Online Considerations

Creating an online environment for your course can provide a flexible way for students to access material, communicate, and participate in class. For example, offering multiple and flexible avenues for students to submit assignments (i.e. on paper in class or electronically via Blackboard) can reduce one area of student stress associated with rigid place- and time-sensitive assignment deadlines. The Blackboard course management system is one choice for providing students a more flexible assignment submission process.

Blackboard and Universal Design:

Blackboard can be used as an important course-planning tool by providing the “manager” (course instructor) many features to customize the design, which can improve accessibility and contribute to a positive course experience for all students.

When designing course material for Blackboard or indeed any online delivery tool (such as course websites, blogs, etc.) the following should be considered to maximize access for all students:

• Consider font size so text is large enough to read and color choices that are easy to distinguish.
• Organize logically with well labeled folders.
• Remove unused buttons.
• Hyperlink to sites that support content.
• Describe visual images with text.
• Embed video and audio to support written content.
• Place new items at the top of the page.
• Use bold face and color to denote sections.
• Provide textual descriptions about the bolded and colored areas for sight impaired and color blind students.
• Avoid narrative form in lists – use bullets.
• Provide documents in open formats (e.g., PDF, JPG). • Consider “printable” format for long documents.
• Use bold face and color to denote sections.

Other online considerations and tools:

Blackboard is not the only possible online teaching tool that can be used to create more flexible learning environments. There are many web based applications that can be tapped into to create:

• Online discussion forums (blogs and discussion boards),
• Collaborative documents (wikis and Google Docs),
• Audio and video productions (podcasts and screen capture video),
• Other multimedia based learning modules (Quandary, MERLOT).

Just as with Blackboard, there are considerations to examine to maximize the online experience for all students before using different online tools; however, with the ever growing possibilities of the web, student learning can become very multidimensional.

Selected Teaching Effectiveness Program Resources for Online Considerations

(NOTE: The below links will open in a new browser tab or window)

All About Blackboard: provides handouts designed to help instructors to best utilize the various Blackboard teaching tools and features.

Universal Design and Blackboard ( PDF[an error occurred while processing this directive]): addresses important considerations in setting up a Blackboard course site, such as accessibility considerations for posting documents, creating consistent course navigation, and other issues in creating an online learning environment that benefits different learning styles.

Tools of Engagement : links to resources to assist instructors working with online discussions, email communication, and videoconferencing.

Tools for Assessment: links to resources about using online assessment tools, PowerPoint as an assessment tool, and other technology based evaluation tools..

Facilitating Online Learning: offers resources for teaching and learning in an online environment.

Networking with Others Teaching with Technology: introduces educational resources to further support instructors using technology in the classroom and online.