Blackboard instructors,
Hope your semester went well. To wrap up Spring 2018, please note the following:
- Make sure you: a) archive your course, b) check the accuracy of your grades, c) archive your emails, d) download your Grade Center, and e) make your course unavailable to students when they no longer need access. If your Total column in the Grade Center is set to Calculate as a Running Total and display as a Percentage, please make sure your grades are accurate by either turning Calculate as a Running Total off or entering zeros for missing assignments. If you have hidden columns in which you entered points possible but did not score students, check that you have not included those points in the Grade Center calculations and have not made the columns invisible to students. If your points possible don’t look correct, make sure all visible columns are included in the calculations.
Also, there has been recent emphasis by accreditors and federal regulators to prove instructor-student contact in DE and hybrid courses, so archiving your emails has become increasingly important. More information, and instructions on the tasks above, can be found in the document “Closing your course”.
- Once you determine that students no longer need access to your class, make it unavailable to them. To make the class unavailable, go to Control Panel - Customization - Properties, and for Make Course Available, click No, then click Submit.
3. If you are teaching a Distance Education course next semester (it will be in Canvas), you should send a welcome letter to your students a week or so prior to the first day of classes. A template is attached. I have also attached a syllabus template for your optional use. If you put either or both into Canvas, you will need to convert to accessible PDFs beforehand. I even have an entire course template, and if you’re interested in that, let me know.
4. If you haven’t yet requested your course(s) for next semester, log into Class-Web, click Menu for Faculty, and click the Canvas link at the bottom.
5. As you know, Blackboard is going away. The final day it will be available is June 30. If you taught DE or hybrid courses on Bb in the past and you haven’t downloaded your gradebooks from that system, you are advised to do so.
- I will be out of the office Thursday and Friday this week. If you need assistance those days, contact Wanda Butterly at ext. 1655.
Scott
