Building & Setting up Your Blackboard Course Site

Requesting then accessing your course

  1. Go to the Blackboard Home Page (a link is on the Faculty/Staff web page) or the url is : http://blackboard.dickinson.edu then click here to request a course. You will be notified by email when the course has been created and it ready to use. Usually within 48 hours or sooner. Looking for reasons to use Blackboard, click here.
    You may also copy your course content over to make a new course. Click here for instructions.
  2. Log in with your username and password. (If you've never used Blackboard before, we will give you this information when we send the message that your course site is ready.) All users accounts are set up with their username as their username and also their password. We recommend you change it right away. This is done under Personal Information, Change Password.
  3. Your course(s) in the My Courses section, under the Courses you are teaching.  Just click the course you want to enter.

Overview of course template

In order to provide a consistent look and feel for the students, we've created a course template that will provide you with a default color scheme for your course.  You will also see various text entries already entered into your course as suggestions as to where you might choose to store various materials for your course (i.e., syllabus, handouts, etc.). For students enrolled in multiple online courses, consistency in locating information is helpful for them.  These are only suggestions and you may set up your course however you wish.  Later we'll explain how to edit or remove the template notes.
 
Announcements Enter time-sensitive announcements here. The courses will open to this area.
Course Information Enter syllabus, welcome message or course schedule here.
Faculty Info Enter information about you, the instructor, here.  Useful information might be your email address, office location and office hours.
Course Documents Enter lecture notes, handouts, reading assignments, worksheets, presentations and graphics here. Click here for steps.
Assignments Enter weekly assignments, quizzes and tests here. Using the Math and Science tool click here.
Communication Provides for course interaction, sending email, the Discussion Board feature, the Virtual Classroom function, access to a student roster and group web pages. You have the ability to disable any of these options if you choose not to utilize them in your course.
Discussion Board The Discussin Board provides a place for online collaboration.
External Links Add links to dept. web pages & other areas of interest on the Internet. Click here for steps.
Student Tools Provides options for your students.  A Digital Drop Box allows students to electronically submit papers or assignments (just like email attachments).  They may create a simple personal web page for the course, modify their personal information, view the course calendar or add their own events, check their grades (if you decide to use Blackboard's online grade book), or view Blackboard's Online Student User Manual.
Digital Dropbox This area is for students to drop off files to send to the instructor or to add to this course as a holding area while they are working on them. This file can only be seen by the student or instructor if sent to them. This can also be found under the Student Tools area.
Course Map Provides a visual map of the course layout, with Windows Explorer-like navigation. Click here to learn more about your course design. Click here to modify your menu. This link is found under the button section.
Resources This button is filled with helpful links at Dickinson and also various other links. Also is links to various program readers that students sometimes need on their computers to open files, like Adobe reader to open pdf files.

The Instructor's Control Panel

The Control Panel button appears at the bottom of the left frame.  This button does not appear in your students' view of the course.  The Control Panel is where you populate your course with text, documents and quizzes, enroll students, check the online grade book, view course statistics, set up a calendar for the course, access the digital drop box for student papers, assignments, and more.

Where do I start?

Everything you need to know about adding content to your course and using other features can be found in Blackboard's online manual.  Go into the Control Panel and under the Support section, you'll see the link for the Manual.  You may download and print the manual in PDF or Word format.

Options for adding content

There are a few different ways to add content to your course.  One way is to go into the Control Panel, click on the link to the button you wish to add content to.  You can add as a file or copy paste text or simply just type your text in text box. Click here to learn how to add folders. Always hit Submit to complete the function.

Content Information

    1. Select a name for the content, either by selecting from the drop-down list, or by typing in your own description in the box below it.
    2. Choose the color, if desired, for the text of the content name.
    3. Use the Text box in the following ways:
      • You can copy/paste information into the Text box from a word processor. 
      • Enter a description of the information you will be uploading using the Content Attachments section.

Content Attachments

You may upload electronic files, much in the same way you can attach them to email messages.  Copies of these files are uploaded to the Blackboard server into the special folder on the server that contains your course information.  (If you want to upload the same file to a different course, you must repeat this process separately for the additional course.)  For instance, you may have documents prepared in Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel.  You can upload these files into your course. Click here to add a folder, here to add a link and here to add a powerpoint file.

