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Show me how to find information in the course.
| STEP 1.
The information in your course is grouped under several
buttons located on the left side of the screen. The
buttons may vary by color and appearance from course to
course. The buttons will look similar to the ones
below. |
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STEP 2.
Click on each button to discover what course content is under
the button. Think of the buttons as drawers in a filing
cabinet. Your instructor has already put content in the
drawer and you must open the drawer to remove the content.
Instructors may choose to put different types of content under
the buttons, but generally you will find the following types of
content under each button. Note that all instructors may
not use all buttons. For example, if an online course will
not use the chat feature, the instructor may have removed the
chat button.
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Button Name |
Typical Content |
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Students can view important messages
from instructors on the course announcements page. Users
can sort announcements by current date, last seven days,
last thirty days, or view all course announcements. Use
the drop-down menu to select a view or click on the tabs
to view announcements for a specific period of time. The
default is View Last 7 Days. |
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The course syllabus is often put under the
Information button. Be sure to carefully read the
entire syllabus as it contains detailed information about
the course. |
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Users can view staff information
such as instructor name, email address, office location,
and office hours. |
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Course content areas can contain
a variety of learning materials. Instructors will use
the content areas to present information in many
different ways from basic text to multimedia. Also,
instructors can post assessments and Learning Units
within any content area. |
Common content areas
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The following content areas are
examples of some of the more common uses for content
areas:
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Navigating content areas
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While instructors have limitless
options when designing content areas, navigating
through content areas is a structured, easy-to-follow
process. Content areas are arranged as a series of
nested folders where each folder can contain items and
other folders. Each content area folder page includes
the location at the top, a navigation path, and
whatever items the instructor has included in that
folder.
To return to a previous folder
or to the beginning of the content area, click on the
appropriate folder in the navigation path. To open a
folder, Learning Unit, assessment, or file, click on
the links that appear in the folder contents.
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A description of course assignments as
well as links to online course assessments may be under
the Assignments button.
An assessment is a quiz or survey created by an
instructor or teaching assistant. Students can take
assessments developed by the instructor or teaching
assistants within any content area, content area folder,
or Learning Unit within the course Web site. The
assessment option permits the instructor to assign point
values questions on exams or quizzes. Student answers can
be submitted for grading, and the results can be recorded
in the Online Gradebook.
Types of questions
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There are several types of
questions that can be included in an assessment. A
description of each question type is provided below.
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Multiple Choice:
Allows the users a multitude of choices. In
multiple-choice questions, users indicate the
correct answer by selecting a radio button.
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True/False:
Allows the user to choose either true or false. True
and False answer options are by default limited to
the words True and False.
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Fill in the
Blank: Users enter into the text fields
provided and those answers are evaluated based on an
exact text match.
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Multiple Answer:
Multiple answer questions allow users to choose more
than one answer.
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Matching
questions: Allows users to pair questions
to answers.
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Essay Questions:
Instructors provide students with a question or
statement. Students are given the opportunity to
type or cut and paste an answer into a text field.
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Taking Assessments
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Click the hyperlink of the
assessment you wish to take and click
Yes to
begin the assessment. If the assessment is timed, the
time remaining will appear in the left hand corner of
the browser. An example of an assessment is shown
below.
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Feedback and Grades
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After finishing an assessment,
detailed results of student performance may be
available if configured by the instructor. Feedback
will show the correct answers and comments from the
instructor as well as display the grade received. |
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Required and suggested books may be listed
under this button. |
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Within the Blackboard 5
environment, students are encouraged to communicate
with fellow classmates and instructors from the course
Web site. The Communication Center allows users to
send email, access course discussion boards,
participate in the virtual classroom, review the
student roster, and access student group pages.
Note: Instructors and system
administrators have the option to disable these
features. |
Communication Center page
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To access the Communication
Center, click
Communications within the course Web site.
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To learn more about chat follow
this
tutorial. |
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To learn more about discussion boards follow
this tutorial. |
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Users can access external links
(web sites) posted by course instructors. Usually
these links provide content consistent with the
course’s objective or area of study. |
External links page
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Click
External Links
to view the external links. An example of the external
links page is below.
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From the Student Tools area,
users can upload files, edit their personal
information, view the course calendar, check grades,
view the Blackboard 5 student manual, view course
tasks and access the electric blackboard. |
Student tools main menu
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Click
Student Tools
from the button bar. The Student Tools page will
appear as shown below.
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