What’s New in Bb 7.3

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

SENDING E-MAIL WHEN POSTING AN ANNOUNCEMENT
To send an e-mail when posting an announcement follow these steps.

• Access the course Control Panel
• Select Announcements from the Course Tools section.
• Click the Add Announcement button.
• Input the announcement Subject , Message
• Select the appropriate announcement Options
• If needed, browse to add a Course Link
• Use the E-mail this annoucement to all course users checkbox to generate an e-mail
• Click Submit .

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EMAIL CHANGES

Return Receipts
Instructors sending email through Blackboard will have the option to receive Return Receipts.

• Choose the Communication navigation link in the course.
• Select All Student Users from the choices of recipients.
• Check the Return Receipt check box to enable this feature.

Spell Check
Blackboard email users will also find a spell check option at the bottom of the message text box.

• Choose the Communication navigation link in the course.
• Select consituent group or user for the e-mail from the choices of on the screen.
• Type in your Subject and Message in the appropriate text box.
• Click in the Spell Check button on the lower right hand side of the Message text box.

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ASSESSMENT

EXTRA CREDIT
Blackboard assessments now have the ability to add extra credit questions. These instructions demonstrate how to add extra credit questions when creating a test from scratch, but the same concepts apply when adding extra questions to existing tests or pools. Do the following to add extra credit questions to your course:

• Navigate to the content area in your course where you will deploy your test.
• Use the EDIT VIEW link to open into the control panel view of the appropriate content area.
• Select the Add Test button.
• Click the Create New Test button (here is where you would select the existing test if you already had one).
• Input the appropriate Test Information : Name, Description, Instructions and then Submit .
• Pick the appropriate question type from the Add drop-down menu and press Go .
• Type in the question, & point value.
• Use the Extra credit only checkbox to make the question extra credit.
• Determine the appropriate answers and feedback and press Submit .

SPECIFYING THE NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS
Instead of just having the ability to allow multiple attempts, Blackboard faculty may now specify the
number of attempts. After you have created the test, do the following:

• After opening the content area where the test is deployed in your control panel/edit view choose the Modify button.
• Select the Modify Test Options link.
• Check the Multiple Attempts checkbox.
• Click the radio button next to Number of attempts then input the appropriate number.

SELF-ASSESSMENT
The ability to leave the test you create out of the gradebook calculations for self-assessment is now built into the test creation/modification tool. After you have created the test, do the following:

• After opening the content area where the test is deployed in your control panel/edit view choose the Modify button.
• Select the Modify Test Options link.
• Scroll down to section 3 Self-assessment Options
• Select the Hide the score of this test from the Gradebook checkbox. ** If this item is checked, then grade will not be displayed in the gradebook.

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GRADEBOOK

CHOOSING WHICH SCORE TO ACCEPT IN GRADEBOOK WHEN ASSESSMENTS
HAVE MULTIPLE ATTEMPTS
Blackboard faculty can now choose the method of scoring multiple attempts in an assessment while in the Gradebook. They now have the option to Grade the last or first attempt, the highest score, lowest score, and average of scores. To change how the assessment attempt is scored in the Gradebook, follow these steps:

• Visit the course's Control Panel
• Click on the link (Name of Test) at the top of the appropriate column
• Choose the Modify Gradebook Item link
• In the Item Information section use the Score attempts using drop-down menu to determine how you want to the assessment to be scored.
• Click the Submit button.

HIDING THE AVERAGE SCORE COLUMN IN "MY GRADES"

• Select Gradebook on the Control Panel.
• Click Gradebook Settings .
• Click Column Settings to change the way information is displayed in Gradebook views.
• Look in the My Grades Display option section to choose the spreadsheet display.
• Deselect Display Average Score .
• Click Submit .

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DISCUSSION BOARD

SEARCH FUNCTION IN DISCUSSION BOARD CONTENT
A search function appears at the top of the page throughout the Discussion Board. The search includes a keyword field, date restrictions, and options for where to search. The search function starts at the current level and options exist to work up. For example, in a thread, the default search option only searches that thread but options exist to search the entire forum or all forums. From the search function, users can search all forums in the course, including any forums that appear in the user’s groups.

SUBSCRIBING TO A THREAD
Thread Subscription allows students to receive email notification whenever a forum thread is updated or replied to. The email notification does not contain the actual contents of the posting. Notices are emailed only when an update or reply is made to a first level thread in a forum. Example: notice is not sent on a reply to a reply .

Enabling Subscription Use the following steps to enable thread subscription within your forum:

• Click Modify by the forum name.
• Under Forum Settings, select the Allow members to subscribe to posts option.

