What’s New in Blackboard Version 6

Portal Features

Portal and My Institution Page

• Readily accessible online “locations” for individuals to meet and share ideas
• Advanced module development capabilities
• Ability to create unlimited modules and combine module types
• Simple customization of individual web modules (sports, news, etc.)
• Unlimited areas to provide customizable environments for users in varying institutional roles
• Ability to personalize module pages
• Quick Access to external Web pages (e.g. the library, bookstore) from the My Institution page
• Users can customization portal (e.g., color schemes)

Content and Portal Management

• Move and copy content within organizations
• Flexible and unlimited areas for organizations’ content and services
• Ability to share digital resources between organizations
• Math and science notation capabilities
• Mix and match content and activities within a single web page
• Creation of up to 20 customizable, namable portal roles
• Ability to create unlimited role-based tabs
• User-level customization capabilities
• Ability to display select information for people without Blackboard accounts
• Single-sign on capabilities

Collaboration and Exchange

• Host multiple, concurrent chat sessions or facilitate small “break-out” discussions
• Ability to view documents during an online meeting, such as a PowerPoint presentation or Web-sites.
• Conduct public and private messaging
• Compliant with Section 508 accessibility regulations

Teaching and Learning Environment

Navigation and Course Content

• User-controlled, text-based naming and navigation for course content areas
• Move and copy content items, folders, and learning units within course content areas
• Move and copy administrative settings between courses*
• Seamless content linking within courses
• Create and organize content and related assessments and communications tools or assignments in any content area
• Ability to include SCORM-compliant Microsoft LRN™ content in any content area

Assessments

• Completely re-architected assessment engine
• Dynamic, rules-based assessment authoring, more functionality, fewer clicks
• More feedback and delivery options
• Full integration with content areas and gradebook
• Integrated math and science notation

Gradebook

• Ability to define the value of letter grades and custom symbol sets (per test) within gradebook (e.g. 95 – 100 = A+)
• Ability to sort data by any gradebook column including, student last name, grade, assessment, or student ID number
• Calculate and display letter grades, percentages, and raw scores at the same time
• Add and define custom categories
• Upload and download grades from spreadsheet applications and text files

Collaboration and Communication

• Host multiple, simultaneous and concurrent synchronous sessions
• Facilitate small “break-out” discussions with either assigned or self-selected groups
• Conduct public and private messaging

Assignment Management

• Collect and organize electronic assignments through gradebook (in addition to existing Digital Drop Box functionality)
• Ability to link lesson to student deliverables and results by connecting content to assignment upload
• Ability to bulk download all student work for one particular assignment, or all ungraded files, and/or bulk deletion of selected files

Building Blocks Architecture *

• Dictionary and Thesaurus: A system extension that allows the user to highlight any word in a Blackboard Course and lookup the dictionary or thesaurus entry for it
• Link Checker: This tool enables the validation of external Web Links within any area of a course site
• Support for over 1,300 publisher-created CourseCartridges, available for download through the Building Blocks cartridge server

*This functionality is available only in the enterprise version of the Blackboard Learning System (Release 6).