Lack of grades, materials leave students in the dark
Finals are approaching us, evoking either ominous or optimistic feelings. As we try to catch up on work we’ve missed because of classes we skipped, teachers are trying to get things in order before finals begin. Finals season is a stressful time for everyone, but something that could really help the students and professors out would be the utilization of Blackboard.
Many teachers have been consistent in using Blackboard by posting grades, exercises and relevant study materials. However, some teachers haven’t used Blackboard too often. Some have not used it at all. If you’re a teacher reading this article, consider making Blackboard a priority. It keeps students (and you) on top of things and well aware of their progress. As students, we’d like to see our grades updated whenever we hand in a test or an assignment. If we are aware of our standing in class, it could really help gauge how we need to do on finals and other assignments. Our posted grades allow us figure out what we need to do to improve our work.
Another way to utilize Blackboard’s components is by posting activities, assignments and study exercises or techniques. When we begin studying for finals, Blackboard is likely the first resource we’ll turn to for some guidance. If teachers are feeling generous, extra credit assignments or makeup work could be posted to help students get a step ahead on their work and increase their work ethic.
Some teachers could also consider posting database links and other college work resources to aid in a better understanding of the class content. If teachers want us to do well in class, posting supplementary materials on Blackboard will almost always help us out.
Blackboard not only helps us, but it can also help the teachers. We can all get disorganized at times, but keeping everything up to date and uploaded on Blackboard can help guide the direction of class and monitor the allocated materials over the course of the semester. Whether it works better to coordinate the distribution of materials with the lectures or just to put everything on Blackboard at once is up to the teacher and his or her teaching methods, but either way is better than nothing at all.
Blackboard is a tool used by more than 9,300 institutions in 60 countries and has proved to thousands it is worthy of keeping around. USC professors should take it seriously and use this resource as it was meant to be used. As of now, Blackboard is the only functioning system we have to consolidate our class materials, and especially during finals season, correct usage of Blackboard is a necessity.