Advanced Features of Blackboard

Adaptive Release

Adaptive Release is Blackboard's term for conditional availability. This advanced feature allows instructors to set conditions (one or more rules) for when and to whom a test, a folder, or almost any other content item will become visible. Adaptive Release can be used to support mastery learning, for example, or to make a test available to different groups at different times.

Instructors planning to use adaptive release should use Student View (edit mode off) to check their rules. The content should disappear when any criterion to access the content is not met. To verify that the adaptive release rules work when membership is involved, an Instructor can include their own user ID in the membership list.

• Adaptive Release (written instructions)
• Create Multiple Rules for a Content Item (tutorial video)

Content Collection

For advanced content management, Blackboard provides the Content Collection, a location where instructors can store content that they wish to reuse across multiple courses or share with other instructors. Instructors may also access materials shared within their department or college, or materials shared for the entire university.

To access the Content Collection, click the "Content" tab, located next to the My Bb tab near the top of the Blackboard browser window.

• About the Content Collection (written instructions)
• All About Course Files (tutorial video)
• Attaching Course Files to a Content Item (tutorial video)
• Add File to Deploy an HTML Package (tutorial video)

Course Cartridges

Many textbook publishers make tests, multimedia, and sometimes entire textbooks available in a compressed zip file, or cartridge, already formatted for Blackboard. Using the code your textbook publisher will email to you, you can upload the zip file directly into your course shell at UK.

• Importing Course Cartridges (written instructions)

Interactive Rubric

The Interactive Rubric is an advanced grading tool within Blackboard that allows instructors to develop evaluation criteria for an assignment. Providing rubrics can improve students' understanding of assignment requirements and the grades they receive. When evaluating student work with an Interactive Rubric, scores and feedback are added directly to the Grade Center, making grading easier for instructors and more meaningful for students.

• About Rubrics (written instructions)
• Creating an Interactive Rubric (tutorial video)
• Associating a Rubric with a Gradeable Item (tutorial video)
• Grading with Rubrics (tutorial video)

SafeAssign

SafeAssign is an advanced course tool within Blackboard that can be used as both an educational guide and a deterrent against plagiarism. Student work submitted through SafeAssign is automatically compared to a database of academic work to identify areas of overlap and potential concern. SafeAssign is an alternate method of receiving assignments and is completely separate from the Assignments course tool.

• About SafeAssign (written instructions)
• Adding a SafeAssignment (tutorial video)

Adding Video to a Course

Kaltura is a new Blackboard building-block that allows easy upload and management of videos directly to Blackboard. In addition to the ability to link to outside public sources such as Youtube, Vimeo, Echo360, etc., both instructors and students can now vlog, share tutorials, demonstrations, video presentations, and creative projects in the private scope of a Blackboard course.

• How to Add Video to a Course Using Kaltura (tutorial video)