This edition is dedicated to assisting you in preparing for the upcoming fall semester. You'll discover valuable insights about two critical Blackboard feature releases available in the August release; essential back-to-school resources, August professional development opportunities, and reminders on contacting your eLearning team members.
In this edition of the newsletter:
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2 Important Blackboard Feature Enhancements for August
Please see the official release notes for the complete list of feature enhancements for August. We'd like to draw your attention to two critical enhancements that became available on August 9, 2024.
Assignments/Tests
The Assignments and Tests functions have now been separated into two distinct features. This change was requested by many faculty, both at Grand Valley and other institutions. The biggest benefit of this change is that students will be able to view assignment instructions without starting an attempt. In the past, some students appeared to have blank submissions for assignments when all they did was view the instructions. This proved to be confusing for both students and instructors. Going forward, this will no longer happen. To take advantage of this change, however, faculty are encouraged to recreate their assignments. Any assignment that was course copied from a previous semester can still generate blank attempts.
To assist you with this transition, we have a Knowledge Base article that outlines the steps for creating assignments and provides detailed information on the new Assignments function.
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Enhanced Ultra Documents
You've asked for the ability to get a little more creative with course document layouts, and instructors can now use multiple columns and rows that can be resized and edited in blocks. This allows a side-by-side display of different blocks. There are also undo/redo buttons towards the top of the page to add greater control when editing content.
Additionally, a new block type called Convert a file allows you to select a file from your computer. Blackboard will take the text and images from the file and add them directly to the Ultra document. To assist you with this new functionality, we have a Knowledge Base article.
Watch out for a new content type in September 2024: Embedded Knowledge Checks. These blocks will allow you to add formative formative assessment questions directly in Ultra documents pages.
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Pearson Integration Update planned for 8/14/24
We recommend faculty wait to pair any Fall 2024 Pearson courseware content through GVSU Save/Blackboard until August 15, 2024. For more details please see this KB article.
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PREPARE for Fall with These Five Tasks
Task 1) Need a course restored, merged or reminders on how to course copy content? See these common new semester requests found in our service portal:
Task 2) Review your students' pictures in the photo roster
- Using your students' ID photos is an excellent method to facilitate name learning. You can easily access these photos through the "Class List" tool in GVSU Faculty/Staff Additional Banner Applications.
- Note: Faculty will only see photos in courses in which they are the instructor of record in Banner. This Knowledge Base article in our Service Portal provides assistance with using this tool.
Task 3) Check your Blackboard readiness with the new semester checklist
- The New Semester Checklist is a great place to review some of the basic and essential functions found in Blackboard. Remember, Blackboard is a great place to share your syllabus or a lecture, efficiently collect and manage assignments, and securely share grades and feedback.
Task 4) Get your students oriented
- All students and faculty have been enrolled in a Blackboard "orientation" site geared for students to help prepare and determine their readiness for online learning. The orientation provides advice and skills for online learning success and familiarizes students with many of the Blackboard Ultra features that their courses will use. When you create your welcome announcement, please tell your students to review the orientation site so that they are prepared to have a successful semester.
- We also encourage you to remind your students how to change their notification settings in their Blackboard personal profiles, to update "Email me once a day" to "Email me right away" so that they don't miss timely information.
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Task 5) Review and register for professional development opportunities
- If you are brand new to GVSU, we want to provide you with a variety of opportunities to connect with your eLearning Technologies Liaisons.
- Please review the various trainings available on this flyer to support GVSU's commitment to teaching and learning.
- We are also hosting weekly virtual office hours every Wednesday all semester from 12 to 12:30pm (EDT). No registration is required. Use this Zoom meeting link to join and bring your questions.
- We have also added every instructor to our Blackboard Learn Ultra Self-Paced Training, which is available in Blackboard, and we have created a Blackboard Ultra Care Package filled with curated resources to help you get started with Blackboard Ultra. Instructors can access our Foundations of Online/Hybrid Course Development and Training in Blackboard. This course is an opportunity to review how to apply quality standards in developing online and hybrid courses and review updated examples of how these best practices are modeled in the Blackboard Ultra format.
- Please review the Blackboard Ultra instructor resources in GVSU's IT Service Portal, contact your eLearning Technologies liaisons, or submit a consultation ticket for one-on-one assistance.
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Message Manager Folder
If you've begun working on your fall Blackboard courses, you may have noticed a folder in your Fall 2024 Blackboard course that is only visible to instructors.
Developed by the Provost's office Rapid Response Team in conjunction with advising, FTLC, and other faculty and staff, the folder contains a collection of communication suggestions from faculty to students and was inspired by focus groups and interviews conducted with instructors of first-year courses during Winter 2023. This folder provides sample starting points for a variety of styles and incidents.
These templates are not required but are suggestions for faculty looking for ideas. You will find placeholders for students, professors, class names, and office hours that can be customized to fit your course. The Mental Health Communications Toolkit is also available in this folder. Select the month, pick a topic, and copy, paste, and support! Questions can be directed to gvcounsl@gvsu.edu or phone 616-331-3266.
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August Professional Development Special Opportunities
The eLearning staff will hold weekly virtual office hours on Zoom all semester long. Office hours will be held every Wednesday between 12 and 12:30 p.m. No reservations are required. Bring your questions and join us in this Zoom meeting room!
Aug 21 Course Design Institute
It's filling up fast, so join us for a day of course design and development. Fast-track your course for the start of the semester and have the opportunity to earn the 5 Steps for Course Design badge. Faculty will walk through best practices in course design and pedagogy using Backward Design and a course alignment map while breaking down the process into 5 Steps: Foundation Items, Assessments, Activities, Navigation, and Tech Check.
Event Details
- Date: August 21, 2024
- Time: 9am – 4pm
- Location: SCB2006 (Seidman College of Business/Pew Campus)
- Bring: Laptop, course syllabus and schedule, and any course materials.
eLearning Webinar Training
Webinar registration is now conducted through Workday Learning. Please allow up to 15 minutes to receive the Outlook calendar invitation, which will include the Zoom meeting link.
8/20/24 • 2pm – 3pm
8/21/24 • 7pm – 8pm
8/23/24 • 10am – 11am
8/27/24 • 1pm – 1:30pm
8/28/24 • 11am – 11:30am
8/29/24 • 3pm – 3:30pm
8/22/24 • 11am – 12pm
8/16/24 • 1pm – 2:30pm
8/13/24 • 1pm – 2pm
8/22/24 •11am – 12:15pm
8/20/24 • 11am – 12pm
8/23/24 • 1pm – 1:30pm
8/29/24 10am – 11am
August Microsoft 365 Efficiencies Series
8/19/24 • 11am – 12pm
8/22/24 • 1pm – 2pm
8/28/24 • 11am – 12pm
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Sincerely,
Kim Kenward, Director of eLearning Technologies
kenwardk@gvsu.edu
GVSU Information Technology
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