Accessibility in Blackboard 9
Blackboard 9 includes significant accessibility improvements incluiding content re-ordering to allow students who use screen readers to quickly organize information and support for style sheets to allow students with disability to view the product in different ways so it is easier to see or hear content on the screen.
Specifically support for screen readers and assistive technologies including:
- Keyboard reordering of content
- Less page frames
- Well formed semantic mark-up (HTML and CSS)
Blackboard measures and evaluates accessibility levels using two sets of standards: Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act issued from the United States federal government and the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) issued by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
Blackboard 9 Intro Videos
Now available: Blackboard 9 Flash Videos posted for your convenience.
- Blackboard 9 Overview (Flash File - 7:10 min.)
- Blackboard 9 Content Area, File Uploads, Communication, Quizzing & more (Flash File - 11:15 min.)
- Blackboard 9 Users and Groups (Flash File - 6:15 min.)
- Blackboard 9 Course Management (Flash File - 4:30 min.)
- Blackboard 9 Grade Center and Additional Information (Flash File - 5:25 min.)
Groups Functionality in Blackboard 9
Groups Functionality in Blackboard 9
Blackboard groups can be designated as self-enroll, allowing students to add themselves to a group, or manual enroll, having the Instructor assign students to a group. Instructors can also activate “random enroll” for groups through the Create Group Set so a set number of students will automatically be enrolled into group sets.
Create a Single or Group Sets
- Self-Enroll
- Manual Enroll
- Random Enroll
In addition to the updated enroll features a large number of improved group collaboration tools are now available
- Blogs: Users within the group can post to the Blog and add comments. Instructors can enable the Blog tool for use only within the Course Group, or can grant the public access to the Blog.
- Collaboration: Users within the group can participate in real-time lessons and discussions.
- Discussion Board: The Group Discussion Board is an area where Course Group members can post messages and repliesInstructors can use this tool to encourage discussions of course material outside of the classroom. This Discussion Board is available only to Course Group members, not to the entire course.
- Send Email: All members of a Course Group can send email messages to selected members or the entire group. These messages are internal to the Course Group, they are not available to anyone outside the group.
- File Exchange: Students and Instructors can use this tool to upload documents to the Course Group area and organize them through the creation of folders in which their items can be stored. Students can access this material from within the course. Instructors have access to all folders in their course.
- Journals: Instructors can assign a private Journal to each user in a group to allow private communication between the Instructor and the User.
- Tasks: The Group Tasks page organizes projects or activities (referred to as tasks) by defining task priority and tracking task status.
- My Scholar Home
- Scholar Course Home
Top 10 reasons to use Blackboard 9 for your course site
Top 10 reasons to use Blackboard 9 for your course site
- Using Blackboard cuts down on the amount of unnecessary printed paper by providing digitally accessible versions of the content via the web (which can still be printed if necessary).
- Blackboard enables faculty members to easily adapt to unforeseen circumstances and changes in order to quickly and easily make necessary adjustments for assignments, meeting times and more by using the announcements section, built in email or updating files directly.
- Group activities allow for many student collaboration options including blogs, file sharing, and more so students can work together face to face as well as remotely.
- Teach more, not less: discussions that are truncated in class may continue electronically via discussion boards, blogs, wikis, pronto instant messaging etc.
- Various Blackboard tools, such as class blogs, allow classes to communicate as a whole regarding class projects, internship opportunities, gatherings and related resources and are a good way for classmates to get to know each other better.
- Built in quizzing and testing options which are automatically graded and entered into the Grade Center to quickly and easily reference the students results.
- Accept digital papers electronically via the Grade Center. Download student papers, edit with comments in Word etc., re-upload the paper for the student to view your edits and provide the appropriate grade all within the Grade Center.
- Post grades for students on an ongoing basis so they know how well they are doing during throughout the course (and at the end of the semester you will not have over 100 students emailing, calling and stopping by to find out their final grade)!
- Import interactive learning tools (using SoftChalk Lesson Builder) for students to better grasp hard to understand concepts and even pull these SoftChalk activities into the Grade Center for participation points or actual quiz grades using SCORM compliant standards.
- Blackboard tools can facilitate participation for students who typically do not feel comfortable talking in a live group setting by using discussion boards, blogs, pronto instant messaging and more.
Activate a Blackboard Student Account
Activate a Blackboard Student Account
A good practice to ensure all functionality of your Blackboard course appears, functions, populates the Grade Center and is deployed correctly is to activate a secondary student Blackboard account. You will have a new login ID "netID.bb" and you will use the same password as your primary ACCC common password (same password you access UIC Webmail etc.). After the account is activated (takes up to 30 minutes) you can then enroll your secondary account into your Blackboard course and test appropriately.
WebDisks Naming Convention Best Practices
WebDisks Naming Convention Best Practices
When naming WebDisks files, folders and subfolders, use only alphanumeric characters. Do not use the blank/space character or any other special character like quotation marks, @ signs, % signs, etc. ...and amake sure all files have a conventional filetype: something.doc, something.xls, something.pdf, something.html, something.txt.
How do I list all users in my course?
How do I list all users in my course?
- Select "equal to" in the drop down box and enter "%" in the text field or
- Select “Not Blank” or include “@” in the search field.
Blackboard 9 Training
The Instructional Technology Lab lab about six (6) scheduled Blackboard 9 faculty/staff training sessions every week from now until Christmas. You can select one when you request a Bb 9 demo site -- see our Bb 9 site request Web form for list of all scheduled training. www.accc.uic.edu/itl/bb9.html
Anonymous User added the comment "Bar Stools" to "Activate a Blackboard Student Account." 8 months ago, 8/26/2011