Gamification: 2 Learning as Improving

Shedding a Traditional Approach to Assessments

It is the first day of class and students enter the course with a dread of failure.  Usually homework and learning opportunities offer only one chance to define their grade which will be more damning and permanent than Hester’s scarlet letter. 

This is often not a fault of faculty being lazy. They simply do not have the time to make the work better and afford students multiple attempts - effectively offering the students a chance to improve. Nevertheless, this results in students dreading assignments and fearing failure.

As an alternative, we should view failure as an opportunity for students to assess the situation and progress. One is reminded of John Stuart Mill’s line in chapter one of his autobiography:

‘A pupil from whom nothing is ever demanded which he cannot do,
never does all he can.’

Learning should be thought of as a way to improve and one does this through multiple attempts.  If you do not succeed at first, you try again – often using different strategies to learn how to solve a problem.

Discouraging students from trying new solutions, even though some may fail, is doing them, and ourselves, a great disservice. If we adopt the mindset that students should have the opportunity to experiment and explore solutions, we may not only find that they will be more open to try harder problems but that we are fostering creative problem solvers.  This requires that we consider creating learning activities that allow for multiple attempts.  These attempts will offer opportunities to assess and improve.

This is one of the keys to the success of the gaming industry.  Gamers recognize that they will fail in their attempts.  They also know that if they keep focused, try multiple times, and often have to think innovatively, they can overcome the challenge. The ability to save progress or use a reset button is not a coincidence. It allows for multiple attempts to test various strategies.

By allowing students to participate in learning activities multiple times so that they can improve their skills, we are fostering a non-defeatist mentality that will benefit our students. Students can explore options, review feed back and see how the lessons they choose to adopt directly affects their success.

We are also mirroring actual learning environments where people must experiment with strategies to determine which will succeed and to learning from their mistake. 

Another important feature of viewing Learning as improving, is that we are encouraging a sense of agency in the students.  Their decisions matter and what learning strategies they employ will directly affect their success.  This will contribute to their success both as a student and as a person.

So when designing your learning activities and assessments, consider offer more time and allowing multiple attempts.  The results may surprise you.

Starfish: For Students

Accessing Starfish

Starfish is a student success software that allows professors to alert the administration of possible issues you may impede your academic completion as well as offering your referral to help you succeed. It can it designed to help you succeed and also has an area where you can receive positive reports, or “Kudos”. There is even an area where you can ‘raise your hand’ that takes your question and sends it to the appropriate college professional so that she or he can help you.

How do I access Starfish?

You will need to go to Blackboard, and to do this you should use the My SCCC Portal. (If you have a question on how to enter Blackboard, please see the How do I log on to Blackboard handout.) Once you are in Blackboard you can access Starfish through the Tools folder. You can do this the following two different ways:

1. On the Institution Page
• On the right, Go to the Tools Module (box labeled Tools) on the left
• Find the one labeled “Starfish” and select (click on) it.
2. Enter any of your courses
• Select “Tools” from the menu on the left
• Find the one labeled “Starfish” and select (click on) it.

That is it. Feel free to click on and download the PDF instructions below.

Starfish: For Educators Who Desire Student Success

Retention Software

Starfish Early Alert offers a single solution to allow faculty, staff, and students to access to a robust amount of information that will contribute to student completion and student success.  With it faculty can record information about the student, such as referrals, and opt to share this information with the student.  Most common among Starfish users, attendance can be recorded and flags can be triggered to remind instructors and administrators that potential issues may be occurring that could impede the success of the student.  When used responsibly, Starfish can assist the instructor, as well as the school, in retaining students and contributing to their success.

How do you access Starfish? 

There are several ways to access the Starfish software when it is integrated in Blackboard. This is particularly useful since Blackboard does not offer a solution for taking attendance.  Access to Starfish all depends on how your school has set up the program.  Depending on how your college sets it up. However, one of the easiest ways to access Starfish is through the Menu of your course.  Simply:

1. Enter your course in Blackboard
2. Go to the Course Menu and select Course Tools
3. Select the Tool called “Starfish”

This will move you into Starfish. You may be greeted with an option to set up your office hours.  You can choose to use this option or ignore it.  Choosing it will only make a record of your office hours and make it easier for students to reach you.

Attendance

Taking attendance in Blackboard will vary depending on whether you teach an online course or a traditional class.  If you teach an online course you will need to set up the attendance feature and select the dates that your wish to record as a designator for attendance.  This could represent each time the student entered the course, or mark for weekly attendance. Since this feature is up to the instructor, it must be created by the instructor.  If you teach a traditional course, the system will automatically import the class times to the attendance calendar.

1. To record attendance, you.
2. Go to the Students Tab
3. Select the Attendance Sub-tab and either:
   1. Select the Students individually and choose the Attendance status and date, or 
   2. Select “Record Attendance”, choose the dates and mark attendance.

What is important to remember is to be sure to select the correct date.

Flags, Referrals, and Kudos

Communication is key to student success.  From the “My Students” sub-tab from the Students tab, you will have the ability to select several options that include:

• Flags: These allow you to alert administration of important issues. Remember this creates a record that can help identify problems before they begin.  It can also help the school identify dangerous situations and tend to them. 
• Referrals:  These will assist students and will not get lost in their notebook.
• Kudos:  Never underestimate the power of positive re-enforcement.  Let the students know when they are succeeded and give them a record that they can choose to share.

To submit any of these, you merely need to:

1. Select the corresponding button
2. Choose the appropriate option from the drop-down menu
3. Add any other comments. It is important to remember that having a record is very useful.

With these tools, you can help better guide the students and make sure less ‘fall through the cracks’. Effectively, you will be contributing to student success.

Video Introductions and Your Course

Taking an online course can be intimidating and the environment can seem cold and impersonal.  Students can feel that they are on their own navigating a morass of information where the solutions to their questions is difficult to find. Ironically, this also can apply to a traditional face-to-face course.

One way of breaking the ice is to use short introduction videos.  A brief video can introduce you to your students as well as possibly sell the course to others. Clever authors can make the video both introduce the instructor and sell the students on taking the course. This will allow you to have an introduction video that can also be used as a promotional video for students deciding on which courses to take.

Why use an introduction video?  Studies show that students more positively about their instructor and participate approximately 20% with online content.   Even adding a photo and a video improves students’ perceptions of the instructor and the class (Russo & Campbell, 2004).  From a practical perspective the increase on your instructor evaluations offers a pragmatic reason to add video introductions. However, the video introductions help students perceive a relationship between themselves and the instructor and which students have identified as having a direct impact on their success (Jones, Naugle & Kolloff, 2008).

Is Video Hard?

