Blackboard SMU uses the course management system Blackboard.  For help creating Blackboard courses and learning the basics, consult Academic Technology's Blackboard help page, as well as this Blackboard online tutorial. Access your Blackboard courses here. Presentation Software Sometimes it's helpful to provide visual aids to complement teaching, stimulate discussion, or allow out-of-class teaching. Tools designed for this purpose, such as PowerPoint, can be used well or used badly. Click here for resources that provide advice for thoughtful use of PowerPoint, as well as a few additional presentation tools. Classroom Response Systems ("clickers") One way to encourage student engagement is by using electronic devices that allow students to record their answers to multiple choice questions and allow you to instantly display the results. The anonymity encourages participation, and their answers help the teacher know when further discussion is needed.  Use of clickers can also serve as a catalyst for discussion.  Click here to learn more about using response systems effectively.

Converting a Face-to-Face Course to an Online Course Teaching online, whether in a hybrid course or a wholly-online course, requires different techniques and different tools.  Without the F2F contact, professors will need to be even clearer about setting and articulating expectations for digital work and participation.  Encouraging interaction between professor and student and among students is an additional challenge, as is monitoring student learning as the course progresses.  The online environment requires the use of basic technologies to digitize course materials as well as mastery of the university's learning management system.  And various tools like Skype allow synchronous communications, while blogs and Twitter can encourage asynchronous interaction.  Here are some ideas to get you started.