviews “I have 7-8 professionals around the country and in different parts of the world lined up to act as remote critics for my studio project. In order for them to interact with the students, … these professionals can log on to blackboard in order to use the chat feature.”

Features in widespread use at UO “Fill in the blanks” easy web page creation (e.g., announcements, annotations) Posting syllabus and course assignments Posting lecture materials (html, MS Powerpoint, PDF, etc.) Threaded discussion forum Gradebook

Features in moderate use Online quizzes (usually low-stakes; e.g., self- assessment) Surveys Group communication features Student web pages Digital dropbox Integrated calendar, todo lists interface

Features generally not used Resource center (digital library) Chat tool Course cartridges (publisher-provided content)

Developing course materials Faculty develop their own materials Faculty Instructional Training Center provides guidance and resources, but not labor Library and Teaching Effectiveness Program provide additional training Some departments assign graduate student teaching assistants or clerical staff to Blackboard support and development Library can provide assistance in locating materials (reference material for students and learning objects for instructors)

Helping students use Blackboard Students get accounts and coursesite membership automatically based on CRN enrollment Most students need minimal or no help using system Refer student questions: Knight Library ITC (only common problem is first-time login) Typical text for a syllabus: The web site for this course uses "Blackboard." On the web site, you will find general announcements for the class, all documents for the course (including this syllabus), lecture notes, on-line discussions, links to relevant web sites, and more. You can get to the course web site by going to You can get help starting by going to the Knight Library Information Technology Center (ITC). Plan to check the course site at least twice a week. In addition, you should post contributions to the online discussion list at least 4 times during the term (and no more than twice a week).

For more information This presentation: presentations/bbintro.ppt presentations/bbintro.ppt University of Oregon Blackboard site: UO Blackboard help file: UO Faculty Instructional Technology Training Center: JQ Johnson: