DoIT News

Blackboard 8.0 Grade Center (2/6, 1 p.m., Engineering 025)

This 75 minute workshop will provide the gradebook user with an advanced look at the new Blackboard Grade Center that will be used starting with the Spring semester. New features include easier recording of grades, ability to divide the gradebook into multiple course sections, dropping the lowest score and advanced reporting features.Familiarity with the current gradebook is helpful.

Building Activity with Blackboard's Communication Tools (2/13, 1 p.m., Engineering 025)

This 90 minute hands-on workshop will introduce you to the various communication tools in Blackboard and discuss how they can be effectively used. Topics will include how to use the new discussion board, use of the "Assignments" feature, effective ways to use groups, Turnitin, and email. (Please bring an electronic copy of your syllabus if you have one.)

Creating Assessments in Blackboard (2/20, 1 p.m., Engineering 025)

This 90 minute hands-on workshop will focus on creating both assessments and surveys in Blackboard and how to manage the course Gradebook. Attention will be focused on the Test Manager, Survey Manager, uploading and downloading grades, managing items in the Gradebook and the Gradebook settings.

Blackboard Wikis & Blogs (3/6, 2:30 p.m., Engineering 025)

All UMBC Blackboard courses and communities have access to interactive community publishing tools such as blogs (diary-like journals any user can create) and wikis (a communal web site anyone can add to and edit). This one hour hands-on workshop will give participants a chance to try out blogs and wikis for themselves, and show how others are currently using them in UMBC Blackboard courses and communities.

For more details about these workshops and to register, please visit http://www.umbc.edu/training/blackboard.