LMS - Course Organization
Course Organization
The benefits of using an LMS with traditionally taught courses far outweigh the alternative of not using an LMS at all. In addition to providing students with a central hub of critical information they need to succeed, the LMS enables instructors to organize content in a way that makes it easier for students and the instructor to understand one another's expectations to form efficient communication channels between instructors and their students to quickly adapt to a protocol that heightens academic rigor and enhances flexibility. The LMS offers an array of native and plug-in tools for trying new activities outside of class and the tools for grading and assessment are simply too powerful to not use.
Course customization
Learning management systems must be customized to be effective. The menu on the left shows how I use Blackboard to customize my Spanish and Latin American film course at VCU.
The Announcements tool is invaluable for remaining connected to all students at all times. For this reason, I place this link at the top of the menu. I hide expired announcements to declutter this space, but BB gives me the option of archiving them instead of deleting them completely, just in case.
The course syllabus and calendar have their own menu section, too. This way, students can refer to the syllabus at any point in time, because, who memorizes them? The calendar section allows students to quickly find what is coming up, and what has passed. Instead of purging content from this section, I send it to the end of the calendar, where it will remain for students to find if they really need to know what we covered 2 months prior.
The online quizzes are posted in the Pruebas section and Blackboard gives me the tools and functionality to set time windows and other limits to quizzes. Like announcements, I can hide old and future quizzes. When a quiz is due, students click on this menu item and immediately find the link to any pending quizzes.
The DropBox is for homework submitted by students with a time stamp. The LMS numerous provides options for this feature including grading options and feedback notes to students. Because most of the assignments are in written form, I have my teaching assistants maintain this section and input the grades into the BB Grade Center manually.
Some of the links are for custom folders such as Films & Study Guides, where I store study guides for each film presented and Proyecto Final, information about the final project with a rubric, and examples of projects from previous semesters.
The other two custom folders are Vocabulario, where themed vocabulary sets are provided for each social justice theme explored, and Sesiones Tándem, the folder where I keep the teletandem activity handouts. To see a sample tandem activity, click here.