To address questions regarding Blackboard use and statistics at CWU please see http://www.cwu.edu/~media/cwuonline/exhbits/bb_data_and_charts.html
Click the questions to view answers
- How much knowledge and experience
with the internet, computers, online teaching and learning do
I need to teach an online course?
- Does teaching an online course
or one that is partially online take more time than teaching
a traditional course?
- What are the ways I can use Blackboard
to communicate with my students?
- How do I know that the student
assumed to be doing the work online in my course is who they
say they are?
- What is the recommended number
of students in an online course.
- How do I learn how to use Blackboard
software?
- How do I report a problem with
Blackboard software?
- What is the procedure to request
a Blackboard course?
- If Blackboard is not my preferred
tool is there support for other course management software?
- How can my students get support
for using Blackboard?
- How do you deal with accessibility
requirements? Is Blackboard ADA Compliant? Is Blackboard W3C
accessibility compliant?
- What are Course Cartridges and
is one available for my text book?
- What opportunities are available
to share resources and information with fellow faculty at CWU
teaching online?
- Can I put up copyrighted material
(owned by someone other than myself) in my course?
- Who owns my course? Who owns
my content?
- Can I control who sees what material and when they can see it?
- MS Office 2007 Compatibility Issues
- I've heard that text book publishers have Blackboard-ready content. What's the story?
- How long will my course content stay available?
How much knowledge
and experience with the internet, computers, online teaching and
learning do I need to teach an online course?
While extensive technical expertise is not necessary
teaching online requires that you be comfortable with computers
and the Internet. Blackboard recommends proficiency with browsing
the Web, entering URLs, locating and opening files on a computer,
using drop down lists, and entering text into Web-based forms.
Multimedia Technology and Instructional Support (MTIS) provides
a series of workshops on Blackbaord every quarter. You may also
contact Jane Chinn at 963-1224 for individual consultation for
online course design, multimedia development, and individual training.
Please learn about our workshop offerings and register online
at the following URL:
http://www.cwu.edu/~websolutions/faculty/workshops.html
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Does teaching an online
course or one that is partially online take more time than teaching
a traditional course?
Contributing factors that effect the length of
time it would take to develop an online course, include the following:
depth and complexity of the course content, the type of assignments
and activities, as well as the degree of experience and teaching
philosophy held by the instructor. While the amount of time spent
delivering and developing an online course will almost always
be more than the time spent on a face to face course, it will
lessen after the initial investment in time is spent.
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What are the ways I
can use Blackboard to communicate with my students?
The communication tools in Blackboard inlcude e-mail,
announcements, threaded discussion, and synchronous chat. Online
uses of synchronous and asynchronous discussion activities and
tools are frequently chosen topics of various writings dealing
with online learning.
The OnlineLearning.Net Instructor training program includes valuable
information on managing online communication:
Article published by the Stanford Learning Lab that
provides guidelines for using online communication tools:
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How do I know that the
student assumed to be doing the work online in my course is who
they say they are?
I believe this question derives from the fear that
there is no way to keep students from cheating while taking an
online course. It is true that an instructor cannot be certain
that the student whose name appears on the exam is the person
who actually took it. Consequently, some instructors have used
proctored testing sites, either on campus or in remote locations
to prevent this kind of cheating. Otherwise, with regard to online
quizzes and exams it is probably best to minimize the weight of
these scores in determining the overall grade in the class. Quizzes
that are not proctored can be used as advanced organizers, ways
to reinforce learning and as a means to assess student knowledge
in order to devise teaching strategies.
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What is the recommended
number of students in an online course?
According to Palloff and Pratt in Building Learning Communities
in Cyberspace,
As many as twenty or more participants
can have a successful experience in an asynchronous setting. However,
the success of a large group depends on the skill of the instructor
or facilitator, his or her knowledge of the electronic medium,
the content being discussed and explored and the means by which
that exploration occurs. If participants are expected to post
papers for discussion, for example, a smaller number of participants
or staggered posting dates would better facilitate the process....
Again the nature of the course and the type of assignments given
must be taken into account. Smaller groups are necessary if papers
are to be written collaboratively or if online presentations are
to be prepared for example for presentation to the larger group.
(pp. 147,148)
At CWU there have been web centric courses with
as many as 85 students enrolled. Typically these are lower division
courses that use course cartridges provided by a publisher along
with a text book. Activities and content in these courses are
largely predesigned. This of course does not imply that the amount
of work going into teaching one of these courses is not extensive
and involved.
