Entries Tagged with “blackboard”
Why did you choose to use Blackboard?
I decided to use Blackboard for a variety of reasons. The ability to easily enhance communication with my students appealed to me. The features I find to be most innovative over existing e-mail and web-site capabilities, however, are the assessment and survey features in Blackboard. I try to assess my students learning frequently and in many different formats. The problem with frequent assessments is that they require a significant amount of time for grading and evaluation. The ability to have my students take short, open-book quizzes (homework, really) in Blackboard and have them graded automatically convinced me that I should adopt the system in all of my classes.
— Brian Hentschel, Biology
How have you integrated the technology into your teaching?
I have incorporated Blackboard into all of my classes. I use Blackboard most heavily in Biology 515 (Marine Invertebrate Biology, 26 students). The system makes it relatively easy for me to give a weekly multiple-choice quiz. This sort of homework assignment helps motivate some of the students to complete the daily assigned reading on time (or at least open their book to look up answers to the quiz questions!). I also use Blackboard to have students complete a weekly survey of how they spent their study time during the previous week. I use these Weekly Time Reports to help individual students refine their study methods and manage their time effectively. In previous semesters, I had students turn in paper copies of these reports; Blackboard has made the process easier and saved a lot of trees! I also update the Gradebook regularly to provide students with feedback about their performance.
The fact that e-mail in Blackboard is linked to the class roster makes it very easy to email the entire class with confidence. This feature paid huge dividends during the October 2004 fires. I had scheduled a coastal field trip for the afternoon of Sunday 26 Oct. When the fires began that morning, I needed some way to reliably inform the students that the field trip was canceled. Similarly, Blackboard made it easy for me to post daily announcements and e-mails, updating the students about how the campus closures during that time altered the previously planned topics and activities for Biology 515. Many students thanked me (and Blackboard) for this high degree of organization and communication during the chaos of that disastrous week.
In Biology 600 (Seminar in Marine Community Ecology, 10 graduate students) I use the Discussion Board to establish forums for students’ questions and for exchanging files and discussion outlines. The major assignment in the discussion-based seminar course is the writing of NSF-style research proposals, which I have the students peer review in written and panel-discussion formats. I use Blackboard’s Digital Drop Box to have students submit their peer reviews and for me to distribute written reviews to the appropriate student review panels. The Digital Drop Box makes this sort of file exchange and distribution very easy and paper free! I considered using the Groups feature to facilitate some of the interaction between the two “Review Panels” I established for the peer-review assignments, but with a small class of 10 grad students and only two groups, it wasn’t really necessary. I do plan to incorporate some Blackboard Group activities into my courses in the future.
— Brian Hentschel, Biology
How is your use of the technology innovative or different?
The Discussion Board, Assessment, Survey, and Gradebook features of Blackboard provide tools that are not easily incorporated into standard course web pages or e-mail communications. My use of these features in my classes is driven by my desire to promote and employ a variety of active-learning strategies in my courses and to gain a better sense of exactly what students are and are not learning. As far as being “innovative”, I am unaware of any other SDSU Biology faculty who survey how students spend their time studying and provide students with first-hand experience in the process of peer reviewing research proposals.
— Brian Hentschel, Biology
What parts of Blackboard have worked the best for you? What hasn't worked?
Most of the Blackboard features I have used have worked very well. In particular, the e-mail, Announcements, Discussion-Board, and Gradebook features have been flawless and very valuable. I also use the automatic date-setting feature to establish when assessments are available.
The Assessments features in Blackboard are not as user friendly as I would like. Initially, I had some trouble creating multiple-choice quizzes (or Pools) by cutting and pasting text from an existing Word document (some of the pasted answers would not appear and would need to be re-entered; there seemed to be no pattern as to which text would fail to appear so I was forced to re-type all of my quiz questions and answers). A few of my Biology 201B students had problems being locked out of a quiz after viewing it once, even though the quiz was set to allow multiple attempts. This probably was due to the student’s particular computer, but it would be helpful if the Blackboard software were more compatible with older operating systems and browsers. In my Biology 600 seminar, I used the Digital Drop Box extensively. It would be helpful if there were a record of the transaction after had I sent a particular file to a particular student’s Digital Drop Box; there’s no way to double check at a later time.
— Brian Hentschel, Biology
Why did you choose to use Blackboard?
To communicate with students from a central location rather than fill their email boxes every time something occurs to me; to include websites and links to resources that would otherwise be scattered throughout a semester’s worth of notes; to allow students to keep track of their own progress with their grades, to download assignments that were missed, to peek at quizzes that were missed; and in a particularly note-intensive class--to provide a skeletal outline of what was important about that lecture. I use one of the content areas to respond to student feedback about the course, which I ask for 3 or 4 times per semester.
