Course Preparation Outside of Blackboard

Assignments

Faculty can create assignment instructions, rubrics, and even accept paper/project submissions with OneDrive inside of the SIUE Microsoft Office 365 suite. Consider creating a OneDrive folder for each of your courses and further organizing materials with unit/weekly sub-folder folders. Populate each folder with content, which you can create directly within OneDrive or upload from your desktop. Then, share the main course folder with your students. This will give students access to content within each sub-folder.  If you do not yet have an SIUE e-ID, you can access Microsoft Office 365 by signing up with a personal email address. See this article for tips on creating shared folders and files in OneDrive.

Alternatively, faculty can create assignment documents, instructions, and rubrics in a desktop version of Microsoft Office or another document creation software, and then send and accept assignments via email. Student grades should not be communicated via email, OneDrive, or any other cloud service, however. Grades should be kept in Blackboard, CougarNet, or stored securely on your computer's desktop (ex: password protected, logged off, behind locked door).

Tests and Quizzes

Tests and quizzes can be created in Microsoft Word or another word processor, and can later be imported into Blackboard using Respondus. Be sure to use these formatting guidelines as you prepare your assessment material to simplify the import process.

Lecture Material

Voiceover lectures can be created in Microsoft PowerPoint (or another presentation tool, such as Google Slides) and shared with students via OneDrive or email. Faculty can also use Zoom to record videos (syllabus overviews, screen-sharing demonstrations, lectures, etc.). Upgraded features, such as longer meeting times and cloud recording, are available to anyone with a SIUE e-ID by requesting an account increase. New faculty who have not yet established their e-ID can access Zoom's basic account at no cost here: https://zoom.us/. Some audio and video content created in Zoom might be too large to send via email, but would be suitable for sharing via OneDrive or another file sharing service.

Communication

Faculty can retrieve student email addresses through CougarNet, or from the department chair. A course email list can be created in your mail client and used to communicate with students outside of Blackboard. See this article for creating a group contact list in Microsoft 365.