Beginning Monday, May 13, our Support Desk hours will be:
Monday – Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday – Sunday: Closed
We’ll resume regular hours after Memorial Day.
Quickly Provide Audio and/or Video Feedback in the Blackboard Grade Center
Instructor presence in online courses is crucial for student success. The instructor plays an important role in student satisfaction in online courses. SHSU Online instructors interact with students in discussions, virtual office hours, feedback, and other important ways. One facet of instructor presence in online courses is feedback for the student’s submitted activities/assessments. Most of this instructor feedback has been textual in nature. Instructors generally type in their comments and try to personalize the text they use when doing so.
For some time now, Instructors have had the ability to provide feedback with other tools (audio/video/etc.), but it has been a kluge. Recording a video somewhere else, selecting a mash up, or pasting embedded code in the appropriate place was how more personalized feedback could be given.
Blackboard’s Insert Recording Feature
One of Blackboard’s latest feature releases allows instructors to record and insert an audio or a video recording right into the feedback area for a Blackboard gradable item. Watch this short video to learn how to provide audio and/or video feedback to your students seamlessly with the Insert Recording tool.
Best Practice Alert
You don’t have to do a video/audio feedback recording for every grade! Limit how many you do during the semester. Here are a couple of strategies to get your started:
- Make a list of your students and decide how many times you will leave video or audio feedback during the semester. Use check-boxes to keep track.
- Select a small number of activities where you will provide this more personalized feedback and use the tool on them.
So Blackboard asked us to share #WhyIBbWorld via our twitter feeds as part of their lead up to Blackboard World in Austin #ATX this summer. Being the eLearning eVangelist that I am, I have been posting multiple #WhyIBbWorld tweets that include everything from the obvious to the quirky (Me on the dance floor during the CAP, for example).
I have to admit it has been great being able to post my own #WhyIBbWorld’s and to read the tweets of others. I have found many a kindred spirit in the reasons posted online. Reading all these great #WhyIBbWorld tweets made me start to take a deeper look at why I attend Blackboard World. I guess the reasons why I attend Blackboard World have evolved over time. Let’s put them in three categories:
- The Early Days
- Getting Into the Groove
- The Seasoned Vet
The Early Days
I attended my first Blackboard World some 20 years ago in Washington D.C. In those days we were brand new to Blackboard version 5(the one right after CourseInfo). I attended, so that we could see how to “use the darn thing”(Blackboard bought Web-Course-In-Box who we were using) and to maybe get a picture of the Lincoln Memorial.
I attended subsequent Blackboard Worlds because I was the only Blackboard guy on campus and I needed to plug into a community of folks like me. On campus I was the Blackboard Wizard (there had to be twist) and I was looked to for knowledge, both technical and pedagogical, on how to use it. Blackboard World allowed me to connect to other people who were doing what I was doing and more. In those days I was the Sys Admin, Faculty Development person and Instructional Designer, so I needed to “fill up” on everything I could, to improve things for faculty and students back at SHSU.
When you are on your own on campus, supporting a strategic system like Blackboard, it can be a scary situation. When you are wearing all the hats, you feel like you are always treading water and that you can’t make any progress. Blackboard World was like a life preserver that allowed you to take stock of where you were and plan for where you needed to go.
Getting Into the Groove
As I got my first BbWorlds under my belt, my perspective as to why I was going changed. I started to focus more on the connections I was making. Connections with Bb Staff, Vendors at the conference and eLearing Guru’s from other institutions. As Blackboard’s clientele grew, I was able to experience more cultures of learning (national and international) by attending.
As my use of Blackboard become more nuanced, so did the sessions I attended. I paid much more attention to the types of schools and programs the presenters were coming from, and that played a larger part in choosing the sessions I would attend.
Getting into the grove also changed part of what I would call the “overall feel” of Blackboard World. It became more than just a conference and networking event. It also became what I lovingly refer to a “nerdy high school reunion”. Connections that you made in early BbWorlds were celebrated and renewed, all in an atmosphere of learning and sharing. So besides just lining up your dance card for sessions, you might find yourself at Terry Patterson’s annual Birthday dinner or coordinating outfits for the client appreciation event.
At this point in my “Blackboard Evolution” I was leaving the “treading water” stage and starting to lift my head up to see what was coming next. I began bringing my list of “I Wish Blackboard Coulds” so that when I spoke with Blackboard at the vendor fair or in meetings, I had ammunition for important conversations built upon the needs of my constituents back home.
