Below is a list of highlights of some of the new features:

Grade Center - less clicking and fewer subsequent pages

• Inline editing: ability to enter grades directly in the spreadsheet (no longer need to click into individual grades or grade views to enter or edit grades)
• Ability to create and print reports
• New grade calculations including average grade and minimum/maximum grade
• Easier grade weighting
• Smart views: categorize students based on criteria

Grade Center Resources:

• Getting Started with the Grade Center (https://blackboard.newark.rutgers.edu/bbcswebdav/xid-140704_4)
• Instructor Manual - Grade Center (https://blackboard.newark.rutgers.edu/bbcswebdav/xid-140705_4)
• Blackboard Quick Tutorials (opens in a new window) - animated tutorials
• Blackboard 8 Grade Center Flash Video Mini-tutorials by University of Illinois at Chicago (http://www.uic.edu/depts/accc/itl/blackboard/v08/)

SafeAssign™ - plagiarism detection

• Several Different Databases:
  Internet
  ProQuest©
  ABI/Inform© database
  Institutional document archives
  Global Reference Database, includes content submitted into SafeAssign from Blackboard-powered institutions

• Integrated with the Grade Center
  
  Please note that SafeAssign content must be created itself, and that previously created Assignments cannot be integrated with SafeAssign.

Scholar - a social bookmarking service that allows members of the Blackboard community to:

• save and classify bookmarks and searches

• share resources with faculty, students and administrators from other institutions

• automatically update courses with dynamic content feeds

• enable student contributions to course collections

Using the knowledge and power of Blackboard’s network of educational users, Scholar will make it easier for instructors and students to find relevant resources on the Internet for courses and research. By storing and sharing associated information with each resource such as tags, disciplines, other users who have tagged and more, Scholar will allow users to evaluate the resources and find the most relevant and reliable.

Content System

• Improved Workflow
• Subscribe feature: users can be notified of any changes or updates to a directory
• Metadata
• 360° View allows users to view properties of the content

Self and Peer Assessment Building Block™

• Instructor can create a list of questions with variety of criteria for self and peer assessment
• Instructor can monitor and download assessment
• Linked to Grade Center

COMING SOON

• Blackboard Academic Suite^TM Release 8.0 Video Tour
  • Overview
  • Grade Center
  • Critical Thinking Tools
• Blackboard Quick Tutorials (opens in a new window) - animated tutorials
• Blackboard 8 Faculty Reference Materials (opens in a new window) - Manuals, Release Notes, and Quick Start Guides