New to Blackboard

• The team at Stearns Center is available to help you with questions about the design and implementation of your course, with advice about strategies, choices, policies, and interactions that improve your students’ learning and your own efficiency and satisfaction — whether you’re teaching in a classroom, via synchronous web-conferencing, in the field, or asynchronously via Blackboard.
  • Check our list of upcoming office hours, webinars, and workshops
  • Get in touch with an Instructional Designer by submitting questions or requesting a 1:1 consultation here
  • Check out our self-paced courses (see below)
• The team at Instructional Technology Services is available to help you with questions about how to use Blackboard and related tools to support all of your courses.
  • Blackboard Office Hours (faculty/staff live support) weekdays, 9 am-5 pm EST: Log in to MyMason, on the Home page under Welcome Faculty and Staff!, find the link to join the session.
  • Email courses@gmu.edu or contact the ITS Support Center

• If you have not used Blackboard before, or would like a quick review, we recommend the following resources:
  • Overview resources:
    • Introduction to Blackboard
    • Quick Overview of Adding Content to Blackboard
    • Blackboard Faculty Quick Start Guide (pdf) ( this is a 1-pager from ITS with quick tips to get started).
  • Assignments: Use the Assignment tool to enable students to upload documents and other assignments
  • Discussions: Set up and manage a discussion board
  • Email messages: Send an email to students through Blackboard
  • Files: Upload files to Blackboard
  • Notifications: Adjust your settings
  • Student how-to resources: See ITS’ Student Support FAQ links.
  • Tests/quizzes: Create a simple quiz or test using Blackboard’s Test tool
• If you have not posted files to Blackboard before, you might find the following resources useful:
  • Create a PDF at home from a text document or scanner
  • Edit a PDF at home
  • Scan a document at home to make a PDF using your phone or tablet

See a model and get information

1. View our template-based course. All faculty are invited to view and explore our Sample Basic Blackboard Site.
   1. This site uses a version of our template that models the basic information you would want to provide for your students, in a clear and accessible structure.
   2. Please note that guest access gives you just a preview, but you cannot edit or even view all sections.
2. View and download advice and resources. On the Sample Basic Blackboard Site (above) you can view our folder of resources and advice for faculty that you may find helpful: see “Facilitation Toolbox” in the left-hand green menu (you may need to click-and-drag this menu over if you’re using a mobile device or other small screen). You can also add resources to your course.

Add our resources to your site

1. OPTION A: Remodel your Blackboard site to match the Sample by uploading our Template.
   To request a copy of the template, please follow the instructions here (link).
2. Update your course site menu: Once you install the template, all the new sections will appear at the bottom of your left-hand menu. In Edit Mode, you can click to the left of a menu item to drag it up toward the top of the menu; you can click on the gray chevron to the right to rename, hide, or delete any item
   1. NOTE about rubrics: The template also has embedded rubrics that you can keep, or you can delete them by going to Course Management >> Course Tools >> Rubrics.
   2. NOTE about gradebook:  The template has embedded discussion forums, quizzes, and assignments. Each of them has a column in the grade book. You can revise the prompt and keep the activity in your gradebook; you can also delete the activity and create your own. Delete the activity from tool itself (e.g., from the discussion forum page or where it appears in the lesson).
3. OPTION B: Add a FEW sample resources to your Bb site. If you have already developed a working Blackboard site but would like to have easy access to some basic resources, you can take a look at our Minimalist Site Outline and then follow the directions on this handout to install a set of basic instructor resources (about Collaborate, Discussions, and other basic tools) that are part of the Minimalist Site directly into your Blackboard course.
4. Need help? For questions about using Blackboard’s settings, tools, and layout, contact courses@gmu.edu — or use their call-in or chat options for consultation.

If you are new to Blackboard and would like to practice building content and activities in a private site before you modify your course site, you can request one or more “sandbox” course(s); each course site will come pre-loaded with the Stearns Center Template (see above) to facilitate your course design.

Once you have built items in your sandbox, see our instructions on how to copy some or all of your course items from your private sandbox to your official Mason Blackboard course site.