Subscribing to a Thread
Follow these steps to subscribe to a discussion thread in a forum:

• Open the forum link and thread.
• Click the Subscribe button. The button changes to Unsubscribe and you will now be notified when the thread is updated or replied to.

GRADING DISCUSSION BOARD PARTICIPATION
In a classroom setting, students are often expected to participate in class discussions and that participation is part of the equation when assessing performance. Within a classroom, participation performance can be ambiguous. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate the student who is active but does not advance the discussion from the student that speaks less frequently but with greater impact.

Student interactions with the Discussion Board are a permanent record of participation. The Instructor has the option to grade Students at the forum level or at the thread level. In this way the Instructor can accurately compare Student participation to the expectations set forth.

Enabling Grading
Grading options are enabled when the forum is created or by modifying the forum. Click Modify on the Discussion Board for a forum to change its settings.

The Grade settings appear at the bottom of the Add Forum Page and the Modify Forum page. Select Grade Forum and enter a point value to evaluate participants on performance throughout the forum. Select Grade Threads to evaluate participants on performance in each thread. When the Grade Threads option is used, a Points Possible option appears each time a thread is started. Keep in mind that users cannot create new threads if Grade Threads is selected for the forum.

Grading User Participation in a Forum

• Open the Discussion Board. A list of forums will appear. For each forum that may be graded, an icon will appear in the Grade column.
• Click the icon in the Grade column. Only users with a forum role of Grader or Manager may enter a grade for a forum. A Grader may not view their own work.
• A list of users will appear. Click Grade for a user.
• A collection of the user’s posts in the forum will appear. Evaluate the posts and assign a Grade .
• Click Submit to add the grade to the Gradebook.

Grading User Participation in a Thread

• Open a Discussion Board and then open a forum and select a thread.
• Click Grade Thread . This button will only appear to users with a forum role of Grader or Manager.
• A list of users will appear. Click Grade for a user.
• A collection of the user’s posts in the Thread will appear. Evaluate the posts and assign a Grade . Click Submit to add the grade to the Gradebook.

Disable Grading for a Forum or Thread
Use the Modify Forum feature to change the grading option to select No Grading. If Grades have already been entered for the forum or its threads, a warning message will appear that changing the setting will remove the associated Gradebook Items. Click OK to continue or click Cancel to preserve the Gradebook Items.

PEER REVIEW THROUGH THE DISCUSSION BOARD
A common learning tool in classrooms is providing feedback to other students on their work. Students prepare an essay, lab report, or presentation and share it with the class. Other students are asked to comment on the work and offer criticisms for improvement. This process helps the student improve their assignment, but is even more valuable to the students that review the work. Reviewing the work of another student enforces classroom learning and helps the reviewer practice important communication skills.

The Discussion Board is the perfect place in a course for peer review. Each student may start a thread and include their work in the initial post. Other students then review the work, assign a rating to the initial post, and include comments in a response. As users respond, the feedback expands as users reinforce and build on points made by other students.

Users can respond to a post using a 5-star rating system. To enable this feature, select Allow members to rate posts when creating the forum.

Rating a Discussion Board
Open a thread and view the posts. Each post has an Overall Rating field with five stars. The stars show the overall rating that the post has received from users. Click on the Rate this Post drop down list and select a rating from 0 to 5 stars. Your rating is now included in the Overall Rating and your individual rating appears in the Rate this Post field. A user may not rate the same post more than once.

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EARLY WARNING SYSTEM MANUALS

INTRODUCTION TO THE EARLY WARNING SYSTEM
The Early Warning System is a tool used to communicate warnings to Students or Observers that a performance problem is beginning to appear or has become more serious. Warnings can be generated based on graded performance, late or missing course work, or attendance within the online course. The Instructor can choose to communicate a particular warning to just the Student, the Student and a parent or advisor that is assigned as an Observer, or just the Student’s Observer. In addition, the Instructor has control over the message each time a warning is communicated. The Instructor can use the default message or modify it to more accurately communicate the seriousness of the situation.

Important Information about the Early Warning System
When using the Early Warning System, please keep the following key points in mind:

• The Early Warning System does not continuously monitor the course. The Instructor must check the Early Warning System periodically and click Refresh to discover incidents of Student performance that trigger an alert. The Early Warning System consolidates these incidents and allows the Instructor to easily report problems, the Early Warning System does not automatically detect problems and notify Students and Observers. Remember to refresh rules manually on a regular basis.
• If the Early Warning System is on at the system-level, the Instructor may still turn it off within the course.
• The Early Warning System keeps a log of alerts sent to users. The log is searchable and can be used to verify that a Student was alerted to a problem.