There are several easy ways to create video.  One of the simplest is to just use your phone or web camera on our laptop computer.   You may notice that this is not as simple as it sounds.  Pointing a video camera at someone and shooting does not make a successful video.  Like everything in life there is a little work.  Also like everything in life, knowing successful heuristics can help you accomplish great feats in a significantly decreased amount of time.

Besides using video from a video camera, there are several web and mobile tools that allow you to create slick animations and slideshows that can be converted into video.  Add a voice over and you can have a great show.

There are several video creation web resources out there.  With technological advances, there are now great mobile apps that can offer impressive video editing.  For example, iMovie is only $4.99 and it can convert your phone or iPad into a virtual editing studio.

Feel Free to take a look at some of the videos in the playlist above.  Most were made with affordable and simple web tools.  Two were made with professional tools. Can you tell which ones?

How do I create a good introduction?

Understanding of a few key rules and process can easily get you on your way to producing excellent video introductions.  Ironically, not following these rules can also make some dreadful attempts.   One of the best things to do if you are at a college is to contact a specialists, such as your instructional designer.  They can easily get you going.

Understand that video is successful is short.  About 48% of people viewing will stop after 1 minute.  So make sure that the video is succinct, engaging and to the point.
Second, make the script first.  Rehearse a little and work on good audio.  The video will follow.

Below is a sample script.

References

Dulaney, E. (2013). Does the Credibility of the Presenter Influence Acceptance of Content in the Classroom. American International Journal of Social Science, 2(4), 14-20.

Jones, P., Naugle, K., & Kolloff, M. (2008). Teacher presence: Using introductory videos in hybrid and online courses. Learning Solutions. Retrieved on March 26, 2014 from learningsolutionsmag.com

Russo, T. C., & Campbell, S. W. (2004). Perceptions of mediated presence in an asynchronous online course: Interplay of communication behaviors and medium. Distance Education, 25(2), 215 — 232.

Widmeyer, W. N. & Loy, J. W. (1988). When you're hot, you're hot! Warm-cold effects in first impressions of persons and teaching effectiveness. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(1), 118-121.

The Learning Sweet Spot

Ever wonder way it is more difficult to remember long strings of information? For over 50 years, studies have suggested that our ability to accurately recall information is capped at about seven numbers or items (Miller, 1956). If we break up the information in little packets, or chunks, we are better capable of remembering greater amounts of information (Simon, 1974).  Thus remembering a number such as 5138675309 is much easier when broken into chunks, e.g. 513-867-5309.  More current research suggest that our limits with difficult topics, such as college learning, may be closer to four chunks of information (Cohen, 2010). Naturally, the introduction of electronic media and distractions decrease this more.

When developing courses it is best to organize information to allow learners to easily access it in a way that enables them to recall it better.  Key is organizing information in packets that are simple to recall and that allow the learner to easily access these packets. To assist this, short overviews, or Modules at a Glance”, can effectively act as a roadmap to reinforce their learning experience.  Essentially, in accordance with Cognitive Load Theory, difficult (course) content should be refrain excessive information (Sweller, 1988).  Keeping the number of modules between four and seven will assist online students in understanding the content.

The take home:  It is best to design course content into four to seven modules or sections.

References

Cohen, N. (2010)  “The magical mystery four: how is working memory capacity limited, and why?”  Current Directions in Psychological Science. February 2010 vol. 19 no. 1 51-57.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2864034/

Miller, G (1956) The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information”. The Psychological Review, 1956, vol. 63, pp. 81-97.http://www.musanim.com/miller1956/

Simon, H (1974) “How big is a chunk?” Science, Feb. 183:4124, 482-488. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/183/4124/482

Sweller, J (1988). "Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning". Cognitive Science 12 (2): 257–285.

Extending Time for Tests

You are finally getting around to implementing a test in Blackboard for your course.  You discovered great options, such as:

• Randomizing the questions and the ordering of their answers,
• Pools of questions that allow each student to get a random set of questions, ensuring each test is unique
• Feedback for each question, to re-enforce learning and to guide the student to assess where they need to spend more time improving.
• Students can take the tests multiple times, to work to improve their knowledge
• Adaptive Release and automated announcements about the test
• Tests can be timed.

Everything is going great and then you get a call from the Office of ADA Transition Services. You have a student that requires 90 minutes of time to take your 60 minute test.

At first, this seems scary.  Is there an easy way to do this without having to make another test or having to learn how to develop Groups and merge their grades in the Grade Center.  You already developed a Baroque grading schematic that requires calculus to understand, and you have no idea how this new development will play out in the Grade Center?

Yes there is!  You can take a deep breath and rest assured.  Blackboard made it easy and can solve all these problems.

You simply select Edit Test Options.
Scroll down to section titled “Test Availability Exceptions” and select the “Add User or Group” button.
This will open a window where you can select the student who needs more time.
You will notice you can:

• allow more attempts,
• change the time, and even
• change the availability of the test for the student.

Now hit “submit” and you are done

Blackboard will take care of the rest and the testing will take place seamlessly.

One advantage over regular face-to-face instruction, is that using this medium allows those with ADA requirements to not even notice their exam is any different or feel singled out from the class.
Coincidentally, this is one of the reason a large number of people with disabilities prefer the anonymity of online environments.

So, when you need to extend the time, or add special exceptions to a test, know that you can easily do with the tools we have in Blackboard.  In fact, once you use them, you may wonder why you would ever go back to tradition pen and paper.

Blackboard Test Option Crib Notes

Do you want to investigate the slides from the above video for a tutorial on how to make the most from your online quizzes?  The slide show below will offer you tips on how to take advantage of these features in Blackboard.

Creating an ePortfolio and Sharing it in Blackboard

Creating a Digital Portfolio with Padlet

Having a digital portfolio is an excellent way to document your accomplishments as well as possibly to advance your career.  You can develop a digital portfolio easily with several various digital tool.  We will specifically focus on Padlet (http://www.padlet.com ).

