Cape Fear Community College

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What's New in Blackboard (August 1, 2011)

The CFCC course management system will be upgraded on August 1 to apply fixes for several issues. There are also some new features of which faculty should be aware:

Interactive Rubrics

Blackboard rubrics are now interactive, allowing for dynamic entry of feedback and ratings. Rubrics can be imported and exported for use across courses.

interactive rubric, displaying radio buttons to select score and text area to enter feedback

To learn how to use rubrics in Blackboard, view these short movies (cc)

  1. Creating a Grading Rubric (movie, 3:10)
  2. Associating a Rubric with a Gradable Item (movie, 3:20)
  3. Grading with Rubrics (movie, 3:32)

Sample Rubric for Import

Below is a sample rubric for Discussions. The first link will display the rubric as it will be seen in Blackboard. The second link includes a package that you can download to your computer and import as a rubric for your course. You can edit the rubric after import.

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Needs Grading Tool Enhancement

The Needs Grading tool is a view in the Grade Center that allows instructors to view items that need grading. An green box with exclamation mark appears in the cell for these items. Gradable Blogs, Journals, Wikis, and Discussion Board activity will now appear in Needs Grading status.

When an instructor creates one of these gradable items, (s)he will have the option to choose how many interactions will place the item in Needs Grading status. For example, if students are required to make a minimum of two discussion posts for a graded discussion activity, the instructor can choose to show Needs Grading only after the student makes two posts.

options to set number of discussion posts to appear in needs grading status

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Timed Assessments Enhancement

While instructors have been able to set time limits for tests and quizzes, they are now able to choose to make the timed assessment auto-submit, or to allow students to work beyond the allotted time. When an instructor selects the auto-submit option, the assessment submits the items completed at that time and the student is prevented from continuing the assessment.

There are a few important items to note:

  • This new feature should also automatically grade, but currently this is not working correctly. Instructors must still enter the assessment to submit it as is or make changes and submit. A request to correct this has been submitted.
  • If instructors have a student who requires an accommodation of extra test time, the auto-submit feature should not be used or the student will be cut off in the same amount of time allowed other students. Currently, instructors are advising students with such accommodation requests that they will see a timer for the standard allotted time but the test will not close at that time, so the student can continue.

auto-submit option in test options

SCORM Engine Integration

For instructors using SCORM content, Blackboard now supports SCORM 2004 4th Edition.

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