* Video on how to add content into your course.
* Video on how to copy content from one course to another.

The creation of PDF documents for Blackboard courses should be done at each academic department copier/printer. Click here for instructions.
Your PDF’s files can be added to Blackboard and can be made unavailable until you need them. Follow these steps:
• Click on the button where your PDF’s are located.
• Click on Edit/View (top right corner)
• Click on the Modify button beside the PDF you want to modify.
• Scroll down until you see the Options section.

You can also upload GIF or JPG images, as well as certain movie files by uploading an attached file. See the manual for specific details.

User enrollment/management

    Instructor enrollment vs. self-enrollment
    All courses are set up so that the only way a student can be enrolled is for the instructor to enroll them.  However, you can change your course options to allow students to self-enroll. You can also set a access code that would act like a password. Instructors can certainly override this by removing any students who may have enrolled who shouldn't be.  Some instructors only leave the "self-enrollment" option active for the first few days/weeks of classes, then they turn this feature off.
    How instructors enroll students
      1. In the course site, click the Control Panel button.
      2. In the User Management section, click Enroll User.
      3. On the Enroll User screen, click in the search text box and type in the last name (or partial last name) of the student you want to enroll, then press <Enter> or click the Search button to the right. If someone does not show please contact the helpdesk.
      4. Scroll down and find the student in the list and click the check box to select that student. (If you see other students in the same list whom you also want to enroll, click those check boxes, too.)
      5. Click the Submit button at the very bottom of the list to enroll the selected student(s).
      6. Repeat the process above until each student has been enrolled. Students can enroll themselves. See below.
How instructors remove students (drop or withdrawn students)
      1. In the course site, click the Control Panel button on the left side of the screen.
      2. In the User Management section, click Remove Users from the Course.
      3. In the "Remove Users from the Course" screen, click in the search text box and type in the last name (or partial last name) of the student you want to remove, then press <Enter> or click the Search button to the right.
      4. Scroll down and find the student in the list and click the check box beside the student's name.
      5. Scroll to the bottom of the screen type the word Yes in the appropriate box to verify the student deletion.
      6. Click Submit.
        WARNING!  Removing a student is an irreversible action.  Any grade book information stored for that student will be permanently removed.  While you may always add the student again if you make a mistake, it is not possible to recover their associated grade book information. Steps to Export a Gradebook can be found here.

        *Step by step video on how to enroll, list and remove users from your course

    How to activate self-enrollment
      1. In the Control Panel, under the "Course Options" area, click Settings.
      2. On the next screen, click Enrollment Options.
      3. Click the Self Enrollment button.  You may enter a starting and ending date for self-enrollment.  You may also indicate that the students will have to use a special password in order to be able to enroll themselves.  This prevents others from being able to accidentally or deliberately enroll during the self-enrollment period.
      4. Click Submit.
        Below are the steps to self enroll that you might want to give to all students or click here for a pdf to give students with the steps.
        1. Log into Blackboard.
        2. Click on the red Courses tab.
        3. Type in "econ" or "educ" or "fysm" (no quotes) in the Course Search Box.If you click on Advanced Search link you can search by your instructors username or course name.
        4. You will then see a list of courses. Scroll down till you see the course.
        5. Click on the Enroll button to the right of the listed course.
        6. Click the Submit button at bottom.
        7. Click the OK button and they will be enrolled into that course.

Creating student groups

    Once all of your students have been enrolled, it's possible to place them into work groups for the purposes of working on a particular project or assignment.  Using the groups feature allows groups to set up their own group web page, have their own area to exchange electronic files in the group drop box, or have their own group discussion board.
    1. Under the User Management section of the Control Panel, select Manage Groups.
    2. Click the Add Group button to create a new group.
    3. Give the group a name.
    4. Specify the group options you wish to make available by checking the appropriate check boxes under the Group Options section.
    5. Click Submit.

