Blackboard Collaboration Tools

You can initiate online, asynchronous discussions after you establish a forum in your course. Only an instructor can set up a forum.

1. Click Course Tools in the Control Panel.
2. Ensure the Edit Mode is On, found at the top-right of your course window.
3. Click Discussion Board under Course Tools in Control Panel.
4. Click the Course ID. (For example: 2022_GME_Anes_Airway-Rotation_CL)
5. Click Create Forum button.
6. Type the name of forum.
7. Type a brief description about the forum or instruction for your students in the text box.
8. Select options for Forum Availability if necessary.
   • Available – If yes, students can access it.
   • Date and Time Restrictions – You can create the time frame of availability.
9. Select desired forum settings:
   • Viewing Threads – Select Standard View or require students to create a post before they can view others' posts.
   • Grade – You can choose to grade individual threads or an entire forum. 
   • Subscribe – Email will be sent out when a new forum or post is made.
   • Create and Edit
     • Allow Anonymous Posts – This allows messages to be posted without the author’s name.
     • Allow Author to Delete Own Posts – In most cases, this is not recommended.
     • Allow Author to Edit Own Published Posts – In most cases, this is not recommended.
     • Allow Members to Create New Threads – This is recommended.
     • Allow File Attachments – Discussion boards are one place that students can upload and share a file.
     • Allow Users to Reply with Quote – This copies previous author’s thread into the reply.
     • Force Moderation of Posts – When selected student postings must be approved by the instructor before appearing on the discussion board.
   • Allow Post Tagging – This is not recommended as it slows discussion board page loading.
   • Allow Members to Rate Posts – This allows peer review on a five star scale.
10. Click Submit.

Within forums, threads can be created for specific points of discussion such as topics, subjects, questions, etc.

Click Course Tools in the Control Panel.

1. Ensure the Edit Mode is On, found at the top-right of your course window.
2. Click Discussion Board under Course Tools in Control Panel.
3. Click the Course ID. (For example: 2022_GME_Anes_Airway-Rotation_CL)
4. Click the title of the forum in which you want to post.
5. Click Create Thread.
6. Type Subject.
7. Type your comment in the message box.
8. To attach a file, click Browse My Computer.
9. Click Submit or Save. If you click Save, the thread will be saved but not posted on the discussion board.

The instructor or students can reply to a thread by clicking the Reply button, entering their comments, and clicking Submit.

When you create or edit a forum, you can enable grading options. After you enable grading, a Grade Center column is created automatically.

Note: If grading is enabled after students already submitted their work, then a grading rubric is associated, any rubric data on the first grading attempt will not be saved.

The grade settings appear in the Forum Settings section of the Create Forum page and the Edit Forum page.

• Select Grade Discussion Forum and type a point value to evaluate participants on performance throughout a forum.
• Select Grade Threads to evaluate participants on performance in each thread.
• Optionally, select the check box for Show participants in "needs grading" status... and select the number of posts required. Applying this setting will show the needs grading icon—the exclamation mark—in the Grade Center after each user makes the specified number of posts. Also, the posts are placed in the queue on the Needs Grading page.

If you choose three from the drop-down list and a user submits only two posts, the in progress icon appears in the Grade Center cell and the discussion board until the specified number of posts is met.

If you select a grading option and do NOT select the "Show participants in..." check box, the needs grading icon does not appear in the Grade Center and posts do not appear on the Needs Grading page. In the Grade Center column, users' attempts will appear with the in progress icon when they post.

• Optionally, associate a rubric by pointing to Add Rubric. This option appears in the Forum Settings section when Grade Forum is selected, and in the Grading section of the Create Thread page when Grade Threads is selected.

If you chose to grade threads when you created a forum, you decide on a thread-by-thread basis whether to grade a new thread.

If you select the Grade Threads option, users cannot create new threads.

1. On the Create Thread page, select the Grade Thread check box and type the Points possible. You can determine when posts go into needs grading status by selecting the check box for Show participants in needs grading status and selecting the number of posts from the drop-down list.
2. Click Submit.
3. In the forum, the Grade Thread function appears in the thread's Grade column.

You can also enable thread grading directly from the thread list in a forum.

1. Click the Grade function in a thread's Grade column.
2. Type the Points possible.
3. Click Submit. The Grade Thread function appears in a thread's Grade column.

You can assign discussion grades to evaluate participants on performance throughout a forum. When you create or edit a forum, you can enable forum grading options and a Grade Center column is created automatically.

You can create rubrics and refer to them while grading forums, but you must create and associate the rubrics in advance.