To create a digital portfolio with Padlet, you will need to follow these steps:

1. Collect the information you would like to share in your e-portfolio.  This could be documents (in pdf format), hyperlinks to webpages, media files and any other information.  (Now you are ready to create a digital portfolio with Padlet)
2. Go to Padlet (www.padlet.com) and create an account.  You can use either your Facebook account or a Google account for easy sign in, or just use your college email.
3. Create a “New Padlet” You will be given a choice on the format.  Select the format you think will best represent your work.  When in doubt, you should try to keep it simple so your content is best represented.
4. Time to Modify Your Padlet
   1. Name your Padlet – I recommend something obvious like “My e-Portfolio”
   2. Format your Padlet.  On the right you can select a wallpaper.  The less busy, the more professional it will look and the easier it will be able to read.
   3. Hit “Next”
   4. Select Privacy settings:
       a) Keeping it secret allows you to show your Padlet to the people you share the link with and no one else.
       b) If you want everyone to see it, select “public”
       c) You probably want to limit those who see the Padlet to only be able to “read” the Padlet and not to change the content.
       d)  Now Select “Next” – this should save and get your started.  If you want to make changes, just select the sprocket up on the top right.
   5. Now it is time to add Posts.   This is how to make a post -   Click on the plus sign area on the bottom right. This will create a white box.  In this box you can:
   •  Title the box
   • Add a description
   • Select “Add an attachment” . With the Add an attachment feature you can:            
     • share a URL
     • upload a file
     • Use your webcam for a photo  
   Now you may want to develop your portfolio and include: 
   • You contact information.  
   • Add a CV or resume, you can easily attach a document file, and we recommend using the PDF file extension.  It is a standard file format that can easily be viewed and you can save to it from MS Word.
   • Add content, you can choose how to do this from you options
   • Add as many posts as you need
   
   
   Congratulations.  You have completed a Padlet that acts as a digital portfolio. 

Sharing your Padlet

Once you have your ePortfolio Padlet, or any Padlet for that matter, complete, you can share it with others rather easily.

You have two options for sharing – Dynamic presentation and Static presentation. You can do either with Padlet by selecting the Share Feature. For purpose of demonstration let’s see how we can share our Padlet in Blackboard.

Sharing your ePortfolio dynamically has the benefit of harnessing the web and any interactivity it affords.  This dynamic feature usually increases user engagement, which results in people spending more time looking at your ePortfolio.  There are two ways to share your Padlet dynamically.

After we selected the Share/Export/Embed option in Padlet, we can:

Share a link to the ePortfolio.  We can do this by:

1. Selecting “Copy Link to this Padlet.”  This will copy a link to our clipboard. 
2. Go into Blackboard to post.  (You may want to have it already open in a tab)
3. In the editor in Blackboard, click in text field and press Ctrl-V (paste).  This will copy the link as text into the editor.
4. Highlight the text (click down on the button and drag it across the text)
5. Select the Insert/Edit Link button (it looks like a chain on the second row of tools)
6. Copy (Cntl-V) the link into the “Link Path” field and select “Insert”.
7. Provided you gave the post a subject, you are done.  Select “Submit” to post.

A better, or nice looking, way to share your Padlet in Blackboard is to Embed it. You can do this by:

1. Selecting Share/Export/Embed
2. Select “Embed this padlet”
3. Copy the HTML code (the first set)
4. Go to Blackboard and prepare to post
5. Once in the editor, select the HTML button on the bottom right (third row)
6. Paste (Cntl-V) the embed code into the HTML code view window and hit “Upgrade”
7. Select “Submit”

 A static presentation is always good when archiving or when faced with the possibility of not being viewed online.  It would be prudent to add a static presentation as well when sharing your Padlet.

There are two easy ways to do this with Padlet.

First you go to the Share/Export/Embed option.  You then scroll to the export section and either select “Save as image” or “Save as PDF”. Both will give you a static file that you can attach to a Blackboard post as an attachment.  You could even do this to a post that you shared a link or embedded the Padlet with HTML code.

Once you do this, you are done.

The Edit Mode and Missing Content

The Case of the Missing Content

You logged in this morning and you are missing content in your online course!

This is why you hate Blackboard - you spent most of last night developing a large portion of your course including tests for the students, and now it vanished.

Don’t panic.  If you did not actually delete the files, the chances are you may be viewing the course with the EDIT MODE off.

In the top corner of a course in Blackboard you can access the Edit Mode
Button. You can toggle it to turn the Edit Mode on and off.

When ON, you will see all the course content and the editing controls.  You should note that students will not see this.  The Edit Mode function appears to users with a role of instructor, teaching assistant, course builder, and administrator only.

When Edit Mode is ON, all the instructor functions appear, such as Build Content or the appearance of instructor tools on the menu, like the Control Panel.

When Edit Mode is OFF, all instructor functions, such as the editing controls, are hidden. You will see the content as if you were a student. If a page is hidden from a student, even through adaptive release, you will not be able to see this.

This is sometimes handy, as it gives you a quick way to view the course as a student.  However, this can catch you by surprise and make you think your content is not there.

Now, check your course.  Is the edit mode off?  This is probably why you do not see the content you made earlier.

 Below are some cribnotes to help you.

Student Preview

There are a few items students will have access to that you will not when the Edit Mode is off. These include:

• Submitting assignments and take tests
• Creating blog and discussion posts
• Creating journal and wiki entries
• Viewing student tools, such as My Grades 

If you Enter Student Preview, you can view these features as it will create a mock student and ‘see the course with its permissions.  The Student Preview is located next to edit mode button. If you exit this mode, you can even save it and view it in your gradebook.

Embedding Dynamic Content

You have worked hard on your course and created some excellent content pages.  Since you know that students perform better with multiple modes of content presentation, you would like to offer some alternatives to text.  Today there are several options for including dynamic content from the web.  You could link to these sites, however, you would rather have the students have a streamlined learning experience.  You know that people are more likely to review the video before reading the text.




Besides, when you link to another site like Youtube, the students are taken out of their learning environment and subject to distractions, such as by videos of adorable cats. It is in the interest of these hosting sites to drive traffic to their site and retain it.  This is not in your interest as an instructor.

This is exactly why embedding the video in your content page better meets your pedagogical goals.  Embedding keeps students in the course and focused on learning.  Simply, embedding protects students from being distracted by those adorable cat videos. Moreover, you reduce the number of clicks to get to the content, and it common web developing knowledge that this encourages engagement.

In Blackboard, you already have the Mashup tool and it does embed the content at one level. This does not give you the same flexibility that you can enjoy when you opt to embed material by using the HTML button from the content editor.  Further, inside the content editor there is an option to access the Mashup tool. This offers the option of embedding video from Youtube, or offering a link, or providing a mashup.  While the tool does work, there is an even easier way.  Skipping this for an old-school way that will allow the freedom to select more web 2.0 options.  

Simply follow these steps to embed an object into Blackboard:

1. find object's embed code (note: When working with YouTube deselect the option to show related videos)
2. copy the embed code
3. go into Blackboard (it is best to use another tab)
4. create a 1 X 1 table and right align it – or chose the alignment you want.
5. add a little buffer, say 5 spaces horizontal and vertical
6. type a large number of the same digit (222222222222222222222)
7. Select the HTML button (third row down on the toolbars)
8. Scroll and find the large number (222222222222222222222)
9. highlight it and the paste the embed code in over it
10. Select “update”
11. Select “submit” and you are done.

Now let’s take a look at embedding a different dynamic content.  Look for the Share option, and then copy the embed code.  If you follow the same instructions – creating a table with only one cell, using a string of digits, entering HTML editing mode and replacing the string of digits with the code, you will have the same effect.

