Hello hybrid people of Earth. I am blogging about the syllabus format and all the questions that come to mind. For instance, how can we take advantage of Blackboard’s abilities to display the syllabus and perhaps control when and how items are displayed. As I think about the course Steve and I will develop, I don’t want to scare off students with the combination of the hybrid technology PLUS the technical material we will cover in class. This is particularly important as we are attempting to attract non-science majors at a 300 level course. So, I am looking forward to: 1) learning more about Blackboards capabilities that enhance the user friendly nature of content and 2) control the timing of content release so they are not too overwhelmed in the beginning of the course.
You can easily specify the dates that items of content are available to students on Bb (though it creates more work for you); however, you might find that students want access to everything at once so they are able to complete the work around their own schedule.
There are several ways to release content to students during a course. The first way is to set date/time restrictions on content. This is preferably done at the ‘folder’ level so that when you copy your course and update the next term you won’t have to remember to change date restrictions on every piece of content. Another option is to use Adaptive Release settings to release a particular piece of content after students have met a certain criteria. For example, you can set up the course so that students must score a certain percentage on a syllabus quiz before the Week 1 materials become available to them.