— Heather Ward, School of Communication
How have you integrated the technology into your teaching? How is your use of the technology innovative or different?
I use it as a resource outside of the lectures. It’s a clearinghouse that offers students one-stop question answering and feedback opportunities. After any and many references to certain materials in class, I just say: this will be on Blackboard under such and such area.’
I’m not sure how innovative it is to try not to annoy students with “crying wolf important!” emails and to give them more of a sense of control over what goes on in a course.
— Heather Ward, School of Communication
What parts of Blackboard have worked the best for you? What hasn't worked?
All of it, especially for large classes with 10 of the students missing class at any given time due to a tragedy or wedding or illness who then ultimately need to get back up to speed.
Trying to launch items from dial-up at home. It is staggeringly slow.
— Heather Ward, School of Communication
How has Blackboard changed the way you teach and manage a classroom? And how has it improved your students' ability to communicate and learn?
Enhanced communication is probably the biggest perk I’ve noticed as it simplifies and organizes what messages went to whom about what. And also classroom management; I wouldn’t even want to purchase the gradebook that could keep track of 15 different grades for 90 people, let alone use it.
As a new professor, I need to hear from students more than someone who has been teaching for a few years. So I periodically request feedback from the students. The feedback requests vary from an open-ended plea for contact and feedback “What do you like about lecture, what would you like to see more of, less of, what questions do you have about the course, etc.” to specific questions “You just finished project X and received feedback on it, what did you like about the project, what was the most difficult phase, how would you tackle the project differently next time, etc.”
I allow them to remain anonymous and always give them at least 10 minutes to write down what’s on their mind. Then, I take a deep breath and read them all at home, think about what they are saying, and come up with responses, solutions, changes. I then type a response to the main themes and pose solutions to common problems on Blackboard and mention this posting in the following class period, e.g. “Thank you for taking time to give me feedback; I’ve responded to your ideas on Bb.” This “responsiveness with a distance” keeps the swirling dervish of one student’s negative experience from spiraling into a feeding frenzy with the whole class.
Yes, I do make changes based on their feedback. One new class last semester mentioned the need for more order to the notes I had on the document camera--which may seem obvious to use outline-style headings, but I never had shared notes with a class before; they also asked for use of multimedia when possible, so I made a concerted effort to find a video or internet example of key concepts; they’ve asked for more discussion built-in to lecture time, which I added with caution in order to help them feel connected but to keep the class on track as well.
Other times, when I don’t make changes, I try to explain the purpose of assignments more clearly or offer my office hours again to reach the people who are lost.
— Heather Ward, School of Communication
Why did you choose to use Blackboard?
I have used various approaches to impart information and materials to my students. Among those various options, I have found that Blackboard works as well, if not better, than all the others. The success of this approach is primarily due to the easy access all students have to Blackboard and the fact that many other faculty are using Blackboard, making it even more user-friendly to students. I have always provided students with various software programs I have personally developed, but delivering these files to students was problematic, due to the various media options, students’ familiarity with the media, their lack of access and their lack of capacity to receive large files, etc.
— James Beatty, Information and Decision Systems
How have you integrated the technology into your teaching?
All students are expected to check Blackboard regularly for a variety of information, including: practice problems and answers, information about review sessions and exams, and instructions and equations for their calculators. Because I can access Blackboard in the classroom, I can post copies of materials I share in class such as PowerPoint presentations and overheads I have created “on the fly.” I also use Blackboard for general communications and to post Excel macros and statistical software I have designed.
— James Beatty, Information and Decision Systems
How is your use of the technology innovative or different?
Blackboard allows me to share my Excel macros in a safe, efficient way that is easy for the students and me. The macros are very innovative and valuable to my students. These macros are “protected” so the students cannot accidentally delete crucial information, contain “buttons” that allow them to clear all old data before using the programs again, have color-coded tabs for “Information,” “Data,” “Results,” “Additional Information,” and “Credits.” All my macros are set up in the same format for ease of use. They go well beyond what is built into Excel. The package includes many statistical procedures that eliminate the necessity of students having to buy larger statistical programs in many cases. Examples include a basic statistical analysis macro for one-sample problems that yields approximately 70 statistical results for a given data set, a two-sample independent and dependent z-test and t-test macro, a chi-square test for normality macro, a test for independence and goodness of fit macro, a one-way ANOVA macro, a one-way ANOVA macro based on summary data taken from sources without the actual data base intact, a two-way ANOVA macro, a Treatment-by-Subjects macro, a Bivariate Correlation and Regression macro, a Two-Predictor Variable Regression macro, a Multiple Regression macro, a Statistical Process Control macro, as well as others.