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How do I learn how to
use Blackboard software?
Multimedia Technology and Instructional Support
(MTIS) offers workshops every quarter on beginning to intermediate
applications of Blackboard. We require that faculty teaching with
Blackboard take at least one introductory 2 hour session. To learn
about and register for one of our workshops please access the
following url:
http://www.cwu.edu/~websolutions/faculty/workshops.html
How do I report a problem
with Blackboard software?
Please send e-mail to bbhelp@cwu.edu or fill out
a support request at the following URL
http://websolutions.clt.cwu.edu/bbreports/new.html
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What is the procedure
to request a Blackboard course?
After taking a prerequisite introductory training
session you will have the necessary information to access your automatically created course shells with student enrollments. You may wish to request a "master course"
to develop content to be copied to multiple sections and to keep the content from term to term. The link to the request for is below:
http://www.cwu.edu/~websolutions/master_request/new.html
If Blackboard is not
my preferred tool is there support for other course management
software?
Blackboard is the standard course management software
(CMS) used at Central Washington Univeristy. A number of faculty
at CWU have created extensive online course sites and prefer to
continue using these in lieu of Blackboard. Should someone who
has designed their own course site choose to transition it to
Blackboard we willingly offer assistance in this endeavor. It
is even possible to retain an exisiting custom designed course
site and upload it into Blackboard. With regard to other CMS software
(such as WebCT) CWU owns and is licensed only to use Blackboard.
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How can my students
get support for using Blackboard?
Multimedia Technology and Instructional Support
(MTIS) offers technical support to students via email (bbhelp@cwu.edu)
and phone (509-963-1224). We also offer a number of support resources
online at
http://www.cwu.edu/~media/cwuonline/cwuonline.html.
In-class and on-demand student orientation sessions can be arranged
by calling Jane Chinn at 963-1224.
How do you deal with
accessibility requirements? Is Blackboard ADA Compliant? Is Blackboard
W3C accessibility compliant?
Accessibility issues are generally dealt with through
CWU Disability Support Services:
http://www.cwu.edu/~dss/
A copy of the Blackboard Accessibility FAQ is available here:
http:/www.cwu.edu/~ac/cwuonline/accessibilityFAQ.pdf
Macromedia has a useful accessibility resource area for help with
the creation of accessible web sites:
http://www.macromedia.com/resources/government
Bobby is a useful tool for evaluating the accessibility of web sites:
http://www.cast.org/bobby
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What are Course Cartridges
and is one available for my text book?
Blackboard provides information on what course
cartridges are and other essential information regarding their
use at:
http://resources.blackboard.com/scholar/general/cartridges.jsp
To determine if your text book publisher also publishes
a course cartridge for Blackboard you may access the website of
the company.
Listed below are a variety of publishing company websites that list
availability of course cartridges.
If your publisher is not listed please contact your representative.
What opportunities
are available to share resources and information with fellow faculty
at CWU teaching online?
Multimedia Technology and Instructional Support
(MTIS) offers a workshops/lunches called Collaborating with Colleagues.
Please check the workshop schedule each quarter for this offering
at:
http://www.cwu.edu/~websolutions/faculty/workshops.html
In addition there is a Blackboard course on our
system for faculty collaboration and idea sharing called, Blackboard
Collaborative. If you would like to be added to this course
please send me an e-mail to request that I do so at chinn@cwu.edu.
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Can I put up copyrighted
material (owned by someone other than myself) in my course?
Please read CWU's written policy regarding copyrighted materials. It can be downloaded here: http://www.cwu.edu/~media/cwuonline/copyright_policy.pdf
Discussion of copyright and fair use guidelines
are certainly complex but the following web site describes the
legal ramifications in a cohesive and logical manner:
http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/faculty.htm#fu
This site outlines The Four Factor Fair Use Test and describes
how to apply its rules when determining if your use falls under
the legal fair use guidelines.
Because reformatting content does promote equitable access to
and effective use of knowledge in support of teaching, research,
scholarship, and community service every effort should be made
to include material that you have given proper consideration to
with regard to copyright and fair use.
Here are some suggestions to follow when preparing materials for
asynchronous presentation over the web that do meet the Fair Use
Test and TEACH Act provisions.
- Copyrighted material in any format is allowed as a regular
part of systematic instructional activities.
