We aim to make building your class easy, fast and enjoyable. This guide begins by assuming you have already received a draft version of your textbook, and the goal is to get everything set up and ready for launch. The steps include:
Bookmark Your Control Center
Adopt Your Textbook
Define Your Settings
Adjust Your Content
Set up Your Quizzes, Exams & Assignments
Install Your Textbook
If you want help at any point, just ask Blended Bot to arrange a zoom for you and we will be available to help.
1. Bookmark Your Control Center
Your Control Center is where the magic happens. This is where you can control all of the content, design quizzes and exams, review student progress, access individual answers and evaluate class performance.
We recommend you bookmark the link to your Control Center, because most instructors access it multiple times each week during the semester.
When you are building your class, you'll want to spend time in the following sections of your Control Center:
Content Structure: Add or remove content, including chapters, quizzes, exams and assignments. Remove concepts, rename content.
Instructor Resources: Download resources to help you teach your class, including instructor slide decks, student slide decks, suggested activities, answer keys and support videos for assignments, etc.
Quizzes: Design your practice quizzes, quizzes, exams and assignments. Set the access dates, questions, points, n umber of attempts and results display.
Settings: Set the fundamentals such as the dates of the class, the name of the class, etc.
Once your class is live, you'll spend most of your time in:
Gradebook: The grades students are earnings as they progress through your course.
Student Progress: The exact time students are spending on each module, and how much they have completed.
Quizzes: See the individual answers from each student for each attempt, provide accommodations where needed, and monitor overall class analytics.
2. Adopt Your Textbook
There are two stages to adopting the textbook. The first is introducing us to the bookstore. The second stage is optional as it varies across universities and involves using the university's automated online system to adopt the textbook.
2.1. Introduce Us To Your Bookstore
We work with university bookstores across the US. We have an automated ordering system which allows bookstores to purchase access codes for students within minutes.
To get this off your plate, we need an introductory email from you. We've got a draft below which you can use. Just remember to replace the info in [] with your info. For details on how to find the ISBN and name of your textbook, look beneath the draft email.
Hi [bookstore manager name],
I will be adopting a Blended Teaching textbook for [course name & code] in the coming [spring / fall / summer / winter].
The textbook details are:
[Textbook Name]
[Textbook ISBN]
To order access codes, Blended Teaching has an automated ordering system which you can find here:
Feel free to reach out to [email protected] for more information.
Regards,
[Your name]
To find the Textbook Name and Textbook ISBN, follow these steps:
Start in your Control Center and navigate to the Settings page.
Scroll down until you find the section related to Textbook Adoption, where you will find your Textbook Name and Textbook ISBN.
With all this talk of bookstores and access codes, you may be wondering how students get access and pay for Blended Teaching. Click here to learn more about that.
2.2. Adopt Using the University Automated System
If your university is partnered with an Inclusive Access provider, such as VitalSource (also known as Verbasoft), you will probably have an online system through which you adopt your textbook.
If that is the case for you, you can find your textbook in that system. Just search in that system for the Textbook Name that you found in 2.1. above. The name will start with "Blended Teaching".
If you can't find your textbook in that system, just reach out to us through Blended Bot and we will follow up with the bookstore.
3. Define Your Settings
Textbook Settings are really important to get right. In your Control Center, go to the Settings page.
3.1. Course Details
At the top of the Settings page, you are going to start in the Course Details box.
Review the Name. This is the name students will see when they sign into your textbook. We recommend you match the name of your course.
Review the Academic Period. You should set this to something easily understandable for your students, such as Winter 202X.
Set the Start Date. This is the most important of all of the settings. This controls the date from which students can enroll in your textbook. We recommend to set this date in line with the date from which students can access your course through the university LMS. If it is set later, any student that tries to enroll will be rejected from enrolling, and will be unable to access the course materials.
Set the End Date. This is the last date on which a student can enroll in this textbook. They will still have access to the materials after the end date, it's just that from that points onwards, no more students will be able to enroll in that textbook.
3.2. Course Cover Image
Once you've set the Course Details, move on to the Course Cover Image section. Review the Course Cover Image, and if you want, change it. Students will see this when they first enroll in the textbook.
