| U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
|
|
|
|
| Volume IX, Number 2 |
March
2004 |
| U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
|
|
|
|
| Volume IX, Number 2 |
March
2004 |
Instructional Technology Update: What’s New in Blackboard 6.1The University will soon be upgrading CourseWeb from Blackboard version 5.5 to 6.1, representing a significant architectural change. This article outlines the implications for faculty.By Nick Laudato The University of Pittsburgh was an early adopter of the Blackboard course management system (http://courseweb.pitt.edu/), starting with version 1.0 of CourseInfo in March 1997 through version 5.5 of Blackboard in January 2002. Blackboard released version 6.0 in September 2002 as a complete rewrite of the system architecture and database, aimed at improving the pedagogical functionality of the product. Unfortunately, the new implementation was fraught with bugs, creating serious problems for users. These problems impacted Pitt in particular, where content has been converted from previous versions. After a series of patches and upgrades, the newest release (version 6.1) appears to address all of the major implementation issues. Now that the version 6 architecture is more stable, both CSSD and CIDDE have been actively testing the upgrade and planning for its implementation at Pitt. The pending Blackboard 6.1 upgrade promises to deliver several important improvements and offer new capabilities, with (it is hoped) only minor problems and irritations. Content and Tools AreasUnder Blackboard 5.5 and earlier, instructors could place instructional content (e.g., lecture notes or PowerPoint presentations) in the “Course Documents” or “Assignments” areas only. Under Blackboard 6.1, faculty may add multiple content areas directly to the top level navigation bar (the “Course Menu” that displays buttons along the left-hand side of the browser window). All of the content areas behave similarly and follow consistent rules for entering and accessing instructional content. Also, instructors have much greater latitude in naming content areas than in previous versions, and can even add and rename additional “tool” areas. Instructors can thus tailor the course structure to best meet their needs. There is a potentially negative consequence of this new ability to create essentially unlimited content and tool areas at the course menu level. While this capability offers significant flexibility and power to individual instructors, if not used judiciously, it can destroy the consistency that currently exists across different courses, making it difficult for students to know where to look for course components. This could create the kinds of problems other institutions report when they have adopted more than one course management system. In these cases, students who must simultaneously reference a Blackboard course, a WebCT course, and a Lotus LearningSpace course often complain that they get confused by the different interfaces. To date, Pitt has been able to avoid such problems and maintain a unified student centric view by using primarily one course management system (Blackboard) and by adhering, for the most part, to the Blackboard course template. However, the new freedoms in Blackboard 6.1 may make it difficult to sustain this advantage. Also, Blackboard 6.1 allows faculty to seamlessly link content within courses. This ability can enrich the course content areas in the same way that hypertext has generally enriched the Web. The content links can be created in a manner that retains their integrity when a course is cloned. AssignmentsUnder earlier versions of Blackboard, instructors could post content to an “Assignments” area at the top level navigation bar, but these assignments were not integrated with the associated course content areas or to the course gradebook. Consequently, assignments that required students to submit work via the digital drop box were difficult to track and student completion was not integrated with the gradebook. Blackboard 6.1 allows instructors to create assignments within the context of instructional modules in a course documents area (folder), allowing students to submit work in assignment-specific digital drop boxes that are integrated with the course gradebook. Instructors can track, view, and grade assignments from within the gradebook. Instructors also have the ability to bulk download and bulk delete assignments from the digital drop box. Collaboration ToolsOne of the serious technical problems with earlier versions of Blackboard has been the Tutornet virtual chat tool, noted primarily for its system-stalling memory leaks. In Blackboard 6.1, this third-party tool has been replaced by two new chat tools: the Virtual Classroom and the Lightweight Chat, both now developed by Blackboard. The Virtual Classroom has more advanced functionality than Tutornet, including access to the Course Map, an area to manage questions, and options for recording sessions. The improved chat tool offers instructors added capabilities for public and private messaging, for assigning selected group discussions, and for hosting multiple sessions concurrently. The Lightweight Chat option has capabilities similar to the old Tutornet application, allowing participants to interact with one another and the instructor via a text-based chat region. Audio support has still not been added to either chat tool. AssessmentsEarlier versions of Blackboard offered only limited functionality associated with online assessments, and suffered from several operational problems, such as not being able to correct an erroneous item after a quiz has been published. In Blackboard 6.1, several existing problems have been addressed. For example, assessments can now be modified by the instructor after they have been deployed without impacting the grades of those students who have already submitted their answers. With this upgrade, instructors