Notes on Blackboard Vista 4 (AP1) Rebuilds

Based on our collaborative construction of ENGL 2010 IN on Blackboard Vista 4 with App Pack 1 last Tuesday, here are some more guidelines and standards for future rebuilds of courses in Vista:

• Quizzes should be exported from CE and imported into Vista at the first Vista screen.


• Course Content Map setting should be set as follows: Manage Course > Course Menu > General Settings > Course Content Map: Display as drop-down


• All HTML content pages must have appropriate but simplified titles, e.g. "Lesson 1 Objectives and Tasks" rather than "ENGL 2010 - Intermediate Writing - Objectives and Tasks", certainly not "[course_#]: [course_title] - page name"


• Remove all WebCT CE hack hyperlinks to activities, e.g. <a href="#" onclick="discussion('Topic 01: Introductions',190023569)">Topic 01: Introductions</a>


• Begin putting all upfront materilas in a Learning Module on the home page called "Course Orientation"


• Learning Modules (lessons) should also be linked directly from the home page in most cases (use a "Lessons" folder if that makes more organizational sense)


• Learning Module's should have, for example, "Lesson X" for title and "Introduction to Z" for description


• Discussion links should be labeled with a "Discussion:" prefix, e.g. "Discussion: Practice Paraphrase"


• Assignment links should be labeled with an "Assignment x:" prefix, e.g. "Assignment 07: Learning to Paraphrase"


• Create and apply Goals to Learning Modules based on stated objectives. Try to identify objectives in collaboration with instructor if necessary.


• Go through each and every page, assignment, and assessment and create and associate Goals as part of a full revision process. This should be done collaboratively with the instructor.


• Create and use Grading Forms collaboratively with the instructor. This can be sold by demonstrating the efficacy of grading with such forms.

I will eventually compile these into a master document with previous notes and guidelines.