The Teaching / Technology Innovation Center

The Teaching / Technology Innovation Center is located in the library information HUB on the Oceanside campus, room 1253. 

Blackboard End of Semester Tasks for Faculty

As the Spring 2012 semester comes to a close, please review the following suggested end of semester tasks for faculty teaching with Blackboard at MiraCosta College

Watch the Tutorial Presentation at: http://www.screencast.com/t/ygrCckd5C

It covers:

  1. Grade Center: Update Running Totals & Backup your Grade Center
  2. Copy Course: Copy your Course to a New Semester Course Shell
  3. Course Availability: Make your course Unavailable
  4. My Courses Module: Make your future semester courses display at the top of the my Courses Module.

Below are step by step directions you can follow to complete the suggested end of semester tasks. However, watch the tutorial and I’ll show you how.

Watch the Tutorial Presentation at: http://www.screencast.com/t/ygrCckd5C

Grade Center (The Blackboard Gradebook)

Here are some suggestions if you are using the Bb Grade Center.

  • Running Total - If you have set your Grade Center Total column to Calculate as a Running Total (you selected Yes to this option) you MUST either enter a 0 in each grade column row for assignments a student has not completed or change the Total Column Running Total Setting to No. Completion of this step will help you avoid situations with angered students who think they are doing better than they are.

     A. Directions to Modify the Totals Column

    1. Enter your Blackboard course
    2. Scroll down to the Control Panel area on the left
    3. Click on Grade Center
    4. Click on Full Grade Center
    5. Click on the drop down arrow in the Total column to right of the heading Total
    6. Select Edit Column Information

      Total

    7. Scroll down to section #3 – Select Columns. Make sure you select No for Calculate as a running Total

      Select NO

    8. Click Submit

      Or…

B.  Enter a 0 in every cell where a student currently does not have a grade.

  • Backup/Export your Gradebook and store it in a secure location. Full time faculty - I suggest using your H: drive (aka home folder/private on campus only network storage). Associate Faculty please store this file in a secure location.

    A.  Directions to Backup/Export your Blackboard Gradebook.
  1. Enter your Blackboard course
  2. Scroll down to the Control Panel area on the left
  3. Click on Grade Center
  4. Click on Full Grade Center
  5. Click Work Offline (on the right hand side)
  6. Select Download

    Work Offline


  7. Leave all the defaults (Full Grade Center, Tab, Tab) – Click Submit
  8. Click the Download button
  9. Save the resulting file to your computer.

Course Availability

Make your course unavailable to students. This will block access to your course past the time you want students to be in your course. - Watch it!

How to make your course unavailable to students

  1. Scroll down to the Control Panel area on the bottom left
  2. Click on Customization
  3. Click on Properties
  4. Go to  the Set Availability area, Select No
  5. Click Submit

    unavailable

Archive your Course

The Archive Course feature allows you to archive (save a backup) of your courses in .zip format. The .zip files can then be reloaded into Blackboard for future use. The zip file is intended for backup purposes only.
- Watch it!

From the Control Panel Area

  1. Click Packages and Utilities
  2. Click Export / Archive Course
  3. Click on the Archive button.
  4. On the next page, select the check box if you want the Grade Center History to be included in the archive.
  5. Click the Submit button.
  6. Blackboard will generate a message "This action has been successfully queued. An email will be sent when the process is complete." Click the Ok button to confirm.
  7. Once you receive the email that your course has been archived, return to this area (see steps 1 and 2).
  8. The .zip package of your archived course should now be listed.
  9. Click on the .zip file and choose to Save it.
  10. Save zipped course to the hard drive or onto a removable storage device (Floppy, CD, Flash drive, etc.).

NOTE: Archiving a course does not remove the original from the system

Copy Course

This movie shows you how to copy your Blackboard course content from a previous semester course to a current semester course.  - Watch it!

  1. Enter the course that has the content (i.e. the previous or old semester course)
  2. On the Control Panel, under Packages and Utilities, click Course Copy.
  3. Select Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course
  4. Click the browse button and select the course you would like to copy the content to. (i.e. the new or upcoming semester course)
  5. Select the Course Materials that you want to copy over to the new semester course. (if in doubt take everything)
  6. Click Submit.

Do this only 1 time! Course copies may take a while to complete. DO NOT work on your course again until you receive the e-mail that says the course copy is complete.

My Courses Module Display

  1. Login to Blackboard
  2. Click on the Gear icon in the top right hand corner of the my Courses Module (on the right hand side of the page)

    My Courses

  3. Use the left up and down arrows to drag and drop the courses to the order you would like.
  4. Click the Submit button.

** If you are teaching for Summer or Fall 2012 your courses are now available on Blackboard.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Karen Korstad
Faculty Technology Specialist

MCC

Oceanside Campus
1 Barnard Drive MS #11A
Oceanside, CA 92056
P 760.795.6787
kkorstad@miracosta.edu

  • Learn more about Blackboard

This movie will show you how you can earn flex credit online for learning Blackboard. -- Watch it!    Then login to Blackboard at https://blackboard.miracosta.edu and get started.

  • Need Help with your MCC Login / Password

Contact the Employee Helpdesk at 760-795-6850 for assistance with your MiraCosta College Login and Password.  Your MCC Login and Password will allow you access to our most popular MCC faculty computer systems - SURF, Blackboard, and your E-mail.

TIC 1253 B Room Scheduling

The main area of the TIC is drop in, however the space located in HUB 1253 B can be reserved for audio/video recording, meetings, and events.  The room can hold about 20 people comfortably. If you are interested in reserving time in the TIC, review the calendar and then contact Karen Korstad at kkorstad@miracosta.edu to book your reservation.

MiraCosta College Technology Resources

MiraCosta College has online teaching tools available to faculty.  Blackboard, Elluminate Live!, Edustream, LecShare Pro, Respondus, Turnitin.com, and Grademark are just a few.  Please refer to the following two links to view more information about the available campus teaching technologies.

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