also have the ability to allow selected students to make-up tests (which was impossible in 5.5 and earlier versions). Test item generation has always been one of the most onerous tasks in Blackboard, and some faculty have reported that they do not use the quiz feature because it is too time consuming. In 6.1, quizzes can be created offline using a word processor or spreadsheet and then uploaded to Blackboard. Also, instructors can easily create and upload quizzes from exam item pools provided by their textbook publishers. In Blackboard 6.1, quizzes and surveys are now deployed, not from the “Assessment Manager” area, but rather directly from the relevant content area. Instructors have options to deploy tests in a question-by-question format (as opposed to the all-questions-on-one-page method in earlier versions) and to allow students to save their answers as they go. Therefore, students who lose their Internet session while taking an exam can restart the exam where they last saved it. Blackboard 6.1 also gives instructors more options for providing students with formative instructional feedback. For example, they can specify different feedback messages to accompany different incorrect responses to a given multiple-choice quiz item. GradebookThe online gradebook contains improved and added features, such as custom definitions of the value of letter grades and custom symbol sets. In Blackboard 6.1, all aspects of the online gradebook can now be managed from the “View Spreadsheet” page. The old 5.5 gradebook could display on one large page only, requiring horizontal scrolling and making it difficult to view a student’s associated grades. The new gradebook can be displayed page by page with advanced sorting capabilities. Furthermore, it can calculate and display letter grades, percentages, and raw scores. Blackboard
6.1 provides the feature most requested by faculty – the ability to
upload grades to the online gradebook from a local spreadsheet. This
feature allows instructors to upload grades from assignments and papers
as well as test scores from sources such as OMET’s automated (“bubble-sheet”)
scanning and grading service. UsabilityBlackboard remains easy to use from the student point of view. From the instructors’ perspective, Blackboard 6.1 provides a new option for editing course content. A context editing feature allows instructors to edit course components from the “student view” (via an “edit” button along the right-hand margin) without having to enter the control panel. This quick access to editing content should improve usability for faculty. Productivity ToolsBlackboard 6.1 delivers one of the most-requested features of a course management system, a WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) text editor. The new integrated WYSIWYG editing tool allows instructors to format text within Blackboard using simple tools like those commonly available in a word processor. For example, they can highlight text and change its font, size, color, or attributes (bold, italic, etc.) by clicking an icon. This ability means it may no longer be necessary to use off-line editing tools (such as Word, Exchange, or DreamWeaver) to create HTML code and paste it into Blackboard. Instead, the formatting can be performed directly in Blackboard. Blackboard 6.1 contains a built-in math equation editor to allow integrated math and science notation. In version 5.5, instructors needed to learn third-party Math-XML packages or create and embed gif or jpeg images for every equation. Blackboard 6.1 also contains an integrated dictionary (spell checker) and thesaurus, both helpful for content creation. Additionally, it supports an external link checker so instructors can ensure their referenced content is available. A major improvement in Blackboard 6.1 is the ability for instructors to copy content (items, folders, and learning units) between and within any of their courses. In Bb 5.5, this is a tedious and time-consuming manual process with a high probability for errors and inconsistencies. Moreover, Blackboard 6.1 offers instructors the ability to export their courses. Training and SupportThe new pedagogical capabilities in Blackboard 6.1 are impressive and extensive, but, for instructors already familiar with Blackboard 5.5, it should not be necessary to undergo retraining in order to begin using Blackboard 6.1. However, faculty who intend to use the new features may wish to receive an orientation, training, or assistance. Therefore, CIDDE will offer a variety of orientation and training sessions for experienced Blackboard 5.5 users, as well as provide ongoing support and consulting services. Of course, CIDDE will provide version 6.1 training for those new to Blackboard, beginning immediately after spring break. Visit our website for details. Change is Never EasyIdeally the conversion from Blackboard 5.5 to 6.1 would be completely transparent to faculty and students, but such a goal is unattainable. Because of the new functionality, several new options appear in the control panel, and there are some differences in how an instructor performs some common tasks; so navigating Blackboard 6.1 will not be transparent. Also, the process of migrating existing courses from Blackboard 5.5 to 6.1 may introduce some minor differences in organization, look, and feel, but tests to date have confirmed that the content (documents and quizzes) remains intact. Blackboard
6.1 offers many significant improvements over its predecessors, but
not every change is positive. For example, quiz announcements (optional
notifications on the “Announcements” page that a quiz has been published)
no longer contain links to the quizzes themselves, but rather only report
the location of the quiz. Perhaps this “improvement” will be fixed in
a future release. | |
|
A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
|
| Center
for Instructional Development & Distance Education |
|
