Faculty Information

The Blackboard Learning System is used by Palomar College to manage most of our online and technology enhanced classes.  This page contains links that describe the Blackboard system and directs users to help resources.

Getting Help

Faculty Help with Blackboard or other Academic Technology

If you have questions about your Palomar email account or eServices, or an on-campus computer or networking problem call the Information Services helpdesk at (760) 744-1150 ext. 2140.  If you are having trouble with a classroom projector or other audio-visual device, call the AV department at ext.

Information on Blackboard & Other Academic Technology

Update/version history: We are currently at Blackboard version 9.1.30151.0, last updated January 2011  Click here to access the Blackboard System.   For those who wish to sign-up for Blackboard training during spring 2011, click here for the training schedule.

Resources:  For general information about Blackboard, check our "About Blackboard" page.  To keep up with new developments in Blackboard:

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Teaching Online

Exemplary Online Teaching. “What would a really good online course look like?” After consulting many sources we have developed an "Online Course Development Checklist" which is a compilation of several instruments that have been validated at other institutions. We believe this checklist captures the “best practices” suggestions made by others.  It is meant to answer the question: "What makes for an exemplary online course?"  Please click the following link to read the PDF checklist.  (Right-click and choose "Save Target As”... to save a copy locally, if you wish).

  Online Course Development Checklist [PDF - 51K]

Use this checklist in developing a new course, or in evaluating an existing course.  The checklist is based on the following resources which you might find useful:

Student Engagement.  One of the great challenges in the online arena is engaging every online student. In the literature there is a strong consensus that increased student engagement leads to increased student retention, success, and positive student evaluations.  You may find the following resources useful.

For some specific recommendations for increasing student engagement please click the following link to read the PDF document.  (Right-click and choose "Save Target As”... to save a copy locally, if you wish). 

   Engaging The Online Learner  [PDF - 22K]

Technical Competencies and Training.  You may find "224 Technology Competencies" [PDF - 237K] useful.  In examining this list, the competencies listed seem to be pretty basic, but spread out over a great many areas.  Workshops offered by Academic Technology may help you master them.

 

Teaching Online FAQs

Q. I want to be an online instructor. How do I get started?
A. Contact Lillian Payn, lpayn@palomar.edu,  phone ext. 3626.

Q. What is Blackboard?
A. Blackboard is the course management system used by Palomar College. It is a password secured, web-based system where a "course shell" for every course it is possible to enroll in is created 90 days prior to the start of each semester. Student enrollments and instructor assignments are handled automatically through integration with the PeopleSoft system. 

Once the student logs in, she sees the Blackboard courses for which she is enrolled, and can enter her class area (if the instructor has made it available) in order to read materials, fulfill assignments, take exams, participate in discussion boards, communicate with the instructor and classmates, follow web links to learning resources, and other learning activities.  For more information on Blackboard, visit our About Blackboard .
 

Q.  Does every course at Palomar have a Blackboard course site associated with it?
A.  Yes.

Q.  Do I have to use Blackboard?
A.  No.  Each class in which it is possible for a student to enroll gets a Blackboard "shell" created for it, but students will only see the Blackboard courses that have been made available by instructors.  It is entirely up to the instructor whether he/she makes the Blackboard course available to students.

Q.  I have no intention of teaching online, or using Blackboard for my class handouts, can I just ignore the whole thing?
A.  Yes, but you may be interested in some of the other useful things you can do through Blackboard.  For example, post class announcements.  If you are going to be absent on a certain day when the class is scheduled to meet, you can announce it on Blackboard, and students can check there before driving to campus.  You can also use the email distribution lists within Blackboard to send group emails to any/all of your students.  You might also find the Blackboard assignment feature a useful way for students to turn in papers electronically, or use the SafeAssign anti-plagiarism service which is implemented through Blackboard.  A feature that students like most about Blackboard is the gradebook, so you might also be interested in this.  There are many more features that you might wish to make use of without actually doing any teaching with Blackboard.  If you would like a demonstration, contact Lillian Payn, lpayn@palomar.edu, phone ext. 3626.

Q.  When are the Blackboard course shells created for the coming semester?
A.  90 days before the beginning of the semester.  In the summer, this is ninety days before the beginning of the 6 and 8 week classes, not 90 days before the beginning of "intersession 4-week classes."

Q. When are students enrolled in Blackboard courses?
A.  Enrollment is automatic and is tied to PeopleSoft.  As soon as a student officially enrolls in a course via student eServices, they are enrolled in the corresponding Blackboard course.  An enrollment report runs each half-hour, so there can be a gap of as 45 minutes between official enrollment and Blackboard enrollment. 

Q. What happens if a student drops?  Are they automatically dropped from my Blackboard roster?
A.  Yes. 

Q. From the Instructor’s perspective, is Blackboard hard to use?
A. No. It was chosen primarily for ease of use.  Some of the tasks that can be accomplished through Blackboard, however, can get as complex as any computing tasks. 

Q. I don’t want to teach online, but I do want to place my class handouts and other materials in a secure place on the web. Can I still use Blackboard?
A. Yes. The majority of Blackboard courses use Blackboard to enhance in-person instruction, rather than to teach exclusively online. It is up to the instructor how much, or little, of the Blackboard interface to use. Features within Blackboard are easily enabled or disabled, according to the instructor’s needs.

