Recently, the IDT team assisted the University Technology Advisory Committee (UTAC) in disseminating the university’s LMS Survey. In reviewing survey data, we saw some open-ended comments that suggest a need for more information about a few existing tools and capabilities of which some instructors are unaware.
- Live video classroom capabilities…to have class online and in person at the same time. Two options are available to faculty from within Blackboard while teaching: (1) Zoom integration with Zoom to set up and conduct Zoom sessions that enable virtual students to “attend” your in-person class, and (2) Echo360’s lecture capture with live streaming.
- A video assignment (recorded presentations) submission portal that reduces video size automatically. Students can use Echo360 Universal Capture: Personal to create video presentations and save them in their Echo360 Library. They can then submit their video as a hyperlink in a Blackboard assignment drop box, discussion, or another area in a course. Our team has created a short “crash course” video, Student Presentations Using Echo360, for students on all of these Echo360 topics.
- I would like to see the data on student time spent within the course each day or week. Blackboard provides two options for faculty interested in student activity and performance data within a Blackboard course. For more information, you may want to review Blackboard’s support pages on Course Reports and the Retention Center.
- Download the Blackboard exam into Microsoft Word. I’m not sure whether this request references downloading a blank copy of an exam to Word for in-person use, or whether the instructor wants to be able to download students’ completed online exams to Word for offline grading. If the request is in reference to the first option, the IDT team’s staff can assist you. Simply email the Support Center to request assistance and your inquiry will be routed to our team. An instructional designer or learning technology administrator will be assigned to use Respondus Exam 4.0 to extract your online exam from Blackboard into a Word exam and answer key. Regarding the second option, we do not have a solution for that request available at this time.
- A product like Studio for video storage, and the capabilities to create video interactive quizzes. The university acquired Echo360 several years ago, and the IDT team continues to promote awareness of and provide training on that application for the following features: (1) video lecture/presentation recording, (2) storage for audio/video contents created in Echo360 or Zoom, or imported from another source, (3) modification of videos stored in Echo360 to include embedded questions for students to answer as they watch the video, and (4) accessing student viewing and response data. Please refer to the following IDT resources for more information on these features:Promoting Active Engagement with Within-Video Polls/Questions
- Video: Setting Zoom to Work with Echo360 [2:55]
- Video: Basic Upload to Echo360 [3:59]
- Video: Echo 360 Basics [13:31]
- Additional Echo360-related videos are available on the IDT team’s blog post, "Crash Course" Video Library.
- I would like to be able to add comments on written work that students can access without my having to download and save a file that I have to post back…Even better would be the ability to offer spoken comments that are recorded by the system. Blackboard provides some degree support for both of these requests. For more information, you may want to review Blackboard’s support pages on Assignment Inline Grading and Record Audio and Video Feedback.
- Creating tests in Blackboard is so painful that the thought of having to recreate the tests used in my lab classes is making me nauseous. Most were developed when the university had a license for Respondus 4.0, which greatly facilitated setting up automated tests, but since losing that option, the one or two quizzes I've had to create or modify have been tremendous time holes. UHCL still has Respondus Exam 4.0. However, when we needed to implement single sign-on (SSO) security protocols, making a connection between Respondus Exam 4.0 and Blackboard became problematic and frustrating. However, the IDT team regularly assists faculty with getting exam questions from a Word document into the Blackboard course(s) via Respondus. Simply email the Support Center and request that assistance. Your inquiry will be sent to the IDT team, and one of our Instructional Designers will be assigned to help you. For those faculty of a more “do it yourself” approach, we do have a DIY workaround that enables you to upload questions from a Word document into a Respondus exam, exporting/downloading the test from Respondus as a Blackboard-ready exam file, and importing that file into the Tests, Surveys, and Pools area in your Blackboard course. For more information about the workaround, please review the IDT team’s “crash course” video, Respondus Exam – Manual Workaround [5:49].
In addition to the specific resources referenced above, the IDT team encourages you to contact the Support Center to request more information about these features, or about anything related to instructional design and instructional technologies. You may do so by email at SupportCenter@uhcl.edu or by telephone at (281) 283-2828.
