CR| Blackboard | Faculty Introduction

Blackboard is College of the Redwoods' online, web-based learning platform. It provides faculty and students an innovative way to share information and ideas and to communicate with each other outside of the classroom experience.

It allows faculty to post class materials to a website, send email to their students, set up online quizzes or surveys, and manage and display student grades from any Internet-connected computer.

Blackboard is designed with instruction in mind, and incorporates the following features:

Security: Blackboard course sites are secure. Each student receives a unique login and password, and only students that are registered in your course can access your Blackboard content. This enables you to post copyrighted material, track which students are accessing particular course materials, and quiz students online. Students can have secure access to their grades at all times, but cannot access the grades of other students. They can also securely submit assignments.

Easy to Build: You don't need to know how to build a web site to build a Blackboard course site. All content is added through the use of online forms, and you can easily add items (attachments) created in other programs, such as Word, WordPerfect, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook, Adobe Acrobat, and many others.

Communication: A variety of communication tools come standard with each Blackboard course site. The Blackboard email function allows instructors to email students (either as a group or separately) without having to manage email addresses. Course discussion boards enable class participants to post questions or comments to which other participants can respond at any time. Virtual classroom features enable synchronous discussion between course members. Professors can also break up the class into small groups and assign communication tools to each group to facilitate peer collaboration.

Uniformity: Students have one Blackboard login and they access any courses using Blackboard from a common portal page. The basic navigation structure of each course site is the same, although instructors can customize content areas. This uniformity makes using Blackboard easy for students, as the interface remains constant from course to course.

Quick list of Blackboard's features:

Customizable content areas
Course calendar
Email functionality for all students, all instructors, all groups, selected users
Course discussion board
Course "virtual classroom" and "chat room"
Student grouping options
Digital drop box for file storage or 1-step sending between student and instructor
Online assessments and surveys
Online gradebook
Course statistics (monitor use)

To access the Blackboard site for your course, you will need to login using your Blackboard Username and Password.