Making the Best of Balckboard Tools

Making the Best of Blackboard
Tools
Grade Book, Assignments, and
Turnitin
Turnitin

Get an account



Go to http://www.turnitin.com/
Account number = 16011
Password = csuhayward2
Deterrent Value




Announce your intentions to use
Turnitin in the class
Include Turnitin info in your syllabus
Explain how it works
Print out and show examples of how
Turnitin works
Turnitin (continued)

Two ways to submit documents

Students submit documents


Revision feature allows revision without
plagiarism check
Instructors submit documents


One at a time
Batch upload multiple files
Turnitin



Searches the Internet, old copies of the
Internet, journals, newspapers,
Proquest database, and its own
database
Sensitivity is 6 – 8 characters in a row
Creates a digital fingerprint of the
submitted document and compares it to
all others on the web
Proquest
From:
http://www.proquest.com/division/au-about.shtml
Today, as a result of agreements with more than 9,000 publishers
worldwide, ProQuest Information and Learning provides access to
information from periodicals, newspapers, out-of-print books,
dissertations, and scholarly collections in various formats. Our archive
includes more than 5.5 billion pages of information, spanning 500 years of
scholarship, in formats that range from print to microform to digital.
Bernie,
You’re supposed to do the demo part now.
Sincerely,
Bernie
Turnitin Hints



Create revision assignments so a
student’s paper will not be flagged as
plagiarized
Use as a deterrent
Provide an alternative
Gradebook



Control Panel > Gradebook
Students automatically populate the
spreadsheet
Spreadsheet is downloadable as an
Excel file
Setting up


Click “Add Item” to create a column
Auto – generated columns:



Assignments
Assessments
Pay attention to settings





Letter = A, B, C, D, and F with + or – only
Text = all letters
Score = number
Complete/Incomplete = I or C
Inconsistencies in display settings and entries may result in
an “F” displaying to students
Gradebook: Display As:

Ensure that “Points Possible” and
“Display As” options are matched
GB Display Options
Weighting Grades
1.
Number of points scored
X%
Number of points possible =
2.
X % times the weight of the item =
3.
Sum of the y% of each item = weighted total
y%
The “F”
Gradebook (and Student) Display
Grade List Input
Display as “Letter” Display as “Text”
Gradebook Hints





ensure the grades/score you enter in an item
match the display options (setup)
ensure that for a grade only display, points
possible are 0
when weighting grades, that the weights
equal 100%
being aware of the display options
download spreadsheet after it is set up (you
can work offline) and do not alter its
structure
Assignments


Integrated with the Gradebook
More elegant than the Digital Drop Box
Assignments

Provide clear and concise directions of
your expectations as well as of the
process (download assignment complete assignment - upload
assignment)
Assignments Hints

Create a naming protocol



Avoids duplicate filenames and over-writing
of files
Ex. “lastname_hw1.doc” for the first
homework assignment
Provide clear instructions