Glossary of Terms for Blackboard Vista
-A tutorial for UH College of Education faculty, staff, and students-
Blackboard Vista 8—
The grade center is a new and easy-to-use smart grading tool built to save teachers
time, provide ultimate flexibility and offer powerful analysis. This tool provides
students and appropriate stakeholders with insight into the student’s academic
progress. By dramatically simplifying the grading process, the grade center is a
powerful instructional tool. http://www.uh.edu/webct
What do you want to do?
I would like to learn the basic terms and definitions of Blackboard Vista tools.
Tools
Determine which tools can be used in the course. You can add and remove tools as necessary.
Course Menu
Modify the appearance of the course menu.
Colors
Choose colors for the course.
Course Content Icons
Choose an icon set for course content.
Settings
Edit settings for tools.
Import
Import content into the course.
Course Preview Page Setup
Set up the Course Preview Page for the course.
Date Rollover/ Calendar
Adjust dates for course items.
Course Content
You can use the Course Content tool to create and organize content in logical units that are
meaningful to Students.
Manage Course
The Manage Course area is a central place containing features that you use to customize a course
(Tools, Course Menu, Colors, Content Icons, Import, etc…).
Assignment Dropbox
After Students complete and submit their assignments, you use the Assignment Dropbox tool to
view, manage, and evaluate submissions.
Grade Book
Grade Book's main purposes are to view, enter, and manage grades for all Students and Auditors,
and to grant or deny access to the course for all members.
Grading Forms
The Grading Forms tool provides a more granular way of grading Students' work by identifying
specific criteria and levels of performance against the criteria (rubric creator).
Tracking
With the Tracking tool, you can run reports on various Student activities in your course during a
specified date range.
Created by, Velvette Laurence 2009 Glossary of Terms for Blackboard Vista
-A tutorial for UH College of Education faculty, staff, and students-
Organizational Tools
Calendar
Enter important events and deadlines, and allow Students to enter their own events.
Search
Search for content in the course.
Syllabus
Provide course requirements, objectives, and policies.
Group Manager
The Group Manager tool allows you to group members in your course and create assignments for
each group.
Selective Release
You can use the Selective Release tool to control the release of items and folders, all from a single
page.
Folder
Helps to organize similar content into folders.
Communication Tools
Announcements
Post important information in a central location.
Chat
Chat with other users in the course in real time, or use the Whiteboard to display images.
Discussions
Post and respond to messages on specific topics (similar to a threaded forum).
Mail
Send messages to other users.
Roster
View profiles for course members. Users can edit their own profile.
Who's Online
Chat with other users who are logged in to the Learning System.
Student Learning Activities
Assessments
Create quizzes, self tests, and surveys.
Assignments
Create assignments for Students to submit online. Students can work independently or in groups.
Goals
Create goals that list the qualitative and quantitative performance expected in your course.
Content Tools
Learning Modules
Organize and present content and activities to Students.
Created by, Velvette Laurence 2009 Glossary of Terms for Blackboard Vista
-A tutorial for UH College of Education faculty, staff, and students-
Local Content
Allow Students to easily access large files from a portable medium, such as CD-ROM, instead of
downloading the files from the Learning System.
Media Library
Create a glossary or image collection.
SCORM
Import SCORM-compliant packages, or modules, to be used as course content. SCORM modules can
be added to the Home Page, other folders, and learning modules.
Web Links
Create links to Internet resources.
Add File
Locate files on your desktop or within Blackboard and add it to your course homepage/folder.
Turnitin Assignment, Voice Authoring, Voice Board, Voice Email, Voice Presentation,
Wimba Classroom, Wimba Podcaster
Interactive tools that help communicate with students in a variety of ways.
Student Tools
My Files/ File Manager
Allow Students to store their own files.
My Grades
Allow Students to check their grades.
My Progress
Allow Students to track their own progress.
Notes
Allow Students to take notes.
If you have any questions regarding the content of this tutorial please contact WebCT
(http://www.uh.edu/webct) or the CITE Lab Help desk at 713-743-9833. ☺
Created by, Velvette Laurence 2009