quick start guide blackboard for students

Upload: ryan-cain

Post on 01-Jun-2018

216 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

  • 8/9/2019 Quick Start Guide Blackboard for Students

    1/3

    Quick Start Guide Blackboard 9.0 for StudentsLeiden University

    What is Blackboard?Blackboard is the online learning environment

    for the University of Leiden. A learningenvironment is a web-based tool designed tohelp manage and improve student learning.Blackboard offers not only facilities to havestructured learning content (web pages,presentations, lecture notes, computer-aidedlearning applications, audio, video clips, etc.),but also provides student management,communication and assessment tools, and arange of other useful functions.

    Supported Web browsersThe following web browsers are supported:

    Internet Explorer 7/8

    Firefox 3.0/3.5/3.6 Safari

    Note that Google Chrome and InternetExplorer 6 are not supported!

    Accessing Blackboard:Go to the following web page (note: withoutwww!): http://blackboard.leidenuniv.nl. Onthe welcome page you will see a login box:

    You need your ULCN account to log in. Enteryour username and password and click theLogin button. (Your username is your studentnumber preceded by an s.) Forgot yourpassword? Go to the Service Desk in theLipsius building. Once logged in, you will seeyour personalised home page with the

    following tabs:

    Your My Institution page in Blackboard willshow you a number of modules that arerelevant to you - for example, any newannouncements, links to your courses, andfaculty news. Clicking the My Institution tabwill always bring you back to this screen.The Courses tab provides the entry to yourcourses and shows the Course Catalog.The FAQ Student tab provides help,information including helpdesk details and aFAQ (list of Frequently Asked Questions).

    Enrolling to coursesTo enroll for a course go to the tab Courses

    and open the Course Catalog (module on theright) and open Faculteit der Geestes-wetenschappen. Now use the navigationpanel to select your program. (E.g.Masteropleidingen > Dutch Studies). Now allthe courses in this program will be displayed.Select the one you want to enroll to. Click onthe chevron behind the course ID and selectEnroll. The course will now be displayed in

    the module My Courses on the tab MyInstitution and under the tab Courses.

    Notifications DashboardThe Notifications dashboard is a useful tool inBlackboard 9 that provides you with a quickoverview of the new and changed informationin all your courses since the last time youlogged in. It is accessed as follows:

    Especially the module Whats New on theNotifications Dashboard is very useful:

  • 8/9/2019 Quick Start Guide Blackboard for Students

    2/3

    Quick Start Guide Blackboard 9.0 for StudentsLeiden University

    Accessing coursesYou can access the courses you are enrolledin from the tab Courses or from the list in My

    Courses on your My Institution page. Clickingon the title of the course will take you to theresources for that course in Blackboard.

    Overview of a CourseAll courses have the same basic layout, witha menu of text (or buttons) on the left and

    content on the right. Moving around yourcourse is easy. The links indicate the differentcontent areas of the course, where lecturerscan place information like the coursehandbook, lecture notes, reading materials,assignments, or other materials.

    Each lecturer can customise these links, sothe names may vary from course to course.Lecturers can also decide which of thefeatures of Blackboard to use: some of the

    common tools are described below.

    AnnouncementsLecturers use the Announcements often thefirst page you see in a course as a noticeboard with general or specific information,(e.g. homework, changed time table etc.).

    You should check this information as often asa regular notice board. The most recentannouncements concerning the courses you

    are enrolled in will also be displayed on theMy Institutions page:

    ContentThere will be as many or as few content areasin the menu as your teacher chooses to use.

    They should explain what materials they areadding to Blackboard for you, and how theyexpect you to use them. Content is stored infolders or as single items. To open a folder,click on its title. Items may have filesattached to them click on the link to openthe file. Some files will open within thebrowser window, some may open a newbrowser or the program (e.g. Powerpoint)

    with which they are associated.

    CommunicationPart of the power of Blackboard is to provideenhanced tools for staff-student and student-

    student communication.

    E-mailis most often used by lecturers tosend you information. These will be deliveredto your umail inbox. If you have beenprovided with group workspace (see below)then you will be able to send e-mail directlyto your group members.

    Groupscan be created within a course toprovide students with a private space to workin teams. Each group can be allocated adiscussion board, an e-mail list, a chat roomand a file exchange, where you can sharedocuments. Click on the Groups button in the

    menu, and click on the name of your group.Groups you are not a member of will be l isted,but you will not see a l ink to enter them.

    Discussion Board. A number of coursesinclude discussion boards for out-of-classinteraction. Discussion boards offer centrallyposted e-mail- or forum-like conversations,organized in threads, which you can followand reply to. Click on the Discussion Boardbutton in the menu.

    As a student you can view threads in thedifferent forums, create new threads, reply toexisting threads, flag or subscribe to threadsetc. To do this you can use the variousbuttons you will find in the Discussion Board.

  • 8/9/2019 Quick Start Guide Blackboard for Students

    3/3

    Quick Start Guide Blackboard 9.0 for StudentsLeiden University

    AssessmentThere are two forms of online assessmentyou might be asked to take within Blackboard,

    Quizzesand Surveys, and you may also beasked to submit work to tutors electronically,via Assignments (see following chapter).Quizzesprovide multiple choice-typequestions in a variety of forms, and may beused as quick revision tests at the end oftopics, or as a longer diagnostic tool. Theyare most likely to be self-assessed andformative, with feedback to help you revisit

    problem areas.Surveys follow a similar format to quizzes,and may be made up of multiple choice orshort answer questions, and can be used toprovide formative feedback. Surveys areanonymous, your views are notassociated

    with your name.

    AssignmentsLecturers may place an Assignment in any ofthe content areas of your coursewhere youcan upload a completed assignment in theform of a Word file, Excel file, etc. toBlackboard. To do so, click on the desiredmenu button and then on the desiredAssignment, which will be recognisable to thefollowing icon:

    After clicking the link you will see thefollowing form to fill in.

    Use Browse for local file to upload adocument from your computer. You can onlyupload a document once so make sure youupload the right document. After completing

    the form click Submit (Note: dont click safeas draft. In that case your assignment wontbe sent to your instructor.)

    Viewing GradesIf your lecturer has created a number ofquizzes for you, or asked you to submitmaterial electronically via assignments, thenthey may also enable you to quickly see yourgrades. This will allow you to review youranswers and any feedback for assessmentssubmitted via Blackboard. Lecturers choosehow much information to make availableregarding quizzes. They may choose todisplay only a score, additional informationabout which questions you answeredcorrectly, or even the entire list of questionswith correct answers. Any questionsregarding your grades should be directed tothe lecturer. If your instructor wishes you toaccess the grade center, there will be a menubutton available in the course.

    HelpIf you have questions about the content ofthe course, please contact your lecturer. Ifyou have technical questions, try the tab FAQ

    Student in Blackboard. If you still havequestions, contact the Blackboard helpdesk ofyour faculty.

    Logging outWhen you have finished working on anetworked computer, always click Logout.