1. Access the discussion forum where you enabled forum grading and click Grade Discussion Forum on the action bar.
2. On the Grade Discussion Forum Users page, click Grade in a user's row with a number in the Posts column.
3. On the Grade Discussion Forum page, a collection of the student's posts made to the graded forum appears. Since you can assign a forum grade based on multiple threads, all messages posted by a student are included for review. On the action bar, click Print Preview to open the page in a new window in a printer-friendly format. Posts print in the order they appear on the page. To select which posts appear and in which order, you can filter and sort posts using the Filter function and the Sort By and Order drop-down lists on the action bar.

The grading sidebar contains:

• Forum Statistics: Click to access the drop-down area that includes information about a user's posts, such as Total Posts, Date of Last Post, Average Post Length, and Average Post Position.
• Click the down-pointing arrow next to the current user's name to view a list and select a user with posts ready to grade. The selected user's posts appear in the content frame. Use the left- and right-pointing arrows to navigate to the previous or next student.
• Area to add grade, feedback, and private notes for yourself.

1. In the content frame, evaluate the currently selected user's posts. In the grading sidebar, type a grade. If you associated a rubric for this forum, expand and complete the rubric. To edit an existing grade, click in the Grade box and change the grade.
2. Optionally, type Feedback for the user. In the Add Notes section, make notes that appear only to you (instructor). You can use the spell check function in the bottom of each text box. The icon for Click to open full content editor gives you access to all the content editor functions for formatting text and adding files, images, web links, multimedia and mashups to your feedback or notes.
3. Click Submit to add the grade, feedback, and grading notes to the Grade Center. The grade appears on the Grade Discussion Forum Users page.

You can assign discussion grades to evaluate participants on performance in each thread. When you create or edit a forum, you can enable thread grading options and a Grade Center column is created automatically.

Students cannot create new threads in a forum where threads are graded.

You can create rubrics and refer to them while grading threads, but you must create and associate the rubrics in advance.

After accessing the user's threads to grade, follow the steps outlined in the previous section for inline forum grading.

1. Access the discussion forum containing a thread you want to grade.
2. On the thread listing page, in List View, click Grade Thread in the thread's row.
3. On the Grade Discussion Thread Users page, click Grade in a user's row with a number in the Posts column.
4. On the Grade Discussion Thread page, a collection of the student's posts made to the graded thread appears. Since you can assign a thread grade based on multiple messages, all messages posted by a student are included for review. On the action bar, click Print Preview to open the page in a new window in a printer-friendly format. Posts print in the order they appear on the page. To select which posts appear and in which order, you can filter and sort posts using the Filter function and the Sort By and Order drop-down lists on the action bar.
5. Provide a grade, feedback, and grading notes. After clicking Submit, the information is added to the Grade Center. The grade appears on the Grade Discussion Thread Users page.

While assigning grades, you can use the email tool in the discussion board to quickly contact students. For example, send a student a question prior to assigning a grade or send feedback after assigning a grade.

1. Navigate to a forum or thread to assign a grade.
2. On the Grade Discussion Thread Users page -OR- the Grade Discussion Forum Users page, select one or multiple users' check boxes, or select the check box in the header row to select all the users you want to email.
3. On the action bar, click Email.
4. On the Email Forum User page, edit the Subject, if needed.
5. Type a question or feedback in the Message box.
6. Click Submit.

Even if grades exist, you can disable grading for graded forums and threads.

1. Access the discussion board and access a forum's contextual menu.
2. Select Edit.
3. On the Edit Forum page, in the Forum Settings section, change the grading option to No Grading in Forum.
4. Click Submit. If you already assigned grades for a forum or its threads, a warning message appears stating that disabling grading will delete all existing grades. This action is final.
5. Click OK to continue or click Cancel to preserve the Grade Center items.

1. Change Edit Mode to ON.
2. On the Control Panel, expand the Course Tools section and select Blogs.
3. On the Blogs listing page, click Create Blog on the action bar.
4. On the Create Blog page, type a Name for the blog.
5. Type optional Instructions for the blog. Format the text and add images, links, multimedia, mashups, and attachments using the functions in the content editor, if needed. Attachments you add using the content editor can be launched in a new window and have alternate text added to describe the attachment. Any files you upload from your computer are saved in Course Files or the Content Collection in the top-level folder.
6. For Blog Availability, select the Yes option to make it available to users.
7. For Blog Date and Time Restrictions, you can set a blog to display on a specific date and time and to stop displaying on a specific date and time. Select the Display After and Display Until check boxes to enable the date and time selections. Display restrictions do not affect the blog availability, only when it appears.
8. In the Blog Participation section, select Course (all students can post and comment) or Individual to All Students (each student has a blog, students can add a post only to their own blog, they can add a comment to any blog). Optionally, select Allow Anonymous Comments for individual blogs or Allow Anonymous Entries and Comments for course and group blogs.
9. In the Blog Settings section, select Monthly or Weekly Index Entries.
   • Optionally, select the check box to Allow Users to Edit and Delete Entries.
   • Optionally, select the check box to Allow Users to Delete Comments.
10. In the Grade Settings section, select No grading or the Grade option and type the number of Points possible. Points possible will apply to one or more entries made by the user to the blog topic. After you enable grading, a column is created automatically in the Grade Center. It is permanently gradable, and you cannot change the setting to No grading. If you decide later that you do not want to grade, change the Points possible to zero.
11. Optionally, select the check box for Show participants in needs grading status and from the drop-down list, select the number of entries required. Applying this setting will show the needs grading icon in the Grade Center and place the entries in the queue on the Needs Grading page after the specified number of entries are made.
12. Optionally, associate a rubric by pointing to Add Rubric to access the drop-down list. To learn more, view Rubrics.
13. Click Submit.

