Blackboard Learn
Each section being taught at UH has a course created on Blackboard Learn, either at the request of the instructor or as an “Instructional Continuity” course created for emergency purposes. You can get to Blackboard by logging into AccessUH. There are many ways Blackboard may be used to communicate with students and provide course materials to them.
Send Announcements
Blackboard announcements may be used to send information to students. It sends an email to them immediately and also keeps a running archive of all announcements previously sent from Blackboard.
Overview: Blackboard Announcements
Post Syllabus, Powerpoint, Lecture Notes, and Documents
Allow students to access course materials at any time by uploading them to Blackboard. Try to create an easily understood structure to your course so that students know where to find certain items.
Tutorial: How to Add Files/Folders to a Course
Use a Discussion Board
Discussion boards are a good way for students to ask questions and receive further explanations in a community setting. Conversations can take place that are available for all students to see, asynchronous, graded or ungraded, and highly structured or ad hoc.
Overview: Blackboard Discussion Board
Allow Students to Submit Assignments Online
By creating an assignment in Blackboard, students who cannot physically make it to class can submit an assignment remotely.
Tutorial: How to Create an Assignment
Much more . . .
There is much more Blackboard can do, so feel free to explore our tutorials for more features:
Tutorial List: Blackboard → Getting Started
Tutorial List: Blackboard → Basics
Tutorial List: Blackboard → Assignments
Tutorial List: Blackboard → Assessments
Blackboard Collaborate – Live Video Conferencing
In certain cases, many instructors need to hold live video conferences online, where students can listen in on a lecture, ask questions immediately, and participate in a virtual classroom. Blackboard Collaborate is a UH supported video conferencing tool. To learn more about Collaborate and get started using it, please visit the following tutorials:
Tutorial List: Blackboard → Collaborate
Recording Video Lectures
Another way to provide students with additional flexibility is to provide them access to your lectures by recording them and making them available online. There are two ways you can do this.
Classroom Lecture Capture
Mediasite is a lecture-capture system that allows instructors to record everything they say, do, and present in their classroom. Recordings captured via Mediasite are often posted online allowing students to view them at their convenience.
Because Mediasite requires classrooms with special recording equipment, instructors will need to contact the Mediasite Administrator for their college in order to schedule a room for recording. The link below provides the contact information for each college.
Mediasite Administrators by College
Desktop Lecture Capture
You may also want to record lectures in your home or office on your desktop/laptop. This is a popular way of creating and distributing instructional content that students can access on demand. To help navigate the pedagogical and technical considerations for desktop lecture capture, we have created the following user guide:
UH Streaming Video: A Guide for Instructors
Contact an Instructional Designer
If you have never used the technologies listed above or if you have any additional questions regarding online teaching tools, please contact an Instructional Designer to further help you. See the link below to find an instructional designer in your college.
