Keeping Students on Track

Blackboard Learning System™ - Release 8

© 2007Blackboard Inc.

All rights reserved.

The content of this manual may not be reproduced or distributed without the express written consent ofBlackboard Inc. Users acknowledge that the manual, and all copyright and other intellectual and proprietary rights therein, are and at all times shall remain the valuable property ofBlackboard and its licensors, or their respective successors or assignees. Users agree to respect and not to alter, remove, or conceal any copyright, trademark, trade name, or other proprietary marking that may appear in the manual.

Blackboard, the Blackboard logo, Blackboard Academic Suite, and Blackboard Learning System are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Blackboard Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

© 2007Blackboard Inc.1Keeping Students on Track

Table of Contents

Workshop Overview......

Roadmap......

The Student Experience......

Marking Items as Reviewed......

How Content is Released......

Best Practice: Explaining Content Release......

Using Adaptive Release......

About Rules and Criteria......

Setting a Basic Adaptive Release Rule......

Examples of Using Basic Adaptive Release......

Best Practice: Approaches to Adaptive Release......

About Advanced Adaptive Release......

Creating an Advanced Rule......

Creating Multiple Rules......

Examples of Using Advanced Adaptive Release......

Modifying Rules......

Managing Rules......

Monitoring Student Progress......

Enabling Review Status for an Item......

Monitoring an Item’s Release and Review Status......

Monitoring Student Performance......

Viewing Usage Statistics......

About Course Usage Reports......

Running and Reading the Course Summary Report......

Enabling Content Statistics Tracking......

Running Content Usage Reports

Printing and Saving Statistics......

Workshop Wrap Up......

© 2007Blackboard Inc.1Keeping Students on Track

/

WORKSHOP OVERVIEW

This workshop provides a hands-on introduction to the tools that help you to keep students on track. You will learn to customize the release of content, monitor student progress, and view course statistics.

We’ll look at how to use the Adaptive Release, Review Status, Performance Dashboard, and Statistics tools. These tools play an important role in the retention and success of students in your course and allow you to control the release of content, as you would in a face-to-face course.

First, you’ll explore some of these tools from the student perspective. Turning to the instructor perspective, you’ll learn to use the tools to control when content is available to students and then track their progress.

© 2007Blackboard Inc.1Keeping Students on Track

/ WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
roadmap
The Student Experience / Mark content items as reviewed: Learn to mark content as reviewed
Experience content release: Experience some of the ways in which Adaptive Release can be used to release content
Using Adaptive Release / Learn about rules and criteria: Learn the four types of criteria
Create basic rules: Create one rule
Create advanced rules: Create multiple rules with unlimited criteria
Modify rules: Change or add to basic or advanced rules
Managerules: Learn how to use the copy, rename, and remove features
Monitoring Student Progress / Monitoring an item’s status: See which students can access the content item and who has reviewed it
Monitoring student performance:Check availability, review status, and grades for students
Viewing Usage Statistics / Course reports: Learn about the three types of course usage reports and how to run them
Content reports: View statistics for specific content items

© 2007Blackboard Inc.1Keeping Students on Track

/

THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

We will start by exploring a course as a student. You will be introduced to a feature allowing students to mark content as reviewed as they progress through their course.

You will also see how this and other criteria can affect the release of content in your course.

/ Learning Outcomes

After completing this section, you’ll be able to:

mark course content as reviewed

experience customized content release from the student perspective

/ THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
marking items as reviewed
Within their online course, students may see Mark Reviewed buttons next to content items, such as assignments and course readings. Clicking the button changes it from Mark Reviewed to Reviewed.
This button appears when the instructor has enabled the Review Status tool for the item.
The Review Status tool can serve as a bookmark for the student, as well as a progress tracker for the instructor. / To mark an item as reviewed
1.Access the Content Area where the item appears.
2.Click the Mark Reviewed button(Figure 1).

Figure 1

TIP: The button is a toggle; before reviewing content for a midterm or final exam, students can click the Reviewed buttons to change them back to Mark Reviewed.

/ THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
how content is released

Course content does not have to be released all at once, but can be released gradually as students complete the course.

Instructors can make content available based on:

date: on, until, or between specific dates

membership: to a specific student or group of students

grade: to students who have submitted an assignment, attempted a test, or received a certain grade

review status: to students who have reviewed a content item

In the example below, the instructor applied Review Status criteria to assignment guidelines: students only see the guidelines (Figure 2.1) until they mark them as reviewed. Once reviewed, their first assignment is released (Figure 2.2).

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2

/ THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
hands-on activity

Use the Review Status tool to see one way items are released to students.

