New Blackboard Functionality: Wiki. Blog. Search.

There is new functionality in Blackboard -wiki, blog and search tools! Intrigued? Asking yourself what is a wiki or blog? Wondering how you can use these in your class? Read on.

What are they?
A wiki is a collaborative Web site set up to allow user editing and adding of content. A blog is a shared online journal where people can post diary entries about their personal experiences and hobbies.

Teams Site (or Teams LX, the former name) makes online collaboration among students not just a goal, but a reality. Faculty can organize students into groups and assign each group to jointly author a dynamic website (wiki) with multimedia content. With a user-friendly editor, students collaboratively author web content, upload images, and link to documents and external resources. When the Team Site is finished, faculty can view each group member's contributions and grade them accordingly.

Course Journal (or Journal LX, the former name) is a web log tool (blog) that allows students and faculty to create web-based journals in which they gather information and reflect on course-related topics and assignments. Students can review and comment on their peers' postings, and faculty can participate with students in the evolving dialogue. Faculty can set up course-wide, group-level or individual student blogs.

Search LX is an essential tool for finding course content with speed and accuracy. The top-of-the-page search box and advanced searching options streamline content retrieval. This functionality allows faculty and students to search all existing Blackboard content via filters (i.e. not just one faculty member's content or content within one course).

Where are these tools located?
Teams Site and Course Journal are course tools that live within the Tools menu area. To customize the preferences for either tool, access your Control Panel and select the Configure link.

Search LX is a module on your My Babson tab. You can also access the search feature via the Tools menu area of your course.

How do I use these tools?
Access the CITG web site and browse to the Innovative Teaching>ePlatform>Course Management page and select from the available faculty and student guides.

How can I learn more about using these tools in my teaching? Contact CITG!