Stephens College : Blackboard FAQs

Stephens College - Blackboard Support

Frequently Asked Questions

GETTING STARTED

I NEED A BLACKBOARD LOG-IN (ACCOUNT).

WHERE CAN I FIND ADVANCED USAGE TRAINING?

WHAT DO I DO WITH BLACKBOARD?

HOW DO I...

GET MY COURSE ON BLACKBOARD?

PLACE STUDENTS IN MY COURSE?

GET RID OF ALL THE ORANGE BUTTONS I'M NOT USING OR ADD MY OWN?

BACK-UP INFORMATION IN THE COURSE FOR FUTURE USAGE SO I DON'T LOSE IT?

CLEAN UP A COURSE FOR A NEW SEMESTER?

IMPORT A COURSE OR DUPLICATE A COURSE FOR AN ADDITIONAL SECTION?

COMMON PROBLEMS

I'M HAVING PROBLEMS SEEING ITEMS OR GETTING SECURITY ERRORS.

I WANT MORE INFORMATION ON GENERAL USAGE AND CONNECTION ISSUES.

I CAN'T OPEN MY STUDENT'S DOCUMENT IN THE DIGITAL DROPBOX.

I HAVE A COURSE CARTRIDGE FROM MY BOOK PUBLISHER. NOW WHAT?

REQUESTING A BLACKBOARD ACCOUNT

You must have a Stephens Email account.
Email blackboard@stephens.edu with your name and Blackboard account.
If you have more than one Blackboard account please email blackboard@stephens.edu and indicate which you will be using, the other will be removed from the system.

TRAINING COURSE

A self-administered Tutorial Course is available for Stephens College faculty and staff. Email blackboard@stephens.edu to request enrollment as a student.

WHAT ARE THE BASIC AND MOST COMMONLY USED FEATURES?

Email your students through the Control Panel with the SEND EMAIL function.
Post digital documents instead of photocopying and passing out in class by uploading files into COURSE DOCUMENTS or ASSIGNMENTS.
Have students send papers or other files via DIGITAL DROPBOX. This is more reliable than email attachments, but not fool-proof.
Allow students to collaborate and discuss outside of class via the DISCUSSION BOARD.
Invite guests into the course without having them show up on campus by requesting temporary access to the course. Send the guest's name and email to blackboard@stephens.edu
Hold a real-time "instant message" discussion for test reviews, or guest speakers. Click on COLLABORATION in the Control Panel and VIRTUAL CLASSROOM.
Allow students to view their grades in the GRADEBOOK in the Control Panel. DO NOT USE BLACKBOARD AS YOUR PRIMARY GRADEBOOK. BE SURE TO HAVE A HARD-COPY OF YOUR GRADES AT ALL TIMES.

REQUESTING A NEW COURSE

Email blackboard@stephens.edu with the following information:
COURSE ID
COURSE TITLE
INSTRUCTOR NAME
Your Blackboard Course ID may not match your Course ID from the Registrar, it may also contain leftover material from a previous instructor. Please refer to the Recycling feature to remove old content.

ADDING STUDENTS TO A COURSE

(a) Self-enroll. (Recommended.) Have the students enroll themselves. This is the best procedure because it prevents students on your roster who do not show up for class from finding their way into the Blackboard Course. This also ensures that the students can log into Blackboard without any problems.

1. Go the CONTROL PANEL of the course.

2. Click on SETTINGS

3. Click on ENROLLMENT OPTIONS

4. Click the button SELF ENROLLMENT

5. (OPTIONAL) Add date range for enrollment availability or access code. You may then put the access code on the syllabus or issue this to the students.

6. Verify the students have successfully enrolled by clicking "List / Modify Users" in the Control Panel.

7. Follow steps 1-4 to turn off Self-Enrollment when complete.

(b) Manual Enrollment.

1. Go to the Control Panel.

2. Click ENROLL USER.

3. You can search by student's last name and manually add students. IF THE STUDENT HAS SEVERAL OR ZERO ACCOUNTS, NOTIFY SUPPORT IMMEDIATELY.

4. After clicking "OK" You will get a "success" message. You may then use your browser's "BACK" button to return to the search field and repeat.

REMOVING ITEMS FROM THE NAVIGATION MENU

Go to the Control Panel.
Click on MANAGE COURSE MENU.
You may remove any items you do not wish your students to see when they navigate the course.
WARNING! REMOVING AN AREA REMOVES ALL CONTENT WITHIN THAT AREA.
Specialized additional content areas may also be added.

BACK-UP A COURSE FOR FUTURE USE

It is the Instructor's responsibility to back-up their courses prior to turning in grades. ALL COURSES ARE SUBJECT TO DELETION AT THE END OF A SEMESTER.
Go to the Control Panel.
Click EXPORT COURSE.
Select the items you would like included in the backup.
Save the .zip file to your local hard drive.
(OPTIONAL) Make additional copies of that file on CD-ROM, etc.
THIS FILE IS ONLY USABLE WHEN IMPORTED BACK INTO BLACKBOARD, IT CANNOT BE USED OUTSIDE OF BLACKBOARD.

RECYCLING AN EXISTING COURSE FOR A NEW SEMESTER

Go to the Control Panel.
Click RECYCLE COURSE.
Select the areas you would like information removed.
Recycling the Discussion Board will leave Forums in-tact and only remove posts.
Recycling the Gradebook will leave Gradebook Items in-tact and only remove grades.

DUPLICATING AND IMPORTING AN EXISTING BACK-UP

*This is a very useful feature for instructors teaching several sections of a single course.

Refer to BACKUP section in order to make a copy of the course you wish to copy or re-use.
Go to the Control Panel and click on IMPORT PACKAGE.
Browse to the .ZIP file you created on your PC using the EXPORT COURSE Function.
Select the content areas you wish to import.
Know that it WILL NOT OVERWRITE DATA IN THE TARGET COURSE. THE INFORMATION WILL BE DUPLICATED.

USABILITY ERRORS AND SECURITY ERRORS

PC users should use Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox as their Web Browser. Apple users should use Safari. If you access the internet via AOL or another proprietary software platform, simply open Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari after accessing the internet.
Be sure your browser is set to accept cookies.

MORE HELP FOR GENERAL USAGE ISSUES

OPENING STUDENT DOCUMENTS

If you are trying to open a document and you are getting errors or jumbled information, request that your student use "SAVE AS" in their word processor to save their document as Rich Text Format (.rtf) and send it to you again.
If you continue experiencing problems, please contact support.

USING COURSE CARTRIDGES

Course Cartridges should come with instructions for importing the cartridge into the Blackboard System via the Control Panel. Please refer to their documentation and support information. Once you have successfully used the IMPORT COURSE CARTRIDGE feature in the Control Panel, all problem must be addressed with the textbook publisher.
TEST POOL questions must be manually added via the TEST MANAGER in the Control Panel. For more information, request enrollment in the Tutorial Class.
Stephens College uses the Basic Edition of Blackboard, not Enterprise. Be aware of this if you are contacting a textbook publisher for support.