You can also provide links to blogs in course areas such as content areas, learning modules, lesson plans, and folders

Because blogs are meant to be read by others, students can comment on one another’s blog entries, whether they belong to an individual, the course, or a group.

You determine if users may make anonymous comments and delete them. As the instructor, you can delete any user’s comment by clicking the X. After they are posted, users cannot edit their comments.

1. On the Blogs listing page, select a blog title.
2. On the blog’s topic page, select a blog to view by selecting the user’s name in the sidebar in the All Course Members drop-down. The user’s blog entries open in the content frame.
3. Click Comment following the user’s entry. The Comment box appears.
4. Type a comment in the Comment box.
5. If enabled and appropriate, select the check box for Comment on Entry as Anonymous.
6. Click Add. Below the entry, click the Comments link shown with a number to view the comment.

1. Change Edit Mode to ON.
2. On the Blogs listing page, access a blog's contextual menu.
3. Select Edit.
4. On the Edit Blog page, make changes.
5. Click Submit.

If you no longer need a blog, you can delete it. Deleting a blog is permanent. On the Blogs listing page, select Delete from the blog's contextual menu.

If a blog is gradable, the Delete Confirmation page appears. You need to perform extra steps to remove a gradable blog.

1. Change Edit Mode to ON.
2. On the Blogs listing page, access a blog's contextual menu.
3. Select Delete.
4. Click OK in the warning pop-up. The Delete Confirmation page appears. You have two options:
   • Do not select check boxes: The blog is deleted, but the Grade Center column and scores you have assigned are retained. For example, all student entries are graded and you want to keep the Grade Center column for the final grade calculations. If you delete a blog, yet retain the Grade Center column, you can delete that column from the Grade Center at any time.
   • Select the check boxes: The grade column in the Grade Center and the blog are deleted. For example, if you do not want to include the grade column for the blog entries in the final grade, you can safely delete all.
5. Click Remove to complete the deletion.

1. Change Edit Mode to ON.
2. On the Blogs listing page, select the check box next to the appropriate blog.
3. Point to Availability on the action bar to access the drop-down list.
4. Select Make Available or Make Unavailable.

If you want students to access the blogs tool often, you can add a link to the course menu for one-click access to the tool. You can customize the name of the link as needed.

1. Change Edit Mode to ON and point to the plus sign above the course menu. The Add Menu Item drop-down list appears.
2. Select Tool Link.
3. Type a Name for the link.
4. From the Type drop-down list, select Blogs.
5. Select the Available to Users check box.
6. Click Submit.

1. Change Edit Mode to ON.
2. On the Control Panel, expand the Course Tools section and select Wikis.
3. On the Wikis listing page, click Create Wiki on the action bar.
4. On the Create Wiki page, type a name.
5. Type optional Instructions. You can format the text and have the option to add images, links, multimedia, mashups, and attachments using the functions in the content editor. Attachments you add using the content editor can be launched in a new window and have alternate text added to describe the attachment.
6. Select the Yes option to make the wiki available to users.
7. For Wiki Date and Time Restrictions, you can set a wiki to display on a specific date and time and to stop displaying on a specific date and time. 
8. Select the Student Access option. You can change the student access at any time.
   • Closed to Editing: Select this option when you are the only one contributing pages or to disallow further page editing by users when you are ready to start grading the wikis contributions. All course members are still allowed to view wikis that are closed to editing.
   • Open to Editing: Allows users to modify any wiki page. In a group wiki, a user must be a member of the group to view or edit a wiki page.
9. In the Wiki Settings section, make a grading selection. If you select Grade: Points possible, enter the maximum points possible to make the wiki a graded item. After you enable grading, a column is created automatically for it in the Grade Center. It is permanently gradable, and you cannot change it to No grading. If you do decide later to make it non-gradable you can change the points possible to zero.
   • Optionally, select the check box and the number of page saves required to show participants in Needs Grading status. Applying this setting will show the needs grading icon—the exclamation mark—in the Grade Center and place the entries in the queue on the Needs Grading page after the specified number of page saves have been made.
   • If you select three page saves from the drop-down list and a user submits two, the In Progress icon (blue clock) appears in the Grade Center cell and within the tool until the specified number of saves is met.
   • Optionally, associate a rubric by putting your cursor on Add Rubric and making a selection.
10. Click Submit.

