Teacher Blackboard User Guide -Advanced Features

Advanced Features

Retention Centre

Retention Centre

The Retention Centre is an instructor-only tool that enables you to give focused attention to students who need it. It replaces the Early Warning System feature with easy workflows, while retaining all existing Early Warning System data and rules. From the Retention centre, you can communicate with struggling students and help them take immediate action for improvement.

The Retention Centre provides an easy way for you to discover which students in your course are at risk.
Based on preconfigured rules and rules you create, students’ engagement and participation are visually
displayed, quickly alerting you to potential risk. From the Retention Centre, you can communicate with
struggling students and help them take immediate action for improvement.

To access Retention Centre, go into your module and click 'Evaluation' under the Module Management menu. Then click Retention Centre.

You will then be taken into Retention Centre, where you will see a table of students currently at risk, your module activity and any students your are monitoring.

Customising Retention Centre

Rules

You can define rules to customise what you see in Retention Centre. There are four rule types:

Module Activity Rule – See the users activity in the module compared to the module average.
Grade RuleSee if students are above or below a defined grade value.
Module Access Rule –See if students have accessed the module since a certain date.
Missed Deadline Rule – Based on a defined due date for an assignment, this rule triggers alerts for students who have not completed assignments in this time.

All of these rules are active with generalised criteria by default.

Editing/Creating Rules

To customise Retention Centre, Click the Customise button. Advanced_Features_retention3

You will be taken to the Customisation area. Here you can Create, Edit and Delete Rules.

Creating a new Rule

1. To create a new rule, hover over the Create Rule button, then select the rule type from the options.

2. You will then be presented with options to create the rule. Enter a Rule Name and specify whether you would like it to be included in the Risk Table.

3. Specify a Rule Criteria, based on the Rule you have chosen to create.

4. Click Submit to create the rule.

Editing a Rule

1. To edit a rule, in the Customisation Area, click on the Action link beside the rule you want to edit, then click Edit.

2. On the next screen you will be able to Edit the Rule Name, whether it will be included in the Risk Table and the Rule Criteria.

3. Click Submit to save changes.

Deleting a Rule

1. To delete a rule, in the Customisation Area, click the check box beside the rule you want to delete and click.

2. The rule will then be removed from Retention Centre.

Module Backup

Learning Modules

Learning Modules

A learning module is a collection of integrated content and activities with an optional sequential flow and built in navigation. The following content types can be included in a Learning Module:

You can back up a module and its entire contents. This is easily achieved by creating, downloading and saving a module backup.

content items
files
external links
tests and surveys
assignments
discussion board forums

Create a Learning Module Shell

1. Set Edit Mode ON. Advanced_Features_Learning_Modules_editmode1

2. Navigate to the content page where you want to put the Learning Module.

3. Hover your mouse pointer over the Build Content button, and in the Create menu select Learning Module.

4. For Learning Module Information, enter a Name and description for the Learning Module.

Advanced_Features_Create-Learning-Module3

5. Under Availability, select Yes to Permit Users to View the Content Item.

6. Under View, select Yes or No according to whether you want to:

Enforce Sequential Viewing of the Learning Module
Open in New Window
Track Number of Views.

7. Under Table of Contents, click Yes if you want to Show Table of Contents to Users, and at Hierarchy Display choose whether you want the Learning Module items labelled in the table of contents.

8. Click Submit.

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When you’ve successfully created the Learning Module, an icon like the one below will appear.

Advanced_Features_Create-Learning-Module5

Adding a Content item to a Learning Module

Most types of content items can be added to a Learning Module. Move your mouse over the Build Content, Evaluate, Collaborate and Assign Textbook buttons in the Learning Module’s content page to see what you can add.

1. With Edit Mode on, navigate and click on your Learning Module.

2. Move you mouse over the Build Content button, and select the type of content item you want to add. (For the purpose of this guide, we will be adding a file)

Advanced_Features_Create-Learning-Module6

3. Under Select File, you can either Browse My Computer or Browse Content Collection to locate the file you want to upload. Select your file then select Open.

4. Give your file a Name.

5. You can change the colour of the text and choose to Open in a New Window.

Advanced_Features_Create-Learning-Module7

6. Make sure the option Permit Users to View this Content is set to Yes, if you want the content to be available to your students.

