Do I have to do a course before I use Blackboard?
You do not have to do a pre-requisite course to develop a course or units of work in a Blackboard virtual classroom. Virtual Classrooms (or private courses) are not listed on the Learning Place. The only participants are your own students or the staff at your school or place of work.
Virtual Classrooms are not quality assured by the Learning Place. This means that the content and design is chosen at the local level. The copyright and IP should be checked at the local level to ensure all material is clear of infringement.
What does quality assurance mean?
The Quality Assurance (QA) process helps minimise errors and omissions and is mandatory for all public courses. Refer to Quality assurance for guidelines you can use when creating Blackboard courses or units of work for a state-wide audience - public courses.
How do I get a Blackboard space or virtual classroom?
Refer to How do I set up an online course or virtual classroom?
Can I have more than one Blackboard space?
Yes. By joining the Teaching in Blackboard online community you are automatically eligible to create 10 online courses or virtual classrooms. The community is a great way to support your journey in developing online courses, and you can share what you know with others.
What is a Ready-to-go course?
These online courses and units of work are already developed and ready to use. The courses can be used in a number of ways to meet the needs of your intended audience:
When you request a Ready–to–go course, it is generated just for your class or professional network (e.g. school staff) to use through the Learning Place. You are given instructor status in the course so you can post announcements and add your own content and quizzes.
What is a Virtual Classroom?
A Virtual Classroom is private online space in Blackboard that teachers can use to support student learning. This online space can include group and individual learning activities, quizzes and surveys, full online courses with modules of work and much more. It is accessible via the Internet, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
What does a Blackboard Virtual Classroom offer me? Why use Blackboard?
Refer to Virtual Classroom and read through the suggestions offered for using Blackboard.
Where do i go to find out more about Blackboard?
Visit Getting started to find out how Blackboard works from a student and teacher perspective. The section provides support on logging in, using the communication and student tools and, for the teacher, managing Blackboard through the control panel.
Is there an online manual about Blackboard?
Refer to Online support for the most recent information about using Blackboard.
What are the minimum system requirements for Blackboard?
Refer to Using Blackboard for a list of system configurations.
How do I logon to Blackboard?
Refer to Getting started to logon to Blackboard.
Customising the portal page
The My eLearn Tab is the link to your Blackboard portal page. You can change the 'look' of your My eLearn welcome page by changing the position and/or colour of the modules displayed.
To customise the My eLearn page:
Modules
When you logon to Blackboard you begin at the My eLearn welcome page (portal page). This page has several ‘boxes’ of information and links. Each of these boxes is called a ‘Module’. You can add and remove some modules.
Note: Adding the Calendar module to your My eLearn welcome page may slow down the loading of this page every time you log on or return to the My eLearn page.
Use the Personal information to:
Related topics:
What is offline content?
What is the WYSIWYG?
Why can't I see the Control Panel?
The Control Panel button appears only if you are the instructor or manager of a community or course. Participants do not see this button.
How do I return to my course content when I am in the Control Panel?
When returning to the course content in the Control Panel use the 'thread' or 'bread crumbs'. Select the course code within the thread, this will take you back to the course announcements page.
How do I develop my course or unit of work?
For information about developing your online course or unit of work refer to the Developer’s guidelines. It provides information about content and presentation and using HTML. It also includes website templates and interactive exercises to help build your course or unit of work.
Did you know the Learning Place has a Teaching in Blackboard online community? It’s a great way to support your journey in developing online courses, and you can share what you know with others. If you join this community, you are automatically eligible to create 10 online courses or virtual classrooms.
Creating content overview
Instructors use the tools available through the Course areas section of the Control Panel to manage information, materials, Assignments, and Assessments used in the course.
For more information:
Visual Text Box Editor (WYSIWYG)
The Visual Text Box Editor or WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) allows users to modify content in an interface resembling a word processor, and perform basic HTML functions without knowledge of any HTML. The WYSIWYG is only available to Windows Operating System users with Internet Explorer Version 5.x or later.
