Welcome to the newest topic in the JEFFLINE Forum's ever-expanding section on tips and techniques. The purpose of the Blackboard Bulletin is to keep Pulse users up to date on the latest Blackboard news and to pass along some tips and techniques I've gathered over the last few years while working with faculty on their courses.
First and foremost, I'd like to point out the Pulse Support webpage provided by AISR to assist faculty, staff and students in their use of Pulse. The purpose of this webpage is to bring together all the Pulse resources available on campus into one central location. Some key links available on the webpage are:
- Pulse Tutorial - This tutorial created by a Jefferson student provides key introductory information on major Pulse sections.
- Handouts and How-To Resources - AISR-provided resources including help on starting a new course on Pulse, adding tests and surveys to your course, and all Blackboard Bulletin articles.
- Blackboard Manuals - Links to the official Blackboard Instructor and User Manuals for the current version hosted here at Jefferson.
- Jeff-IT Resources - Jeff-IT's frequently asked questions and knowledgebase are linked from the Pulse Support page.
Now our first tip… the Pulse Course ID:
Pulse Course ID's have gone through a few renovations since Blackboard was initially brought on campus, but it seems that a standard ID has finally been settled on. Unfortunately, the ID has generated some confusion, so lets try and clear that up.
A typical Pulse Course ID looks like this:
The first sequence of numbers usually causes the most confusion. Some people think that the 2005 in the beginning means that this is a course from last year (note that this article is written in April 2006), but actually, this is a current course.
Lets break apart the Pulse Course ID and explore each section:
- School Year & Semester - The school year runs from August to July, so the current school year is August 2005 - July 2006. The 2005 in the ID signifies when the school year started and the 02 signifies what semester we are in. So, 200502 is the 2nd semester (winter) of the 2005 school year.
- Department & Course Number - This section is the typical course ID that you will see in Banner, the course catalog, etc.
- Section - The Course ID above is section 02 of the NU301 course. Typically, 01 is an on-campus course and 02 is an off-campus, or distance learning, course. There are also other section numbers for courses at affiliate sites and other reasons.
That concludes our first issue of the Blackboard Bulletin. If there are specific topics you would like me to cover in future issues, please let me know by emailing me at Chris.Braster@jefferson.edu or filling out the comments poll to the right of this article (under my photo and name).
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