Peer Rating of Discussion Posts

Did you know that instructors can allow students to rate each other’s posts in Blackboard discussion forums? It works the same way that one would rate movies, books, apps, and things purchased in an online storefront like Amazon.

Turning on the ability to rate discussion posts can be an additional way that online instructors increase student engagement levels.

Instructions for turning on discussion post rating

Any time you add or edit a blackboard discussion forum you can turn on the feature that allows members to rate discussion posts.  If you have existing forums in your course, here are the steps to enable peer rating.

• Click on the Course Tools section of the course’s control panel
• Click Discussion Board
• Select the contextual menu arrow next to the appropriate forum and click Edit
• Access the Forum Settings section close to the bottom of the Edit Discussion Forum page.
• Check the Allow members to rate posts checkbox and click Submit.

  

Rating discussion forum posts

Discussion posts are rated via a 5-Star scale.  If a post has been rated, the Overall Rating will show right next to the discussion posts in the form of stars.  Students can only rate a post one time and are not allowed to rate their own posts.  Below are the steps to rate a discussion forum post:

• Find the desired post among the threads of a particular discussion board
• Select the aforementioned post
• Notice the Your Rating text with 5 blank close by.

  

• Choose the number of stars that approximates your rating of the discussion forum post.  Note: Once a post has been rated, the Overall Rating will appear whenever the discussion forum post is displayed.

  

Hopefully, following these steps will add a layer of peer evaluation to your course as well as promote more student engagement.

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SHSU Online Faculty Development Sessions – April 2018

SHSU Online is pleased to offer a number of faculty development opportunities for April

Online Cohort and Self-Paced	Webinar	By Appointment
Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Multimedia in Blackboard Courses	Engaging Students Grade Center Best Practices VoiceThread	Choose From our Catalog Ask for a Custom Session One-on-one or Group

Faculty Development Schedule – Face-to-Face/Self-Paced/Webinar

*New for April – See our descriptions at the end of this post.

Date	Session Title	Delivery Method	Time/Location
Open	*Multimedia in Blackboard Courses (Video Quiz Update)	Blackboard Course	Self-Paced – Online
Open	Blackboard Collaborate Ultra	Blackboard Course	Self-Paced – Online
April 3	Engaging Students	Webinar	3pm – Online
April 10	VoiceThread	Webinar	2pm – Online
April 16	Grade Center Best Practices	Webinar	2pm – Online
April 25	*Engaging Students	Webinar	3pm – Online

Enroll in one of our faculty development sessions today!

Faculty Development by Appointment

These sessions can be 5 minutes to an hour and can take place in your office, ours, over the phone and online.  Use the same link to sign up for face-to-face or one-on-one sessions. Just select a topic or come up with one of your own and we’ll do it!

Visit the SHSU Online Faculty Development How-to Session page and schedule a one-on-one with a member of the Instructional Technology Support Services team.

New For April 2018

Engaging Students

Do you ever feel like your students are not engaging with your online or blended course? Encouraging students to engage with you, your content, and each other can seem like a wrestling match. This webinar covers strategies and methods that can help increase student engagement in your Blackboard course. This 1-hour webinar touches on:

• placing yourself and your students in the course,
• personalized learning
• personalization without confusion
• feedback
• the “tools of engagement”

Enroll in one of our faculty development sessions today!

Multimedia in Your Blackboard Courses – Interactive Video Quiz Update

Kaltura has released an update for its interactive video quiz tool.  For over a year, Kaltura has had the ability to create interactive video quizzes from any video you create or upload into your “My Media” area in Blackboard.  Kaltura has updated this tool with an easier to use editor and the ability to sync quiz grades to your Blackboard Grade Center!

Enroll in one of our faculty development sessions today!

Extra Credit in the Blackboard Grade Center

At SHSU Online, “How can I add extra credit to my Grade Center?” is a question that is asked often by instructors who use the Blackboard grade book to present grades to their students.   In the Grade Center, you can provide extra credit to students in three ways:

• Extra credit for the total column
• Extra credit when weighting grades—added to a category
• Extra credit for a weighted total column

Extra credit for the total column

Create an extra credit column in the grade center with a maximum score of 0 that is included in the default Total computation.  Assign extra credit points as needed.