Stearns Center is currently offering two self-paced courses, open to all faculty and instructors. Once you enroll, you can work through the modules in order, or you can skip to specific sections that will help you with your current course design. Each course has an “Ask a Question” discussion forum staffed by Stearns Center and is supported by office hours (see above) and by ITS support through courses@gmu.edu.

• Online Course Development Primer provides the basic guidance for creating an asynchronous online course.
  • To access the course,
    • First log into Blackboard using your Mason ID and password so that your connection is stable
    • Then return to this webpage and click this link
    • Look for the “+Enroll” button bottom left of your screen
    • Enroll yourself
  • The course has seven modules; completing each is estimated to take 5-8 hours
    • Module 1: Conceptualizing Your Online Course (Review the Course Readiness Checklist and Request a Sandbox)
    • Module 2: Organizing and Building Your Course Schedule
    • Module 3: Aligning Goals and Assignments
    • Module 4: Tracking and Measuring Student Learning (tests, quizzes, assignments, rubrics)
    • Module 5: Engaging with Students (discussion boards and lectures)
    • Module 6: Supporting Interaction and Collaboration (including Collaborate and Zoom information)
    • Module 7: Continuous Improvement
• Pivotal PedagogyFundamentals provides basic guidance for teaching a face-to-face, hybrid, and/or web-conferencing-based course, with a solid Blackboard “home base” so that you are prepared in case the university “pivots” to remote teaching during the semester.
  • To access the course,
    • First log into Blackboard using your Mason ID and password so that your connection is stable
    • Then return to this webpage and click this link
    • Look for the “+Enroll” button on the left side of your screen
    • Enroll yourself
  • The course has seven modules; completing each is estimated to take 3-6 hours
    • Module 1: Exploring Your Course’s Learning Pattern (Review the Pivot-Ready Checklist, Request a sandbox, and Consider how to integrate F2F, Synchronous Web-Conferencing, and Asynchronous course elements)
    • Module 2: Redistributing Learning in Your New Pattern
    • Module 3: Aligning Goals and Assignments in Your New Pattern
    • Module 4: Building Assessments to Support Patterned Learning (tests, quizzes, assignments, rubrics)
    • Module 5: Engaging Students in Your Learning Pattern (discussion boards and lectures)
    • Module 6: Supporting Interaction and Collaboration (including Collaborate and Zoom information)
    • Module 7: Planned Flexibility

NOTE: Cohort-based, fully facilitated seven-week versions of both courses will be offered to Mason faculty beginning in late September 2020; contact your department chair if you are interested in enrolling, and/or see more information on our Webinars and Trainings page.

Incorporating active and interactive strategies into your course can support your learning goals and engage students. Active learning includes teaching methods and strategies that involve student participation and engagement with the material in a meaningful way. Interactive learning involves students working together to do things like to solve a problem, answer a question or complete a project in ways that enhance their learning. Research shows that both active and interactive learning help students to retain information and increase critical thinking.

Active Learning in Your Class: You can incorporate active and interactive learning into any part of your course, including synchronous lectures, reading assignments, homework problems, class projects and discussion. Even incorporating one or two simple strategies can make your course more dynamic. Check out our quick  Guide to Transforming Learning Tasks for the Online Environment for some ideas you can easily add to your course.

Common Active and Interactive Strategies: Even if you are used to lecturing or facilitating small group discussions, you can utilize active learning strategies to make them more engaging.

• Microlectures provide brief but effective explanations of a concept or skill and allow students to focus on key concepts. Download this guide to preparing a five-minute microlecture that emphasizes key concepts without overwhelming you or your students.
• For synchronous sessions, you might try an interactive lecture, which keeps students engaged through activities that can also be collaborative. Take a look at the Interactive Lectures section of this guide on lecturing for tips you can use.
• Discussions can engage students in higher-order learning by providing an environment for peer-to-peer learning. Start by downloading our Guide to Facilitating Effective Online Discussions.

Feedback: Feedback is essential, but it can also be time consuming. Consider our overall tips for Managing Feedback to Students