- Password protection should always be used to restrict access
to those enrolled in the course.
- Displayed works should be legitimate copies, not illegally
acquired or recorded off-air, and include a copyright notice.
- Link to content found on the web whenever possible to avoid
ownership disputes.
- Display or stream only reasonable and limited portions of
Central Washington University owned copies of video tape and
DVD media.
For additional information on copyright and online courses please
view the following page:
http://www.cwu.edu/~media/cwuonline/copyright.html
When in doubt about the legality and fair use of copyrighted
materials obtaining written permission from the copyright holder
is recommended.
For fair use information pertaining to photocopying
- see library policy at:
http://www.lib.cwu.edu/circulation/gdln.html
and http://www.lib.cwu.edu/circulation/pol.html
Who owns my course?
Who owns my content?
At CWU ownership of course content remains with the instructor
unless its development was a work for hire. This means that the
instructor retains intellectual property rights to original works
specifically designed for use in the classroom and published on
the university web. Please consult CWU's policy on Copyright and
Royalties at:
http://www.cwu.edu/~pres/policies/part2-2.10.pdf
for further information on acquiring and preserving intellectual
property rights at the university. Students also retain copyright
to their creative work and faculty are required to obtain written
permission to incorporate any part or whole of these works into
their web pages. Faculty who anticipate commercializing their
web course materials should be sure to seek written permission
from owners of any copyrighted materials they incorporate into
their pages. We recommend faculty make limited use of Fair Use
if intending to commercialize their course content
Can I control who sees what material and when they can see it?
Through Adaptive Release, you have much more control over which students see what material and under what cricumstances they can see it.
Course content does not always apply to all users in the course. Using Adaptive Release, Instructors can display content to certain users for a limited period of time, or only after users meet (or fail to meet) predetermined requirements. Some content might be applicable to all users in the course, while other content should be audience-specific.
This feature provides the ability for an instructor to create custom scripted lessons that may include any course content and/or activities. Content items, discussions, assessments, assignments, or other activities can be released to students based on a set of criteria such as date/time, specific individuals, group membership, institutional role, grade on a particular test or assignment, or Review Status.
Instructors create and modifiy Adaptive Release rules from the new Manage page available on all content items.
More information is available on Adpative Release at this tutorial.
MS Office 2007 Compatibility Issues?
There are two options available for dealing with this issue, neither of them perfect.
One choice is to have students with older versions of Office download and install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word,
Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 file formats. This solution only works for PCs. There is a beta version of a
Mac File Format Converter for Word documents only (not for Excel and PowerPoint).
The other solution is to save Office 2007 files in older file formats.
This means losing some of the functionality of Office 2007 in these documents,
but it does not present the issues for Mac users described in the previous solution.
This solution can be implemented on a file-by-file basis, or you can change the default format.
To save an individual Office 2007 file in the older format:
- Click the Office button (top left corner)
- Select Save As
- Select Word 97 - 2003 Document or Excel 97 - 2003 Workbook or PowerPoint 97 - 2003 Presentation
To change the default in Office 2007 to always save in the older format:
- Click the Office button (top left corner)
- Choose Word Options, Excel Options, or PowerPoint Options (bottom of the dropdown box)
- Select Save
- In the Save files in this format dropdown list, choose the old file format: Word 97 - 2003 Document or Excel 97 - 2003 Workbook or PowerPoint 97 - 2003 Presentation. You will need to do this in each of the Office 2007 programs.
I've heard that text book publishers have Blackboard-ready content. What's the story?
Blackboard Course Cartridge contain pre-packaged instructional course materials, professionally produced by one of the many publisher partners
of Blackboard. To get started visit the Blackboard cartridge site http://cartridges.blackboard.com
and search for available cartridges in your subject discipline. Call CWU's Blackboard help line (509.963.1224) if you need assistance.
How long will my course content stay available?
Blackboard courses stay on the sytem for one year after the term in which they were taught.
Blackboard sections are created each quarter by an automated process that takes courses from Safari (Peoplesoft) and puts them in Blackboard.
You can view the sections of your courses by clicking the Courses tab in Blackboard. There you will see that each one has a 4 digit extension such as 1079. Focus on the 7 and the 9 - the seven
is the year while the 9 is the month that the quarter starts in (September).
If you would like a question answered in this FAQ that does not
appear here please e-mail it to me at chinn@cwu.edu
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