Using this technique will benefit your students with seamless access to many various engaging presentations and web tools.  Minimally you can use it for YouTube videos, but you should feel free to adopt this to take advantage of the several Open Educational Resources that exist and offer embed code.

Creating Accessible PDFs

Being ADA Compliant is not only necessary for your school to collect any federal money, it is good educational practice.  By increasing the accessibility of your content, more students will access the content. You already know this, as well as that adopting principles of Universal Design for Learning both increases the accessibility of your content and contributes to the success of students regardless of whether they have a disability.

You would like to share your content with students in PDF format. After all you know that PDFs have advantages in Blackboard, because:

• students can view them inline,
• students can print the files,
• they can choose to save them to their computer or mobile devices,
• the files are not as easy to edit – which can reduce shenanigans or accidentally deleting content, and
• PDFs are and industry standard file. This means most accessibility software can work with PDFs.  

The problem you face is that the school does not supply you with professional software for creating accessible PDFs or software for assessing determining their accessibility.   You have yet to see JAWS – the screen reader or the movie.

In fact, you do not even have access to Adobe Acrobat Professional for making complex, and accessible, PDFs.

Let’s face it – you are an educator in the US and are equipped as such. You pretty much only have access a browser, the LMS – Blackboard, and an older version of Microsoft Office.  You can make accessible Word files with the Accessibility Checker, but how can you make accessible PDFs without access to industry standard software?

Relax - You already have everything you need. 

1.  Simply create a word document that is accessible with the “Accessibility Checker”.

2. Now you simply have to save the document as a PDF. Saving a word document as an accessible PDF is easy. You will need to save the document as a new file, with the PDF file extension.  You can do this by either:

• Selecting “Export” and then choosing “Create PDF”, or
• Selecting “Save as”, or “Save”, and changing the file type to PDF.

3.  Now choose the “Options” button.
In the “Option” pop-up window be sure to select the option, “Document structure tags for accessibility”.

If you use more accessible fonts, such as Verdana, you should be fine.  Otherwise you may consider selecting ISO 19005-1 Compliant PDF/A  option.  It will ensure fonts can be read by a screen reader and not represented as an image (or bitmap). This option is preferable for creating documents that you would like to archive.

4. Now save the file as a PDF.

If you follow these simple rules, you can ensure that your documents are accessible.  You did this with only Microsoft Office.  While you may not get a bonus for the money you saved the school in software, you can sit back and enjoy the reward of knowing that your documents will reach more learners and assist those you greatly benefit from the accessibility.

Creating Accessible Word Documents

Not only is being ADA complaint required by law, but it increases the accessibility of your content.  This is just good practice in teaching.  Increasing the accessibility increases your student success rate. 

What does it take to keep your documents ADA Compliant?  A few qualities include:

• Not use watermarks – screen readers cannot process them and they make the text difficult for those with visual impairments.
• Add meaningful hyperlink texts – this is actually good web design practice.
• Ensure the color is not the only means of conveying information.
• Use sufficient contrast
• Favor built-in headings over simply bolding text for a heading.  (It helps when searching the document)  This one you can do easy by using built in styles.
• When using tables, use table headers, and keep them simple (which is also good instructional design), and
• If you use images, be sure to at Alt Text with them.  You can do this by:
  •  Selecting, or right clicking, on the picture with the mouse.
  • Selecting “Format Shape”
  • Then select Alt Text from one of the menus in the Format Shape options, and
  • Add a title and brief description

If this seems overwhelming, there is an easier trick.   Employ the “Accessibility Checker” in word. This will identify all areas that need to be changed and supply you with step-by-step instructions on how to correct the issues.

Accessing the Accessibility Checker is easy.  If you have Office 365, you can find it under the “Review” tab.  Selecting the Accessibility will give you a button that will stating, “Check Accessibility”.

If you have an older version of Word, such as Word 2013, you will have to:

1. Click on the File Tab
2. Select “Info”
3. Click on “Check for Issues”, and
4. Select “Check Accessibility”.

Using the Accessibility Checker takes only a few moments, but it ensures that your documents are ADA Compliant and that your students have the best chance for success. 

Whitespace

Can there be a difference in learning outcomes from the same content?  Yes.  How the content is presented matters.

Whitespace creates a balanced and harmonious layout. Without it, content can be cramped and the core concepts are difficult to focus on.  We can make the content easier to process by using both passive and active whitespace.

Passive whitespace creates room between the content or balances it out on the page.  This is often done by adding margins, considering the font family and weight, and increasing the heading.  In most web environments, using the Heading style is better, because it both contributes to passive whitespace and increases accessibility by conforming to many accessibility applications. 

It is important to note that passive whitespace aids visual balance.  This harmony in presentation gives ‘breathing room” for the content and allows the reader to focus on assessing the content.  The visual balance is crucial because it increases the ability for the reader to process and comprehend the content. So, it is very important.

Active Whitespace ads space to a composition to better structure information, such as emphasize specific content that is important.

For example, suppose you want the learner to focus more attention to a specific passage or quote in the content.  Changing the font, making it bold, or adding more whitespace around the passage will assist learning by drawing more attention this content passage. Here the formatting that presents the content varies to distinguish or highlight it from the rest of the content.

Applying whitespacing techniques contributes to content retention and learning. The advantage provided by styling of content presentation makes content delivery more successful and assists many with disabilities, such as forms of dyslexia and those using screen readers.

Look at the three images below (the slide show show below also has a fullscreen feature for better visibility). Notice the changes from the:

1. original content
2. passive whitespacing applied and
3. active whitespacing applied.

The actual content has hardly been modified, but the presentation of the latter two help draw emphasis to key points that may get obfuscated an text.  

Now, with some passive whitespace changes that show a section title, better spacing, and using of a list, we the content can be reviewed and more quickly understood. Active white-spacing can draw attention to a key component of the content to drive home the point.

By focusing on white-spacing and how the content is presented, you can critically affect student learning.  Remember to keep the negative space in mind when editing a content page. On the web, your pages should contain at least 50% less content than a paper version. It is best to reduce scrolling by making pages no more than a screen and a half and breaking extra content up into multiple pages.  Then revisit and edit the content.  Does it strictly accomplish what it is intended to?  Now you can finish by considering how active and passive white-spacing can make your content more successful at teaching the concepts you want the students to learn.

ADA Compliance and Universal Design

Does making your classes ADA Compliant mean that you will not be able to take advantage of multimedia and dynamic web technology?  No.

