Become Familiar with the Course
It is important for online instructors to be familiar with the course contents and navigation. This task will enable you to identify anything that needs to be changed or updated prior to the start of the semester. We recommend you do the following things before each semester.
- Check course navigation on the home page and the course menu located on the left hand side. You may be new to the course yourself. Can you find the major parts of the course easily from the home page? Does the home page organization make sense? Is it neat and uncluttered?
- Check and revise content and links. Review the content on pages and in modules. Is information accurate? Do links to other pages of content on external websites work?
- Review quizzes and assignment instructions. Are they complete and up-to-date?
- Prepare and upload syllabus. (Please see the next section entitled The Online Course Syllabus below for tips.)
- Set due dates for assignments and quizzes.
- Enter the Due Date in all Assignments, Tests/Quizzes, and Discussions so the date automatically populates on the students’ calendar and on the My Tasks and Alerts located on the “Courses” tab.
- Set up Grade Center. Columns associated with existing assignments and quizzes should already be in place. However, you may wish to add more columns for other activities or may wish to set up calculated columns to add or average together multiple existing columns. Check column release settings so that you can determine if students can see grades once you have entered them. Visit Blackboard’s On Demand Center for additional information, videos and resources on Assessing Learners: http://ondemand.blackboard.com/assess.htm
- Set up discussions. Most online classes make heavy use of asynchronous discussion forums. Asynchronous discussions allow faculty and students to post messages and responses when it is most convenient for their schedules. You will likely have discussion topics for each major topic or lesson in your course. Check these to be sure initial posts are made. We strongly recommend that you post ice-breaker discussion thread at the start of your class to enable you and your students to get to know each other and also to allow practice using the discussion tool.
- Does your course include links to student help and tutorials? Have you provided an orientation for your students so that they know how the course activities will be conducted and where to find resources?