Release Criteria:
Not Satisfied =
Quiz Not Released / Go to the Assessments Content Area. Notice you don’t see the Unit 1 Quiz.
You remember you did not mark the related content page as reviewed.
Mark Item Reviewed / Go to the Units Content Area and mark the Unit 1: Reading, Writing, and the Internet folder as reviewed.
Quiz Released / Now, go back to the Assessments Content Area.
Since the only Adaptive Release criterion attached to this quiz was based on the review of the content page, the Unit 1 Quiz appears.
/ student course
/ THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
best practice: explaining content release

Adaptive Release allows you to distribute content as the course progresses, much as you would in a traditional course. However, unlike in the face-to-face environment, students will not see this process, and without a bit of explanation, they may be confused when items suddenly appear, or wonder why some students see different items than they do. Also, since there is no placeholder for items hidden due to adaptive release criteria, students have no way of knowing where items may appear unless you tell them.

To eliminate such confusion, we suggest you explain to students that content may be released based on the date, the group they’re a member of, the grades they receive, or their progress through course content.

For example, you could add the following explanation to your course outline:

/ About Your Course: Accessing Content
Students access content via the Course Documents link on the Course Menu. This course uses the Adaptive Release tool to release content based on:
Date criteria: Content will be assigned a default release date, on which date it will be available to all students.
Review status criteria: Students who are progressing through course content quickly and marking the content as reviewed will see content before the default release date.
Membership criteria: For group projects, the class will be divided into groups. Different material will be released to each group.
Grade criteria: Students who receive less than 65% on their midterm exam will see additional review materials.

© 2007Blackboard Inc.1Keeping Students on Track

/

USING ADAPTIVE RELEASE

Use the Adaptive Release tool to customize the release of content, creating a course that is more interactive and tailored to the needs of individual students. With Adaptive Release, you can control when and to whom course content is available.

/ Learning Outcomes

After completing this section, you’ll be able to:

explain rules and criteria and name the four types of criteria that can be used for Adaptive Release

set a basic Adaptive Release rule

explain the difference between basic and advanced Adaptive Release rules

set an advanced Adaptive Release rule with multiple requirements for release

set multiple advanced rules to create options for release

do some basic troubleshooting to find out why items aren’t visible

modify and copy rules

rename and remove rules

/ USING ADAPTIVE RELEASE
about rules and criteria

To apply Adaptive Release to a content item, you create a rule that contains release criteria. There are four types of criteria:

/ Criteria / / Specify the item be released only…. / / For example:
Date / On, until, or between specific dates and times / You are covering content in a specific order, and you want to make content available only after it has been discussed in class
You have created the Midterm Exam for your class, but you want to release it only during the date and time specified by your institution
Membership / To specific users or groups of users / You divided your class into four groups and created different assignments for each group
Specific students have requested more information on a topic
Grade / If a graded item was attempted or received a certain score (i.e., less than, greater than, equal to, or between) / You have created multiple review packages. One set for students who received 70% or over on the Midterm Exam, and another set for students who received 69% or under on the Midterm Exam.
Review Status / If a content item is marked as reviewed / You want content to be released only after students have reviewed a related content item

The number of rules you can create and the criteria the rules can contain depend on whether you’re using basic or advanced Adaptive Release. We’ll start by looking at basic Adaptive Release.

/ USING ADAPTIVE RELEASE
setting a basic adaptive release rule
With basic Adaptive Release, you can apply one rule to a content item. This rule can contain all four types of criteria, but not multiple instances of the same type. All criteria in the rule must be satisfied before the item is released.
/ To set a basic rule
1.From the Control Panel, access the Content Area where the item appears.
2.Next to the item, click Manage (Figure 1.1).
3.Click Adaptive Release (Figure 1.2).
4.Specify any of the four types of criteria.
5.Click Submit.

Figure 1.1

Figure 1.2

/ To limit availability by… / / Do this…

Figure 1.3 /
  1. Select Display After, Display Until, or both.
  2. Under Display After and/or Display Until, either select the date from the drop-down lists or click the Calendar icon.
  3. To set a time, select from the drop-down lists.

Figure 1.4 / To select users:
  1. Click Browse.
  2. Search for the NET ID. To find all of the NET (or course) IDs, leave the text box blank and click Search.
  3. Click Submit.
To select groups:
  1. Under Available Course Groups, select a group.
  2. Click the right-pointing arrow.
  3. Click Submit.

Figure 1.5 /
  1. Select a Grade Center column from the drop-down list.
  2. Select the condition:
  3. Item has at least one attempt.
  4. Score [Less than or equal to], [Greater than or equal to], or [Equal to], and then enter the score in the text box.
  5. Score Between, and then enter the scores in the text boxes.