In 1971, John Rawls dedicated a significant part of his book, Theory of Justice, to the importance of equality of opportunity in achieving Justice as Fairness.  In this he demonstrated that equality and fairness does not mean redress.  One does not have to remove opportunities in order to redistribute it or ensure that everyone has an equal share of it.  Instead, it is important that each has that opportunity and that this may require more work for some and less for others.  To illustrate this, consider the distribution of insulin.  Being fair does not entail that everyone has the same access to an equal portion of insulin. Instead, those with diabetes (or people who have a significant need for it) may require more access to ensure an equality of opportunity among the people. Frankly, those not having access who do not need the insulin are not being harmed for not having as much access to it. Most would not care provided the same framework would benefit them when they have similar needs.

This same principle can apply to access to instructional technology. Removing all access to audio or video because it may not have a transcript can be equally problematic when considering ADA Compliance.  If we only have large bodies of text, are we disadvantaging the dyslexic?  If we remove audio, are we doing a disservice to the blind to accommodate the hearing impaired?  It is important to note that simply removing technology is not an acceptable solution to ADA Compliance.  Why not add options, and meet the needs of the more learners?

What we often overlook is the idea that making our courses and educational materials more accessible actually improves their instructional design.  Ironically, to work towards ADA compliance may mean we need more multimedia and dynamic web content.

Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning is a framework that offers guidelines for developing flexible learning environments to accommodate all the different learning styles and pedagogical needs of the students. Defined by David Rose in the 1990s, it draws heavily on Ronald Mace’s Universal Design in Architecture proscribing designing products and environments usable by all people to the greatest extent possible without the need for significant adaptation. Simply, design items so that most people can use them with minimal effort. The theory also draws heavily on cognitive learning theories promoted by the work of both Vygotsky and Bloom (Meyer, Rose & Gordon, 2014).

There are three principles of Universal design for learning:

Principle 1: Provide Multiple Means of Representation:

Providing multiple means of representation gives learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge. This encourages offering learners a variety of presentation forms so that they can select the means of representation that best suits their learning style.  For example, instead of just offering a video, be sure to offer closed captions or a transcript.  Likewise, perhaps a visual illustration may accompany text to better explain a concept for visual learners.  Remember:

• there is no one means of representation that will be optimal for all learners
• providing options for representation is essential.

Principle 2: Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression

Learners differ in the ways that they can navigate a learning environment and express what they know. Effective learning environments provide learners with alternatives for demonstrating what they know.  There is never one means of expression that is optimal for all learners.  Some may like oral discussion while others may prefer writing papers.  Providing options for action is essential for promoting learning for everyone.

Principle 3: Provide Multiple Means of Engagement

Effective learning environments tap into learners' interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn.  By challenging the students, and recruiting their interest, the course will help sustain their effort and persistence. Allowing options and offering multiple means of engagement affords students the option to self-regulate their learning and choose the methods that work best for them.

How does this effect you and teaching? 

You should consider developing your courses, online and in the classroom, such that students have options for accessing the content they need to know.  Video should have closed captions and you should consider accompanying text with other presentations of the content. Further, when designing assignments, and areas for engagement, such as online discussion sections, you should offer students a variety of options for engagement as well as how they can express themselves when doing so.

When considering ADA compliance, we should see it as another reason why multiple modes of presentation are important.  Not only will you help students with a recognized disability, but you may be helping others.  With 1 in 20 students being dyslexic and a disproportionate number of students with disabilities taking online classes to avoid perceived awkwardness when in a classroom, there may be a lot more students benefiting from your adoption of Universal Design principles than you thought.

Moreover, you may also benefit other students who do not have disabilities, but prefer a different learning representation or means of engagement than was otherwise offered.

References

Bloom, B. 1984 Taxonomy of Educational Objectives Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA

Meyer, A. Rose, D. & D. Gordon (2014) Universal design for learning: Theory and Practice. Wakefield, MA: CAST Professional Publishing.

Rawls, J (1971) A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press

Rose, D & A Meyer (2002) Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Vygotsky, L. (1962). Thought and language (Vol. (Rev. Ed.)). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

Gamification: Introduction

For thousands of years we have used games to teach us important skills for the real world.  For example, Chess is over a thousand years old and it some of the lessons it teaches includes:

• strategic thinking,
• planning,
• decisions have consequences, and
• the how leaders need to assign importance to their team

The value of play is so deeply rooted in evolution, that other species such as cats also adopt it as a means to develop needed skills.  Ironically for the main part of the past hundred years, play has been viewed as antithetical to education. Instead classrooms were designed liked factories to where students are given top-down instruction to impart skills necessary for working menial, and often repetitive, industrial jobs.

Recently games and simulations have become rediscovered resources to assist higher education (Chacon, Chen, & Wolf, 2007).  In 2003, Nick Pelling coins the term gamification and it has been growing since, offering successful teaching strategies and increasing engagement (Werbach & Hunter, 2012).  What is gamification?

Gamification is using the principles of play, such as games, to make real world activities more engaging.

I will briefly touch base on three aspects of gamification and in another blog post offer advice on implementing them. They are:

1. Learning as Improving
2. Agency
3. Grading

Each of these aspects can redefine a traditional class and benefit the students. 

Accentuate the Positive

How to be the MacGyver of Instructional Technology

You have a mission.  You need to make your courses more innovative and interactive to engage your students and improve their learning outcomes.  You know that students react well to media that engages them and do not like to download large Powerpoint files.  Further, large blocks of text do not work well online or when presented in the classroom.

Problems you face include your department have no money in the budget to afford new software and currently you only have access to Office 365.  Of course, the large number of students to mentor and other responsibilities also impede your effort.

When presented with a seemingly impossible task, we should remember to humbly think, “What would MacGyver do?”  Specifically, remember that:

                                 What you have may be all that you need.

If you are willing to explore the web with your browser (and possibly a paperclip), you may discover that the tools you already have access may be all you need to infuse your course with innovative presentations and technology that with inspire your students.  Naturally, a sense of humor may help as well.

How to Manage This Task

We need to keep calm, open to new and creative ideas, and follow these steps:

1. Determine what is your goal (what type of instructional task do you want)
2. Are there ways the tools you already have can do this?
3. Can you acquire free tools (such as an educational account at Prezi.com)

 Once you determined what your goal is when creating a learning object, you can then break down what you need to do into smaller tasks.  In fact, you may even be able to combine the products of tools, such as images from LunaPic (a Photoshop alternative that is free) and Google Slides.  For a detailed list of various online tools see: https://elearningindustry.com/321-free-tools-for-teachers-free-educational-technology.

Once you have selected the tool, remember to:

• Break down the task into smaller manageable tasks
• Create a separate computer folder of all the assets so that in case something goes wrong, you do not lose your content.

After you create your new exciting tool, you should consider embedding it into a page in your course.  When embedded within a webpage, the experience is smoother and the student will keep his or her focus better because they have not been brought outside of the Learning Management System.

