howtoBlackboard

=Blackboard=

How to...
 ... Find or Reset Your Network Username/Password (Change Password in VIP)  ... Get Into Blackboard ... Confirm Your 'Preferred E-mail' Account within Blackboard ... Find Your Way Around Blackboard ... Send an E-Mail to Your Instructor (or a Classmate) ... Read Documents in Blackboard ... View PDF Files ... View PowerPoint Presentations ... View an Adobe Connect (Breeze) Presentation in Blackboard ... View Multimedia (Audio and Video) in Blackboard ... Post Documents in Blackboard ... Use the Discussion Board ... Use Blogs in Blackboard ... Put Information in a Blackboard Wiki ... Post a File to the Digital Drop Box ... Respond to an Assignment within Blackboard ... Take a Survey or Test

Also see Blackboard Demos for videos used in demonstrations of the Content Collection and E-Portfolio features in Blackboard. Also see my handout [|How to,,,,Get Started with Blackboard] (pdf), which puts information about the first few areas on this page into a handout.

For Assistance

 * University Technology Services - (803) 777-1800
 * Getting Started With Blackboard - []
 * Blackboard - [] (The first area, Blackboard Basics, has links to very useful documents for beginners.)



... Find or Reset Your Network Username/Password
Your network username and password are the same you use to get into University E-Mail. You will need to reset your username and password every six months. When you reset your password for your Blackboard account, it will also be changed the next time you log into University E-mail.

1. Login to VIP [] // NOTE: This is where you register for classes, pay your fees, etc. VIP requires your social security number (or ID number) and a PIN. You will need to contact the Registrar’s Office at 803-777-5555 if you have problems using VIP. // 2. Select the [Technology] option in the menu on the left hand side of the screen. 3. Select [Show Me] Network username. You will see your USC network username, which is typically made up of part of your name. It may also contain some numbers. 4. Reset your password by typing it in twice (See the rules for using a secure password) 5. Click on [Select Password] // NOTE: They say that it may take 30 minutes for the password to reset, but our experience is that by the time you open your e-mail account or Blackboard, it usually works. //

The information above can also be found on the handout //How To: Back to School with Blackboard & University E-Mail// at []

Your USC network account password usually expires every 6 months and must be reset. To reset your password, follow the instruction below: 1. Go to VIP, and login with your SSN / Pin or your VIP ID and Password. 2. Click in Technology (the left-side menu) 3. Choose "Show me network username/password" 4. Reset your password here. 5. Wait 2 minutes. 6. Use your new password to login to your email. Please send comments, questions and concerns to: helpdesk@sc.edu or call (803) 777-1800.

Top  The Blackboard log in is at http://blackboard.sc.edu
 * ... Get Into Blackboard **

1. Login to Blackboard at [] using your USC Network Username and password. 2. Choose a course under “Courses in which you are enrolled” in the **My Courses** box 3. Explore the class web site to see which areas your instructor is using // Note: Not all instructors use Blackboard. Some just put their syllabus in the site. (If there is not a button called [Syllabus], you may want to look in the [Course Documents] or [Course Information] areas.) Other instructors use a few of the features, and still others use most of the features. //

The information above can also be found on the handout //How To: Back to School with Blackboard & University E-Mail// at []

General information about Blackboard at the University of South Carolina can be found at http://www.sc.edu/cte/blackboard/ The direct link to the //Blackboard Introduction for Students// (pdf) handout can be found at http://www.sc.edu/cte/blackboard/docs/introStudent.pdf A handout I made a few years ago, //Get into Your Class Web Site for the First Time// (pdf) http://www.ed.sc.edu/ois/howtoguides/pdf/H_BB_2_first.pdf, still works well for getting started.

I recommend a few excellent sites for information about many of the features in Blackboard:
 * //Blackboard Student Help// from the North Carolina Conference of English Instructors (NCCEI) at http://www.nccei.org/blackboard/students.html . (They also have a page for instructors at http://www.nccei.org/blackboard/instructor.html )


 * //Blackboard Help for Students// from Swinburne University of Technology at http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ads/support/ They also have a Flash tour of some of the basics of Blackboard on the student site and a //Blackboard Online Training Tutorial// for instructors at http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ads/BbTraining/


 * // The Ultimate Guide to BlackBoard: 100 Tips & Tutorials // at http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/the-ultimate-guide-to-blackboard-100-tips-tutorials/ has excellent information for students and instructors.