In the Grade Center:

• Click Create Column
• Call it Extra Credit
• Select Score for primary display.
• Select Percentage for secondary display.
• Points Possible = 0
• Include in Calculations
• Click submit.

The extra credit appears in the Grade Center. When you add points in an extra credit column, a student’s total points can equal more than 100 percent.  If a student receives full credit for all gradable items (100 points) and receives six extra credit points, the result is 106 or 106%.

Create extra credit when weighting grades

The weighted total column generates a grade based on the result of selected columns and categories, and their respective percentages. When you create a weighted column, you can include other calculated columns and other weighted columns. Your options are to add extra credit points to a category or to the overall grade.

Option 1: Add extra credit points to a category

For example:

You want to add 5 points extra credit to tests. In the Grade Center, create an extra credit column worth 0 points. After adding the 5 points for each student to the extra credit column, create another column to calculate the combined test grades total. The “Tests Total” column includes any columns that include test grades and the extra credit column. When you create the weighted total column, instead of adding the category “Tests” worth 20%, add the “Tests Total” column for 20%.

Create a “Test Extra Credit” column Click Create column Call it Tests Extra Credit Select Score for primary display. Select Percentage for secondary display. Points Possible = 0 Include in Calculations Click submit

Create another column to calculate the total of the tests columns and tests extra credit column. Select Create Calculated column and select Total Column Give it a name (Tests total) & description Include the test & tests extra credit columns Select Percentage for primary display. Select Submit

For your weighted total column, check that the “Tests Total” is the column that is being weighted and not the category “Tests.”

Option 2: Add extra credit points to overall grade

• Click Create Column.
• Call it Extra Credit
• Select Points for primary display
• For Points Possible, type 0
• Include in calculations
• Select Submit

Create a “Final Total” column that includes the “Weighted Total” and the “Extra Credit” columns.

Blackboard Inline Grading View – Changes

When you returned for the spring semester, you may have noticed that the way Blackboard does inline grading has changed.  Blackboard’s tool for implementing inline grading was called Crocodoc.  The company that owned Crocodoc decided to stop supporting it and gave it an end-of-life date of January 15, 2018.  The good news is that Box Inc., the company that owned Crocodoc had another tool called Box View that does essentially the same thing.

As a result, Blackboard updated its inline grading capability to leverage the new Box View software.  Box view offers several improvements over Crocodoc, including improved rendering fidelity (cleaner looking image) and expanded support for new file types.  There are some changes that may affect how your grading workflow happens, so what should you expect?  We’ve highlighted some important changes. Check out the comparison table below for specifics.

Crocodoc Box and Box View Comparison

Function & Details	Crocodoc	Box View
File types for conversion	PDF, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, DOC, and DOCX	Over 100 different file types, including video, audio, image, and programming code File Types and Fonts Supported in Box Content Preview
File types for annotation	PDF, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, DOC, and DOCX	PDF, PPT, PPTX, DOC, and DOCX Box View also supports only point-based annotations on these file formats: AI, BMP, DCM, EPS, GIF, PNG, PS, PSD, SVS, TGA, TIF, and TIFF
Videos & Images displayed	No	Yes
Course Areas	Assignments	Assignments
Annotations	Text- and point-based comments, highlighting, and drawing	Point-based comments and highlighting
Download	You could download a copy of a student file with the option to download in the original format or in a PDF version that includes the annotations	You can download a copy of a student file, but annotations won’t appear
Print Function	No	Yes
Students	Can’t add annotations to documents	Can’t add annotations to documents

Note the addition of almost 100 new file types that are supported as well as the ability to display images and videos within the inline grading interface.

One change that may affect some faculty is the inability to download a copy of the student file with annotations.  A workaround for this scenario is to use MS Word instead of Box View and track changes.  Then, you can just upload the annotated document via the grading interface via a file attachment.

Please contact us at blackboard@shsu.edu if you have any questions.

5 First Week Strategies for the New Year

1. Connect your students to the Blackboard App

I hope that you will have a wonderful holiday and are looking forward to a prosperous new year.  In the spirit of looking forward, here are some strategies that you can look forward to implementing to provide your students with a firm footing and a good start in your online course(s) during the first week.