Feel free to download the following files in the above presentation to help you and remember, you should keep in touch with your school's teaching and learning specialists. 

Downloading Survey or Test Results

Blackboard allows you to easily create surveys and test, but sometime you may want to access the results in a spreadsheet to better analyze the data. You can do this easily by:

1. Go the “Full Grade Center”
2. Click on the chevron next to the column heading for the test or survey you want to download.
3. Select “Download Results”

You will be brought to a special page with several selection options.

• We recommend that you select ‘Comma’ to create a .CSV file.  This will work with most spreadsheet programs (such as Google Sheets or Excel).
• Then select what format and attempts you want included.  It is often useful select “By Question and User” and “All Attempts”

When you are done, select “Click to Download Results”.

The file will go to your download folder.  Please note that with some computer systems the file extension, that is the .CSV, is not included in the downloaded file’s name.  You can fix this by simply renaming the file, preferably something more useful than “Download” and include the “.CSV” in the name.

Now the new file can be opened in most spreadsheet programs.

You are done!

Creating Tests

When employing a test in Blackboard you will have three basic tasks:

1. You will create the test
2. You will need to create the questions (if you do not have a question set)
3. You will need to set up or deploy the test

Tests are assessments, so selecting the assessment tab will give the option to create a test of a survey.  In Blackboard, surveys are anonymous tests.  For this reason, we will focus here on tests as assessments and not on surveys.

When you select 'Test' you will asked name the test. Once you do this and select submit, you have accomplished task #1.

Moving to task #2, you will need to fill the test with questions either by selecting existing questions or creating new questions.

• You can search for existing questions from other tests or from test pools.
• You can select from many different styles of questions to create.

When you select or create a question, it is displayed on a question canvas that shows all the questions in a test. You can assign points to each questions, as well as edit their placement, edit their content or delete the question. You should also offer comments for correct and incorrect answers to the questions to assist the student's learning.

Once you complete task #2, you now can move on to the task #3 where you will deploy the test.

You will have to make the test link visible to students. NOTE: Blackboard's default is to hide test from students.  You will need to select the feature to make the test visible.

We recommend making the test visible to students as well as having the instructions visible as well.

You can now choose several options about the test.

• Please do not select Forced Completion. This tends to end test because of internet interference and IT cannot help the students.  A timed test that marks and submits the test when it is over works fine.
• You can choose the timed feature and accommodate ADA needs with the Exemptions options.
• You can encourage students to assess their own knowledge by offering multiple attempts with a timed test.

Once you select "submit" the test is deployed and it is added to the Grade Center.

Now that you can create a test, you may want to take advantage of several powerful features of Blackboard.

Question Pools

Question Pools allow the instructors to use questions in multiple assessments. They group questions so that they can be both imported and exported.
To build a pool, you will need to:

1. Go to the Control Panel and select the "Test, Surveys and Pools" option. 
2. Select "Pools"
3. Select "Build Pool" and complete the needed information page. Then hit “select”. 
4. You now have the option to create, find (from within the course) or upload questions to the pool.
5. Either create the questions or find the questions you want, and then submit.

Random Blocks

A random block is a number of questions selected from one or more question pools to be included in a test.

To create a Random Block you will need to select the element desired, such as an existing test.  You will then select "edit" to edit the test.

From the edit section, go to the Reuse Tab and select "Create Random Block":

1. Select questions - these must be from Pools (and not other tests) 
2. Search by criterion and select the questions desired. Then hit submit.
3. Then assign the number of questions to be displayed to students. (This should be less than the total number of questions)
4. Select OK

Final Note

Remember, best practices in test taking is to:

• Treat an online exam as an 'open book' exam and offer students a more authentic learning experience.  By being challenged even when they have the resources at hand, the test is more similar to real world challenges.
• Have multiple attempts and include error replies that identify student weaknesses and offer advice to how they can improve takes the exam past a measure of learning to becoming a vehicle that serves as part of the learning process.  This will allow students to reflect and improve
• Ask questions that require application of the knowledge the assessment is measuring. Design assessments to demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge the ranks higher on Blooms Taxonomy of Learning.  An added bonus of these assessment types is that they are great at reducing cheating (academic dishonesty). 

 Keep these in mind and your assessments can be an effective pedagogical tool.

Course Information Documents

Whether you are teaching a fully online course or a traditional course, students will benefit from you including a set of course information documents in the Learning Management System for them to access.  The documents take advantage of the everywhere/anytime nature of the web as well as afford student with quick answers to the college and course questions.
 
There are several benefits to using a consistent set of Course Information Documents, including:

• Uniform interface across classes helps students focus on the content that is important and not navigating the content.
• A uniform set of course information documents can help dismiss anxiety created from having several different styles and in some cases, no common style at all.
• These offer Another location to access information to assist with the students’ success
• They also supply a space the students can access the syllabus whenever they want, regardless of the time of day.

The following File (Course Information Documents) offers several boilerplate pages for you to use. They include:

1. The Instructor's Contact Information – let the students know how to contact you and a little bit about you.  You personalize this page, and add an image of you or something appropriate for the course (By the way, did you know that students are significantly more likely to give instructors a positive review if they have an introduction page with a short video introduction.)
2. Course Description and Policies – this is where you can remind students of the prerequisites and course policies (such as a late policy)
3. We have two excellent e-books that you will not have to edit at all:

1.  College Policies
2. Academic and Technical Support, offer:
• Updated information  about the college,
• Help desk numbers,
• Crisis hotlines,
• Student Code of Conduct, including Academic Integrity
• Computer Use and Netiquette rules
• Accessibility help and more
• The can be downloaded as a PDF.

4. Course Goals and Grading – let the students see it in a plain in a simple spot. You will want to edit this.  Here is a tip – if you create a chart in WORD, and copy the entire chart, it pastes with perfect formatting into Blackboard!
5. Syllabus & Schedule – simply remove the present files and upload new ones, It is best to upload these as PDFs as they are viewable inline while still offering a download option.

An added benefit to the boilerplate files is that that this upload will include a special playlist feature that will offer students access to a video playlist to assist them in Blackboard.

So please take a few minutes and import the course information documents into your class.  You can then edit them with the information that will customize the documents to reflect your course. Having a centralized set of information documents with a common interface for students and where they can access a printable syllabus helps everyone succeed.

Copy Course

You finally got a great course in Blackboard and you want to use it for next semester.  Maybe you just want to move a part of your course to another course. Blackboard can make this easy.

The Copy Course tool differs from exporting and importing packages by skipping creating an external file for faster content transfer.  Naturally its convenience comes at the cost of not affording you an external back up copy.

To use the course copy tool, you must go to the course that you want to copy content from.  You should note that this is the course you are copying from, and not to the intended recipient of the content.