Lastly, I started presenting about the things we were doing at our campus. Not only did I present, but also I shared out some of the things we were doing for the community to use. A prime example of this would be the Blackboard Support Orgs for students and faculty that we created and curated so that others could benefit.
Seasoned Vet (Where I Am Now)
The other title I chose for this section was A Little Rounder, A little Greyer.
This year marks my 18th Blackboard World. We had a year or two where we used another LMS who shall not be named, but whose name rhymed with Schmeeee Schmollege. Their conference made me really miss #BbWorld. One of the unmentioned LMS’s conference keynotes was Ben Stein…..anyone…..anyone.
I still look forward to many of the things that I experienced in my first two stages:
- Talking to people who speak my language
- Nerdy High School Reunions
- Presenting/Sharing
I also pay much more attention to the more strategic or long-term elements of the conference. The product road-map sessions and the Bb Executive sessions come to mind.
In my Veteran years at BbWorld, I:
- became a VIP Blogger
- earned my Bb Certified Trainer certification
- was nominated and became a Bb MVP
As I look at those all of these aspects of my #WhyIBbWorld evolution, I realize that they are all really about one area….community. I feel very fortunate to have spent much of my professional life in this community. Blackboard World has been there when I needed a lifeline, it allowed me to make important connections for me and my home institution, provided me with a nerdy high school reunion, gave me a platform to share out to the community, and allowed me to think much more strategically about eLearning at my campus. I have taken so much from my attendance at BbWorlds and tried to give back at least as much as I have learned.
Thank you to Blackboard, the community and the universe for providing this outstanding conference. I’m looking forward to #BbWorld19!
Have you heard about Blackboard Community? Blackboard Community is a community of instructors, instructional designers, admins, Blackboard staff, and educational leaders who interact in one place so that everyone involved can benefit. Becoming a member of community.blackboard.com allows instructors and others to:
- Connect with Blackboard instructors, instructional designers, Bb administrators, & educational leaders around the world
- Make suggestions and vote on product enhancements that matter to you
- Contribute to a Teaching & Learning forum that allows you to ask questions, share ideas and be a part of the Blackboard Community
- Have conversations that matter over topics that mean something to you
- Learn from industry experts as well as colleagues in the field
- Make your own mark in the Teaching & Learning community
This resource is for anyone that uses Blackboard, not just online instructors. I would encourage you to join this growing community and take part in the cognitive surplus of ideas, resources, and conversations around eLearning. Visit community.blackboard.com to join today!
Thomas J. Tobin
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Star Wards universe is an accessible universe…a good metaphor for Universal Design for Learning.
Making an accommodation for one person is not universal design. Let us not talk first or only about people with disabilities when we want to address barriers.
Reframe the conversation. Unlearn what you have learned. Talk in a value neutral way about the benefits of an inclusive design.
What one strategy could he adopt to supplement-or even replace-her face-to-face message?
Texting, Short Video, Reminders, Online conferencing -> has to do with expanding learners options.
learner engagement representing info action choices.
Give time estimates it would take to read something.
Universal Design for Learning is “plus one” thinking. If there is one way for students to interact with an assignment, make 1 more way.
ULD = access (no matter why)
“We want a situation that is goof for everybody…part of it is thinking about what has to happen at the level of design that makes accommodation less necessary.” –Sam Johnson, CAST
5 Strategies for UDL
- Start with text…start with a script have some notes, you can provide it later when you create other media out of it.
- Make alternatives. (HTML version, pdf version etc..)
- Let ’em do it their way where you’d can – design assignments where students can choose how they respond (written, video, audio etc). Do it in a directed fashion
- Go step by step
- Set content free (accessible 24 hours a day) and from formatting. Put examples in video format rather than resident software…
Ask about the question they get all the time, problem on tests and quizzes and where did they want you to say it a different way. Train faculty, IT, everyone that supports faculty members.
Recent Ultra Enhancements and Some that are coming soon.
Mobile Experience – Login page shows branding.
Institution Pages show up via mobile (they are the new tabs and Modules)
Customizing labels for aka substituting “subjects” to “courses”.
Personalization: The Blackboard Stream:
- Notifications, push, email, sms (set via mobile app)
- Courses page: Courses are organized by timeline, but they can be searched and filtered and then you can favorite the filter so that it shows up first the next time.