Your students spend a large amount of their time with their faces pointed toward a mobile device.  Why not have them spend some of that time looking at push notifications from your course?  Connect your students to the Blackboard App and increase student engagement. Students will be updated when they have a test coming up, an assignment is due as well as when new grades are posted.  The push notifications can engage your students and drive them to your course. The Blackboard App provides your students with:

• Activity Stream
• Course Timeline
• Collaborate Ultra
• Course Outline
• Assignments and Tests
• Grades
• Connecting Cloud Content (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive)
• Discussions
• Push Notifications

You can place this link in your and it will direct them to where they can download the Blackboard App for iOS, Android and Windows devices.

2. Record a video introduction

A Video Introduction performs an important function in any online course.  One of the drawbacks to digital communication is that it divorces the person from the medium.  An e-mail, discussion post or instant message cannot convey meaning or tone of voice.  A Video Introduction allows you to speak to the student as you would speak to them in your office or in class.  They get to hear as well as see “you” rather than just a paragraph or two of text welcoming them to the course.

Here are some suggestions for content of your introductory video:

• Introduce Yourself
• Brief Description of Course
• Virtual “Tour” of the Course/How it will work
• Expectations can be Relayed

Giving yourself a social “presence” in the course with a video introduction is an important first step in getting your students engaged and ready to contribute.  The good news is that it is easier than ever for you to provide this feature in your course.  You can use tools like YouTube, Kaltura or Blackboard Collaborate to upload or directly record and upload your introductory video yourself.

3. Create an introductory activity

Research shows that students who feel they have contributed to a course, or have “co-ownership” of their learning, report a higher level of satisfaction with the course and instructor. One way to start your students contributing early on, is to have them participate in an introductory activity.  The activity serves multiple purposes. First it does what it says it does and allows your students to get to know you and each other.  Doing this helps them break the ice and feel less wary about reaching out to each other as the semester progresses. Secondly it shows them how to use the tools in the course and gets them in the habit of interacting with each other in the manner set by your instructions.  Finally, it gets them started and active in the course.  Student who feel like they are not just sitting around, report a higher level of satisfaction and are more likely to finish the course.

Note:  Since this is the “first” activity in the course, it might be a good idea to model the behavior you want your students to display.  Go ahead and be the first person to submit the activity or link to previously used example.

4. Establish student and instructor expectations

A great way to cut down on cut down on student confusion about course expectations and activities is to create an Expectations content item in your course.  This part of your course should contain 2 sets of expectations.  What you expect of your students and what your students should expect from you.  You can even have your students post that they have read and understood the course expectations. Here are some examples of course expectations:

Expectations of Students

• Use the virtual office to ask general course questions
• Check the course homepage, discussions and their e-mail several times a week
• keep up with reading assignments, activities, assignments and quizzes
• Participate actively in class discussions, responding to at least 2 colleagues for each forum
• Practice Netiquette in the course.  No flaming (negative hurtful comments); use correct grammar and spelling; don’t yell (write in all caps)

Expectations of Instructor *These will vary depending upon your comfort level

• I will read and respond to discussion posts directed at me, e-mails and other forms of communication daily (not on weekends)
• I will post grades for your assignments and exams quizzes within a week of submission
• I will have office hours at these days/times: (insert times here) via Skype (Skype address here) or via phone (phone number here)

Letting your students know what to expect from you and what you expect from them will go a long way toward ensuring a successful experience for them and you in your online course(s).

5. Create and utilze a syllabus quiz

In a brick and mortar class the first day is usually spent covering course expectations, policies and yes the syllabus.  You have a captive audience at least for the hour or hour and a half that you have your students in the classroom.  Even if the students didn’t seem excited about being there, you know they at least heard you go over the information.  In online courses it can be difficult knowing if the students have even looked at your syllabus even though it may be prominently displayed in your course.

A great tool to employ to ensure that your students have looked at your syllabus (at least once) is the Syllabus quiz.  You can offer questions that point to what you think might be important parts of your grading policy and or course schedule and whatever else you think might be important.    The syllabus quiz can have two other benefits besides ensuring your students are least familiar with the Syllabus.  It gives your students a first look at the testing mechanism in your online course, and if you employ adaptive release, it can become a gatekeeper for the rest of your course.  You can set a point threshold for them to reach in order for them to be able to access the rest of the course.

