Blackboard for Instructors:
Getting started with Blackboard at UO
JQ Johnson
Academic Education Coordinator
University of Oregon
jqj@darkwing.uoregon.edu
This presentation
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Blackboard at The University of Oregon
How can Blackboard improve teaching? (a
student’s view of a typical course)
How does an instructor use blackboard?
Discussion: what’s in it for me?
Timeline of UO Blackboard project
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Need assessment (1996-1999): evaluated a variety of
course management systems
Evaluation (spring 1999): trial courses using WebCT
and Blackboard
Implementation (summer 1999-spring 2000):
licensed Blackboard for pilot project
Production (summer 2000): Blackboard becomes
standard library service
Planned upgrade (fall 2003): to Blackboard 6
Enterprise Edition
Results to date: consistent growth in
usage
400
14000
350
12000
300
coursesites
users
250
10000
8000
200
6000
150
4000
100
2000
50
0
0
sum. fall win. spr. sum. fall win. spr. sum. fall win. spr. sum. fall win.
1999 1999 2000 2000 2000 2000 2001 2001 2001 2001 2002 2002 2002 2002 2003
active student users
active course sites
Blackboard Usage at UO
Results to date: a very popular tool
Statistics as of Nov 2002:
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12,215 student users (2/3 of
university population)
305 active coursesites
415 instructors teaching using
Blackboard during fall 2002
19,435 student-course enrollments
Approximately 400,000 web server
hits/day
Approximately 10000 sessions/day
“I think it's a real tribute
to the design of
Blackboard that I was up
and running after a four
hour workshop. I've
been impressed from the
get-go.”
Elizabeth Hoffman
Instructor
Arts & Administration
2000
What is Blackboard?
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A commercial, web-based “Course Management
System”
Integrated environment offering wide variety of
features for teaching
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access control: only enrolled students may view course
easy web publishing of syllabus, lecture notes, etc.
asynchronous communication: announcements, threaded
discussion, surveys
synchronous communication: chat room, virtual whiteboard
online quizzes and gradebook
collaborative workgroups
The UO Blackboard home page:
http://blackboard.uoregon.edu
A Blackboard CourseSite
http://blackboard.uoregon.edu/courses/PSY201JJF
Course Documents
Lecture Notes
Integrated discussion forum
Online quizzes
Typical UO Blackboard users
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Courses in a wide range of disciplines:
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Art and Gender
Intro to Business
Introduction to Native American Literature
Introductory Psychology
Architecture
Organic Chemistry
etc.
Adopters tend to cluster in particular departments
Different instructors use different features
Different instructors have different pedagogical goals
Getting started
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First step for an instructor is to get an
account. Second, is to request a CourseSite
for a particular course and term
Most instructors start slow – first term
teaching with Blackboard uses only a few
features
Example: Intro to Business (BA101W02)
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Large lecture course (~1200 students/term)
with minimal staff support
Pedagogical goal: Blackboard primarily used
to improve/streamline course administration
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Course announcements
“Just in time” lecture notes
On-line self-assessments (quiizzes)
FAQ (reduce demand for office hours)
Posting marks securely
Example: Finance: Value thru Capital
(BA318W02)
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Mid-sized lecture course (~125 students)
Pedagogical goal: to “create the optimum
learning community” thru wide variety of
approaches. Blackboard used for
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Course announcements (more current than inclass)
Copies of all handouts and lecture notes online for
student convenience (“just in case” publishing)
Online quizzes (avoids using valuable lecture time)
Example: Introductory Psychology
(PSY201JJFw01)
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Lecture+section. Pedagogical goal: replace existing web
site (used only for course documents), with support for:
Active learning:
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Online practice quizzes (with answers, immediate feedback)
Online demos, links to web resources, real-world applications
Collaborative learning: discussion forum as supplement
to tutorial (f2f discussion) sections
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Creates sense of community despite lecture format
Different students perform well on-line (e.g. non-native English
speakers)
Students generally more thoughtful when posting than speaking
Allows interaction among students outside of normal class times
Example: Arch 282/682, “Harbor Hills
Village” (Village)
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Architecture course designing a new housing complex
Pedagogical problem: how to conduct a meaningful
(ecologically valid) review of student designs taking
advantage of outside experts
Used chat tool and electronic whiteboard to
implement virtual design reviews
“I have 7-8 professionals around the country and in different
parts of the world lined up to act as remote critics for my
studio project. In order for them to interact with the
students, … these professionals can log on to blackboard in
order to use the chat feature.”
Features in widespread use at UO
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“Fill in the blanks” easy web page creation
(e.g., announcements, annotations)
Posting syllabus and course assignments
Posting lecture materials (html, MS
Powerpoint, PDF, etc.)
Threaded discussion forum
Gradebook
Features in moderate use
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Online quizzes (usually low-stakes; e.g., selfassessment)
Surveys
Group communication features
Student web pages
Digital dropbox
Integrated calendar, todo lists
E-mail interface
Developing course materials
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Faculty develop their own materials
Faculty Instructional Training Center provides
guidance and resources, but not labor
Library and Teaching Effectiveness Program provide
additional training
Some departments assign graduate student teaching
assistants or clerical staff to Blackboard support and
development
Library can provide assistance in locating materials
(reference material for students and learning objects
for instructors)
Helping students use Blackboard
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Students get accounts and coursesite membership
automatically based on CRN enrollment
Most students need minimal or no help using system
Refer student questions:
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Knight Library ITC (only common problem is first-time login)
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http://blackboard.uoregon.edu/local/help.html
Typical text for a syllabus:
The web site for this course uses "Blackboard." On the web site, you will find
general announcements for the class, all documents for the course (including this
syllabus), lecture notes, on-line discussions, links to relevant web sites, and more. You
can get to the course web site by going to http://blackboard.uoregon.edu. You can get
help starting by going to the Knight Library Information Technology Center (ITC).
Plan to check the course site at least twice a week. In addition, you should post
contributions to the online discussion list at least 4 times during the term (and no more
than twice a week).
For more information
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This presentation:
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj/
presentations/bbintro.ppt
University of Oregon Blackboard site:
http://blackboard.uoregon.edu
UO Blackboard help file:
http://blackboard.uoregon.edu/local/help.html
UO Faculty Instructional Technology Training Center:
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/fittc/
JQ Johnson: jqj@darkwing.uoregon.edu