![[FSU Seal Image]](/element/img/headerFSUSeal.gif)
Instructors may generate a broadcast email to all students enrolled in the course when an announcement is created or modified. The email will include the title and body of the announcement.
Multiple Attempts - view a quick tutorial Flash movie
Assessments may now be set to allow unlimited attempts or a specific number of attempts. The Gradebook displays all of the attempts. The Gradebook item is scored based on grading option: last attempt, first attempt, highest score, lowest score, or average of scores. Additionally, an Override field has been included so that the instructor can override the score independent of any attempts.
Now that all attempts are visible in the Gradebook, the clearing options have been enhanced as well. The instructor may choose to clear (or delete) the last attempt, first attempt, highest attempt, lowest attempt, or all attempts within a specified date range. This action may be performed by item (for all students at once) or by user (for a specific user).
Self-Assessment Options - view a quick tutorial Flash movie
The deployment of tests has been enhanced to permit Self-Assessment in two forms: allow the instructor and student to view the grade, or only allow the student to view the grade. In each case, the grade is not included in the final score for the student.
When deploying a test in a course, the instructor should uncheck the option called Include this test in Gradebook score calculations to allow students to take the test without affecting their overall score. Both the instructor and the student will still be able to review the results of the test. This option was previously only available through the Gradebook but is now also available in the course content area when deploying a test.
The second self-assessment option, called Hide the score of this test from the Gradebook will allow the student to take the test without displaying the results to the instructor.
Test and Survey Import/ExportThe Test and Survey Managers have been enhanced to allow for importing and exporting, much like the Pool Manager in Release 6. Users can export the test or survey package to their local computers.
The ability to export and import tests and surveys assists with content reuse and collaboration. When a test (or survey) is created, creation settings are determined, questions and answers are developed, and metadata is associated. Now, all of that information can be reused simply by exporting the entire test to the local computer, and then importing it into another course’s Test or Survey Manager. Once the test or survey has been imported, any modifications may be made to customize it for the other course.
Extra CreditWhen creating a test, questions may now be marked as extra credit only. This means that the points possible for the entire test will not include the points possible for that question. If the question is answered correctly, the question points will be added to the points correct, but if the question is answered incorrectly, there is no score penalty.
Customized FeedbackFeedback options were previously organized into four groups: score only, score + detailed results, all of the above + correct answers, and all of the above + detailed results, all of the above + feedback. These options have been ungrouped so that users may select any combination of the score, submitted answers, correct answers and feedback to be displayed to the student at the end of an assessment.
Enhanced Submission ReportsThe submission report for assessments now includes the following user information: First Name, Last Name, Course Name, Username, Course ID, name of the Assessment, and date/time of submission. This may be used as verification by the student that they have indeed submitted the assessment. Some instructors may require students to print this as a permanent record of the activity.
Early Warning System - view a quick tutorial Flash movie
This is a great feature that helps develop personalized learning paths for individual students. The Early Warning System creates a way for instructors to identify those students who may need remediation or more help in an area. Whether it's an instructor, parent or academic advisor who intervenes early on, the chances of improving that student's learning increases. The instructors can monitor (using rules) student performance based on three significant criteria:
Forum and Thread Grading
Several new features have been added to the Discussion Board expanding it beyond its primary use as a communication medium and transforming it into a comprehensive and interactive teaching tool that fosters academic exchange and debate.
Grading settings are now available when creating or modifying a forum in a Course or Organization. When grading is enabled for a forum, Instructors, Teaching Assistants, and users with the Grader or Manager forum roles will be able to access the Grade Forum Users page. Instructors may choose to grade the forum or to enable thread grading within the forum. If thread grading is enabled for the forum, Instructors have the option to turn grading on or off for each new thread.
Discussion Board Statistics
Discussion Board statistics are now a part of the Performance Dashboard. The total number of forums in which the user has participated is displayed for each user in this column. Clicking on the number in this column directs the instructor to a user detail page that displays links to all forums in which the user has participated and usage statistics for the user in each forum. Statistics displayed include:
Additionally, the instructor can grade discussion board participation from this page.
Forum Moderation and User ManagementBy default, Discussion Board users are given forum roles based on their course, organization, or system role. Instructors and Leaders are given the Manager role by default. Managers control user privileges within the Discussion Board through the use of roles. For example, the Manager may delegate responsibility for reviewing posts to a Moderator.
When creating a forum or modifying a forum’s settings, instructors have the option of forcing moderation. If moderation is enabled, when a user other than a Moderator or Manager submits a post, the post is saved to the Moderation Queue. New posts are displayed in the queue for review and publication. If a post is returned, a return message can be attached to the post allowing the Moderator to inform the user why the post was not accepted for publication.
By default, Discussion Board users that are assigned to a group are allowed to create threads in the Group Discussion Board forum. This means that group users can now beginning using the Discussion Board immediately and do not have to wait for the instructor to create a forum and begin a thread.
Rate PostingPost rating allows users to rate posts in the forum on a scale of one to five stars. When enabled, post rating is a simple yet effective tool for peer review.
Thread SubscriptionsThe Subscribe to Thread notifies users each time a new post is added to the thread. The notification is enabled by the user and sent to the email address stored in the user’s Personal Information. Users will not be able to enter a different email address to which notifications will be sent to prevent spam from being generated from the Discussion Board. This feature is available to all users with a forum role other than “blocked” if the feature is enabled for the forum.
Enhancements of Existing FeaturesThe following enhancements improve the user experience in the Discussion Board:
Cross-Browser, Cross Platform Support
The Visual Text Box Editor is now available to users running any supported browser.
The Visual Text Box Editor is compatible with the following browsers on Windows Operating Systems:
The Visual Text Box Editor will not work with older versions of these browsers. Instead, the standard options for entering text will appear.
The Visual Text Box Editor is compatible with the following browsers on Macintosh Operating Systems:
When run on Safari, the Visual Text Box Editor Lite Version appears. The Lite Version does not include the button controls for several features because Safari does not yet support those rich-text editing features. Some features that are not accessible from a button in the Lite Version may still be activated using keyboard shortcuts. For example, the cut, copy, and paste functions may still be used through the keyboard shortcuts.
Macintosh users may also download and use the free Mozilla Firefox 1.0 (or higher) Web Browser to use all the features of the Text Box Editor.
Firefox users, on all operating systems, must perform an extra step to enable the cut, copy, and paste functions. This is a function of the Firefox browser, and not Blackboard applications. The first time an attempt is made to cut, copy, or paste text in the Visual Text Box Editor, a message from Firefox will appear explaining that the action is not allowed. A link is provided for information on how to enable the cut, copy, and paste functions by editing a Firefox configuration file. This is the current link. Please check with Firefox for the most up-to-date information on using rich-text tools for cut, copy, and paste. Macintosh users may find that this does not fully resolve the problem, particularly because Fireflox does not permit pasting text from Microsoft Office files on Mac. To accomplish this task, paste the text into a basic text editor, such as TextEdit or Notepad and then paste the text into the Visual Text Box Editor.
Allows content and files to be managed, re-used and shared effectively. Individual files and content objects can be used across multiple courses, organizations and modules without the need for duplication. Users can share their files, giving both read and write access to specific individuals, groups, institution roles (i.e. all biology teachers). For users outside of the institution, content owners can create “passes” that provide access and enable collaboration for specific time periods. From a Blackboard course, faculty can use the option of “Link to Content Collection” instead of “Attach Local File”.
Content System Passes
View a quick tutorial Flash movie
Content Passes are a convenient way to provide read-only or read-write access through a URL to others.
Questions to help@campus.fsu.edu
