Checklist - First day of your online class on Blackboard 9

In the ideal world, instructors have access to their online course(s) weeks before the semester begins. In reality, many courses are not even set up for instructors and students until the first day of the semester.

I have designed a short checklist that instructors should use to ensure the most important aspects of the course are set up correctly:

Before anything else, acquaint yourself with the syllabus

• In some cases, you may not be the person who designed the syllabus for the online course (especially if you are a teaching assistant). Know the policies, rubrics, assignments, dates, etc.

Content

__ 1. Are all the readings listed in the syllabus uploaded to the course?

__ 2. Do all the links and videos work properly?

__ 3. Are all the written assignments set up as Turnitin assignments?

• Use Turnitin for all written work; it works great to catch plagiarism and the grading is fantastic for leaving comments on your students' work. 
• Sometimes written assignments are set up in the default setting of Blackboard -students either upload their document or type it into a provided text box. Stay away from this kind of set up if you are concerned about plagiarism. You can identify this type of set-up by the icon of the assignment. 

Assessments

__ 4. Do the dates and deadlines make sense in Blackboard? Do they match the syllabus?

• Remember, you are teaching the course for the semester; if you think your students should have more or less time for certain assignments/exams, you can extend deadlines.

__ 5. Are the quizzes and exams set up with the time limit listed on the syllabus?

• If the syllabus lists 15 minutes for each quiz and Blackboard is set up for 10 minutes or an hour, that is a problem. These inconsistencies need to be resolved ASAP.

__6. How many attempts are listed for each quiz and each exam? 

• Mistakes happen. Make sure the number of attempts a student has for each assessment is correct. 

__7. Is the feedback setting for each quiz and exam set up correctly?

• If students have multiple attempts for a quiz, it is not a good idea to have the feedback in Blackboard provide the students with the correct answers on their first attempt.

 

__ 8. Is Respondus Lockdown Browser set up for your quizzes and exams?

• For more info on Lockdown Browser and how to set it up for tests, read my previous post HERE

Respondus Lockdown Browser- Preventing Cheating

The Respondus Lockdown is a neat feature in Blackboard (both CE 8 and Learn 9). It is a security measure that deters students from looking up answers. Exams opened in lockdown browser will not allow the student to open or close any other windows or programs while the exam is being taken This feature makes cheating more inconvenient to the student. It is still possible for students to look up answers in other ways, but at least it will make browsing the internet/personal files for the answers a bit more challenging.

In Blackboard CE 8, the lockdown browser feature is programmable through the Edit Properties of each assessment. Here are the steps to enabling the Lockdown Browser for a particular assessment (quizzes and tests):

Step 1 - Click image to enlarge

Step 2 - Click image to enlarge

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Blackboard Learn 9, the lockdown browser feature is enabled through a different path. Follow screenshots below.

Step 1 - Click image to enlarge

 Step 2- Click image to enlarge

 Step 3 - Click image to enlarge