Getting Started with Blackboard

Blackboard Features Heading link

instructor teaching a class using visualisations
  • Student enrollments and faculty assignments are handled automatically by the system. It may take up to 48 hours for new student enrollments to be reflected in course sites.
  • Technology Solutions creates Blackboard course sites for most CRN-related courses, as reflected in the course catalog, 60 days prior to the start of every semester. Sites are made unavailable to students by default, and instructors determine when to make their courses available.
  • Blackboard provides a virtual extension of your physical classroom and allows for secure, private, online communication of FERPA-sensitive information in addition to group spaces where students and instructors can interact and exchange information that is not FERPA-sensitive. Restrictions that apply to your classroom teaching also apply in the Blackboard Learn environment, such as not allowing students to see others’ grades or graded work and not using external email to communicate FERPA-sensitive information.
  • Blackboard does not warrant or provide any assurances that your use of the Products will comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.For more information, visit the Blackboard Terms of Use page or contact us at LTS@uic.edu.

With Blackboard Learn, instructors can Heading link

  • Create or upload text, audio, video, and interactive content for students to access online. Content can be added using Blackboard Learn tools or using third party software that integrates with Blackboard. You should always create content that is accessible to all students. Below are the most common sources of content.
    • Text, audio, or video directly added into a content area using the Blackboard Learn Content Editor tool
    • Video creation and screen capture using Panopto
    • Lecture capture content via Echo360
    • Multimedia content via the Blackboard Learn Mashups tool
    • Interactive content using Adobe Captivate 9 and other eLearning authoring tools
    • Recorded webinar content using Blackboard Collaborate
    • Slides, documents, quiz questions, and other resources from course cartridges that publishers make available as part of textbooks
  • Communicate, interact, and collaborate with students via course announcements, email, discussion board threads, blog posts, and other collaboration tools
  • Assess concept mastery through the use of tests , assignments , and other tools that enable instructors to record and assess students’ work in a variety of ways. A Grade Center column is created automatically when an assessment is created, and grades are populated as instructors grade assignments. The Grade Center can be configured to export final grads in the format required for the XE Faculty Grade modul
  • Reset content to be copied from a previous course site or copy the content by themselves from previous teaching assignments.
  • Build a custom site by adding their own course menu items or by requesting an exemplary course shell template to be imported into their course site.
  • Request the merge of course sections
  • Request a Non-CRN related site

Learn more about the benefits of using Blackboard by watching the Why Blackboard  video (2:19).

Blackboard Tips Heading link

  • Remember to set a course entry
  • Do not upload large files directly to Blackboard.
  • There are two apps for Blackboard users. The Blackboard app is available for students to receive mobile updates, participate in course-related activities, and view grades. The Blackboard Instructor app allows instructors to view the course content, grade assignments, and use Blackboard Collaborate.