You can use the Copy Course feature to move select parts of your courses or the entire course to another course by going to "Packages & Utilities" on the Course Menu.  It will be your first option. Select it and you will be brought to the Copy Course page.

You will need to select the destination course -- that is where you want the copy to go. When you do, select destination you want the content to be copied to and select "Submit"

Now it is time to select to the content to be copied.

Select all if you want everything copied. However there are two things to specially note:

1. Selecting the Announcements will copy over your announcements.  If you do not want them, you should deselect them.
2. Likewise, copying the  Discussion Board has two options.  If you do not want all the previous students’ threads copied over to the next course (AND this applies to most of you) be sure the:  Include only the forums, with no starter posts   option is selected.  Check for this first may save you a lot of deleting!

If you want to move only some of the content, you can select many aspects of your course, including

• Rubrics
• Content Folders on the Course Menu
• Tests, Quizzes, and Pools

You may want to note that with the ability to create content folders on the menu, you can virtually move any specific group of items from one course to another.

When you have all the items you want to copy selected, hit submit.

Within moments, all the information will appear in the destination course.

Applied Learning

The ebook  below offers insight, examples, and strategies to develop successful applied learning, as well as service learning, assessments.  Be sure to click on the ebook to experience the 'fullscreen mode" where you can search the book, enlarge the text, and download it as a PDF.

Applied learning refers to an educational approach whereby students learn by engaging in direct application of skills, theories and models. Students apply knowledge and skills gained from traditional classroom learning to hands-on and/or real –world settings, creative projects or independent or directed research, and in turn apply what is gained from applied experience to academic learning. The applied learning activity can occur outside the classroom of the traditional classroom experience and/or be embedded as part of the course. (SUNY definition)

 

 

While there are several who participated in this work, I would like to draw attention to notable support from: 

• Dr. Penny Haynes,
• Renee Adamany,
• Pam Enser,
• Matthew Farron,
• Steve Fragale,
• Dawn Jones,
• Robert Fredericks,
• Sten Isachsen,
• Sabrina McGinty,
• Kim Otis, and
• Ralf Schauer.

 

There's an App for that

Currently most all of our students hold in their hands a device that has more computing power than we the US used to send a man to the moon in 1969.  This is not that that our students are blessed with untold wealth and technology, but that smartphones are so prevalent.  Presently over 33% of the world own a smartphone and it accounts for over 50% of main access to the internet.

The United States, like the rest of the world, has gone mobile. Over 51% of digital media is accessed via a mobile device and the average smartphone owner in the US spends 87 hours per month viewing their mobile device.  Mobile devices are the primary means of internet access for Black and Hispanic populations as well as for most lower-income families.  After 5pm, mobile technology, including tablets such as the iPad, is the most common means for individuals to access the internet.

Given this information it seems odd that most colleges not only lag behind the adoption of this technology, but actively adopt policies that discourage their use.  Phones are thought of as distractions instead of tools.  However, each smartphone is effectively a Swiss-army everything tool that gives the user flexibility like no other educational tool in the past. Most phones today standardly offer students:

• Camera
• Sound recorder
• Video camera and editing
• GPS device
• PDA
• Scanner
• Compass

They also offer the means to distribute digital files to the internet.  This means that they can otherwise capture or collect information from almost anywhere and share it with their class through a LMS or social media site.

The question is not, “Can they do this?”

The question is, “How can we use this ability for effective pedagogical purposes?”

Principles for Effective Online Instruction

30 years ago Chickering and Gamson published “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.  Their work is a culmination of 50 years of research on effective teaching practices.  Ironically, the majority of instructors in higher education are still not aware of this work or how it could benefit their instruction.  This oversight is commonly an instance of instructors overlooking self-reflection, and asking how they can improve their teaching by adopting proven successful teaching strategies.

In Stanley Kubric’s 2001: Space Odyssey – the apes as well as everyone in the audience is reflecting on the obelisk. When you realize that the obelisk is a metaphor for the screen that the audience is watching, you can reflect on how the film affects you.  Similarly you can recognize the technology and reflect on how the medium is affecting you.   Sometimes instructors do not reflect on how they are teaching and what principles they could employ because they do not have the time or their appeal to tradition.  After all, they conjecture, if this is how they learned material, why should they change?

Years ago we did not have Learning Management Systems, ubiquitous access to the World Wide Web, and more computing power in our hands than what was used to place an astronaut on the moon.  Perhaps we should touch the screen, engage in self-reflection, and investigate what are the best practices for teaching while employing this technology.

Traditional Courses and Online Tests

There are several reasons for adopting online tests for a traditional (face-to-face) course.  The technology employs randomization to ensure each student receives a unique test and that the answer selections vary to prevent cheating.  The online nature also allows computers to increase accessibility for students, and accommodating ADA concerns is easier as well as more discrete.  Further, offering the test outside of class both can remove environmental factors that could impede student performance while freeing up more time for student-teacher interaction.  Finally, in developing successful online exams, we need to rethink exams to promote self-assessment which can be accomplished by treating the exam as an open-book exam.    Over all, this re-evaluation of evaluations assists us in developing a more pedagogically sound course.

 It is important to rethink the actual purpose of an assessment.  Are we trying to get a grade for the student or is the goal to teach the student?  If our goal is the latter you should definitely design the exam with feedback.  Having feedback to correct errors is critical in early stages.  Traditionally students have to wait days, if not weeks, to get feedback on their mistakes. This feedback is sometime not informative as well.  The benefit of online exams is that they can be created such that errors can been identified and students can be supplied with why they are incorrect and where they can go to discover the correct answers.  By empowering students with this knowledge, the test can motivate the student to review material that they have the weakest understanding. Consequently, the students will be working on learning the material better.

By developing tests that afford multiple attempts, students have an incentive to reflect on areas they need improvement and the opportunity to improve.  Swift feedback can encourage students to review areas that they have not yet mastered.  The exam becomes more of an active skill building tool, instead of a quick means to assign a grade.  Coincidentally, since an online environment may have several pitfalls, such as spotty WiFi, having multiple attempts to master the material also become best practices for both practical and pedagogical reasons.

If you haven’t considered adopting online exams instead of having an exam within your class, you should consider trying it once.  There is more work up-front in developing the question sets and the feedback. However, you will find that the adoption is very rewarding.  Besides not having to spend much energy on grading after the exams are taken, your students will better understand the material and succeed.

Creating a Text Course Link

There are times you may want to create a link to course content, such as a content page, or to a discussion forum.  A simple way to do this is to create a link in the content area by selecting “Build Content” and then select “Course Link”.
This solution is limited.

What if you want to add a link in some place other than within a content folder?
For example, you want to create an announcement to remind students that they need to post within a discussion forum.  It would be optimal if you could just link the text directly to the forum from the announcement.  What you are looking for is an Internal Text Course Link.

