What is new in Blackboard CE
Blackboard Campus Edition 6.0 takes WebCT's market-leading course management system to the next level, delivering unprecedented advancements in ease-of-use and cutting-edge teaching and learning functionality. CE6 includes a variety of additional improvements designed to further support faculty of all experience levels with online learning and to improve students' management of their assignments and online assessments.Course Preparation
Content Presentation
Communication
Assessments
Assignments
Course Management
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Course Preparation
Quick Start Page
Faculty can use the new Quick Start page in Blackboard CE as
a launching pad to rapidly set up their courses, quickly adding the
communication, organizational, and learning activity tools they need
most.
Interactive Student View
Blackboard CE includes one-click access to an interactive
student view so that faculty can instantly check their work,
experiencing their course exactly as their students will. Instructors
can review content, submit assignments, and take quizzes just as
students would, without manually updating the student view, logging in
separately, or impacting course tracking data.
Easy Content Upload
With Blackboard CE , instructors can easily move files — more
than one at a time if desired — from their computer into their courses.
Instructors can move files using intuitive desktop-style navigation and
place them directly on a page, in a folder, or in a learning module for
presentation in their courses.
New My Files Area
In Blackboard CE , users have a My Files folder where they can
store files privately. The My Files folder can be accessed from anywhere
through My WebCT or through any course section. As they prepare their
courses, instructors can conveniently access and organize content that
they use in their courses using any computer connected to the Internet.
Students also have a My Files area where they can store and access files
related to their coursework.
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Content Presentation
New Link Annotations
Feature
With Blackboard CE , instructors can annotate links on course
pages. For example, an instructor could annotate the icons and links on
the course homepage to give students a better sense of what is available
in each of the associated areas.
New Course Content Area
In Blackboard CE all folders (formerly Organizers) can be
easily accessed with a single click through the Course Content area.
Folders can be used to organize and present materials, such as lecture
notes or readings, and can now also include links to specific
activities, such as an assignment or discussion topic. The Course
Content area makes it easy to expand and collapse folders for improved
navigation and greater visibility of content.
Personalized Content
Delivery
Blackboard CE provides a highly flexible model for
instructors to efficiently create personalized learning paths. Nearly
every type of content and activity in Blackboard CE —
including individual assignments, discussion topics, chat rooms, and
media library collections — can be selectively released to individuals
or groups of students. Instructors have the option of adding multiple
types of release criteria to a single item and combining the criteria
using Boolean logic for maximum flexibility. Blackboard CE
also includes a new Selective Release tool where instructors can manage
all personalization options from a central location and can view
selective release criteria by student.
New Learning Module
Functionality
The Content Module functionality has been expanded to provide more
robust Learning Module functionality, making it easier for instructors
to present materials in an engaging manner. In Blackboard CE ,
specific activities such as individual assignments or discussion topics
can be included in learning modules so that students navigate them via a
defined sequence. If instructors wish, they can personalize the path
students take through these materials. For convenient offline studying,
students can click the "Printable View" button to save or print the
content of any learning module.
More Flexible Web Links
Previously called URLs, Web Links can now be annotated anywhere they are
added to a course. Whenever a web link is added to a course, it is
automatically added to a comprehensive Web Links page, giving
instructors and students a central place to easily access and review all
web links used within a course.
New Media Library
The Blackboard CE Media Library extends the Glossary
functionality with powerful multi-media capabilities. Instructors can
create multimedia collections of terms, definitions, or images related
to specific course topics. These terms can be automatically hyperlinked
to words throughout the course content. Whenever a student clicks on
these terms, a window will pop up displaying the "definition," which can
include text, an image, or a media file.
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Communication
Announcements Tool
Blackboard CE includes an Announcements tool that lets
instructors deliver important information to course and section members
instantaneously. Instructors can send a tailored announcement to all
users with a particular role (for example, all students or all teaching
assistants). Instructors have the flexibility of choosing where or how
announcements will be delivered (for example, automatic pop-up in the
course). Announcements can also be created in advance for delivery at a
later time.
Integrated Chat and Whiteboard
Blackboard CE combines Chat and Whiteboard into a single
integrated Chat tool that offers a great degree of flexibility.
Instructors have many new options when setting up chat and whiteboard
rooms, including the ability to mute or deny access, the option to use
the new "hand raise" mode, and the option to upload, save, and create
slides using the whiteboard (which includes full drawing capabilities).
New Discussion Management
Blackboard CE includes new discussion management options,
including the ability to add instructions for each discussion topic,
edit postings, and re-order discussion topics and categories.
Easier Discussion Navigation
The Discussions tool in Blackboard CE is easier to navigate
than ever before, making it simple for students and faculty alike to
communicate and find the information they are looking for. Users have
the ability to sort any discussion topic by message subject, author, or
date and can "expand all" to view all posts within a topic. Once a user
makes a post, the list of discussion postings is automatically updated.
