Table of Contents
The Blackboard Quest
First E-Learning Showcase: April 2008
Materials referred to in Chris Jobling's talk, including the presentation, copies of handouts, information on keys and grading.
The Presentation
The what, when, who why and how of an approach to introducing Blackboard and Oremi to First Year Engineers by means a treasure hunt which exploits some of the advanced features of Blackboard and Oremi themselves.
I have put a narrated version of the presentation on SlideShare where you can watch it at your leasure, download it and adapt for your own purposes or whatever. SlideShare also has a nifty feature which allows you to embed a slideshare presentation into your own web pages, Blackboard pages, etc. Here is the presentation: <html><div style=“width:425px;text-align:left” id=“__ss_149225”><object style=“margin:0px” width=“425” height=“355”><param name=“movie” value=“http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=the-blackboard-quest-1193681466746764-5”/><param name=“allowFullScreen” value=“true”/><param name=“allowScriptAccess” value=“always”/><embed src=“http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=the-blackboard-quest-1193681466746764-5” type=“application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=“always” allowfullscreen=“true” width=“425” height=“355”></embed></object><div style=“font-size:11px;font-family:tahoma,arial;height:26px;padding-top:2px;”><a href=“http://www.slideshare.net/?src=embed”><img src=“http://static.slideshare.net/swf/logo_embd.png” style=“border:0px none;margin-bottom:-5px” alt=“SlideShare”/></a> | <a href=“http://www.slideshare.net/cpjobling/the-blackboard-quest?src=embed” title=“View 'The Blackboard Quest' on SlideShare”>View</a> | <a href=“http://www.slideshare.net/upload?src=embed”>Upload your own</a></div></div></html>
Handout: Blackboard Quest
Description of the Blackboard Quest. Given to students as a handout.
Handout: Exploring Oremi
Handout on exploring Oremi. Discovered by students as part of the Blackboard quest. Students have to join the “Engineering” community to complete the quest. Once joined, they can access a “key” that opens the te lock to the final challenge. The key is a long, seemingly random, string of hexadecimal numbers.
Assessment Criteria
These are the components of the Blackboard quest and their value (in terms of module credits). There always has to be a carrot!
| Challenge | Purpose | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Gatekeeper's Challenge | Qualification to begin treasure hunt. A blackboard quiz. Needs to score 60% to qualify for rest of tour. Selective Release used to keep treasure hunt hidden until qualified. Quiz is based on some documents that students have to review (health and safety in our case) | 4% |
| Treasure Hunt | Guided tour through sections of typical blackboard site. Steps revealed by combination of review and selective release. Takes in Course Information, Staff Information, Course Documents (of various kinds), External and Internal Links, Books. Could include tools (e.g. Email). Side trip to Oremi. | - |
| First Challenge | A Quiz sourced on the various materials discovered in the treasure hunt | 4% |
| Final Challenge | Students must find a key which unlocks the “final challenge” (see above). This year this was hidden in Oremi. Last year an email sent an automated response. Marks spilt 50-50. 1 mark for joining the Engineering Community on Oremi and 1 mark for finding the key. | 2% |
| Reward | It's nice to have a reward at the end of the quest. In our case it's a further (voluntary) quest  | - |
The Key to the Final Challenge
This is the key that is given to students. It's placed in a presentation accessible to the Engineering group. I was hoping that the presentation would be part of the Engineering community but it isn't. It has to be searched for and then discovered in a presentation in my own profile. With hiindsight, it would have been better to put the key in the forum or a blog message.
This is the key to the final challenge. Copy and paste!
81ed35c8be2b9d46823a7b794e43a860
Good luck!
More
There is a community on Oremi called Blackboard Quest which you can join to discuss this project, share ideas etc. The group is accessible through this link although you have to first join the community to view.