Course Tools

Step-by-Step Guides

The guides listed below provide Step-by-Step instructions on each specific function. Also included in the guides is a short explanation of the feature.

The more interactivity and communication you have with your students, the better the learning process will be for them and you. Blackboard provides several tools that help you communicate and interact with students.

Announcements

The Announcements area is a great place to GRAB YOU STUDENT'S ATTENTION. This is the first page the students see when they enter a Blackboard course so it is a natural place to put time sensitive information: IMPORTANT ATTENTION GRABBERS such as changes to the course schedule, assignment due dates, reminders of guest speakers, etc.

Email

Blackboard has a built-in email function that allows both instructors and students to email individual course members, or the entire course roster. Students, instructors and teaching assistants are automatically added to the mailing list when they enroll in the course. Instructors have overall control of this feature and can limit student access to emailing instructors or teaching assistants only.Attachments can be sent when emailing via Blackboard as well.

IMPORTANT: Students must setup their email in their SDSU Web Portal. Instructors must setup their email directly in the Blackboard system. See the following procedure on how to Setup and Send Email via Blackboard.

Discussion Boards

Another communication tool in Blackboard is the Discussion Board. This feature is also called a threaded discussion or discussion forum. In the Discussion Board user conversations are logged and organized. Conversations are grouped into forums that contain threads and all related replies. Attachments can be added to individual responses.

Some suggested ways to use the Discussion Board are:

Have students post an introductory message about themselves
Have comment areas on specific reading assignments or projects
Create an area where the students can ask and answer questions of each other
Set up an "Office Hours" forum for questions on course requirements

Assignments

The Add Assignments is a great way to recieve documents from your students and provide private feedback. Using this feature, students submit papers via Blackboard to the instructor. Using the gradebook, the instructor is then able to provide and send private feedback to individual students.

Student Pages

The Student Pages are a great way for you to get to know your students, and for students to get to know each other and helps to facilitate a sense of community in online classes.

Group Pages

Blackboard has the ability to organize students into smaller study groups. The group function is very useful when students are working in teams and where asynchronous collaboration is needed. Groups provide private areas that students and TA's can utilize for discussions, file sharing, and quick e-mail access.

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