eLearning@UQ, The University of Queensland

This page provides links to many resources which will help you use Blackboard in particular, and best utilise eLearning in general. Blackboard is relatively new to UQ, and resources (especially ‘How-To’s’) will be continue to be developed over time, and added to this page.

The resources listed below are a mix of UQ-developed resources, Blackboard-developed resources and offerings from other universities and training organisations.

Tip Sheets, Tutorials and Animations

Starting with Blackboard
Adding Content
Communications and Collaboration
Assessment

Other Sources of Reference

Behind the Blackboard for Instructors (Blackboard’s own training resources)
Other Training Organisations

Note: Don’t forget that Blackboard has its own comprehensive online User Manual. It’s accessed through the Control Panel, in the Support block.

Starting with Blackboard

Documents

Blackboard Basics (PDF, 12 pages, 341kb)
A good place to start, this document covers obtaining a site at UQ, creating a site (adding a Content Area, adding content, adding Tools, using Communications Tools), adding a Teaching Assistant, and making the Course available to your students. The three Annexes cover the Control Panel, Course Roles and Further Assistance at UQ.

Getting Started (PDF, 9 pages, 148kb)
Blackboard tip sheet which starts from scratch and covers accessing your course, overview of a course site, navigating, completing course assignments, communication tools and student tools.

Instructor’s Manual (PDF, 381 pages, 4.59mb)
The hardcopy version of the online manual available from the Control Panel (Support section). It contains chapters on Content Areas, Course Tools, Course Options, User Management and Assessment.

Building a Blackboard Course Web Site Checklist (PDF, 3 pages, 25kb)
Blackboard tip sheet providing a basic guide to creating and managing a course website..

Course Roles (PDF, 6 pages, 233kb) (Course_Roles_Bb6)
Blackboard tip sheet defining the privileges associated with each Course Role in Blackboard (Teaching Assistant, Course Builder, Grader etc).

Field Lengths (PDF, 2 pages, 20kb) (Bb6_FieldLengths_TipSheet)
Blackboard tip sheet listing all the text fields in Blackboard, and the number of characters you can put into each one.

Animations

Modifying Your Course Design (HTML/SWF, 409kb)
Blackboard animation demonstrating how to add a Course Banner and customise your Course Menu.

Adding Content

Documents

Using Learning Units (PDF, 4 pages, 381kb)
If you prefer your learning materials to be delivered in a structured path (eg a Word document followed by a PowerPoint show followed by some photographs followed by a Test) rather than available in any order, a Learning Unit will allow this.

Saving PowerPoint as a Website (PDF, 3 pages, 237kb)
Blackboard tip sheet explaining how to save a PowerPoint presentation in HTML format for quicker download and easier access.

Linking to Offline Content (PDF, 4 pages, 247kb)
Blackboard tip sheet explaining how to link to content stored on a CD, shared network or compressed archive (eg Zip file). (The title on the actual document is inaccurate, but the content is correct.)

Importing a Website into Blackboard (PDF, 4 pages, 139kb)
Blackboard tip sheet explaining how to prepare your external website for importing (‘zipping’ it), and then importing it into your Blackboard site.

Using Basic HTML (PDF, 4 pages, 189kb) (Using_Basic_HTML)
Blackboard tip sheet explaining how to modify the appearance of Blackboard’s default 12 point, left-justified Arial font (bold, italic, colour, size, font etc).

Animations

Building a Learning Unit (HTML/SWF, 1,000kb)
Blackboard animation demonstrating how to build a Learning Unit which delivers your learning materials in a specific, predetermined order.

How To...

These are 1-3 page quick reference sheets taking you step by step through a single action in Blackboard.

Upload a document to your Blackboard site (PDF, 136kb)

Add a link to a website (PDF, 202kb)

Add a link from one section of my site to another (PDF, 191kb)

Add a Folder (PDF, 134kb)

Add a Glossary term (PDF, 114kb)

Add Staff Information (PDF, 120kb)

Add a Blackboard tool (PDF, 171kb)

Communication and Collaboration

Documents

Eight Ways to Get Students more involved in Online Conferencing (PDF, 2 pages, 20kb)
Blackboard tip sheet listing eight guidelines to create a strong collaborative learning environment in your course Discussion Board. It aims to increase both the quality and quantity of student participation.

Online Protocols (PDF, 1 page, 137kb)
A list of tips and suggestions for maintaining control of online communication such as Discussions, Chat and Email.

Animations

Creating an Announcement (HTML/SWF, 250kb)
Blackboard animation.

Creating and Managing Groups (HTML/SWF, 413kb)
Blackboard animation demonstrating how to create and manage a collaborative group.

Creating a Discussion Forum (HTML/SWF, 420kb)
Blackboard animation demonstrating how to create a Discussion Forum, and modify Forum and User settings.

Archiving Discussion Board Threads (HTML/SWF, 746kb)
Blackboard animation demonstrating how to create an archive, move threads to an archive, release threads and remove archives.