Q. Can I place copyrighted materials within Blackboard?
A. Yes, if you are referring to displayed media (videos, audios, documents displayed in class) provided you meet the requirements of the TEACH Act of 2002.

For more on streaming media please see our "Streaming Media Creation Procedure."  For more information on the TEACH Act, read the following resources:

Fair use, of course, would also apply.  Academic Technology resources on copyright are available here.

Q. Do I have to use Blackboard just to present some basic materials to my students on the web?
A. No. We will set up your own public web space outside of Blackboard. The reason people use Blackboard is 1) they need a secure web space; 2) they wish to take advantage of the tools available in Blackboard, such as the class discussion board, the assessment tools, the digital drop box, and so on; 3) they want the advantage of integrated enrollment management with the campus PeopleSoft system. A “best practice” is to use both open, public web space to communicate general information about yourself and the courses you teach, and to use the “private” web space of Blackboard to present detailed course materials.

Q. Is it easier or harder to teach online?
A. Yes. Both. It is different. You will spend far more time preparing materials for online instruction, and a great deal more time in communication with your students. The good news is, you can pretty much schedule that time whenever you want. 

Q. Is there a mentor within my department who can help me get started with Blackboard?
A. Perhaps. Contact Lillian Payn, lpayn@palomar.edu, phone ext. 3626, to find out. If not, Haydn is available to help you. 

Q. Who does the technical support for Blackboard?
A. Academic Technology.  To contact the online classes help desk, phone ext. 2862, or sending email to atrc@palomar.edu for specific troubleshooting help.   

Q. I just want to put my tests in Blackboard, so that the system will grade them for me and place the grades in an electronic gradebook. Can I do that, without bothering with the rest of the system?
A. Yes. Contact a Blackboard system administrator via our help system, at ext. 2862, or atrc@palomar.edu.  

Q. My students are having trouble logging in to Blackboard. Who should they call?
A.  The online help desk.  It is best to use our help ticketing system, or they can phone ext. 2862, or email atrc@palomar.edu.  Blackboard uses Active Directory authentication, which means that a student must set a password in eServices BEFORE logging in to Blackboard.  Most student login problems are solved by the student going to student eServices and setting or re-setting their password. 

Q. Does Blackboard support the Apple "Safari" browser?
A. Yes.  Click here for a list of browsers and operating systems supported by Blackboard. 

Q. Do students have to have a computer and access to Internet to take an online class?
A. We strongly recommend that they have these things, but strictly speaking, it is possible to use the public computers in the Academic Technology labs, or other public computers, to take an online course without personally owning a computer. It would be very difficult, however, to always insure timely access to these resources. 

We have developed a web site titled "Are you ready to be an online student?" which details the equipment, and skills that make for a successful online student.  Consider directing your students there as a "reality check" near the beginning of an online course.

Q. What sort of training do you provide for teaching online?
A. We offer several different workshops in the use of Blackboard. Depending on what you want to do. You may want to enroll in only the “Blackboard Essentials” class, or take all of them. Click here for our training schedule.  Contact Lillian Payn, lpayn@palomar.edu, phone ext. 3626 for details.

Q.  How long do Blackboard courses remain on the system?
A.  We keep the previous three semesters, the current semester, and one future semester (as soon as its courses are created) on the system.  We prune courses from the Blackboard system on a rolling year basis.  For example, at the end of the fall semester, we remove the previous fall semester's classes.

Q.  How long do students have access to a Blackboard class after a semester ends?
A.  Two weeks. 

Q.  Can I audio record my lectures and place them in my Blackboard class?
A.  Yes.  If you do not already have a digital audio recorder, we recommend the Olympus WS-400-series recorders, which record in standard WMA format.  Adding an audio recordings to Blackboard is very simple.  If you wish to include shorter audio messages within Blackboard--not entire lectures--we recommend use of the built-in Wimba voice authoring tool.

Q.  What about plagiarism.  Does Blackboard have any originality checking features?

A.  Yes.  We use the system built-in to Blackboard called "SafeAssign."  It is easy to create a Safe Assignment in Blackboard that will check student papers for originality and report back to the professor.  SafeAssign can be optionally configured to allow students to submit draft versions of their papers to check for originality, or for direct submissions from the instructor. 

Q.  How do I get my Blackboard course contents copied from one semester to the next?
A.  Faculty members are responsible for doing this for themselves using the Blackboard course copy feature.  Remember that your new semester courses will not be available to students until you make them available. 

Q.  My text book publisher has a Blackboard course cartridge.  Will you load it for me?
A.  We will be glad to assist you, but the process is so simple we encourage you to do it yourself.  Call ext. 2862 for instructions. 

Q.  Can I meet synchronously with my class online?
A.  Yes.  We have deployed a product through Blackboard called Elluminate that permits online synchronous (with the ability to archive for later viewing) meetings.  Elluminate has great whiteboard and chat features, supports voice-over-IP audio and streamed video, has built-in student polling, and permits desktop and application sharing.  

Q.  Can I hold "virtual office hours?"
A.  Yes, using the Elluminate product mentioned above.  Elluminate permits creating an online meeting space that combines the students from all of your classes.  It also permits scheduling the online, synchronous meeting on a repetitive basis and and notifies you when a student enters the meeting room.
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