Logging into and Using Blackboard

Information to help Students get started

• Logging into Blackboard
• "My Blackboard" course environment
• Course Menu Navigation
• Managing course documents
• Scan for viruses
• Communication Tools
• How to forward Andrew email to preferred email
• Checking your grades

Blackboard Login

1. Open your Internet browser and navigate to the Blackboard login page at http://www.cmu.edu/blackboard.
   
   
2. Under "Bb Login" click on "Carnegie Mellon Login".
    
   
    
   
3. Enter your Andrew User ID and password in the secure login authentication screen.
    
   

"My Blackboard" Course Environment

1. After you've logged in, your "My Blackboard" page will appear. This is your customized entry page to Blackboard.
    
   
2. In the My Courses panel, you will find a complete listing of your Blackboard courses. The course names are direct links to the individual courses. The "New Stuff" link provides a list of recent changes to the course.
3. Click the "Courses" tab at the top of the page to find links to all of your courses and a course search box.

Blackboard Course Navigation

Navigation may differ from course to course depending on how the instructor chooses to structure and content areas.


• Announcements Course updates, reminders, general announcements are displayed here. Announcements typically appear in the main course window each time you enter the course although your professor may choose to change the course entry point to some other Blackboard area (e.g., Course Information).
• Course Information Course syllabus, general information about the course.
• Staff Information Instructor, TA, and staff information (e.g., contact info, office hours, personal web site) is posted in this area. Can also be labeled Faculty Information, Group Leaders, or Teachers.
• Course Documents Course outlines, handouts, lecture materials, and readings are usually posted here.
• Assignments Links to assignments and assessments (i.e., quizzes & surveys) are typically located in this section.
• External Links Links to web sites that are related to the course are provided in this area. Can also be labeled Web Sites or Resources.
• Communication Found within the "Tools" box, functionality includes E-mail, Discussion Board, Virtual Classroom, Roster, and Group Pages.
• Course Tools Found within the "Tools" box, functionality includes a Calendar, Digital Drobox, a Glossary, Homepage, My Grades, Personal Information, Tasks, User Manual, and New Stuff.
• Course Map Found within the Tools box, this is a site map of the course contents.
• Detail View Found under the Tools box, this expands the left navigation into a site map of the course contents.
• Refresh Found under the "Tools" box when clicked refreshes the left navigation to the most current state.

Managing Documents in Blackboard

Uploading Documents:
Blackboard users can upload files to submit Assignments or by using the Digital Dropbox.

When preparing documents for uploading to Blackboard:

• Use appropriate extensions when naming files for uploading to Blackboard (e.g. Word documents must be named with a ".doc" extension; Acrobat documents with ".pdf"; etc.) otherwise, your professor may be unable to read/open them.
• Do not include spaces or special characters in your file names.
   
  

  Example document formats:

  Microsoft Word documents (.doc)

  PowerPoint presentations (.ppt, .pps)

  Excel spreadsheets and charts (.xls)

  Adobe Acrobat documents (.pdf)

  Graphics (.jpg, .gif)

  Video clips (.mov)

  HTML files (.htm or .html)

  
  
  

Downloading Documents:
An attached file appears as a link. Click on the linked file to download/access it. Depending on your computer and browser configuration, how the file was linked, and the file type, one of the actions listed below may occur once you've clicked on the link:

• The file may open in the main course window.
• The file may open in a new browser window.
• The browser may prompt you to save the file to a local drive.
• The browser may prompt you to open it without saving.
• The browser may launch an application (i.e. Microsoft Word) and open the file.
   
  

Viewing Documents:
If you don't have an application or the most recent version of an application, download these free plug-ins for viewing documents:

• Microsoft Word Viewer allows users to open and view Word 2000 documents
• PowerPoint Viewer allows users to open and view PowerPoint 2000 presentations
• Adobe Acrobat Reader (download from Computing Services licensed software list)

ALERT! Protect yourself from computer viruses

Blackboard makes the exchange of files very easy. Along with that ease also comes risk of downloading a computer virus. Be sure to scan files that you upload to/download from Blackboard with regularly updated virus-protection software such as:

1. Norton Antivirus (download from Computing Services licensed software list)

Communication Tools

Students can use the set of communication tools provided within the "Communication" area to contact each other or the instructor via email, participate in a discussion board forum, view student pages found in the class Roster, and work in groups.

Send Email
Allows you to send direct email to anyone in the course. However, it is a limited email program in that it does not:

• provide a "cc" list of recipients when sending email to more than one person
• does not provide a spell check
• and does not save sent messages

Email is sent to the user's standard Andrew mailbox. View instructions on how to forward your Andrew email to another account.

Discussion Board
Allows students to participate in course-related discussions outside of class time. Student conversations are logged and organized by forums set by the instructor that contain threads of all related replies. Your instructor may also choose to provide a forum where students are able to post anonymously.

Note: The discussion board is a database of textual information with limited searching capabilities. Adding a meaningful subject line whenever posting or replying to posts can facilitate better scanning and retrieval of the information.

Roster/Student Pages
Blackboard provides a student page for each course.

• Personalize and update your home page at any time during the course from within the Student Tools area.
• View fellow students' homepages. Select "Roster" and "List All" or type in the last name or user ID of a student in the course. Click the student name/link to view the student's home page.
   
  

Group Pages
Your instructor may divide students into study or project groups using the Group Pages option. Each group receives a unique group page that provides a set of private group tools, including:

• a Discussion Board
• file exchange tool (Digital Dropbox)
• email
   
  

Note: Using the Discussion Board forum as a place to exchange group documents may be more advantageous than using the group file exchange tool (digital dropbox):

• Documents uploaded to the Discussion Board can be posted with meaningful comments and replies.
• Deleting documents from the group file exchange area (digital dropbox) is very easy for someone within the group to do, and may prove to be undesirable.
   
  

NOTE: When using email from within the Group Pages, if you reply to a message sent to the entire team, the message reply will be sent back to only one person in the group, as Blackboard strips out the other recipients.

"My Grades" Checking Your Grades in Blackboard

If the course instructor is using the Online Gradebook and has allowed student access, you can view your grades from within Blackboard.

1. Click on "Course Tools" then click "View Grades"
    
   
2. The student's view of the grades, "My Grades", includes grade data like the grade item name, item details, due date, last submitted, grade value, points possible, and instructor comments.

Instructors: For assistance with using Blackboard, contact bb-help@andrew.cmu.edu