To create an Internal Text Course Link:

1. Go to the area you want to link to, but do not enter the file.  Instead put your mouse over the page name.  This is a text link already.  Right click on the link and select “Copy Shortcut” if you are using Internet Explorer, ”Copy Link Location” in Firefox, and “Copy Link address” in Chrome.
   
   Note: Do not copy the URL from the Address bar above in your browser. 
   This may include information that will not work when others select the link.
2. Open the editor where you want to add the link.
3.  Find the text you want to link to (you may need to create this).  Then select the link button on the browser.  It looks like a chain link and will only be active if text is highlighted.  A box will pop-up.  Paste the copied link into the box labeled “Link Address”. You can also select the setting for your target and then select “Insert”.
4.  Now that you linked the text, you are done.  Just finish the task in the editor and remember to “Submit”.

You have just created an internal text course link.  This links are very useful and breaking down barriers and encouraging students to research. However, due to the local nature of the internal link, if you were to copy this course into another (say, for the next semester).  The link would not work. So try not to rely on these links in your course design. It is not efficient.

Accepting this word of caution, there are several positive aspects of these internal links.  They remove extra levels or barriers that may otherwise discourage learners from going to the link’s target. Whenever you make it easier for the student, they are more likely to succeed.

So, feel free to share this information and help fellow instructors make the most out of Blackboard.  

Set for External Grade

You started your course and you are considering revisiting your grade book - good.  As you look at the Grade Center, you will see that the default is to include a “Total” and “Weighted Total” column.  You will also notice that a green checkmark appears next to the “Total” column and no other column.  Is this important?

The green checkmark on the left of the column represents that the column is set to appear externally from the course.  In Blackboard the course selects one column to extract and collect to give the students an overall snapshot of all the student’s course grades such as when using the My Grades feature on the Institution Page.

It is important that this selected column is meaningful, otherwise students will be either be misinformed or receive cryptic misinformation about their grade.  While the “Total” column is the default column that is set external, you should set the external column to reflect the students’ actual grades in a meaningful way. Similarly you might consider changing the column’s title from “Weighted Total”, to a term that makes sense to the students, such as “Your Grade So Far.”
When you do this, you supply feedback more effectively and help keep the students focused on the course. Supplying prompt informative feedback is a key part of meeting Gamson and Chickering’s 4^th principle of good practice for education. Coincidentally, it also helps retain students and contributes to their success.

How do you set a column to be external?

If you wish to designate a different column as the External Grade Column, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Full Grade Center.
2. Click the action link, or chevron, for the column that is to be designated as the External Grade Column
3. From the drop-down menu that appears, select Set as External Grade

You are done.
Once you complete these steps, the green checkmark will be assigned to this column - confirming that it is the External Grade column.

Remember, choose your External Column wisely.  This can help motivate students and keep them more engaged within the class.  It only take brief moment, but selecting a meaningful column to be set as External Grade can help your students succeed.  

Configuring the Grade Center Part 2

Working with the Total and the Weighted Columns.

 When configuring the Grade Center it is important to know the difference between the Total and Weighted Columns. 

1. The Total column is the total points the student collected.  If you want, you can also display this in a letter grade or percentages.  It would be best to have the total as points, and the second column is for the faculty’s eyes only.
   
   A lazy way of grading would be to make all tests worth a set point and then set the total to a percentage.  This will give you the final grade in percentages based proportionately on the points assigned to each graded activity.
    
2. Weighted column allows for the heart of the grading to take place.  It will take whatever the points are and calculate them to the grading schema that you determine.

The Weighted Column gives you a large array of options when developing a grading schema.  If you scroll down you notice that you can grade based on either:
   i. Categories.  You can choose to calculate the category (and Blackboard will do the calculations for you. This method allows you to:

• Drop the lowest grade in a category
• You can also chose to use only the lowest or highest grades as well

     ii.   Columns (Assignments)    You can select each assignment to do the job. – again, you will simply add the corresponding percentage needed.
    iii.       You can select a hybrid – of assignment (such as a single type activity like a Final Exam)

The Total Weight below will show you the percent to be calculated.  You should be sure that this amounts to 100%.

Now you are practically done. You can select the student viewing options and submit.

When you are done with either the form of grade calculations, you should double check to make sure all the appropriate assignments are included and afterwards ensure that both categories and the correct points are affiliated with the recorded grades.

Remember, preparing in advance saves you the any trouble down the road and makes the learning expereince easier for student to succeed.

Configuring the Grade Center Part 1

Configuring the Gradebook.

1. When you create an assignment or test Blackboard automatically includes the grade in the gradebook.  Make sure that the “Include in Grade Center” grading calculations option is selected.  This should be defaulted for assignments, but sometimes developers accidentally de-select it.  This also applies to tests as well.
2. With Discussions Forums be sure to include the grade in the grade center
3. Any other activity that will be graded should also have a corresponding grade center listing as well

Including Activities in the Grade Center

Let’s look at how to format the Grade Center, which you may know as the Grade Book. In this video we will look at two parts key in providing the grade to the grade center.
1. Including an activity in the Grade Center
2. Managing the Column/activities in the Grade Center

First, let’s examine how to include an activity in the Grade Center

1. When you create an assignment or test, Blackboard automatically includes the grade in the grade center. However, when making an assignment, be sure that the “Include in Grade Center” grading calculations option is selected. This should be defaulted for assignments, but sometimes developers accidentally de-select it. This also applies to tests as well. 
2.  With Discussions Forums be sure to include the grade in the grade center. They are not the default, so be sure to select this grading calculation option.
3. Any other activity that will be graded should also have a corresponding grade center listing as well
4. If you imported the assignment/activity, it should be included in the Grade Center. However, it is good practice to check.

Now let's look in the Full Grade Center.

5. Go to the Grade Center

a. Each assignment is represented as a column. 

1.  To edit the assignment in the grade center, be sure to select the edit column information feature from the edit chevron of the column.
2. Now you can edit the column. You can select two ways to display the information – the second will be for the instructor’s eyes only. 
3. On the bottom of the page, you will also have options to allow students to see the column.
4. Be sure that the settings are selected in line with how you wish to have the grade center displayed for students.
5. Hit submit to save. Hit Cancel and it wont matter.

b. Besides editing the column (which can allow you to assign categories) , the Chevron on each column will allow you to hide the column from students.

c. From the Manage column, you can organize the grades by selecting ‘Column Organization’

      i. Here you can control where the grade center ordering of graded activities (columns) (top is left)
     ii. You can also quickly check to see that each assignment has to correctly assigned category.

The next post will continue with how to calculate students grades with a weighted column in Configuring the Grade Center Part 2.