- Modules display newness indicators that refer to new activity
- Nudges via messaging that even show individual student visualizations (analytics)
- Blackboard App
- Blackboard Instructor App
- Responsive Web
Responsive web
- Accessed via web browsing
- No app needed
- Grater breadth of functionality
- Preferred by end users
- Faster performance
- Works with most smartphone tools
- More interactive user interface
- Available to use offline
Responsive Design
- Improvements for wikis (coming soon)
- Content Add and Edit Workflows
- Improvements for Rubric Viewing
- Review assignment submissions and attachments
- Provide comments and inline annotations
- Grade with rubrics
- Publish grades to students
MH Q2 2018 CU Update – September Target
Grading and feedback
- Review student submissions and file attachments
- Provide comments on the overall submission or highlight & annotate inline, adding voice to text dictation for inline commentary.
- Grade using various grading types including rubrics
- Publish grades back to students in just a few taps
- Offline grading capabilities
- Audio and video feedback
- Integrating with apple files
- Improving partner integrations (due dates from other assessment providers for example)
Blackboard Learn Original
Platform Feature – Inline grading 9.1 Q4 2018 + CUs. In Early August CU Update will allow students to download assignments with annotations.
Attendance Tracking – automatically flow through from collaborate (coming in 2018) students will be marked as present if they join the session
Course roles enhancements – Facilitator Role and Quality Reviewer Course Roles 9.1 Q4 2018 or SaaS Q3 2018
Delegated Grading – improvements TAs that live outside of the course
Blackboard Data – learning tool adoption and use all the data across tools in a single framework. Completely free for core functionality
Tool Integration: LTI Advantage
Activity Events: Caliper 1.1
SCORM: xAPI events to Learning Record Store
performance: Completed Course: Learn won’t show notifications for course when it is finished.
Feature Roadmap Ultra experience
Learn ultra has three components:
- Ultra Base Nan
- Original Course View
- Ultra Course View
- All original courses
- Dual course mode
- All ultra courses
Ultra Roadmap
Ultra Experience Question Bank Support now available and more in Q3 2018
coming soon importing whole banks and random blocks
Anonymous grading for single and double-blind marking scenarios
Self and Peer Assessment Q4 2018 – groups and group activity
Assessment Un-submitted work counts as a zero Q3 2018
SafeAssign for Discussions Q1 2019 Ultimately for all written student work (essay question)
Video Recording for flipped classrooms – using collaborate recordings as course materials. Q1 2019+
Ally in Ultra Courses Q4 2018
Institution Page Available now, More in 2018
Custom Locale Support Available 3400.9 More in 2019 – customizable
SCORM Support Q3 2018
Group Discussion Insights and Discussion Analysis – Understand contribution or lack of same in students in a discussion to understand how to help student or give a grade. (Also applies to group). Shows top down view of what’s happening in a discussion
Additional Embedded analytics in discussions Q3 2018+
Summary
Moving Integrations to SaaS and Ultra
Scott Hurley, Mark O’Neil and Lynn Zingraf – Blackboard
What is your Migration Strategy
- Define long term goals
- Prioritize integrations
- Know your platform options
- Know your API options
- Seize the Opportunity
- Transition to SaaS
- Move to Ultra
- Adopt REST for ease of development/delivery?
Prioritize Your Integrations
- One reason you may be sitting here is that you already have an investment in using integrations to customize your faculty’s and student’s teaching & learning experience.
- A key consideration for your migration path is the importance of each of your integrations and the feasibility of delivering them on the currently available architecture.
- Knowing the importance of each integration, your options for delivery of that integration, and available APIs each help you to prioritize and schedule migration of your integrations as a project
- Redesign the user experience
– no longer bound by Blackboard JSP constraints
– Meet change in goals
- Use your untapped resources
– REST and API language agnostic!
– You no longer need Java Expertise
- Expand availability to non-Blackboard resources
– REST and API integrations run external to your LEARN server
– Make them available to additional portals and services
Seize the opportunity to NOT migrate and integration.
REST APIs
B.B. adopted REST as our forward architecture for providing APIs to integrate with Blackboard products
Rest API Progress
IMS Standards Support
LMS LTI
LTI provides a secure connection between a learning tool and a platform like Blackboard learn. It is http-based and provides a context on launch.
LTI Differences
How does Blackboard Support this in Original?
LTI 1.3 (not supported yet)
- Based on 1.1
- Improved Security model
- Separates the security model from the rest of the spec, allowing IMS to more easily keep the security model up to date
- Designed specifically to align with the services of LTI Advantage
- Includes improved documentation and around implementing and migration
- Package of extensions that work with LTI
- All bout the usability of the standard
- Creates a dream work for new features
- Enables deeper integration with any tool
Deep linking – Names and Roles – Assignments and Grades
Q4 2017 Deep linking Q2 2018 Names and roles – assignments and grades are in development
IMS Caliper
Global standard that provides for learning data collection
- Gather data from across systems
- Define a common language for labeling learning data
- Standard way of measure data
- Leverage data
- Make it useful
- Community.blackboard.com – look for Bb development community
- Developer.blackboard.com – documentation on REST APIs etc..
