Digital Fundamentals

Blackboard and other Learning Management Systems are important communication, information, and design tools that are used to support learning and student success.  The Digital Fundamentals for Teaching and Learning series is a group of classes that assists those who educate students in developing the skills necessary to use Blackboard effectively in a remote teaching environment. Educators also develop skills in creating multimedia elements to add to the blackboard course to promote student engagement.

Learning Outcomes

• Apply Blackboard tools to establish an online presence
• Adapt your course for Digital Teaching in alignment with best practices for the discipline
• Using Blackboard tools to assess student learning while considering alternative assessment techniques
• Utilize appropriate video conferencing software to promote student engagement
• Explore multimedia technology for use in the digital classroom.

Series Elements
Designed to be completed over a four-week period, Digital Fundamentals for Teaching and Learning is broken into four sections (1) Blackboard foundations (2) communicating with students using Blackboard, (3) assessing students using Blackboard, and (4) using and developing multimedia for Blackboard. Upon completion of the Digital Fundamentals for Teaching and Learning series, you will create a working Blackboard teaching site that demonstrates many of the elements taught throughout the series.

Blackboard Foundations
The following foundational courses are essential in helping faculty learn how to demonstrate an Online course presence, which is critical in the digital teaching environment. Foundational courses include:

• Blackboard Essentials: This course will teach you how to how to navigate Blackboard, post files, and upload a syllabus, which are skills that must be mastered before starting the rest of Digital Fundamentals for Teaching and Learning.
• Blackboard Text Editor:  This course will teach you how to create pages in Blackboard with text, links, images, and embedded videos.  Embed a video on a webpage, include student learning outcomes, and ask your students a few questions to guide their thinking as they watch the video.
• Creating an Online Presence in Your Course (Handout):  This handout helps faculty master the skills of creating course elements with proper introductory and transitioning statements to orient students.  This helps faculty make the shift between face-to-face and remote instruction.

Note: All foundational courses must be taken before completing any other course in the series.

Communicating with Students using Blackboard
The following courses are designed to help faculty learn how to communicate effectively with their students using Blackboard. To support the outcomes associated with communicating with students using Blackboard, participants choose one of the following courses:

• Blackboard Communication tools: This course will teach you how to create and manage an Online Discussion board for your students.  If you find that there are topics that you talked about in class that students want to explore further, you might set up discussions on these topics to further engage students.
• Blackboard Collaborate/Zoom: This course will teach you how to communicate with your students in real-time using audio conferencing, presentation software, and other collaborative tools.
• Teaching and Learning Tips for Developing or Improving Online Discussions (Handout):  This handout provides tips to help faculty craft engaging discussions, maintain faculty presence on the discussion board, and develop netiquette policies to successfully manage student behavior online.

Assessing Students using Blackboard
The following courses are designed to help faculty become proficient in giving and grading tests in Blackboard.

• Blackboard Assessments: This course will teach you how to create online tests for your students that are automatically scored by Blackboard.
• Blackboard Grade Center:  This course will teach you how to set up an Online Gradebook for your students that can be automatically updated throughout the semester as you enter grades.  This can help keep students on track with their grades throughout the semester and allows them to monitor their own progress and improve performance as the semester progresses.

Using and Developing Multimedia for Blackboard
The following courses are designed to help faculty create an engaging experience for their students by expanding their abilities to provide content beyond the typical use of Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint files.

• Screen Casting Made Simple:  This course will teach you how to use Screencast-O-Matic to create simple videos that can be used on Blackboard to support teaching and learning.
• Using the Automatic Captions in YouTube: This course will teach you how to caption the videos you create to support accessibility for all students.