That's all you need to do in Settings for now. Time to move on. 🙌
4. Adjust Your Content
Arguably one of the most valuable features of Blended Teaching is that you have significant control over the content. Where it is located, what it's called, add chapters and modules, remove pages within chapters, etc. It's up to you, and it all happens in the Course Structure tab.
Go to Course Structure in the Control Center to make sure that the content and flow are as you want.
Here are some things to pay attention to.
4.1. Content Volume
A typical class will have between 10-12 modules. More, and students may complain that it's too much. Less, and you may feel like you could have done more with your classes. You can add more modules and chapters, and remove them in the Course Structure tab. If you accidentally remove a chapter or module, no problem, you can add them right back.
4.2. Content Flow
Make sure the content builds throughout the semester, getting harder as it progresses. We've often seen classes split into 3 sections with a major evaluation at the end of each section.
4.3. Evaluations
Make sure you are happy with the amount and location of your evaluations. If you've made a new quiz in the Quizzes tab, make sure to add it in to your Course Structure. If you've changed the flow of the content, then make sure to adjust your exams and quizzes accordingly to examine only the relevant concepts.
4.4. Remove Individual Concepts / Pages
Within Chapters, you can remove individual pages. Often instructors will remove Excel or Calculator demonstrations depending on the tool students are recommended to use. If you do remove individual concepts, keep in mind the following:
The concepts in a chapter often progress in sequence and build on each other. So just make sure you're not taking our a concept that is then used later in concepts you want to teach..
Quizzes and exams do not automatically update to remove the corresponding questions. You will want to access the question banks associated with the adjusted chapters and remove questions relating to those concepts.
Assignments typically relate to an entire module. So if you remove concepts from within a module, that will likely exclude you from using the associated assignment.
The system is automated, so Module Overview pages along with student progress trackers will update automatically as you adjust the content on Course Structure.
The only things that don't automatically update are the quizzes, exams and assignments.
5. Review Your Quizzes, Exams & Assignments
When you receive your draft textbook, it's likely to include draft exams and quizzes as a starting point to help save you time. Now it's time to review and adjust them.
Start by going to the Quizzes tab in the Control Center. You will see a list of practice quizzes, quizzes, exams and assignments. Review each one and determine which you want to keep, which to delete, and if there are any new ones you want to make.
For each of the draft quizzes that you intend to use, we recommend adjusting the following.
5.1. Set the Details
Access the Details page. In the Quizzes tab, click on the name of the quiz to access the quiz Details.
Set the Points. The points are distributed across the questions. The points set here will overwrite any points set in your LMS.
Set the Start Date, End Date and Due Date. The Start Date is the date from which students can start taking the quiz. The End Date is the date after which students cannot access the quiz. After the Due Date, and before the End Date, students can still access the quiz, but they will receive a penalty for being late.
5.2. Review the Build
Access the Build page. In the Quizzes tab, find the quiz you want to edit, go across to the right and click on the 3 dots to reveal a drop down, then click Build.
Write your Instructions. The instructions appear at the top of a quiz for each student. Note, the platform automatically displays the number of attempts, number of points, time limit and number of questions to students, so you don't need to repeat those in the instructions.
Review the Questions. Make sure you have the questions, pools or banks that you want included in your quiz. If you have removed concepts from within a chapter, make sure to remove any questions relating to those concepts in the question banks.
5.3. Adjust the Settings
Access the Settings page. In the Quizzes tab, find the quiz you want to edit, go across to the right and click on the 3 dots to reveal a drop down, then click Settings.
Adjust Attempt Settings. Set the number of attempts and which score to keep.
Set Quiz Behavior. Set a time limit, and how to shuffle the questions or answers. Note, if you are using Blended Teaching banks, always shuffle the answers, otherwise the correct answer will always be answer option (a).
Manage Results Display. This is one of the most important settings, so we have a more detailed guide on this here.
Allow File Uploads. If you wish to allow students to upload their working files, just check this box.
If you want more help with quiz settings, just ask us through Blended Bot and we will provide you with more support.
6. Install Your Textbook
Installing your textbook in your LMS is simple, and will take between 1-2 minutes in total. The steps vary subtly depending on the LMS and whether you are integrated or not, but all are fast and simple.
Just pick your LMS below to get your specific instructions.
- Canvas
- Moodle