If you use Blackboard to enhance your classroom learning experience or plan to start this semester, the Educational Technology Office (ETO) invites you to read the following important semester notice to the end.
Semester Notes
Course Availability
All courses sites are unavailable by default. As the instructor, you have complete access to your course but your students are blocked from entering your site until you modify the course settings. To change the Course Availability option, use the Settings option from the Control Panel of your course. To share your course content, click Course Availability and change the setting from "No" to "Yes".
Merged Sections
If you are teaching two (or more) sections of the same course and would like to have your students enrolled into one site, please e-mail either the registrar's office at daymergecourses@framingham.edu OR DGCE at dgcemergecourses@framingham.edu.
Copying Course Content
Blackboard course sites are created as empty shells. To copy course material from a previous semester, please follow the steps outlined below.
From the Control Panel of your content course:
1. Select Course Copy in Course Options box (lower left).
2. Select Copy Course material into an Existing Course.
3. Click Browse to find your new course.
4. Click Select to choose the course.
5. Check off the content areas you wish to copy.
6. Click Submit to save your changes and copy the content to your new course shell.
Note: If you are not yet using the Blackboard Content System to store your materials and would like to learn more, please contact the Educational Technology Office at 508-626-4927 or stop by our offices in Hemenway G05 or G09 for assistance.
Do you know your Blackboard resources?
If you are unfamiliar with Blackboard, download the Blackboard Student Tutorial and review how to use the most basic features and functionality from the student perspective.
Blackboard Support
Help with Blackboard is available by phone, online or by stopping into the Educational Technology Office in Hemenway Hall G05 or G09.
24-7 help any time, 866-361-8970
Educational Technology Office, Hemenway Hall G05 or G09, 508-626-4927
Help online, Blackboard Online Resource Center
Additional Blackboard Tools
eReserves – The library will assist you in linking copyright cleared scanned documents or articles to your Blackboard course site.
Elluminate is a real time collaboration tool used in many online classes. Contact the Educational Technology Office if you are interested in conducting real time course lectures or virtual office hours at a distance.
ePortfolio is a feature of the Blackboard Content System. If you ask students to create web sites or PowerPoint presentations, you may wish to consider this feature as another option.
Blog, Wiki, and Podcast tools, developed by Learning Objects LX, are used in many face-to-face and online classes. View the vendor prepared Quick Start Tutorials for the basic steps for creating, configuring, and reviewing wiki, blog, and podcast assignments within your Blackboard Learning System. The Quick Start Guides can be found at http://www.learningobjects.com/training.jsp.
Blackboard Updates
The Educational Technology Office will host several Blackboard Learn training sessions during the fall semester. Our goal is to upgrade to the latest version on December 30, 2011. The course management interface changes greatly in the next release. Click here to view the workshop schedule.
The Educational Technology Office looks forward to working with you again this semester. Please contact us if you have any questions, need assistance, or wish to learn more about these tools and resources.
Sincerely,
ETO/ITS
