Workshop. communication using. and Topic. Grading. Viewing Chat Room

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1 Workshop Overview In this workshop, you will gain hands-on experience with a range of tools and utilities that can be used to effectively communicate with students inside of Blackboard. You will first learn to use the Announcements tool for effective one-way just-in-time communication with students. Next we will explore tools for asynchronous two-way communication, including Calendar, and Discussions. You will then learn to grade discussion postings and effectively manage discussion threads throughout the semester. Finally, you'll learn to facilitate real-time synchronous communication using the Chat and Who's Online tools. Throughout the workshop, strategiess for effectively using the tools to enhance learning will be presented. Training Topics in this Workshop Creating Announcements within Blackboard Creating Calendar Entries Managing Mail within Blackboard Creating a Discussion Category and Topic Grading a Discussion Topic Creating a Chat Session Viewing Chat Room Logs Using the 'Who's Online' Tool

2 What You'll Learn After completing this workshop, you will be able to: 1. Createe and send an announcement to your students 2. Createe a calendar entry that is linked to course contentt 3. Manage your course mail 4. Set up discussion categories and topics 5. Grade student discussion postings 6. Createe and edit chat and whiteboard rooms 7. View chat room logs 8. Use 'Who's Online' to initiate and answer instant, real-time questions from students Creating Annou uncements within Blackboard Announcements allow you to provide students with just-in-time information thatt will be viewed as a pop-uannouncements - only create them AFTER you've activated your LIVE section for students. window as they enter the course. An important thing to always remember about Announcements do not copy from repository (rc_lastname) to LIVE. To create course announcements: 1. From the Build Tab, under Course Tools, click Announcements. 2. Select the Create Announcement button and enter the title and announcement message.

3 3. Enter a Title for your messagee and type your text in the Message window (you have the option use the HTML creator to make your message more aesthetically appealing or add images by clicking on Use HTML). 4. Select the recipients (ex: students and/or teaching assistants) and delivery dates. 5. Announcements can also be delivered as pop up messages to your students as students log in to your course by clicking on 'Also deliver as a pop-up message'. 6. Click Send. Creating Calen dar Entries To create a calendar entry: 1. From the Build Tab, under Course Tools, click Calendar. Make sure you select 'This Course Only'. 2. Click the Add Entry button to enter the title and description in the spaces provided of the calendar event (you have the option use the HTML creator to make it more aesthetically appealing by clicking on Use HTML, however, remember that the shorter and more descriptive the message, the better.. 3. Set the Start Date/Time and End Date/Time of the event.

4 4. Under the Entry Type select Course>Access>Public. All enrolled students will be able to view the event. 5. Use More Options to establish reoccurrence of the event if necessary. 6. Click on the Add File button to add a file to the calendar event. 7. Click on the Add Content button to add the learning event (ex. a quiz, a discussion, a chat, or a learning module) to the calendar entry. 8. Select Save. 9. Other Calendar Options you may want to explore include printable views of the calendar, calendar settings, editing options and view options. Managingg Mail within Blackboard The internal mail system within Blackboard allows you to easily manage class-contained messagess from students in one central location. To organize course 1. From the Teach Tab, under Course Tools, click Mail. 2. Folders are listed in the left frame. The number in parentheses is the total number of messages in the folder; the number outside the parentheses is the number unread. The open folder's messagess are displayed in the right-hand frame. 3. Unread mail can be identified by the closed mail envelope icon to the left of the bolded message title. Read mail can be identified by the open mail envelopee icon to the left of the un- bolded message title. 4. To read a message, click its hyper linked subject title. 5. Blackboard supplies four (4) default folders: Inbox, Sent Mail, Drafts and Deleted Mail. Click on Create Folder to create additional folders (i.e. if you want a folder for each student in the course or folders by subject).