Figure 1.6 /
  1. Click Browse.
  2. Click the item in Course Map.
Note: The Review Status tool is automatically enabled for the item.
/ USING ADAPTIVE RELEASE
examples of using basic adaptive release

Here are a few ideas of when you might use basic Adaptive Release:

to release content on a specific date
For example, to keep students focused, you want to release content as the term progresses rather than releasing all course content at the beginning of the term. /
to release content on a specific date, but only to students who have received a certain grade
For example, you allow students to take unit review tests an unlimited number of times. You don’t want these unit review tests to appear until the end of the unit and only to students who have achieved 65% or over on the previous test. /
to release different content to a group of students
For example, you have created multiple assignments or tests and want to make them available to different groups of students. /
to release content to specific students
For example, you want to make additional review material available to students who request it. /
to release content according to the speed each individual student is working through the course
For example, so as not to overwhelm students, you want to make content available as the student progresses through course content. /
/ USING ADAPTIVE RELEASE
hands-on activity

Log in to the Practice Course and apply Adaptive Release criteria to the following content items:

Apply Review Status Criteria / Create a rule that releases content only if other content has been marked as reviewed:
From the Units Content Area, click Manage to access Adaptive Release for Unit 2: Terrestrial Planets.
Set a criterion that makes it available only if Unit 1: Astronomy Overview has been reviewed.
When you save the rule, notice Review Status is automatically enabled for the item.
Apply Membership Criteria / Create a rule that releases content only to selected students:
From the Assignments Content Area, access the Extra Credit Assignment.
Set a criterion that makes it available to practicestudent05 and practicestudent08.
Now Adaptive Release has been applied to release the assignment to selected students only; click Modify to make the assignment available.
Apply Date Grade Criteria / Create a rule that releases content between specific dates, if a certain grade has been achieved:
From the Assessments Content Area, access Adaptive Release for the Unit 2 Quiz.
Set a criterion that makes it available between March 1st and March 15th to students who received a score of 25 or higher on the Unit 1 Quiz.
/ practice course
/ USING ADAPTIVE RELEASE
best practice: approaches to adaptive release

Here are some ways you can use adaptive release to provide structure for your course.

/ To Release Content … / / Apply Criteria … / For Example
As the student progresses / Review Status / You divided your course into sections, each containing an overview, readings, and a quiz. You want content to be released as the student progresses through content and marks items as reviewed.
You want the overview to always be visible, so you apply no criteria.
You want the readings to be available after the overview has been reviewed, so you apply review status criteria to each of the readings, selecting the overview.
You want the quiz to be available after the final reading has been reviewed, so you apply review status criteria to the quiz, selecting that reading.
As the term progresses / Date / You divided your course into three sections. You want to make the sections available on specific dates throughout the term.
You want the first section to always be visible, so you apply no criteria.
You want the second section to be available after February 1st, so you apply this date criterion to each item in the section.
You want the third section to be available after March 1st, so you apply this date criterion to each item in the section.
For remedial purposes / Grade / You created additional course material for remedial purposes.
You want the remedial material to be available to students who received 65% or less on their Midterm Exam, so you apply Grade criterion to the material based on this Midterm score.
/ USING ADAPTIVE RELEASE
about advanced adaptive release

We have looked at creating a basic Adaptive Release rule, containing only one instance of each of the four types of criteria. There may be times when you want to set more complex adaptive release criteria. For instance, you might want to add more criteria to a rule, or you might want to specify different options for releasing the content. To do this, you have to use advanced Adaptive Release.

With advanced Adaptive Release you can add:

multiple instances of the same type of criteria to a rule (e.g., two Grade requirements)

multiple rules. When you add multiple rules, only one rule must be satisfied, allowing you to create different options for releasing the content (e.g., content is released to some students based on submitting their assignment and to others based on having marked content as reviewed).

Choosing Basic or Advanced Adaptive Release

You can create basic or advanced Adaptive Release rules. Use the following table to help you determine which type of rule you need to create.

Type / Number of Rules / Number of Criteria/Rule / Advantages
Basic / one
the rule must be satisfied / up to four, only one of each type
all criteria in the rule must be satisfied / You can set all four types of criteria from one page
If you choose later to add to your release criteria, you can access your basic rule from the Adaptive Release: Advanced page and build on it
Advanced / unlimited
only one of the rules must be satisfied / unlimited
all criteria in one of the rules must be satisfied / You can add multiple instances of the same type of criteria to a rule
You can add multiple rules

Overview of Creating Advanced Rules