Prepare for Your First Semester

End of the semester
Place book orders online, request course evaluation packets, copy contents from your course site, block access to materials from old course sites, and use your SPOT report to improve your next course.

• Place book orders
  At least 30 days before the semester begins, inform the Office Manager (or designee) in your department of your textbook selections. This person will compile all requests for all courses and forward them to the FSU Bookstore.
  
  
• Request course evaluation packets
  Review the schedule for the session in which you are teaching and mark your calendar to place evaluation orders before the posted deadline. Assessment & Testing (AT) will accept completed course evaluation packets until no later than two weeks after the last day of classes. For additional information about course evaluation requests, administration, and reports, e-mail AT or call 850/644-3017. Review the policies and procedures for administering course evaluations, and read the article Students' Perceptions Matter: Use Course Evaluations to Improve Teaching for tips on proper administration, and how to use the results.
  
  
• Copy contents from your Bb course site into next semesters course site
  During the online request process for a new Course Site for next semester, you can ask to have the contents copied from your previous Course Sites into your new site. Login to this Blackboard link, Step 4 will prompt you to "copy content from," and you will be provided a dropdown box to choose the previous course you want to have copied. Once your new course is available on your "HOME" page, review it for broken links. (Note: Discussion Board Forums or Group Pages - any area populated with your current students -- will not be copied over, so you will need to set up those areas again. But Grade Center items, assignments and other content, URLs, surveys, etc., will be copied over.) Remember to turn course availability OFF while you rebuild your site and turn it ON when it is "ready for prime time."
  
  
• Block student access to materials on last semester’s Blackboard courses
  To comply with current law, copyrighted materials on last term’s Blackboard sites should now be made unavailable to students. To turn off areas containing protected materials, go into the Control Panel on each of your Bb sites and:
  • in the Course Options box, select Manage Course Menu
  • choose Modify for each course area that holds copyrighted material
  • uncheck each of the three boxes that allows access
  • select Submit
  If you want to make an entire course unavailable to former students, go to the Control Panel, and
  • in the Course Options box, select Settings
  • choose Course Duration
  • choose Select Dates
  • specify an Ending Date
  • select Submit
  To hide last semester’s courses on your HOME page, click on the pencil in the upper right of the My Courses module and uncheck all of the “show” boxes next to the course. (For more information on copyright see Copyright: Fair Use and the TEACH Act)
  
  
• Use your SPOT report to improve your next course
  You can use student responses from your SPOT report to make adjustments to next semester’s course. Review your report to identify which course components worked well and which ones you may want to consider changing. Answers to questions in "Section B: Course & Instructor" can yield information about how students perceived the way you designed the course, the way you taught the material, and the type of feedback you provided. (Note that a response by 1 or 2 students may appear to be significant on your SPOT report but may not be grounds for substantial changes to your course.)
  Making one or two changes in your course can produce big rewards for you and your students. Grouping student responses in the following categories can help you pinpoint where best to make those adjustments:
  • syllabus (format, elements, and tone)
  • course procedures/policies
  • course content (scope, depth, and the examples provided)
  • assigned readings and other resources
  • activities (in and out of class)
  • assignments/tests
  • teaching method and style
  The written comments can also provide indicators on which course practices and components you may want to keep and which could be refined.
  
  
• Begin drafting next semester's syllabus
  It's hard to begin considering your next term’s syllabus while you're racing to the end of this semester, but now is when you can still recall those policies that worked out well or the ones you were continually clarifying. Now is also when you can see clearly if you did indeed assign too much reading or not plan in enough time for a particular unit. Also be sure and review the tone of your syllabus—did it reflect your enthusiasm for the material and was it welcoming to the students?

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