Bb Wiki

What's a Wiki?   A Wiki is a tool that empowers students to work collaboratively on a document or project -- the wiki is open for all members of the class to see.  All students add information and edit the "document" into a final product.  Images, links and Mashups may also be added to any Wiki page.  The beauty of a Wiki is that it provides a space for collaboration!

There are two ways to create a Bb Wiki:
1. Click Communications/Tools, then click Wiki.  Name your Wiki, add instructions, click submit
OR
2. Access any course content area, and click the Tools Button. From here you can create a new Wiki, or link to an existing Wiki.

By using the History menu (right side of the wiki) you can see who has edited the Wiki. and take the Wiki back to any previous version.  Students can view the history, as well as a list of their own contributions.

Grading the Wiki is simple -- just click on participation and Grading.  You can then see who has contributed - the date(s) of contribution and the number of words.  Add the grades by clicking the Edit Grade button, inserting the grade and then submitting.  You can grade all contributions from the Grading/participation screen.

Ideas for Wikis in your Bb Course:
Wikis in Higher Ed
Wikis in the Classroom

Customizing your Course or Organization Menu

Blackboard courses come with a standard course shell that's pretty basic.  You can customize the course menu to make it more appropriate for your course or organization!

Here's the standard course menu.  This menu is the default menu for any new Bb course.

Did you Know?  If you see a grey square next to an item on the course menu, that indicates there is no content in that area!

You can customize your menu by

• Adding New Content Areas
• Adding New Tools Areas
• Modifying Existing Menu Item Names
• Changing the Order of the Menu Items
• Changing the Menu from Text to Buttons
• Changing the Menu Background and Text Colors

Course Material and Syllabus/Course Info are examples of Bb "Content Areas" -- these are segments designed to hold items or other Bb tools.  To add additional Content Areas to your course, click the + symbol on the upper left side of the menu, and select "Content Area."  Then, name the area, make it available and click submit.  The new content area will appear at the bottom of your course menu.

Content Area:  Area for content and/or BB tools.
Module Page: A page such as the HomePage is a module page
Blank page: You can add HTML or content directly to a blank page
Tool Link: Link to a Bb tool such as the Bb Journal, Blog, Wiki, email
Web Link: Link to an outside website
Subheader: Creates a heading
Divider: A horizontal line

Example of a new Content Area

You can also add Bb Tools directly to the menu.  For example, if you require students to maintain a journal throughout the semester, you can the Journal Tool directly to your course menu.  To add a tool to the menu, click the + and select "Tool Link" from the menu, name the menu item, then select the tool from the drop list. Make the item available, and click submit.

Reorder your course menu by hovering your mouse over the left side of menu item you wish to move, hold down the left mouse button and drag the item to its new position.

Change the name of any menu item by hovering your mouse over the item, and selecting the drop menu.  Select "Rename Link," add a new name and the green check mark to submit.

Changing the menu style such as the color and whether the menu items appear as text or buttons. Access the Control Panel (just below your course menu) and click Customization -- then select Teaching Style.  There are many options that may be changed on the Teaching Styles screen.  In this example, you will scroll down to the Menu Style area.  From here you can select the menu color and whether the items appear as text or buttons.

 

Once the Teaching Style screen appears, scroll down until you reach the Select Menu Style area.  Then, select the background color and style of the menu items (text or button).

NBC Learn Videos

If you are looking for a way to enliven your classes, introduce current events, or use real-world examples to bring subjects to life for your students, we have a new resource for you!  NBC Learn Videos are an exciting digital resource -- a collection of videos, documents, and images for classroom and on-line use. 


Complete details about NBC Learn videos and how to use them in your Bb course, as well as in your face to face course are here.

Embed NBC videos directly into your Bb course using the NBC Mash-up tool.  

Here's how to add an NBC Video to your Bb course:

Access any content area from your course menu
Click on Build Content
Select NBC Content

Search by keyword or category

Click on the Thumbnail of a video.  A preview will open.
Click Embed -- this will add your video to your Bb course

Mash-Ups. . .

