Getting to Know Ted
A GUIDE TO THE PERSONALITY OF WEBCT’S
SUCCESSOR, BLACKBOARD LEARN 9
Topics
 Navigating Ted
 Imported Courses from WebCT
 New Courses
 Content Tools
 Collaboration & Communication Tools
 Tests, Assignments, and Grades
Little Goodies
 Open links in new tabs! (Mostly)
 Don’t get logged out every 15 minutes
 Java only required for Chat/Virtual
Classroom tool
 No Browser Check
 Drag to re-order list items
Importing from WebCT
When you request a course website:
 We will migrate the most recent offering of your
course to Blackboard
 A new blank course site will be created for your
current class
 You may choose to import as much content as you
like
Watch a demonstration video:
http://iwdc.ucsd.edu/ted/

click Copy Content from an Imported WebCT site
Navigating Ted: Landing Page
Navigating Ted: WebCT Equivalents
Build Tab
Course Menu
Syllabus
Course Content
Instructor/Desig
ner Tools
Gradebook,
Student Submissions
Manage Course
Setting Up a New Course
 Course menu includes a default set of
common locations

All course tools available, via Tools link
 Organization
 Add tools, content area to Menu


Can add as many Content areas as desired
Add files, folders, and tools to Content
Areas
 When Edit Mode is off, you see the
same items students see

Items hidden from students may be used in
Edit Mode
Course Content
Files, folders, assignments, and other tools listed along page
• Consistent look between all courses
Course Content: Adding Content
With Edit Mode on, buttons appear allowing you to add content to the page.
Course Content: Post a File
 From the Build Content menu, select File
Select the file from
your computer
Course Content: Adding Tools
From the Content page,
add links to Tests,
Assignments,
Discussions, and other
class tools.
For all tools (except Assignments)
Select Tool
Type
Select
<NEW> or
Existing
Set Up Tool
Options
Select New
or
<Existing>
Set Up
Link
Options
Learning Modules: Organized Content
• As with
WebCT, Build
content
designed to be
viewed in a
sequential
order
 New Feature:
Enforce sequential
viewing order
Mail Tools
 WebCT’s Mail tool
 Messages stayed inside the class website
 A copy of the content was emailed to students, but they had to return to
WebCT to reply
Replaced by two tools with complementary features:
 Messages: Send a message inside Blackboard



Maintains a stand-alone mailbox, with Inbox, Sent folders
Student not notified via email
Used as equivalent to Mail in classes imported from WebCT
 Email: Sends a regular email to students
 Once the message is sent, no involvement in Blackboard



No Sent folder to maintain history of sent messages
No notification to students in Blackboard
Email appears to come from your email address, so students can reply
directly to message
Mail Tools
 Available on Tools
page
 … or add directly to
the Course Menu
Check this if you want
students to use the tool
Discussions
 Topics are organized in Forums. Click Create
Forum to add a Forum for each distinct topic of
conversation (Papers, Tests, Administrative)



Instructor may choose to moderate posts
Students may opt to subscribe to forums, to receive an email
notification when a new message is posted
No longer allows Forums to be organized into Categories
Blogs and Journals
 Provides a place for individuals or groups to share
information and opinions with the class


Journal: Record of progress and notes; only the instructors may
respond
Blog: Publish opinions or progress, where others in the course may
post feedback comments
 Easier to find in Ted: Add via Add Interactive Tool,
making them easier to find and add to your course
Wiki
 Provides a place for students to work together as a
class or in groups to create content
 Completely contained within Ted



No longer requires using a separate tool on a separate website
Easily set up separate private spaces for groups
Integrated with grading

Assists you evaluating individual students’ contributions
Chat and Whiteboard
 Chat: Basic messaging
 Virtual Classroom:
Includes whiteboard and
other features



Present other class content to
viewers in chat window
Hand-raising
Breakout sessions
Calendar
 More basic
 Fewer options for
visibility and viewing
 No recurring events
 As with the Email
tool: Listed on Tools
page, may be added
to Course Menu
Assessments
 Now called a Test or Survey



Includes many new question types
Less chance to lose students’ responses
Generally a long list of reduced features (most are
rarely-used customizations)
 Grading moved to Grade Center
Assignments
 Functionality largely
unchanged



Student attaches file to
submission
Instructor decides whether to
allow “drafts”
Instructor may return file with
grade
 Grading moved to
Grade Center
Turn-It-In Assignments
 Little changed WebCT




Use TurnItIn inside WebCT window
without a separate username/password
No confusing Settings page, as in
WebCT’s Build tab
Instructor may submit on behalf of a
student by clicking link to assignment
View Assignment Inbox from
Control Panel > Course Tools
 Grading moved to Grade Center
i>Clicker Registration
Student i>Clicker registration is
identical to WebCT:
1.
Instructors add a Registration
tool to a Content page
2.
Students click Registration tool,
and type in their i>Clicker ID
1.
3.
May take up to a minute to load!
Instructor then uses i>Grader
tool to synchronize
registrations
For more information, visit:
http://iwdc.ucsd.edu/iclicker
Gradebook: Grade Center
 Consolidates grade options to one place

In WebCT, there might be many different places where
you could set a column as Released to Students
 Easier column types

All columns “scores”, but can
be displayed as
Number
 Percent (relative to points possible)
 Letter, according to “schema” you define
 Score may be entered as letter or number

 No more Histogram in statistics

Does have text chart of grade distribution
 No more Grading Forms

Can associate a Rubric with an assignment, but does not use it to
help with grading
Gradebook: Needs Grading
 Shows Ungraded Tests, Assignments,
and TurnItIn assignments

For Tests and Assignments, may choose
“Grade Anonymously” to grade all students’
submissions in random order, with student’s
name hidden during grading process
Gradebook Equivalents: Grade Center
 More spreadsheet-like
 Click on a grade to make changes in the same window
 Use arrows to move to next student
Weighted columns
Quicker access to
column settings
Show only interesting
columns
Know at a glance
what students see
Click on a score
to edit in place
Upload/Download
Spreadsheet
Highlights
To-Do Items
Weighted Columns
 Much easier to create a
weighted score
 Easy to exempt a student
from an assignment, so
the weighted score
ignores that assignment
Any Questions?
 … about something covered too quickly?
 … something you use a lot in WebCT?
 … something you wish WebCT did differently?
Thank you!
 More information
 Email: iwdc@ucsd.edu
 Phone: x23315
 Frequently Answered Questions:
http://iwdc.ucsd.edu/ted


This will grow as we get more questions – feel free to contact us!
Resources from Blackboard: Look for the
Instructor & Designer Resources - Ted Training class
when you log in to http://ted.ucsd.edu