What's New in Blackboard?

RSS Feeds

RSS (Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) and XML allows web sites and blogs to be "broadcast" across the Internet. These "broadcast signals" are picked up by programs called aggregators where you can read a collection of RSS Feeds to which you have subscribed. RSS Feeds are set up to transmit new postings or information on a specified cycle, typically at least once per day, providing the feed subscribers with an up-to-date news/information source . One can see how a constant stream of up-to-date information would be beneficial to many courses.

Click here to learn how to use this feature in Blackboard.

Sources for RSS Feeds

Teams LX (Wikis)

Teams LX is a feature within Blackboard which promotes collaborative learning. Teams LX makes it easy for groups to create and edit shared web pages. In addition to editing content, students and instructors can provide feedback and comments on posted material.

Another feature in Teams LX is a built-in evaluation tool. This tool provides instructors with information about individual contributions, as well as views of all the prior versions of the site. Teams LX also gives the instructor the ability to export these sites for future use.

Click here to access the Teams LX Instructor Guide learning object.

Additional Resources

Journal LX (Blogs)

Journal LX enables instructors to create online journals for the course as well as group and individual student journals. Course and Group Journals can be configured by the instructor and included in the course Gradebook.

Journal LX is a Web Log Tool (blog) that allows students and/or instructors to create a web based diary or journal in which they can add content at regular intervals. Users can add links to other websites, upload documents and images as well as comment on the journal entries of others.

Click here to access the Journal LX Instructor Guide learning object.

Additional Resources

Discussion Board Grader

Discussion Board Grader simplifies the process of evaluating and grading a student's participation in discussion board forums in Blackboard. With the Discussion Board Grader, you have access to a single page with every message that a student has posted to a particular forum, number of words per message, and number of original messages and replies. After reviewing the student's information in the forums, you can enter a grade for the student. The grade for the student will then be stored in the Blackboard Gradebook for the course.

Click here to learn how to link to use the Discussion Board Grader.

Click here to see a sample Discussion Board rubric.