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 **... Confirm Your 'Preferred E-mail' Account within Blackboard** Blackboard is not an e-mail system; it simply provides a way for you to send e-mail from an already established e-mail account to your instructor and classmates. When someone from your class sends you an e-mail from within Blackboard, it will go to your preferred e-mail account. You will need to go to that e-mail system to read the message.

You need to verify that Blackboard shows the e-mail account that you check regularly. You can do this through the Personal Information area of your Blackboard site. // NOTE: If you change your preferred e-mail address for one course, it should change in all your courses. //

In the **Tools** box in the upper left corner of the Welcome Screen (or from the Tools area within any class site) 1. Select **Personal Information** 2a. Select **Edit Personal Information** 2b. Confirm that the e-mail account in Blackboard is the one you check regularly. If not, you will need to type in the address of the e-mail account that you want to use to correspond with your instructor and your classmates. 2c. Click on [Submit] if you make a change 3a. Go back to the **Tools** -> **Personal Information** area 3b. Select **Set Privacy Options** 3c. Confirm that E-Mail Address is checked 3d. Click on [Submit] if you make a change // NOTE: This selection makes your preferred e-mail account ‘public’ - but just within your class sites. The reason it is good to do this is so your instructor and classmates can see your e-mail address when they look at the class roster within a class site. //

The information above can also be found on the handout //How To: Back to School with Blackboard & University E-Mail// at []

Detailed instructions for doing this are also available on a handout I made a few years ago, //Change Your E-mail Address in Blackboard// http://www.ed.sc.edu/ois/howtoguides/pdf/H_BB_3_email.pdf

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 **... Find Your Way Around Blackboard** The easiest way to find out where you are within a Blackboard site is to look at the **'bread crumbs'** at the top of the screen:

__ COURSES __ > __ COLLEGE ____ OF ____ EDUCATION ____ DEMONSTRATION ____ SITE __ > __ASSIGNMENTS__ > INTRODUCTION ACTIVITIES

You can use these 'bread crumbs' to see where you are within the site, and you can use them as a navigation tool to quickly go back one or more level. If the words in the row are underlined, they will act as a link to that area.

Another way to move around the site is to use the **main menu** on the left side of the course site. Clicking on a main menu button will take you to the first level of the area. Instructors can customize these main menu buttons and the items they put in each area. Explore the areas in each class site to become familiar with what can be found in each area. In the classes I teach, I make a short video that walks you through the course site. You can find it in the Course Information of my sites.

Finally, another way to find a place in the class web site is to use the **Course Map** option in the gray box under the main menu. When you click on this, a separate box will appear. (It takes a few moments.) You will see an outline of the entire site. You can go directly to any place in the site from the Course Map.

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 * ...** **Send an E-Mail to Your Instructor (or a Classmate)**

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 **... Read Documents in Blackboard** In general, you will open a document or other file by clicking on the underlined words directly under the title. Depending on a variety of factors, including how your instructor set up his or her class web site as well as the programs and the settings you have on the computer you are using, the file may open within the Blackboard framework or it may open in a separate program or viewer.

Don't forget to identify the programs and viewers you need for your specific course. In the classes I teach, I include a description of the technologies needed in the Course Information area. For other courses, you may need to ask your instructor.

Please note that many instructors and students use different versions of Microsoft Office products. If you use 2003 and you need to open, edit and save 2007 files, go to **//Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats//** at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en to download the free conversion tool.

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 **... View PDF Files** Many instructors (and many web sites) save documents and other materials as PDF (Portable Document Format) files. The advantage is that a PDF file will maintain the formatting of the original document regardless of the type of computer operating system the student is using. You need a free program such as Adobe Reader * to view PDF files.

To download the free Adobe Reader, go to http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html and follow the steps.


