Entries Tagged with “gradebook”
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
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