Announcing the 2013 Exemplary Online Instruction (EOI) and Quality Online Learning and Teaching (QOLT) Awards

Posted by & filed under Homepage News, Jim's Blog.

Three faculty have been recognized for excellence in technology-enhanced teaching through two awards programs, the Chico-based Exemplary Online Instruction (EOI) and the CSU-wide Quality Online Learning and Teaching (QOLT):

2013 EOI Awards
Please congratulate the following faculty members for their Exemplary Online Instruction. They will be formally recognized at the Annual CELT Conference luncheon in October, and will present their courses during a Poster Session.

  • Ben Seipel, Ph.D.  from Education, EDTE 580
  • Thomas Parker, Ph.D. from Religious Studies, RELS 332
  • Sarah Anderson, Ph.D. from the Center for Bilingual/Multicultural Studies, FLNG 254

2013 QOLT Award
And join me in a special congratulations to Ben Seipel for being recognized by the CSU for Quality Online Learning and Teaching (QOLT). He is the first to apply to this new program from CSU Chico, and in the first group being recognized from Cal State for universities using Blackboard Learn in their exemplary teaching of hybrid or online courses.

Learn more about QOLT.
Learn more about Chico’s Rubric for Online Instruction or the Exemplary Online Instruction program.
For more information, contact Laura Sederberg, campus coordinator for QOLT and EOI, Lsederberg at csuchico.edu or 530-898-4326.

 

New in Blackboard Learn this Summer: Improved Assignment Grading & Test Analysis

Posted by & filed under Blackboard News, Homepage News, Teaching and Technology.

Blackboard Learn will be upgraded on May 30 to the latest version. Two of the new features are Inline Assignment Grading and  Test Item Analysis. Read more about the upgrade here.

*** Important note to faculty: If you are grading Bb Learn assignment submissions after May 30, you will see the new Inline Assignment Grading tool! ***

new test analysis and inline grading of assignments

Introducing “inline” assignment grading

If you’ve been downloading Word, PDF and text documents and re-uploading corrected papers back to students, get ready for a much faster way to grade!

  • View, annotate and grade file attachments directly within Blackboard Learn; no more downloading!
  • Supported file attachment formats for “inline” viewing include MS Office, text and PDF
  • Add color-coded annotations for students to read
  • You can always download the original or annotated paper for your records.

Watch inline assignment grading in action:

 

Introducing test item analysis

Blackboard Learn now provides detailed statistics on student test performance, and statistical breakdown of  individual test questions.

  • Highlights test questions that may be  too easy or difficult, or may have been scored incorrectly.
  • Lets you know which questions may be poor discriminators between students who know the subject matter and those who do not
  • Provides detailed statistical data for individual questions, including:
    • Average score
    • Standard deviation
    • Standard error
    • Number of students who skipped the question
    • Answer breakdown by class quartile

Watch test item analysis in action:

Each week, TLP will spotlight new Blackboard Learn functionality coming this summer.

 

New in Bb Learn this Summer: Video Everywhere & Improved Discussions

Posted by & filed under Blackboard News, Homepage News, Teaching and Technology.

Blackboard Learn will be upgraded on May 30 to the latest version. This upgrade includes a significantly improved Discussions tool and a new feature, Video Everywhere. Read more about the upgrade here.

new features: video everywhere and better discsussion

Video Everywhere!

  • Students and faculty can easily record and add video clips to assignments, posts, and tests.
  • In addition, faculty can record and add video clips to grading feedback.
  • Integrates with any YouTube account, including your CSU, Chico Wildcat Google YouTube account.
  • Reuse video across your courses.

 

 

Improved Discussions

Many of you have asked for more features and better display of the discussion boards – and Blackboard listened.

  • Read, reply to, and grade discussion posts directly from your My Blackboard page.
  • Profile photos enhance sense of community within online discussions.
  • Record video directly into discussion posts.
  • Forum descriptions are visible to students when they create new threads.
  • Faculty can require students to post before they can read what other students have posted.

Each week, TLP will spotlight new Bb Learn functionality coming this summer. Read more about each:

 

New in Blackboard Learn this Summer: Improved Calendar and My Blackboard

Posted by & filed under Blackboard News, Homepage News.

Blackboard Learn will be upgraded on May 30 to the latest version. Two of the new features are an all-new Calendar and a global navigation and notification area called My Blackboard. Read more about the upgrade here.

new features: my blackboard and calendar

Introducing the new calendar

The new calendar provides all the features of a modern web calendar, including:

  • View the calendar by course, month, week, day.
  • Course due dates are automatically added to the calendar and color coded by course.
  • Drag and drop calendar entries;  due dates automatically updated when moved.
  • Subscribe to a course calendar in your Outlook, Google or iCal-compatible mobile calendar.

See the new calendar in action:

 

Find out what’s new in My Blackboard

My Blackboard provides a personalized, timely view of information across all your courses. In just a couple of clicks, you can access:

  • Recent Posts (Discussion, Blog, Journal, Wiki)
  • Updates (notifies you of what’s available, due, overdue, needs grading, etc.)
  • Calendar (events and due dates in all your courses, plus personal calendar)
  • Retention Center (faculty only, shows “at-risk” students)
  • Recently posted Grades (students only)

Check out My Blackboard in action:

Other new features are on the way!

Each week, TLP will spotlight new Bb Learn functionality coming this summer. Read more about each:

 

Blackboard Learn Summer 2013 Upgrade

Posted by & filed under Blackboard News, Homepage News.

learn logoBlackboard Learn will be upgraded on May 30 to the latest version of the software. This upgrade will bring many requested and new features and improve system security. The link to the old Vista system will be removed during the upgrade.

The system upgrade will take place during the normal weekly maintenance window on Thursday, May 30 from 5:00 am to 8:00 am (subject to change). During this time, Bb Learn will be unavailable. All other campus systems including PeopleSoft will be unaffected by this upgrade.

Update: the “My Vista Courses” link will stay in Bb Learn until October 18, 2013. The previously announced date to remove this link has been extended. Read more about Vista going away.

What are the new features?

The new Bb Learn version delivers many features requested by our faculty as well as some great new tools, including:

  • New calendar (learn more)
  • New navigation and notification menu “My Blackboard” (learn more)
  • Improved discussion forums (learn more)
  • Webcam recording to YouTube in many tools (learn more)
  • Detailed test question analysis (learn more)
  • Monitoring of student performance
  • In-line grading and commenting on submitted student assignments (learn more)

Why is it happening on May 30?

While there’s no perfect time for this upgrade, May 30 has been selected with the utmost priority given to minimizing service disruption for students and faculty. As part of visible planning, the timing of the upgrade has been vetted with campus governance committees on academics and campus technology. The upgrade cannot take place during the summer term because there are approximately 200 courses running at that time. Upgrading on Thursday May 30 ensures there is sufficient time to upgrade and test the system prior to the start of the summer term. This also gives advance notice to faculty teaching in the fall about new features.

What will I see after the upgrade?

The first time you log in to Bb Learn, you will be prompted to edit your new profile. You can choose to skip this step.

You will then be introduced to the new global navigation and notification menu, called My Blackboard.

Special note to faculty: If you have not completed grading of student assignments submitted to Bb Learn prior to May 30, you will see the new assignment grading interface when you attempt to view the assignments after the upgrade. Learn more about the new grading interface.

This post will be updated as the new features are introduced. If you have questions or concerns, please use the comments below.