 * You can also read PDF files if you have the full program, Adobe Acrobat Professional, but that has become a relatively expensive program.

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 **... View PowerPoint Presentations** The program PowerPoint is not free; it is usually sold as part of the Microsoft Office Suite. If you do not have the program, you will need a viewer, such as PowerPoint Viewer, to watch the presentations. There are different versions of PowerPoint Viewer from Microsoft to choose from; they are all free. One way to find the appropriate viewer for you is to go to the Microsoft Download Center site at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en and use the search tool. Type " PowerPoint Viewer" (without quotes) into the Keywords box and choose the version you want to download.

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 **... View an Adobe Connect (Breeze) Presentation in Blackboard** Adobe Acrobat Connect (formerly known as Breeze) presentations are converted to web-based files when your instructor publishes them. You will be given a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for the Breeze web site, which should take you directly to the specific presentation. Like many course materials, Breeze presentations will vary based on the way the instructor set up the presentation. For example, some instructors have the narration start automatically when you go to a slide; others require you to activate the narration on each slide.

Your web browser may need to be able to view Flash files to use Breeze. If you have an older version of a browser, you may need to update Adobe Flash Player, which you can do at http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

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 **... View Multimedia (Audio and Video) in Blackboard** The program you use to listen to an audio clip or view a video will vary based on the format of the file and the media viewer(s) you have installed on your computer. Some media viewers can play more than one type of file, but you may need to use a specific media player for certain activities in your class.

Most media files can be viewed using one of the three most common media players: QuickTime Player, Windows Media Player and Real Player. You may need all three of these media players, but most instructors try to be consistent and use audio and video files that can be viewed with one viewer. This is not always possible because of the original source of the material and other factors. Following are links to the free downloads of these viewers. (Note that some also have commercial versions available, too.):


 * QuickTime Player ** - http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/


 * Windows Media Player ** - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/download/download.aspx


 * RealPlayer ** - http://www.real.com/

Don't forget to identify the viewer(s) you need for your specific course. Go to the description of the technologies needed for my courses in the Course Information area of the class site, or you may need to ask your instructor. Finally, be sure to download the latest version of any media player you need to use because upgrades are frequently made to this type of tool.

In the past, some users have had problems watching videos that were made using the program Camtasia. Their computers may need to have a special codec (compressor-decompressor) plug-in installed to view these videos. You can download the file called EnSharpen Video Codec at https://www.techsmith.com/download/codecs.asp

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 **... Post Documents in Blackboard** Blackboard does not recognize all file formats when you send or attach a document in the Discussion Board, Digital Drop Box, etc. Sometimes you are warned that your file is in an incompatible file format, but sometimes it appears to work but the file looks like 'gobbledygook' when your instructor or a classmate opens it. Another factor, the conversion tools your reader has on his or her computer, may determine if your document can be read or not. If you are unsure if your files can be read by your instructor, practice attaching/sending a file prior to the due date of the assignment.

Text documents saved in the Microsoft Word format (.doc) almost always work within Blackboard. It is almost always safe to save your file to that format, and many word processing programs allow you to save a file as a .doc file using the 'save as' feature. You'll need to see if this is true for the program you use.

Depending on the conversion tools available on the computer the instructor (or a classmate) uses to read your file, he or she may or may not be able to read files from a word processing program other than Microsoft Word, such as Microsoft Works or Word Perfect. There are a few options:

1) Save as a text file Your word processing program will usually allow you to save your file as a text file (.txt) or as a rich text format (.rtf) file, which can then be posted to Blackboard. Please be aware that the formatting of your document - centering, italics, etc - may be lost when it is converted. (In general, less formatting is lost with an rtf file.) An instruction sheet, //Saving a Document as Rich Text//, from the North Carolina Conference of English Instructors (NCCEI) can be found at http://www.nccei.org/blackboard/richtext.html

2) Use a text application You may want to use a text application such as Notepad or WordPad that comes with your operating system. You may use one of these tools for simple word processing tasks and then save your file as a document file or text file, depending on the options your program offers. In general, these programs do not offer many formatting options, but they work well for basic text documents.

