Office of Instructional Resources
Instruction Manual
Have you ever wished the job of a university instructor came with an instruction manual? Here is one. Find your role or your task below and open it for the path we recommend and the OIR pages that go deeper.
Browse the topics below and open any one to see the path the Office of Instructional Resources recommends for it, along with the OIR pages that cover it in more detail. Bookmark this page so you can find it again. If there is a set of instructions you would like us to add, email OIR@wichita.edu.
Before the term starts: four things to know
When your courses appear. Your Blackboard courses for an upcoming term load thirty days before the first day of that term's pre-session. If you do not see a course yet, it is most likely still outside that window.
How to get your questions answered. The fastest way to get help is to email OIR@wichita.edu. If a question falls outside our area, we will point you to the right office.
How to request a development shell. A development shell is a sandbox where you can build a course before your live course is ready. Fill out this development shell request form to request one, then copy your finished work into the live course once it appears.
Whether to merge your sections. If you teach more than one section of a course, you can merge them into a single Blackboard course so you post content once and keep one gradebook. Fill out this merge request form to request a merge or to talk through whether it fits your situation. See the section on merging your course sections below.
Guidance by instructor type
Congratulations on your appointment as a direct instruction GTA. As the instructor of record for your own class, you carry real responsibility, and the move from student to instructor can feel daunting at first. The steps below will get you started.
Technical setup
Wichita State is a Blackboard school. Every course, whether in person, hybrid, or online, comes with a Blackboard course to support it, and at a minimum you should post your syllabus there. If you would like to build your course ahead of time, you can request a development shell, a sandbox you build in and later copy into your live course. To get started in Blackboard, see OIR's New to Blackboard page, and for recording video inside your course, see OIR's Blackboard Video page. For live online sessions and recorded lectures, Microsoft Teams is the recommended tool. Every instructor gets a free Microsoft 365 account, and Teams recordings are stored in OneDrive and can be captioned in Stream.
Getting support
OIR is here for you. Email OIR@wichita.edu with questions, and we can point you to the right office when a question is outside our area, such as password help, in-person classroom equipment, or a system problem in Blackboard. We answer emails throughout the workday and once on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.
Setting up a course
You will have many questions as you build your first courses. See OIR's New to Blackboard and Course and Content Management pages for how to add and organize content. If your department gives you a syllabus or template, use it. Otherwise, use the University standardized syllabus template.
Classroom management and your changing role
Managing a classroom well is a craft, and each instructor develops a personal style. As a GTA you are now both a student and an instructor, which brings expectations for how you conduct yourself. OIR's New to Teaching page covers establishing authority, handling distractions, imposter syndrome, and personal conduct on and off campus.
With a class or two behind you, you may feel more confident and also more aware of how much there is to learn as an instructor. The skills you are building now transfer to many professions, so time spent improving your teaching pays off whatever your career plans. Start by reviewing the guidance for new GTAs above to be sure you have your bases covered.
Develop a teaching philosophy
If you plan an academic career, you will need a statement of your teaching philosophy. Begin now, because you will refine it over time, and the sooner you start reflecting, the stronger your statement will be when you go on the job market. OIR can talk through your draft, and OIR's Learning Theories page is a good place to clarify the ideas about teaching and learning that shape your approach.
Welcome, and thank you for bringing your community and industry expertise into the classroom. Even seasoned instructors benefit from reviewing WSU's technology and support systems before the term starts.
Technical setup
Wichita State is a Blackboard school, and every course comes with a Blackboard course to support it. At a minimum, post your syllabus there. To get started, see OIR's New to Blackboard page, and see OIR's Blackboard Video page for recording video inside your course. For live sessions and recorded lectures, use Microsoft Teams with your free Microsoft 365 account. Teams recordings are stored in OneDrive and can be captioned in Stream.
Getting support and setting up your course
Your academic department is your primary contact, and OIR supports every instructor regardless of rank. Email OIR@wichita.edu with questions. For building your course, see OIR's New to Blackboard and Course and Content Management pages, and use your department's syllabus or the University standardized syllabus template. For finding your footing in the classroom, see OIR's New to Teaching page.
Welcome to Wichita State. As new full-time faculty, you hold more than one new role. OIR supports you mainly as a classroom instructor, while the Faculty Advancement office supports you as you establish and advance your career, including promotion and tenure.
Technical setup and support
Wichita State is a Blackboard school. Post your syllabus to your Blackboard course at a minimum, and see OIR's New to Blackboard page to get going. For recording inside your course, see OIR's Blackboard Video page, and for live sessions and recorded lectures, use Microsoft Teams with your free Microsoft 365 account, stored in OneDrive and captioned in Stream. Email OIR@wichita.edu for help, and turn to Faculty Advancement for questions about promotion and tenure.