The WYSIWYG strips all JavaScripting and embedded CSS mark-up upon submitting the page. If you are using JavaScript or CSS you will need to disable the Visual Text Box Editor.
For more information:
Related questions:
Why can't I see the Visual Text Box Editor (WYSIWYG)?
Learning Units
Learning Units enable Instructors to set a structured path for progressing through content within a course. This allows Students to view content in an intuitive, self-paced style.
Content within a Learning Unit is added and managed just like content in a folder. When you add pages to a Learning Unit, Blackboard automatically builds a contents list of these pages. To view this list, open the Learning Unit then select the Contents button. If the listed titles do not link to their related pages, then sequential viewing of the Learning Unit has been enforced.
For more information:
Syllabus builder
A Syllabus is a type of content that may be added to any Content Area. Creating a new Syllabus allows the Instructor/leader to pre-build as many lessons as needed, or build lessons one at a time. Additionally, custom designs can be applied to the Syllabus.
For more information:
Offline content means that some content is on a CD-ROM. The CD is used to store content that would take too long to download on the Internet. The participant is still required to be connected to the Internet to access Blackboard.
The author of the course would have to provide the CD to participants and the participants would use the CD whenever they are studying.
Related topics:
How do students access the offline content?
Rename a file without using special characters (e.g. # , & ' @) in the file name before uploading or attaching files. Blackboard will allow you to upload a file with special characters in the file name without giving an error, however it can then not open these files.
ZIP files containing more than one period in the file name (e.g. ‘first.draft.zip’) will not open with the ‘Unpackage this file’ feature. The file will be posted as a link only. Rename the ZIP using only one period before uploading packaged files.
Blackboard gives an Action Unsuccessful error message when trying to add to or update content if the course/community quota has reached its limit, or if the file size of an attachment is larger than the upload limit of the course/community. The default course/community quota is 20,000Kb (19.53MB). The default file upload limit is 2000Kb (1.95MB). Contact the Learning Place if you need your quotas increased.
For more information:
Related topics:
What is the course/community quota?
What is a packaged file?
A Packaged file is a website that is compressed to a ZIP file (using Microsoft Compressed Folder, WinZip or other compression software) and is uploaded as an attachment to a content Item then ‘unpackaged’.
When a file is unpackaged, Blackboard unzips the contents of the ZIP file and creates a link to the determined starting page.
A copy of the ZIP AND a copy of the unzipped files are stored within your course/community. Keep in mind that this all adds to your course/community quota.
To add a packaged file:
For more information:
Related topics:
What is the course/community quota?
Why doesn’t my package file ‘unpack’?
Assignments list the name, point value and description of the Assignment and may also include file attachments. The assignment item creates an upload facility for participants which groups all submitted files together within the Gradebook (This is more organised than the Digital Drop Box). Through the Gradebook the Instructor may respond to each participant separately with a grade, comments and additional files.
For more information:
Related topics:
How do I access the assignment items my students have submitted?
SCORM, IMS and NLN Content
For more information
Adaptive Release
Use this feature in Blackboard to create custom paths through the content of your course or unit of work. You can make sure your students complete certain sections before they have access to the next section, or they have to pass a quiz before continuing.
For more information:
Course tools overview
Course Tools are communication and collaboration tools that enhance interaction between users.
For more information:
Tool Linking
Links to Tools can be placed anywhere in a course that content can. Tools such as Discussion Board forums and Virtual Classroom sessions can exist in the same Content Area as content such as Learning Unit slideshows, files, and Assessments. Adding tools to folders creates a seamless experience for users because all materials related to a certain subject can be accessed from the same location.
For more information:
Announcements
The Announcements is usually the first page you see when entering your course. It provides day-by-day, week-by-week announcements. Instructors and managers can use it to notify participants of course updates, important notices and general information.