 You've heard the term "Mash-Up" -- but what exactly is a Mash-Up, and how can they be added to your Bb course?  Simply, Bb Mash-Ups are digital resources that can be easily added to your Bb course.  

(See the Bb Support Website for detailed instructions)

Mash-Ups for Bb include:

• YouTube: Videos
• SlideShare: A collection of PowerPoint presentations on most subjects
• Flckr: Photographs
• NBC Videos: Digital resources produced by NBC
• Paste from Word -- only from within a item (see below)

There are two ways to add a MashUp to your course.

Through the Build Content tool:

• Select any content area from your course menu
• Click Build Content
• Select the Mash-Up tool you want to use

• Search by keyword 
• Bb will display the resources found in its search
• Click Select for the resource you want
• You may have the option of adding text -- 
• Click Submit

As part of an Item

• Select any content area from your course menu
• Click Build Content
• Select Item
• From within the Tool Box Editor, select the MashUp tool, then select the MashUp you want to add
• Search by keyword 
• Bb will display the resources found in its search
• Click Select for the resource you want
• You may have the option of adding text -- 
• Click Submit

The benefit of adding the Mash-Up as part of an Item is that you can contextualize the mash-up with other text you add to the text box.  

The Text Box Editor

 You've seen the Bb Text Box Editor before -- it's the box that you normally type into when adding an item, creating a test question, or an assignment.

The text box editor enables you to enter text, and format it -- but did you know there are many other tools in the editor that you may want to use?  Here are a few of the features of the text box editor!

First, let's take a look at the tool bar so you can get a general sense of the three rows of tools:

Did you know?  You can collapse or expend the rows of text box tools by clicking on the arrows on the left side of the toolbar!

The first row features tools that are standard to any word processor. You can change the font size, font type, add enhancements (bold, italics etc.),  add bullet/numbered lists and indent your text. 

The second row also contains standard word processing tools, such as spell-check, cut, copy, paste, and undo/redo.  

Let's take a look at a few of the Row 2 Tools:

Add a hyperlink to an outside website 

Add a Table

Add a Symbol 

WebEQ and MathML Tools: Add scientific or mathematical equations  (More about the Equation Editors here)

HTML -- see the HTML code behind your text 
Preview the text box as your students will see it


Row three enables you to add several Bb tools directly to your text box.

In order of appearance from left to right the tools are:

• Attach a file 
• Insert an Image
• Add an MPG/AVI video
• Add a Quicktime video
• Add Audio
• Add a Flash video
• Add a MashUp!

Here's how some of the tools from Row 3 would look to the student:

NOTE:  Do not attempt to attach video files over 3 minutes.  Need to use Morgan streaming server for longer videos.

Bb Groups

 Would you like to use groups in your Bb course?  Groups are a great way to enable students to collaborate on projects, papers or to study together.  You can also send email directly to specific groups rather than to the entire class.  Blackboard makes it easy to create multiple groups at one time, and to enroll students into groups for you automatically.  Of course, you can also enroll students manually, or even let them self enroll into a group of their choice.

There are several options for creating and enrolling students into groups.
This table shows the different group creation and enrollment options you have:

Creation Options	Enrollment Options
Single Group	Manual Enrollment
Single Group	Self Enrollment
Group Set	Manual Enrollment
Group Set	Random Enrollment
Group Set	Self Enrollment

Access the Groups area from the Control Panel/Users & Groups/Groups

Want to know more about creating groups?
See instructions here
Instructions for students are here!

Where's my Course Menu?

 We often get calls from panicked students who claim that their course menu has disappeared, or that there is nothing but the Bb HomePage or Announcements in their course.  Here is how to help students who have gone into full screen mode.

Here is the way your course screen looks in "Normal Mode."

Here is how it looks in Full Screen mode:

To get out of Full Screen Mode click on the grey bar to the left of the screen.