As part of the recent Blackboard upgrade, a new feature called Achievements will be made available. This tool allows staff to create digital badges that can be awarded to students, either manually or automatically according to a defined set of criteria, to either recognise student achievement or provide them with a way to track their progress within a module.
While there are Achievements for completing the module, probably more interesting and useful are the ‘Milestone’ ones that are used during the module. Combinations of different criteria can be used when setting the rules for a particular Milestone, including dates and membership of particular groups, but the most useful are likely to be the ones related to assessments and course content. These final criterion-types can be used to encourage students to engage with formative tests and additional materials within the module, by issuing an Achievement if they view all the supplementary readings or obtain a defined minimum mark in all of the formative tests. As the tool includes a report on who has obtained each Achievement, then a combined rule that is triggered when a student looks at some specific resources and achieves a threshold mark in a test can also be a simple way for lecturers using a Flipped model to check engagement prior to the face-to-face session.
Google Keep is an on-the-go note taking application. It allows you to capture information in a variety of ways, including through audio, photographs, note taking and making lists. You can also set up location based reminders, time reminders and share your notes with other users.