Keep Your Students Engaged with the Blackboard App

One of the challenges faced by online, hybrid, and web enhanced instructors is keeping your students engaged.  This blog post could go into depth about the myriads of streams, hashtags, posts and cat videos that are all competing for your students’ attention. So, rather than go down that particular rabbit hole, we will focus on a way to engage your students…..using the Blackboard app.

Let us take a quick look at the various features of the app. This is not the primary focus of this blog post, but I am getting ahead of myself. Here is a quick look at the Blackboard app feature set:

Blackboard App Features

• View Blackboard Activity Stream
• View course items/announcements
• View Due Dates
• Complete assignments (Google Drive, DropBox & OneDrive integration)
• Participate in discussions
• Check grades
• Interact with instructor and class via Collaborate Ultra
• Download course files and view them when offline
• Push Notifications

These are all great features, but you will notice the special emphasis on certain features in the list.   These features provide a little extra engagement for your device carrying students.

Activity Stream

Your students can see an up-to-the-minute list of important course activity including new content, announcements, and grades. The activity stream automatically prioritizes items to help students focus on the tasks that they want to take care of right away.

The activity stream shows first when the app is opened. Students tap the menu icon to navigate to their courses and other features.

Grades

Students can select Grades in the main menu to see a quick view of their grade in each course. They tap a course grade to see submitted assignments, tests, quizzes, and graded discussions. Students can see calculated grades, such as running totals if the  them. If a calculated total shows in a desktop browser but not in the app, your school hasn’t updated Blackboard yet.

While in a course, students can tap their current grade at the top of the Course Overview to see all of their graded work. They can tap a graded item to view the assessment details, attempts, and instructor feedback.

Push Notifications

The Blackboard App will keep students up to date and let them know when a test is coming up or an assignment is overdue. It will also send notifications when new grades are posted.

These notifications will show up on their smart phone with a buzz or a bing or when the student checks their device.

This is Great, Now What?

So if you like what the Mobile App can do for your students, what can you do to get them to use it? How about making one of Start Here activities in your course an assignment where students have to submit a screenshot of your course as viewed through the Blackboard app.  Provide the link to the app in the assignment instructions for easy access.  If the students already have the app, they just need to do the screenshot portion of the assignment.

Blackboard Maintenance Update – What’s New?

Last night, our Blackboard instance went through a scheduled maintenance that brought us to version 9.1 Q2 2017.  While the version may not mean much to you, we wanted to take the time to let you know about what new features you have in store when you return in the new year.

New Features with 9.1 Q2 2017

Additional drag-and-drop locations

File drag and drop are now supported in the following areas:

• Content Editor – embed attachment
• Blank Page content type
• Blog – Create Entry
• Journal – Create Entry
• Portfolio – add Artifact

Submission receipts enhancements

Students can receive a notification email for each assignment attempt with information about the submission including attached files. Students can also access receipts at any time on the My Grades page in the submissions filter area. Administrators can optionally disable the email notifications.

Blackboard Ally availability

When you return, you will have access to Blackboard Ally.  As we have told you in our previous newsletter articles, Ally is a service for improving the accessibility of content in the following ways:

• Ally presents instructors and content authors with an accessibility score and coaches users in ways to improve the accessibility of materials.
• Ally creates and presents students with automatically-generated alternative versions of uploaded files and creating accessible HTML, digital braille, and audio format files.
• Ally allows administrators to see accessibility scores of materials across courses and track changes over time to plan, measure, and improve accessibility.

Blackboard Ally how-to

Starting January 4th, we will offer a fully-online course (in Blackboard) where you can learn about Ally, how it works and even earn a “Blackboard Ally” certification.  Enroll today!

Inline grading moves from Crocodoc to Box View

Blackboard’s original way to do inline grading (Crocodoc) has been upgraded and replaced by the owners of that software (Box Inc.) to Box View. Box View offers several improvements over Crocodoc, including improved rendering fidelity and expanded support for new file types.  Check out this list of over 100 different supported file types.

For more information, watch this video from Blackboard.

Aside from these great new features and tools, Blackboard also squashed some bugs that had been pestering us.

Bugs fixed with 9.1 Q2 2017

• Users not Getting Emails While Subscribed to Discussion Board Forum
• Temp Files Received While Sending Email Attachments from the Grade Center
• Embedded Media Controls Unresponsive in Test Questions
• Embedded Media does not play when used as a Question in Assessments
• Error when Viewing Test Attempts in Grade Center