Adding Content, Assessment, and Communications Tools in Blackboard (How-to)

Terminology

Terminology changes (alphabetically listed):

First term is Original Course view > Second term is new Ultra Course view term.

• Adaptive release > Conditional release
• Content Area > Content (See Adding Content)
• Grade Center > Gradebook (See Assessment and Evaluation Tools)
• Item or File > Document (See Adding Content)
• Menu > Base navigation or Global pages - anything that is bigger than a course level functionality
• Tools > Content Market (this is for adding third-party, non-Blackboard tool, functionality to courses)

New terminology (alphabetically listed)

• Conversations
• Course states or status: Open, Private, Complete, Hide
• Layer (a page with a close button in the upper-left corner) - As you open pages, they open as layers. Close the layers to return to a previous page or the list.
• Messages
• Panel (a small layer to help define settings for a feature)

More details can be found at Learn the Terms.

Adding Content

You can add content and provide resources to students using Blackboard.

Creating and Adding Content

• Create Content
  • Create Containers for organizing content (Folders or Learning Modules)
  • Create Course Materials
    • Add a Syllabus
    • Create Content Items or Documents
    • Link to Websites
    • Add Files, Images, Audio, and Video (for most video using Panopto is the preferred method due to storage limitations.)
    • Math Editor
    • Link to Content and Tools
  • Add Content from External Sources (Textbook ancillaries or other tools integrated with Blackboard)

Reusing and Editing Content

• Reuse Content
• Release Content based on rules
• Batch Edit content dates and availability
• Content Collection (File Storage behind course design)

Communication Tools

Building a sense of community among students is crucial for a successful blended or online experience. Blackboard Learn has a variety of communication tools to help you engage and interact with students in an efficient and reliable way.

Announcements

Announcements are an ideal way to post time-sensitive information critical to course success. When you add an announcement, you can also send it as an email to students in your course. Students receive the announcement even if they don't log into your course. Learn more about Announcements.

Conversations

If you enable class conversations for individual content items, students can can ask for help, share sources, or answer questions others have about the content with you and their classmates. As the conversation develops, it appears only with the relevant content, not on the discussions page. Learn more about Conversations.

Discussions

A sense of community among students is crucial for a successful online experience. With online discussions, course members can replicate the robust discussions that take place in the traditional classroom. Discussions can be created to be gradable items. Learn more about Discussions.

Groups

You can create groups of students within your courses so they can interact with each other and demonstrate their knowledge. Learn more about Groups.

Journals

Journals are personal spaces for students to communicate privately with you. Students can also use journals as a self-reflective tool. They can post their opinions, ideas, and concerns about the course, or discuss and analyze course-related materials. Journals can be created to be gradable items.  Learn more about Journals.

Messages

You and your students can send messages to each other, multiple people, or an entire class. Messages activity remains inside the system, and you don't have to worry about email addresses that may be incorrect or outdated. Learn more about Messages and how to send Messages with an email copy.

Feedback

You can include a recording of your feedback so it appears with any text you've added for a student. Learn more about how to Record Audio and Video Feedback.  If you have larger video needs for feedback, check out Panopto, our video storage and streaming service.

Roster

Use the Roster link on the course Content page to view your class list, connect with your students, and match faces to names if their profiles are up to date and include images. You can also send messages from the roster to anyone involved with your course. Learn more about the Roster features.

Assessment and Evaluation Tools

You can use the different assessment/evaluation tools in Blackboard to measure student knowledge, track progress, and gather information from students. See links below to guides on using the following assessment and evaluation tools:

Assignments

Getting Started with Assignments

• Create and Edit Assignments
• Assignment Grade Settings
• Add accommodations from the Student list view
• Multiple Assignment Attempts
• Download Assignment Submissions
• Grade Assignments
• Self and Peer Assessment
• SafeAssign

Tests, Pools, and Surveys

Tests, Pools, and Surveys

• Create Tests
  • Test and Survey Options
  • Add accommodations from the Student list view
• Edit Tests and Questions
  • Question Types
• Reuse Questions
  • Question Bank
• Using Respondus LockDown Browser and/or Respondus Monitor
• Test and Survey Results
  • Question Analysis
• Grade Tests
• SafeAssign

Best Practices

• Course Content
  • Attaching Files
• Developing Mobile-Friendly Courses

If you have any further questions, please schedule a consultation through the  Blackboard Learn Ultra Request.