A third improvement involved the use of the essay quizzes. Students read six different young adult
books during the course: Catcher in the Rye, Walk Two Moons, Night, Chinese Cinderella, Sojourner Truth,
Ain’t I a Woman, House on Mango Street, and Kid Brother. Although they took weekly quizzes the previous
year, they received only a pass/fail grade. In the revised course, using Blackboard Vista, students were
given points for each quiz and expected to write an a more comprehensive essay about what they read.
For the new quiz, the students wrote a summary, analysis, and response to the required books. The
students also asked if they could have more time than the final thirty minutes of the class to complete the
quiz. The instructor and students agreed to allow the students the entire week to post their quiz. Although
some students did develop essays that showed greater depth by the end of the course, when they were
required to take it during the thirty minute time-frame, by having a special section where students were
given written comments online concerning their essays, in addition to a grade, encouraged them to
develop stronger essays more quickly and effectively. The additional time to reflect and compose their
essays on Blackboard Vista also improved the quality of the essays.
Other practical benefits for using Blackboard Vista occurred during the organization of the course.
Students presented their Power Point book chapters and literature circles in groups the preceding year;
they were required to sign up for these groups during the first weeks of the course. Students also
determined the particular book they chose to present their book talks and listed the topics in young adult
literature they wished to pursue for their final project. During 2007 and in previous years when the course
was taught, on the night students signed up for these activities, many students said they felt frustrated,
because everyone was talking at once and they could not always remember what they were expected to
do. For the Blackboard Vista 2008 course, in addition to merely signing forms that listed their tasks, all of
the assignments were posted online, along with the student or students involved in each of the tasks.
Triangulation of assessment was completed at the end of the course. Students’ evaluations of the
web-enhanced Blackboard Vista class were evaluated in three ways: through a survey given by the
instructor, through course evaluations, and through participant observations throughout the course. Based
on the results of the surveys, evaluations, and observations, students gave top &F