1 Phillips Andover Academy 2/22/2006 – 1:30-3:00 Darek Sady Blackboard Learning System (Release 6.3) Assignments, Gradebook, Performance Dashboard

2 Introductions Darek Sady Education –Utica College of Syracuse University –University of North Carolina Greensboro Professional Experience –6 Years in Academia –Faculty Development Trainer –College instructor for 3 Years –Director of IT 2 Years with Blackboard

3 Introductions and Expectations Please introduce yourself… Name, Position/Title, Courses that you teach Experience using Blackboard Planned use or current use of Blackboard Expectation(s) for this workshop Interesting tidbit about yourself or a local favorite restaurant

4 Workshop Objectives and Agenda Assignments –Creating, retrieving, grading, and returning student work with the Assignment Manager Gradebook –Customizing the Gradebook –Weighting grades –Creating, modifying, and removing student grades –Categorizing, sorting, and archiving grades –Importing and exporting the Gradebook for analysis offline

5 Workshop Objectives and Agenda Performance Dashboard and Course Statistics –Retrieving data to measure student performance –Generating reports about usage within course

6 Assignments

7 The Assignment Tool Tool used to create an Assignment in any Content Area of a course. Automatically creates an item in the Gradebook. Allows students to download assigned files, submit work to instructors, and retrieve graded material. Enables instructors to bulk download student files and bulk delete both student and instructor files.

8 Assignment Examples Short-Answer Questions Journals Essays and Research Papers Routine Homework Group Projects Take-Home Examinations Class Presentations Lab Reports Attendance Options

9 Assignment Tool Comments and feedback can be exchanged between student and instructor through the Assignment tool template. Anecdotal notes can be recorded by the instructor.

10 Tips for Assignment Success Select standards file formats for electronic materials submitted by students. –.doc,.rtf,.txt Establish file naming conventions. –tcasey_ch1assignment.doc (Student Submission) –graded_tcasey_ch1assignment.doc (Graded Assign.) Download and save student files to local drive in organized folders. –In a batch download the student’s name is appended to the file name even if a standard naming convention is not used.

11 Gradebook

12 Gradebook Scores from assessments and assignments are automatically recorded in the Gradebook Supports: –Custom grading scales –Grade weighting –Item analysis –Multiple gradebook views Gradebook Null option excludes incomplete items from Gradebook calculations Students can view their own grades 6.3

13 Gradebook Manually Add Items Manage Items Sorting Gradebook Grading Tests Assigning Categories Weight Grades Displaying Grades Set Grade Range Value Downloading Grades

14 Manually Add Items You can add Items to the Gradebook. This will create a column in the grade book for you to enter grades and manage grades.

15 Manage Items You can choose the order of the items in your Gradebook. Move items that you are working with closer to the names so that you do not need to scroll.

16 Sorting Gradebook You can click on the arrow above any column to sort that column. Click the arrow again to sort in reverse.

17 Working with Tests When you create a Test or Assignment in Blackboard, a column automatically will be generated. Blackboard will grade the Test (except Essay questions). Blackboard will let you grade any test which includes an Essay question by clicking on the exclamation point. !

18 Working with Tests Click the View Button to see your students’ work.

19 Assigning Categories You can assign categories to each of your items. This is needed for weighting and sorting items by category.

20 Weight Grades You can weight grades by Category or Item. You can add categories or choose from those already listed.

21 Displaying Grades You can choose how grades are displayed in your Gradebook. You can choose letter, score, percentage or text.

22 Set Grade Range Value If you choose to display your grades as letter, you can define the grade range.

23 Downloading Grades You should always backup your grades. You can download a copy of your Gradebook from Blackboard to your computer or diskette. A file downloads in Excel, which can be manipulated.

24 Student Performance and Reporting

25 Review Status Content items include a setting that allows students to mark those items as “Reviewed.” The User Progress page reports which students have reviewed the content item. 6.3

26 Performance Dashboard Allows instructors to see key information and outcomes for all course users. Displays the last time each user logged in, their course role, Adaptive Release criteria, Review Status for content items, and grades. Instructors can sort the information by multiple criteria. Useful in documenting student progress and involvement. 6.3

27 Course Statistics Provides usage data for an entire course. Reports may be run for data associated with all users in a course, individual users, groups, and/or Discussion Board forums. Beneficial in documenting student interactions with course tools and content areas and evaluating the instructional design of a course.

28 Resources and Materials

29 Tutorials

30 The Blackboard Community Users Conference Client Advisory Boards Listserve Behind the Blackboard for Administrators Regional User Groups Developer Community