1. On the Wikis listing page, select a wiki title.
2. On the wiki’s topic page, click Create Wiki Page on the action bar.
3. On the Create Wiki Page, type a name.
4. Type a description or instructions in the Content box. Optionally, format the text and add images, links, multimedia, mashups, and attachments using the functions in the content editor. Attachments you add using the content editor can be launched in a new window and have alternate text added to describe the attachment.
5. Click Submit.

Added pages are listed in the right column. Click on a page name to navigate to it.
You can delete an entire wiki or pages within a wiki, but you cannot delete the wiki home page by itself. Students can delete content but do not have the ability to delete wiki pages.

When course members create or edit wiki pages, they may need to reference another page in the wiki. If the wiki consists of many pages, you can insert a link to that page right on the page you are currently viewing. You can use the Link to Wiki page function in the content editor to link to another wiki page within the current wiki.

In our example, we create a new wiki page and a link to another page.

1. Access a wiki.
2. On the wiki topic page, click Create Wiki Page on the action bar.
3. On the Create Wiki Page, type a Wiki Name and Content.
4. In the Content box, position the mouse pointer where you want to include a link to another wiki page.
5. Click the Link to Wiki page function in the content editor, represented by several sheets of paper. If only one wiki page exists, this function is disabled.
6. In the pop-up window, select the wiki page to link to from the drop-down list.
7. Optionally, type a name for the link in the Rename Wiki Page Link box. If the link is not renamed, the original page title is used as the link.
8. Click Submit. The link appears in the content editor.
9. Click Submit. The new page with the link to the other page is added to the wiki.

Course members can comment on wiki pages as an alternative to contributing to or editing a page. Comments provide a way for you and your students to offer feedback and suggestions. Comments are visible to all course members. All comments for all wiki pages are counted in the About This Wiki section in the sidebar.

No one can edit comments after they are posted. Users can delete the comments they authored.

1. Access a wiki.
2. On the wiki topic page, select the page to view in the sidebar. The wiki page opens in the content frame.
3. Click Comment following the user’s contribution. The Comment box appears.
4. Type a comment in the Comment box. You can use the spell check function at the bottom of the box as needed. Comments have a 2,000-character limit. A pop-up message advises that a comment over 2,000 characters must be edited and resubmitted.
5. Click Add. Click the Comments link below the contribution to view the comment.

Because a wiki stores each version in its history, which includes who made changes, you have an opportunity to retrieve information about the development and contributions for any individual. You can select History from a page’s contextual menu to see how a page was modified, view any version, and compare two versions side by side.

Use the following steps to edit a wiki page.

1. Access the wiki. The wiki topic page appears.
2. Select the page to review and edit. The wiki page opens in the content frame.
3. In the sidebar, access the page’s contextual menu and select Edit Properties.

-OR-

Click Edit Wiki Content next to the page’s title in the content frame.

1. On the Edit Wiki Page, you can make changes to the name and content of the page. Optionally, use the functions in the content editor to format existing text or include links, images, multimedia, mashups, link to other wiki pages, and attachments.
2. Click Submit.

If you no longer need a wiki, you can delete it. Deleting a wiki is permanent. On the Wikis listing page, select Delete from the wiki's contextual menu.

If a wiki is gradable, the Delete Confirmation page appears. You need to perform extra steps to remove a gradable wiki.

• Click OK in the warning pop-up. The Delete Confirmation page appears. You have two options:
  • Do not select check boxes: The wiki is deleted, but the Grade Center column and scores you have assigned are retained. For example, all student contributions are graded and you want to keep the Grade Center column for the final grade calculations. If you delete a wiki, yet retain the Grade Center column, you can delete that column from the Grade Center at any time.
  • Select the check boxes: The grade column in the Grade Center and the wiki are deleted. For example, if you do not want to include the grade column for the wiki contributions in the final grade, you can safely delete all.

If you want students to access the wikis tool often, you can add a link to the course menu for one-click access to the tool. You can customize the name of the link as needed.

1. Change Edit Mode to ON and point to the plus sign above the left side course menu. The Add Menu Item drop-down list appears.
2. Select Tool Link.
3. Type a Name for the link.
4. From the Type drop-down list, select Wikis.
5. Select the Available to Users check box.
6. Click Submit.