- Open innovation initiative
- Training.blackboard.com
- Hands on and onsite training
- Developers@blackboard.com
Dr. Charles Severance
University of Michigan
School of Information
Tsugi Building Learning Applications
Tsugi (Japanese for “next”) provides a way to develop and host “learning tools” in an Application Store. Tsugi tools can be seamlessly integrated into existing Learning Management Systems and Google Classroom. As part of its core architecture, Tsugi implements standards like IMS learning Interoperability, IMS Content ITem and Google Classroom.
TsugiCloud – A Free App Store for Open Source Tools from the Apereo Foundation. Teachers and LMS Administrators can quickly and easily install the tools from TsugiCloud into their LMS or Google Classroom. Software Developers can participate in the development of new these tools through the Apereo project.
…provides a free, scalable
The learning ecosystem of future
- We need a way to build learning tools quickly w/out waiting for LMS upgrade
- IMS learning tools Interoperability (LTI) provides a way to integrate learning tools
- The LTI family of standards is getting more robust (and complex) all the time
- We need to move from building LMS tools to building better teaching tools
- We need to enable LTI tool development at a campus or even a course level
- 100% open source project part of the Apereo foundation
- Increases learning tool developer productivity
- Supports IMS LTI Standards
- Provides a scalable privacy-aware tool hosting environment
- A community of tool builders and shares
Benefits
- Campus IT
– Respond to local faculty needs
– support both on campus and MOOC applications
– Consistent development/training for learning apps
– Scalable hosting environment - Campus Developers
– Write once integrate everywhere
– Standards support made easy
– Common UI/UX features
– Simple development in ornament - Instructional Designers
– Quickly design &Y create unique tools based on faculty needs
– Tools can be quite simple: Project checklist, weekly reflection, YouTube analytics
It multiplies your capabilities.
- LTI 1.0 1.1 2.0, caliper, common cartridge LTI advantage
- You did not use email as logical key in the user table. Correct length!
- Session Mgmt/extension/expiry
- Support offline grading – peer grading applications
- Coping with unreliable tools consumers – grade resent
- Build Thin Cartridges from LTI Links
- Handling settings on URL, custom parameters, etc.
- Support cross-LMS setting dialogs
- Make use of windows.post messages to resize frames
Getting Started with Tsugi
Developer Training – https://www.tsugi.org/lessons
Developer Environment is also the AppStore environment
As a test harness that allows you write code quickly and build application quickly.
Https;//github.com/tsugitools/iframe – Iframe Tool
Summer Project: TBlocks
- Tsugi PHP Tools in post-GDPR world
- TBlock model
– each tool is a container
– no direct access to the db
– Interacts with core Tsugi using a. Local API backed by a REST web services
– Launch data – course/ user / link / result
– Uses link /result scoped JSOn
– accesses a link scoped scoped key /value store
– Can support more than php easily (I.e. python / django / node)
Big Idea – Building a Simple Tool – Look at Tsugi – Try it and give feedback. Mature enough to run a local App Store or use the cloud App Store.
Access Blackboard Org for PDF handouts referred to in this post:
https://gannon.blackboard.com/
ID: easing
password: bbworld18
Agenda
- Explore your needs
- Pertinent Gannon project mgmt steps
– Project desc and scope
– Business Obj.
– Measure of Success
– Stakeholders - Testing Plan
– Mapping Key processes
– Creating testing list and plan
– Choosing a team - Coordinating Events
- Pre and Post-testing
- Questions
- Choosing a Team
– See the Gannon Charter (found in Blackboard Org – access credentials at start of post)
- Project Description
– Scope
- Business Objectives
- Measures of Success
Stakeholders
- Define ‘key stakeholders’ who need to be aware of project (those doing the work and those affected by the work)
- Notify and verify role
- ID Replacements to represent key areas of university where needed
- Map Key Processes (single sign-on, flat file uploads from sis)
- Ask: What external entities will be affected?
Phase 2
- Create testing list and plan
– Review list and plan to ensure completeness
Phase 3
- Team Identification Process (Testing team)
– ID Team members
– Notify and verify
– roles for testing
– their responsibilities
- Coordinate events for limited disruption
- Follow SaaS Testing plan (document in organization – link above)
– Serves as communication plan
Pre and Post Testing
- Test your TEST instance
– production will be identical - Keep a record of any changes
