Here are the condensed highlights of faculty questions from September; you can find more details about these questions and their answers by going to Innovative Learning's Blackboard Hub page. These are not necessarily the most frequently asked questions, but helpful for all faculty members to know!
Question: How can I make my tests more secure?
Answer:
To make your tests more secure against academic misconduct, there are a few things you can do. You can consider:
- Using question banks, which can be made with Blackboard's AI Design Assistant, and can use your content using the Context Picker, or you can make them manually.
- When using question banks, you can randomize the questions that appear on each students' test by following the instructions.
If you already have your test or question bank created, you can also do the following:
- Randomize answers for test questions,
- Add password protection,
- and prohibit backtracking, display only one question at a time, randomize the order of questions, and prohibit late submissions in the test settings can also be used to help with test security.
Question: How do I setup the Gradebook and the Overall Grade?
Answer:
Innovative Learning has created a simulation to help you learn to setup your overall grade. If you prefer the written instructions they are below. Please make sure to setup your Gradebook as soon as possible, and make sure to upload your grades quickly, so that students have an idea of how they are doing in the course. Learn more about setting up your Gradebook through Innovative Learning's Faculty Blackboard Help page dedicated to Setting up the Overall Grade.
You can learn more about dropping the lowest grade a student received in a course, as well as overriding the overall grade for a student.
Question: I want to add myself to a course as an instructor. How do I do this?
Answer:
Instructors are added to live Blackboard courses by the Faculty Scheduler in Banner or Destiny 1. Once they are added through Banner or Destiny 1, access is immediate. Associate deans can request the instructor be assigned through their faculty scheduler. Only faculty who are assigned teaching contracts can be assigned "instructor" status in Blackboard.
The Innovative Learning Support Centre can only add instructors to courses from a previous semester only with approval from an associate dean for the purpose of accessing old course content.
The Innovative Learning Support Centre can manually add users to current courses with the Course Builder role. With this role they will be able to access the course but are limited in functions (for example they will not have gradebook access). However, they still can perform a course copy.
If you want to request to be added as an instructor or course builder, visit the Innovative Learning Support Centre, where you can complete a Support Request.
Question: How do I setup accommodations in Blackboard?
Answer:
Learn more about setting up accommodations through Innovative Learning's Faculty Blackboard Help page dedicated to Setting Up Accommodations. Accommodations can be edited at any time. Please note that when a due date or time limit accommodation is deleted, previously submitted work for assessments may then be flagged late.
Need support? The Innovative Learning Support Centre is here to help!