Purpose of the Tour

Many students are getting in trouble because they do not notice what is available for them. This tour is meant to try to solve that problem.

To stress this, I am not trying to get each of you to prepare to take a test on each thing you click on. I am trying to get you to notice what is there to help you.

What to Look For in the Sections of the Course Listed Below

Blackboard allows instructors to be able to tell who has at least clicked on something. It is this button:

What Happens After You Click on the Mark Reviewed Button?

Blackboard does 2 things:

1. It adds to the report listing everyone who clicked on that specific button. The report states not just the name but the time.

2. It changes the Marked Reviewed button to this button:

How to Benefit from This Tour - Just clicking will not help. Recording for Yourself Will Help!

The course is meant:

· To give you in one place all the things you need to do an assignment from instructions to the Blackboard tool,

· To help different students in a variety of different situations and with a variety of different backgrounds.

The Tour is a way for you to notice what might help you and what you must use.

This is what I was taught long ago (elementary/middle school) to do when I was observing things that I would continue to have access to.

· You record on something that you can find again – like a cheap notebook or folder you use regularly.

· As you observe you write as you move through the required observations:

o Where you are when you observe
Example: Getting Started

o Where you are specifically observing in that place
Example: If you are following Blackboard’s Table of Contents on the left of Getting Started (what Blackboard calls a Learning Module), it could be as simple as writing Top or Middle or Bottom

o What the name is of what you are observing (and you can use abbreviations meaningful to you—this is for you and no one else)
Example: write the first few words of its name such as FAQs … Browser Disaster)

o What additional information might just be useful to you
Example: Check on Safari

Why You Should Stay in Getting Started Until You Finish the Introductory Tasks

You will find Mark Reviewed buttons with most items listed in on the last page of Course Orientation. You will:

· Not find Mark Reviewed buttons on the Syllabus & Schedule or on the Course Schedule because they fill the frame.

· Not find Mark Reviewed buttons on links like the Course Orientation one until you minimize it.

1. In Getting Started, click on Course Orientation (Notice the Tip about looking at page 5 and the last page.)

2. Leave the last page open and do each thing listed, including reading if that is the task listed.

3. When you see a Mark Reviewed button, click it.

4. Also click on the folders to open them. You will notice required tasks to do and information everyone should know about browsers as well as Mark Reviewed buttons.

5. When you have completed every task—except this Course Tour—listed on the last page of Course Orientation, minimize the window and click the Mark Reviewed button for it.

6. Complete the Course Tour using the instructions below.

Where Do You Go to Complete Your Course Tour Until Unit 1 and Required Concepts Open?

1. Evidence Requirements on the Course Menu and at the bottom of Lesson Units

· Read the Overview link with a Mark Reviewed button.
Then use it to see the organization of Evidence Requirements.

· Use and answer the questions in the tutorial 5 Good Habits for Evidence (They are keys to critical thinking.)

2. Writing with Primaries on the Course Menu and at the bottom of Lesson Units

· Mark Reviewed on each of the 2 writings with primaries that will be visible on the dates in the Course Schedule

Where Do You Go to Complete Your Course Tour After Unit 1 and Required Concepts Open?

Because your instructor will not print out all of the record sheets on Mark Reviewed until after the end date of Getting Started, you can still earn more points out of the 25 possible points by clicking on the Mark Reviewed buttons in Unit 1 and on Required Concepts.

Unit 1, 2, and 3 are organized in the same way as Unit 1 below:

1. At the top of the Unit 1:

· Unit #1 Overview which introduces all
What to read, not just observe that it exists: the Study Guide.

2. The first Chapter in Unit 1
Notice this—and all other chapters—contains:

· Links from your instructor with tables and other resources to see the interconnections of history

· If applicable to the content, maps

· Primary sources for the chapter

3. At the bottom of the unit a tip stating that the 3 parts of the exam will be visible there on the date in the Course Schedule

At Required Concepts you will find:

· At the top, tools such as Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary and in later Units an online Constitution with definitions and sometimes definitions collected by Dr. Bibus

· Below that, a link that lists all of the Concepts for the current Unit--Unit 1 at the beginning,

· Below that, a short cut to the Collaborate! for the current Unit on the Discussion Board with instructions on how to post and reply (As the plan says, the instructions are in the description area of the Collaborate!)

As one Unit Collaborate! ends, I grade it and make it read-only so you can still go back and read a definition if you want. The current Collaborate! will always be at the top, but you can still see the others.