— James Beatty, Information and Decision Systems
What parts of Blackboard have worked the best for you? What hasn't worked?
All of the features of Blackboard have worked well for me. It has simplified the process of communicating with students and providing them information in a timely manner.
It is too bad the email feature does not have editing built in, as does Eudora, Word, and other software. We have to trust ourselves to have carefully edited our documents before sending them to the students. We also cannot use other features such as underlining, italics, bold, color fonts, etc. I typically create my emails in some other software that has editing capabilities, then cut and paste the document into Blackboard’s email communications. One other shortcoming is that if I am in the midst of composing an email to my students from the “Communication” menu and want to look at various documents I have posted for the class while creating the email, I cannot do so without terminating, finishing and sending, or losing the partially completed email. My current alternative is to open two sessions of Blackboard simultaneously so I can view the folders in one session and compose the email in another session.
— James Beatty, Information and Decision Systems
How has Blackboard changed the way you teach and manage a classroom? And how has it improved your students' ability to communicate and learn?
I have received very positive comments from the students showing their appreciation for posting numerous additional practice problems. It has also saved the department a great deal of time and money, since materials now do not have to be printed and distributed to the students. I can post .pdf documents to Blackboard and the students can print them as needed. My teaching style now has more flexibility, giving me a wider range of tools I can incorporate into my lectures. I use Blackboard on the overhead sometimes, the old fashioned overhead projector at other times, and the chalkboard or whiteboard at still other times; and I can easily transfer media approaches, thus keeping the students’ attention without becoming too locked into one approach. Classroom management has become much easier due to the ease in distributing materials. The communication is much enhanced. Since I typically exchange between 500-1000 emails with my students per class each semester, I need all the ease in communication I can get. This enables me to send blanket emails to all my students, specific emails to various individuals, and emails to various team members within the class all from the same place.
— James Beatty, Information and Decision Systems
Why did you choose to use Blackboard? How have you integrated the technology into your teaching?
I took over a course from another instructor, and the entire course was on Blackboard. Because of time constraints, it seemed easier to continue developing and conducting the course on Blackboard. But then I began to really like some of its features, and I started to use it in all my other courses.
I use Blackboard as a course management tool for all my graduate-level classes, on campus or online. I also use it as a research tool for data collection and analysis. Each of my courses has its own website outside Blackboard, which provides course materials and information that can be easily accessed. Blackboard then comes in as a space/tool for sharing additional course documents, conducting asynchronous discussions, engaging in team work, and submitting/grading homework.
— Minjuan Wang, Educational Technology
How is your use of the technology innovative or different?
I had some reservations about Blackboard when I first used it. The boxed-in interface did not appeal to me. But there are several powerful tools that nicely support document sharing, homework submission, and grade management. Also, we can customize the buttons to make it suitable for individual courses. As an instructor, I can put up a course from scratch within a reasonable time frame, without having to worry about technical difficulties. I can also change things upon student request without creating confusion. It does allow the course to be more user-friendly and student-centered. In addition, Blackboard helped me better integrate teaching and research. I design the courses not only to meet student needs, but also to collect data. Since research results are often used to improve teaching, the two purposes align very well. I was able to use many of the qualitative and quantitative data captured in Blackboard for document and statistical analysis.
— Minjuan Wang, Educational Technology
What parts of Blackboard have worked the best for you?
Overall, Blackboard works well for online students. Ed Tech students are normally busy professionals, who live all over the globe and are often on the road. Blackboard (instead of their overloaded email box) becomes a virtual space that they tune into for updates, learning materials, and interactions. The teamwork space, in particular, works very well for project-oriented online classes. Groups can post their discussions, meeting minutes, and solo or team products in a way that is easy for me to access and comment on. These features have increased the visibility of online students and their communications. The Assignments feature is successful as well. Students are able to read assignment requirements, access examples, complete their work, and upload their work all at one spot. I can then download all submissions through the gradebook and upload comments for each individual.
— Minjuan Wang, Educational Technology
What features of Blackboard haven't worked for you?
The discussion board! It has not been a motivating tool. Students in all my classes did not feel eager to use it; posting for the discussion thread seemed to be more of a task for them. The online ones preferred live chat rather than asynchronous dialogue. In addition, the assignment tool can be a bit buggy at times. For example, it does not allow me to download the entire submission if one student did not submit their work correctly. Also, I was not able to access blackboard.sdsu.edu while traveling in China. There seem to be some restrictions on our side. Most importantly, Blackboard needs to look into developing powerful features similar to the several emerging social software, Blogs (blogger.com), Moodle (http://moodle.com/), and Wiki. These tools allow students to publish journals, thoughts, and ideas instantly on the web with a few mouse clicks. They also enable authors to express themselves freely and spontaneously while interacting with a large audience, which appears to be a strong motivator. These software programs also inform students of new posts within a community. Blackboard needs to catch up with the trend, developing more powerful communication tools that can support larger-scope online socializing. These tools can facilitate the forming of online communities where students not only share their work, but also life experiences and individual concerns.