Using the Discussion Board

If you want students to interact with one another, use the Discussion Board as a way to encourage discussions on various topics.  Before this can be done, the Instructor must go into the Control Panel and set up Forums.
  1. Under the Course Tools section, click Discussion Boards.
  2. Click Add Forum.
  3. Fill in an appropriate Title and Description for the forum, or topic.
  4. Select appropriate Forum Settings.  You can indicate whether to allow:
    • anonymous posts
    • author editing of message after posting
    • author removing their own posts
    • file attachments
    • new threads (a "thread" is a sequence of responses to an initial message posting, sort of like sub-discussions)
  5. Submit your selections.

Sending electronic mail to your students

  1. In the Control Panel under the Course Tools section, select Send E-mail.
  2. Select the individuals or group to whom you want to send the mail by clicking on the appropriate link.
  3. In the first section, enter the Subject and Message content.
  4. In the second section, decide whether you want a copy of the message to be sent to yourself.
  5. If you optionally want to add an attached file to the email message, click the Add button in the third section.
  6. Click Submit.

Course statistics

From time to time, you may wish to see how the students are using Blackboard.  There are certain statistics you may view from within the Control Panel.
** Attn: At this time this feature is not available. **
  1. In the Control Panel under the Assessment section, click Course Statistics.
  2. Under Section #1, drop down the list to indicate which statistics you want to see.  Each report will give you overall information on usage.  The reports are as follows:
    • Overall Summary of Course Usage
    • Accesses by Content Areas
    • Accesses by Group
    • Accesses by Forum
  3. In Section #2, indicate whether you want to see the statistics for a certain time period, for all enrolled students, or just for selected users.
  4. Click Submit.

Using Blackboard's Grade book

The Grade book feature in Blackboard is always updated with test results if you have created any quizzes or surveys within Blackboard itself.  However, it is also possible use the Grade book to keep track of grades given outside of the Blackboard environment.  To add a grade to the Grade book:
  1. In the Control Panel, under theAssessment section, click Grade book.
  2. On the "View Spreadsheet" screen, click Add Item on the toolbar at the top of the screen.
  3. In Section #1, enter the name of the item for which a grade was received.  You may also indicate what type of grade it is (i.e., essay, paper, homework, lab), along with the total number of possible points. You can also select how you want the grade to appear (letter, percentage, score or text).
  4. In Section #2, indicate whether you want the students to be able to see the grade book item. Also indicate whether you want this particular grade included in overall grade book score calculations. (The default for both of these options is "Yes.")
  5. Finally, click Submit to create the Grade book entry.
  6. To add grades manually for this item, in the "View Spreadsheet" screen, locate the column that's been added for the new Grade book item you just created.  Click on the hyphen for a student.
  7. Enter the student's grade in the Grade box.
  8. Click Submit.
  9. Repeat the above steps until all students' grades have been posted.
  10. Exporting grade book to Excel at semester's end.
  11. Click here to learn how to drop the lowest grade.

Forgot password link available 24/7.

If you've forgotten your password, you may use a new, online approach for selecting a new one. 

  1. On the web, go to:  http://blackboard.dickinson.edu or the Blackboard home page
  2. Click the Login button.
  3. Under the Username and Password boxes, click the link, Forgot your password?
  4. Fill out the information on the next screen. 
  5. Check your Dickinson email account.  The Blackboard server will send you an automated email message, providing the link you need to visit to select a new password. Follow the directions and you will have your new password in a matter of minutes.

Setting Display options for your list of courses.

If you have a list of courses and would like to only view the current ones you are using or working with follow the instructions below. This will remove them from your course list view, but will not remove the course/s from your access.

1. Click on the My Dickinson tab.
2. Click on the Modify my courses module icon. (Upper right corner, looks like a pencil point)
3. Uncheck the courses you do not want to see, both Display Course & Display Announcements.
4. Click on Submit.

Additional help

There are many more features available to instructors in Blackboard. See the Online Manual in the Control Panel under the Assistance section.  It is available to view online, or you can download a version of the manual in PDF or Microsoft Word format.  Dickinson also has more tutorials on using Blackboard for instructors and students as well. All courses will remain active and archived at the end of each semester.

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Last updated on: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 5:03 PM
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