Thanks Karl! Laura Paciorek will be running the discussion group for Connections.

Looks fantastic, as always! Thank you so much for all your hard work- and also for pulling together so much talent and so many great ideas on improving and promoting online teaching! I downloaded Rick’s e-book “Connections: Virtual Learning Communities”, and I am really looking forward to reading through that. Sounds great! (: Thank you again, Lisa! You are the greatest! – Karl G.

This was a very informative presentation as I love how Lisa has configured Blackboard to reflect the syllabus and assignments. The challenges of Blackboard are addressed which were

* Topically related items are not together.
*Assessments are separated from the content.
*Blackboard in the normal configuration conceals linear time.
*There is a lack of flow within the week’s assignments.
*The menu items have equal weight.

The presentation was in Blackboard 8 which we no longer use but it was stated that Blackboard 9 is much easier to use and incorporate this way of using the Interactive Syllabus. I think this is true and through our winter break starting December 201, I will be experimenting with the ideas that were presented.

The instructions showed how to use the control panel to copy the syllabus and link the assignments and sources within each weeks assignments. It is important not to do this in the announcements page. This can open in a new page or stay within Blackboard and again it won’t work on the assignments page.

Quizzes can be linked internally by applying the URL address to the absolute URL. I learned a new term here! Discussion board can also be linked with this method.This takes all the clicking away.

Laura made a very good point with the idea that the student uses the syllabus all of the time with this method. It is a living document.

Also covered were do’s and don’t for the course menu. Especially important was the caution not to copy the syllabus into the announcement page but to create an Interactive Syllabus tab and copy there. Certain icons can be hidden but not all such as the content button. However it will be easier in Blackboard 9. Also easier in version 9 is the adding of images.

I use NING in this fashion however, as Blackboard does not offer the nested discussion forum as NING does, I cannot go to Blackboard. Once Blackboard does offer this one feature, I can finally migrate over.

However, I thought it was a very useful presentation and very well done as always Lisa. The presentation did open ideas to the adaptability of Blackboard.

The default course content is that there is a hierarchy in Blackboard with too many spaces and is folder based that leads students in too many directions, and the topics are in locations elsewhere.

I have viewed the presentation on eluminate as I have a need to understand all of Google docs. I am using Google plus as part of department discussion at another college however have never investigated how to use them in the classroom setting. The Google forms survey and spreadsheet is a great idea to use in an online course in several ways.

One of the most interesting ways to use the form is to create student group projects that the students can add to and share. Their ideas or organization can all be documented. Student participation in groups sometimes is sometimes not there and it is a great way to chart participation not only with the students but for grading. The forms can be grouped according to group names and emails sent to members of the group or as a whole class. The results are shown on the spread sheet. Questions and topics are recorded for everyone to see. It can also be set as public or private. Google + and the hang outs can only have teen people where there is no limit as far as I can see with the forms.

I liked the survey option for polling students about the class, assignments, self grading etc. However, I could not see if we could create an anonymous survey. There is also the option to send assignments via email. The whole sheet can be embedded on a web site or in Blackboard however, it cannot be embedded on the announcement page on Blackboard which seems rather weird, but we can add an announcement directing the student where to go as a reminder.

The presentation was well done and very organized. I found the information very useful and I am now practicing by creating a class assessment that the students will fill out and comment on.

Thanks to the Barbara, Lisa, and Laura for the chance to continue learning how to better our content and delivery.