To add an announcement:
For more information:
Course Calendar
The course calendar is a course tool. Use the calendar to indicate important course events such as assignment and project due dates. These will appear on the My eLearn page and therefore will be listed with events from other courses you are enrolled in.
For more information:
As course facilitators add your details in this area so students/participants can make a more personal connection with you.
For more information
Tasks
The Tasks page enables participants to:
For more information:
Send email
Teachers and facilitators can send e-mail to individuals or groups who are participating in their course from the Send E-mail page in course tools.
Emails are sent to participants nominated email accounts (nominated when registered in LPAS) and should be accessed through their normal email program – not through Blackboard.
For more information:
Discussion board and forums
The Discussion Board is a communication medium for posting and responding to messages. Conversations are grouped as threads that contain a main posting and all related replies. An advantage of the Discussion Board is that threads are logged and organised. Forums can also be ‘recycled’ and old threads archived.
For more information:
Related topics:
What is the difference between forums in Blackboard and forums in Project Rooms?
How do I archive forum messages?
Forum Archives
Discussion Board threads can be archived by the Instructor and made available to participants. Archived threads are removed from the forum and stored separately.
For more information:
What is the difference between forums in Blackboard and forums in Project Rooms?
Forums in Blackboard are within your Blackboard course which reduces administration if you want to keep the forum over time. Your course participants can immediately access the forum whereas you would have to register them separately for the project rooms. You can add hyperlinks in the text without using html and the layout is more conducive to long messages.
Forums in project rooms are outside of Blackboard. Your participants will currently have to log in again to access the project room forums. In these forums you can quickly look at each of the messages, set the forum to email you with new messages so you don’t have to log on and you can reply to the emails and it will automatically add a message to the forum.
Digital Drop Box
Use the digital drop box as a secure way to submit assignments or files. This occurs directly between participant and facilitator. No one else can view it.
Also refer to Assignment items as an alternative.
For more information:
Related topics:
What is the Assignment item?
Glossary Manager
Use it in your Blackboard space to add glossary terms and definitions to go with the course or unit of work.
For more information:
Course Options overview
How can I change the way my Blackboard virtual classroom/course looks like? In the control panel, use the course options to manage the appearance and structure of your course. For example, you can use:
For more information:
Manage Groups
Use groups to break your larger cohort into smaller groups. This is great for defining groups who are working on collaborative tasks. You can organise your participants in Blackboard through the control panel within user management.
For more information:
Assessment overview
You can use the tests or quizzes and surveys. Blackboard offers 18 different questions types to use with your quizzes and survey. Instructors use Assessments to test Student knowledge, measure Student progress, and gather information from Students. There are two types of Assessments:
Tests − Tests are created to check the knowledge and skill level of users enrolled in the course. Tests permit the Instructor to assign point values to each question on exams or quizzes. When a Student completes a Test it is submitted for grading. The results are recorded in the Gradebook.
Surveys − Surveys are useful for polling purposes, evaluations, and random checks of knowledge. They function in the same way as Tests and offer most of the same options. Questions on Surveys are not assigned a point value. Surveys are not graded.
For more information:
Pool Manager
The Pool Manager allows you to store questions for repeated and random use when creating quizzes, exams and surveys. The pool manager allows facilitators to store and categorise questions for reuse. Question pools are course-specific although pools from other courses can be imported.
For more information:
Course Statistics
The facilitator can use the information here to view how much participants have engaged with the course.
For more information:
Performance Dashboard
The Performance Dashboard provides the facilitator with information on each participant’s progress and activity in the course.
For more information:
Respondus and StudyMate
Respondus and StudyMate allow you to create and manage quizzes and surveys and activities offline. These activities are reusable within all your courses and can be shared amongst your peers. The upload wizards integrate these activities into your course and Gradebook. To download Respondus and StudyMate you will need to join the Teaching in Blackboard community.
