Sunday, January 9, 2011

New Collaboration Tools in Bb9

Journals and Wikis and Blogs, Oh MY!
Journals are normally a one to one reflection tool, usually between one student and the instructor(s). While they can be shared with the entire class, there is only one author and only the instructor(s) can comment on them.
Blogs can be individual, Group or Class blogs. Blogs are usually a one to many resources. One student writes an entry and others can view or comment. Group or class blogs allow for several authors. A good use of the class blog is to use it for class introductions.
Wikis are collaborative web-sites. Many individuals can post and edit each others' posts. There is a contribution history available for grading purposes.

All of these tools are available only within your course and carry a higher security level than web 2.0 tools which can be seen by anyone with the corresponding url.
If you are interested in building a resource you wish to share with others on campus or others outside the University, you should consider other web 2.0 tools.

Here is a Cheat Sheet on Journals, Wikis and Blogs (pdf), created by Susan Smith, a grad assistant in the Professional Education Department at USM.

Please note: the titles of discussion board threads, journal, blog and wiki titles all need to follow most of the file-naming protocols as documents in Blackboard 9.1.

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