— Minjuan Wang, Educational Technology
How has Blackboard changed the way you teach and manage a classroom? And how has it improved your students' ability to communicate and learn?
Students feel more organized; it’s easy to access and share documents and easy to receive feedback on their homework. They can also compare their performance with the rest of the class, which encourages self-regulated learning. I do feel more organized! The Digital Dropbox and Assignment tools helped me save lots of hard drive space. Communication has definitely improved! Blackboard reduces my email traffic. Students can easily email each other, and I can easily email the class without going through a listserv. The teamwork space also increased the visibility of team communication and their thinking process as well. Blackboard also has a great data-capturing system, which enables me to conduct action research. I was able to view and download course usage (individuals and the entire class), frequencies of material access, and download the discussion transcripts. I just finished a paper called “Correlational Analysis of Student Visibility and Performance in Online Learning.” This paper (publishing in process) would not be possible without the Blackboard data. It feels great to be able to teach and research at the same time.
— Minjuan Wang, Educational Technology
Why did you choose to use Blackboard?
Blackboard helps manage the distribution of course material and assigned readings. My classes (Art History) are very visual and the Bb service allows me the flexibility of posting and augmenting images associated with lectures. It allows me to update my course material in real-time, without the delays associated with using other web-posting services and crafting web pages from the ground up.
It allows me flexibility in developing and deploying examinations and other evaluation projects, I am able to consult and update the quizzes and exams on short notice. It allows me to use a more objective examination format, regardless of course size, and by administering exams in a “take-home” format online, it frees up valuable course time for lectures and discussions.
Blackboard provides me with a tool that encourages student collaboration, for instance, I have my students post their research bibliographies online and contact each other regarding access to research materials and other course related projects. It provides a convenient outlet for students to coordinate test study sessions and preparation. I usually provide a discussion group (managed by the students alone) where students can ask one another about lecture material, the definition of terms, and concepts covered in class and readings.
— William Barnes, Art
How have you integrated the technology into your teaching?
I store my lectures (as PowerPoint presentation) on the Bb server, so that I am able to access my teaching material wherever I might be or wherever my class might be scheduled. I also provide access to readings online (particularly those not available in the library) and am able to review some of them onscreen via the Bb site. I create online image review sheets that students can access to review lectures and prepare for exams and that I can use in classroom review sessions. And I review the syllabus almost daily via the Bb site at the start of class and point out new announcements posted on the Bb site.
— William Barnes, Art
What parts of Blackboard have worked the best for you? What hasn't worked?
The online posting of course readings, syllabi, and exam review materials has been great. Students have access to class documents 24/7. Also, despite some initial hiccups, the online examination process has begun to work quite well. I had some initial reservations about going to an entirely online testing process, but I have found that, essentially, my good students do even better and my less-motivated students seem to try a bit harder due to the perception that it is “easier” to do things online (although I have increased exam and research project difficulty). The most surprising thing that I have found is that it seems that the same students who failed my course when it was 100% pen and paper, also fail my course digitally. Essentially my bell-shaped grading curve has remained unchanged despite my move to a digital format.
The chat-feature did not seem to work well (Virtual Classroom). I used to try to keep a session open for office hours and while examinations were posted so that students could have instant access to me - yet no one ever tried to make use of it. There are still a number of problems with the assessment engine - particularly those that rely on user-end hardware (the stability of students’ computers). I wish there were more fail-safe mechanisms set up for test taking (timed backups or “re-logon” timer for students who get kicked off their server and can’t log back into an exam in process). Also, as I have students upload paper projects - I have too much trouble with students who incorrectly saved/named/uploaded their papers. I would like to see a process whereby students could check the validity of their files once they are uploaded.
— William Barnes, Art
How has Blackboard changed the way you teach and manage a classroom? And how has it improved your students' ability to communicate and learn?
I have more student collaboration in my classes than ever before. Students are able to contact me and classmates at their leisure through Blackboard, giving them the ability to ask me about topics they may be hesitant to address in class and establish academic relationships with their fellow classmates on their own, rather that being forced to do so via stilted classroom activities and projects. Also the communication center allows students to contact me via email instead of using up class time going over assignments and answering questions about grades because I am able to address grades individually via the Bb gradebook. I have more class time freed up for lectures and discussion and don’t need to spend so much time going over material I can explain or highlight online.
— William Barnes, Art