Working with Discussion Board Options (HTML/SWF, 859kb)
Blackboard animation demonstrating how to access and utilise the Discussion Board options.

How To...

These are 1-3 page quick reference sheets taking you step by step through a single action in Blackboard.

Add an Announcement (PDF, 191kb)

Add a Calendar entry (PDF, 138kb)

Add a Collaboration Session (Chat & Virtual Classroom) (PDF, 126kb)

Add a Discussion Forum (PDF, 186kb)

Add a Group (PDF, 128kb)

Add students to a Group (PDF, 202kb)

Assessment

Documents

Working with Assignments (PDF, 6 pages, 174kb)
Blackboard tip sheet explaining how to create, review and grade assignments.

Using the Digital Drop Box (PDF, 5 pages, 108kb)
Blackboard tip sheet explaining the features of the Digital Drop Box.

Assignments vs Digital Drop Box (PDF, 3 pages, 69kb)
Blackboard tip sheet explaining how Assignment content type varies from the Digital Drop Box, and reviewing some scenarios where one tool is more appropriate than the other.

Creating Quarterly Grades (PDF, 4 pages, 125kb)
Blackboard tip sheet explaining how to modify your Gradebook settings.

Gradebook Icons and Definitions (PDF, 2 pages, 147kb)
Blackboard tip sheet explaining how to interpret the Gradebook Icons to ensure an easy grading process.

Uploading Questions for an Assessment (PDF, 6 pages, 180kb)
Blackboard tip sheet explaining how to format a text file containing your questions, and set up the assessment and upload your file. This technique allows you to create your questions outside of Blackboard.

Weighting Grades by Category or Item (PDF, 2 pages, 165kb)
Blackboard tip sheet explaining the grade weighting feature that allows an instructor to determine how the software calculates the final grade for a student (Weight by Item or Weight by Category).

Modifying Items for Grade Weighting (PDF, 3 pages, 144kb)
Blackboard tip sheet explaining how to group multiple assessments into one category, and assign a value to the entire category. For example, you might group all Tests together and make them worth 15% of a student’s final grade.

Animations

Creating an Assignment (HTML/SWF, 291kb)
Blackboard animation demonstrating how to create an Assignment.

Completing and Submitting an Assignment (HTML/SWF, 307kb)
Blackboard animation demonstrating how students complete and submit an Assignment.

Grading an Assignment (HTML/SWF, 339kb)
Blackboard animation demonstrating how to retrieve and grade an Assignment.

How To...

These are 1-3 page quick reference sheets taking you step by step through a single action in Blackboard.

Add an Assignment (PDF, 166kb)

Add a Pool of test questions (PDF, 172kb)

Add a Test (PDF, 303kb)

Add a Survey (PDF, 305kb)

Behind the Blackboard for Instructors

http://behind.blackboard.com/b3/instructor/index.htm

Blackboard’s site for further learning about Blackboard. (Requires simple, once-only registration. You will need to register to access any of the resources.)

(Note: Many of the resources listed on the Behind the Blackboard site are the PDF Tip Sheets & animated tutorials already listed on this page.)

Once registered, visit the Training Center section. From there, visit:

Self-Study Materials, then:

Release 6
Release 6.1
General

Blackboard Training Center, then:

Client Materials (resources developed by other parties, some of which are listed below)

Resources from Other Institutions

Courseware Development Center
http://www.humboldt.edu/~cdc/blackboard/bb_instructor.html

Getting Started; Tips & FAQs; PDF Resources; Articles

James Cook University - LearnJCU Toolbox http://www.jcu.edu.au/office/tld/teachingsupport/toolbox_fastguides.shtml

Small range of thorough PDFs

SUNY (State University of New York) Upstate Medical University
http://www.upstate.edu/blackboard/FAQ/

Many PDFs (short & to-the-point)

Georgian College
http://blackboard.georgianc.on.ca/idesign/BB/

Reference Sheets for Instructors Using Blackboard 6 (Many PDFs, Word, Viewlets, HTML)

The University of Hull
http://www.hull.ac.uk/elearning/blackboard/bb6staffsupport.html

Help on Using Blackboard for Staff (mainly animated tutorials)

Griffith University
http://kora.itc.gu.edu.au:4500/adapt/tipsheets.php

ADAPT (Academic Development and Professional Training) Tipsheets (Short How-To’s as well as online tips)

University of Cincinnati
http://blackboard6.uc.edu/support/bb_docs/Bb6_Manual.pdf

Blackboard Basics & Beyond: An instructor’s guide
49 pages covering many aspects of Blackboard

University of Kansas
http://courseware.ku.edu

Demonstration Course: Tools and Strategies. A course about Blackboard delivered in Blackboard
- Click on the Catalog button.
- Type IDS in the Search box
- Locate the course titled Blackboard v6.0: Tools and Strategies
- Click the link or the Preview button.