ATRC - Teaching With Blackboard

"Teaching with Blackboard" How-to Screen Videos

This page contains links to screen videos on how to perform various tasks within the Blackboard Learning System. Screen videos linked from this page require the flash player. This page also contains links to several PDF articles describing various other Blackboard procedures. The videos were either created by Blackboard, Inc., marked with a Bb icon (), and available at their Blackboard On-Demand Learning Center, or by Palomar College Academic Technology.

Several videos linked from this page use a POPUP player. Be sure to configure your browser to allow popups from this site in order to see them.

Content Creation and Management

Basic Skills

Select the page where user's enter your course - You are not restricted to using the new Blackboard 9 Home page as your entry point, but can use any page you wish.
Add a banner to your course entry point - png or jpg format recommended. Image should not be over 900px wide.
Add an avatar to personalize your course environment - a picture of yourself may help students feel more connected to your course.
Add a new content area to the course menu and course - This video demonstrates creating a new Content Area in an empty Blackboard course; Content Areas can then have items uploaded into them.
Using the Blackboard text editor - learn how to create/edit content through the text editor.
Add an item and/or a file to a Blackboard content area - Covers the most basic function in constructing a course, adding an item, such as a document, link or file to your Blackboard course site.
Add a tool link to the course menu - link to frequently used tools from the course menu.
Create a blank page for displaying content on the course menu - Any content you wish to display within your course can be placed on a blank page linked from the course menu.
Create a blank page - add a page with no heading, which can contain any standard content, to a content area.
How to Create/Control URL Links in Blackboard 9 - Formerly called "external links" URL links can be made to any web site external to the Blackboard system, but must be configured to open in a New Window to avoid the system warning.
How to copy/move items/files/links within/between Blackboard courses - A quick video demonstrating intra/inter-course copying or moving content items. This is not a video about copying entire course contents to a new Blackboard course in preparation for a new semester. There is a separate video for that topic.
Using Learning Modules in Blackboard 9 - How to configure and populate a Learning Module--a sequential presentation of teaching materials--in Blackboard 9.
Using the Wimba Voice Authoring Tool in Blackboard 9 - How to create audio messages for your students in any Blackboard 9 content areas.
Add textbook information to your Blackboard course - search, add and control textbook information in a content area.
How to Create Proxy URLs for Journal Database Links - The best way to direct students to journal database articles withing the electronic journal databases the college subscribes to is by creating an external link in Blackboard. For these links to work both on- and off-campus, they must reference a proxy server address. This short video explains how to find that address for the three main journal databases: EBSCO, JSTOR and ProQuest.
Using the Voice Email Tool in Blackboard 9:
- Sending Voice Emails from Instructors to Students. - Demonstrates how to create and configure a link that permits voice email to be sent to all students in a class.
- Sending Voice Emails from Students to Instructors. - Demonstrates how to create a link that students can use to send voice email to instructors.
The Glossary Tool series:
- How to Create/Manage a Glossary in Blackboard 9 - The glossary tool is an under-utilized part of Blackboard. Here is how to set up a course glossary and export the glossary file as a tab delimied XLS file.
- How to create flash-based StudyMate flash cards based on a Blackboard 9 glossary file - Illustrates the easy-to-use StudyMate program--licensed for Palomar College faculty and staff members--to create flash cards from an exported Blackboard 9 glossary file.
- How to create a compressed, zipped file--a Blackboard "package" file--using Windows - Any collection of linked files, like a web site or StudyMate learning activities, can be packaged as a zip file using Windows XP, Vista or 7.
- How to upload, unpackage and link to a Blackboard 9 package file - Illustrates uploading the StudyMate flash card activity to Blackboard and linking to it within a course Learning Module.