5 6. Move/ /copy messages into folders by selecting the box in front of the message and selecting the desired folder from the drop-down of messages or delete messagess by selecting the box in front of the menu. Click on the green arrow to move or copy. 7. Createe printable views message and selecting the appropriate button. Creating a Discussion Category and Topic Discussion categories allow you to organize discussions according to your subject matter or groups (see below), and topics can be placed within thesee categories. To create Discussion Categories: 1. From the Build or Teach Tab, under Course Tools, click Discussions. Click Create Category. 2. Enter a Title and Description in the space provided, and click Save (you have the option use the HTML creator to make your message more aesthetically appealing or add images by clicking on Use HTML). To create Discussion Topics: 1. From the Build or Teach Tab, under Course Tools, click Discussions. Click Create Topic. 2. Choose Threadedd topic and click Next. (other options are for blog or journal topics, and can be selected if desiredd but are different than typical threaded discussion topics). 3. Enter a Title and Description in the space provided, and select whether you want to Show or Hide the topic for now (you have the option use the HTML creator to make your message more aesthetically appealing or add images by clicking on Use HTML). 4. Select which Category (that you previously created) you'd like the topic to fall under. 5. Select options under Grading, Peer Review, and Topic Behavior as desired and click Save:

6 Gradable - Creates a column in the Grade Book, allowing you to mark students' contributions to the topic. Note: If you make a topic gradable, you cannot revert back to non-gradable. Peer Review - Allows student to rate/review other students posts publicly. Editable posts Members can edit their own posts. Locked Users can read messages, but can't post messages. Anonymous Indicates whether posts to this topic will exclude the author's name. Grading Students' Discussion Posts Once students have begun conversing with one another via the discussion board, you can grade their posts in a variety of ways. More advanced options for grading discussions include using a grading form, but for this online training session, we will show you how to grade it simply by viewing a students' post and entering a grade. To grade a discussion topic: 1. From the Teach tab, click on Discussions, and locate the topic you want to grade. From its grey drop-down ActionLinks menu, click Grade Topic. 2. The Grade Discussions screen appears and each student who has posted a message to the topic is displayed along with a Discussion Activity Overview and a Student Overview. To view a student's posts, click the the PeopleLinks menu next to the student's name and click View Student Posts.

7 3. The Student Discussion Posts screen appears, displaying the student's postings for the topic, along with the number of new messages, replies posted, messages read. 4. After viewing the student's post, go back to the Grade Discussions screen to enter a grade in the Grade text box for that student and click Save Grades.

8 Creating a Chat Session Chat is a great tool for you to use to interact with your students in real-time. To create a chat session: 1. From the Build Tab, under Course Tools, click Chat. Click Create Chat or Whiteboard Room. 2. Enter the Title of the Chat Room, description and number of userss as directed. 3. Select dialogue More Options to choose user options. Select the option to be able to view the chat after sessions are complete (Maintain Chat room log).

9 4. Select Save. 5. Click on the ActionLink beside the Chat Room title to edit all chat room settings at any time. Viewing a Chat Session Log: 1. From the Teach Tab, under Course Tools, click Chat. 2. Click on the ActionLink beside the chat room title and select View Log. Note: Additional editing options are available from the ActionLink. Using Who's Online Who's Online is a great tool students use to contact you when they see that you're online at the same time they are. It is a chat tool between individuals rather than an entire chat room. To invite students to an individualized chat session: 1. From My Blackboard or from within your course on the Teach tab, click on Who's Online. 2. Select the member you want to chat with and click Send Chat Invitation. The Chat Invitation pop-up screen appears. 3. In the Invitation Message text box, enter your initial message. (ex. hello). 4. Click Send. The request appears on the selected member's desktop as a pop-up screen. If they accept, a Chat screen appears for the two of you to converse. You can get help with Blackboard anytime at our Helpdesk: support.citde@tarleton.edu Phone: or Toll Free Option 3 Walk in: Tarleton Center Room 131 Website: Center for Instructional Technology & Distributed Education Faculty Training & Innovation Tarleton State University T-0810, Stephenville, Tx Tarleton Center Phone: