ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


C&RL News ■ January 2002 / 11

College & Research Libraries news

Becoming part of the course

Using Blackboard to extend one-shot library instruction

by Christopher Cox

I
f y o u ’re like me, m any of the instruction 
sessions you conduct are o f the one-hour, 
one-shot variety. Faculty mem bers bring the

students to the library, you do a little song- 
and-dance about the catalog, the library’s d a ­
ta b a s e s, in te rli­
brary lo a n . . . and 
th e n  yo u  rarely 
see the students 
again.

I ’m  f o r e v e r  
looking for ways 
o f  e x t e n d i n g  
these sessions, of 
h a v in g  m o re  
c o m m u n ic a tio n  
w ith  s t u d e n ts  
d u rin g  th e ir re ­
search process, of 
becom ing a part 
o f the course. My 
prayers w ere an­
sw ered w ith the 
c a m p u s ’ p u r ­ Example of a course homepage created with Blackboard.
ch ase o f B lack­
board, a course m anagem ent software pack­
age.

Blackboard, like other course management 
software packages, lets faculty create course 
Web sites w ith o u t k n o w in g  HTML. With

ir 

Blackboard, course instructors fill out pre­
m ade forms to add content. If they so choose, 
they can also upload course content in a va­
riety o f file formats and use the software to 
create assessments. Students can com m uni­

cate w ith the in­
s t r u c to r s  a n d  
w ith each other 
v ia  e -m a il, 
threaded discus­
sion, and virtual 
chat.

W o r c e s t e r  
P olytechnic In ­
s t i t u t e  (W P I) 
i m p l e m e n t e d  
B la c k b o a r d  in 
A u g u st 1999-’ 
W h ile  f a c u lty  
h e re  a r e n ’t r e ­
quired to use it, 
m any have em ­
b r a c e d  th e  
so ftw are’s flex­
ibility. It is now

used by m ore than half of the courses taught 
at the college.

Electronic lists and conferences of late are 
filled w ith discussions o f h o w  instruction li­
brarians can use the features of course man-

About the author

Christopher Cox is reference/instruction librarian a t Worcester Polytechnic Institute, e-mail: ccox@wpi.edu

mailto:ccox@wpi.edu


12 / C&RL News ■  January 2002

agement systems 
like Blackboard. 
D espite all the 
talk, n o t m uch 
has been written 
on the topic.

In the only ar­
ticle to date on 
the subject, “Us­
ing Coursew are 
to Deliver Library 
I n s tr u c tio n  Via 
th e  W eb: Fou r 
E xam p les,” four 
librarians present 
their experiences 
with four differ­
en t course soft­
w are packages. In stru ctors, TAs, and others w ith  course cre a tio n  

permissions use Blackboard's Control Panel to add course 
content, create assessments, manage users, and define 
permissions.

Nancy K. Getty 
and Linda Piele 
use the software 
to house and add 
functionality to tutorials about their libraries. 
Barbara Burd, whose university has B lack­
board, uses the software to maintain material 
for a pre-existing library course she teaches. 
Sarah K. Burns uses courseware to create 
course units for a faculty-taught literature and 
communications course. The units include 
reading lists, quizzes, and threaded discus­
s io n . B u r n s ’s r e a s o n in g  b e h in d  u sin g  
courseware was to “integrate library instruc­
tion into the course itself.”2

So h o w  c a n  B la c k b o a r d  an d  o th e r  
courseware help you integrate library instruc­
tion more fully into courses taught by other 
faculty members? Following a brief descrip­
tion o f each o f Blackboard’s features, inte­
gration strategies will be offered. Most assume 
a good working relationship with and prior 
permission from the faculty m em ber teach­
ing the course.

A ccess
As a guest lecturer to the course, you have a 
r ig h t to c e r ta in  p r iv ile g e s  w ith in  the 
courseware system. Blackboard offers differ­
ent levels o f access to course participants:

• In stru ctor. Instructors have control over 
all course maintenance functions, including 
uploading content, creating and grading quiz­
zes, tests and assessments, Gradebook edit­
ing, Digital Drop Box, and moderating the

D i s c u s s i o n  
Board and Vir­
tual Classroom.

• T e a c h in g  
A s s i s t a n t .  
T each in g  assis­
ta n ts  c a n  p e r ­
fo rm  m o st in ­
s tr u c to r  f u n c ­
tions, including 
the posting o f fo­
rums to the Dis­
cussion Board.

