Colleagues are invited to attend the Blackboard Workshop Series, taking place every Wednesday from 19th September to 3rd October at Avenue Campus. The same series will also run at WSA, dates and times TBC. These workshops are designed to meet the needs of staff in Arts and Humanities, but other University of Southampton staff are welcome to attend. (N.B. If you are not from the faculty of Arts and Humanities, please email digital-learning@soton.ac.uk to request a place).
Creating a “Goldilocks BB course” – not too much, not too little, but just right.
A workshop on Rollover and getting the basics right in Blackboard
- Wednesday 19th September 2018
- 14:00-16:00
- 65/2143
- Facilitators: Tamsyn Smith & Kate Borthwick
- Monday 1st October 2018
- 14:00-16:00
- WSA 63 West/1165 (Seminar Room) – please bring a laptop or tablet (if possible)
- Facilitators: Tamsyn Smith & Kate Borthwick
Creating a good Blackboard course is not necessarily about employing special tools or innovative features but has more to do with clarity of presentation and the relevance of information: getting the basics right. Students tell us this every year when they nominate our courses in the University of Southampton Excellence in VLE Awards.
In this workshop, you will hear some case studies from faculty staff members as well as receiving some practical tips. There will be opportunities for discussion and some time at the end for you to be able to share ideas and put things into practice in your own BB sites.
Key areas?
- Structuring your Blackboard course
- Using adaptive release and ‘mark reviewed’
- School of Humanities VLE specification
- Accessing further information, help, and training
Prerequisites?
- Attendees should be familiar with basic navigation in Blackboard
- If you do not want to work on one of your live courses, it is possible to request an arbitrary course. You can then use this as a sandbox to develop your ideas (which could then be copied into a new course in future)
How can I create an award-winning course? Special tools and features
A workshop exploring features of Blackboard in relation to the VLE Awards
- Wednesday 26th September 2018
- 14:00-16:00
- 65/2143
- Facilitators: Tamsyn Smith & Kate Borthwick
Are you making use of the many tools available in Blackboard (or that can be embedded within your course)? This workshop will showcase some of the communication and collaboration tools available in Blackboard before hearing from faculty staff members whose courses were nominated in the VLE Awards. This session will provide you with opportunities to make your Blackboard course more visually appealing.
Key areas?
- Discussion Forums
- Journals and Blogs
- Wikis
- Groups
- Adding videos (Panopto, BoB and YouTube)
- Investigating the opportunities and challenges of using these tools
Prerequisites?
- Attendees should be familiar with basic navigation in Blackboard
- If you do not want to work on one of your live courses, it is possible to request an arbitrary course. You can then use this as a sandbox to develop your ideas (which could then be copied into a new course in future)
Masterclass on Universal Design for Learning – creating a dynamic online space in Blackboard
A workshop on getting the best out of Blackboard to support all of your students
- Wednesday 3rd October 2018
- 14:00-16:00
- 65/2143
- Facilitators: Tamsyn Smith & Kate Borthwick
Are your Blackboard modules dynamic online learning spaces that allow you to do more with your face to face teaching? Have you put effort into providing something but it feels like your students aren’t using it? Would you like to redesign or increase engagement with your modules but don’t have time? Maybe you aren’t sure where to start or what to prioritise in order to create a better online experience for you and your students.
This hands-on workshop will help you to develop one (or more) of your Blackboard courses in line with Universal Design for Learning and what we have learnt during the six years of the University of Southampton Excellence in VLE Awards.
Key areas?
- Creation of an action plan to improve your own Blackboard course
- Discussion of EU Web Accessibility Directive
- Consideration of inclusivity in practice
- How to plan for and design inclusive teaching, learning, assessment, and feedback
Prerequisites?
- Attendees should be familiar with basic navigation in Blackboard
- Attendees should come with a particular course in mind that they would like to develop
- If you do not want to work on one of your live courses, it is possible to request an arbitrary course. You can then use this as a sandbox to develop your ideas (which could then be copied into a new course in future)