Transcript What`s New in Blackboard 9.1.11

What’s New in Blackboard 9.1
SP11
Blackboard 9.1 SP 11
 Blackboard 9.1 SP11 takes Blackboard
closer to the cloud and introduces a
modernized user interface more in line
with most common websites and apps
as well as numerous functional
refinements.
Here’s a video run through of new features:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YxdJ3ar12bE
Feature Updates
New Global Navigation & My Blackboard:
• Global Navigation refers to the set of links that appears
at the top right of the Blackboard Learn window,
streamlined to become the entry point to My
Blackboard. Links to all your classes or organizations are
organized in one place to provide a consistent, quick,
and easy way to find information.
• My Blackboard aggregates information from across the
Blackboard Learn system for users. Users access My
Blackboard by clicking their names at the top of the
screen. My Blackboard has a navigation panel that
quickly connects to different tools in the system.
New Calendar – This is one of the most redesigned parts of
Service Pack 11. Now it looks much more like your standard
Outlook or Google Calendar.
• Available both in courses and through the My Blackboard
interface
• Group ALL your course events together
• Have your own private entries.
• Due Dates on an assignments automatically show on the
calendar and can be changed by drag & drop
• Students and faculty can see ALL their due dates in one central
location across classes.
• Export to Google!
Here’s a quick video about the Calendar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pTdGOMAZhQY
For more information, check out your handout about the
Calendar!
New Content Editor: The newly designed Content Editor vastly
improves the user experience for adding text and other forms
of digital content to Blackboard Learn.
• Based on an industry standard editor – handles the HTML of
the web much better that previously.
• Simpler to copy/paste from Word and more predictable too.
• New tool bars for formatting text – even for inserting tables
• You can even embed video direct from a web camera if you
so choose (see Video Everywhere below).
This will be a great tool for students and faculty alike. Check
your handout comparing the new Editor to the old!
New Video Everywhere – a feature of the Content (text)
editor. This is the new icon in your text editor that will access
your webcam. It will allow you to record a video on the fly and
have it embedded in your course materials, interactions or
even assessment feedback. You can even reuse previously
recorded videos from your own “library” in the course. What
better way to learn about Video Everywhere than through a
video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&
v=glYGzdxw-mM
The video itself is NOT stored in your Blackboard Class – this
actually ties into a You Tube account – which you will need
to establish to use this feature. The VCCS has decided to roll
out the enhanced Google Apps for Education suite, which
includes You Tube to all VCCS users. The date for this has
been set to be coincident with the Blackboard update.
Recommendations are to use a You Tube account created
under your VCCS (MyDCC) account for all VCCS work.
See your Video Anywhere handout for instructions to set up
your Youtube account.
Updated Discussion Board – Redesigned to be more
useful and user friendly than ever before.
Assessment Item Analysis:
• Item Analysis provides statistics on overall test
performance and on individual test questions to help
instructors improve questions for future tests or to
adjust credit on current attempts.
• Ineffective or misleading questions are identified
easily, corrected in the Test Canvas, and are re-graded
automatically.
File Picker: This feature revolutionizes how you load
your files into your class:
• Use the class My Files and upload entire folders at
once.
• Link to your files in your class by using the Browse
from Content Collection button .
• This allows you to drag and drop files to your
Blackboard class from your local computer.
Here’s a video tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ObKS6_DB_nI
Retention Center
The Retention Center 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 Center, you can communicate with struggling students
and help them take immediate action for improvement.
You can begin using the Retention Center features immediately—no setup
required.
Inline Grading For Assignments (Better than Sliced Bread!)
Inline Assignment Grading is a revision to the workflow for grading Assignments
in Blackboard Learn. Instead of requiring Instructors to download studentsubmitted files to view or edit those submissions, Instructors will now be able to
view student-submitted files “inline,” i.e. in the web browser, without requiring
any plug-ins, applets, or client-side applications.
Additionally, annotations tools will be made available as part of the inline viewer,
enabling Instructors to provide feedback – comments, highlights, and even
drawing/annotation – directly on the inline view of the document.