• C o u r s e  
Builder. Course 
Builders have ac­
cess to the main 
c o n t e n t  a re a s , 
such as Course 
Documents, As­
signm ents, and 
External Links.

• G r a d e r . 
Graders are allowed access to the Gradebook 
and Assessments only.

Have yourself added as an instructor. This 
will give you the greatest access to the course. 
If this is too far a stretch, being designated as 
a teaching assistant may do just as well.

S t a f f In fo rm a tio n
The Staff Information page provides students 
with background and contact information on 
course instructors and teaching assistants. 
With your new  role in hand, create a profile 
for yourself. B lackboard  provides a form 
w here you can add your name, phone num­
ber, e-mail address, and other relevant infor­
mation. Y ou can even upload a photograph 
o f yourself so students will know whom to 
look for w hen they com e to the library for 
help.

C o u rse  d ocu m e n ts
The Course Documents page is used to orga­
nize learning materials and lesson aids. It’s 
an excellent place to provide access to any 
handouts you may b e using in that one-shot 
session or any additional handouts the stu­
dents may find useful. You can upload pre­
existing handouts in Word or PDF format or 
create them within Blackboard itself. Indi­
vidual documents can be organized into fold­
ers, so create one for the library. Ask stu­



C&RL News ■ January 2002 / 13

dents to review the documents in the folder 
prior to your instruction session.

A ssig n m e n ts
This content area houses written assignments 
and any assessments you may create. Why 
not create an assignment prior to your ses­
sion asking students to complete that library 
tutorial or perform a search in a database?

Blackboard lets you create assessments 
using various types o f questions: multiple 
choice, true/false, fill in the blank, multiple 
answer, matching, ordering, and short answer/ 
essay. Create a 
quiz or a ssess­
ment about the 
library for stu ­
d en ts to  c o m ­
plete prior to or 
fo llo w in g  th e  
one-shot session.
If the questions 
need not be spe­
c if i c  to  th e 
cou rse’s subject 
a r e a , y o u  c a n  
create a pool of 
questions about 
the library. In ­
clude questions 
about interlibrary 
loan, location of Instructors and TAs may create forums in the Discussion 

Board, where students can discuss class topics.m a te ria ls , and  
evaluation o f resources. Then you can sim­
ply import the question pool into the course 
and ask the software to randomly select so 
many questions to create the assessment. As­
sessments are graded by the software and 
sent to the electronic Gradebook. The faculty 
member will, o f course, have the last word 
as to the weight the assessment will be given 
in the course.

Books
Instructors use the Books page to list text­
books and post recommended reading lists 
as well as the readings themselves. Make this 
area yours. Create a bibliography o f library 
resources students may find relevant to their 
paper topics. Obtain copyright permission and 
scan in or link to readings on research or 
information literacy topics and ask students 
to read them prior to your session so that 
you can discuss them when you’re together.

C o m m u n icatio n
Blackboard offers three distinct communica­
tions options to students: e-mail, a threaded 
Discussion Board, and a Virtual Classroom. 
As a member o f the course, you appear on a 
list o f participants students can send e-mail 
to. Make sure they know that they can send 
research questions or requests for materials 
to you. Create a forum in the Discussion Board 
for students to discuss their research experi­
ences. Ask them to post one question they 
have about the library or one concern they 
have about their research prior to your ses­

sion. Y ou ’ll have 
plenty to discuss 
while in class.

T h e  V irtu al 
C lassroom  is a 
Java application 
that allows users 
to en ter into a 
real-time discus­
sion with instruc­
to rs , s tu d e n ts , 
and colleagues. 
Use the Virtual 
C la s s r o o m  to 
con d u ct virtual 
re fe re n c e  d esk 
hours. Notify stu­
d en ts that you 
will be logged in 
at a certain time 

each w eek and urge them to stop by virtually 
to ask questions about their research. The 
chat software allows you to control the chat, 
display pertinent Web pages on a virtual 
whiteboard, and receive private questions from 
those too shy to ask them of the group. It also 
logs past chats so other students can benefit.

D ig ita l D ro p b o x
The Digital Dropbox is used by students to 
send files to their instructors and by instructors 
to return graded work. Students completing 
projects at WPI are often required to stick to a 
set research schedule, with an annotated bibli­
ography due one day, a rough draft due an­
other. As either an instructor or teaching assis­
tant, I can view these assignments and offer 
comments on the quality of a student’s research 
and references, leaving the content and gram­
mar to the faculty member advising the project.

