Towson University Blackboard: A Comprehensive Guide

Towson University (TU) utilizes Blackboard as its primary learning management system, providing a digital classroom environment for instructors and students. This article will delve into the various aspects of Blackboard at TU, covering course management, features, support, and future developments.

What is Blackboard?

Blackboard serves as a central hub for online learning at Towson University. Within Blackboard, instructors can create and manage courses, upload lessons and assignments, and utilize tools to facilitate interaction with students. Students, in turn, can access course materials, submit assignments, participate in discussions, and track their grades.

Course Creation and Management

Blackboard courses are automatically generated through the PeopleSoft system, ensuring seamless integration with student enrollment data. Instructors have the flexibility to customize their Blackboard courses to suit their specific teaching needs. This includes organizing content into modules, creating assignments with specific deadlines and grading rubrics, and utilizing communication tools such as announcements and discussion forums.

Moving Your Course Online

Towson University provides resources and support to help instructors transition their courses to the online environment. This includes guidance on designing engaging online activities, utilizing multimedia content, and effectively using Blackboard's communication tools to foster student interaction.

Combining Courses

To streamline course management, instructors can submit a Course Combine request to merge enrollments from multiple sections into a single Blackboard course site. This is particularly useful for instructors teaching multiple sections of the same course, as it allows them to manage all students and course materials in one central location.

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Shell Courses

Many instructors utilize a "shell course" as a master template for their courses. This shell course contains all the core course materials, assignments, and resources. Each semester, instructors can copy the contents of the shell course into their individual course sites, ensuring consistency across all sections of the course, regardless of the instructor. Students do not have access to this master course shell.

Key Features and Functionality

Blackboard offers a wide range of features and tools to enhance the online learning experience. Some of the key features include:

Assignments: Instructors can create and manage assignments, providing students with clear instructions, deadlines, and grading rubrics. Students can submit assignments directly through Blackboard, and instructors can provide feedback and grades online.
Gradebook: The Blackboard Gradebook allows instructors to track student performance and provide feedback on assignments and assessments. Instructors can customize the Gradebook to suit their specific grading policies and can generate reports to analyze student performance.
Announcements: Instructors can use announcements to communicate important information to students, such as changes to the course schedule, upcoming deadlines, and important reminders.
Discussion Forums: Blackboard's discussion forums provide a platform for students to engage in online discussions and collaborate with their peers. Instructors can create discussion forums on specific topics and encourage students to participate actively.
Tests and Quizzes: Instructors can create and administer tests and quizzes online using Blackboard's assessment tools. These tools allow instructors to create a variety of question types, set time limits, and provide automated feedback to students.

Recent and Upcoming Enhancements

Towson University's Blackboard team continuously works to improve the platform and add new features based on user feedback. Some recent and upcoming enhancements include:

Download all parts of a graded assignment: Allows instructors to download all components of a graded assignment, including the original submission and any associated files.
Add 'download original file' in the alternative formats user interface: Provides students with an easy way to download the original file in alternative formats, improving accessibility.
Do NOT create an attempt when students view an assignment: Prevents the creation of an unnecessary attempt record when a student simply views an assignment.
Preserve formatting in assignment files: Ensures that the formatting of assignment files is preserved when submitted and viewed in Blackboard.
Faculty override should mean that an attempt is graded: Clarifies that a faculty override in the Gradebook indicates that an attempt has been graded.
Allow "submitted" to be a trigger for release conditions: Enables instructors to use the "submitted" status of an assignment as a trigger for releasing subsequent content.
Needs Grading: Highlights assignments that require grading in the Gradebook.
Course Activity Log: Provides instructors with a detailed log of student activity within the course.
Advanced Adaptive Release: Allows instructors to create more complex adaptive release rules, tailoring content to individual student needs.
Anonymous response for Forms: Enables instructors to collect anonymous feedback from students using Blackboard Forms.
Floating Save Button: Provides a more convenient save button within the content editor.
Ability to Print Tests: Allows instructors and students to print tests and quizzes directly from Blackboard.
Set default point value for test questions to 1 vs 10: Simplifies the process of creating tests by setting the default point value for questions to 1.
Grade by question without refreshing: Enables instructors to grade test questions individually without having to refresh the page.
More compact view of gradebook grid: Provides a more streamlined view of the Gradebook, making it easier to navigate and manage grades.
Allow self-enroll via link (without course catalog): Allows instructors to provide students with a direct link to self-enroll in their course, bypassing the course catalog.
Be able to send reminder from gradebook: Enables instructors to send reminders to students who have not yet submitted assignments.
Ability to unpost announcements in bulk: Allows instructors to unpost multiple announcements at once.
Feedback for grade overrides in the gradebook: Provides instructors with a way to add feedback when overriding grades in the Gradebook.
Advanced Adaptive Release - Multiple Rules (feature parity Ultra): Provides instructors using the Ultra interface with the ability to create multiple rules for advanced adaptive release.

Blackboard Learn Ultra

Towson University utilizes Blackboard Learn Ultra, the latest version of the platform. Blackboard Ultra features a modern, intuitive interface and is updated monthly through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) deployment. This ensures that TU's Blackboard environment is always up-to-date with the latest features and security enhancements.

Support and Resources

Towson University provides a variety of support resources to help instructors and students effectively use Blackboard. These resources include:

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Blackboard Procedures and Guidelines (PDF): A comprehensive document outlining the policies and procedures for using Blackboard at TU.
TU Online Reservation System: Allows instructors to book appointments with Blackboard support staff for personalized assistance.
TechStatus: Provides real-time information on Blackboard outages and system maintenance.
Blackboard Workshops: The Blackboard team offers workshops on various topics related to Blackboard, providing hands-on training and guidance.
Discussion Board: An online forum where users can ask questions and share tips and best practices for using Blackboard.
Quick Response: Users can get a quick response from a Blackboard staff member during business hours.

Important Considerations

Instructional Lecture Capture Release Form: If instructional lecture capture of students are captured, the Instructional Lecture Capture Release Form must be used.

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tags: #towson #university #blackboard #information