Blackboard--Keeping Students Connected to History

   The Blackboard course management software may be new to Edison this semester, but it is not new to Jim Funkhouser. Jim teaches History at Edison. Two years ago he was becoming frustrated with the high absentee rate of his students. Valuable class time was being spent trying to catch up with absent students to give them missing paperwork and assignments for the days they were not in class. Jim approached NET Program Coordinator Denny Myers  hoping to find a solution to his problem. They worked together with OARNET and Jim secured a Blackboard course site on the OARNET server. 

With a crash course in FrontPage, Jim began to post his handouts, syllabi, and assignments into a Blackboard course site for student access. When Edison signed the licensing agreement with Blackboard this summer, the Edison ITS department was able to offer Jim a place “closer to home” to post assignments. That closeness has resulted in greater speed in posting course information and has made Jim's work with Blackboard much easier.

   Jim is using his Blackboard course sites as additional resources for his students. By posting the information to the Blackboard site, any student who has access to a computer, the Internet, and a Web browser can stay up-to-date with class assignments. If they have a question outside of the classroom about the course, they can log into the Blackboard site and find information quickly and easily. Jim can stay in contact with students via the announcements area of his Blackboard site and inform students of changes in the course schedule. Worksheets can be posted to Blackboard for students to begin exploring topics before classroom discussion. 

   Jim Funkhouser is just one of several people on campus using the Blackboard course management software as an enhancement to traditional face-to-face classroom courses. 

• Matha Schleinitz and Fred Verceles are using Blackboard in a similar way to post lecture notes and to open up dialog with students using the discussion board and the announcements section. 
    

• Ruth Barney and Bob Strayer are using Blackboard to pilot an online testing program in the Learning Center.
     

• The Learning Center, and the Online Design CQI team are using Blackboard as a communication and collaboration area.
  

   Blackboard is not just for online classes. You don't have to be a computer guru to manage a Blackboard course site.  Documents that you have already created in Word and PowerPoint presentations can quickly be uploaded to a course site.  The Applications Services unit of ITS can also help you create Web pages that can be used in your Blackboard course site. 

   If you would like to learn more about the Blackboard software program, or would like to have a course site set up, please contact Ann Miller at ext. 422, or send an e-mail message to Amiller@edison.cc.oh.us.  

   You can find additional information about Blackboard on the Edison web site at: http://www.edison.cc.oh.us/blackboard/

 

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