( con tin u ed on  p a g e  3 9 )





C&RL News ■ January 2002 / 39

and Rare Books cataloger, Stanford University 
Libraries, Catalog Department.

U niversity Lib rarie s Section
V ice-chair/Chair-elect: Bruce Henson, acting 
head, Reference Department and reference 
librarian, Georgia Institute o f Technology; 
Gillian McCombs, Central University librarian, 
Southern Methodist University.
M em ber-at-large: Najit Brar, assistant dean, 
Access and Bibliographic Services, and Library 
Systems, California Polytechnic State University; 
Lynn S. Cline, head, Collection Development 
and Acquisitions, Southwest Missouri State 
University Libraries; F ra n k  Mols, assistant 
director for Technical Services, State University 
of New York at Binghamton, Libraries; Peter 
Watson-Boone, library director, University of 
Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

W estern European Stu d ies Section
Vice-chair/Chair-elect: Katalin Radies, West- 
European bibliographer, Charles E. Young 
Research Library, University o f California Los 
Angeles; A nn P. Snoeyenbos, librarian for West 
European Social Science, New York University.
S e c r e t a r y : C a n d a c e  Y. Miller, re fe re n c e  
librarian, James Madison University; Louis Reith,

“Becom ing p a r t o f  the course ” con t.from  p a g e  
13)

E x te rn a l Lin ks
The External Links area is used to reference 
W eb sites related to a course. Use this area 
to showcase a list of evaluated electronic ref­
erence materials that you have discovered. 
You can also use External Links in conjunc­
tion with the Discussion Board. Have stu­
dents send the URL o f one W eb site on their 
research topic to the Discussion Board and 
then post all the sites to the External Links 
page. Have students evaluate the W eb sites 
and discuss whether they would be worthy 
o f citation in their final bibliographies.

As you can see, Blackboard and similar 
courseware packages offer librarians an op­

( “Biography resources” con t.from  p a g e  35) 
developed by students in the anthropology pro­
gram at the University of Minnesota, Mankato, as 
part o f an e-museum. The site is “by no means a 
comprehensive list,” but more names are added

rare book cataloger, Georgetown University.
M e m b e r -a t-la r g e : L a u r a  D a le  B isc h o f, 
librarian for Western European History and 
Social Sciences, University o f Minnesota; Bryan 
Skib, c o o r d in a to r  o f  G ra d u a te  L ibrary 
Collections, University o f Michigan.

W om en's Stu d ies Section
V ice-chair/C h air-elect: Laura Micham, head 
o f Public Services, Special Collections and 
Archives Division, Emory University; Sandra 
A. River, curren t periodicals/m icroform s 
librarian with dual appointment in Information 
Services (liaison to English, Philosophy, and 
Women’s Studies).
S ecretary: Cynthia A. Johnson, reference and 
collection developm ent, Barnard College; 
Martha Henn McCormick, Women’s Studies 
and English librarian and program director, 
Information Resources Unit o f the Center for 
Teaching and Learning, University Library of 
In d ia n a  U n iv e rsity  P u rd u e U n iv e rsity  
Indianapolis.
M em ber-at-large: Je n n ife r R. Gilley, assistant 
librarian, Penn State New Kensington; Kelly B. 
Hoυendick, reference librarian, Sociology and 
Women’s Studies Specialist, Syracuse University,
E. S. Bird Library. ■

portunity to participate more fully in the 
coursework o f our university’s students. Even 
if a one-hour session is all the class time a 
faculty member is willing to give us, we can 
be active members o f a course, answering 
questions, participating in discussions, direct­
ing students in the successful completion of 
their research.

Notes
1.  WPI currently uses Blackboard 5.5 Level 

3. For more information, see Blackboard’s 
Web site at http://www.blackboard.com.

2.  Nancy K. Getty, Barbara Burd, Sarah K. 
Burns, and Linda Piele. “Using Courseware 
to Deliver Library Instruction via the Web: 
Four Examples,” R eference Services Review 28 
No. 4 (2000): 349-59. ■

each semester. The list, arranged alphabetically, 
contains almost 500 names o f people who have 
influenced anthropology. A very useful tool 
that is easy  to navigate. A ccess: http:// 
emuseum.mnsu.edu/information/biography/. ■

http://www.blackboard.com