Assesments
According to the Addie Model, assessments are created in the design stage after the objectives are determined. Clearly written objectives will help you to determine the most appropriate assessment. Check this web resource 
from Virginia Tech.
Guidelines
When deciding what assessments to use in your course, you need to consider an even distribution of workload per week for your course. This includes how much time students will spend reading their text(s), articles, websites, etc.). For on campus students, how much time they will spend in the classroom. On campus students can expect to do about 5 hours of homework per week (reading, writing, projects) outside of class. You can expect students to read about thirty pages per 60-90 minutes. Online students will do about 10 to 15 hours of work per week in a College of Arts & Sciences course. Important: The first week of a course should not have a major paper or project assigned.
Vary Assessments
- Use a variety of assessments for each course
- Avoid group projects
- Assessment Examples
- Assignments/papers
- Quizzes/Tests
- Projects
- Presentations
- Group Discussion Board
- Dossier
Quizzes/Tests
Tests and quizzes should be open book and are only delivered via Blackboard (no graded tests/quizzes should be given for on campus students during class time). Students should be able to save and return to a quiz or test at a later time/date. Blackboard has issues at times grading fill-in-the-blank questions (you may capitalize the answer, the student may write the answer in lowercase and it will be marked wrong). Because of this, multiple choice questions are recommended. It is not recommended to only show one question at a time. It is optional to randomize questions.
Some text(s) may come with their own bank of test questions (usually on a CD-ROM). These can be transferred into Blackboard quizzes
Projects
Student may be given multiple weeks to work on one project. Student may be required to use PowerPoint creations in the presentation of their projects. Students might also use a media enhanced simulation (developed in step 9) and then be required to write a paper or something on what they learned through the activity.
Presentations
Students may give 10-minute oral presentations (speeches) in class on a subject they researched. Online students will have to digitally record these presentations and send them to the faculty member.
Group Discussion Board
Another aspect of Blackboard is the use of group discussions. On campus students are to have one original and one response post each week. Online students are to have two original and two response posts each week. These discussions can be a response to a media clip (song, video clip, PowerPoint, or other excerpt), a question posed based on readings in the assigned text(s) that week, a debate where students take sides on an issue, or even a point-counterpoint-response format, a choice from 2 to 3 questions, or any other approach that allows for the generation of "classroom-like" informal discussion.
The faculty member will set up groups, for the group discussions requirement. There should be 4-7 students in each group.
Check the group discussion at least three times per week and make appropriate comments. Use the general discussion board for social interaction.
Some text(s) may come with their own bank of test questions and may include essay/discussion questions. These questions can be taken and used for the group discussion boards.
It is recommended that students be given a choice of questions each week from which they select one/two to answer, and that they do not duplicate the questions selected by other students in their group.
Dossier
A dossier is defined as a collection of papers containing detailed information about a particular person or subject. These papers will be substantive thoughts and reflections about your everyday encounters within the context of what you have learned about Interpersonal Communication through readings. You must refer to your text through proper citation style (APA).
Assessments and Blackboard
The Assignment Manager. Use the Assignment Manager Feature in Blackboard. Instruct your students to submit all materials through this feature. You could decide to put only graded items into what Blackboard calls the Assignment Manager as these items are automatically entered into your gradebook, but you could end up with a lot of items in your gradebook. If you want to include both graded and not graded items in your gradebook, remember to give the items that are not graded a value of zero.
There are other tutorials about the Assignment Manager, Gradebook and Assessments listed below.
Creating an Assignment in Assignment Manager (no audio)
Receiving and Grading an item in Blackboard (no audio)
It may be helpful to copy and paste the tutorial below into your Blackboard course for those students who don't know how to use the Assignment Manager Feature. It also shows you what students see when they use it.
Completing and Submitting an Assignment Using the Assignment Manager Feature In this animated tutorial, you will learn how students complete and submit an assignment in a Blackboard Learning System or course Web site.