Enhanced Mail System
Blackboard CE includes an updated mail system that
incorporates a range of standard e-mail features, including the ability
to send mail to groups. Users can also access a global view of mail
categorized by course through My WebCT.
Who's Online Tool
Blackboard CE incorporates a Who's Online tool that allows
course participants to see who else is logged in to the course at a
given time and chat with them, facilitating greater
instructor-to-student and peer-to-peer communication. Instructors have
the option of masking their online status if they do not wish to make
their presence known at a given time.
PeopleLinks Feature
With the addition of PeopleLinks, students and instructors can click a
student or faculty member's name anywhere it appears in a course and
send an e-mail to that person, making it easier than ever for students
to communicate with each other and with their instructors.
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Assessments
New Question Types
Blackboard CE includes four new question types for all
assessments:
-
combination multiple choice
-
true-false
-
jumbled-sentence
-
fill-in-the-blank
Additional Grading Options
Blackboard CE features two new grading options. With
grade-by-question, instructors can quickly see every student response to
a particular question, allowing them to evaluate specific responses in
the context of those provided by other students. With anonymous grading,
instructors can evaluate student responses anonymously making grading
more efficient while helping to minimize the chance of bias.
Simplified Assessment
Creation
Blackboard CE makes it easier to create assessments,
including a new option for organizing assessments into different
sections and grouping questions by concept to enhance the presentation
to students. By clicking on the "preview" tab, instructors can "road
test" their assessments — take a quiz and experience it just as their
students will.
Easier Management of
Assessment Submissions
The Blackboard CE Assessment Manager organizes assessment
submissions so that instructors can easily see which submissions are
complete, which need review or grading, and which have not been
submitted yet.
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Assignments
New Setup Options
With Blackboard CE , faculty can create individual
assignments, group assignments, or custom assignments with different
instructions for each individual or group receiving the assignment.
Instructors can also specify different options for returning
assignments, including responding only with text, with an attachment, or
with a web link. When designating assignment due dates, faculty have the
option of including a "grace period."
Iterative Review
Once instructors receive an assignment submission, they have the option
of returning it to a student or group without a grade but with comments
and additional attachments (such as a marked up version of the original
submission). Students can then resubmit the same assignment. This
process can continue iteratively until the instructor determines that
the assignment has been completed.
Convenient Submission
The Blackboard CE Assignments tool lets students save their
work so that they can come back later, work on it more, and submit it
only when they are ready. Once they have submitted their assignments,
students can also be given the option to recall their submission if they
change their mind and want to make additional modifications.
Submission Publishing
Instructors, and optionally students, have the ability to publish
completed assignment submissions in Blackboard CE so that the
entire class can see them and learn from them.
Easier Submission
Management
The Campus Edition 6.0 Assignment Dropbox organizes assignments in one
central place so that instructors can easily see which assignments have
been submitted, which have not been submitted, graded, nor published.
Instructors can then sort by assignment name, student name, or date
submitted. This makes it easy for instructors to target communications
to specific groups of students.
Offline Review
Blackboard CE lets instructors select multiple assignment
submissions, save them as ZIP files, and download them for offline
review. This saves time and makes it easier for instructors to review
and return assignments to students.
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Course Management
Group Management
The new Group Manager in Blackboard CE makes it easy for
instructors to create and manage class groups. Instructors have access
to a central Group Manager tool where they can create groups and set up
private group discussion boards and chat rooms in one easy step.
Group Sign-Up
With the addition of group sign-up sheets in Blackboard CE ,
students can be given the option of joining their own class groups.
Group sign-up sheets enhance WebCT's collaborative functionality,
offering a new way to engage students in a dynamic, interactive learning
process. Instructors also have the option of allowing students to see
who has already signed up in each group.
Discussion Grading
Blackboard CE adds a central grading area to the Discussions
tool. Instructors can easily assemble and review a student's posted
messages, review total participation versus the class average, and
assign a grade to each student that is automatically recorded in the
Grade Book. This saves instructors time and lets them efficiently
evaluate participation in class discussions.
New Gradebook
Instructors can access the Blackboard CE Grade Book with a
single click from anywhere in a course. The Grade Book provides
spreadsheet-style ease for organizing and managing information. For
example, students' first and last names are frozen into place as an
instructor scrolls through the Grade Book, making it easier to locate
and view specific grades. Instructors also have easy access to key
statistics for each column in the Grade Book (including average, median,
maximum, minimum, and standard deviation), which offers a quick snapshot
of class performance on a particular item.
Grade Change Tracking
Instructors can override any grade recorded in the Grade Book, including
quiz grades. When a grade is changed, it is automatically marked as
such, creating an audit history of grade changes. Instructors can also
add notes or comments to explain grade changes as necessary.
Expanded Activity Tracking
With Blackboard CE , student activity tracking has been
significantly expanded to include new information that can be viewed per
student or per student per session. New events tracked include number of
Mail messages read, Calendar entries viewed, Media Library collections
and entries viewed, files viewed, pages viewed in folders, number of
assessments and assignments started and completed, and total time spent
on assignments and assessments.