Gradebook overview
The Gradebook posts all Student grades associated with Tests and Assignments. The Gradebook also accommodates scores grades for work completed outside of the Blackboard Learning System. Instructors may also view the results of Surveys through the Gradebook.
The Gradebook opens to the View Spreadsheet page. The Spreadsheet lists Students in rows and graded items in columns. All features of the Gradebook can be accessed through the Spreadsheet.
Items in the Gradebook are categorized. This enables Instructors to:
For more information:
Gradebook Null
You can exclude items undertaken or ungraded items when calculating the Total and Weighted Total in the Gradebook.
For more information:
Reset assessment attempt
A test or survey may be set to allow one attempt only at completing the activity. If a participant has opened the test (whether they’ve answered any questions or not) this is treated as an attempt. If the participant leaves the test page they will not be able to return to complete the test.
You can clear the attempt on a test allowing the participant to re-take it, however, they will have to re-answer any questions they may have previously answered.
To clear the attempt:
Blackboard links:
Modify grades: Assessment
Grade assessment
Collating survey data
A participant has completed a survey when a tick icon appears in the survey column against their name in the Gradebook. Once all participants have completed the survey you can download a CSV file of the results.
Surveys are anonymous. The CSV file will not display the participants names, however it will show the relationships between the questions answered.
For more information:
Related topics:
What is the gradebook?
Exporting/Importing the Gradebook
Instructors can download and save a Gradebook as a comma-delimited file for use in a spreadsheet program. This file, or Gradebook items in this file, can be uploaded to a Gradebook at a later date.
For more information:
Grading Assignment items
Submitted Assignments appear in the Gradebook. The Item Options page enables Instructors to access areas where they can grade the Assignment, view Student statistics for the Assignment and delete files associated with Assignments.
For more information:
Hompage
Every enrolled participant has a Homepage where they can post information about themselves. The Edit Your Homepage screen allows users to edit their homepages. The homepage is blank until the user edits the page.
If you are an Instructor/Leader of your course/community you will not be able to see the Edit your homepage page. You should instead, use the Staff information tool to create your own profile.
To create your homepage:
To view your (and others) homepage use the Roster.
For more information:
Related topics:
How do other participants see my homepage?
How do I add my personal profile to my course?
Electric Blackboard
The Electric Blackboard is like a notebook where you can keep a record of your participation within a course or community.
For more information:
Digital Drop Box
Your facilitator may request you submit assignments via the Digital Drop box. It’s faster and more guaranteed than e-mail attachments. Make sure to first check with your facilitator on their requirements for submitting assignments.
Alternatively, your facilitator may have created a specific ‘Assignments’ item for submitting work.
For more information:
Related topics:
What is an Assignment item?
Send Email
For more information:
Discussion board and forums
For more information:
Collaboration Tools
The Collaboration Tools allow users to participate in real-time lessons and discussions. The tools available are Virtual Class room and Chat.
The Java Plug-in is required for the Virtual Classroom to run. If the Java Plug-in is not installed or there are problems loading the Virtual Classroom, download the Java software for your computer.
Also make sure your popup blocker is turned off.
For more information:
The roster is found within Communication. Users can search the Roster and view a list of participants in the course/community. The link to a participants name is the link to their homepage for that course/community.
For more information:
Group pages
For more information:
Course/community quota
All Blackboard courses and communities have a default quota of 20,000Kb (19.53Mb). Everything you type into and upload/attach to your course or community contributes to this quota.
When the quota reaches 18,000Kb (17.58MB) the instructor or leader should receive an email warning that the quota is almost at its limit. Once the limit is reached the instructor/leader will get the error message that you received (Action Unsuccessful) when trying to add/update content.
At this point, the instructor/leader should assess the content of the course/community and remove anything that is no longer needed (especially large attachments) to free up enough space. If this is not possible, contact the Learning Place about having the quota increased.