10 Second Tips

Blackboard allows you to grade papers online just as if they were paper.  You can even draw smiley faces and everything!

Seriously, this method provides you with a permanent record of the student's progress, your comments and communication with the student about the assignment.  The student has a clear understanding of their progress and how to improve.  Nothing gets lost.  You and the student have a permanent documentation of what occurred in class.  You now have your class assessment raw data at your fingertips for your portfolio and accreditation.

Here are the easy instructions:

Step 1:  In Blackboard create all your paper assignments in Weekly Modules, click on Assessments and then Assignment.  Here you can add a rubric, detailed directions and other information to help students succeed.

Step 2:  Add the following to your syllabus and the instructions on the Assignment with your edits and modifications.  "All assignments are to be completed on Blackboard.  No paper or email assignments will be accepted.  The assignments are to be typed on a word processing document and uploaded into the proper location in Blackboard.  There is a section for comments and communication to me about the assignment.  Be sure to review the directions and rubric carefully."

Step 3:  At the end of the assignment form you have an area to document what type of learning, content or skills the students achieve with this assignment.  Take five or ten minutes to keep an ongoing record of how your assignments meet your Student Learning Objectives (SLO) or course objectives.  Blackboard stores this data for you.  This makes assessment a breeze.


Creating a professional visual presentation.

The editor now easily formats your materials so you can add images, movies, voice and lectures.

To make your materials look like this with the image justified and spaced correctly from the text do the following:

Write your witty and fascinating text.

Click on the picture icon.

Upload your image.

Then click on Appearance.

Use the settings pictured below.  Then play around with it for a while and learn how you can put images on either side, in the middle, change the size of the image and change the spacing around the image.

If you are really adventuresome, go to Advanced.  Or, click on the audio or video icons and bring your materials and announcements to life.