Mashup Tools

How to create a mashup - mashups can incorportate YouTube, Slideshare, Flickr or Wimba voice content in any Bb content area.
Embed a YouTube Video in Blackboard 9 - How to use the new mashup tool to embed a YouTube video in Blackboard version 9.
Convert an Embedded YouTube Video to Thumbnail View in Blackboard 9 - After importing your embedded player YouTube videos into Blackboard 9, convert them to the new thumbnail view.
Using the Slideshare Mashup Tool in Blackboard 9 - How to embed a slideshare.net presentation in a Blackboard 9 content area.

Advanced Skills

Add your own web content through course files - package and upload a set of files that will be displayed as a web page with links intact.
Create multiple rules to release a content item - how to use adaptive release rules to restrict/enable course content based on student performance.
Use a Persistent URL (PURL) to link to a Safari Tech Book Online - These videos demonstrate how to construct persistent URLs to published journal articles within the Safari Tech Books Online database the college subscribes to. This is a much more efficient (and legal) method of leading your students to journal articles than copying and uploading them.
Use Jing to Copy an Image into Blackboard - This video explains the simple 2 step procedure of configuring Jing, a free screen capture utility from TechSmith, to record embed object code and then shows how to paste that code into a Blackboard content area.
Upload and link to an audio file within Blackboard - Shows the procedure from transferring a WMA audio file from your local computer to Blackboard and creating a link to the audio file within a Blackboard course.
File links to Camtasia produced videos in Blackboard 9.1? After producing a video from your PowerPoint—or any other screen video—this is how to create a file link to it in Blackboard.

Our "Using" Technology Tools Series

Using the Safe Assignment anti-plagiarism service - This set of four videos explains what a Safe Assignment is, how to create one, how to grade one, and how students can use the Safe Assignment service.
Using the Wimba Voice Tools - a series of screen videos with related PDF documents which demonstrate how to use the Voice Authoring, Voice Email, Voice Board, Voice Presenter, and Podcast tools within Blackboard.
Using StudyMate to add flash-based learning activities to Blackboard courses.
Using Blackboard Collaborate eConferencing to hold synchronous web meetings for groups or for online office hours.

Course Management

Make a course available to students - Before students can begin using a Blackboard course, it must be made available by the instructor. This video shows to perform this simple procedure.
Turn tool availability on or off - give/restrict access to course tools.
Making tools available to students - add links to frequently used tools to the course menu.
Archive vs. Export - Explains the difference between both methods for backing up your Blackboard course and when to use one as opposed to the other.
Import a course package
How to Archive a Blackboard Course - The step-by-step procedure for backing up a Blackboard course.
How to Export a Blackboard Course - The step-by-step procedure for exporting a Blackboard course.
Import a course cartridge - This video walks through the process of importing a publisher's course cartridge into a Blackboard course. Prior to the start of this video, it is assumed you have already received a Cartridge Download Key from the publisher. For information on obtaining a Cartridge Download Key from your publisher, contact your publisher's sales representative.

Course Reporting and Utilities

Turn on statistices tracking for a content item
Run a report of all user activity
Run a report of user activity by forum
Run a report of user activity by content area
Run a report of user activity by group
Saving a course report

Communication and Collaboration

Discussion Boards

Managing Group Work

Blogs and Journals

Wikis

Announcements and Scheduling

Assessing Learners

The Grade Center

Customizing the grade center view
Creating smart views
Creating a grade rule
Viewing grade details
Anonymous grading
Creating grading notes
Creating a grade center report
Creating a grading rubric
Grading assessments question by question
Viewing and downloading grade history
Color code the grade center
Working offline with the grade center

Tests, Surveys and Pools

Assignments

Using the assignment manager - Faster and more powerful than the old Digital Drop Box, the Assignment Manager is the tool that we recommend for creating and accepting student assignments. This video shows the process of adding an Assignment to a content area, how a student would use the Assignment to submit a paper, how the instructor can view, grade, and provide feedback to the student, and how the student would view that grade and feedback.
Downloading assignments
Clean out graded assignment files
Using SafeAssign

Student Performance

Performance dashboard

PDF Documents

Tutorials for Students

Note: Copy any of these links into your Blackboard courses if you think your students might find them useful. These tutorials have been created by Blackboard, Inc.