Best practices collection

Welcome Page
• What is it?
– This is typically the “landing page” that students see each time
they enter your class.
– We suggest including a welcome statement, your
introduction/bio, and the syllabus, on this page.
– If you use a “netiquette” document, it should go here.
• Best Practices
– We suggest setting up a clean Welcome page before the course
begins, then you shouldn’t have to do much to it for the rest of
the term.
– Use the Announcements tool to post announcements (see Tasks
& Announcements)
eLearning "Template" recommendations to School of Nursing, Mar 6, 2013

Tasks & Announcements
• What is it?
– This is a “module” page that contains modules for various
things – Announcements, Due Dates, and more.
– The To Do module will automatically pull in due dates from
the various items in your class (assuming due dates were
inputted).
• Best Practices
– Post announcements using the My Announcements
module.
– Set due dates on items in your class, in addition to listing
due dates in your syllabus.

Class Discussion Board
• What is it?
– The class Discussion Board is an area that all students have access
to, where they can engage in open dialogue with you and fellow
students.
• Best Practices
– Create a discussion forum called “Questions about the class” for
students to help each other with class questions. Make it clear how
often you will visit this forum (once a day, twice a week, etc.)
– Use Group Discussion Board for group discussions (see Group
Discussion Board).
– Use another tool for private or confidential topics (Journal, Messages
or Send Email).
– Use the Assignments tool when students will be submitting an
assignment to the instructor (when peer input is not required).

Group Discussion Board
• What is it?
– A space for students to discuss topics in smaller
groups. Only members of a group have access to the
group’s Discussion Board.
– Students have more privileges in Group Discussion
Boards than in the class Discussion Board.
• Best Practices
– Use the class Discussion Board for class-wide
discussions, and the Group Discussion Board for
smaller-group discussions.

Assignments
• What is it?
– A space for students to submit their work for
evaluation.
– This could be a writing assignment or any other type
of student material (PowerPoint file, video, etc.)
• Best Practices
– Assignments are only visible to the student and the
instructor, so choose another tool if you want students
to comment on each others’ work.

Weekly/Unit Content
• What is it?
– An area that may have been created in your class to
house your weekly or unit content.
• Best Practices
– Limit this area to content that is specific to each week
or unit; place items that should be visible throughout
the duration of the class elsewhere (items such as
library of articles, final project, related links, syllabus).

Messages
• What is it?
– A tool within Blackboard Learn that sends messages to students
within the course.
– These messages never “leave” the course; students must view
them within the course.
– This tool is similar to the “Mail” tool in Blackboard Vista.
• Best Practices
– An advantage of using Messages (instead of Send Email) is that
messages are saved within the course, which can be useful with
situations like grade disputes.
– Using Messages is not recommended if you will need to send
and receive a lot of attachments with your students.

Send Email
• What is it?
– A tool that sends email to your students’ external email address.
– If a student replies to one of these emails, it will go to your
external email (UMail).
– These emails are not stored in your class.
• Best Practices
– At the beginning of the semester, choose Send Email or
Messages (not both), and then be sure to let students know how
best to contact you, and how you will be communicating with
them. Be sure they know whether they should check their UMail
for correspondence from you, or whether they should make it a
habit of checking Messages in the class.
– Whichever tool you choose, leave the name as it is, to minimize
confusion (i.e. don’t re-name Messages to “Mail”).

Journals
• What is it?
– A self-reflection space for each student.
– Often used for a student to share with you their experience
throughout the semester.
– Instructor can comment.
– Only one grade can be assigned for a student’s entire
journal.
• Best Practices
– For dialogue between students, choose a different tool.

Other Best Practices
• Put all of your weekly content in one area on the left menu (such as
Weekly/Unit Content).
• Make sure each week’s content includes clear instructions on what is
due, when, and where to access and/or submit it.
• In your weekly folders or learning modules, instead of linking to a specific
assignment or discussion forum, direct your students to go to that area on
the left menu. Use date criteria to display items at the appropriate time
(instead of having them all visible all the time).
• Make it clear that students should contact the 24/7 Help Desk with technical
questions.
– If students come to you with technical questions, send them to the 24/7
Help Desk.
• Set due dates for assignments and exams to be due during typical office
hours (M – F, 9 – 4, not holidays).
• Allow two submissions for an Assignment.
• If you use tests from an outside provider, take your tests ahead of time to
check for problems.
• Convert documents to pdf files when possible, for easier viewing by
students.

Tests and Quizzes
• Best practices
– Do not check Force Completion
– Use Set Timer and Auto-Submit to enforce a time
limit.
– Add 15 minutes to the amount of time you give.
– Advise students that if they get kicked out of a
test, the first thing they should do is attempt to access
it again. If they still have trouble, they should contact
the 24/7 Help Desk. Let them know that you allotted
extra time to the test to account for technical issues.

Best practices collection

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