3) Use OpenOffice.org If you do not have another word processing program you may want to download the free program called OpenOffice.org, which contains a text tool that has many of the features of Microsoft Word and other popular word processing programs. (OpenOffice.org also includes other open source programs that do many of the same tasks as other Microsoft Office Suite-type programs, such as a spreadsheet, presentation program, and drawing tool.) To download the free OpenOffice.org program, go to http://www.openoffice.org You can save an Open Office text document in the .doc file format.

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 **... Use the Discussion Board** The Discussion Board is one of the most popular features of Blackboard. It allows members of the class to share information with each other. The instructor is the only one who can make the 'forums', which are like folders, to help organize the messages. All users can read posting and respond to them. If the instructor allows it, you can also add your own message, called a 'thread'. The thing to remember about the Discussion Board, though, is that everyone in the class (and sometimes other invited guests) can read these messages, so don't put anything in the Discussion Board that you don't want to share with everyone.

A good place to get started using the Discussion Board is the instruction sheet How to Add a Thread and Reply to Messages from Swinburne University http://www.swin.edu.au/lts/support/communications/discussion_board/message_threads/index.html

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 **... Use Blogs in Blackboard**

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 **... Put Information in a Blackboard Wiki**

Blackboard - Put Information in a Wiki in a Bb Site WMV (23l94 MB) This movie clip shows specifically how to do the Wiki Introduction, which is one of the Introduction Activities, but the same steps work for other wikis in Blackboard. (18 min 19 sec)

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 **... Post a File to the Digital Drop Box** The Digital Drop Box is one way to send a file to your instructor. Check with your instructor to see if he or she wants you to submit your work this way. An excellent handout about this feature (which also includes a discussion of how to save your document) is //Using the Blackboard Drop Box// from Sandhills Distance Learning at http://www.nccei.org/blackboard/dropbox.html Another handout, which I made quite a long time ago, is //Send a File Through the Digital Drop Box// (pdf)) http://www.ed.sc.edu/ois/howtoguides/pdf/H_BB_5_dropbox_stud.pdf. What this second handout tries to emphasis is that the biggest problem students have using the Digital Drop Box is that they use the [Add File] button instead of the [Send File] button. If you want to have the file sent to your instructor (instead of just sitting in your Digital Drop Box), you need to use the [Send File] button.

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 **... Respond to an Assignment within Blackboard -Safe Assign** Your instructor may also ask you to submit work via the Assignment feature in Blackboard. Your instructor can set up an assignment from any content area of the class web site. The way you can tell that you are using this feature is that you will see a link that begins with “>> View/Complete Assignment” (with the words underlined.) This link will take you directly to the assignment.

A good way to learn more about this feature is the instruction sheet //How to Submit a Blackboard Assignment// from the North Carolina Conference of English Instructors (NCCEI) at http://www.nccei.org/blackboard/bb6-submitlua.html

There are two things you need to know about completing assignments using the Assignment feature. First, when you have submitted your work, an exclamation point should appear in your Gradebook. It is nice to get this immediate confirmation that you have submitted your work, but your grade will not appear until the instructor manually goes in and changes the exclamation point to your score. Secondly, the instructor has the option of making an assignment a "Safe Assignment" which is automatically run through a plagiarism detection software tool. Be aware that the instructor can also 'quick submit' any work you submit through this Safe Assignment feature.

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 **... Take a Survey or Test** Surveys and Tests in Blackboard are very similar. Your responses to survey questions are anonymous; the instructor gets a summary of all the responses, but the specific responses are not associated with a specific student. Your responses to test questions, though, are associated with the individual student. Tests can be graded automatically by Blackboard (unless the test contains essay questions, where the instructor must manually go in and assign points for those responses.) The instructor can customize both surveys and tests in a variety of ways. A few examples of customization options are to set time limits for completing the assessment, showing only one question at a time, and randomizing the order of the questions. A good handout about //Taking Online Tests Successfully// from the North Carolina Conference of English Instructors (NCCEI) can be found at http://www.nccei.org/blackboard/studenttests.html

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Updated September 2008 - SWQ