Use of Color for Emphasis

These comments came from participants in the February Quality Matters Peer Review course.

“…I use different colors to separate one announcement from another or to create emphasis (as someone else mentioned they do with bold and italics). I also color code specific files or folders. For instance, when I make a test available, I use red. The students open a folder with activities all in the same color and there's the red test.”

“…use colors in my Blackboard course. For example, I always use this shade of blue when I contribute on the discussion board...I call it "Brain-base blue." I don't use a lot of colors for my folders and links, but my Word documents and other attachments have lots of colors.”

“…I write online lectures for students that are visually appealing (colors, pictures, borders, etc) and in first-person voice.”

“… just use Word to add borders and other visual features to my documents. I haven't always done this, but I'm trying to be more aware of how my writing looks visually, especially in an online format.”

Source document: Promising Practices Contributed by QM Peer Reviewer Training Group, February 2007)

Post Minimum Technology Skills Needed for your Course

Why? Students will enroll in your course with varied technical abilities. Good practice suggests providing information about the technical skills required to be successful in the course. Students deserve to know early in the course exactly what technology skills are necessary for the course so they can do a self-check on their ability to be successful. Some examples include, but are not limited to: 1. students need to know how to use attachments with email, 2. students need a word processing application to complete writing assignments, etc.

Post the Minimum Technology Requirements for your Course

Why? Students deserve, early in the course, some way to check to make sure they have sufficient technology to complete the course. Outline general requirements for Internet connectivity and active Blackboard accounts, as well as course specific technology requirements. Informing students early in the course exactly what technology is required will solve the issue of students stating they were not informed. TWU offers a list of technology specifications at: http://www.twu.edu/dl/Prospective_Students/computer_reqs.htm You may wish to link to this statement about minimum technology requirements so as technology requirements change, your information about the requirements is updated for you.

What About Giving a Practice Test on Tests?

Why? Students new to online courses may not understand the intricacies of taking a test within Blackboard. Although you carefully write instructions telling students that there is a time limit on the test and that they may only take the exam one time, you have no idea if students really understand the importance of these instructions. Consider developing a practice exam requiring students to use the testing features so they get some practice. Some instructors use these exams to gain information on existing knowledge and to provide practice on testing within Blackboard.

Have you Thought About a Test over your Syllabus?

Why? In the university environment, we place a tremendous amount of information in the syllabus for a particular course. In a F2F course, you have the opportunity to cover the content of the syllabus carefully while fielding student questions. In the online world, we often have little assurance that students read the entire syllabus. Some instructors require students to complete a test (Using Blackboard’s Test Manager) about the syllabus. If you create the test within Blackboard, students also get practice taking a test in the Blackboard environment and you can use this as a teaching opportunity to ensure that students are prepared for the technical aspects of any examinations in your course.

Importance of the Welcoming Statement to your Course

Why? The default Course Entry Point in Blackboard is the Announcements page and this is the first area of the course seen by students unless you intentionally change the entry point. Regardless of the Course Entry Point, it is good practice to create a, welcome to the course, statement for students. Students want to know about the course and they want to know about you as an instructor. We suggest you use the Welcome Statement to begin to establish the tone of the course. Outline your availability for support and assistance while conveying your enthusiasm for the content. Students also want to know a bit about the structure of the course and the structure of the learning activities. Take care to use your opening statement to also begin to define some of the expectations for the course.

Did you Know? Students establish their perception of the instructor and the course in the first fifteen minutes of a F2F course. Limited research has been conducted on when students establish their perception of an online course. Think about the adage, “You have one chance to make your first impression.” This also applies to the online course. Your welcome or opening statement is your chance for that first impression.

Announcements

Why? Announcements are the most visible location in a course to place general information for all students in a course. Announcements work well to remind students about upcoming assignments and due dates, to announce that grades have been posted, and to provide an overview of upcoming topics. We encourage you to set a regular time to post announcements for the week to norm students to expect communication and information about the course on a regular schedule.

Did you Know? Permanent announcements always appear at the top of the announcements section and any new announcements that are non permanent will appear beneath the permanent announcements. We have heard of students missing these announcements and instructors wondering why their announcements do not go to the top of the page. We recommend that no announcements be created as permanent announcements. Announcements will come into Blackboard in the order you create them or when you schedule them using the Date function. Our strategy is to teach students that the View All tab allows them to see all announcements for a course (unless the instructor removes them).