Setting up and running your course
For building and organizing your course, see OIR's New to Blackboard and Course and Content Management pages, and use your department's syllabus or the University standardized syllabus template. For classroom presence, authority, and grading, see OIR's New to Teaching page.
Instructors who have taught for a decade or more have more advanced development needs. OIR designed the Academic Resources Conference (ARC) for experienced and mid-career instructors, so review each year's offerings. The ARC runs three times a year, for a week in August, January, and May.
Keep up with changing research
Teaching research advances quickly, and unless you study education you may not track current findings. Two examples worth knowing: the popular idea of fixed "learning styles" has been widely questioned by research, and the claim that handwritten notes beat typed notes has been undercut by later studies. OIR's Learning Theories page puts these ideas in context. When you want to test a change in your own teaching, see the section on running class-level research below.
Grow your skills
Once you have the basics of Blackboard and Microsoft tools, invest in deeper Microsoft 365 skills through ITS training, and explore the LightBoard Studios for producing polished instructional video. OIR is glad to help you plan next steps.
Instructions for common tasks
The University Registrar explains grading periods, the incomplete grade policy, and more, and every instructor should read that guidance. Grades are due by 10:00 pm Central on the Tuesday after the last day of finals for a regular semester, or the Tuesday after the last day of class for a Summer term. You enter grades in the Banner system through MyWSU. For dates specific to your course, open="" the Faculty area in MyWSU and view your detailed schedule.
When a student earns a failing grade, the code you enter depends on whether and how long they participated:
| Grade the student earns | Never attended or participated | Participated all term, then failed | Started, then stopped, then failed |
|---|---|---|---|
| F | FN | FF | FQ |
| U | UN | UF | UQ |
| NCR | NCRN | NCRF | NCRQ |
| NBG | NBGN | NBGF | NBGQ |
For a student who started and then stopped participating, you must enter a Last Date of Attendance. For the other two situations, do not enter a Last Date of Attendance.
Keeping your gradebook in Blackboard helps students track their progress, but Blackboard grades do not upload to Banner automatically. You must enter final grades in Banner yourself.
Picture rosters are in Banner 9, not in Blackboard. To find yours:
- Log in to MyWSU.
- GTAs: on the Home tab, open="" Banner Self-Service on the right, then Faculty and Advisors. Other instructors: open="" the Teach/Advise tab, then Banner 9 Faculty and Advisor Self Service on the left.
- Select Class List. It does not look like a link, but it is.
- In the Subject column, select the letters and numbers for your class, such as ENGL 101. This is also a link.
- You now have a picture roster. Hover over a student's name to see a larger photo.
The Visual Student Roster once found in Blackboard is no longer available, since that tool became defunct and cannot be replaced.
Whether your concern is about academic performance, mental health, or physical wellbeing, Wichita State has systems in place to help.
Academic progress
File a Student Early Alert System (SEAS) report to notify a student who is in danger of failing. The student receives an email outlining the concern and linking to resources. You can also point students to the Shocker Learning Center for academic success programs and to Student Success Coaches for help with time management and other barriers.
Mental health
Submit a CARE Team report for a wide range of concerns, from struggles with self care and relationships to mental health. You can also suggest Counseling and Prevention Services (CAPS), which offers counseling along with online resources.
Physical health and basic needs
Suggest Student Health Services for illness, injuries, lab testing, and medications. For food, clothing, toiletries, and family products, point students to the Shocker Support Locker.
Blackboard is Wichita State's learning management platform. Whatever your role or experience, if you have not used it as an instructor, there is much to learn, and time spent exploring its features improves your experience and your students'.
OIR's New to Blackboard page is the place to start, and OIR's Course and Content Management, Assignments and Assessments, Grading, Communicating with Students, and Data and Analytics pages go deeper into each area. OIR also offers a Blackboard training course for instructors. If you are not enrolled in it, email OIR@wichita.edu and we will add you. Blackboard's own online community also hosts free trainings for instructors.
For how to build tests, question types, and question banks, see OIR's Assignments and Assessments page. The guidance here addresses testing from a less technical angle.
Test integrity and proctoring
Honorlock is Wichita State's proctoring tool. It is automated rather than live: sessions are recorded and flagged for faculty review, and faculty review the flags. WSU pays for Honorlock, so there is no cost to departments or students. OIR's Assignments and Assessments page covers Honorlock along with SafeAssign for originality checking.
The pedagogy of testing
Not every test needs proctoring. Start by understanding the purpose of the assessment. A formative quiz, meant to reinforce and monitor ongoing learning, usually needs no proctoring. A high-stakes summative exam may. Assessments built on authentic tasks are harder to cheat on and give students less reason to, so they need less proctoring. OIR's Course Design in the Age of AI page covers authentic assessment in depth.
You have two good paths for course video, and many instructors use both.