Early Warning System and the Gradebook
The Early Warning System is designed to work closely with the Gradebook. Early Warning System rules use gradebook results to create rules and create alerts to student performance based on those rules. In particular, the Early Warning System can trigger an alert based on grades recorded in the gradebook. As well, Assignments or Assessments that are not completed by the deadline may also be used to trigger an alert.

Early Warning System and the Performance Dashboard
The Performance Dashboard includes information about Early Warning System alerts. The Early Warning Column shows the number of warnings and the number of total rules that may trigger a warning. Clicking on the data in this column will open the Early Warning System. The Early Warning System column will only display if the tool is turned on in the course.

MANAGING THE EARLY WARNING SYSTEM RULES
Rules determine when the Early Warning System flags student performance. It is up to the Instructor to communicate the warning to the user through the Notification Log. There are three options for rules:

• Grade Rule: Identifies when student performance on an Assignment, Assessment, or manually graded item is equal to or below a certain level. It is also possible to set a Grade Rule that identifies when a user exceeds a performance level. This can be a useful tool for positive feedback.
• Due Date Rule: Identifies when a Student does not complete course work when it is due. A Due Date Rule can only be used to track an Assignment or Assessment created through the Blackboard Learning System. Due Date Rules cannot be created for manually graded items.
• Last Access Rule: Identifies the last time a Student accessed the course online.

Please keep in mind that rules are not constantly running in the background checking for events. Regularly refresh the Early Warning System to run the rules and check for events that will trigger a warning.

Add Rules
Follow these steps to add a rule:

• Open the Control Panel .
• Select Early Warning System .
• Click Add Grade Rule , Add Due Date Rule , or Add Last Access Rule .
• Enter a name and availability for the rule and then set the rule criteria.

Modify Rules
Follow these steps to modify a rule:

• Open the Control Panel .
• Select Early Warning System .
• Click Modify for a rule from the list.
• Change the rule information and criteria.

It is also possible to change the availability of a rule by selecting it, along with several other rules if desired, from the list on the Early Warning System page and then clicking Available or Unavailable from the action bar.

Removing Rules
Follow these steps to remove a rule:

• Open the Control Panel .
• Select Early Warning System .
• Select one or many rules from the list.
• Click Remove . Confirm that the selected rules should be deleted.

Refreshing Rules
Follow these steps to refresh rules:

• Open the Control Panel .
• Select Early Warning System .
• Select one or more rules from the list.
• Click Refresh from the action bar. The selected rules will be run and any events that trigger the rule will create a warning.

REVIEWING RULES AND NOTIFYING USERS
The Early Warning System helps Instructors notifies Students and Observers when an alert is triggered. Instructors can view alerts and send notifications simply by clicking on a rule listed on the Early Warning System page.

View Alerts
Follow these steps to view alerts generated from a rule:

• Open the Control Panel .
• Select Early Warning System .
• Click on the name of a rule in the list.
• The Review Rule Status page will appear.

The Review Rule Status page lists all the users in the course and identifies whether or not their performance meets the criteria for the rule and lists details regarding performance. For example, if the Instructor set a Grade rule to trigger an alert for all users with a score less than 65, those users with a score with less than 65 would show Yes in the Meets Criteria column. The page also shows when the user was last notified regarding their performance. Please keep in mind that communicating an alert to users does not happen automatically. The Instructor can customize the message as well as who receives the alert.

Finally, click on the Username to see a detailed view of the user’s performance against all rules.

Sending Email
Follow these steps to notify users when their performance triggers an alert.

• Open the Control Pane l.
• Select Early Warning System .
• Click on a rule in the list.
• Select the users to notify from the list.
• From the Notify drop-down list, choose the recipients of the notification. The choices are:
  
  Student User Only : This option will only send the notification message to the selected Students.
  Observer Users Only : This option will only send the notification to those users assigned as Observers to the selected Students.
  Student and Observer Users : This option will send the notification to the Student and any assigned Observers.
  Other : This option allows the sender to enter email addresses for the recipients of the notification.
  
  With all options, the sender can enter additional email addresses as blind carbon copy (bcc) recipients.
• Click Go . The Send Notification page will appear with the To field populated with the names of those users that will receive the notification.
• Edit the Subject and Message and click Submit to send the notification. The notification may include attachments. Also, the sender may copy themselves on the message.

The Notification Log serves as a record of Early Warning System communications to users. The log can be used to confirm that Students were made aware of performance problems. Follow these steps to view the log.

• Open the Control Panel .
• Select Early Warning System .
• Click Notification Log from the action bar.

The Notification Log lists each notification by individual user. It includes a search function for narrowing the results to locate a particular notification.