7. Set and Date and Time Restrictions, if necessary.

8. Click Submit.

Change style and theme

Change style and theme

You can customise the module’s look and feel by changing options for the following:

Module Theme
Module Structure
Menu Style
Layout
Content Appearance
Module Entry Point
Banner Image

This guide explains how to change these settings.

1. Enter your module.

2. Under the Module Management control panel select Customisation and then Look and Feel.

Advanced_Features_change_style_and_theme_modulecustomisation1

3. Here, you can change the Module Entry Point. When someone enters the module the first area that will appear is the one selected. Click on the drop down menu and choose a different entry point if you wish.

Advanced_Features_change_style_and_theme_select_module_entry_point2

4. You then can select a visual theme that will be applied to the module. Under ‘Select Module Theme’, click to select your preferred choice. Selecting a theme does not affect your content or module structure. You can change the theme at any time by clicking on theChange Module Theme button Advanced_Features_change_style_and_theme3

Advanced_Features_change_style_and_theme3

at the top right of the module and a drop down list of themes will appear. Click on a theme and it’ll take immediate effect.

Advanced_Features_change_style_and_theme4

5. Your next step is choosing your Menu Style. This allows the user to either see the menu as Text or as Buttons. Above the selection you will notice a preview of the menu.

A. If your preferred choice is text, click on the Text option button and select the Background Colour and Text Colour using the drop down arrows. Remember to select a colour that will display a high level of contrast to ensure readability and accessibility.

Advanced_Features_change_style_and_theme5

B. If your preferred choice is Buttons then click on the Buttons option button and a range of different buttons will show. Using the top drop down menus you can choose Button Type which range from Pattern, Solid and Striped. You can also choose the Button Shape.

Advanced_Features_change_style_and_theme_Default_Content_View6

6. Finally, it’s possible to change the module’s banner image. Click on the Browse My Computer button to select a file. Recommended image size is 480 by 80 pixels. Due to re-sizing of browser windows and monitor variations, it will be cropped if the banner exceeds the width of the page. You may want to speak to the Marketing Service if you would like to have a banner designed.

Advanced_Features_change_style_and_theme7a

7. Click on Submit.

Advanced_Features_change_style_and_theme_submit7

8. Your new structure and theme will take immediate effect.

Smart View

Smart View

Create Smart View in Grade Centre:

1. Navigate to Grade Centre under Control Panel and click on Full Grade Centre

2. Move on the Manage button and click on Smart View

3. Click Create Smart View to add new item

4. Input the name and select the criteria accordingly (User can create the criteria based on Group, User Performance, Membership, Categories,etc.)

5. Click on Submit to create a smart view item

Note: If you add the existing item as favourite by clicking on the star button, it will appear on the left panel under tab Grade Centre

Import students' grades

Viewing student test statistics

Viewing student test statistics

There are three ways to view student test statistics. They are presented below from:

A. Column Statistics

Column Statistics display the overall class performance on the selected Grade Centre item, which includes the average score and standard deviation. It also lists the number of submissions for the item that are still in progress or needs grading.

To get the Column Statistics, please follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Grade Centre under the Control Panel and click on Full Grade Centre

2. Select a target test column and click on the

button

3. Select Column Statistics from the drop-down menu

Below is an example of a Column Statistics Report:

B. Attempt Statistics (for Blackboard test not containing question set)

This displays the average score and distribution of student responses for each question, but a Blackboard test which has questions randomly generated by a question set will not be included in this report.

To get the Attempt Statistics, please follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Grade Centre under the Control Panel and click on Full Grade Centre

2. Select a target test column and click on the

button

3. Select Attempt Statistics from the drop-down menu

4. Attempt score and average score will be available for each choice of the questions

C. Item Analysis

Item Analysis provides statistics on overall test performance and individual test questions. The data identifies questions that might be poor discriminators of student performance.

To get the Item Analysis, please follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Grade Centre under the Control Panel and click on Full Grade Centre

2. Select a target test column and click on the

button

3. Select Item Analysis from the drop-down menu

4. Select a target test and click on run

5. New analysis will be generated and shown under Available Analysis

Below is an example of an item analysis report. To learn what the statistics mean, you are recommended to browse this website.

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