Record inside Blackboard with Video Studio
Video Studio is the video tool built into Blackboard. You can record your camera, your screen, or audio only, or upload a file, right where you add content, and the video is stored and streamed within your course. It supports captions and works in Documents, Announcements, Discussions, Assignments, and feedback. See OIR's Blackboard Video page for the full walkthrough.
Record and meet with Teams
For live online sessions and for longer recorded lectures, Microsoft Teams is the recommended tool. Every instructor has a free Microsoft 365 account. Teams recordings are stored in your OneDrive and can be captioned in the Stream interface, and Teams also creates captions and transcripts for meetings.
Wichita State provides free, high-quality Microsoft training through ITS. However comfortable you are with Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, and Teams, these sessions are worth your time. You sign up through the ITS training system in your MyWSU login. OIR recommends every instructor take at least the Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint sessions.
Teams integrates with Blackboard, so you can use both together in your course. If you would like to bring Teams into your teaching, OIR can connect you with other instructors doing the same. Adobe Acrobat and InDesign training is also available to full-time faculty and staff through ITS.
Why merge
If you teach more than one section of the same course, you can merge them into a single Blackboard course. Instead of building and posting the same material in two or three places, you build it once, post announcements once, and keep one gradebook. Merging is common for multiple="" sections of the same preparation and for cross-listed courses, and it saves a great deal of duplicated work over a term.
What to keep in mind
All students in the merged sections share one course space. When you need to do something for just one section, such as a different due date or a section-only announcement, use Groups or release conditions to target that section. Enrollments still record which section each student belongs to, so grades and rosters stay correct.
How and when to request a merge
Request a merge before you build your course, so you build once in the merged space rather than moving content later. To request a merge, or to talk through whether merging fits your situation, email OIR@wichita.edu. Remember that your courses for a term load thirty days before the first day of that term's pre-session, so plan your request around that window.
The craft of teaching
Good teaching is a craft you can keep improving, and understanding how people learn helps you make deliberate choices. OIR's Learning Theories page introduces thirteen theories, from Behaviorism through Transformative Learning, that you can draw on to shape your teaching. OIR's New to Teaching page turns that thinking into practice, with guidance on presence, authority, and grading, and OIR's Teaching Very Large Enrollment Courses page addresses the particular challenges of large classes.
We all try new things to teach better, but our own impressions are not always the best measure of what works. Learning to set up a class-level research project lets you study your own teaching, mentor others from evidence, and produce data you can use in publications and presentations. Action research is a well-established method for instructors who want to use data to see what works in their own classrooms. If this interests you and you are not sure how to begin, email OIR@wichita.edu and we will help you get started.
Wichita State's standardized syllabus asks for measurable outcomes, and writing those can be a challenge the first time.
Writing measurable outcomes
Outcomes, objectives, and course goals all describe the same idea: what you want students to know and be able to do because they took your class. The key is to make them measurable, and the way to do that is to start with a measurable verb. Some kinds of learning are harder to measure than others, and OIR is glad to help you word them.
Alignment and curriculum mapping
Once you have measurable outcomes for the course and its units, align them with your activities and assessments so that each part of the course helps students reach the outcomes and each assessment actually measures them. From there you can build a curriculum map that shows where each outcome is taught and assessed, which is valuable for program assessment and for discussions about required="" courses. OIR offers free consulting on outcomes, alignment, and mapping. Email OIR@wichita.edu to set up time.
The better you understand how students reach your material, the more effective you can be, and a strong starting point is to make your content usable by every student. OIR's Developing Accessible Courses page covers accessible content practices and how to use the accessibility tools in Blackboard, including captions, alternative formats, and the accessibility checker. For questions about a specific student accommodation, work with the campus office that coordinates accommodations, and email OIR@wichita.edu if you would like to talk through accessible design in your own course.
Supporting academic integrity is an ongoing part of course design. For proctoring options, see the section on offering online tests above. OIR's Assignments and Assessments page covers SafeAssign and the integrity settings you can apply to tests, and OIR's Course Design in the Age of AI page covers designing authentic assessments and setting a clear AI policy, which together do more to protect integrity than proctoring alone.
Wichita State's policy on student academic integrity sets the shared expectations for your courses. OIR also offers a ready-made academic integrity statement you can add to your Blackboard course. Email OIR@wichita.edu if you would like it.
Browse OIR by topic
The OIR website is organized by subject, so browsing by topic is often the fastest way to find what you need. The pages referenced throughout this manual are: New to Teaching, Learning Theories, New to Blackboard, Course and Content Management, Assignments and Assessments, Grading, Communicating with Students, Data and Analytics, Developing Accessible Courses, Course Design in the Age of AI, Teaching Very Large Enrollment Courses, and Blackboard Video.
Want us to add a set of instructions, or have a question this manual did not answer? Email OIR@wichita.edu.