New Blackboard Features and Enhancements Summer 2008
This summer iSolutions has increased the amount of file storage available to Blackboard and upgraded the application to version 8.
This latest version introduces a small number of new features and enhancements which are listed below with links to the documentation.
New Features
Grade Centre
The Blackboard Grade Centre replaces the Gradebook. A key improvement is that all students are shown in a scrolling list, rather than twenty five at a time. As well as the documentation listed here a four page PDF document is available on Blackboard's own web site that provides a quick reference to using the Grade Centre.
Follow this link for documentation
Early Warning System
The Early Warning System is a feature in Blackboard that allows you to check on student progress within your course according to Grade Centre criteria or when they last accessed your course.
Follow this link for documentation
Enhancements
Announcements
When creating an announcement it is now possible to automatically send it in an email to students.
Follow this link for documentation
Using the email function in Blackboard there is now an option to email all students, rather previously having to use all users.
Follow this link for documentationDiscussion Board
It is now possible to subscribe to a forum. This means that whenever a new post is made in a forum, you should be notified by email. The ability to do this can be enabled by the instructor in the Control Panel.
When replying to a discussion board thread it is possible to reply with a quote from the original message.The ability to do this can be enabled by the instructor in the Control Panel.
Follow this link for documentation
Blogs and Wikis
From September 15 2008 new functionality is available for blogs and wikis within Blackboard. More Information is at this web page.
News feeds